Is Georgetown committed to passenger rail?
1 view
Skip to first unread message
Support Georgetown Bus
Sep 3, 2011, 6:57:38 PM9/3/11
to george...@googlegroups.com
On September 13th Georgetown City Council will be addressing the 2011/2012 budget. A major issue will be Georgetown's membership in the Lone Star Rail District http://lonestarrail.com This membership costs the city $50,000 per year and guarantees us a station in the multi-city passenger rail system which will run from San Antonio to Dallas.
Council Member Berryman has suggested, and Gonzalez has supported the idea, that we could withdraw our membership temporarily and jump back into the Lone Star Rail District at a later time. If we did that we would be responsible for millions of dollars in environmental studies and station planning costs to re-secure a station on the rail line. We currently benefit from splitting these cost with the several regional city and county governments that are participating in the Lone Star Rail District.
Council Members Berryman and Gonzalez have most strongly argued for backing out of the rail district. Eason, Jonrowe and Meigs have supported maintaining our membership. While Sattler and Hellman have flip flopped.
Please take a moment to contact your City Council Member before Tuesday, September 13th regarding this issue. http://government.georgetown.org/city-council If you are not sure who your council member is, feel free to contact me at george...@gmail.com or 512-508-1485
--
Lalena Parkhurst
george...@gmail.com
512-508-1485
Council Member Berryman has suggested, and Gonzalez has supported the idea, that we could withdraw our membership temporarily and jump back into the Lone Star Rail District at a later time. If we did that we would be responsible for millions of dollars in environmental studies and station planning costs to re-secure a station on the rail line. We currently benefit from splitting these cost with the several regional city and county governments that are participating in the Lone Star Rail District.
Council Members Berryman and Gonzalez have most strongly argued for backing out of the rail district. Eason, Jonrowe and Meigs have supported maintaining our membership. While Sattler and Hellman have flip flopped.
Please take a moment to contact your City Council Member before Tuesday, September 13th regarding this issue. http://government.georgetown.org/city-council If you are not sure who your council member is, feel free to contact me at george...@gmail.com or 512-508-1485
--
Lalena Parkhurst
george...@gmail.com
512-508-1485
Support Georgetown Bus
Sep 11, 2011, 9:02:45 PM9/11/11
to george...@googlegroups.com
This is a reminder that Georgetown City Council will be meeting about the budget this week,
Tue, Sept 13th at 6:00pm at 101 E. 7th Street (Main & 7th). Our membership in the Lone Star Rail District will be discussed. If you have not already contacted your council member regarding this issue please do so ASAP. It would also be very effective if people can show up to the meeting and speak to the issue. I plan to be there.
I was made aware of a couple of additional points I did not address below. One is that our investment in public transit exempts us from EPA air quality fines, which are a big problem for Texas cities. Secondly, Georgetown currently struggles with insufficient I-35 exit/entrance ramps because we did not engage in the planning process. We will end up in a similar boat with high speed passenger rail if we back out of Lone Star Rail District now.
I was made aware of a couple of additional points I did not address below. One is that our investment in public transit exempts us from EPA air quality fines, which are a big problem for Texas cities. Secondly, Georgetown currently struggles with insufficient I-35 exit/entrance ramps because we did not engage in the planning process. We will end up in a similar boat with high speed passenger rail if we back out of Lone Star Rail District now.
Lalena Parkhurst
Support the bus in Georgetown
george...@gmail.com
512-508-1485
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages