It's not often that I'd post an entire explanation from an elected official. But given the complaints from the local Austin neighborhood/environs who, while well meaning, I believe are wrong on the 'contentious' development proposal known as the Grayco PUD... let's just say that everything in this explanation from Councilman Chris Riley is worth reading.
From Austin Councilmember Chris Riley...
If you want to understand why I voted for the Grayco project on first reading—and why that vote is consistent with my campaign pledges—a good starting point is this street view of Lakeshore Boulevard, about ¾ of a mile east of I-35, looking east: (give it a minute to load).
On the left (north of Lakeshore) is Lady Bird Lake and beautiful, green parkland with both a trail and a sidewalk. This image fits the community’s vision for Lady Bird Lake, and the Grayco project would leave it untouched.
On the right (south of Lakeshore) is a very different scene. Other than the trees along Lakeshore, there’s nothing green about this area: just surface parking behind a steel fence and 2-story, 1970s-style apartment buildings. It is a bleak, car-dominated setting, inaccessible to the public, and I don’t believe it fits the community’s vision for our waterfront.
Without PUD zoning, the owner of this property could rebuild these apartment buildings up to 60 feet high (5 stories). There would be no requirement to provide public access, non-residential uses, or any affordable housing at all.
The owner is proposing something different. Under this proposal, the steel fencing along Lakeshore would be removed and the surface parking would be replaced with greenspace at least 50 feet wide. Instead of the 5-story buildings allowed under current zoning, the existing buildings would be replaced with buildings up to 7 stories tall (90 feet), which would be at least 390 feet from the lake. In exchange for this additional height, the owner would provide community benefits including the following:
· Affordability: Contribution to the city’s Affordable Housing Assistance Fund (at least $1.5 million), and/or affordable units onsite.
· Connectivity: Extension of the urban grid throughout the project, including additional driveways to Lakeshore Blvd.
· Mixed use: Pedestrian-oriented uses at ground level.
· Bicycle-pedestrian amenities: Sidewalks and bike lanes throughout the project, a trail across the front, showers for employees in the commercial spaces, and 3 car-sharing spaces.
· Water quality: A regional wet pond, capturing the runoff from the entire site and over 100 acres offsite.
· Parkland: Contribution of $225,000 for additional trail facilities along the lake (in addition to about $800,000 in required fees).
· Trees: Preservation of the trees along Lakeshore Boulevard (21 in place, 2 relocated and 3 removed) and along Town Creek; restoration of greenspace for better tree growth.
· Greenbuilding: 3 stars from the Austin Energy Green Building Program.
· Public safety: Free space for an APD substation for 25 years.
· Community space: 1000sf rent-free for community meetings, a day care, or a non-profit for 25 years.
· Local small business: Retail space for a local business at 15 percent below market.
· Art: Public plazas with public art.
· Historic preservation: $25,000 for preservation of the Norwood House.
· Parking: No visible parking (all below-grade or integrated).
In light of all the benefits it offers, the proposed project has been recommended by every citizens’ board that has reviewed it: the Environmental Board, the Bicycle Advisory Council, and the Planning Commission. It has also been favorably reviewed by both the Austin Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman.
With the proliferation of texting, tweeting, facebooking, mobile internet, push notification, and e-mail everywhere, American's and Austinites are on their phones more and more. Texting while driving bans is a new public policy floating around similar to the hands free headset requirements for talking in the late 90's and early part of this decade.
That debate has come to Austin.
Mayor Lee Leffingwell, Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez and Councilmember Chris Riley are sponsoring a City Council resolution calling for the prohibition of text messaging and internet use while driving.
"Studies make this very clear," said Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez. "And, common sense reinforces what we already know; using a phone while driving is very dangerous and is factor in many traffic incidents."
The City Council agenda item directs the City Manager to prepare ordinance to prohibit the writing, sending or reading of text messages, instant messages and emails or viewing the internet on a mobile phone or other portable electronic device.
"Multi-tasking while driving is not a good practice," said Mayor Lee Leffingwell. "With kids headed back to school we should all take this time to be very aware on the road and put an end to text messaging while driving."
