Page Two
Light rail is coming, sooner or later, because it's a necessary part of our long-term traffic solution.
By Louis Black, Fri., Nov. 30, 2001
Light rail is not going to come back because the liberal enviro spendthrift schemers want it. Nor is it as simple as the secret schemes of the boondoggle benefactors, rudderless politicians, and always-getting-richer lobbyists.
The reason is simple. The city needs it. Drop politics out of the equation. You have a dense downtown. A dense/alive downtown is a good idea, core to the city's health. As the surrounding developments grow, downtown will become ever more densely populated. A primarily car-dependent transportation system will lead to ever more gridlock. At that point the public will demand alternative forms of transportation. It is also the time the public will begin to substantially use alternative forms of transportation. They won't succeed for ideological reasons; they'll succeed when they make it easier to get around.
Show me a way out that doesn't involve some form of mass transit. Let them build the parking garages of the most pro-car fanatics' dreams. Let them pave the Hill Country into a parking lot. Neither of those sounds like viable solutions to downtown congestion. Even in a more moderate form, they both actually contribute to downtown traffic. What is the long-term solution?
Over the next few years, the traffic situation will improve. The current economy will slow the growth of suburban development; the loss of jobs will lead to a lessening of traffic. One of the ripple effects of the economy will be to slow the amount of downtown construction, which will free up streets. This improvement may seem to argue against long-term planning. It doesn't. It does suggest this is an optimum time to move forward.
You don't like light rail. Give me a reasonable 100-year, core-Austin transportation plan that doesn't include mass transportation. The road builders know this. When Chronicle Publisher Nick Barbaro attended a presentation on the I-35 expansion by the project engineers hired by TxDOT, the map clearly showed light rail in place, and the road builders said they were counting on light rail for their projections to work. They understand that an integrated transportation system is the only option for the future. Every argument I've heard against light rail has to do with short-term economic liquidity. This is a specious argument undertaken by both sides. Light rail is an investment in our future. Okay then, what are the reasonable, political achievable alternatives? (In my fantasyland it would all be on dedicated right-of-way, but that just isn't feasible.) List them and let's talk.
Robert Bryce started as a dance writer. Evolving, he became one of Austin's most established political/environmental reporters and one of the Chronicle's most valued writers. Hired away for a small fortune, Bryce joined the dot-com gold rush. Now's he's back and on our cover to tell us all about it.
Against my better judgment and more decent instincts, I'll point out that The Austin Chronicle proofreaders will be hosting Boggle of the Bands for Book-Learnin', a benefit for Literacy Austin, on Sunday, Dec. 2, at Threadgill's World Headquarters, from 3pm to 6pm. This is a Chronicle 20th Anniversary event.
Come play Boggle: Chronicle proofers will referee, other staff will wander around, there will be prizes and live music (see p.95 for more). The proofers are to the rest of the Chronicle as the smuggling clans of Andorra are to Spain and France. There is order and industry on every side of them, which affects their traditions naught. This doesn't mean they don't work; it's more that they have a shadow government with shadow rules, and I'm not exactly sure what their purpose is. Come, play boggle, have fun. I'm making these proofers (who privately refer to themselves as the "Usage Panel") a lot more glamorous than they really are. 
