Here’s the takeaway from some comments made during the forum that was hosted by the West Austin Chamber of Commerce and moderated by Steiner Ranch resident Paul O’Brien:
Introductions
- Flannigan, a 20-year Austinite and small-business owner, ran the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce for 10 years and co-founded the Northwest Austin Coalition. His main platform issues include coordinating and initiating the Anderson Mill Road corridor study that led to its inclusion in Austin's Mobility Bond; dealing with property crime; aiding public transportation and protecting the Balcones Canyonland Preserve.
- “Chamber work is very close to my heart and helping small and locally owned businesses grow and prosper and find good employees and find good customers has been a part of my advocacy for many years.”
- Zimmerman, a fifth-generation Texan, earned degrees in mechanical engineering. His major political accomplishments include creating the city’s first local district constituent office; producing live City Council testimony from a local district office; defeating an annexation demand from the city of Austin for Old Lampasas Trail residents; and opposing Travis County’s recent courthouse bond proposal.
- “The purpose of government is to preserve your God-given rights. I’ve been critical of city staff because in my view they have such an unbelievable dominant power over your elected officials.”
Inclusion of Anderson Mill Road repairs in city of Austin Mobility Bond
- Zimmerman said the city of Austin staff displayed they had a deep understanding of the problems on Anderson Mill Road and knew for a decade or more that repairs on the road were needed. He said the problem is Anderson Mill was already a narrow road and the city narrowed the road more to put in bike lanes, causing a dangerous situation. He said the city does not have an information or communication problem but rather an agenda from city staff that "they do not want to fix the congestion problems.”
- Flannigan said his Anderson Mill Road corridor study did not involve just counting the number of accidents on the roadway but brought the community together by compiling people’s experiences on the road. He said improvements needed for the road include fixing drainage ditches to get sidewalks to bus stops; repairing the geometry of the street; and improving the signal timing at Spicewood Parkway and Olson Drive. He said his work eventually led to the inclusion of the roadway into the city's upcoming transportation bond.
Improving ingress/egress for Vandegrift High School/Four Points Middle School campus
West Austin Chamber of Commerce's District 6 forum featured candidate Don Zimmerman.[/caption]- Zimmerman said he still supports the city of Austin road plan from 1984, but the city has a policy of not building roads. He said there are two ways to get a road onto the campus: either with an easement on the adjacent 3M property by the power lines or to use the city's original 1984 plan. He said the city already has the property to put a road in to access the back side of Vandegrift and does not need 3M’s property.
- “We can start working on [the road] next week if the political will was there to get it done.”
West Austin Chamber of Commerce's District 6 forum featured candidate Jimmy Flannigan.[/caption]
Flannigan said it is a challenge for anyone to think a 30-year-old road plan is going to work today since much has been built in the last 30 years. He said the council can build a city road through the adjacent 3M property since it is up for sale and can do so in conjunction with the sale to a new owner. He said he reached out to 3M and city staff to get the right of way needed to connect Four Points Drive to the school campus and provide two exits out of the area.
- “You’re not going to be able to build a ridiculous road through the canyonlands where the federal government, which controls that land, is not going to allow it.”
Annexation of Steiner Ranch by city of Austin
- Flannigan said he does not support annexing Steiner Ranch. He said River Place cannot get de-annexed and that idea is not a realistic option. He said council members have to be able to work with their colleagues across the dais to get problems fixed.
- “I don’t think it’s something the city taxpayers are willing to pay to fix and I don’t think it’s something that Steiner Ranch people want to start paying, to fix other problems in the city. I don’t support further annexations.”
- Zimmerman said he does not support annexing Steiner Ranch and did not support the city of Austin's annexation of River Place. He said property owners should have a vote on whether to be annexed, and River Place has de-annexation rights.
- “In my view, River Place should not have been annexed; they did not ask to be annexed, they were annexed against their will. It’s in the best interest of the city because the city gets to collect extra tax money and they get to force the taxpayers to pay an additional limited district tax to support their parks and trails.”
Proposition 1/Ridesharing/Transportation network companies
- Flannigan said the root of Proposition 1 was Uber and Lyft did not like the city's regulations, so they put petitions together to put the regulations on the ballot. He said the TNCs spent $10 million of their corporate money to influence Austin's local electorate and lost. He said he opposed Proposition 1 and traffic issues are the same with or without TNCs—"One person in one car is the same whether you’re driving the car or your Uber driver is driving the car." However, he said TNCs are useful for rides after people have been drinking.
- Zimmerman said when he canvassed the District 6 neighborhood in 2014, he did not have a single constituent ask him to tackle Uber and Lyft. About 90 percent of the people complained about traffic congestion, he said. When rideshare regulation came up, he said his objection to the council was that people wanted to focus on traffic congestion and not Uber and Lyft. He voted against Proposition 1 and said the city wanted more money out of TNCs and desired to protect the taxi franchises.
CodeNext
- Zimmerman said he is opposed to CodeNext because it is millions of dollars overdue and will not solve anything. He said he has not seen a draft of Code Next, which is very concerning.
- Flannigan said CodeNext is a complicated issue and the city has the most complicated land-use code in the nation. He said fixing its land-use code is important and will affect transportation.
YMCA opening in Four Points
- Zimmerman said he does not support public/private projects because hundreds of nonprofit groups get city funding and there is no real way to audit where the money is going. He suggested the YMCA be built with private funds and not by commingling city and private financing.
- Flannigan said nonprofit agencies do not have the funds they need, and it is important for cities to partner with them. He said city funds can allow these organizations to provide services for the community and without having "deep dives" on the nature of the services provided.
