Vote For Gregory Harrington
Mayor Of Pflugerville, TX

Campaign Launch Video

Of the People … For The People

Deeper Discussion about the Key Priorities

EFFECTIVE and EFFICIENT Public Transportation That’s Self-Supporting and Profitable

There was a time when Pflugerville leveraged Cap Metro for public transportation, but 1 of my competitors, Pat McCord, voted to cancel, although many of our citizens used it daily. These people no longer had transportation to do basic things like go to and from work, church, restaurants, grocery store, school activities, etc. Even if the Cap Metro wasn’t perfect, I fully disagree with cancelling Cap Metro if nothing better was implemented.

Now, there’s a “Pfetch A Ride” option for public transportation under 1 of my other competitors, Doug Weiss. This program is even worse than Cap Metro because it’s only for 10 Uber rides per month. At least, there was a daily program when Cap Metro was being used. Let’s do the math … If you need transportation to simply go to work 20 days a month, those 10 vouchers are depleted after just 5 days of going to and from work. How do you get to work for the remaining 75% of the month? In addition to work, you won’t have any remaining vouchers to get to the doctor’s office, church, or dinner at a restaurant with friends and family, etc. etc. etc.

My proposal is to simply build our own EFFECTIVE and EFFICIENT Pflugerville Public Transportation (PPT). There are many other cities that have public transportation, and we can review the best practices of other cities and build our own. The best part about this solution is that it will be flexible enough to adjust when necessary to meet the needs of the community … such as increasing frequency when there’s a football game at the Pfield or huge activity at Pflugerville Lake. Likewise, or data showing increased routes in some areas or decreased routes in less active areas. Additionally, with Cap Metro and Pfetch A Ride, money goes out, but nothing comes back. With PPT, the riders help offset and eventually fund PPT … with eventual profits as usage increases. I propose free access to senior citizens and students under 18 as well as those with disabilities. It’s important to build PPT because this is a critical service that cities of this size need. Public transportation is a determining factor for some people to move to a city. Please note that anyone who has a vehicle can easily lose their vehicle in a moment’s notice due to an accident or mechanic failure. And just like that, you will need transportation that’s affordable as well … especially since you might have to use your funds to repair your vehicle.

EFFECTIVE and EFFICIENT Public Transportation is not a “nice to have.” It’s a “Must Have.”

Work With Pflugerville ISD (PfISD) to get Pflugerville to Join the Austin Community College District

Students from Pflugerville who are attending Austin Community College are substantially OVERPAYING for tuition. They’re paying $201 MORE per credit hour vs a student from a city that is in the ACC District. At ACC, a Pflugerville student can pay more than $19,296 for a 4-year degree, compared to a student from a city within the district. The overpayment for a 2-year degree is $ 9,648. Thus, it is past time for Pflugerville to join the ACC District. Although this is a PfISD initiative, as the Mayor, I will partner with PfISD to help level the playing field for our young people to get an education without gaining huge debt for higher education.

The opposition insist that it will be a “forever” tax as if that’s a bad thing. I want it to be a forever tax so that our children … and our children’s children … and our children’s children’s children … and so on … will be able to attend college without accumulating huge amounts of debt to get a skill to grow their career.

Pflugerville is the 2nd largest city in Travis County, and we’re the only 1 that’s NOT in the ACC District. I’ve talked with some young people, and some are fortunate enough to use friends and family addresses to get the in-district discount. However, there are plenty who don’t have the privilege of borrowing an in-district address and still have to pay the overpayment tax.

Support Firefighter Growth & Return EMS/Paramedics to Fire Dept

In my 27 years of being a citizen of Pflugerville, Pflugerville has drastically changed. We’re not just a “growing” city. Rather, we are a “grown” city. Now, we simply review the needs of the city to service that growth whether inside the ETJ or not. With this growth, we’ll need to have enough first responders to support the growth. At the current time, EMS and paramedics are serviced by a private ambulance company, and I oppose this solution. We have very talented and capable EMS and paramedics within the Pflugerville Fire Department. No need to look outside for this. Additionally, I believe that better quality control can happen within the Pflugerville Fire Department compared to external private ambulance services. Furthermore, lots of our firefighters have EMS/Paramedics skills.

Enhance and better maintain Parks and Recreation

We have some of the best trails and parks. We have Lake Pflugerville which is a great location to visit. We must take better care of our parks, trails, and recreation facilities. There’s trash and muck in Lake Pflugerville which renders it useless for fishing and a huge inconvenience for canoeing. We must take better care of our Parks and Recreation and be proud of it.

Additionally, I would like Lake Pflugerville to have Pavilions and possibly RV hookups on the Pflugerville Pkwy side.