'Anderson Mill-Gate' continues to raise public suspicion of Flannigan campaign

Move along ... nothing to see here (which is good!)

Ok, so "Anderson Mill-Gate" might be taking the whole "-gate" eponym too far. Regardless, this is a story that needs to circulate for the next few weeks as it frames the overall vibe of this year's Austin District 6 City Council election: that is, a defeated 2014 candidate spending the entire two years until the next election positioning for the office and doing next-to-nothing to help the actual powers-that-be govern effectively.

Even our friends at the notoriously liberal Austin Chronicle has given "credit where credit's due" to District 6 incumbent Don Zimmerman's recent busting-of-chops. Team Zimmerman called out Democratic opponent Jimmy Flannigan for hogging the credit for Anderson Mill Road expansion progress and on-the-book future plans. While the Chronicle doesn't exactly give Zimmerman a glowing report (naturally), the Tracker is excited to see journalistic curiosity alive and well on the other side of the spectrum. Perhaps there's hope for our Little City, yet.

The incumbent went on the attack with an Oct. 21 release targeting Flannigan's assertion that he, through his group the Northwest Austin Coalition, is credited with getting Anderson Mill Road into the city's $720 million mobility bond package – a central achievement touted in [Flannigan's] campaign. 

[...] the "most damning" evidence of Flannigan's inaccuracy is an email Mayor Steve Adler sent to staff on Sept. 13 in response to a question from Zimmerman about Flannigan's claim that the mayor's office credits him with the inclusion. Zim says Adler wrote, "Has anyone in our office made such a statement? Should someone call Jimmy and find out why he said that?" ... 

[...] So what's the mayor's office got to say? "Flannigan is not the only person or the first person to bring Anderson Mill Road to the attention of those working on the mobility bond," Jason Stanford, Adler's communication director, told the Chronicle. Zimmerman was also "pretty emphatic" about it, he says. "The success of getting [Anderson Mill Road] in the bond has many fathers – [Zimmerman and Flannigan] are two of them." ...

You can read the whole news item at
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2016-10-28/district-6-mobility-fits-and-complaints-of-campaign-thrift

In the meantime, our readers might be happy to know that Zimmerman arranged for not only an even distribution of Cap Metro "quarter-cent" fund dollars to each of the 10 city districts, but found a low-cost solution to using those dollars to alleviate a traffic snarl on eastbound Anderson Mill Road at Research Blvd. The original cost estimate was in the hundreds of thousands, but with a little ingenuity, Austin Transportation was able for a quarter of the cost to chisel away a few extra feet of roadway from the traffic island and paint a dedicated right-turn lane for vehicles wishing to exit Anderson Mill and turn onto the southbound 183 service road.

A picture of the newly re-worked intersection -- and some much-deserved gratitude -- is included above (courtesy of the Zimmerman campaign).


Disclaimer: The writer of this article is a volunteer for the Don Zimmerman campaign. The collusion here was very much intentional. ;)