_You still have a chance to speak out about the 2012 bond package.

The bond is going to cost each of us about $60 more in house taxes, so we need people to speak out and insist North Austin gets some of that money this time.  

There is one more bond workshop, so if you missed the one at Gus Garcia at Rundberg, you can still make a workshop tomorrow:   Saturday, March 31 at 2:00 PM Anderson High School, 8403 Mesa Drive

You can also still go online and take the survey here:   http://www.austintexas.gov/online-form/bond-development-survey 

For more questions on the bond program, please see our link  for the 2012 bond package (<-- to the right)

Last Bond Development Meeting/Workshop -  Saturday, March 31, 2012
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Location:
Anderson High School
8403 Mesa Dr.
Austin, TX 78759

Please remember that this bond package will cost about $60-100 more a year in house taxes and currently, we have had no indication that this bond will benefit the north end of town.

My previous three posts about this issue, and the need to insist the City, at the very least, includes funding for North Lamar/Burnet Transportation Study are here:

http://www.lovenorthaustin.com/1/post/2012/03/reminder-march-21st-meeting-on-rundberg-stand-up-or-fork-over-60-dollars.html

http://www.lovenorthaustin.com/1/post/2012/03/where-will-the-city-spend-your-60.html
http://www.lovenorthaustin.com/1/post/2012/03/what-60-will-buy-you-nothing.htm

_Again, my apologies for sending so many notices  this month but I am angry.

After the last notice we sent out, I got an email from somebody on a fixed budget. She can't afford to give up her house, but she is being squeezed out of it by the ever escalating house taxes. $60 more a year would be a big hit in the pocketbook for her.

So instead of being polite, I am going to be blunt. This email is for her and for the other North Austinites who can't afford to keep paying house taxes for bond packages that only benefit downtown.

The bond committee will be having a public workshop for North Austinites to weigh in on where we think the monies for the 2012 bond package should be spent.

The meeting will be at 6:30 at the Gus Garcia Rec Center on East Rundberg, across from Doby Middle School.

The Bond Committee was very careful to give us only a couple of weeks to get the word out, and has done as little advertising as possible, which says a lot about where this boondoogle is going.

It also says they hope you don't care.

*They hope you don't care that this bond package will add another $60 a year to your house taxes:

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/1-5-billion-wish-list-of-austin-bond-2185022.html

*They hope you don't care that North Austin and North Central Austin is now 20% of the City according to the 2010 Census, but we are the last to get monies for anything in Austin:

http://2010.census.gov/2010census/popmap/ipmtext.php?fl=48:4805000

(the numbers are available in a more user friendly format here: http://www.lovenorthaustin.com/petition---single-member-district.html)

*They hope you don't care that in 2009, a pedestrian study of North Lamar was done but blatantly ignored by the City:

http://nlct.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/final-report-n-lamar-ped-safety-study-010709.pdf

*They hope you don't care that the 2010 bond package was 90 million dollars, and yet the spending was not done by population or need, it was done by downtown bias:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2010-06-25/1044421/

*They hope you don't care that while we continue to have pedestrian/vehicle accidents because the 2009 study was ignored, Lady Bird Lake got a 16 million dollar boardwalk, which has somehow become a $20 million dollar boardwalk:

http://www.kvue.com/home/Bids-for-Lady-Bird-Lake-Boardwalk-exceed-budget-by-millions-140068423.html

*They hope you don't care that according to a KXAN news report on December 12th: "the city has identified it (North Lamar) as probably “the riskiest stretch for all pedestrians in Austin.”

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/activists-want-accessible-sidewalks

*They hope you don't care that the bond committee and the City are now trying to ignore a second transportation study that was just completed showing there are over 600 accidents a year on North Lamar and Burnet:

http://www.austinstrategicmobility.com/corridors/lamar-burnet/

*They hope you don't care that while the City preaches public transportation, they continue to pursue a policy where three of the 6 bus routes with the highest riderships are not given funding because those routes are being serviced by North Lamar and Burnet and North Austin is not a priority:

Route 1, with the highest ridership, runs along North Lamar.
Route 300 ties into North Lamar.
Route 325 ties into Burnet.
 http://capmetroblog.com/2012/02/02/a-few-words-about-productivity/

*They hope you don't care that yet another bicyclist was killed on North Lamar, while the bond committee contined to deliberate on whether this second study was important enough to be funded by the next bond package:

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/bicyclist-killed-in-collision
 
http://weareaustin.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_658.shtml?wap=0

I think we do care and we are fed up.

Imagine what we could've done with the $ 8 million the City spent on repairing existing sidewalks downtown?

Imagine what we could've done with $16 million dollars spent on North Lamar and Burnet, instead of a boardwalk?

I am hoping those of you reading this will decide two hours of your life at a meeting is certainly worth protesting yet another bond package that will return nothing to our neighborhoods. I am also hoping you will help us get the word out so your friends and neighbors can come and speak up as well.

Also, a lot of people have been asking about the North Lamar/Burnet Study and what exactly it entails.

The Coalition has spoken to those doing the study and they have graciously loaned us their presentation material.  This means the North Austin Candidate's Forum will now be a two-fer.

