Austin's Rail-or-Fail Vote Is Uniting Transit Supporters and Foes

Late in June, the Austin City Council endorsed Austin Urban Rail, a $1.4 billion proposal to build a light-rail line through downtown along the city's East Side. The council's unanimous vote clears the way for a bond measure to appear on the ballot in the November election. This is the closest Austin has come to light rail since 2000, when voters defeated a light-rail proposal by a narrow vote.

Not every transit advocate is elated by the news. In fact, some of them are madder than all hell. A number of groups that support smart growth in Austin appear every bit as devoted to stopping Austin Urban Rail as the people who don't want to fund public transit, period. The project may even unite those groups—who otherwise do not share interests—in common cause.