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Car-Free
Austin |
Nov. 5, 2001 |
Research/Tips: Chuck McNeil, SOS Alliance, Michael Zakes Editor: Michael Bluejay |
Sponsored by Easy Street Recumbents | Austin's first & only recumbent-only dealer |
Contents
Courteous Mass |
Courteous Mass this Friday!
Vote NO on Travis County Road Bonds |
Environmentalists
& Neighborhoods oppose road bonds,
Developers support them
(surprise, surprise)
The Nov. 6th election includes four county bond proposals totaling $185 million, mostly for road-building to encourage suburban sprawl. We recommend a NO vote on all four proposals.It's not just some crazy radical bicyclists who are against these bonds. Other groups opposing all the bonds include the Save our Springs Alliance, Austin Sierra Club, Austin Neighborhoods Together, and the Travis County Green Party. And the Austin Neighborhoods Council, Travis County Democratic Women and Zilker Neighborhood Association, and the Austin Chronicle oppose all of propositions except No. 2.
It's equally telling to have a look at what groups are supporting the bonds: the Real Estate Council of Austin (RECA) and the Austin Chamber of Commerce. Well gee, why wouldn't they support what amounts to welfare for developers? The RECA alone has put nearly $50,000 into the pro-bond campaign. And no wonder: They'd love to dupe taxpayers into funding projects that will make millions of dollars for their developer buddies.
So
what's wrong with the bond proposals?
The road projects would worsen congestion and sprawl.
Easy
Street Recumbents
City taxpayers would be
screwed.
The tax burden is too great.
They're too expensive.
The projects would increase air and water pollution.
The bonds are welfare for the rich.
Even the parks proposal has problems.
Even more problems with SH 130.
What others are saying
Voter
Resources
Mayoral
Endorsement: Jennifer Gale
Though Gus Garcia is
well-liked and is expected to take the mayor's race by a landslide,
we just wouldn't feel comfortable endorsing him. For starters,
Garcia
helped enact the widely unpopular helmet
law a few years back, and
then failed to fully repeal it. Also, Garcia appeared on the radio
show we used to host and stated his support for banning cars from
bike lanes, though he didn't do anything about that once he was
re-elected.
Not much is known about Jennifer Gale, but the Oct. 26 Austin Chronicle notes that she supports rail transit within the city (though not the existing light rail plan), as well as converting some streets into bike-only avenues. For our purposes, that'll have to be good enough.
We'd never suggest that voters base their decision for a candidate on one issue alone, but voters can form an overall impression of a candidate by looking at various individual issues. Our job is to look at one of those individual issues.
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Thanks for reading this far. Ride safely! :) -MBJ-
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