Archive for June 2010

 
 

OPEN HOUSE on the City’s Proposed Mobility Bond Package

What: OPEN HOUSE on the City’s Proposed Mobility Bond Package

Part of the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan

When: 4pm-8pm, June 17, 2010

Where: Austin City Hall, 301 W. 2nd Street

Why: Whether it’s traffic congestion on MoPac or
incomplete sidewalks in your neighborhood, transportation is Austin’s
No. 1 issue. As part of the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, the city
is assembling a package of transportation improvements that could go
before the voters in a bond election as soon as this November.

The Open House is another chance for citizens to learn about important
short-term and long-term transportation projects and share their
ideas. Since December, thousands of Austinites have offered their
input to the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan at public forums and via
the AustinSMP.com Web portal.

Visuals:
Maps, visuals and graphics available for future transportation projects

Available Sources:
City staff from the Austin Transportation Department
Members of the Council-appointed Citizens Task Force
Members of the City Council may also be present at the Open House

Project Website: www.AustinStrategicMobility.com

For More Information:
Karla Taylor Villalón, Austin Transportation Department
512.974.7246 • Karla.Villalon@ci.austin.tx.us

North Austin: City Budget – Give Online Feedback

The city is giving people a chance to provide online feedback on the City Budget here:

http://www.cityofaustin.org/citymgr/budget_input.htm

Quick reminder! The second Comprehensive Survey closes on June 30th. Please help us get out the word this month and tell the City that North Austin wants a say in this Survey:

http://www.imagineaustin.net/survey.htm

NOTE: This is a very short survey and the ONLY place to give feedback is on the first page of the survey. Make sure you leave some feedback on the first page – there is a box for extra notes!

more info on the Comprehensive Plan is here: http://www.imagineaustin.net/getinvolved.htm

Steven Zettner from Sustainable Neighborhoods of North Central Austin also sent us the following information which we wanted to make you aware of, including the results for the 78757 and 78758 for the Mobility survey:

Tues 6/15 – SN to Hold Comp Planning “Meeting in a Box”

Sustainable Neighborhoods will hold a meeting on Tuesday, June 15, to provide formal feedback on the City’s Comprehensive Planning process. Participants will provide feedback on the draft vision statement, and on where and under what circumstances new housing is appropriate.

Please RSVP if you want to attend the meeting, so we have the right number of forms.

The meeting is 6:30 to 8:00 PM at the Village Christian Apartments activity room, 7925 Rockwood Ln.

Ask the City to Make the Comp Plan Vision More Friendly for Pedestrians, Children, Seniors, Disabled

Whether you attended a Comp Planning meeting or not, you can influence the Comp Planning vision statement by submitting a survey here: http://www.imagineaustin.net/survey.htm.

We’re asking people to suggest changes to statement L6 on new development. Change “walkable” to “pedestrian-friendly,” and state emphatically the need for development near neighborhoods to be friendly to families with children, seniors, and persons with disabilities. Since many people don’t see the Downtown “day and nighttime urban lifestyle” described in L4 as family-friendly, we’re suggesting that the term “urban lifestyle” be removed from L6 to avoid confusion.

Thu 6/17 – Public Forum to Review Transportation Gap Priorities

The City of Austin Transportation Department will hold a public forum from 4 to 8 PM, Thursday 6/17 in Council chambers to gather feedback on a draft list of prioritized mobility projects. The list with any changes will then be presented to Council.

SN has requested more detail on the priority scores assigned to each project so that we can more effectively defend the need for the following projects:

1. #2344 Airport Blvd improvements – ranked 14 with score of 81.88
2. #881 Burnet Rd Sidewalks – ranked 37 with score of 72.73
3. #1735 Rails with Trails – currently ranked 51 with score of 67.67. Emphasize need to acquire easement along track between Lamar and Morrow. Increase score to reflect Crestview Station as an activity center.
4. #295 Anderson Urban Trail – currently ranked 187 with score of 53.38. This project, supported by NSCNA and area property owners, is comparable with other projects that got a much higher score, and deserves to be reevaluated for implementability, support of modes, and location in an activity center.
5. #623 MetroRapid Transit Plazas. This item was removed from the list but deserves to be reinstated. SN met with the Transportation Department to propose a “first step” project that would add more depth from the street for MetroRapid bus shelters. Staff agreed with the need for this and we hope to get the project reinstated.
6. #226 Lamar Sidewalks Koenig to Justin. This item was removed from the list but deserves to be reinstated with a score roughly comparable to #881.

