ELECTION DAY IS COMING - GO TO A FORUM!

Here's a quick Update about the upcoming Mayor and City Council election.

First, early voting runs from April 27th to May 5th, and Election Day is May 9th.

While RG4N will not be holding a forum this year, and will not be endorsing any candidates, we do strongly encourage you to attend a forum (see full schedule below), to ask the candidates tough questions, and to vote.

Locally, the six north central neighborhoods will hold a candidate forum on April 13 at 6:30 p.m. at Wozniak Hall, St. Louis Catholic Church, 7601 Burnet Road.

The neighborhoods - Allandale, Brentwood, Crestview, Highland, North Shoal Creek, and Wooten - all identified city planning as a unifying theme of the forum.  Candidates will be asked detailed questions on how to plan for and fund the land use and transportation changes in North Central Austin required to support tens of thousands of new residents in the coming years. 

IT'S REALLY, REALLY IMPORTANT TO VOTE

Last May, only 8% of Austin's eligible voters participated in the election. Or to put it another way, 92% did not vote.

We must do all we can to make sure to raise that number -- especially in our part of town! That way, we can ensure to elect a city government that will support our interests.

(Do you have any suggestions about what you'd like RG4N to do? Let us know by email to: press [at] rg4n [dot] org)

Here is a calendar of upcoming forums (click 'Read More' for the full list):

March 24th, (Tues.) 6:30 p.m.
LULAC Candidate's Forum
Metz Elementary School, 84 Robert Martinez Blvd.

March 25th, (Wed.) 6 p.m.
Austin Neighborhoods Council
721 Barton Springs (Austin Energy Bldg.)

March 25th, (Wed.) 5 p.m.
Texas Green Network
Austin City Hall Chambers

April 9th, (Thurs.) 5 p.m.

We got some good news that calls for a celebration. So mark your calendar to come to the:

RG4N Good Neighbor Get Together
Sunday, Feb. 8th
11:00 AM – 3:00 PM
at HANGTOWN GRILL
at Burnet Rd & 2222/Koenig Ln in the HEB shopping center

• Great Food & Fun!
• Live Music from Wendy Colonna and Cooper Henson & Nikolas Henson
• Raffle Prizes including a Dell Laptop Computer from Discount Electronics & a Brother Sewing Machine

15% of food purchases benefits the RG4N legal fund.

Click the attachment (at the bottom of this story) for all the details. See you there.

As you may recall, way back in November 2006, we started our quest to stop the two-story, 200,000+ sq. ft. Wal-Mart Supercenter at Northcross Mall.

That monstrous site plan is no longer in play. In December 2008, the city officially approved a new plan for a much, much smaller store that saves the old trees and calls for more green space too.

Friends and neighbors, we said from Day One that it was NOT a done deal and we stood our ground, and that is worth celebrating!

Were it not for neighbors coming together for more than TWO YEARS to demand to be heard at City Hall, to link arm-in-arm at around Northcross, to rally at Town Halls, to protest on Saturday mornings, to distribute 10,000 newsletters, to place thousands of yard signs and tie yards of red ribbon, to hold a bazaar & thrift sale, to get feisty at Feisty Fest, to alert the media, to sue, and to never stop fighting, we would have not seen a day that the developer & Wal-Mart decided to do it neighborly and do it right.

In this Update:
1. No Meeting on August 21.
2. We met with Lincoln.

In our last Update, we announced that we would convene for an RG4N Town Hall on August 21. Let¹s hold off on that for now. This note explains why. Also please note that your feedback and questions are welcomed and encouraged at: press [at] rg4n [dot] org

Representatives from Responsible Growth for Northcross and the Allandale Neighborhood Association met recently with Bruce Scrafford, an attorney for Lincoln Property Company. The purpose of the meeting was to disclose more information about the revised plan to build a smaller Wal-Mart store at Northcross Mall. No one from Wal-Mart or the City of Austin attended.

In fact, Wal-Mart is putting together a "Fact Sheet" on the new plans and wasn't ready with the details for the meeting. When we receive that information, we will schedule a Town Hall meeting. (It should also be noted that the online information about the prior plan for the two-story Wal-Mart is gone: http://www.walmart-northcross.com )

However, it was still a productive meeting. We learned some things we didn't already know. But we still have questions.

Here's what we know now:
1. The Wal-Mart at Northcross will be 99,600 square feet
2. It will be one-story
3. No parking garage
4. No garden center
5. No gas station
6. The revised plan is expected to retain the design and materials in the earlier design, so it's not expected to be a blue and grey box
7. A new site plan has not been submitted to the City of Austin.
8. More trees and landscaping will be planted in the new plan
9. More sidewalks will be in the new plan
10. Less impervious cover will be in the new plan
11. Water control and drainage will be improved in the new plan

Here's what we don't know specifics about yet:
1. Hours of operation
2. Traffic impact and mitigation
3. Truck delivery routes
4. Access from the Northcross bus stop, particularly for people with
disabilities
5. Security operations

The RG4N Business Liaison Committee has partnered with the Austin Independent Business Alliance to create the new Northcross Independent Business Investment Zone, or IBIZ! You can read more about ABIA and IBIZ here.

Now we need YOU to shop locally and patronize the businesses in the new Northcross IBIZ. You can also use this map of the Northcross IBIZ stores.

In addition to the IBIZ stores, please continue to shop and support the many businesses who have financially supported RG4N's efforts from the beginning.

Dear RG4N Supporters,

The reduced size of the planned Northcross Wal-Mart is welcome news for us all. The RG4N Steering Committee thanks everyone for the kind words and expressions of appreciation we are hearing today from neighbors throughout the area and across the city.

We aren't the only or even the biggest factor in Wal-Mart's decision to scale back the planned store. But I know we were one important factor. Neighborhood resistance to the Northcross project and the potential for ongoing litigation created a shadow of uncertainty over the project that we believe bought us time -- time for the economy and other factors that drove the decision to come fully into play.

So many people throughout and outside the Northcross area contributed to this effort. Neighbors who put signs in their yards, everyone who showed up for Arms Around Northcross and other events, Allandale and other area neighborhood associations, all the people who donated money and time and wrote letters, the businesses that supported our efforts. All of you played vital roles.

"Wal-Mart is dramatically scaling back plans for its Supercenter at Northcross Mall after a two-year controversy and a court fight with neighbors opposed to the store."

Read the entire Statesman article about Wal-Mart's plans to reduce the size of the store planned at Northcross Mall!

RG4N "YES WE CAN" RECYCLE

It’s simple. It’s sustainable. It's fun. Start saving and collecting your cans today! This is an easy way to raise necessary funds and help us continue our fight.