Wake County leaders learn lessons from Austin, Texas | News & Observer

Local elected officials – including Wake County school board members – and community and business leaders are returning to the Triangle Tuesday after wrapping up a visit ot see what they could learn from Austin. Texas.

Each year, the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce picks a city for local leaders to visit to see how other cities deal with the issues that Raleigh and Wake County face, or may face in the future. Austin was picked for the 2015 Inter-City Visit & Leadership Conference, organizers say, because it parallels Raleigh in many ways.

Topics covered since the weekend include economic development, transit and transportation, downtown growth and innovation.

As various tweets show, there was a mixture of work and play during the visit.

Wake County Commissioner John Burns was impressed by Austin’s car sharing system.

Mike Kennon, transportation operations manager for the City of Raleigh, compared how Raleigh and Austin are handling transportation and traffic.

Wake County school board Chairwoman Christine Kushner tweeted out her thoughts on Austin’s innovation approach toward handling traffic

Raleigh City Councilman Bonner Gaylord contrasted the council chambers in Raleigh and Austin.

Wake County Commissioner Jessica Holmes was among the conference attendees who liked the Texas food.