COTA Austin - construction and infrastructure

[WhiteBlue]

I'm not denying that point btw. It is only one of many documents they are asked to come up with. And I doubt that they are ahead on all of them.

[Pup]

So, your point is?

[WhiteBlue]

My point is that your single example does not invalidate the criticism of the report.

[Pup]

What report? What criticism?

There was no criticism. There are no dates that have been missed. Are you just making things up?

Here, let me make this easy for you. Just fill in the blanks:

The deadline for the Transportation Plan is __________.
The deadline for the Roadway Agreement is __________.
The deadline for the Safety Plan is __________.
The deadline for the Mass Gathering permit is __________.

Todays Date is ___________.

According to these dates, CotA is behind in submitting these plans and permits by _____ days.

[WhiteBlue]

The report in the statesman was meant. Please fill in the figures yourself as you seem so familiar with them. These figures are not really relating to the criticism of the report.

The report criticises CotA for not having solid plans done regarding a number of County requirements. The report did not say that CotA were in violation. The report also quoted a judge who set down some requirements apparently in reaction to the lack of such missing plans and asked for weekly updates. This seems to indicate that Travis County is feeling the need to manage CotA's work on all those issues. At least that is usually the case when you request weekly feed back. A proactive stance on the planning items would not require the judge to ask for such things IMO.

[Pup]

Sure.

The deadlines for all of those is: April 30

Today's date is: April 4

CotA is behind in their submittals by: 0 days

So, are we done here?

[WhiteBlue]

See my editing above.

[Pup]

It sounds to me like you know that your original argument is a lost cause, and now you're searching around for a way to twist it into something you can win.

You're trying to concentrate on the newspaper article as opposed to what actually was said. You're trying to use the newspaper's bias to bolster your own. And since you've read the transcript, you know that it does not support what you're saying. You know that the deadline wasn't a reaction to anything, but rather just getting everything on the calendar for their own public hearing. And you also know that the weekly reports aren't due to a need to manage CotA's affairs, but are instead just intended for the various agencies to coordinate their efforts and to expedite any last minute changes.

In short, you are being dishonest.

That's not unexpected.

[thearmofbarlow]

The report in the statesman was meant. Please fill in the figures yourself as you seem so familiar with them. These figures are not really relating to the criticism of the report.

The report criticises CotA for not having solid plans done regarding a number of County requirements. The report did not say that CotA were in violation. The report also quoted a judge who set down some requirements apparently in reaction to the lack of such missing plans and asked for weekly updates. This seems to indicate that Travis County is feeling the need to manage CotA's work on all those issues. At least that is usually the case when you request weekly feed back. A proactive stance on the planning items would not require the judge to ask for such things IMO.

Of course they're feeling the need to manage CotA... they're politicians. What is so difficult to understand about this? YES, the County Commissioners would ask for such things because that actually IS their job.

[FW17]

• There are 14 more buildings in addition to the ones under construction that are under permit review right now.

Sounds to me that the Travis County Commissioners Office is not worried about these buildings being completed for the race.




With regard to Traffic paln, there is one already submitted in July last year

http://media2.kxan.com/PDF/COTATranspor ... ntPlan.pdf

[hairy_scotsman]

...All said that things were progressing on schedule

I watched the video and read the transcript. Did anyone say this at all? I can't find it if they did.

Sheriff's Office, TNR, & Emergency Services all also indicated urgency in needing a final road agreement and/or transportation plan so they can proceed with their own planning.

I have no way to know for certain, but I would also imagine that Fire & EMS would love this information too, as it impacts their operations directly.

(All said) that they would be ready for the race.

I don't think anyone said that.

Only Hershell from Building Inspections talked about this, iirc.

Commissioner: "do you feel like you are tracking (on a) timing that's workable for the fall?"

Hershell:>> "if the weather holds. I think so."

Also...

"I hope "(his emphasis) "that everything is completed in plenty of time for all of the structures to be inspected well ahead of the major events."

