Thursday night, the Austin City Council voted 6-0 (Councilmember Sheryl Cole was not in attendance) to adopt the 2009 Master Bike Plan. This was a great victory for the cycling community. We have a very well written, ambitious plan and now comes the hard part: ensuring all the stuff in the plan actually gets done.
Due to 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 almost all of them were in support of the plan. At this meeting, only about 150 people signed up with nearly a third opposing the plan. When it came time to speak, only two people were there to speak in support of the plan (me and Allen Demling) while there were over a dozen people who spoke in opposition.
The opposition came entirely from residents of the Heritage Park neighborhood who supported the overall draft but opposed a specific bridge in the plan that would link their neighborhood to one to the north with a high crime problem. Impassioned speeches from neighborhood leaders and parents of children who would use the bridge to get to school had an effect on the council. Outgoing Councilmember Brewster McCracken tempered some of the more distressed language of the residents by suggesting that if designed well as part of good public space, the bridge could actually do more to transform the neighborhood and reduce the crime problem. While the council opted to keep the bridge in the plan (removing it would mean the City would have to give back $120,000 in moneys already received for design from TxDOT), a motion from Councilmember Laura Morrison passed requiring staff to work with police and neighbors on the crime situation and come back for final approval.
As regular readers know, Marcus and I started the Austin Bike Petition last fall to ensure we got a good plan that had clear timelines for implementation. We had over 2000 people sign the petition, and I addressed the Council on behalf of the people who signed it. Here is a transcript of what I said:
Mr. Mayor and members of the City Council, good evening. My name is Elliott McFadden and I am here representing Citizens for Transportation Choices, a political action committee that organized the Austin Bike Plan Petition, as well as the local cycling website Austin on Two Wheels. On May 21 and tonight, we have had hundreds of members of the cycling community address the Council in support of the draft Master Bike Plan. I am here tonight representing the 2186 Austinites who signed our petition, many of whom are unable to be here tonight.
Our petition was created as a way to show grassroots support for the report of the StreetSmarts Task Force as well as address some common concerns of the cycling community in the drafting of the new Master Bike Plan. Our petition read as follows:
We, the undersigned, call on the City of Austin to adopt a new Bicycle Plan with clear timelines for full implementation and the following priorities:
• Establish both an initial North-South and East-West cross town dedicated bike trail or bicycle boulevard.
• Prohibit vehicle parking in marked bicycle lanes and establish these lanes as “tow away” zones.
• Commit to building bicycle facilities/infrastructure on all new roads and improvements to current roadways where these facilities/infrastructure do not already exist.
• Funding for full time staffing of the Bicycle Coordinator and a minimum of two paid positions charged with educational and promotional activities in accordance with the best practices of other cities.
• Establish a permanent City Council appointed advisory Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission to make ongoing recommendations.
I want to commend the City staff who worked on the draft plan and incorporated these priorities into the current plan. I think the draft you are considering honors the intent of this petition to create a city where cyclists are respected and have a legitimate place in the transportation mix.
I would like to close by saying while this plan has our support, it remains only a words on paper if it is not implemented. When we were circulating this petition, the number one issue that upset people most was that only 1/3rd of the projects in the 1996-98 plan every got completed. By establishing timelines in the new plan, we will not have to wait over ten years to see if progress is being made. In fact, some of the deadlines in the plan will arrive in the next budget cycle and before the terms end for the incoming council. The cycling community is more active and organized that ever before in this city, and I think you can expect us to remain engaged while working with you to ensure progress is made and this plan is honored. I encourage you to vote for the plan tonight and remain committed to its full implementation. Thank you.
Related posts:
- City Council Action on the Master Bike Plan, Part Deux ...
- Update on action on the Austin 2020 Master Bike Plan ...
- City consultant recommends removing hemletless bikers from Master Bike Plan document ...
- Austin American Statesman endorses Master Bike Plan ...
- Austin Master Bike Plan wins State Planning Project Award ...
on Jun 12th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Hooray! It passed!
(BTW, I’m not sure if it’s anything on your end that can be fixed, but the website doesn’t show up in my google reader when it’s updated; the last entries that can be pulled up are from April.)
on Jun 12th, 2009 at 8:55 am
I watched that one anti-bridge guy’s repetitive 20-minute long speech last night in between checking for hail. Anyways…
What did I tell you about Laura Morrison? If Shoal Creek was coming up for a vote now, she’d put in three rows of parking, if a few of the local neighbors told her that’s what they wanted.
McCracken was way on the wrong side on Shoal Creek too; it’s nice to hear him having learned something from that experience, at least. Too bad it’s too late to do any good.
