EMLK Hike and Bike Trail letter to Mayor and Council Members

Dear Council Members,

I am the chairman of the EMLK Contact team. By now probably most of you know about the EMLk Hike and Bike trail. It is the largest project in district 1 for improving our equity. It addresses many issues and you can see the detailed presentation here.

Our petition in change.org (link) now has 712 support votes mostly from MLK (Dr. Martin Luther King) and PSS (Pecan Spring and Springdale) NA for district 1 and Hogpen NA from district 3. 

One of our big challenges of our project has been the Morris Williams Golf course which sits in the middle of entire southern neighborhoods and Mueller developments where all our amenities are located.

East MLK has one of the highest residential densities due to cottage lots and urban lots. We have no groceries, no hospitals, no pharmacies but 2 golf courses. We do not think hungry young people love playing golf. We have requested a path through the golf course which almost entirely exists today as easement of Austin Energy and watershed. The north side of the golf course is beautiful and manicured while the southside has a 8 ft fence with the gates locked. (attached picture)

We had a huge meeting in the golf course (Kevin Gomillion and PARD employees have been gracious) where several concerns were brought up  by the golfers. 

One of the concerns is about thing getting stolen and golf course getting vandalized if the south side gate is opened. I can promise the council members that the people in south side have come a long way (that includes me) and we are not thieves or robbers. We just have to go to do our grocery in Mueller and cycling in MLK is as good as jumping from Golden gate bridge.

Another concern was brought regarding the safety of the women golfer - I can also assure the council that we, from the southside, do not see ourselves as rapist (even by the presidential standards).

The concern over golf balls hitting people has been resolved all over the world. You can see the attached best practice document.

I am attaching the comments from the change.org petition and also the actual petition with signatures. We have a right to enjoy the golf course or at least walk through as much as the people living in Mueller. Most of the people serving in Mueller area live in southside. We have not provided them a safe route to Mueller.

In 21st century we should question the feasibility of a 200 acre golf course in the middle of the city. Its is used by 500 people (may be) but we have 35000 people who can use the trail. So I will request everybody to do the right thing and allow the trail through the golf course to happen.

EMLK Contact Team Meeting Nov 20th, 2017

1. South 183 Project - various closures and project update from 183 project team (Tracy Schell). A lot of crossings will be closing and some new ones will open. We will get an overview along with the time-line (https://www.183south.com/ & CTRMA)

2. Karisha Community - the new integral healthcare community coming up in the corner of 51st st and Manor Road (http://karisha.org/)

3. EMLK Trail  through Morris Williams Golf Course  -
1. Tyson Brown will be speaking at the golf advisory board on 16th Nov so we will get updates.
2. We had a public meeting on the Morris Williams Golf Course on Oct 30th and we will have an update on that.
3. All who has any opinion about the trail through the golf course can come and provide their opinion.

4. Jackie Robinson Residential - C14-2017-0097
1. Next Steps for Contact team and neighborhood. We had a fairly long discussion at the city (1 Texas Center) with transportation engineers of the development group. I will request Susan Tingley/Nancy Scott/Ali Ronder to provide update and recommend next steps. We will have a vote because a recommendation is due by Dec 12th if planning commission hears it on that day.

5. Amending the EMLK Plan for adding CIPs - we need to start working on that. The CIP list needs to updated and amended. 

Bicycles in EMLK and Austin

These are just some viewpoints that I have come to believe and a lot of it is based on the foundation that “ access to transportation is one of the biggest form of equity” – you can contact me at pinaki@utexas.edu with you comments.

Rights of Cyclists – The rights of bicyclists are same as drivers of automobiles. Separation of a 4000-lb. automobile and 30 lb. bicycle in the same street with just a line drawn on the ground is often dangerous and impractical. In many countries bicycle lanes are completely separated by physical medians from automobile lanes. It has been universally accepted that due to the body mass difference between an automobile and bicycle it is a good idea to separate their lanes with physical barriers when the speed increases. (momentum is an incredible thing that we ignore in our design and perceptions). The pictures below will show how streets are marked or separated in Netherlands and France.

