Dear Mayor Leffingwell, Mayor Pro Tem Cole, Council Members, City Manager Ott, Chief of Staff Snipes, Assistant City Manager Lumbreras, Betsy Spencer, Planning Commissioners, Members of the Bond Election Advisory Task Force, Public Works, Capital Planning Office:

            Why is $20 Million necessary?  First of all, the consultants’ recommendations are all based on the best case assumptions of both the cost of the improvements as well as the state of infrastructure.  Furthermore, they suggest the bare minimum of improvements rather than implementing improvements equal to the City’s investments in East 11^th Street and other urban core streetscape improvement projects in Austin.

            By way of example, Appendix F of the Audit Report provides a precise accounting of the funds spent on 11^th Street, which total almost $7 Million (in 2000 dollars) for an area 43% the size of East 12^th Street.  Using the same level of funding for East 12^th Street, and adjusting for inflation, is an amount just under $20 Million.

            We also refer you to the City’s improvements to Rio Grande Street.  As reported in the Austin American Statesman on January 2, 2012, the City is spending $11.3 Million for a length similar to East 12^th Street, however, the project manager recently reported that the amount will likely increase due to newly discovered issues and higher than estimated bids for work.  The amount required to underground utilities along East 12^th Street is far greater than along Rio Grande, the conditions of East 12^th Street in greater need due to years of neglect, and the original scope of the East 12^th Street project envisions much more than that set forth for the Rio Grande Street project.

One of the recommendations by the market study consultants is to forgo the undergrounding of the transmission lines that run along East 12^th Street.  While burying these lines is costly, we believe this is necessary to fully build out East 12^th Street to its potential and in accordance with the vision for neighborhood-serving mixed-used development with ground-floor retail.  These transmission lines will impair the development envisioned in the Master Plan given the shallow lots along the street.  We strongly encourage the City to underground these lines.

            In July of 2011, the Planning Commission sent a letter to Council regarding needed capital improvements, stating that “[t]he Commission is anxious to see infill development on East 12^th that bring jobs and services to the local areas as per the adopted Central East Austin Neighborhood Plan.”  We are anxious as well.  The City has taken up new project after new project without fulfilling its promise to East 12^th Street.  It is time we fulfill our commitment to East Austin and Central East Austin residents and fully fund improvements to East 12^th Street.  With your help, we can make East 12^th Street the type of community it once was in the ‘40s and ‘50s—a bustling commercial corridor that was at the center of the East Austin community.  We can make East 12^th Street an East Austin Great Street just like those Downtown.

            Please ensure that no less than $20 Million is dedicated for near-term expenditure on East 12^th Street infrastructure and streetscape improvements!

                                                                        Sincerely yours,

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