# Research and update plan

## P0 — secure and repair before outreach

### Shared-account credential

- Rotate or disable the credential exposed in the publicly shared administrative document.
- Determine whether the shared Gmail account is still needed; prefer owner-based access and recovery methods over a shared password.
- Remove credentials from the public Drive document, its revision history where possible, and any copied notes.
- Audit recent login/security activity and recovery methods for the account.

### Drive and Group governance

- Inventory owners, managers, editors, public links, and inherited access on the Drive and subfolders.
- Decide what remains private, what can be public-read, and who is accountable for each asset.
- Diagnose why Freddie’s May 2026 message to the Google Group did not deliver: moderation queue, posting permissions, spam rejection, membership, or group configuration.
- Verify group owners/managers, member list, archive visibility, reply behavior, and whether the group remains the right operating tool.

## P1 — decisions that block a credible relaunch

### Corridor scope

- Decide whether the initiative covers Riverside/Barton Springs to Oltorf, to Ben White/US 290, or a broader South First corridor.
- Map which neighborhoods, council districts, business districts, and CapMetro segments fall inside that boundary.
- Resolve the overlap with “Souly 1st” / South First Street District and decide whether this effort complements, joins, or distinguishes itself from that business-facing initiative.

### Current City program map

- Identify the project manager, funding status, design stage, engagement schedule, and construction window for every South First project in Austin’s current [Transit Enhancement Infrastructure Report](https://www.austintexas.gov/transportation-public-works/transit-enhancement-infrastructure-report), especially:
  - South First bridge, Barton Springs to Cesar Chavez
  - South First, Ben White to Barton Springs
  - South First at the Ben White interchange
  - South First, William Cannon to Stassney
- Determine whether those projects can absorb corridor feedback or are already past material design decisions.
- Check the current resurfacing and restriping schedule. The original “paint is easier during resurfacing” strategy is only actionable with dates and a named City owner.
- Map the South First reclaimed-water work between Monroe and Riverside and the Annie Street flood/sidewalk work so advocacy does not ignore planned construction or miss coordination opportunities.

### 2026 bond and funding path

- Confirm the current council/election timeline, adopted amount, program categories, scoring, and public-input deadlines for the 2026 bond.
- Determine whether South First should seek a named project, compete through a safety/sidewalk/bikeway program, or attach to already scoped transit projects.
- The current UTC recommendation favors programmatic mobility funding; the old draft’s assumption that a named 2026 bond project was the obvious route must be rewritten against the current process. Start with the City’s [April 2026 UTC recommendation](https://services.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=473118).

## P2 — evidence that must replace old assertions

### Traffic and safety

- Current average daily traffic by segment, direction, season, and time of day
- Turning counts and delay at major intersections and mid-block access points
- 85th-percentile and observed operating speeds
- Five years of crash data, with serious/fatal, pedestrian, bicycle, transit, turning, and location breakdowns
- Travel-time and diversion modeling for one-lane-each-way, managed-turn-lane, bus-priority, access-management, and no-build scenarios
- Independent verification of the May 2026 claims that Manor carries 18,000 daily trips, South First 22,000, and 4,000 trips could be absorbed by Lamar/I-35

### Walking, accessibility, and right-of-way

- Sidewalk width, continuity, condition, obstructions, utility poles, curb ramps, cross-slope, crossings, signal timing, lighting, and shade
- ADA transition-plan items and complaint/311 history touching the corridor
- Public versus private right-of-way by block and which improvements fit without acquisition
- Locations where current water/flood/transit projects already include sidewalk or crossing work

### Transit

- Current Route 10 ridership, on-time performance, dwell/delay, stop-level boardings, transfer patterns, and planned network changes
- Current stop locations and accessibility, especially where stopped buses block the only through lane under alternative concepts
- How the bridge transit-priority project and CityLeap concepts connect—or do not connect—to the Bouldin/Oltorf segment
- CapMetro’s current view of bus lanes, queue jumps, pull-outs, stop consolidation, and route alignment. Route 10 still serves South First in CapMetro’s [current high-frequency network](https://www.capmetro.org/high-frequency/route10).

### Business and resident impact

- Current business/property-owner map, loading needs, parking dependence, deliveries, turnover, vacancy, and redevelopment plans
- Resident priorities across Bouldin, Galindo, and adjacent areas, including people south of Oltorf
- Accessibility, aging-in-place, school/family, emergency-response, and displacement/equity concerns
- A reproducible survey and interview method that does not overstate support from a small self-selected group

## P3 — stakeholder and operating updates

- Reconfirm whether Ed, Isaac, Chris, Carolina, Darren, Freddie, and the additional 2024 participants want active roles.
- Ask Freddie for the names, notes, and next steps from his May 2026 City and Safe Streets conversations.
- Reconfirm current contacts and decision authority at Safe Streets, Farm&City, BCNA, Galindo, CapMetro, Transportation and Public Works, Vision Zero, the Urban Transportation Commission, Bicycle Advisory Council, and relevant council offices.
- Treat all 2024 role and support statements as historical until reconfirmed.
- Assign one accountable lead, one evidence owner, one stakeholder owner, one communications owner, and a regular decision cadence.

## P4 — content and asset updates

### Vision document

- Remove comments, placeholders, duplicate lines, and draft-only framing.
- Add a sourced transit problem statement.
- Replace “South First is a mess” and other broad claims with specific evidence and representative stakeholder language.
- Separate desired outcomes from proposed geometry. Compare options instead of presenting one layout as settled.
- Resolve whether bicycles belong on protected South First facilities, adjacent signed routes, shared paths, bus lanes, or a segment-specific mix.
- Add current City/CapMetro projects, constraints, funding windows, and a clear decision request.

### Name and identity

- Standardize `South 1st Alliance`, `South First Alliance`, or another name across the Group, Drive, logo, email account, web presence, and public copy.
- Check for confusion with the South First Street District / Souly 1st.
- Keep the old logo as an archive asset; review legibility, accessibility, rights, and current fit before reuse.

### Media and public surface

- Geolocate and caption the 27 before-condition media files.
- Re-shoot changed conditions and the most important ADA/safety/business/transit examples.
- Rebuild the Streetmix/current-state renderings after the corridor concept is evidence-backed.
- Recover the expired `Bouldin-Ave-143.m4a` meeting recording from Dropbox/local backups if it matters beyond the existing transcript and summaries.
- Build a public site only after access security, corridor scope, ownership, privacy policy, and a single next action are settled.

## Suggested first research deliverable

Produce a ten-page “South First 2026 baseline” with:

1. corridor boundary and map;
2. active project/funding map;
3. crash and speed baseline;
4. traffic and turning baseline;
5. transit baseline;
6. sidewalk/ADA audit;
7. business/resident listening summary;
8. three feasible design/operating options;
9. partner and decision-maker map; and
10. one recommended near-term ask plus one long-term ask.

That baseline should precede a refreshed public campaign.