In Netherlands I allow my daughter to ride about 15 km of bicycle a day because it is safe route. In US my daughter does not ride her bicycle ever because a single mistake on 12th street or MLK or Manor road will be deadly for her. The right to a safe transportation is not something we can overlook. Riding bicycle in Austin at night (in fact in almost entire America) is dangerous if not impossible.

This little video will show my daughter, Damini, riding to school (link) – her confidence has increased many folds and she even visits her friends on bicycle. We live in Spankeren and my daughters school is at Brummen and our grocery is at Dieren. We use bicycles for almost everything rain or shine. So on any given day we bicycle for more than 10 to 15 kms. Also it is important to mention that we cross the rail-lines at-grade about 4 times during a day’s cycling efforts.

Transportation is a great equity builder. Today, the biggest challenges of trade in Africa is high cost of transportation where as in Germany the cost of transportation (using mass transport) is relatively much lower. If we can build a low-cost transportation system then it creates equity. If somebody can have the option of not owning an automobile and still be able to get to his or her work and grocery safely using a bicycle then he or she can save money towards their property tax or rent, which in turn allow them to keep their houses. In the current situation of housing crisis this is a very strong argument in East Austin where the younger generation cannot keep their houses for high property taxes or rents.

We must design for the future – almost entire Europe is moving towards electric bicycles. One of Netherland’s biggest bike manufacturer, Gazelle, is located very close to our house and they have almost entirely moved to electric bike. (We must remember that in conventional electric bikes with gear boxes from Shimano or Panasonic you still do bike – the electric motor only assists you to paddle but does not do the paddling) Electric bikes will be ideal for the Austin environment where there are small hills. I have already noticed 2 Copenhagen wheels in East NLK area. (I tried one and it was an amazing experience). Electric bicycles increase the age range of the people who can use bicycle in work related activities and not just for leisure. This year during my trip to Europe I noticed that France and Switzerland are also heavily adopting electric bicycles. A bicycle manufacturer, Cannondale, is setting various rental arrangement even up in the Alps.

In Europe for daily use most people augment the bicycle trip with another mass transit. As for example they take a bicycle to the train station, park it at the station and then take the train to their regular destination. Sometimes they take the bicycle with them (some of which are folding type). Almost every station in The Netherlands has very large bicycle parking lot which can be bigger than car parking lot. (bicycles can be secured too – in some areas bicycle parking are covered so that during rain or snow also it can be used.). This augmented mode of multi-modal transportation is most promising. In the mobility bond discussion, I heard that the design was mode agnostic which brings a much larger question to be discussed later.

One factor we often overlook in bicycle discussion is health benefits. Growing up in India as a kid I noticed bicycle was often the only mode of transportation and people were forced to use it – it had immense impact on the health of citizens because there was nothing called obesity. It’s a new phenom in India too since most cycle have been replaced with gas powered 3 wheelers for local transportation. Also, we should not forget that the rise of China was mostly driven in the 50 and 60s by bicycles as personal mobility so that every citizen could go to work.

We are essentially dealing with the future of next generations – we are building roads and putting the loan burden on the next generation instead of creating long term equity for them. The riding habit starts at early age – if you look at our schools less than 2% of the kids come to the school by bicycle.
Finally, local business thrives when you have bicycle users because bicycle riders tend to serve local business within 3-mile radius instead of large box shop 10 miles away. It’s also necessary that we provide bicycle renting facilities in East MLK area like we do in downtown. I am proposing that we create a bicycle renting hub in Mueller (preferably near HEB) and about 12 or 15 parking spots in East MLK area. This will dramatically improve the transportation situation in EMLK area. City can also subsidize the renting cost for people with economic disadvantage.

