I'm curious to see if this goes anywhere. I am skeptical, but will sign the petition when I get a chance. Link to their website https://ourtownaustin.org/

"[Yesterday], Our Town Austin, a local political action committee filed paperwork with the Austin City Clerk as a first step to initiate a recall campaign of Mayor Steve Adler, and Council Members Natasha Harper-Madison (D1), Council Member Sabino Renteria (D3), Council Member Ann Kitchen (D5), Council Member Paige Ellis (D8) and Council Member Kathie Tovo (D9), the most recently elected members of the City Council. The other five Austin City Council Members will be up for reelection in November 2020, offering voters the opportunity to elect new leadership in Districts 2, 4, 6, 7 and 10."

Signing

How many signatures do they need?

This seems legit.

Bummed they didn't include Greg Casar, but I guess they are using the re-election year as a point of change....

10% of registered voters, citywide, for Adler; 10% of registered voters within a specific councilperson's district

evan_aggie said:

---

Bummed they didn't include Greg Casar, but I guess they are using the re-election year as a point of change....

---

That is my understanding

I saw on Nextdoor that this PAC was started by Bobby Epstein, who is the chairman/founder of Circuit of the Americas. The cretins on Nextdoor surmised that this could be a play to stop the MLS stadium from being built, as COTA hosts that other soccer team that is destined to fold.

Massive waste of time if so...not going to happen before they are already well underway in the process.

rather be fishing said:

---

I saw on Nextdoor that this PAC was started by Bobby Epstein, who is the chairman/founder of Circuit of the Americas. The cretins on Nextdoor surmised that this could be a play to stop the MLS stadium from being built, as COTA hosts that other soccer team that is destined to fold.

---

I seriously doubt that has any validity.

Austin Bold is a minor league team that no one cares about.

FC Austin is an MLS team with a 25k seat stadium, and have a ridiculous amount of demand. They've also already started the stadium build.

It'd be like the Texas Spurs G-League team trying to stop the Mavs from moving to town and building a new arena. Doesnt even factor in.

AgGrad99 said:

---

rather be fishing said:

---

I saw on Nextdoor that this PAC was started by Bobby Epstein, who is the chairman/founder of Circuit of the Americas. The cretins on Nextdoor surmised that this could be a play to stop the MLS stadium from being built, as COTA hosts that other soccer team that is destined to fold.

---

I seriously doubt that has any validity.

Austin Bold is a minor league team that no one cares about.

FC Austin is an MLS team with a 25k seat stadium, and have a ridiculous amount of demand. They've also already started the stadium build.

It'd be like the Texas Spurs G-League team trying to stop the Mavs from moving to town and building a new arena. Doesnt even factor in.

---

Just reporting what I saw. I don't see the MLS thing being stopped, although it is documented that COTA folks were in opposition to it for the reason stated.

Personally, we live within 2 miles of it, directly south down Burnet Road, so it's a financial benefit for our property when it gets built and we decide to sell.

AgGrad99 said:

---

rather be fishing said:

---

I saw on Nextdoor that this PAC was started by Bobby Epstein, who is the chairman/founder of Circuit of the Americas. The cretins on Nextdoor surmised that this could be a play to stop the MLS stadium from being built, as COTA hosts that other soccer team that is destined to fold.

---

I seriously doubt that has any validity.

Austin Bold is a minor league team that no one cares about.

FC Austin is an MLS team with a 25k seat stadium, and have a ridiculous amount of demand. They've also already started the stadium build.

It'd be like the Texas Spurs G-League team trying to stop the Mavs from moving to town and building a new arena. Doesnt even factor in.

---

This comparison misses the point. The COTA guy isn't trying to prevent the MLS arrival because he has a crappy minor league soccer team he wants to 'protect'.
He is trying to derail building of the currently approved MLS stadium (helped by anger of the public over the homeless situation no doubt) because if (very small chance) you can get the current MLS stadium overturned or even delayed it may mean they need to play a year or two at his crappy CoTA facility during the delay.

Gotcha. Point remains the same though. That train has left the station.

