Advocating for His Community - Keeping Leander Connected

An unlikely 60 day campaign to save the train, unify Austin, and keep Leander connected results a resounding win for public transit solutions.

LEANDER, TEXAS, UNITED STATES, May 10, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- After a whirlwind 60-day campaign to save critical transportation services in one of the fastest growing communities in America, the grassroots community group, Keep Leander Connected, delivered a stunning victory during a special election Saturday, May 7.

Leander residents voted overwhelmingly by an 18 percent margin — 59 percent voting “yes” and 41 percent voting “no” — for Proposition A which continues the city’s 37-year partnership with the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (CapMetro) serving the Austin area. In Williamson County, Texas, where most of Leander is located, the margin was even higher, with 61.21% voting "yes" and only 38.79% voting "no."

The voter approval means that Leander residents and businesses can continue to benefit from the modern 32-mile MetroRail train service and express bus service between downtown Austin and Leander, which is on the northern edge of the Austin metro area. Pickup, an affordable on-demand shuttle service similar to Uber and Lyft, also will continue to operate in the community of more than 80,000 people.

The “yes” vote also activates the interlocal agreement between the city of Leander and CapMetro with an immediate $7.4 million infusion that can be used for transportation improvements in Leander, including city streets, traffic lights, sidewalks, bike paths, bridges and other transportation infrastructure. The city also would receive nearly $2 million this year and approximately $2 million every year afterward for transportation improvements in addition to benefitting from the rapid expansion of Austin’s modern rail system with service to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

James Larsen, founder of Keep Leander Connected, thanked voters for their wisdom in affirming past voters mandates who have now gone to the ballot four times in three decades to show their solid support for CapMetro.

“Keep Leander Connected will continue to play a key role with grassroots actions,” Larsen said. “We’ll keep the community informed about future threats and future opportunities to enrich Leander and most importantly, to keep both Leander city government and CapMetro accountable to the promise of travel improvements and transportation infrastructure that benefits everyone in our community.”

Business and community leaders said Keep Leander Connected executed a flawless and successful voter mobilization effort that shared information about how Proposition A benefits Leander and the rest of the entire Austin region through transportation.

Community members in Leander and throughout the Austin area have shared both their relief and their excitement about the continuation of transportation services connecting Leander with the Austin metro area and how these planned improvements will help create exciting opportunities as part of the transformation of Leander into an even more welcoming and dynamic place to live, work, dine, shop and play. 

By James Larsen, Fri., May 6, 2022

Leander residents can sustain the will of past voters who twice have gone to the polls in the last three decades to say YES to transportation solutions.

A yes vote on Proposition A means continued transportation solutions for Leander with no tax increases. It means an immediate infusion of $7.4 million for Leander for city streets, traffic lights, bridges, and other critically needed transportation infrastructure for our growing city. It means approximately $2 million every year under an agreed-upon formula for transportation solutions that benefits every resident and business in Leander. It means access to a rapidly expanding modern rail system that will soon connect Leander with the airport and other destinations throughout the Austin region, including access to millions more in federal funds to support Leander. A yes vote honors our promise to seniors, people with disabilities, parents, and students – who all rely on public transportation – that they will continue to have safe, reliable, and affordable train and bus services in Leander.

A no vote will leave them stranded.

I moved to Leander because I believe in its present and its future. A present that includes a peaceful commute to my job on the train while pushing emails over Wi-Fi. A present that includes soccer games and special events with my kids at Q2 Stadium. A future that includes date nights at the Domain and Downtown. A future that includes friends, family, and visitors from around the world stepping off an airplane and onto a train that takes them to a beautiful Crystal Lagoon at Leander Springs.

Do you believe in Leander's present and in its future? Do you want to believe? I think you do. Let yourself believe. Let yourself imagine. Let yourself dream. It's all within our grasp!

We should not rewrite the future of Leander based on a ridership study conducted in the middle of the pandemic when people are not going to the office. We have all seen growth. We know what Leander can become. Be patient! That growth will naturally bring in more than enough revenue to pay for itself.

