Dougherty Arts Center
Not So!
RECEIVED Fri., April 8, 2005
Dear Editor,
Normally, I disagree with Amy Babich; I believe retrofitting Austin to bicycle-based transportation (a frequent theme) is unrealistic, as much as I, too, would prefer it. However, she's spot-on [“Postmarks,” March 11] regarding the pols' only appearing to solve traffic problems.
I agree that having more road-miles per capita here than in any other city in Texas, the congestion we so enjoy has been largely created by the way traffic is managed, and that the aim of that management is the creation of problems to be addressed with large amounts of tax money. Artificial congestion, with the resultant pollution, scares us into such absurd projects as the toll plan, and the North I-35/183 North interchange.
Rey Washam [“Postmarks,” April 1] speaks as though City Council has let us down. However, every council meeting I've surfed into on Access has involved people advocating for themselves (us) against the council's advocacy for developers.
The controversy over zero-access Loop 360 is no longer mentioned, developers are still calling the Barton Springs uplands a "treed-up" waste, Lick Creek is being ravaged, Pioneer Farms is being nibbled away in favor of multiple tax units on streets with names like "Horse Wagon," and North Austin has seen Parmer Lane go from a mile per minute to five minutes per mile in some sections, all to kiss developers' backsides.
I was trained (elsewhere) to drive efficiently a transportation system both well-planned and efficiently run, which makes it very clear that Austin's system has neither of these attributes. Drivers trained locally seem, from their frequent willingness to second outrageous plans, not to recognize the difference, and to believe that things are as they are because they must be. Not so.
Normally, I disagree with Amy Babich; I believe retrofitting Austin to bicycle-based transportation (a frequent theme) is unrealistic, as much as I, too, would prefer it. However, she's spot-on [“Postmarks,” March 11] regarding the pols' only appearing to solve traffic problems.
I agree that having more road-miles per capita here than in any other city in Texas, the congestion we so enjoy has been largely created by the way traffic is managed, and that the aim of that management is the creation of problems to be addressed with large amounts of tax money. Artificial congestion, with the resultant pollution, scares us into such absurd projects as the toll plan, and the North I-35/183 North interchange.
Rey Washam [“Postmarks,” April 1] speaks as though City Council has let us down. However, every council meeting I've surfed into on Access has involved people advocating for themselves (us) against the council's advocacy for developers.
The controversy over zero-access Loop 360 is no longer mentioned, developers are still calling the Barton Springs uplands a "treed-up" waste, Lick Creek is being ravaged, Pioneer Farms is being nibbled away in favor of multiple tax units on streets with names like "Horse Wagon," and North Austin has seen Parmer Lane go from a mile per minute to five minutes per mile in some sections, all to kiss developers' backsides.
I was trained (elsewhere) to drive efficiently a transportation system both well-planned and efficiently run, which makes it very clear that Austin's system has neither of these attributes. Drivers trained locally seem, from their frequent willingness to second outrageous plans, not to recognize the difference, and to believe that things are as they are because they must be. Not so.
Duane Keith
