MUNY & THE BRACK TRACT DEADLINE
TIME TO ACT IS NOW!
Dear Neighbors:
This Thursday, the UT Board of Regents will vote on whether to extend the Brackenridge Tract Agreement deadline for canceling the Muny Golf Course lease and Brackenridge Development Agreement.
If we don’t take action, we know that, absent UT negotiating in good faith, we’ll have more traffic and we’ll lose green space, so we need your help to contact the Regents and our elected leaders at the state (Sen. Watson and Reps. Howard and Hinojosa) to get UT to extend the deadline so that the State and City of Austin can continue negotiations on Saving Muny and the Brackenridge Tract.
Of course, if you’re happy to have increased traffic, congestion and hordes of people moving into high rise developments on Muny Golf Course, then this email is not for you. But if you want UT and the City to negotiate a solution for the Brackenridge Tract Agreement and Muny Golf Course, then please consider sending a message, such as shown below, to let them know the importance of providing additional time to find a fair solution to help Save Muny and the Brackenridge Tract. If you’re a UT grad, tell them. If you treasure the golf course, tell them. If you treasure open space and parkland, tell them. If you want to see reasonable development and compensation to UT for the value of the properties, tell them.
If you (or your friends) know one of the Regents (Sara Martinez Tucker, Jeffery Hildebrand, Paul Foster, Ernest Aliseda, Brittany Jewell, David Beck, Steven Hicks, Janiece Longoria, James "Rad" Weaver, Kevin Eltife), tell them. But to allow time for negotiation talks between the UT and City to continue, the Regents and our elected leaders need to hear from you!
Contrary to recent media reports, the parties have been working on negotiations. To this end, the City has identified a number of possible funding sources, including 2018 bond package funds, hotel occupancy tax funds, a tax increment financing funds, and even some land swap proposals. In addition, the Austin City Council voted unanimously to extend the deadline, but the Regents need to agree to provide more time for the talks to continue.
UT and our elected officials need to hear that we care, but please be sure to be courteous, polite, respectful and firm in any message you send.
Thanks for your help!
Mike Cannatti
West Austin Neighborhood Group
Please use and modify as you see fit....
The Brackenridge Tract properties are valuable and treasured assets, not only for UT Systems but also for the City of Austin. And with recent progress by the City of Austin in finding possible funding sources to fairly compensate UT for a deal to purchase and/or swap properties, there is a real opportunity to reach an agreement which provides reasonable development and compensation to UT for the properties.
Please vote to extend the cancellation deadline.
Proposed Message (please revise and adjust as needed)
Greetings Board of Regents (bor@utsystem.edu),
Honorable Senator Kirk Watson (kirk.watson@senate.texas.gov,
Sarah.Howard@senate.texas.gov (Chief of Staff)),
Honorable Donna Howard (donna.howard@house.texas.gov,
scott.daigle@house.texas.gov (Chief of Staff)),
Honorable Gina Hinojosa (gina.hinojosa@house.texas.gov,
doug.greco@house.texas.gov (Chief of Staff)):
Contact CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES
Contact your City Council Representatives:
(click on name to send email)
- Mayor: Steve Adler 512-978-2100
- District 1: Ora Houston 512-978-2101
- District 2: Delia Garza 512-978-2102
- District 3: Sabino Renteria 512-978-2103
- District 4: Gregorio Casar 512-978-2104
- District 5: Ann Kitchen 512-978-2105
- District 6: Jimmy Flanigan 512-978-2106
- District 7: Leslie Pool 512-978-2107
- District 8: Ellen Troxclair 512-978-2108
- District 9: Kathie Tovo 512-978-2109
- District 10: Alison Alter 512-978-2110
Email All of the Council: Entire Council and Mayor
MORE HISTORY AND INFO ON MUNY...
The fight to Save Muny is not over.
Fellow Citizens of Austin,
Please watch and share this important video below...
The fight to Save Muny is not over. As the expiration of the lease for Lions Municipal Golf Course approaches, we urgently ask everyone to remember that moment in Civil Rights History that occurred at Lions in 1950.
Volma Overton, Jr. grew up in the Jim Crow South, and remembers vividly how difficult it was during that time. Lions is an asset not only to our entire community but also to the State of Texas and the United States of America. It should remain intact as an 18 hole golf course for everyone to play. Please fight to preserve Lions Municipal Golf Course by emailing the Mayor and Austin City Council immediately!
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Brackenridge TRACT: WHAT WILL HAPPEN ON MAY 25TH 2019
Brackenridge Tract Background
- 1924: The Lions Club got a 25 year deal in 1924 and built the first public golf course in Austin.
- 1936: The City of Austin took over the Lion’s lease in 1936, and got a 50 year deal - til 1987.
- 1973: In 1972-73, UT Regents tried to cancel the lease, and got the city to make another deal, just to keep the lease until 1987. (Deal = City pay to move and repave Red River near UT)
- 1987: The deal in 1987 was not worked out until 1989, and another 30 years was secured, with lease payments totaling $9,929,920, plus development approvals on the rest of the Brackenridge Tract, except the Field Lab.
- 2009: In 2009 a Texas Historical Marker was approved for Lions Muny for its early Desegregation (1951), and in 2016 Lions was listed in the National Register of Historic Places, important for that early, quiet desegregation.
- 2011: In Feb. 2011, the UT Board of Regents voted to let the golf course lease expire at the end of its 30 yr. term, which is May 25, 2019.
Owned by the City of Austin , or a Conservancy, and NOT by UT??
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO DO THAT DEAL?
1) Approval by Austin City Council as well as UT Board of Regents
2) Providing something that UT wants
3) Passage of Austin Park Bonds in November could help as Council voted some of those bonds could help pay UT for the Lions Municipal Golf Course tract.
4) UT will still want some non-UT development approved for the rest of the Brackenridge Tract - particularly fronting Lady Bird Lake. - How much?
5) AND ????
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1) Support the Parks Bonds, Proposition C
2) Contact the Austin City Council in support of preserving the historic green space called “MUNY” (This is Important!)
https://www.austintexas.gov/email/all-council-members
3) Urge a “DEAL” - at least a partial one, by November 25 -
6 months before May 25, when the current lease could end.
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OUR NEXT NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING....December 4th
Please join us at the Howson Library
(the first Tuesday of each month!)
To get an item on the Agenda, send email to President@WestAustinNG.com
Optional RSVP below if you would like to let us know you are planning to attend and receive an agenda as it becomes available (usually the day of the meeting)
Tuesday, Dec 4, 2018, 06:30 PM
Howson Branch, Austin Public Library, Exposition Boulevard, Austin, TX, USA
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
WANG Board of Directors & Committee Members
Organized 1973......"To preserve our neighborhood and protect it from deterioration"
- President: Holly Reed President@westaustinng.com
- Secretary: Mike Cannatti Secretary@westaustinng.com
- Assistant Secretary: Blake Tollett AsstSecretary@westaustinng.com
- Treasurer: George Edwards Treasurer@westaustinng.com
- Past President: Cathy Kyle PastPresident@westaustinng.com
Committee Members (click on name to send email)
- August "Happy" Harris
- Elizabeth Adams
- Mary Arnold
- Joyce Basciano
- Joseph M Bennett
- Michael Cannatti
- George Edwards
- Haidar Khazen
- Craig Lill
- Holly Reed
Honorary Committee Members
- Honorary Mayor Steve Adler
- Honorary Alison Alter
- Honorary Kathie Tovo