To illustrate, my neighbors in Deerbrook will each be paying $20,000 to $40,000 for a special assessment as part of a Public Improvement District. That's over $10 million in our neighborhood alone that we new residents are paying for improvements that the city of Leander won't have to worry about. The money is there.

We should stop worrying about sharing 1% sales tax with Cap Metro. It's a drop in the bucket compared to all the money and taxes that will be pouring in as more neighborhoods and commercial developments come online. Should we scrap the rail line we've invested in for years and pay an estimated $42 million exit fee primarily because of excessive costs per passenger during the midst of a pandemic, a time when people are staying home?

It is disappointing and irresponsible that the Leander City Council chose to put this up for a public vote on such a rushed, biased survey centered on a single, narrow metric. Wasn't this voted on before? Why another vote now? What has changed? Low ridership during a global catastrophe?

Tell me, what other public services are held to similar scrutiny (cost of maintaining a "free" on-street parking space, cost per police call, cost per fire department response, etc.)? Should we assess the costs these of services during the pandemic and put them up for a public vote?

We need the train and public transportation to sustain and accommodate Leander's growth in the present and well into the future. If you get rid of the relationship with Cap Metro and, by extension, the train, don't complain when traffic continues to pile up around San Gabriel and Hero Way. You know it will. And you won't have a viable alternative.

I believe in Leander. In its past. In its present. In its future. Do you?

James Larsen is an attorney who commutes from Leander to his office in Downtown Austin on the MetroRail. A Texan since 2014, he ultimately chose a traffic-free journey by train after frustrations with unaffordable Austin housing and traffic congestion in Cedar Park. In March, James organized a political committee to advocate for the continuation of transit services from Leander and is in the final days of a 60-day campaign to Save the Train, Unify the Austin Area, and Keep Leander Connected.

KUT 90.5 | By Nathan Bernier

Published May 7, 2022 at 7:58 PM CDT
Updated May 9, 2022 at 10:10 AM CDTVoters in Leander have elected to stay in Capital Metro's service area, affirming for the fourth time since 1985 the city's partnership with the regional transit agency.

With all votes counted in Williamson and Travis Counties, the partnership with CapMetro was supported with 59% of the vote. Leander is mostly in Williamson County but part of the city stretches into Travis County.

The election results mean Leander will keep a commuter rail link into Austin, a commuter bus route and an on-demand minibus called Pickup. The city will also continue paying a 1% sales tax to Capital Metro.

The sales tax generated almost $10 million in 2021. Collections this year are up by 28% compared to the same time last year.

That stream of sales tax revenue became the center of a political debate that prompted Leander City Council to call the election.

Opponents of Proposition A argued not enough people were riding the bus and train to justify the expense. But critics of CapMetro membership differed on what should be done with the sales tax revenue.

A second ballot measure, Proposition B, asked voters if the 1% sales tax should be redirected to Leander's municipal government if the city opted to leave CapMetro. The proposition appeared headed for defeat, but the question was made moot by the election result to stay with the transit agency.

Supporters of CapMetro service celebrated the election results Saturday night and breathed a sigh of relief that their access to rail and bus service would not come to a swift end.

"We want to express our gratitude to those who believe in the future of Leander," said James Larsen with Keep Leander Connected, a group organized to support Proposition A. "I think those [transit] investments have really helped enhance our quality of life."

The decision to stay in CapMetro means Leander will access millions of dollars in new transit-focused infrastructure upgrades like sidewalk and road improvements. The CapMetro board voted earlier this year to sweeten its deal with Leander in an attempt to convince the city to stay in the system.

Under the plan, Leander would get access to almost $2 million in infrastructure funding this year and receive the lion's share of a new $10 million infrastructure fund created by the CapMetro board in January.

"I think that was the game changer," Larsen said Saturday night after it became clear how the election would turn out. "That represented Capital Metro and Leander coming together to find solutions."

This is the fourth time Leander voters have affirmed the city's partnership with CapMetro. After the city voted to join the transit agency in 1985, an attempt to cut ties with CapMetro failed in 2000. Leander voters went on to approve rail service in 2004,