Comments on: Update on action on the Austin 2020 Master Bike Plan

By: Bike Plan Passes with 6-0 Council Vote « It’s Time to Ride

Bike Plan Passes with 6-0 Council Vote « It’s Time to Ride — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:48:52 +0000

[...] heavy rains and probably some meeting fatigue, the turnout was much different this time compared to the May 21 Council meeting when public input was heard but no vote taken. In May, nearly 300 people signed up to speak and [...]

By: M1EK

M1EK — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:48:31 +0000

It’s very easy to be complimentary of the plan when it doesn’t require making any tough decisions (i.e. now). All the council members who did the wrong thing each of the two times they screwed up on Shoal Creek voted for the last Bicycle Plan and many of them pushed for many other worthwhile bicycle facilities (when, again, parochial neighborhood interests were not at stake). We’ve run out of such projects in large part, though (as seen by the objections raised by the people near that park at the last meeting).

And it’s not precisely hypothetical; she ran as the ANC candidate and has proceeded to precisely match my expectations with every word she’s said and every vote she’s made. It would be the biggest surprise in YEARS if she were to vote in favor of citywide bicycle interests against the ‘neighborhood’ on a case like Shoal Creek.

By: elliott

elliott — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:27:49 +0000

It will remain to be seen how Laura votes on specific issues, but she was quiet complimentary of the plan at Thursday’s meeting. Let’s stick to specific examples of what actually councilmembers do, not you’re hypothetical worst case scenario, Mike.

By: M1EK

M1EK — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:44:09 +0000

Budget time is just the FIRST battle; the far more important ones are when a bike facility conflicts with the ‘rights’ of some dude who doesn’t want to have to park his third and fourth car on the other side of ‘his’ street (anybody who doesn’t ALWAYS think “SHOAL CREEK BOULEVARD” when hearing about bicycle plans isn’t qualified to comment).

Electing Laura Morrison was a huge disaster on this scope; she’s tilted so far towards the parochial side on neighborhood issues that she’d probably just ban bikes from the roadway entirely. I don’t see much difference between McCracken and Leffingwell on this issue, though, so no loss there.

By: elliott

elliott — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:16:50 +0000

One other thought. 300 is nothing to sneeze at. I just want to make sure we get the same kind of showing at budget time when their will be the inevitable attempt to throw the plan under the bus.

By: elliott

elliott — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:15:16 +0000

SOS probably holds the record. I don’t remember the numbers, but I know public comment went until the early hours of the morning.

You were very much you. It was fine.

By: JasonATXBS

JasonATXBS — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:44:05 +0000

No worries, I’m just a slight bit bummed that we didn’t have 7 more people sign up in support. Being able to say that we had “over” 300 citizens supporting the bike plan update would have been dope. I wonder what their record is for number of issue supporters/detractors signed in at once…

Since you watched the Channel 6 broadcast I’ve gotta ask, did I my thoughts look and sound as jumbled on-camera as they felt in-person?

By: elliott

elliott — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:28:26 +0000

I had child care issues, but did watch on channel 6. I’ll let Marcus chime in with his lame excuse.

By: JasonATXBS

JasonATXBS — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:17:34 +0000

Did y’all make it out last night? I was on the lookout but didn’t see you. Though the bike community really mobilized for this one, I was actually surprised we didn’t get more people there. If Critical Mass can draw 500+ I want to see 1000+ at a political event like this.