Exciting news for transportation progress in Austin today, as CapMetro announced that the long-awaited Red Line would officially roll down the tracks on Monday, March 22. This is a pretty exciting development, given the delays that the project has encountered over the past years.
Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez, the new chair of the Capital Metro Board, released a comment on his website (and his Twitter feed) about the launch. Salient paragraphs excerpted below. You can read the full statement on the blog on his officeholder website.
MetroRail to begin March 22, 2010
The new board at Capital Metro has hit the ground running, and we are committed to working tirelessly on behalf of our communities to realize the mission of our organization. Our mission statement drives us to "provide high-quality, customer focused, effective and efficient transportation services and systems for our communities." To get our agency to the place we all want it to be, we must also gain the necessary community confidence that has not always proven to be there for us. If we strive to fulfill our mission statement exactly as it is stated, I believe that community confidence will follow.
We are all very aware our transit agency has a history with particular issues, and they tend to be the mainstays of people's perception that linger over our heads - a lot of which is not good. We cannot and will not shy away from our past. We must accept and embrace who and where we are today, learn from our past struggles, challenges and success, and move forward in our desire to make Capitol Metro the premier transit agency in the country.
Beyond rail, we have already begun making decisions to improve in strategic areas by creating a more active, involved board with new sub-committees to ensure a more direct interaction by board members on an ongoing basis and to create a more transparent decision making process. We have created a rail operations subcommittee to ensure MetroRail's success, a labor relations subcommittee to help relieve the strain from past negotiations, and an executive search subcommittee to spearhead the nationwide search for our next General Manager. We have also maintained the two existing board subcommittees - audit and finance, as well as operations and planning.
...
Without a doubt, our community demands and deserves a transit agency that is reflective of a world class city. I believe MetroRail will help us achieve that vision for our transit agency. Rest assured, there is no one on this board, nor within the agency, that believes otherwise. As we move forward, we will work on both short and long terms goals simultaneously, as one should not forsake the other. We no longer have the option of pitting one issue against another at CapMetro. It serves no purpose and does nothing to move this agency forward. I am confident with a new, engaged board and new executive leadership, CapMetro is on the road to success so that we can become an agency that not only earns the public trust, but also commands national respect.
Martinez has really hit the ground running since taking over the CapMetro board chairmanship. The previous chair, County Commissioner Margaret Gomez (recently victorious in a primary challenge to her seat) was not widely regarded for her leadership on that board. It is great to see him being so transparent about his leadership of the CapMetro board, and working hard to achieve tangible reports.
Consider this a good sign for the health of CapMetro, and hopefully a positive harbinger of things to come.
Today, less than two months after Mike Villarreal's HB 1937 became effective, the Austin City Council will vote on a resolution to act upon the bill's intentions. Agenda Item Number 39, sponsored by Mayor Leffingwell, would order the City Manager to "study and evaluate the means of implementing a program under HB 1937 to finance the installation of energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy resources by property owners in the City of Austin, in a way that has no cost impact on the City government."
In other words, the the council can take the first step towards a plan that would allow solar panels added to homeowners' houses through property tax based loans. Council Members Randi Shade and Mike Martinez also co-sponsor the legislation, and hopefully the rest of the council will join in support. If passed, though, the council will still need to vote on the final implementation, which would probably occur in January. Regardless, the mayor sounds excited about the idea:
"If successful, it will help make solar energy accessible to many more local residents, help them save money on their home energy bills almost immediately, and continue to build on Austin's growing reputation as a national leader on renewable energy initiatives," Leffingwell said.
Leffingwell said the program could potentially allow the installation of solar panels and energy efficiency upgrades with no up-front cost. The loan would also be tied to the home and would convey when it is sold, the statement said.
Of course, the plan still has its kinks, too. I imagine the City Manager, the Mayor, and their staffs will be able to work them out.
Austin Energy General Manager Roger Duncan is an advocate of solar power but worries that if too many people install solar panels too quickly, the city could have trouble maintaining its grid unless it comes up with a new business model for the utility.
