The small caps win
Watson & Council will support two highway caps, not five.
It looks like City Council will support funding structural elements for two highway caps on the expanded I-35: one between Cesar Chavez & 4th St and one between 11th & 12th Streets.
On Monday night a group of five Council members –– one short of a majority –– released a statement supporting the more modest recommendation from city staff, as opposed to the far more ambitious proposal supported by five other Council members.
This left Mayor Kirk Watson as the deciding vote. Watson, who tends to avoid public spats at all costs and was instrumental in making the much-deplored highway expansion possible, made no comments on the issue in recent public meetings, including during this morning's tense work session, which he attended remotely. However, after the end of the discussion he sent a text message statement to two TV reporters announcing his support for the staff recommendation. That's how his colleagues discovered his position.
Mayor Kirk Watson is likely to be the deciding vote during Thursday’s decision on cap and stitch funding. Here’s a statement from him today indicating he will vote with the subquorum proposing the more conservative approach: pic.twitter.com/atExeHNc5K
— Grace Reader (@GraceReaderTV) May 20, 2025
Watson's statement probably took some of the air out of the planned rally for the more ambitious plan that had been planned at City Hall, although, as I've said before, this issue has generated relatively little interest from the public.
$49 million for support structures
Joining Watson in support of the more modest plan are Paige Ellis, Mike Siegel, Marc Duchen, Vanessa Fuentes and Krista Laine.
They will vote to commit $49 million for the support structures needed to build deck parks on Cesar-4th and 11th/12th St.
