Empire Control Room & Garage
City Council Needs to Take Responsibility
RECEIVED Thu., July 8, 2004
Dear Editor,
There were two comments made by city staff in Jordan Smith's piece ["North Loop Neighbors Cry for Help," News, July 2] that I just can't let go by. First off, the city is now asserting that it can't close off the east end of 53 1/2 Street because the closure was not included in the North Loop Plan. That's true. But what Mr. Derr may be unaware of is that the North Loop Planning Team was told by city staff not to include a closure of 53 1/2 because city staff believed including it would cause council to balk at adopting the plan. Since we didn't want to do anything to gum up getting the plan passed, we left the closure out.
Talk about the wrong decision. In hindsight, we should never have listened to the city staff on this issue. Let our experience serve as a warning to anyone involved in putting together a neighborhood plan: It's your plan, not the city staff's; their "suggestions" of what council may or may not approve are probably designed to serve their interests, not the neighborhood's.
I also take issue with the claim that the problem of large trucks on residential streets is a "matter of enforcement." This statement is a perfect example of the city's pass-the-buck way of doing business. The street (53 1/2) is marked with tiny, ineffective "no truck" signs, which are universally ignored. When a truck periodically lumbers down the street, we call APD. APD says it won't do anything unless we get a license plate number. (You try running out of your house in the middle of the night in your boxer shorts to get a plate number!) When we've called 311 to report property damage caused by these trucks, 311 refuses to take an incident report. When we call APD back, APD suggests we ask to have the road closed off. The city's Transportation Department then says it won't consider the idea and that it's a "matter of enforcement" and we're right back to square one. Is Lewis Carroll running the city of Austin? And will he pay the repair bills the next time my phone and cable lines get ripped down by another truck?
Finally, Mr. Derr has a difficult job, and we in no way fault him personally for the city's lack of response to this problem (Mr. Derr has always been professional and pleasant to deal with). The problem is higher up. City Council needs to start setting policy instead of leaving it to unelected senior city staff. Until that happens, problems like ours will continue to fester throughout the city.
There were two comments made by city staff in Jordan Smith's piece ["North Loop Neighbors Cry for Help," News, July 2] that I just can't let go by. First off, the city is now asserting that it can't close off the east end of 53 1/2 Street because the closure was not included in the North Loop Plan. That's true. But what Mr. Derr may be unaware of is that the North Loop Planning Team was told by city staff not to include a closure of 53 1/2 because city staff believed including it would cause council to balk at adopting the plan. Since we didn't want to do anything to gum up getting the plan passed, we left the closure out.
Talk about the wrong decision. In hindsight, we should never have listened to the city staff on this issue. Let our experience serve as a warning to anyone involved in putting together a neighborhood plan: It's your plan, not the city staff's; their "suggestions" of what council may or may not approve are probably designed to serve their interests, not the neighborhood's.
I also take issue with the claim that the problem of large trucks on residential streets is a "matter of enforcement." This statement is a perfect example of the city's pass-the-buck way of doing business. The street (53 1/2) is marked with tiny, ineffective "no truck" signs, which are universally ignored. When a truck periodically lumbers down the street, we call APD. APD says it won't do anything unless we get a license plate number. (You try running out of your house in the middle of the night in your boxer shorts to get a plate number!) When we've called 311 to report property damage caused by these trucks, 311 refuses to take an incident report. When we call APD back, APD suggests we ask to have the road closed off. The city's Transportation Department then says it won't consider the idea and that it's a "matter of enforcement" and we're right back to square one. Is Lewis Carroll running the city of Austin? And will he pay the repair bills the next time my phone and cable lines get ripped down by another truck?
Finally, Mr. Derr has a difficult job, and we in no way fault him personally for the city's lack of response to this problem (Mr. Derr has always been professional and pleasant to deal with). The problem is higher up. City Council needs to start setting policy instead of leaving it to unelected senior city staff. Until that happens, problems like ours will continue to fester throughout the city.
Christopher Burnett
