Community Group Scores Major Victory at Ballot Box To ‘Keep Leander Connected’ With Austin-Area Transit

Keep Leander Connected volunteers Rachel Montemayor, James Larsen, Danielle Vandolder-Beaudin, and Chris Kalafatidis rally voters to a landslide victory for transportation connections with the rest of the Austin, Texas region.

An unlikely 60 day campaign to save the train, unify Austin, and keep Leander connected results a resounding win for public transit solutions.

LEANDER, TEXAS, UNITED STATES, May 10, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- After a whirlwind 60-day campaign to save critical transportation services in one of the fastest growing communities in America, the grassroots community group, Keep Leander Connected, delivered a stunning victory during a special election Saturday, May 7.

Leander residents voted overwhelmingly by an 18 percent margin — 59 percent voting “yes” and 41 percent voting “no” — for Proposition A which continues the city’s 37-year

partnership with the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (CapMetro) serving the Austin area. In Williamson County, Texas, where most of Leander is located, the margin was even higher, with 61.21% voting "yes" and only 38.79% voting "no."

The voter approval means that Leander residents and businesses can continue to benefit from the modern 32-mile MetroRail train service and express bus service between downtown Austin and Leander, which is on the northern edge of the Austin metro area. Pickup, an affordable on-demand shuttle service similar to Uber and Lyft, also will continue to operate in the community of more than 80,000 people.

The “yes” vote also activates the interlocal agreement between the city of Leander and CapMetro with an immediate $7.4 million infusion that can be used for transportation improvements in Leander, including city streets, traffic lights, sidewalks, bike paths, bridges and other transportation infrastructure. The city also would receive nearly $2 million this year and approximately $2 million every year afterward for transportation improvements in addition to benefitting from the rapid expansion of Austin’s modern rail system with service to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

James Larsen, founder of Keep Leander Connected, thanked voters for their wisdom in affirming past voters mandates who have now gone to the ballot four times in three decades to show their solid support for CapMetro.

“Keep Leander Connected will continue to play a key role with grassroots actions,” Larsen said. “We’ll keep the community informed about future threats and future opportunities to enrich Leander and most importantly, to keep both Leander city government and CapMetro accountable to the promise of travel improvements and transportation infrastructure that benefits everyone in our community.”

Business and community leaders said Keep Leander Connected executed a flawless and successful voter mobilization effort that shared information about how Proposition A benefits Leander and the rest of the entire Austin region through transportation.

Community members in Leander and throughout the Austin area have shared both their relief and their excitement about the continuation of transportation services connecting Leander with the Austin metro area and how these planned improvements will help create exciting opportunities as part of the transformation of Leander into an even more welcoming and dynamic place to live, work, dine, shop and play.