In 2010, the bridge in the last post was being proposed and planned, and I am not exaggerating this: I got a mailer from the local Sierra Club indicating their desire to oppose its construction.
I wrote this post which was fully supported by evidence (responding to an actual physical newsletter I was sent in the US mail, back when such things were common) from the local chapter of the Sierra Club (of which I am in fact a lifetime member!)
and then this happened on the Austin-bac mailing list (Austin’s bicycle advisory council). Fun fact, I stumbled upon this conversation circa 2016 by accident.
And more:
and from past friend of the crackplog who suddenly changes his tune when it’s his ox being gored:
He goes on to claim that nothing was set in stone, but of course, it was; the Sierra Club told their members they were opposing this bridge in favor of painted bike lanes on South Lamar. I kid you not. This really happened. And he tries to mislead to seem more reasonable by conflating “suburbs” with “suburban”. (I view Oak Hill, where the guy I was thinking of as my prime stereotype lives, as “suburban” even if it’s in the city limits, for example).
Then, it gets even worse: (skipped a couple posts to get to this):
This fucking guy.
It’s a fact that the Sierra Club decided to oppose the bridge. They put it in a printed monthly newsletter that arrived in my fucking mailbox. And yet this grifter still tried to take a superior position and wriggle out of accountability, because just like in the year of our lord twenty twenty four, Tom’s an advogrifter (thanks Julio!) whose primary concern is always being nice to people who will donate money to keep his grants and employment going. (In 2010, that meant the people who were low-info members of the local Sierra Club chapter! It’s a slightly different story today, but he’s still mostly seeking support from that demographic – people who live in Oak Hill, drive everywhere, but religiously recycle and think that makes them greener than somebody living in a high-rise downtown).
They really did oppose. Tom, just like he did yesterday, tried to paper it over to make it look like there wasn’t any substantive concern, but there was: the disproportionately old men and women running the Sierra Club really did propose bike lanes on South Lamar over building this bridge.1
And years earlier, when I was on the Urban Transportation Commission, members of the same group of self-described environmentalists opposed bike lanes on Barton Springs Road as well. I was there! It really happened!
There’s a reason I’m sometimes called Austin’s Urbanism Elephant. I don’t forget. Neither should you. People like Tom Wald are not the solution to any of our problems, unless you run a consulting agency that needs a bunch of money.
Here’s a link to the 2010 thread on google groups, for as long as they decide to keep it working anyways.
Tom Wald: you are today’s Worst Person In Austin! Congratulations!
(Watch down the road for the Red Line Parkway post to come!)
Not that this would have worked anyways; the chances TXDOT would have let them restripe any more than the bare minimum uphill stretch just south of Barton Springs are slim and none, not that people like those on the board of the Sierra Club are ever expected to take that kind of thing into account when righteously opposing a bike bridge ↩