The city government has been promoting solar mainly by offering to pay part of homeowners' installation costs. That subsidy money comes from fees collected from all electric-utility customers.
But the subsidy, or rebate, has proven so popular that the city has had trouble keeping up with demand - $3.3 million of the $4 million the city budgeted for this fiscal year was already committed by Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year.
Thankfully, a loan program like this, more useful to consumers than simple subsides, will can also save the city some money. Unlike those subsidies, the long-term budgeting implications would barely be effective under a solar panel loan program. Worst case scenario: I'd imagine the city could place a cap on the amount of loans it gives out per year. We might need such a restriction, because Austinites are certainly the type to jump on an opportunity like this.
At the current pace, Austin can set itself up to be the first Texas city with such a plan, which may serve as the impetus other cities need to follow through. Rep. Villarreal follows the issue on his blog, and he informs us, "The City of San Antonio and other stakeholders around town have been working to figure out how to implement the program in our community."
Perhaps Austin will show the way.
Update: The Austin City Council passed the resolution on a 7-0 vote.
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.
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.
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.
We wish more councilmembers would be like Mike Martinez. In the past three years, if one looked for the dynamic voices and proactive members of the council Mike Martinez would have been hard to miss. He's provocative, engaged, and invovled in the community. There's not question he's willing to lead and we hope he continues to do so in the future wherever his persuits and interests take him. He's not been shy about expressing his Democratic bonafides and we're not shy in expressing our support for his re-election.
We enthusiastically endorse Mike Martinez for Place 2.
Enough stuff to catch up on that I'm going to dump it all into this post.
Mayor's Race
Carole Strayhorn is apparently too busy to attend 3 forums this week with her opponents. Maybe she'll be too busy to attend City Council meetings as well if she's elected Mayor.
As McCracken has founded his own campaign on forward-looking technologies such as solar power, his adamant defense of the project was no surprise. And as Martinez is surmised to be Leffingwell's proxy on issues the candidate would rather not wade into at the moment, his fulsome call for caution shouldn't surprise either. Maybe most surprising was Lef fing well's virtual absence from the debate - as politicians take pains to appear cautious, they may not want to remain overly so.
Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt writes an unprompted explaining of her endorsement of Leffingwell on her website. Go read it, but also did anyone notice the URL of the post? "a-word-about-jennifer-gale"? I KNEW IT. Jennifer Gale is reaching out to us to endorse Lee Leffingwell from the world beyond.
Speaking of endorsements, Leffingwell is apparently rolling out 2 more groups and 6 more elected officials Friday at Noon at his campaign office. Could that be the turning point? Maybe if those officials start working their communities. I don't think we've seen anything like that in a municipal race in many years.
Mike Martinez unopposed. Iterated his support for Leffingwell during the University Democrats meeting yesterday which I sense is leaning more towards Lee now. That's important because Leffingwell is pretty much guaranteed to win the Central Austin Democrats endorsement meaning he'd get the Austin Progressive Coalition endorsement and 5000+ doorhangers in central Austin as a result.
Austin City Council, Place 5
Bill Spelman unopposed, though there is still a week and a half to file. Not that we want anyone to file since Bill would be excellent on the council.
Upcoming events include...
South Austin House Party (Oak Hill)
Saturday, March 7
2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Home of Valerie & Brian Reis
6516 Rotan Drive, 78749
North Austin House Party
Thursday, March 12
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Home of Dawn & Fred Lewis
4509 Edgemont, 78731
Austin City Council, Place 6
Sheryl Cole still only faces Sam Osemene. Really. That's it. This race is even more boring than Place 2 & 5 and Cole actually has an opponent. Then again, the only question is if she wins by 20 points or 40.
Another early endorser, the Central Labor Council in Austin has met and issued endorsements in the following races.
Mayor: Lee Leffingwell
Place 1: Perla Cavazos
Place 2: Mike Martinez
Place 5: Bill Spelman
Place 6: Sheryl Cole
Someone pointed out these two crazy similar pictures from today's office openings. (The McCracken one being from Michael Bartnett of the Austin Chronicle.) I unfortunately wasn't able to make any of them because my bike got a flat and I was dealing with that today.
