Naked City

Free food, democracy, little plastic cards, instant results: These elements comprised Community Connections, a pilot program by Capital Metro and the Texas Citizen Fund that enabled Austinites to plan pedestrian- and bicycle-oriented transportation projects in their neighborhoods. The bonus, Cap Metro staffers say, is that all projects requested during the program -- which wrapped up last night (Wednesday) -- will be initiated within six months of Oct. 1, the kickoff date for the agency's next fiscal year.

At five different workshops held across the city, Cap Metro staffers asked neighborhood residents to use the little plastic cards to develop a project list for the agency to implement. The cards assigned points to potential projects -- for instance, a new bus stop shelter equaled nine points; a curb cut, one point. Each planning group received 20 allotted points to work with -- and to provide them with guidance and inspiration, transportation expert Charles Gandy and other facilitators showed slides featuring funky bus stations, innovative street lighting, and landscaping initiatives already implemented in other American cities from Seattle to Orlando. Planning groups were also invited to lead Cap Metro staff on a walking tour of their neighborhoods -- one way to fulfill the program's goal of training agency staff to better identify with community needs.

"For a long time we were just turning money over to the city, and weren't prioritizing where money should be [spent]," says Dianne Mendoza, Cap Metro's director of business and community development. "We're trying to [plan] faster." The agency also is looking for a better mechanism than just consulting ridership numbers when implementing new amenities.

Given the molasseslike pace of most city planning efforts, Community Connections and its quick-service approach might seem too good to be true -- a notion that has popped up in the minds of some citizen-planners. At last week's workshop at East Austin's Parque Zaragoza Recreation Center, for example, participants complained that various city agencies have promised to build sidewalks in their areas for decades. Cap Metro staff acknowledged their concerns, and eventually participants requested sidewalks to be constructed near their area's three elementary schools. The following night, a workshop in wealthier North Austin produced less debate, with residents asking for new sidewalks as well as a bus shelter.