The City Council resolution also calls on the City Manager to create an ordinance requiring a three-foot safe passing distance for vulnerable road users.
"We are a bicycling community. We need to immediately create a safer environment for bicyclists and other vulnerable road users," said Councilmember Chris Riley. "Let's share our roadways together, safely".
This is a smart, timely proposal. Countless studies have already shown the risk of talking and driving. Texting and internet use seem far worse. Both require you to actually take your eyes off the road for long durations of time, and in a city that doubles in size every 20 years, our roads are getting too full to take these risks.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has shown that text messaging while driving increases the risk of a crash or near crash by 20 times.
Already, Texas State law beginning September 1, will ban all drivers in Texas school crossing zones from talking on hand-held phones and texting.
A selection of items you might find interesting related to the City of Austin.
This is from a couple weeks back, but the Austin Contrarian had an interesting post that takes a little deeper look into the downtown Night Parking issue that bubbled up as a campaign issue in the recent mayor's race. Worth a read.
One of the undertones that went unsaid but most certainly not unnoticed during the Place 1 race this spring was that Councilman-elect Riley was one of the wealthy downtown elite. A fellow Austin blogger did a little digging and put up a post recently that looked at the home appraisal value for the incoming members of the council. And while that may be a rough indicator of personal "wealth" I think that more than one reader might be interested to know that of those members he found records for (minus McCracken and Martinez), Riley actually had the lowest appraised home value.
While his $358,000 valuation is most certainly above average, it pales in comparison to Councilwoman Cole's $944,000 and Councilwoman Morrison's stunning $1.4 million home.
The City of Austin scrapped it's plans to go with a California company's bid to redo the city website. Instead, it's going to put out a new request for proposals that will include some tweaks that will make it more attractive to a broader range of companies. And of course, the work of OpenAustin.org is out there to gin up interest on what direction that new process and proposals might take.
One idea that would be great to see in a new city website, or over at CapMetro's site, is an online tool like this created for New York City's subway system.
And lastly, I'm curious as to the thoughts of our broader readership as to their responses to this statement by a former roommate of mine about Austin. He now lives in Chicago and to be fair, grew up in Pflugerville which I think greatly distorts one's image of Austin, but do others share this opinion?
I hate Austin because it's a suburb without a city, sprawling across 300 square miles but containing easily less than one square mile of actually worthwhile things. It's modernist office parks, one-story houses with huge overgrown or dead yards on trashy streets, and miles and miles and miles of tire stores, gas stations, abandoned malls with fried chicken restaurants in the parking lots, and insurance shops targeted at people without Social Security numbers. There is so much pavement. You're always squinting from the chartreuse light reflected off of it. You can drive - and you have to drive, or take a 75ยข ride on an after-thought of a bus - from one corner to the other without encountering a single intriguing person or thing. There's a small downtown area, Congress Avenue and 6th Street mostly, that visitors see and rave about, but that's not Austin. Austin is reading road signs and exiting the highway.
Runoff is Saturday, June 13; Riley Defeats Cavazos Nearly 2:1 in Place 1
Mayoral candidates Lee Leffingwell and Brewster McCracken will be forced to go to a runoff to decide who will be the next Mayor of Austin. The runoff will be Saturday, June 13.
With 100% of precincts reporting, Lee Leffingwell finished with a commanding lead on the field of five candidates with 47.26% of the vote. He won almost the same percentage of votes through the early vote period as he did on election day. Full results can be found here:
Election results from the Travis County Elections Division were reported throughout the night here at Burnt Orange Report through our site's new @texaselections widget. The results tally 58,630 votes cast, representing 13.01% of registered voters.
For about twenty minutes in the evening it looked like Leffingwell may tick up fast enough to reach the 50% threshold. But as more boxes came in, the returns evened out, and it became clear that a highly anticipated runoff would soon become a reality. Behind Leffingwell, Brewster McCracken won 26.8% of the vote, which will be enough to send him into a runoff. Slightly behind McCracken, once-Austin mayor and former Texas State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn finished has 21.43% of the vote, leaving her in a disappointing third place.
