The Austin Technology Council has, with other leadership organizations in town, voiced support of the Mobility Bond. In the below, which I wrote for this coming weekend’s update that goes to ATC members and community, I share why we have made and endorsement in favor.

Recently, Joseph Kopser, President of ATC Member company Moovel, and Founding Member of the ATC Policy Coalition, wrote an article about why he supports Austin’s $720 Million Mobility Bond, slated to be on the ballot this coming November. He writes that, “Better mobility enables the American Dream” and that the Bond is “a realistic next step toward establishing Austin as the national leader in social mobility….. While addressing traffic congestion problems for all.” He’s not wrong about this.

There are a lot of folks in Austin who don’t work in tech who increasingly believe the new Austin story is one of a tale of two cities, and that tech is largely to blame for a lot of our civic challenges including traffic, the rising cost of housing, and the gentrification of neighborhoods which were once, but are no longer, affordable to all our citizens. I’m not convinced that that the tech community is solely at fault — Austin is in the middle of the fastest growing metro area in the US for 5 years running. People move here because Texas is a great state to do business in, and Austin is an exceptional community to live in.

We’re also the number one city to start a business in according to the Kauffman Foundation. All of this means more people, more businesses, higher wages for many, more demand on housing stock and people moving infrastructure, all of which drives up prices, particularly in the close-in areas. And this means that over time, our less advantaged citizens get priced out of geographically desirable areas and moved away from easily accessible economic, educational and cultural opportunities. It is just that, in Austin, this seems to be happening at a lightning fast pace.

In the tech community, we pride ourselves on our native innovation, our cool home-grown companies like HomeAway, Spredfast, CSID and Trendkite, as well as our ability to attract the biggest and best from elsewhere — Apple’s second biggest location in the US is here in Austin, Oracle is building a huge facility, Google has an enormous presence in town. But our reputation for innovation and ability to continue to attract great talent from outside the market depends a great deal on the quality of life that our city serves up. I believe that the tech community, as cutting-edge thought leaders, innovators, business founders and creators of both material and intellectual wealth, have a responsibility to nurture the growth of our city and ensure a great future which allows our businesses, and others, to flourish.

Yes, the Mobility Bond, long overdue, does start to create people moving solutions that will enable more of our citizens to participate in the American dream. It also solves for some really basic problems, like decreasing your morning commute wait time at key intersections by as much as 40% through automating signal timing based on time of day and weather. Right now, our traffic signals require manual adjustment, which means a City employee gets in a vehicle and drives to the intersection and makes changes by hand. This in a city known for technology.

The Bond also moves us forward on increasing housing density around our major corridors, creating more walkable, close-knit neighborhoods. Newcomers from big coastal cities are used to being able to manage most or all of their errands, entertainment, and commuting either on foot or via some sort of public or shared transportation — they pay attention to walkability scores when they are looking for real estate. And the success of the Mueller community shows us that a lot of Austinites don’t want a big yard to take care of, enjoy smaller space living, and enjoy the sense of community that living very close to your neighbors brings. The Bond also provides for better and safer commute by bike, which is critical in a city where more and more people use bicycles as either primary or secondary transportation. Making more designated room for bikes keeps riders safe, and decreases frustration for motorists.

We are getting bigger, and that isn’t going to stop anytime soon. Our ability to attract talent, new businesses and grow our existing businesses, particularly those which are innovation-based, will depend on how forward-thinking we are as a community around creating solutions to livability and quality of life issues for all our citizens. The ATC sees the Mobility Bond as the first step in the right direction, which is why we’ve joined the Chamber and many other leaders in town in support of this issue.