Daily Texan Staff
Last week's narrow light-rail defeat has left Capital Metro's board of directors divided, with some continuing to advocate light rail while others want rail alternatives.
After formally accepting the results from Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir on Monday, some board members suggested pursuing light rail again because of the close election returns.
The referendum failed by 2,007 votes less than 1 percent of the 250,000 Austin voters who participated in last week's election.
"This election has left me thinking that if we had done just a little bit more, we could have been successful," said Board Member John Trevino. "I am just reluctant to throw in the towel before we sit down and assess what we did and all the ramifications of not having light rail."
Trevino added that he would support reorganizing the light- rail proposal and bringing it up for a future election, possibly as soon as next year.
"We could try harder, make our message a bit clearer then we'll be successful," Trevino said.
Board Member David Harper also supports pursuing light rail again.
"We owe it to the voters to drag our feet a little and see where we went wrong before we start allocating this money away," Harper said.
Others said the board should accept the results and move on, focusing instead on other transportation expenditures.
Chairman of the Board Lee Walker said while he doesn't want to make a final decision on the future of light rail, he feels that the election results should be accepted.
"It was a close race and I am not happy about the results, but there's no doubt that it was defeated," Walker said.
Fred Harless, the Board's secretary, agreed with Walker's move to accept the election results. He also suggested possibly giving 25 percent of the money Capital Metro had saved for rail to smaller regional and neighborhood groups to spend as they choose.
Capital Metro has about $140 million saved that was earmarked for light rail.
Other options discussed include using the money for Capital Metro's $91-million initiative to alleviate congestion, including high-occupancy vehicle lanes and programs that would help clear vehicle wrecks faster.
But while Harless advocates moving on, he questioned whether the election results may have been tainted by a double-sided ballot which contained the light-rail referendum on the back. Twelve percent of voters failed to fill out the back side, DeBeauvoir said.
DeBeauvoir said the results are likely accurate on average, 8 percent to 10 percent of voters using a two-sided ballot fail to complete the second side.
City Councilman and Board Member Daryl Slusher suggested accepting the election results and said he would propose that the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization change their long-term transportation plan to one that would not include light rail as a possibility.
CAMPO's 2025 transportation plan currently promotes light rail as a viable solution to controlling congestion in the Austin area.
Walker said the Board will wait until December to decide if engineering and environmental rail tests, currently underway in collaboration with the federal government, should continue.
The 18 months of tests, which are nearly half done, will cost the city 20 percent of a $4.5 million total if they are completed. But if the city decides to discontinue the tests before they are finished, it will have to reimburse the federal government the full sum, said Ted Burton, public relations manager for Capital Metro.
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