These are the county officials, not representatives of CotA, saying this - Sheriff's Dept., EMS, Building Dept., Transportation Dept.

That wasn't EMS. That was Danny Hobby of TCDES (Dept. of Emergency Services). Not the same. Disappointingly for me, neither the Fire Marshall, ESD 11 reps (the small Southeast Travis County Fire Department closest to the circuit), or ATCEMS attended. Hobby said he thought COTA was working with EMS. He made no mention of the Austin Fire Department, which responds to the area due to a recently completed automatic aid agreement between ESD 11 and AFD.

• CotA has an unannounced event planned prior to the F1 race. Another race of some sort, but the details and date aren't yet public.

There was no mention of the "pre-race event" being a race. From the descriptions given, it sounded like an open house of sorts.

• CotA was just given approval for Phase 6 of the project - Phase 7 is supposed to include the traffic and safety plans.

...and prerequisite to permitting for phase 7 is the roadway agreement.

• The proposed plan calls to extend Kellam Road to Pierce in addition to widening Elroy.

We've been talking for a while about the probable big gains of cutting Kellam through to Pearce. I'm glad somebody figured this out. Until there's a roadway agreement, though, we won't know if either the extension of Kellam or the widening of Elroy will happen.


A couple of things Hobby said caught my attention:

I have spoken with them on several occasions and they seem to think that their communications are going very well and they are taking care of not just the race, but they are also taking care of the residents and making sure that they are safe, fire apparatus is available for them.

I've had key people in both concerned FDs tell me emphatically otherwise, but OK...let's roll with it. I'm not sure how ESD 11, working alone, is going to cover this event and their typical response without help from AFD when they only have 2 stations with just 2 front line fire apparatus, and only 1 of those is nearby to COTA.

they are working, my understanding is, they're working with the Austin police department.

The extensive work with APD is in regard to handling related crowds downtown, and led to APD recently announcing that they'd employ the same plan for F1 that they used for SXSW.

I think that they are working with the e.m.s department because we don't do ground transport.

So, EMS & Fire service will be critical to this event and the TCDES rep gave no indication that he has any solid idea how ATCEMS & AFD fit into any emergency planning or if they are working with COTA. Awesome.

[strad]

Way back when this started I thought Hairy was pro CotA and the race but, it seems just the opposite.
It's really a shame that from inside and out there is so much negative energy.
Why wouldn't all F1 fans want them to succeed? Why wouldn't you want as many and as diverse a tracks and locales as possible? I truly don't understand.
Xpensive I kinda get,,He likes anything that makes America look bad or for it to fall on it's face, but Americans? And true F1 fans?

[mx_tifoso]

I'm hoping this goes through! But when is the race date again???? I've lost track. (get it?)

If it goes ahead as planned I will do my best to attend, after weighing the opportunity costs of course.

[bhall]

I've lost track. (get it?)

[Pup]

Way back when this started I thought Hairy was pro CotA and the race but, it seems just the opposite.
It's really a shame that from inside and out there is so much negative energy.
Why wouldn't all F1 fans want them to succeed? Why wouldn't you want as many and as diverse a tracks and locales as possible? I truly don't understand.
Xpensive I kinda get,,He likes anything that makes America look bad or for it to fall on it's face, but Americans? And true F1 fans?

I think HS did start out being a proponent of the race. But it seems to me like his dislike for Epstein has overwhelmed him. Now he seems to post every bad thing he can find, and tries to present it in the worst light possible, while still claiming to be wearing a white hat.

I'm glad some more people are starting to see it. There are a few on the Atlas forums who have caught on, too.

I think that there are a lot of people in Austin who didn't want the race, who don't see the value. In my opinion, the Statesman is on their side. They seem to me to be really biased in their reporting.

But I think among fans, the negativity is limited to just a few vocal people. Very vocal.

The thing is, at the end of the day when the race has been run, there will be a few people who say hey they didn't do this or that right, but mostly I think we can look back at this thread and say man, what a god awful waste of energy.