Travis County Commissioners Court
June 14, 2005
Item 22
Number 22, the companion action item. John, do I need to read all of this again?
>> no, sir.
>> the companion action item is worded exactly as 4 which is the first part -- except for the first part which is consider and take appropriate action. We did get advice from counsel and there was agreement with our counsel with the lawyers who have chatted with us over the last week or two and legal advice that we received today. What's clear to me is that we do need to take an additional week, for one thing, we need some communication from the city of Austin, from st. Stephen's school and from the affected utility companies. And joe, we think we can get that information or those -- that correspondence between now and next Tuesday. The other thing is that this is a complicated gray area situation. Either the court takes action today, next week or four weeks from now because we interpret the law to mean that all five members of the court not only should be present but must support this. I think it's fair to say that the members of the court consider this as a serious public safety issue about which something must be done. And in my view, a good heart to heart, soul to soul meeting on Thursday for all the parties come at least with an open mind and with a spirit of cooperation and try to come up with a solution that is not only acceptable but that will be effective. And I think I will be supportive of the court doing something if the residents are not able to reach agreement. I can only speak for one of us, but I guess at some point the question is do we overlook the public safety issue in the name of, you know, gray legal -- a gray legal area, or do we try to do what's right and basically deal with the consequences and with the number of homes and the number of adults and children affected, it seems to me that next week the Commissioners court ought to land on something by vote. But it also seems to me that this Thursday meeting may well be a golden opportunity to try to reach some sort of resolution that is acceptable to all of the residents. That's my position.
>> judge, I will go to the Thursday meeting. As the precinct 3 Commissioner, I will say that the numbers are deafening with regards to I think what this court needs to do. You know, we are sometimes put in a spot where we squirm a little bit because you know what? I mean I hate the fact that it's the Commissioner that has to make the call on this thing. I have asked from the get-go, I said please go find a way to deal with this thing. Maybe one way is find the folks that don't want to pay the assessment and divvy it up with the 225 that want to. I mean, you know, or do whatever. Hold somebody harmless. I mean but find a way to deal with this. If you can't, then I am very willing to take action on this thing. I will be ready to vote next Tuesday. We will not -- as far as I知 concerned, we will not delay this. I hope the message that people are getting is that, you know, I expect as the Commissioner for folks to sit down honestly and try to find a way to deal with this. If not, I will be ready to vote next week and hopefully we can get something done.
>> i've mentioned to some of the folks i've talked to on the telephone, I think what really unfortunately sealed the fate in terms of the situation in terms of what is a truly horrific situation in this community had to do with what was also a public safety decision to put a light at pascal and loop 360. I happen to know that intersection because when I visited the community I thought is this the day that I die in terms of cut out and make a left turn. And that was done in response to a legitimate public safety need of you all needing to get a safe passage out on to loop 360. But when you did that, you basically gave the go-ahead for everybody else that had that very same idea to go, cool, I知 cutting through. And they too have a safe cue-up to get out on to loop 360. I hope that people can find Thursday's meeting to be a productive one, but at times we have to pick one side or another. And I will tell you right now persuasive side is the side that's wearing those little yellow tags right now. And I do want to -- [applause] a couple of other things. Claire, even if you get the gates, sweetie pie, you have got to still be very cautious because I think this is only going to have the impact with the number of cars going down that road. You will still have serious situations where people speed, sometimes it might be your neighbors. People aren't paying attention, so you still need to be extraordinarily cautious when you and your friends are going to be out on the streets. So I don't want you to think that's a cure-all for this. And the other thing is and thank you mr. Kelly for saying it, this is not double taxation because your property taxes do not pay for the road maintenance of those roads. What pays for the ongoing maintenance of county roads, and it's about 1200 miles of county roads, are your license stickers, your license plate renewals, and it is from the sales tax that is paid when you buy or sell a car. And I live in the city of Austin and I also pay those same things because the letting you are in its wisdom figured out that there was no way that the property tax just in the unincorporated parts of counties could ever cover the costs of taking care of our county roads. Now, is there a piece of your property taxes related to long-term debt, you bet. But this is one of the things that's a community gig. Remember the we the people. We the people need to take care of all of our roads whether we live in the city of Austin like I do or in rob roy. But it's not about what's in it for me. It's about what are the community needs, and this is public safety all the way. And if I have to pick one side or the other, I知 going with the gate. [applause]
>> judge, let me say a couple other things. I mean I was impress to do find out that there actually is a student in west lake that really rides the bus. [laughter] I have often said if 8-year-olds could drive a car in west lake, they would probably own a car. And if you don't think that, just get out on Bee Caves road right now and come through there as I do every day during the summer, you really think somebody is on holiday so you realize how many children are taken to school today by their parents. But I do want to appeal to you all on one very major issue, and you all know that part of the reason -- what really got me into running for public office is my interest in mobility and transportation. And let me say this about traffic. Traffic is like water. It will find the point of least resistance. I would bet you if I had a show of hands in this courtroom today on how many people were not happy whenever we started talking about tolling 360, I bet three-quarters of you would raise your hand. It is not an alternative to not be involved and not be at the table whenever we start talking about mobility and transportation because really what we have here, the reason people are doing this is because they are trying to get from point a to point b. And we are so frustrated in this community because we have not built a comprehensive road system. We force people into a small number of roads, and most of us don't want to get involved in that. It's kind of like just take care of it. You know what, I need your help. I mean because we are going to have to do something with the traffic that we've got. We are not going to cure our ills in this community via public transit. We are going to solve our problem in this community by rolling up our sleeves and being at the table and not to be just a anyway sayer, no, I don't want you to do that, I don't want you to do that, I don't want you to do that. To not think 360 has a major traffic problem, and there were parents that said, well, I don't know what you're talking about. And I thought you must live on jupiter to not know that 360 has a problem. And bee cave road has a bigger problem. And especially with all of the growth that's going in western Travis County coming from Lakeway, coming from all points west and coming -- I mean really not everybody can go spwes southwest park way. I want you to understand this problem is not going to go away regardless of what we do because you are still going to have to get out on those roads even if we do gate the community. I hope you all would remember this little speech because I知 going to come to you and say now, I really do need your help. But we'll look forward to getting this thing done next week, judge. [applause]
>> and I think for me, yes, we all drive cars, but we also have the responsibility to make sure that we drive our cars safely and especially through neighborhoods because we never know who is going to walk out. Children, the elderly or someone who is not able to defend themselves against a car. And that's a pretty powerful weapon. And so -- but for me, it's about public safety. And I know that the community needs to come together at all times, even whether you disagree or not, I think we all have a responsibility to come together and find a way to address public safety in any neighborhood. And this is no exception. So I知 looking forward to taking a vote next week and hopefully the community can come together. [applause]
>> judge, i'd just like to say that public safety has always been I think a big part of this Commissioners court as far as achieving public safety and there are definitely some public safety concerns here. I was just thinking about some things that just happened recently in -- the campo board decided to not expand 38 and a half and also manor road leading to the robert mueller airport which has been devastating to those neighborhoods and safety issues and a whole bunch of other concerns that we looked at. And of course that was [inaudible] but not doing or taking action to move forward with those type expansions of those neighborhood roads. And, of course, in my opinion, this is something that we need to look at and public safety definitely is a big concern and not only in your community but in all the communities of Travis County. I want to thank you for coming done and participating in this public process. Thank you. [applause]
>> let's try to make maximum progress. This item will be back on next Tuesday, June 21st. Thank you all for coming down.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, June 14, 2005 8:10 PM