Support letter for Little Walnut Creek Park rezoning

we are zoning the entire park to P - this is a very important first step for securing the land

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B36RXCrErciSQ3c1SEd5UlNYUEE/view?usp=sharing

1. The rezoning of the park is moving forward! It will be before city council on December 7. We need to rally community support and request that folks send letters of support in to city council.
2. We have been accepted as a project for master plan assistance by the NPS and the Neighbor's Program of Asakura Robinson. We need to work up and implement a fundraising plan to do our match. Our fundraising target is $5,000.
3. The park clean up was a great success! We filled up an entire dumpster with trash with the help of about 30 volunteers and the 183 CRC construction crew volunteers!
4. We also have our ongoing monthly group hikes and social media presence activities.

planning development and architecture

What is not

1. Not a city planning department 
1. We have only advisory capacity so we are not part of any open meetings act
2. Does not create an approval process which needs to be maintained
1. This is an informal group which means we put together ideas so it will be self-organizing to some extent
3. Not a body which will be answering to every citizen in EMLK for their development problems. That’s the job of the city
4. It is not execution authority

What it is

1. ​Take decisions (approval/disapproval) with a set of reasons. Why are we supporting something – there must be a logical reason.
2. A knowledge body where decisions are documented (like why we supported something) – this can be a blog with attachments or just a closed google group with a shared folder or even slideshare. The important fact is that we can go back to the past decisions and investigate why we took them
3. ​​Independent body of architects, civil engineers, landscape people - may be AIA can recognize it as the East Austin Subject Matter expert
4. It will appreciate a develop local architects who will practice in east side (this always leads to better products)
5. Can reach out to city bodies with or without contact teams permission. (A body of influence)
6. Influences east Austin Architecture - I am a big fan of Christopher Alexander. I believe we can do much better.
7. Acts as an emergency buffer for something really bad happening from development perspective.

Artifacts

1. General documentation around development in EMLK area – can be adopted from sections of imagine Austin or just reference to Imagine Austin or other documents as appropriate – this is more of a conceptual document
2. Each FLUM change or zoning case will create a precedence and that knowledge will be stored regarding what we approved and why we did so.
3. 3 FLUM changes on hand.
4. Reference Document created by Jeff Jack.

Notes from Meeting:

General Points

• The neighborhood associations have the issue of getting enough neighbors to participate
• The architecture group has to make a comprehensible document for each case with a clear recommendation which the neighborhood association can understand
• The document should include what the developer has proposed and what we are counter proposing.
• The group can act as an advocacy group so that neighborhoods do not say "no" to everything.
• EMLK area can have clear guidelines and requirements for developers to provide when they ask for FLUM change or Zoning change.
• It is important to make developers understand the value proposing of the group
• Advocate for good architectural product
• The decisions by the group has to be distributed using websites or news-letters
• We will need a lawyer to advise us.
• This will not be a group which will say "no" to everything - rather this will be a group which can make it a "yes" with better design.

Challenges

• It can turn into a very time consuming activity for many people
• Attending every zoning meeting and neighborhood meeting can become very time consuming
• Can turn into a group which only says no to developers
• Can get into legal issues (or understand legal issues)

CIPs for 2018 as requested by EMLK Contact team

Here’s the results to the Neighborhood Plan Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Surveys.  Data is attach and consolidated below.  

Pecan Springs/Springdale Neighborhood Plan Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Survey Results:

1.       Develop a destination park/natural preserve to the south of Little Walnut Creek. (29, 63)

2.       Develop a hike/bike trail along Little Walnut Creek. (30, 63)

3.       Add sidewalks on 51st (both sides) from Springdale to US 183/YMCA. (91, 87)

4.       Extend bike lane from Springdale to 183 on MLK Blvd. (109, 90)

5.       5th place is a tie (include both):

a.       PS/S NPA - Construct sidewalks on Pecan Springs (either side) from 51st to Marlo. (100a, 88)

b.      Reduce street flooding by working with WPDRD to identify high need areas for storm drain improvements, and supporting WPDRD's funding requests for construction of storm drain improvements. (170, 102)

Other items (write ins) to add to future CIP’s lists:

·         Construct a hike and bike trail around/across the Morris Williams golf course (inside the fence) similarly to what's been done at the Hancock Golf Course.

