https://www.kvue.com/article/news/politics/project-connect/austin-business-cant-afford-prop-a-property-taxes-project-connect/269-56b27d54-00db-430b-81b6-5916b3115acc?fbclid=IwAR1v75kfS0XhaXSAB7YlOgOZqIt_m6K6WSbBgjZbazk_GYqlyDdSL7V5ZzY



Enjoy that on you tax bill starting in December. So dumb. Read the proposition next time!!!

No one knows what they voted for. 7.1 Billion and that doesn't even get the entire project done. A 8.75 cent increase to the city of Austin's tax rate would pay for construction, maintenance and labor of the system, which will take decades to fully build out.

You also voted for Prop B offers $460 million for a slew of items, including $260 million on bike lanes, urban trails and sidewalks as well as a $102 million package that includes a three-pronged pedestrian bridge just up river of the Longhorn Dam at Pleasant Valley Road.

OK so I may take some heat for this post. I want to explain to you why this is important. It's especially important to people that work jobs where they don't make a lot of money or even have to work two jobs. This didn't make Austin more affordable this is going to increase property taxes on every apartment complex in the city of Austin. What this means is private property owners are going to pay more in their houses and tenants are going to pay more rent. And it still won't solve our transportation issues.

But I've been assured by posters who are lol...dangerously informed that this is good for the long run.

The only thing this is good for are the developers/property owners around the stops for these light rail lines.

So glad we moved to the 'burbs three years ago. Well done, dummies.

AustinAg2012 said:

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So glad we moved to the 'burbs three years ago. Well done, dummies.

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Sadly the exodus from Austin is coming to the burbs. Look at WILCO and Hays.

tamc93 said:

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AustinAg2012 said:

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So glad we moved to the 'burbs three years ago. Well done, dummies.

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Sadly the exodus from Austin is coming to the burbs. Look at WILCO and Hays.

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Sorry, Wilco is closed. The moose out front shoulda told ya!

La Migra said:

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But I've been assured by posters who are lol...dangerously informed that this is good for the long run.

The only thing this is good for are the developers/property owners around the stops for these light rail lines.

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Haha... I was being honest. I'm not a Planner or Developer by profession, however, I do a lot of work with both and we discuss Austin politics quite a bit. 80% of my work (as an architect) is in Travis Co., most of it within the city limits of Austin - so I will claim first hand knowledge of the Land Development Code, Code Next, and future planning efforts going on that affect my practice.

I will put it this way - former Police Chief Art Acevedo criticized "Austinonians" for thinking big but voting small. He argued that Austin was NOT the small, weird town of the Armadillo Headquarters fame. Rather it was one of the fastest growing communities in the USA and needed to start thinking ahead.

In my opinion Prop A is thinking way ahead and that bodes well for the future of Austin and the surrounding communities. It is as Mayor Adler has declared... "transformative". Austin is shifting from reliance on the automobile and putting their chips on public transportation.

That is a - build it and they will ride it - attitude. It will take time. But ask yourself, as I have asked on here already, given all the growth issues now - what is your answer? Shutting it down and telling people don't move here is putting your head in the sand. They are coming and more as Tesla, Apple, and other industries relocate to the Austin boom.

I'm pro-business and Prop A will be the better bet in the long term for connecting people to great places in and around Austin. Seriously, people want to keep widening the roads and adding parking lots?? That is not advisable.

+pablo

PabloSerna said:

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That is a - build it and they will ride it - attitude. It will take time. But ask yourself, as I have asked on here already, given all the growth issues now - what is your answer? Shutting it down and telling people don't move here is putting your head in the sand. They are coming and more as Tesla, Apple, and other industries relocate to the Austin boom.

I'm pro-business and Prop A will be the better bet in the long term for connecting people to great places in and around Austin. Seriously, people want to keep widening the roads and adding parking lots?? That is not advisable.

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Admire your spark and because of folks like you I make a great living navigating the codes and permitting process in Austin.

Austin has been trying to shut down development for years and this is just another way.

