https://www.mystatesman.com/news/local-govt--politics/austin-city-council-gets-first-look-proposed-851-million-bond/0qQL6gpbX0WPZnJBZHabQK/


$300mm for "affordable housing"

Got my annual escrow statement. My taxes went up $100/month. Please austin, keep voting for this s***.

I hate that they roll all of this crap together into one big bond package. Break it up so that the voters can vote for the parts that they actually approve of.


The 2018 bond task force recommendation calls for the following amounts in these areas:
Affordable housing: $161 million
Parkland and open space: $117 million
New facilities and maintenance: $281 million
Stormwater: $112 million
Transportation: $180 million


And the affordable housing part may increase to $300 million??

KT 90 said:

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I hate that they roll all of this crap together into one big bond package. Break it up so that the voters can vote for the parts that they actually approve of.


The 2018 bond task force recommendation calls for the following amounts in these areas:
Affordable housing: $161 million
Parkland and open space: $117 million
New facilities and maintenance: $281 million
Stormwater: $112 million
Transportation: $180 million


And the affordable housing part may increase to $300 million??

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they do it because they know most of this crap would never pass on its own.

Furlock Bones said:

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KT 90 said:

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I hate that they roll all of this crap together into one big bond package. Break it up so that the voters can vote for the parts that they actually approve of.


The 2018 bond task force recommendation calls for the following amounts in these areas:
Affordable housing: $161 million
Parkland and open space: $117 million
New facilities and maintenance: $281 million
Stormwater: $112 million
Transportation: $180 million


And the affordable housing part may increase to $300 million??

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they do it because they know most of this crap would never pass on its own.

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Of course. There should laws to prevent this. Maybe have several different categories of public bonds, and only projects within those categories can be combined.

housing / parkload / transportation .... those are totally different and should never be able to be combined. They are just trying to get more supporters of the various individual projects and then forcing them to vote for the entire package to get the individual projects that they want to pass.

For those not in the game it's hard to fathom what a complete joke Affordable (big A) housing is. It has no relation to affordable (little a) housing. Affordable housing is a government racket that costs more to deliver to market, wastes incredible amounts of tax payer money, and is incredibly easy to game. It is a tool for the likes of Caesar and co to excerpt power and influence and it creates a bigger gap between the lottery winning Affordable housing recipients and the even higher prices everyone else pays.

To bring true affordability to Austin, some of the following must be done:
1. Improve the disaster that is the permitting process. I can bring a project from conception to ground breaking in some jurisdictions around austin in 6 months. That same process in Austin takes 18plus months. Delays equals addition risk, cost, uncertainty , and income pushed further out homes/lots must be priced higher to account for this.
2. Lower taxes. The revenue the city collects is sky rocketing yet they find new creative ways to blow it
3 quit using the utilities to combat global warming
4. Relax some building requirements and lot size minimums to allow qualified builders/developers to deliver cheaper product.

And if the govt feels they need to do something for the sake of ego, cut a deal with Horton, kb, centex, or someone to deliver homes on a certain tract of land with some negotiated benefits (just waiving inspection fees, review fees, impact fees, etc) would be a great start. If the city tries to stay involved, it turns into a disaster (see colony park).

I normally don't mind austin residents doing dumb things cause I don't live in the city or pay taxes, but the city's stupid stuff spreads like an infectious disease. Please vote no on any bonds that includes an Affordable housing component!

cess

Sigh. It is going to take an absolute economic disaster to "reset" the out of control , bloated spending at every govt . level. I think one is on the horizon.

oldarmy76 said:

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For those not in the game it's hard to fathom what a complete joke Affordable (big A) housing is. It has no relation to affordable (little a) housing. Affordable housing is a government racket that costs more to deliver to market, wastes incredible amounts of tax payer money, and is incredibly easy to game. It is a tool for the likes of Caesar and co to excerpt power and influence and it creates a bigger gap between the lottery winning Affordable housing recipients and the even higher prices everyone else pays.

To bring true affordability to Austin, some of the following must be done:
1. Improve the disaster that is the permitting process. I can bring a project from conception to ground breaking in some jurisdictions around austin in 6 months. That same process in Austin takes 18plus months. Delays equals addition risk, cost, uncertainty , and income pushed further out homes/lots must be priced higher to account for this.
2. Lower taxes. The revenue the city collects is sky rocketing yet they find new creative ways to blow it
3 quit using the utilities to combat global warming
4. Relax some building requirements and lot size minimums to allow qualified builders/developers to deliver cheaper product.

