Can Ashika Ganguly save Project Connect?

Two months after narrowly losing her bid to represent West Austin's District 10 on City Council, Ashika Ganguly is taking over as executive director of Transit Forward, the nonprofit formed to defend and promote Project Connect. The position was previously held by Bill McCamley, who recently returned to his home state of New Mexico, where he previously served as a state legislator.

I talked to Ganguly this morning. She recently got back from a trip to New York City, which naturally served as a reminder that car dependence is not inevitable.

"Not that I ever think that Austin is going to become New York or needs to become New York," she said. "It’s not about a war on cars. I love my car. But it’s about providing more options, getting less cars on the road."

(She also noted how much easier it was to use the New York subway now that there's tap-to-pay. What did I tell you!?)

Transit Forward is backed by a number of local business and advocacy groups. The Austin Chamber of Commerce, the Real Estate Council of Austin, the Downtown Austin Alliance and Dell are some of the bigger names involved. Ganguly is the only staff member.

Her first order of business is protecting Austin's planned light rail system from being killed by Republicans at the legislature. No bill has yet been put forward, but the two duo who tried to mess with Project Connect two years ago –– Rep. Ellen Troxclair and Sen. Paul Bettencourt –– have said they'll try again.

Ganguly's experience at the legislature, where she served as legislative director to Rep. John Bucy, a Williamson County Democrat, will hopefully offer Austin a better chance of survival this session. It was Bucy who used a procedural objection in the waning hours of the last session to kill Bettencourt's bill.

Project Connect's survival, like many other Austin interests, probably depends a lot on who is elected speaker of the Texas House. The two leading candidates are both very conservative Republicans, but most Democrats have lined up in support of Dustin Burrows, who has signaled more deference to the institution's tradition of collaboration and collegiality that transcends partisanship and ideology.

"The Texas Legislature is obviously a scary place sometimes and gets a bad rap," said Ganguly. "But the House is truly one of the most bipartisan places in the country right now. Having someone who is committed to upholding some of those values is a big deal."

Burrows' chief opponent, David Cook, is backed by Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, Ken Paxton and the entire network of far right pressure groups that are largely funded by a trio of Christian nationalist oil billionaires.

Again, Burrows is hardly close to the center of the political spectrum, but if he becomes speaker, he will likely have a number of Austin-area Democrats to thank. In that context, a bill that is vehemently opposed by Austin's legislative delegation is no longer a slam dunk.

If Cook prevails, Ganguly said that not all hope is lost, but it will be "a lot harder" to protect Project Connect or other Austin priorities.

Assuming she succeeds in protecting rail from the legislature, Ganguly's job appears to be a blend of cheerleader and advocate for local transit. She described her priorities as "education, coalition building, and accountability."

I was particularly curious about accountability, since like many other transit supporters I am not 100% confident that those running Project Connect and Cap Metro are making the right decisions. Unfortunately, there is so little public scrutiny of either and for the most part our local elected officials have served as rubber-stamps for the professional staff at Cap Metro and the Austin Transit Partnership, the agency that oversees Project Connect.

Accountability, said Ganguly is about "making sure that all of our public entities have the feedback they need to be successful. We need a voice that is coming from the people of Austin that is advocating for the best interests of the city."

Ganguly is well aware of the skepticism and outright hostility to Project Connect that exists even within the city. In her own campaign, she frequently encountered voters who were concerned about why the cost of the light rail system has ballooned and forced a dramatic downsizing of the planned routes.

And yet, she said, the takeaway from the elections, even her own failed campaign, is that Austinites want more public transit.

"When we look at our mayor’s race, our city council races ... I lost by less than 500 votes in the most anti-transit district in Austin."

Well, relatively few Austin voters were probably thinking about transit when they cast their ballots for City Council, but her point taken. Hostility to transit has not translated into political success at the city level. At least not yet.

Godspeed, Ashika.

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