We hope you will come out and speak in favor of these projects, or send a supporting email to info@austinstrategicmobility.com. You can also contact info@snaustin.org for advice on supporting other North Central Austin projects, or attend the SN meeting on Tuesday 6

SNAPPatx.org 2-minute Transportation Survey Results for 78757, 78758

SNAPPatx.org released to Sustainable Neighborhoods the results of a 2-minute Transportation Survey taken in May, for respondents from 78757 and 78758. 78757 is centered around Burnet at Anderson, and 78758 is north of 183 between Burnet and Lamar. The survey is not scientific, but gives some indication of transportation priorities from residents in North Central Austin.

People were asked to allocate $100 across four types of projects, or “Other”. Average funds allocated per respondent are as follows:

Regionally significant projects

78757 $31

78758 $33

Central Austin, focus on sidewalks, bike paths, transit

78757 $37

78758 $22

Suburban Austin, focus on Express buses, Park and Rides, HOV lanes

78757 $17

78758 $28

“Complete Streets” projects on major corridors

78757 $32

78758 $30

Other projects

78757 $36

78758 $33

Among 23 responses in the “Other” category in 78757, 14 were for improvements to sidewalk, bike or transit infrastructure, 5 were for improvements to road infrastructure, 2 were mixed, and 2 were against bonds.

Among 19 responses in the “Other” category in 78758, 8 were for improvements to sidewalk, bike or transit infrastructure, 6 were for improvements to road infrastructure, and 5 were mixed or other.

A total of 108 people responded from 78757, of whom 56% were female and 57% aged 45 or older. A total of 91 people responded from 78758, of whom 57% were female and 65% aged 45 or older.

For more on the survey, visit www.snappatx.org.

Diagnosis: Cost – An Initial Look at the Federal Health Care Legislation’s Impact on Texas

In March 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (HR 3590) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (HR 4872) into law. This legislation will have far-reaching effects on the state’s budget as well as its citizens, its businesses and, thus, its economy.

This report, Diagnosis: Cost – An Initial Look at the Federal Health Care Legislation’s Impact on Texas (PDF, 832 KB), includes our preliminary estimates of these effects. It should be noted that many factors are still unknown as the supporting rules have not been written by the federal government. In fact, out of the 78 major provisions examined in this report, there were 50 for which the fiscal impact could not be determined at this time.

The Comptroller’s office continues to monitor the latest developments regarding federal changes to the health care system and will update the fiscal impact estimates included in this report as the supporting rules and other information become available. Sign up to receive e-mail updates.

Upcoming Health Care Report

In fall 2010, the Comptroller will publish a larger report examining the effects of health care spending on Texas finances to provide all interested parties with a solid analysis of the overall cost of health care to the state. This report will capture the total costs to the state of health care, including direct health-related services and the accompanying administrative costs. The report also will provide in-depth analysis of factors driving the cost of health care and examine regional differences in costs in the Employees Retirement System and Medicaid.

View links to the full text of the federal health care legislation and other resources.

More information is available here:
http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/healthFed/

Your input wanted on possible City budget cuts

City Manager Marc Ott and his staff have set up an online forum to gather public feedback on possible budget cuts in fiscal year 2011. The two forums: Potential Service Reductions and Unmet Service Demands. The highest votegetters in the possible reductions arena (at this point) are: no longer co-sponsoring community special events for freeno longer paying $6 to each person who shows up but isn’t picked for jury duty, and halting the Trail of Lights festival. If you’d like to have even the slightest input into how the city continues to fund services (libraries, AFD, EMS, APD, etc.), it’s worth participating in this attempt. Note: a Budget Input Forum will also be held at the Convention Center on June 15, 2010 from 6-9 p.m. [City of Austin]