And if the govt feels they need to do something for the sake of ego, cut a deal with Horton, kb, centex, or someone to deliver homes on a certain tract of land with some negotiated benefits (just waiving inspection fees, review fees, impact fees, etc) would be a great start. If the city tries to stay involved, it turns into a disaster (see colony park).

I normally don't mind austin residents doing dumb things cause I don't live in the city or pay taxes, but the city's stupid stuff spreads like an infectious disease. Please vote no on any bonds that includes an Affordable housing component!

cess

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CodeNext will save us...

http://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/city-questions-whether-the-domain-is-providing-enough-affordable-housing/1127889350

They gave the Domain developers big credits and savings w/o any real accounting and oversight regarding the affordable housing they allocated. Their track record for implementing these policies is horrible.

watched the video. those people are dumb.

I predict this bond passes at....

78% for, 22% against.

Yay Austin.

BenFiasco14 said:

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I predict this bond passes at....

78% for, 22% against.

Yay Austin.

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This will be dependent upon how much opposition is put up against it.

Furlock Bones said:

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KT 90 said:

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I hate that they roll all of this crap together into one big bond package. Break it up so that the voters can vote for the parts that they actually approve of.


The 2018 bond task force recommendation calls for the following amounts in these areas:
Affordable housing: $161 million
Parkland and open space: $117 million
New facilities and maintenance: $281 million
Stormwater: $112 million
Transportation: $180 million


And the affordable housing part may increase to $300 million??

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they do it because they know most of this crap would never pass on its own.

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Nah, the know it will pass. Residents of Austin can't wait to levy new taxes on themselves.

My guess it passes 60/40 passes with the bundled package.... the shame is that it will only have 40% benefit with 60% of waste.

Has Austin ever defeated a bond package? I cant remember if they did. So glad I'm in Round Rock

Yeah, pretty sure the voters didn't approve that one a few years back for $1B that was massively targeting light rail improvements. I was pretty sure part of that package included $200M-$250M for a single bridge too...

evan_aggie said:

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Yeah, pretty sure the voters didn't approve that one a few years back for $1B that was massively targeting light rail improvements. I was pretty sure part of that package included $200M-$250M for a single bridge too...

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Correct. That one got voted down. There was a maybe opposition campaign against it. It's unfortunate that so many bleeding hearts vote Yes on anything the city puts out.

rather be fishing said:

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evan_aggie said:

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Yeah, pretty sure the voters didn't approve that one a few years back for $1B that was massively targeting light rail improvements. I was pretty sure part of that package included $200M-$250M for a single bridge too...

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Correct. That one got voted down. There was a maybe opposition campaign against it. It's unfortunate that so many bleeding hearts vote Yes on anything the city puts out.

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I think that was shortly after they made it a requirement to have bond elections in November. Previously they would try to slide things into the May election for the low turn out.

I'm not sure why y'all are complaining

Y'all knew what a freakshow that place was when you moved there

If you didn't, you do now

Solution -- move

To where? I work in high tech. Everything is here. Houston is a hot mess and humid as F. SA is nice but no major industry. Dallas is ok but mostly software for tech and full of yuppies.

evan_aggie said:

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To where? I work in high tech. Everything is here. Houston is a hot mess and humid as F. SA is nice but no major industry. Dallas is ok but mostly software for tech and full of yuppies.

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Heck if I know

Move to the suburbs

Move anywhere

Or stay put and deal with the idiot liberals that are going nowhere

Sounds to me despite all the complaining Austin ain't so bad compared to other places

While I agree with the premise, if people in the more conservative parts of town got out and voted, this wouldn't be an issue. 78704 always has the highest turn out, and thus, causes this kind of crap to happen. If West and Northwest Austin got off their butts and actually voted, things wouldn't be so wonky with the city of Austin.

And trust me, those of us who live in Austin and have kids who go to RRISD schools voted down their bond election. Yes, the Austin voters killed the bond.

And it isn't as easy as moving to a burb. I can't imagine traveling from Leander or Georgetown to Austin for work. Heck I live 15 minutes from my office and some days my commute is 45 minutes.

Charpie said:

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While I agree with the premise, if people in the more conservative parts of town got out and voted, this wouldn't be an issue. 78704 always has the highest turn out, and thus, causes this kind of crap to happen. If West and Northwest Austin got off their butts and actually voted, things wouldn't be so wonky with the city of Austin.