Burnt Orange Report writer David Mauro reported earlier in the night that in 1997, Ronney Reynolds conceded rather than face a runoff against Kirk Watson, who received 48.47% in his initial election. However, McCracken's campaign has clearly stated that McCracken will go forward for the runoff.
Rounding out the election returns for mayor, David Buttross won 3.84% of the vote, but may still be in for some exciting news. Earlier in the evening he went to the hospital for the possible birth of his second child. KXAN news is reporting Buttross and his wife were expecting a child before the night was over. Fourth place and a new child -- I'll bet he'll still be happy.
Josiah Ingalls, however, will have less to smile about. He finished in last place, with only 0.69% of the vote. Josiah has announced that he will be looking for a job on Monday -- he recently lost his position at the Hilton Hotel.
Riley Defeats Cavazos 65.52% - 34.48% in Place 1; Spellman, Martinez, & Cole Win Big
In the Austin City Council Place 1, which was expected to be the only other real contest on the ballot, Chris Riley defeated Perla Cavazos with over 65.52% of the vote. Cavazos thanked Riley for a hard-fought campaign, as Riley celebrated his victory with many supporters tonight, including Burnt Orange Report writer and Riley campaign manager, Katherine Haenschen.
In Place 2, Mike Martinez won a commanding 84.97% over Jose Quintero. Martinez' 43,630 votes were the most any candidate received in Saturday's election.
In Place 6, Sheryl Cole also won a decisive victory over Osemene Sam. Over 83.17% of voters chose Cole for the seat.
And finally, Bill Spellman won his unanimous election to Austin's Place 6 seat. Though he only needed his own, he did get 43,104 of the 58,630 voters to choose him, anyways.
To re-read Burnt Orange Report's all-night election coverage, scroll through our Twitter widget below for the recaps and updates we posted throughout the night.
We've reached that time, just days before the start of early voting in municipal elections, when campaigns finally take to the airwaves with their television buys. What fantastically awesome and awful ads await us this year? Continue on below to find out!
Mayoral Race: Brewster McCracken
Folksy-ish music? Yes.
On campaign message? Yes.
Walking into City Hall shot? Yes.
Actually see candidate talking? Yes.
Total number of pears left uneaten in family room? 7.
Folksier music? Yes.
On campaign message? It almost runs over you.
Walking into City Hall shot? No, like last year.
Actually see candidate talking? No, like last year.
Haven't we seen this footage before? Yes, like, you get the picture.
Likelihood for Phillip Martin to "hate" this: High.
Creepy, ominous music? Yes.
Creepy, fake cheery voice? Yes.
On campaign message? Yes, if crazy is a message.
City Hall shot? No, apparently City Hall moved since she was mayor.
Place 1: Chris Riley
Folksy music? Yes.
Number of bicycles in ad. 1.
Number of posed children. 5.
Walking into City Hall shot? Yes.
Born and raised inside city hall? Possibly.
Place 1: Perla Cavazos
Folksy music? Oh hell no.
Urban pseudo-latin spicy music? Oh hell yes!
Most memorable but most undefined message? Possibly.
Gives pro-downtown impression when played with sound off? Ironically, yes.
Laura Morrison-esque downtown building hate? NOOOOOOO! (meaning yes).
Number of Cesar Chavez Cavazos Cervezas I need now? Seis.
The Statesman's endorsement of McCracken praises him as a leader who has learned from his mistakes and is ready to lead Austin into the future by investing in clean energy, biotech and digital businesses.
McCracken has a broad view of what Austin needs and how City Hall should manage in a budget crunch. He can build alliances and should be a visible, active mayor. We have not always agreed with McCracken, and he has made his share of mistakes on the council, but he seems to learn from them.
The endorsement, although expected, gives a definite boost to McCracken's campaign, although it could be off set by what seems to be a likely upcoming endorsement by the Austin Chronicle of Lee Leffingwell.
Place 1: Chris Riley
Nearly everyone, including the Statesman, seems to think that both Chris Riley and Perla Cavazos are able candidates who would do a great job for Austin on the City Council.
