The Town Lake (Lady Bird Johnson Lake) hike and bike trail is one of Austin’s greatest outdoor assetts. The 10 mile loop around Town Lake is used by thousands of Austin runners, walkers, and cyclists every day.
There is one small stretch of the trail however, that is incomplete…forcing runners to have to jog along side very busy Riveside Dr. for 1.3 miles.
There is currently a proposal being backed by Mayor Will Wynn (DEMOCRAT — yeah it’s relevant, as you’ll see in a few) that will cost about $15 millon to build.
And how does our Democrat mayor want to pay for the 1.3 mile boardwalk jogging path? Yep — you guessed it. He has his hand out for some Federal Stimulus graft:
Building it would cost about $15 million, he said. It’s not clear where that money will come from. Wynn said private groups will raise some of the money, and the city will probably apply for money to build it from the federal stimulus fund.
Democrats really do have no shame when it comes to stealing tax payer money, do they?
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1.3 miles divided by 15,000,000 equals approximately $2150 an inch.
That would stimulate the Mayor and the City Council, and the local jiggly rooms.
If they get it, thank my grandchildren.
Are you sure about that?
I came up with $182.11 per inch.
The fact that I would bother doing the math on that kind of proves what a total nerd I really am (not that that’s much of a surprise).
I think if the good folks of Texas got together they could finish the trail without the polititians help.
Howard, I agree. I would love to see that trail completed. But I think that it should be done within the existing city budget or via private donations.
Why on earth should tax payers outside of Travis county be paying for our city’s jogging path? I’ve read that Wynn is also seeking Federal stimulus $$ to build a disc golf course in East Austin.
Makes me sick to my stomach watching Democrats use the blank check stimulus boondoggle to line up for their own personal pork projects.
Here is a likely scenario:
1. The city gets a chunk of money from the stimulus package for the trail.
2. Contrators bid on the project and kickback money is given to key officials. Once all the politicians have their palms greased, the decision is made on the best contractor.
3. Now there is a survey that needs to be done to make sure the trail doesnt destroy wildlife or cause a flood.
4. an endangered species is convieniently found
5. bids go out to have an environmental impact study done to make sure the endangered creatures can survive along a new trail.
6. see section 2 above
7. plans clear the environmental and impervious cover requirements and then the contractor breaks ground.
8. Work stalls 2 weeks into the project. 1.5 years later, only 50yards of the trail have been built
9. Original contractor goes out of buisness
10. 3 years later, the City offers a bond package to fund the remaining trail and the Bond Fails
11. Turnover at the city leaves no one to blame for missing stimulus funds.
12. 5 years from now, a private company out of Spain secures a deal to build a “Toll Trail” thruout the city.
13. Before the general population can put together a decent opposition, the private company builds the entire 20mile trail in 38 days using illegal workers on a 24hr schedule broken up into 12hr shifts.
14. Toll Tags used on regular Toll Roads work great on the new trail and the bulk of the population think is a great idea due to some creative marketing.