And trust me, those of us who live in Austin and have kids who go to RRISD schools voted down their bond election. Yes, the Austin voters killed the bond.

And it isn't as easy as moving to a burb. I can't imagine traveling from Leander or Georgetown to Austin for work. Heck I live 15 minutes from my office and some days my commute is 45 minutes.

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Charpie,

I get it

All I'm saying is yes, it sucks, but we know what we're getting into when we move to a liberal hell hole like Austin

Or is it a hell hole? despite all the complaints, the first response to my post was to say how much WORSE everywhere else is

anyway, it's like moving to California and then complaining about, well, all the sh/tty stuff about California

So, yeah, defeat the bond, or accept it and live in a place that does stupid stuff... like tax the hell out of people and spend the money on dumb stuff, or put massive homeless shelters in the biggest tourist area of town (yeah I was there the other day. What a dump)

Or move. There's jobs out there, even in Texas. Like Houston.

But the humidity! Oh nooooooooeeess

I agree with one thing...... Anywhere but Dallas

Houston isn't just a hell hole because of the humidity. As much as people like to complain about Austin, their city planning even before codeNext looks like a masterpiece compared to Houston.

The footprint of that town probably reaches 100m from west to East. It is a giant flat piece of nothing with pavement covering half of the town. The east side smells of petroleum processing for 50 miles. The highways are 8-10 lanes and are still packed during rush hour. There is no centralized place to be or hot spot.

I've never driven through Houston and thought, "oh this is a nice area/place to be".

That doesn't mean we still can't discuss and ***** about upcoming bonds. You don't have to click on the thread...

evan_aggie said:

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Houston isn't just a hell hole because of the humidity. As much as people like to complain about Austin, their city planning even before codeNext looks like a masterpiece compared to Houston.

The footprint of that town probably reaches 100m from west to East. It is a giant flat piece of nothing with pavement covering half of the town. The east side smells of petroleum processing for 50 miles. The highways are 8-10 lanes and are still packed during rush hour. There is no centralized place to be or hot spot.

I've never driven through Houston and thought, "oh this is a nice area/place to be".

That doesn't mean we still can't discuss and ***** about upcoming bonds. You don't have to click on the thread...

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lol

lived in the 78704 for 10 years.. it was fun. moved to Bastrop 10 years ago. I like it better out here.

evan_aggie said:

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Houston isn't just a hell hole because of the humidity. As much as people like to complain about Austin, their city planning even before codeNext looks like a masterpiece compared to Houston.

The footprint of that town probably reaches 100m from west to East. It is a giant flat piece of nothing with pavement covering half of the town. The east side smells of petroleum processing for 50 miles. The highways are 8-10 lanes and are still packed during rush hour. There is no centralized place to be or hot spot.

I've never driven through Houston and thought, "oh this is a nice area/place to be".

That doesn't mean we still can't discuss and ***** about upcoming bonds. You don't have to click on the thread...

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have you looked around Austin lately? it's going the exact same way.

To an extent. There will always be suburbs and large shopping centers. The domain has really grown but I still consider that glorified shopping with restaurants.

Our downtown and south congress, lamar, manor road, east Cesar/7th, Rainey, are all still very much part of downtown.

The City is pushing for a second downtown. That's why the zips in and around the domain have had their property values skyrocket

When you say, "The city is pushing", do you mean residents or the actual council members and other officials?

I think people want affordable housing close to everything that is going on: the bike trails, the water, the restaurants, downtown, the shopping, etc. I don't see that changing in 20 years.

You will always have master planned suburbs and communities popping up that people live in and enjoy, but they will be ~10+ miles away from downtown.

I can see the potential for more investments in north central Austin, south of 183 and north of campus. Burnet/Lamar continues to grow south of the triangle...but is it just normal growth or does it become a new small epicenter? Who knows...

Couldn't agree more.

evan_aggie said:

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When you say, "The city is pushing", do you mean residents or the actual council members and other officials?

I think people want affordable housing close to everything that is going on: the bike trails, the water, the restaurants, downtown, the shopping, etc. I don't see that changing in 20 years.

You will always have master planned suburbs and communities popping up that people live in and enjoy, but they will be ~10+ miles away from downtown.

I can see the potential for more investments in north central Austin, south of 183 and north of campus. Burnet/Lamar continues to grow south of the triangle...but is it just normal growth or does it become a new small epicenter? Who knows...

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For my resale value, I'm hoping for epicenter.