STOP AMD's move to SW Austin!
From: Harold Daniel
[AustinAction-info@AustinAction.org]
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005
10:57 PM
To: AustinAction Alert
Subject: [AustinAction] AMD
- What you can do
"The AMD group, they
should go somewhere else."
- Robert Redford at Barton
Springs Pool
Robert Redford
asks AMD to "go somewhere else"
Robert Redford
asked AMD to
reconsider their decision to move into the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer
watershed during a visit to Barton Springs
pool on Saturday. Redford spent summers in Austin with his
grandparents when he was growing up and has fond memories of swimming at
the springs. Urban development in the area that feeds Barton Springs
continues to threaten the water.
Sign the petition now
If you
haven't signed the petition asking AMD to reconsider their move,
please take a moment to do so.
If you haven't told your friends
about AMD's plans to reverse years of effort to steer growth away from our
sensitive watersheds, please forward this email to them.
AMD is not taking our voices seriously, and is trying
to make it sound like a few environmentalists are making a big deal out of
nothing. Please help us get the word out that Austin citizens do
care about what happens to our community and springs.
Sign the petition
now
Why shouldn't we
just let AMD build where they want - they're a good
company?
AMD is good for Austin, and they are a valuable
member of the community - there is no doubt about it. But, just
because we like AMD doesn't make it right for them to reverse years of community
planning efforts by moving 2,000 to 3,000 employees into the fragile Barton
Springs Edwards Aquifer watershed.
AMD has managed to convince a
few neighborhood representatives in Southwest Austin that moving out there will
actually reduce traffic in the area. This seems a little absurd since only
36 percent of their employees live in the area, leaving 64 percent to commute
from other parts of town. Regardless of where they drive in from, they
still need to drive on the roads to get to work. Standard traffic trip
generation tables show that AMD's facilities alone would increase traffic
on Southwest Parkway by about 40 percent.
We've been told that the
primary reasons for AMD moving to this site are employee convenience and commute
time. But the proposed location doesn't seem to make sense for either of these
reasons. Employees will still have to commute, and moving will
probably be more inconvenient for them since there are virtually no
nearby restaurants or services in the area. AMD will spur more development
to provide the desired services - creating the type of urban sprawl that will be
detrimental to the springs. They should choose a location in the Desired
Development Zone that already has established restaurants and other services
that would really be convenient for employees. Of course, at least one
employee will find the new location more convenient: AMD's CEO Hector Ruiz
lives near the proposed site.
AMD continues to claim that they will
comply with SOS ordinance guidelines for building, which would allow for 20-25
percent impervious cover (paved or covered land). But, they are proposing
to build at 31percent - more than 20 percent over the maximum allowed under the
ordinance. The $5 million that AMD is contributing to buy land won't be
near enough to offset the amount of development that will occur because of
them.
Over the years Dell, Samsung, IBM, Tivoli, CSC, Motorola, AMD, and
many others have all chosen to locate their facilities within the Desired
Development Zone. With this move, AMD is choosing to disregard decades of
effort to steer growth into desired areas, and to set a precedent that opens
Southwest Austin as a business corridor.
Although AMD would like to paint
the picture that only a couple of groups are making much ado about nothing,
Austin Sierra Club, Liveable City, Save Our Springs Alliance, Save Barton Creek
Association, Texas Clean Water Action, and Austin Neighborhoods Council all
agree that this move damages our ability to protect our springs and threatens
the type of desired development that was supported under the Envision Central
Texas process.
To make matters worse, AMD has refused to work with
community stakeholders in their decision making process to come up with a
win-win scenario for Austin.
If you belong to a group that
would like to ask AMD to reconsider their move, please contact us.
Yard Signs are
available
Hey, Hector Ruiz!
Not On
Our
Aquifer, Please!
If you would like a yard sign,
send us a message through the website here:
http://austinaction.org/contact.php
We'll
be happy to make arrangements to get a sign to
you.
Contact your
Neighborhood Association
If you live in Southwest Austin, it is
important for you to contact your neighborhood association and work to get a
resolution passed asking for AMD to reconsider their move and help ask questions
about potential traffic and sprawl impacts. Feel free to use our suggested resolution
language and sample questions to
ask. Once an ally of the environment during the 2003 battle with
Wal-Mart, Oak Hill Association of Neighborhoods (OHAN) supports the AMD move and is
currently actively working with AMD and their PR firm to help promote it.
OHAN believes that there is "no opposition in the Southwest to AMD's move over
the Aquifer." They need to hear from you. We are continuing to talk
to OHAN and are committed to understanding the full range of local
concerns but need more help from those citizens who live Southwest to help us
out. Contact us if you can help or need
more information.
Petition
Quotes
Here are a few great comments
posted to the petition by your neighbors:
Add yours
now!
Please
re-consider your plans for this location, over the Edwards Aquifer. Although I
welcome your business to the Oak Hill area and appreciate the dollars you will
add to our local economy, the price on our beloved Barton Springs is too high.
Will you not think of other areas in Austin that would be even a better
location for your employees? As a Realtor I can think of plenty. Thank you for
your time and consideration in this matter.
- I.L.
I received AMD's letter in the
mail, along with a paid postage card to send back, but it didn't give you the
choice of saying you didn't agree with the
proposal...grrr.
- D.S.
Please reconsider this move
for your company to such an environmentally sensitive area. We didn't inherit
this land from our forefathers, we have borrowed it from our children and what
we do now makes a huge difference.
- T.H.
My family & I live on a
rural parcel of land in Oak Hill. We do our best to raise some of our own
food, as others do in the area. This includes: vegetable gardens, bees,
chickens, dairy goats, cows, fiber animals, 4H project animals. We have made a
conscious decision to live simply & sustainably. Please respect this. OHAN
does not represent all of Oak Hill residents.
- V.C.
It is so important to keep
Barton Springs watershed protected. I hope that you will consider this Mom's
plea to find a different site. Thank you for your
consideration.
- E.L.
The crucial decision to move
AMD over the Watershed will have a negative impact on our community. This will
not preserve the water quality, clean air and beauty of the city for our
children and future generations. This decision can be justified based on a
narrow short-term view, and the history of environmental decline of Austin is
rife with these decisions. Drive or even better ride a bike around Austin and
then tell me that this location is the best for the long-term health of this
city.
-
W.F.
My grandparents began taking
me to Barton Springs and someday I hope to share the same experience with my
children and grandchildren.As a community we must be responsible and work
together to stop further development in the Barton Creek Watershed.Our springs
make Austin a unique and wonderful place to live.I hope AMD will reconsider
and help preserve Barton Springs.Please reconsider and be acknowledged as a
company that became part of the SOLUTION and not the
PROBLEM!
-
A.G.
Mr. Ruiz, Friday I spent 2
hours scuba diving in the discharge springs of Barton Springs Pool. I wish you
could have seen what I saw...the green throat darter, freshwater limpets, and
the endangered Barton Springs Salamander. If every politician, land developer,
and property owner could see how beautiful and fragile this resource is, the
decision to avoid causing additional sedimentation and pollution of the
recharge would be easy. Please reconsider the decision to move to
Lantana.
-
R.O.
Thank you for working to
help improve and protect Austin.
This message is from the
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***WE LIKE AMD, just NOT in Southwest Austin, please!!!***
(I'll edit to put the photos back later ...)