Huh?

Well this is highly unusual. The Travis County legislative delegation has sent a letter organized by Rep. John Bucy to City Council. The first paragraph:

We are writing to express our strong support for the Our Future 35 Cap and Stitch project and to encourage you to move forward with this transformative initiative. You have a once in a generation opportunity to forge a bold vision for Austin's
future, and now is your moment to act.

First of all, what exactly are they talking about? "Cap and Stitch" has already been universally abandoned: not even proponents of the most ambitious vision are talking anymore about the two "stitches" (glorified crossings) that were proposed downtown.

So what are they really saying here? A majority on City Council supports committing to funding the support structures for two of the six caps that were originally proposed, while a minority supports funding five of the caps. Is this letter meant to signal support for the more ambitious proposal?

That seems to be the way CM Chito Vela, who supports five caps, is interpreting it:

However, CM Vanessa Fuentes, who supports the more modest caps proposal, tells me that some of the legislators who signed told her that it was not their intention to support five caps. They were just signaling their support for the concept on a high level.

Indeed, in an interview with Grace Reader of KXAN, Bucy said that they weren't "taking sides" and that "trust them to take the best path forward."

I found this part of the letter weird (emphasis mine):

We urge you to prioritize this project and to secure the necessary funding and support from local, state, and federal stakeholders. By pushing for State financial support and exploring additional funding streams in place of the General Fund, we can ensure adequate financial backing without a significant impact to Austin's other priorities.

They're telling City Council to try to get state dollars? They're the state legislators! Do they have money to offer us? City leaders have been banging on for years about how TxDOT should help pay for the project and nothing has come of it. And the city had a $105 million federal grant that is probably getting yanked by the new regime in D.C.

I don't think I've ever seen state legislators publicly wade into a city issue like this before. But Bucy is widely regarded as a potential candidate for mayor in 2028...

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