Just a Few Billion More
Dear Editor,
I think it is good that city staff have dialogue with the Cicero Institute [“City Meets With Conservative Cicero Institute About New Homelessness Initiative,” News, Oct. 9]. I also agree with David Gray in his comments: “There is no liberty in releasing someone from jail just to have them die on our streets.” The critical message to convey to the Cicero Institute is that funding for more state psychiatric hospital beds is currently lacking and they don’t come cheap. Based on our state population, Texas has one of the lowest number of state hospital beds per capita of any state. Since the Cicero Institute believes so strongly that these people should be taken off the street, we can certainly expect their support for getting a few billion dollars more from the Republican state Legislature to fund the beds.
Sam C. Wilson
Project Disconnect
Dear Editor,
Vote for the City Council candidates who oppose Project Connect rail construction.
We are about to commit $15B to $20B to construct the rail system we voted for in 2020, originally estimated at $5.8B. Austin Transit Partnership currently plans to break ground next year with Phase A, a small (and useless) fraction of the rail system promised in the 2020 vote. ATP will not even give an estimate of what the full, promised system will cost, but with just the Phase A project now projected to cost $8.2B, an estimate of over $15B for the full system is probably in the ballpark.
Train travel along the main traffic corridors in Austin accomplishes what Rapid Bus already does, but at a hugely higher cost and without the flexibility of Rapid Bus. And, this will leave insufficient money to solve our actual transit problem, which is getting people from where they are (in our spread-out suburban city) to the transit corridors or directly to their destination. An expanded on-demand system, essentially taking the existing CapMetro Pickup system and making it available citywide, will accomplish this at a vastly lower cost.
A shiny train that accomplishes nothing? Or a robust public transit system that serves all residents and will be a viable alternative to private vehicles for local travel?
Steve Gerson
Vote Them Out
Dear Editor,
Sirs, regarding Marc Bizer and Stephen Guzman letters, the answer to both letters is one word – VOTE [“University Divided,” “Truly Chilling,” Feedback, Oct. 9].
The war on higher education – and the violence wrought by ICE – will only stop when the public stands up and votes the Republicans out of office.
Because the only sound these horror show leaders will ever listen to is the sound of their own asses hitting the pavement when they are tossed out of office.
Voting starts in one week and the Democrats have excellent candidates for ALL the races on the ballot.
Show up and vote ICE out and vote Abbott out before he destroys higher education.
Thank you,
Ken Falk
This article appears in October 16 • 2026.