While little separates Cavazos and Riley in their campaigns, Riley has more experience and we believe is ready for the City Council. Cavazos has a good career ahead of her and with a bit more seasoning will be an even better candidate.
No matter the result in Place 1, the consensus is that Austin will have elected a well-qualified and prepared council member.
The Statesman also endorsed incumbents Mike Martinez and Shery Cole along with Bill Spelman, a former council member who is running unopposed.
If this is what you call getting heated, let's just say it's going to take a long time for us to reach a raging fire in the Place 1 race.
The Austin Chronicle did their roundup of 30-day out campaign finance reports for city elections. Those saw Brewster raise a lot of money, Lee loan some to his campaign, but everyone in the Mayor's race having a decently large amount of cash on hand.
In place 1, Riley is now posting a 2-1 advantage over Cavazos in available campaign cash (about $50k to $25k). BUT the hot buzz was a charge leveled by the Cavazos camp that Riley had incorrectly reported his fundraising leaving $10,000 or so unaccounted for.
Except that they did on the last page of the report! Oh snap!
And by opening that can of worms, it allowed the Riley camp to throw back their own observation, that being that Cavazos not only filed her campaign finance report late, but also had to correct it because they forget to report their bundlers.
Double snap.
The only question I have is how do you run a highly contested council campaign going into the last month with just $25,000 on hand?
It would be hard to find a more qualified new council member than Chris Riley. Austin born and raised, congressional page for Jake Pickle, economics grad from Harvard University, UT law degree, attorney with Tx Supreme Court and private practice since.
He's chaired the Downtown Commission, the Planning Commission, co-founded the Alliance for Public Transportation and Austin CarShare. Founded the Downtown Neighborhood Association and is a member of the Parks Foundation Board. He's a lifelong progressive with a proven track record in Austin.
Perla - beautiful, committed and a compelling life story. Obviously, would represent an addition to the council's diversity (woman and Hispanic). Though, there is NOT a single mutual friend with whom I've spoken who doesn't agree there is NO comparison between the intellectual fire power between the two. Chris is very smart, experienced and knows the city's intricacies.
We need Chris Riley on the Austin City Council. He's shovel ready.
We are encouraged by the fact that regardless of whether Perla Cavazos or Chris Riley is elected to fill the remainder of Councilman Lee Leffingwell's term, the City of Austin will be in good hands. Judging from the split nature that the endorsements from across Austin have run in this race, voters are enjoying the opportunity to pick a side and vision that best fits their views (as well as doing so with a minimum of personal attacks or politics). Similar to the rest of Austin, our staff has supporters on both sides of this race.
The greatest challenge the city council has faced in recent years is its evolution into a mediocre, consensus driven body, often bereft of the passion, hope, and big-city vision which powers its citizens and creative economy on a daily basis. This is not to say that every member must be a champion or an advocate- it is just to say that an occasional clash of ideas based upon personal philosophy rather than personal politics would be nice.
The values expressed in that statement strongly guide our choice of Chris Riley over Perla Cavazos in this election. Our staff has met with and talked directly with the candidates on multiple occasions. We see how the candidates have reacted to questions in multiple forums. Those interactions and experiences lead us to the following conclusions.
Chris Riley wants, needs, and deserves to be on the city council. His passion for good city government is obvious. His vision for a model next-generation city that respects our environment is clear. His values are rooted in the Austin of old, the one he was born in raised in, while his education and lengthy public service give him the credibility to plan for the Austin of tomorrow. Chris Riley brings more than a new vote to the council, he brings a new perspective. He lives what he advocates.
The City Council we elect this year (combined with Randi Shade and Laura Morrison newly elected last year) has a high likelihood of governing Austin well into the next decade. Chris Riley's energy and enthusiasm for "what could be" is needed to create a working coalition that will turn the tide against mediocre, consensus driven policy bereft of imagination at city hall.
Call Chris Riley a geek, call him a nerd; either way we'd also like to call him "Councilman".
Members of the Burnt Orange Report staff employed by campaigns abstain from voting on those races. Endorsements are made based on a weighted consensus of the staff, which guides the type and tone of endorsement.
