Mayor Steve Adler: A letter to ol Saint Nick (Austin Texas)
Mayor Steve Adler: A letter to ol’ Saint Nick
By Steve Adler - Special to the American-Statesman - Updated: 2:08 p.m. Thursday, December 22, 2016
Dear Santa,
I know you’re busy, but I wanted to get my letter to you before the big day. We’ve been working right up to the end of the Year of Mobility, and I hope you think we’ve done enough to get onto your Nice List.
First, we passed the Smart Corridor mobility bond, Austin’s biggest investment in transportation infrastructure ever. When the work is completed, Austin will have better traffic and safer streets. That mobility bond is already paying dividends! Because Austin voters authorized $46 million to reduce congestion on Loop 360, the local Texas Department of Transportation district is getting us another $204 million in matching state funds to do nine Loop 360 intersection overpasses. We’re good on gifts here.
We made progress on traffic safety as well. We started safety improvements on the most-dangerous intersections in Austin, won an award from the U.S. Department of Transportation for a pedestrian safety project on Rundberg Lane, and adopted the Vision Zero Action Plan to create a future in which no one dies on Austin streets.
It wasn’t all peppermint bark and fruitcake, though. Despite my best efforts to create consensus around a new regulatory paradigm for the sharing economy, Uber and Lyft left town after losing an election. However, Austin is a resilient and innovative city, and now we have several ridesharing companies with drivers who’ve undergone fingerprint background checks as well as a new taxi co-op and a new on-demand shuttle service called Chariot. New mobility technologies are coming next year, and Google’s automated cars continue to drive in our neighborhoods. Austin is still the city where good ideas become real.
Read more:
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/opinion/mayor-steve-adler-letter-saint-nick/GO2IDxkYiVhckQQ4BfYxOP/
Steve Adler Mayor of Austin, Texas
Stephen Ira Adler is an American lawyer and a Democratic politician who is the mayor of Austin, Texas, since January 6, 2015.
Adler has been a practicing attorney in Austin in the areas of eminent domain and civil rights law for 35 years.
Wikipedia
Born: March 23, 1956 (age 60), Washington, D.C.
Party: Democratic Party
Office: Mayor of Austin, Texas since 2015
Education: Princeton University, University of Texas School of Law