Give Pool a Break

Dear Editor,
    I am thrilled to see the Chronicle endorsing Leslie Pool for re-election to represent District 7 ["Chronicle Endorsements," News, Oct. 21]. However, I am very surprised to see the endorsement closed with the line "And though we'd like to see Pool improve her record in the northern half of her district, she remains the clear choice for the job."
    As president of the River Oaks Neighborhood Association, I want it to be known that Leslie Pool has been fighting for and listening to her constituents from Central North Austin, to District 7's farthest reaches.
    Located just north of the Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park and bounded to the north and east by Parmer and Lamar, the River Oaks neighborhood is more or less the end of Austin.
    Council Member Pool has made time to attend our association meetings and when a critical development issue came to our doors, she was there to lend support and expertise at every step of the way. CM Pool encouraged her Zoning and Platting appointee to dive into traffic analyses, ordered additional traffic counts, arranged meetings with Austin Transportation Department, and guided novice neighborhood leaders through the twists and turns of City Hall.
    Connectivity is a philosophical debate occurring all over the city … how much connectivity, at what cost, and to whom?
    Facing political cost among her peers, she fiercely advocated for responsible connectivity due to the location of our case, helping negotiate a compromise to plan to open the street in question so long as improvements [were made] to this high-traffic route to school. In a similar case in her ETJ [extraterritorial jurisdiction], she fought similar arguments to protect the health and safety of District 7 residents even far outside core areas because it was the right thing to do.
    No CM is perfect, but CM Pool's record upholding her promises and fighting for her district comes pretty close both in the central core of D7, and in the farthest reaches that she represents as well.