The website set up by the City of Pflugerville for input from the public for Project Connect is still accessible here.

“Austin’s Light Rail Plan: The Bottom Line” by Jim Skaggs in the Coalition on Sustainable Transportation website was updated on July 1, 2012.

“Expensive Learning” is a recent entry in Peter Gordon’s Blog and provides a comparison of bus rapid transit and rail transit with respect to cost effectiveness.

“Delayed vote could be break for urban rail plan” by Ben Wear, Austin American-Statesman provides a discussion of some factors that may affect the outcome of a rail vote in the Austin area.

In the June 13, 2012, edition of the Austin American-Statesman, there was a letter to the editor, “Eyesore Turbines,” that just by its title suggests that wind farms are causing problems.

In “Wind turbines as yet unsuitable as electricity providers,” an article by C. le Pair, F. Udo and K de Groot in Europhysics News, it is questioned whether wind turbines have been shown to be effective for their intended use.

Some References about Problems with Wind Turbines

In Ontario, Canada:

North Gower Wind Action Group Blog

In the UK:

“Wind farms: the monuments to lunacy that will be left to blot the landscape” by Christopher Booker, The Telegraph, September 10, 2011.

In Australia:

“Against the Wind: The pursuit of clean energy has relegated ordinary people to the status of ‘collateral damage’” by Maurice Newman, The Spectator Australia, posted in National Wind Watch.

Books:

Wind Turbine Syndrome: A Report on a Natural Experiment by Nina Pierpont, 2009.

The Wind Farm Scam: An Ecologist’s Evaluation by John Etherington, 2009.

Added June 19, 2012:

A letter about an application for erecting wind turbines in Devon

The letter appeared in JoNova on June 20 (Australian time).

Added June 23, 2012:

In Vermont:

“Vermonters Realize They’ve Erred…Citizens Ramp Up Protests Against Big Wind” NoTricksZone, June 23, 2012.

Added June 26, 2012:

“Aussies drive another stake intop the heart of the wind-farm vampire” by James Delingpole, The Telegraph, June 25, 2012.

Added July 6, 2012:

“The ugly side of wind power (National Post op-ed)” CCSage, July 6, 2012.

The Bohls neighborhood does not lie within a single precinct. Part of the neighborhood is in Precinct 123 and another part is in Precinct 136.

Links to maps for Precinct 123 and Precinct 136:

Precinct 123: http://www.traviscountytax.org/gis/maps/p123.htm

Bohls Crossing is shown in the southwest corner of Precinct 123.

Precinct 136: http://www.traviscountytax.org/gis/maps/p136.htm

In Pflugerville’s Key to the City for May 26-31, 2012, city residents are invited to an open house on June 19, 2012, at the Pflugerville Justice Center to provide input about alternate routes for providing rail service into some of the cities north of Austin.

An alternative not mentioned is not to expand rail service north.

For a number of years the Coalition on Sustainable Transportation (COST) has made the case that expanding rail service in the Austin area is generally not cost effective.

Appearing very recently is “Austin Transit Working Group Meetings: Critique and Comment.”

It is possible that more familiarity with studies performed by COST could lead residents to provide higher quality input with respect to transportation issues.

Item 2A on the agenda for the Pflugerville City Council worksession on April 24, 2012, was “Discussion with the Planning and Zoning Commission regarding preliminary findings and recommendations as a result of the Unified Development Code Diagnosis project.”

In the worksession, it was reported that the project was funded by the Capital Reserve Fund. It was also reported that the discovery phase had been completed and that the next step was the preparation of a draft diagnostic report.

Mention was made of a reference source that essentially provided local strategies for suburban communities. Among development features allowed were

• Mixing of uses
• Diversity of housing types
• Moderately high density
• Street connectivity

The local strategies would be intended to lead to the creation of compact and walkable neighborhoods.

This seems consistent with a prescription for smart growth development for which many features are controversial.

Public input for determining the kinds of development best suited for Pflugerville was obtained by a variety of means during the recent comprehensive plan revision including the establishment of a Pflugerville Community Almanac website. Unfortunately this website is no longer maintained by the city and thus opportunities for continued public input into decisions regarding future city growth and development have become more limited.