Better Know a Candidate: Robin Cravey

2. Has the McMansion ordinance been successful? What do you think of City Council's recent decision to reject OCEAN's request to further restrict home sizes on small lots in East Austin?

The McMansion was supposed to reduce flooding, but the final ordinance did not have provisions for enhanced flood controls and improved water quality in older neighborhoods. The ordinance also makes it harder for homeowners to have garage apartments, which puts more obstacles to affordability in our neighborhoods. I did not follow the OCEAN request closely.

3. Some neighborhood groups have attempted to opt-out of the vertical-mixed-use program for most or all eligible properties in their neighborhood. Would you vote to approve or reject those decisions?

If regulations make sense, neighborhoods should not be able to opt-out. I support Vertical Mixed Use, but the current ordinance allows this to be a voluntary policy, which defeats the purpose. The ordinance is also too weak in fostering affordable housing. I would pursue amending the ordinance.

4. What should the city government do to promote or discourage suburban development? What about condo/apartment development downtown? What about condo/apartment development in other parts of the city?

In order to discourage sprawl over the aquifer, we must stop upzoning tracts there. We should also insist on a development pattern that is walkable and bikeable, even in outlying areas. The City should provide zoning incentives for redevelopment that promotes affordable housing in the core of the city, especially along the transit corridors. Condos downtown and along commercial corridors with an affordable housing component are a possible source of affordable home ownership.

5. Homes near downtown are generally more expensive than homes in the suburbs. Should the city do anything to change that? What?

It is vital to provide affordable housing downtown to allow people to live within walking distance of where they work. This is one of the main issues I address in my platform. The city can achieve this by providing incentives for redevelopment that creates more affordable housing. We should also take advantage of turning city owned property into affordable housing such as the Green Water Treatment Plant. We should also be prepared to invest in distressed properties during an economic downturn.

6. Austinites love cars (80% of us drive to work by ourselves), but hate traffic. What would you do to get Austinites to commute differently and/or reduce traffic? How often do you get to work by some method other than driving? What is your alternative method?

Everyday I use an alternative method of transportation other than driving a vehicle. I commute to work from South Lamar on my Yamaha Majesty Scooter. When I’m not scooting to work, I ride my bicycle, take the bus, or walk to work.

If the city is an organism, then it’s transportation system is both the circulatory system and the skeleton. Today we have an inefficient, costly, and unhealthy transit system. We can do better. I believe that our immediate priority should be to build a walkable, bikeable city.

My vision of the future of Austin is one where there is more traffic on the sidewalks and less traffic on the streets while building an effective public transit system, including local, commuter, and regional rail. On the streets, the traffic will comprise more bicycles and motorbikes and fewer cars and trucks. All of this will be tied together by rail and bus transit. In short, we will shape a transportation system based on shoeleather, bicycles, motorbikes, and public transit. We must change our development patterns so that people can live, work, shop, and play all within a short walk. Where that is not possible, there must be convenient transit within a short walk. We must make walking safe and enjoyable by providing wide clear sidewalks (get the utility poles out!) and shade trees and a comfortable buffer against car traffic.

In this vision, we are no longer trapped in a car on a smog-blanketed road. Instead, we will spend our time walking, or biking, or scooting, or reading on the metro. We will spend less time commuting so that we have more time for family, or work, or shopping, or play. And we can stop paving over vast new acres for highway interchanges. And our air will be pure enough for a baby to breathe.

7. Austin has the potential to be a great biking city and a lot of people bike recreationally, but it is difficult for most people to bike to work. What should the city do to improve the opportunity to bike-commute? Do you own a bike? How often do you ride it to work?

I started bicycling in Austin in 1970, and bicycled to work every day until I got my scooter. When our kids were born, my wife and I rode bikes with a babyseat on the back. I rode a locally made bike with a reynolds 531 aluminum frame for 25 years, and finally donated it to the yellow bike project and bought a Specialized Crossroads. Now I occasionally ride to work, but mostly ride recreationally.

I want to be the voice for cyclists at city hall. We have a lot of work to do to make Austin a bicycle town. I coordinated the 1998 council transportation session that approved the bicycle plan part 2. After ten years, that plan is now about a third complete, and the money is almost gone.

We can do better. We can make Austin a genuine bicycle town by completing our network of bike lanes, building connecting bridges, and expanding bicycle parking facilities and requirements. In addition, we should speed up the maintenance of our streets to make them safer for bicyclists and pedestrians. We should work with determination to fund and finish our bicycle plan, and sooner than the next twenty years. The Street Smarts task force has identified 100 priorities. We should work to get all those funded and underway on an ambitious timetable. It's about lanes, and streets, and trails, but it's also about parking, and showers, and education, and a lot more.

We need a bicycle pedestrian commission with an adequete amount of staff to oversee the program, and to review city projects and private development plans, and to advise the council.

8. Are you happy with the apparent resolution of the Las Manitas/Marriott controversy? If not, how do you think it should have been handled differently?

No. I would not have approved of abandoning the alley to the developer, which would have changed the entire dynamic. Also, I think it was unfortunate that an unrealistic assistance package was negotiated with the sisters, leading to a public outcry, leading to them rejecting all assistance. Some modest assistance would have been appropriate. In addition, I believe the city council was not fully informed of the facts, and I would conduct a fact-finding in cooperation with the new City Manager.

9. Do you think Austin is better now than it was 10 years ago? Do you think it will be better 10 years from now than it is now?

Austin is better in some ways, and worse in others. Downtown was almost vacant ten years ago, and now it is thriving. However, Austin is less affordable for homeowners, renters and small business people. If we promote policies with a focus on housing affordability and business retention, we can do better.

Additional thoughts:

I came to Austin in 1969 to go to UT, and experienced the epiphany of clear spring water. In the seventies I learned to love Austin driving a taxicab through its streets and alleys. When thousands of Austinites wrote a vision for the city called the Austin Tomorrow Plan, I was among them. My wife and I raised two daughters through Austin public schools. I published an environmental magazine, worked in journalism and the printing and publishing business, and published stories and poems by Austin writers. I volunteered and voted consistently in election campaigns over the years, including city council campaigns. In my forties I took a law degree from UT law school, and when I graduated, I worked at city hall as a council aide, where I learned about the budget process, and about tracking agendas, building majorities, and making tough decisions. In 1998 I left city hall to establish my solo law practice. I served on the Austin Planning Commission.

I’ve always been a volunteer, serving as president of the Zilker Elementary PTA, the Zilker Neighborhood Association, the Austin Bar Solo and Small Firm Section, and most recently serving as founding president of Friends of Barton Springs Pool. Most important, I lived the life of public participation; I treated people fairly; and I always put the good of the city first. This campaign is about a vision for the Austin of 20 years from now. What kind of city do we want to make for our children to live in? We will provide affordable homes and good jobs that will allow our children to stay here and raise their own families, and so our schools will not be threatened by under-enrollment. We want more traffic on the sidewalks, less traffic on the streets, with a transportation system based on shoeleather, bicycles, and motorbikes, and we will weave the city together with effective public transit. We will build a grand metropolitan parks and trails system that will restore and preserve our creeks, and link us to surrounding landscapes. We will develop an economy where big business pays its fair share, small business gets its fair share. This is our city and we can build it according to our vision.

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