And here is some video from today's McCracken office opening.
So I've run through all the campaign finance reports for the reported candidates for office. Mike Levy, while much rumored, hasn't filed to run, and Oak Hill resident Sandy Baldrige is saying she wants to run against Bill Spelman, but no action to actually follow up those claims on the finance front. In any case, below are a couple of different measures of how you can compare the candidates. Incumbents running for re-election to their own offices are in bold.
Cash on Hand
The only thing order-wise that changes if you sort by total funds raised during the period is that incumbent Sheryl Cole moves from 4th to 2nd and incumbent Mike Martinez moves from 2nd to 4th.
Overall: I was mostly right in what I've said to friends that I doubted anyone would end up having more than $25,000. I was wrong about Carole Strayhorn but I didn't think she would end up deciding to run. And while Chris Riley didn't end up with more than $25,000 cash on hand, he did raise more than $25,000 so congrats to him.
Mayor: Overall, I'm a little surprised to see Brewster's fundraising more on par with that of the Place 1 candidates and lagging behind that of Carole. Of course, that could just be because his main fundraiser isn't until later this month, but still, it makes the argument against Leffingwell rather irrelevant (that his delay in getting in will put him far behind in the money race). The Draft Lee PAC certainly is not acting as a real shadow campaign in terms of fundraising, but remember, it cannot transfer funds to Lee's Mayoral account once he files so there is no use in building up tens of thousands of dollars on it that would have to be spent independently of the official campaign. Of course, I also think that Strayhorn and Levy could spent lots of money and get far fewer votes than McCracken and Leffingwell so it could just all be a wash. This report tells us very little in the Mayor's race.
Place 1: My ballpark guess in this race was that the fundraising order would be Riley, Cavazos, then Cofer with totals around $20k, $15k, and then $10k. Both Chris Riley and Rick Cofer exceeded those expectations by a reasonable amount and in the end, they indeed are separated by no more than $10,000. Cofer was the last candidate in this race to announce, and with only 2 weeks to fundraise with Christmas killing about a week of that, nearly tieing Cavazos is worthy of note. I should clarify this point as all 3 candidates filed in the 2nd week of December. What I was trying to get at was that Chris was actively exploring this race and making calls months before he filed (I got an early call when I was in the Strama office before the November election) and Perla was actively talking about it in November, whereas I know Cofer didn't make the decision to run until the first week of December, shortly before he filed because he texted me about it.
Does this report create a frontrunner? I don't know. Last year, in the open Place 4 race, the first report went Morrison, Galindo, Cravey with $21k, $14k, and $12k. Randi Shade led incumbent Jennifer Kim $69k to $44k. Of course all of those were running earlier and in this period, the fundraising period was truncated by a presidential election, late filing, and a bad economy (even though the max contribution limit has increased from $300 to $350).
But if convention wisdom must be set, than I figure it's Cofer and Cavazos competing more with each other to secure a spot in a runoff with Chris Riley.
Place 5: This is all about Bill Spelman. Which is pretty easy to say since there is no sign of his "declared" regional opponent as of yet from Oak Hill. A lot of the same caveats apply as in the Place 5 race (Bill filed with about 3 weeks to fundraise) and it's a hard sell to get people to give you money when (at the time) there was no opponent. So this could end up like the Leffingwell-Meeker race in 2008. Lots of bluster from the 2nd tier candidate, but probably not a whole lot of electoral action with a healthy win.
Other Places: Mike Martinez doesn't have a declared opponent. Sam Osemene is running against Sheryl (he ran for Place 4 against Morrison/Galindo/Cravey last year) but he hasn't filed any report as he appointed his treasurer in January; but if he runs like last time, he won't be a factor other than a repository of votes for people who don't want to vote for Sheryl.
Here are some other interesting breakdowns.
Disclosure: I am listed as having donated $300 of in-kind website development services to the Spelman campaign.
