Michael Karlis
Members of the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority discuss the proposal from Elon Musk's Boring Co. at a recent meeting.
Indeed, the project wasn't even listed as a topic of discussion on the agenda.
Just the same, concerned residents showed up to voice frustration with what they called secretive dealings, wasteful spending and lack of geological awareness around Musk's hyperloop proposal.
"It's been very quiet," Patsy Light, a 90-year-old resident and author said during the citizen's feedback portion of the meeting. "And I think it's very stinky of a committee appointed by the government to make decisions that affect all of us and don't tell us."
According to Alamo RMA Board Member Michael Lynd Jr., the transportation authority has been quiet on the project because there's been no movement on the proposed tunnel since the RMA's confusing May meeting.
During that gathering, Light pointed out a footnote written by Alamo RMA attorney Brian Cassidy in a handout provided to attendees. Cassidy's footnote appeared to cast doubt on the revenue projections provided to the Alamo RMA by the Boring Co. The footnote seemed to estimate that the project would generate far less revenue than the Boring Co.'s $25 million projection.
San Antonio attorney Kirk Patterson didn't forget about the footnote, voicing concern at Wednesday's meeting that the tunnel project is nothing more than another wasteful and inefficient infrastructure project.
"You do not want to risk building a tunnel that becomes as empty as the park-and-ride terminal on [U.S. Highway] 281," Patterson said. "That terrible park-and-ride terminal is a monument to the misuse of taxpayer money, and this is considerably more expensive, this tunnel, than that park-and-ride terminal that's empty."
Patterson is referring to the controversial 400-space VIA Park and Ride garage at the corner of U.S. 281 and Stone Oak Parkway. At a combined cost of $24.6 million, the garage has been underutilized, with an average of only 520 riders per day, according to KSAT investigation.
All of the residents who spoke during Wednesday's meeting voiced concern over the potential environmental impacts of the Boring Co. proposal.
"Please take a step back, and carry out your investigation of environmental concerns with great diligence," said Carol Patterson, a board member of the Edwards Aquifer Authority, speaking as a private citizen. "There are surely additional hydrogeologic considerations that have not yet been considered. As an example, I have personally seen the Blue Hole act as a recharge feature. Connections to other aquifers in the area may also have significance to recharge that could be disrupted by this tunnel."
The concerns of Carol Patterson — Kirk Patterson's wife — echoed those of St. Mary's Environmental Science Professor Evelynn Mitchell, who in an Express-News op-ed published in May warned that the tunnel project could cut off the flow of spring water to the Edwards Aquifer and potentially contaminate the water supply.
Author and resident Light, who brought a copy of Mitchell's column, recommended that the Alamo RMA Board hire Mitchell as a consultant on the project, which — at least as of Wednesday — seems to be in a holding pattern.
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