Bitter Old Man said:

---

Epstein may just be pissed that they turned Austin into a homeless cesspool, which doesnt fit the F-1 Image. The COTA race is not a guaranteed thing, and if he loses it he's F-ed. He's already had trouble with the state funding that got pulled.

F-1 caters to the richest of the rich, and those people don't want to drive around and see homeless camps everywhere and be hassled downtown. Already there have been conventions that have said they wont be returning to Austin, and those are trade shows full of salesmen, not Arab Sheikhs and wealthy socialites.

The homeless deal is a real cluster for tourism.

---

Nothing wrong with the post, just ironic that the only reason they appear to care is the impact to tourism and not to the residents.

While it is an Austin ordinance, it does impact all of the surrounding communities and especially Travis County (non Austin residents) who will be forced to pay some of their taxes to support this fiasco.

Bitter Old Man said:

---

Epstein may just be pissed that they turned Austin into a homeless cesspool, which doesnt fit the F-1 Image. The COTA race is not a guaranteed thing, and if he loses it he's F-ed. He's already had trouble with the state funding that got pulled.

F-1 caters to the richest of the rich, and those people don't want to drive around and see homeless camps everywhere and be hassled downtown. Already there have been conventions that have said they wont be returning to Austin, and those are trade shows full of salesmen, not Arab Sheikhs and wealthy socialites.

The homeless deal is a real cluster for tourism.

---

There must be numbers backing this up.

The amount of tourism dollars that are pumped into our economy is massive, and it affects all of us. A good friend who drives Uber talks to lots of tourists and the most common comment about Austin is now, "whats with all the tents?"

Its anecdotal, but he says they dont like it and dont feel safe. That's not a good look for a town that wants tourist dollars and look attractive to new businesses.

I agree it affects that whole area, but our comfort isn't as quantifiable as dollars.

I agree it isnt a good look, just trying to understand if there was actual data available yet.


The homeless situation has been a chance for the people who pretend to be concerned to finally just admit they dont care about doing anything about the homeless problem. None of the "concerned citizens" who are claim to be worried about tourism dollars were upset when the same homeless population was bunched at a touristy downtown district, or camped in the woods, or along the redlined areas of the east side. But 3 bums at a crosswalk near cedar park and old sheriff choady is demamding action.

On KLBJ this morning they were talking to a real estate leasing agent who handles downtown office space. He said he had 4 or 5 out of state potential tenants back out when they saw the human debris downtown.

KLBJ?
would that be the Jade Helm idiots on AM or Cokehead Dudley on FM?

expresswrittenconsent said:

---

KLBJ?
would that be the Jade Helm idiots on AM or Cokehead Dudley on FM?

---

Depends. Which messenger do you wish to shoot?

expresswrittenconsent said:

---

I agree it isnt a good look, just trying to understand if there was actual data available yet.


The homeless situation has been a chance for the people who pretend to be concerned to finally just admit they dont care about doing anything about the homeless problem. None of the "concerned citizens" who are claim to be worried about tourism dollars were upset when the same homeless population was bunched at a touristy downtown district, or camped in the woods, or along the redlined areas of the east side. But 3 bums at a crosswalk near cedar park and old sheriff choady is demamding action.

---

Is there data? I don't know. It's probably a bit too early to have data, since the camping ordinance thing happened a few month ago. It doesn't take a PhD in economics to reason that people don't like being harassed by crazy people in a city they are visiting, and are less likely to visit that city again.

A lot of people visiting from CA, NY, the northwest, probably don't look at it as a bad problem relative to their own self-made dumpsters.

Living in central Austin has made me very aware and cognizant of how many people from the west coast, northeast, are moving to Austin. And then in their own ignorance, support policies and city paradigms that help recreate the same conditions which they flee.

evan_aggie said:

---

A lot of people visiting from CA, NY, the northwest, probably don't look at it as a bad problem relative to their own self-made dumpsters.

Living in central Austin has made me very aware and cognizant of how many people from the west coast, northeast, are moving to Austin. And then in their own ignorance, support policies and city paradigms that help recreate the same conditions which they flee.

---

Classic cases of NIMBY and they think the fix is to place it in your front yard so you can deal with it.