Daily Texan Staff
Mayor Kirk Watson's proposed "toolbox" of transportation solutions fell short Tuesday night when Capital Metro's referendum to construct a light-rail system in Austin was narrowly defeated.
As of press time at 3 a.m. Wednesday, 50.4 percent of Austinites voted against the referendum, while 49.6 percent voted for it.
After an election night that kept the two sides of the light-rail debate within a single point of each other, rail supporters conceded defeat shortly after 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
"We did our best and we felt that we got our message out to the voters," said Kevin Watts, founder of Campus Campaign for Light Rail. "We were just affected by misinformation and ignorance on the part of our critics."
Watts added that he felt the campaign was successful at reaching a usually inactive student body. Precincts in and around the UT campus voted overwhelmingly in favor of light rail, averaging around 70 percent.
Kathy Pilmore, a spokeswoman for anti-rail group Reclaim Our Allocated Dollars, said she was content that her group got the message out that Capital Metro's rail proposal and their past performances were too flawed to be accepted.
"Despite the fact that we were outspent, we got the word out," Pilmore said. "As far as their performance record, a three-year track record is not enough to make up for 15 years of mismanagement."
Capital Metro recently received a positive report card for their performance over the last three years, since a new Board of Directors was appointed by the Texas Legislature.
Pilmore added that ROAD will continue to work towards reducing the tax amount allotted to Capital Metro.
Barbara Rush, campaign manager for pro-rail group Get Austin Moving, said she was disappointed with the results but hopeful that discussion of transportation solutions will continue.
"We need to realize that Capital Metro is still part of the solution; they're still part of the equation," Rush said. "Now we just need to go back to the drawing board to see what needs to be done."
Jim Skaggs, chairman of ROAD, said regardless of the election's outcome, this year's campaign has brought the issue of congestion in Austin "to a whole new level."
"The leaders of this city have sat around and watched the city grow up around us without doing anything to prepare us," Skaggs said. "With the light-rail debate, we've sent a positive message to them that we want more attention paid to transportation issues in Austin."
Be the first to comment on this article!