The RE-re-re-scheduled City Council briefing on the WHATEVER "Bike" Boulevard.

Update: Got the following from the Bicycle Program folks:

The City Council has requested that the Downtown Bicycle Boulevard Briefing be moved from this week to the June 24, 2010 City Council meeting at 10:30 AM at City Hall.

Please contact Annick Beaudet (512) 974-6505 with any questions. More info here: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/publicworks/bicycle.htm .

Guess we're back on for the 24th. Keep emailing and calling, folks! City Council NEEDS our input.

Yesterday the City of Austin folks informed us that the City Council meeting briefing (as in closed to public input) on the Nueces Downtown Bicycle Boulevard, which was originally scheduled for June 10th and then re-scheduled for June 24th, has now been re-re-scheduled for the 10th of June once again. The briefing happens at 10:30am, and here are the details from their "Public Input" website, a somewhat ironic name since there's not going to be any public input at the briefing whatsoever:

UPDATE 6-7-2010

DATE CHANGE FOR COUNCIL BRIEFING

The Austin City Council will receive a briefing on the final staff recommendation for the Downtown Bicycle Boulevard on June 10, 2010 at 10:30 a.m.

Over the last 6 months City staff and Austin residents have engaged in a public process to enhance and preserve bicycle mobility in the Northwest District of the Downtown. Through that process the City of Austin Neighborhood Connectivity Division produced and released a staff recommendation for a Downtown Bicycle Boulevard in April 2010.

Information and visuals related to the staff recommendation can be found below. The staff recommendation has been recommended unanimously by the following City of Austin Commissions:

Downtown Commission
Design Commission
Planning Commission
Urban Transportation Commission
Other various schools, organizations, and neighborhood associations.

For more information regarding the project or the City Council briefing to be held on June 10, please contact Annick Beaudet by phone at 512-974-6505 or by e-mail at annick.beaudet@ci.austin.tx.us

Annick Beaudet listed her contact information above, but there are a couple other people worth emailing about the bike boulevard if you want to make your opinion known at this eleventh hour. Here are the resources for contacting the mayor and the rest of city council:

Via email (sends to everyone below): http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/groupemail.htm

Via telephone:

Mayor Lee Leffingwell- (512) 974-2250

Place 1 Councilmember Chris Riley- (512) 974-2260

Place 2 Councilmember Mike Martinez- (512) 974-2264

Place 3 Councilmember Randi Shade- (512) 974-2255

Place 4 Councilmember Laura Morrison- (512) 974-2258

Place 5 Councilmember Bill Spelman- (512) 974-2256

Place 6 Councilmember Sheryl Cole- (512) 974-2266

Our input on this project is of utmost importance. The paradoxically named Austinites for Downtown Mobility movement (Automotive gridlock != "mobility") has been doing their part to persuade the city to neuter their plans and remove many of the improvements that would have increased cyclist safety through the corridor and actually turn the street into a world-class bicycle facility. Lets not let their short-sightedness and financial muscle keep us from making this facility something that we ALL can be proud of. Elliott over at A2W has been much more eloquent on the subject, and the comment section of his writeup is full of goodness from all sorts of folk. Read it and be informed, then write your city council members, the bicycle program staff, and anyone else in city government that you can think of. Lets have some more public input before the current neutered proposal is signed into law!