We will have the mayor, city council members, and those running against them at the forum, which will go from 7pm-8:30pm. We will also have the Transportation Study presentation materials up, and the doors will open at 6:30pm. We have the hall until 10pm if people need more time after the forum to take another look. (If you missed it before, the Forum is April 18th, at St. Alberts on Metric)

Again - its all about democracy and giving YOU the information so you can decide who to vote for and if you want to support the study .

My previous two posts about this issue are here:

http://www.lovenorthaustin.com/1/post/2012/03/where-will-the-city-spend-your-60.html
http://www.lovenorthaustin.com/1/post/2012/03/what-60-will-buy-you-nothing.htm

Again, I apologize for another sending another email and for the tone of this email, but why should the woman who wrote me pay $60 for nothing?

Why should any of us?

-Mary Rudig
North Austin Community Newsletter Editor

NOTE: we will also have voter registars at the March 21st meeting and the April 18th candidates forum, so please come if you need to register to vote!!

How to Contact the Bond Committee:

Social Media – Twitter (#ATXBD) & Facebook

Email – bonddevelopment@austintexas.gov

Hotline (Voicemail & Text) – (512) 539-0060

Centralized Website: www.AustinTexas.gov/BondDevelopment

You can also access our email on this issue here:

http://www.icontact-archive.com/gV8wd5ityKfvqoWQQdiDTyniK6lua59H?w=3

The Bond Committe will be holding workshops at the following times and locations.

•Tuesday, March 20, 2012 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the First Evangelical Free Church, 4220 Monterey Oaks Blvd.

•Wednesday March 21, 2012 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Gus Garcia Recreation Center, 1201 E. Rundberg Ln.

•Thursday, March 29, 2012  from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Dove Springs Recreation Center, 5801 Ainez Dr.

•Saturday, March 31, 2012 (Time to Be Announced) at Anderson High School, 8403 Mesa Dr.

Remember, the City wants to put a $400 million dollar bond package on the ballot for November. That's $40-60 dollars more a year in your house taxes. This is your chance to come, speak up, and tell them what you want.

Here is what City Departments have requested:

Austin Public Library                                                        $8,042,000
Austin Transportation Department                             $274,500,000    
Economic Growth & Redevelopment Services            $2,000,000
EMS                                                                                  $3,788,000
Fire                                                                               $138,815,000
General Facilities                                                        $105,758,000    
Health & Human Services Department                       $12,991,000
Neighborhood Housing & Community Development $91,100,000
Parks & Recreation Department                               $141,300,000    
Planning & Development  Review Department       $300,750,000
Police                                                                           $142,870,000
Public Works                                                               $220,744,000    
Watershed Protection Department                             $50,000,000    

TOTAL:                                                                      $1,492,658,000   
 
So $1,092,658,000  is going to get chopped.  Unless we are willing  to get involved and voice our concerns, then we will probably get stuck forking out another $60 a year for nothing.

The death toll on North Lamar continues while the City considers whether or not to include the North Lamar/Burnet study in the 2012 Bond Package.

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/bicyclist-killed-in-collision

http://weareaustin.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_658.shtml?wap=0

I have been deliberating sending out this update, but decided we have a duty to let North Austinites to know what is coming - which is yet another hike in our house taxes, with nothing to show for it at our end of town.
 
Last October, the City started pulling together a bond committee to look at what projects would be selected for a 400 million dollar bond package to be put on the 2012 ballot. At first glance, some of these things sound good: improvements to things like fire and police safety, and libraries. The bottom line, though, is there is something really wrong with the math.
 
I'd like to walk you through the numbers.
 
78758, 78757, 78753 (sorry, I made a typo in my original email), and 78759 are the zipcodes serviced by North Lamar and Burnet. That is 150,000 people who use those roads - 20% of Austin. The North Lamar/Study shows we had 770 accidents on North Lamar and 440 accidents on Burnet in the past 2 years.
 
Now if 20% of Austinites are being serviced by two roads that are failing so badly there are 600 accidents a year, that's a major problem, right?
 
Which is why I decided to send this email.  As far as I can tell, neither the City nor the bond committee sees any urgency to get the improvements suggested by North Lamar/Burnet study included in the next bond package.
 
This is where I can't seem to get the math to work out in my head. This new bond package is going to cost each of us probably $40-60 more a year on house taxes. I am all for improving things in the city - but my house taxes went up again for the fourth straight year, and now it looks I am expected to shell out more money next year, and for what?
 
So we can have another 600 accidents on North Lamar and Burnet next year?
 
So we can have more 17 pedestrians hit on North Lamar next year, which also just happens to carry the North Lamar bus route, which has the highest ridership in the city?
 
And of course, lets not forget, these accidents will continue occur while people downtown get to walk safely on the $20 million dollar boardwalk around Ladybird Lake. (which somehow wound up costing $4 million dollars more than the City promised)
 
We have found out that the bond committee is tentatively scheduling a public meeting on the bond package on March 21st, at Gus Garcia Rec Center on East Rundberg, across from Dobie Middle School.
 
We don't have any more info right now about this meeting (we will continue provide you more details as soon we get them), but we wanted to give North Austinites the heads up that you will have a chance to come and tell the bond committee what you think about the City making North Lamar/Burnet such a low priority.
 
Remember - its your $60 they are spending.
 
Update, North Austin Community Newsletter
Editor, Mary Rudig