The neighborhood task force got somebody’s attention. Several somebodies. An op-ed piece on January 25th Austin American-Statesman and some concerted lobbying work raised consciousness so that the February 9th City Council agenda has the following item:
In other words, “Austin Energy, hold everything!! You’re going to have to work with interested citizens (and there are a lot of us) to overhaul your slash-and-burn line-clearance policies, and come up with something that accommodates the older neighborhoods, whose needs are different from the suburbs whose buried utilities you so love.” The resolution’s final language isn’t worked out, and co-sponsor Brewster McCracken is working with the task force to try to incorporate some other ideas he favors:
- Extending the cutting moratorium (which currently runs out on February 9th) while the remaining provisions are worked out and enacted.
- Taking the tree-trimming part of line clearance away from Austin Energy and giving it to another department, perhaps the Urban Design department or Parks & Recreation, which already has its own forester for its parks.
- Compensating property owners for the value of trees that must be removed completely. (Can you say “Fifth Amendment to the Constitution,” boys and girls? Sure. I knew ya could.)
- Taking a City fund of $300,000 that is already earmarked for creating underground utilities in older neighborhoods and using it as the prize in a national competition to come up with creative ways to accomplish moving existing electric lines from overhead to underground.
The burying power lines part is gonna be the part that’s hardest to sell. When the task force met with electric utility staff, that was the suggestion that caused outright laughter from the staff. Me, I need to know a lot more about the engineering challenges before I could say whether something like that is feasible in Hyde Park or not.
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