Do you folks see now how the plan isn’t all that important compared to the weekly battles at Council (and the battles about who to elect to Council)? When this bridge comes back, you already know how Morrison’s going to vote; and she’s probably going to drag a few along with her. The plan does NOT have force of law; it does not require that the council vote any given way on any given case that comes up before them.
on Jun 12th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Elliot and Marcus, thank you for you hard work on the outreach about the plan, via this site, and the petition. 2,000 folks in favor of better bicycling infrastructure and conditions is nothing to sneeze at! We at the Bicycle Program really appreciate your hard work. Thanks again. Annick
on Jun 12th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Mike, I don’t know what you are talking about on Laura. She voted FOR the plan and only made an amendment to have the staff report back on resolving issues, which were legitimate in my opinion from the neighbors. That doesn’t mean the bridge is bad or would make things worse, but the residents deserve to be treated like human beings, have their concerns heard, and an attempt made to resolve these issues. This is all the more important since the bridge’s purpose is to primarily serve these residents, not regional or cross through traffic. The Council’s actions seemed prudent.
As for the long term battles, if you read my statement you’ll realize I was saying the cycling community is NOT going away and will not accept failing implement what was passed. The petition and organizations like the LOBV are the beginnings of a large group of citizens readily mobilized to make sure we fulfill the promises of this plan. The cycling community is maturing and beginning to use the organizing tools that will bring real progress. Get on board!
on Jun 12th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Thanks, Annick, and thank you for all the work you and your staff did on the plan. We’re ready to get to work on making it a reality!
on Jun 12th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
[...] Austin City Council Passes Master Bike Plan on 6-0 vote – http://austinontwowheels.org/2009/06/12/austin-city-council-passes-master-bike-plan-on-6-0-vote/ [...]
on Jun 12th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
[...] It’s the Austin Master Bike Plan, which was unanimously passed by the Austin City Council 6-0. [...]
on Jun 12th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
I want to ride my: http://tinyurl.com/lmtgdd
on Jun 13th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Great work on this! I went to the city council meeting and endured to the end. The good news was that the meeting lasted long enough that I was able to miss all of the thunderstorms and tornadoes. It was sunny and hot when I arrived at the meeting, and it was partly cloudy when we emerged 5 hours later.
Thanks to Annick and her staff for all of the good work.
So, as a citizen who really wants to see this implemented… what’s next? What can I/should I be doing to help move this forward?
on Jun 14th, 2009 at 9:13 am
elliott, I mean that Morrison pushed an effective amendment on the plan requiring that element to come back later, at which point she’ll doubtlessly be pushing for the bridge to be removed to satisfy the parochial interests of the single-family homeowners nearby.
Why is the parallel to Shoal Creek so difficult to see? In SCB’s case, the old bike plan (as well as modern practice, pointed out by the TTI folks they brought in to consult) clearly called for car-free bike lanes there; yet councilmembers overly beholden to those same interests went directly against the plan when it came down to it.
The true pro-cycling councilmen are those who choose cycling interests when they are in conflict with the short-term parochical neighborhood interests; not those who talk a good game but then end up voting the other way.
on Jun 14th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Mike, Laura was portrayed as the NIMBY to end all NIMBYs by opponents in her election, and I’ve not really seen it. Yes, she’s more attune to neighborhood interests, but I’ve not seen her act irrationally or without an eye on the greater good. I have a feeling she could vote the right way 99 times for you and the 100th against you and you’d start up with “There, I told you that’s the way she’d be.”
The parallel to Shoal Creek is pretty weak. Shoal Creek is a major inter-neighborhood route used by cyclists all over town. This bridge is frankly out of the way for anyone who doesn’t live in the neighborhood. If you are providing something that is essentially just for the neighborhood and the people in the neighborhood show up and tell you they hate it, it is prudent to listen and make adjustments to plans to address concerns. Just as the council shouldn’t have caved to a few neighbors on a route that servers the entire city so should they not ignore the concerns of the people the bridge is serving. You of all people should be tired of a city council that ignores what you say and pushes something through because the decision was predetermined.
In the end, it is up to use to hold the council to their promises or throw them out on their ears at election time. We certainly have the numbers to make that happen if we get our act together.
on Jun 16th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Elliott, I disagree; the bridge serves primarily the lower-income people in apartments on the ‘other’ side of the creek; and the opposition clearly came entirely from the single-family homeowners. We’re talking about keeping kids from being able to bicycle to school so we can pander to the parochial interests of reactionaries here — which is, in some ways (not all), even worse than the Shoal Creek decision.
And I’d like to see an example of Morrison voting for the greater good against a parochial neighborhood concern. I have yet to see one such case; and all her comments in every set of minutes I’ve red have cemented my view of her (I was urged by many others to give her a chance after the election). Her comments on this case are no exception.
on Jun 20th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
[...] share lanes. I was happy to see that City Council approved the new Austin Bike plan last week: Austin City Council Passes Master Bike Plan on 6-0 vote | Austin On Two Wheels I hope all of this comes to pass, it will be really [...]
on Jul 16th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
[...] Bicycle Advisory Council and part of the agenda includes discussion of proposed amendments to the recently adopted Master Bicycle Plan. The suggested changes come from Jim Carrillo, a planning consultant hired by the City with Halff [...]