·         Hike/bike trail connecting Morris Williams golf course to Mueller community

·         Crosswalks on Springdale Road are badly needed in many places between (at least) Airport and 12th

·         Repair Springdale Rd settling, between Rogge Ln & Hycreek Dr

·         Speed control measures on 51st street between Manor and Springdale

MLK Neighborhood Plan Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Survey Results:

1.       Improve the appearance, walkability, and traffic flow of Airport Boulevard by making the widening and improvement of the street a higher priority in the regional transportation plan. (103a, 89)

2.       Add bike lanes and wider sidewalks on both sides of Airport Blvd. (103b, 89)

3.       Add raised, landscaped medians similar to those that exist north of 38 1/2 Street along Airport Blvd. (103c, 89)

4.       Use the excess right-of-way at the Airport Blvd. and Manor Road intersection to improve turning movements and improve pedestrian safety. (103d.a, 89)

5.       Add bus shelters at bus stops in the vicinity of Sims Elementary. (106, 90)

Other items (write ins) to add to future CIP’s lists:

·         build a hike and bike trail across Morris Williams Golf Course to connect surrounding neighborhoods

MLK-183 Neighborhood Plan Capital Improvement Program (CIP):

1. Sidewalk work:  Complete sidewalk on east side of Delano St from Hudson to Fort Branch Blvd; complete Eleanor St sidewalk on west side from Hudson to Fort Branch; repair sidewalk on west side of Eleanor St from Hudson, south to Eleanor dead-end; create sidewalk on one side of Hudson from Delano to Eleanor.
2. ​Provide Access to Springdale park to residents who cannot access it from the east and south.  Build a hike/bike bridge across Fort Branch Creek from city property along Fort Branch Blvd to Springdale Park to provide that access.  ​ ​​Improve Springdale Park.  Create walking and biking trails that connect with the proposed bridge, add infrastructure. (48, 69, 182, 103)
3. Cavalier Park--Develop Hike/Bike Trails along Walnut Creek, Little Walnut Creek, and the former Mo-Kan Railroad right-of-way. (64, 77)
4. ​​Connectivity between Hog Pen/Lincoln Gardens area and Springdale/Airport area.  Fort Branch Creek divides these areas for miles.  Build a hike/bike bridge across Fort Branch Creek from the Eleanor St. cul-de-sac to Lott Ave.​  This would connect areas and open the proposed community garden to the south and west.
5. Create a bike lane or street separate bikeway along Martin Luther King Blvd from Springdale, across 183, all the way to the MLK/Walnut Creek Trail junction. (109, 90)

Other items (write ins) to add to future CIP’s lists:

·         Speed calming on Ledesma and Sara

·         Sidewalks & traffic control along Delano St

·         FM 969 Corridor study Implementation

An open letter on development around old Motorola site east of 183

Dear CM Houston and CM Renteria,

I am writing this email as the chairman of the EMLK contact team. We had a FLUM change request for 16 acres of land at the tip of old motorola site (attached meeting notice). The developers refused to provide any details (not even the survey) but one piece of information I gathered that there is a much larger plan for the 109 acre motorola site. This is one of the prime lands in EMLK which requires attention from city like the "Grove". 

Currently people living in district 1 and 3 around this area do not have any amenities (not even a grocery or a pharmacy). Semiconductor manufacturing (fabs) pollute the land beyond our wildest comprehension. This is such a land. We have the unique opportunity to work with the owners to develop it as  PUD. It will create good housing along with great amenities. 109 acres is almost 1/8th of combined EMLK area. This area can be a catalyst to the improvement of the entire area. The architects and designers of east side can learn from this large PUD. 

The total amount of land is constant so we must develop them for the best use and for the good of the people. Also we should have transparent process involving citizens like they have in west side for this type of development. As a contact team chairman I will not support any FLUM change which does not talk about the future or how it helps EMLK area (which includes parts of both district 1 and 3).