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Chronicle,
Statesman, Journal endorse Light Rail
Three of the city's major
newspapers have endorsed light rail as a beneficial means to improve
our quality of life in Austin.
Read
the Austin Chronicle endorsement
Read
the Austin American-Statesman endorsement
Read
the Austin Business Journal endorsement
Board
members support light rail
Past and present Capital Metro
Board members are supporting light rail for Austin and signed
a giant endorsement of the project at a press conference on Oct.
15.
The former members include:Lyndon Henry ('89-'93), Bobbie Barker
('95-'96), Audley Blackburn ('94-'96), Scott Polikov (94-'96),
Susan Handy ('96-'97), and Harry Jones ('94-'97).
Together,
these board members have volunteered thousands of hours, dating
all the way back to 1989, working to improve public transportation
in Austin. Board members chose Town Lake, with the Austin skyline
as a backdrop, to sign their endorsement letter because they believe
light rail is critical to preserving our city's unique quality
of life.
Current
Capital Metro Chairman Lee Walker also explained the importance
of this unique reunion of leaders before asking them to sign the
giant endorsement letter.
Capital
Metro pledges to help businesses, neighborhoods.
The
Capital Metro Board of Directors on Sept. 18 approved a dozen
"Mitigation and Enhancement Pledges" designed to minimize
the impact of light rail construction and involve businesses and
neighbors in the building process.
The
pledges include:
·
Business Advisory Teams made up of business owners, neighborhood
representatives, officials from the city and Cap Metro, contractors,
and other interested parties. The teams will help plan construction
efforts to minimize disruption to businesses and residents.
·
"Main Street" Programs to enhance neighborhood commercial
streets
·
Efforts to maintain access to businesses and strict incentives
and penalties for contractors that are designed to keep projects
on time. Also, schedules that do not conflict with special shopping
"seasons."
·
Free marketing of affected businesses in Cap Metro buses and publications.
·
Strict adherence to noise criteria for transit and construction
and an emphasis on retention of parking. Also, comprehensive traffic
planning to allow for smooth vehicular traffic during construction.
·
Retention of traffic capacity (with the possible exception of
special projects for the Drag on Guadalupe) that would ensure
the same number of cars could travel the corridor after light
rail construction
Dallas
Mayor says Austin needs Light Rail
At an August 23 luncheon talk
to the Real Estate Council of Austin, Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk summed
up his feelings on Light Rail. "I can tell you that it will be
a colossal mistake not to go forward on this (Light Rail in Austin),"
he said. "You are not going to be a dominant player in the
new economy if you are not going to have a multi-modal system."
Chamber
task force recommends light rail and road mix
The
Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce Thursday released a "White
Paper" from its Light Rail Task Force that outlines its support
for rail, along with a balanced transportation system. The report
is online
at the chamber site. The Chamber Board then voted to support
light rail with a request of additional funding from Capital Metro
for the road/HOV lane mix.
Photo
Shoot draws a big crowd
About
100 people showed up for Light Rail Now!'s kickoff event on Saturday,
Aug. 12. Volunteers
awoke early Saturday morning for the special photos shoot--a dramatic
demonstration of how effective light rail is for carrying people
and using minimal space.
For
the event, LRN had 80 cars spanning four lanes, each car with
a lone driver. Those same drivers then "shed their cars" and sat
on chairs to portray how little space people take compared to
their cars. Finally, the drivers joined together for a representation
of sitting together on a light rail vehicle.
Photos
were taken and will be presented here
on the website and...everywhere we can show them. Two television
stations--KTBC (Fox 7) and KVUE (ABC Channel 24) did stories on
the event, as did KLBJ Radio.
The
street event shows just one reason why light rail is for everyone.
And everyone had a great time getting to know each other.
if you'd like to keep up with future events, be sure and register
for the LRN Newsletter.
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