Watch KXAN Video

Check CAMPO’s calendar here for updates on Advisory Committee meetings or opportunities for the community to weigh in on what’s happening in Austin.

Wendy Fueur, as part of her talk about public art this morning (excellent talk!), spoke about redesigning streets.  This video is an interview with the woman who hired Ms. Fueur and provides an opportunity to share these ideas with those who could not attend.  The video also speaks to creating bike lanes, bus rapid transit and Summer Streets. 

Video

Hello there fellow supporter of public transit! We’ve recently added an opportunity for you to join or donate online. By clicking here, you’ll be whisked away to the Austin Community Foundation’s website, where you can draft your tax-deductible donation for the Alliance For Public Transportation!

Thank you in advance for your support!

Chris Ewen’s presentation challenges the Alliance board to think about how the organization approaches grassroots organizing and membership involvement.

Chris developed the attached presentation based on a conversation with other Alliance members and supporters Andrew Clements, Glenn Gadbois,  David Foster, and Rich McKinnon.  The board unanimously approved forming a working group to make recommendations on how the Alliance could transition quickly to meetings, events, activities, and staffing that supports more grassroots and membership engagement.

apt-grassroots-part-1

apt-grassroots-part-2

Council and Mayoral Candidates Forum 

St David’s Episcopal Church 

304 E 7th Street 

Saturday, April 4th 

10am - 1:30pm 

10 organizations joined forces and interests for this super forum, because a lot of things must mix well - great parks, neighborhoods, streets for people, commercial, retail, arts, transit, music, restaurants, and more – for a vibrant urban Austin. 

Meet the people that bring the best of URBAN to Austin. 

Stay to hear council and mayoral candidates discuss their positions on urban issues. 

Join your neighbors and the media in the One-on-One room to ask your burning questions or to just cheer on your favorite candidate(s). 

Come by to celebrate, discuss and learn about the best of Austin. 

Sponsoring Partners: Alliance for Public Transportation - Austinist.com - Austin Metro Trails and Greenways - Austin Parks Foundation - Congress for New Urbanism, Austin - Downtown Austin Alliance  - Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association - Original Austin Neighborhood Association - Rail4Real - 6ixth Street Austin Association 

Patrons: Perry Lorenz - Meg Merritt - El Sol y La Luna - Texas Picnic Company

austin-super-forum-poster

Incumbent/Challenger Questionnaire Responses:

martinez

spelman

cole

osemene

Place 1 Questionnaire Responses:

pl-1 Matrix of Candidate Responses

Mayoral Questionnaire Responses:

buttross

ingalls

leffingwell

mccracken

Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee Chairman writes, “What is the potential for passage of all of these? Better than any session before, but still mixed.”

Sen. John Carona (R-Dallas) has laid out his vision for the immediate future of transportation funding in Texas in a two-page letter sent to colleagues today.

In his letter, Carona supports the end of diversions out of Fund 6 through a Constitutional amendment. He also suggests scaling back the size of the Texas Department of Transportation, approving a modest index to the motor fuels tax and issuing all debt already authorized to TxDOT. That debt can be leveraged through a revolving credit facility, Carona wrote in his letter.

He also advocates for “a balanced transportation system” with local governments having the “resources to cope with regional transportation needs.”

Senator Carona Letter 020209

: Infrastructure Investments That Support Strategic Planning Objectives Provide True Economic Development, by Todd Littman

For the full report: www.vtpi.org/econ_stim.pdf

Summary
This timely new report discusses factors to consider when evaluating transportation economic stimulation strategies. Transportation investments can have large long-term economic, social and environmental impacts. Expanding urban highways tends to stimulate motor vehicle travel and sprawl, exacerbating future transport problems and threatening future economic productivity. Improving alternative modes (walking and cycling conditions, and public transit service quality) tends to reduce total motor vehicle traffic and associated costs, providing additional long-term economic savings and benefits. Increasing transport system efficiency tends to create far more jobs than those created directly by infrastructure investments. Domestic automobile industry subsidies are ineffective at stimulating employment or economic development. Public policies intended to support domestic automobile sales could be economically harmful in the long-term.

Conclusions
Many types of public investments can stimulate short-term employment and economic activity but some are better overall because they also support other strategic goals. Smart economic stimulation responds to future demands and helps achieve various economic, social and environmental objectives. This study indicates that highway rehabilitation and safety programs are economically beneficial, but urban highway expansion tends to stimulate more driving and sprawl, exacerbating transportation problems. Demographic and economic trends reduce highway expansion benefits and increase demand for high quality alternatives. Investments that improve alternative modes tend to provide greater total benefits.

Increasing transport system efficiency is particularly important for long-term economic development. Vehicle and fuel purchases generate fewer domestic jobs and less economic activity than most other consumer expenditures. Each million dollar shifted from purchasing fuel to a typical bundle of consumer goods adds 4.5 U.S. jobs, and this is likely to increase significantly in the long run as international oil prices rise and domestic production declines. Each million shifted from general motor vehicle expenditures (purchase of vehicles, servicing, insurance, etc.) adds about 3.6 U.S. jobs. Public transit operations create a particularly large number of jobs.

A reasonable scenario of aggressive fuel economy targets, investments in alternative modes and supportive land use policies can reduce U.S. fuel consumption 20-40%, saving future consumers $150-350 billion annually in fuel and vehicle expenses, providing economic benefits from reduced fuel import costs of similar magnitude, producing additional economic, social and environmental benefits, and generating 1 to 2 million additional annual domestic jobs. This equals the total (not annual) jobs created by $30 to $60 billion of infrastructure expenditures and is five to ten times greater than the jobs provided by domestic vehicle manufactures.

The Transit Working Group agreed that the City of Austin, Capital Metro, and CAMPO should move forward with the engineering and environmental reviews needed for a “spine” of Urban Rail that connects from Airport to Airport (connecting Mueller Redevelopment, University of Texas, the state complex, Downtown, and East Riverside to the Austin Bergstrum Airport). Over the next month the group will probably hear additional information on potential financing strategies, but members agreed that many of their more technical questions would require more complete engineering, design, and environmental review. For more information on this project go to:

Downtown Austin Plan - Urban Rail

CAMPO Decision Matrix - City of Austin Urban Rail Project Description

The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) facilitates transatlantic cooperation as a means to help solve local problems.  GMF, in cooperation with local leaders and organizations in Austin and San Antonio, Texas asks you to save the dates, February 18-20, 2009, for workshops in San Antonio, San Marcos, and Austin that will offer European perspectives on a number of rail initiatives confronting Central Texas.

Official Agenda

Register