PETITION TO THE CITY OF AUSTIN TO ALLOW A PARK TO BE BUILT AT BARSTOW AVENUE AND DAVIS LANE

The concerns of the folks on Hillside Terrace are understandable but there are no assurances that building yet another road will remedy the traffic situation on your street. We should be encouraging the community to walk or bike to nearby destinations rather than contributing to existing traffic headaches. There's been a dramatic increase in pedestrian and bike traffic to and from Mills elementary and we should continue promoting those modes of transportation. More roads and more cut throughs do nothing to enhance our community. I'd prefer parkland over asphalt but would be just as happy leaving it alone. Children use it to get to and from school, let them have their green space. Why should parkland, nearby or otherwise, be our only refuge from concrete, asphalt and 3000 lb. vehicles?

Your concern is understandable but there are no assurances that building yet another road will remedy the traffic situation on your street. We should be encouraging the community to walk or bike to nearby destinations rather than contributing to existing traffic headaches. There's been a dramatic increase in pedestrian and bike traffic to and from Mills elementary and we should continue promoting those modes of transportation. More roads and more cut throughs do nothing to enhance our community. I'd prefer parkland over asphalt but would be just as happy leaving it alone. Children use it to get to and from school, let them have their green space or would you prefer that nearby parkland be our only refuge from concrete, asphalt and 3000 lb. vehicles?

Patrick, it appears both can be built, except the land to the right of where the street or park would be is being developed and will be completely replaced by houses. (They are extending Ewardson but I don't it won't intersect with Davis.) There really is only room for one or the other.

As another resident of Hillside Terrace Drive I agree 100% with Holly. Putting Barstow through is very needed and is safer than the current traffic situation. However, it is not just residents of Circle C North cutting through; residents of Loma Vista take Davis to Lantana to Hillside Terrace to take their kids to Gorzycki. When we go walking at night people blow through the stops signs and race down the street. If Barstow is put through it allows everyone easier access to Slaughter Lane and Davis Lane, which are both divided streets with no houses fronting them. Yes it means more traffic on Barstow but that is also a divided street with no houses fronting on it. I urge everyone to talk to a Hillside Terrace resident before blindly signing a petition with blatantly false assertions that the street is "unneeded."

I just viewed the area from a satellite perspective and notice that there is no reason Barstow should not be extended through to Davis AND a park be built? There is room for both.

As a resident of Hillside Terrace, I can confidently say that the Barstow Avenue extension is badly needed. Almost every resident in Circle C North cuts through our street, a residential street that has recently added a new four-way stop because of the traffic, in order to access Escarpment. If the Bartsow Avenue extension is put in, drivers can easily access Davis Lane to take to Escarpment, taking them off of the residential street. It is increasingly frustrating not letting my children play in the driveway/out front because of the high number of cars and speeders that pass by every 30 seconds. I understand that residents want a park, but there is an extremely large park exactly 1 mile away (Circle C Ranch Metropolitan Park on Slaughter Creek). You simply have a decision to make: do you want to have the convenience of taking your kids to a small park closer by and have unnecessary cars driving on Hillside Terrace alongside mine and other kids on their bicycles? Or do you want to lessen traffic on the neighborhood street and take them to a much larger park that's a 15 minute walk away?

As a resident of Circle C North, the addition of a hike and bike trail would be a wonderful asset to this community that everyone can enjoy. We are the only Circle C neighborhood without it's own amenities. The builder has donated and agreed to develop the land so its a win-win for the community. The residents on the other side of Davis are also in support of the park as well as surrounding neighborhoods. Allowing the city to extend a road through Barstow to Davis is a terrible idea--increased traffic where our children play, poor existing lighting at night as people go speeding through, and unwanted people having easy access and easy exit to our nice quiet neighborhood. The traffic study that the city conducted does not support a road. Please support this initiative. We will all benefit from a park!

The park will improve the status quo... It transforms unused land into parks, and does not make anyone's situation worse than it presently is. This is a no loss for our neighborhood. Conversely, adding a road extension makes the neighborhood higher traffic, without alleviating any resident's problems with existing traffic. Worse, it will only increase the number of non-residents cutting through to use the streets for unauthorized drop offs for the middle school. Enough is enough! Let's avoid turning our neighborhood into another driveway for the school!

We're so close! Lots of people at the Trailer event on Friday were excited to learn about this park. The entrance to this park will give Circle C North a nice professional looking landmark of its own (see the proposed park sketch when you get a chance). The path will be good for walkers or kids on bikes, safe from traffic. And we will still have one main entrance to Circle C North (down by Barstow Court). The idea of cars coming off 1826 and winding through the Heights and coming down the proposed road into our neighborhood meant a second way to get in here and that made me uncomfortable. Thanks to everyone who's signed! Circle C is a great community!