Yes we want roads and parking lots - we are not an densely urbanized area and rely on cost effective transportation. The current choo choo can not cover its expenses so why should someone vote to build more of something that needs to be subsidized. Austin complains about affordability and just tossed it all out (again).

Businesses will close once the tax burden is passed down to them from the landlords. Renters will leave once the tax burden is passed down to them from landlords.

This will be a vicious cycle and will continue until fiscal restraint occurs (and this is just one program).

PabloSerna said:

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I know I run in "certain" left leaning circles - I try to understand the other side, but I do not hear a comprehensive answer to rapid growth.

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This is an easy one - let the free market determine the most effective solution.

PabloSerna said:

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Will bookmark this for future reference.

I know I run in "certain" left leaning circles - I try to understand the other side, but I do not hear a comprehensive answer to rapid growth. The City Council, the Mayor, and City Staff have an obligation to figure it out. They hire study after study by the experts and this is what the experts are saying, namely Prop A.

Affordability is discussed by the way. I won't bore you with the details, but it begins with workforce housing along transit zones and mix-use arterials. Bad planning for years has led to the problems Austin is facing and is now on the path to fix.

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Bad planning has been here for 50 years. But guess what? Attempting the same solution they failed with 20 years ago, doesn't make it suddenly good planning!!! This is more of the same ****, as they cannot think logically enough to understand the difference between Portland, OR, NYC, or any other place, and the sprawling Texas urban landscape. I've lived here my whole life, and this is just more of the same pig with a different color lipstick, trussed up in a homeless shopping cart.

Who do you think would want to live in what you call "workforce housing"? Would the folks in Tarrytown sell their McMansions for pennies on the dollar, so that the city could throw up some concrete block apartments?

I don't live in the Austin city limits. Their total disregard for the taxpayer the last 30 years has shown me buying there would not be wise. I do not see them changing that at any point.

Take a look at Houston or Dallas. Those are large spawling urban areas in Texas that are much more successful than Austin. You know why? They add lanes to highways, and support commuters with multi-occupant vehicle incentives etc. They don't try to make the whole world think a damn train will solve the problem. Trains are good at moving freight. They generally suck at efficiently moving large bodies of people. Unless everyone that uses the system only needs to go from the same starting point to the exact same destination. Otherwise, you walk 5 miles in 100 degree weather or in pouring down rain. It was naive to think people would ride it the first time they did it, and it should be criminal to propose it this time around.

PabloSerna said:

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Will bookmark this for future reference.

I know I run in "certain" left leaning circles - I try to understand the other side, but I do not hear a comprehensive answer to rapid growth. The City Council, the Mayor, and City Staff have an obligation to figure it out. They hire study after study by the experts and this is what the experts are saying to tell them what they want to hear, namely Prop A.

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PabloSerna said:

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Yes I agree - take a look at Dallas and Houston.

We just don't agree that the future of transportation is centered around an automobile. And apparently - Austin voters don't agree with that idea either.

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This is my point exactly. Maybe they should look at a continuous escalator from Leander to Dripping Springs? Surely that would make great sense, just like the empty train. I don't need a website to know that nothing intelligent will come from CofA anytime soon. But that's because I have seen most of this same combo of crap from them 20 years ago. How long have you been in the area?

PabloSerna said:

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Yes I agree - take a look at Dallas and Houston.

We just don't agree that the future of transportation is centered around an automobile. And apparently - Austin voters don't agree with that idea either.

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It's this type of thinking that has gotten the CofA into the predicament they are in. It's not what is actually working/not working, but it's what they THINK will work in the next 20 years. To suggest that Texans are going to gladly give up their trucks (and their freedom) to ride some damn train (that, by the way, isn't being ridden NOW), just to go downtown or to the airport is folly. Understand why this particular bond was initiated: to support landowners by proposed terminal locations. PERIOD. And guess who owns land by one (or more) of the proposed stations?? You guessed it....your very own Mayor. Always follow the money. ALWAYS.

I live outside the city, in Wllmsn county....and wouldn't live in the city if I was paid to.....

They love their own personal idea of it, but have zero concept of the reality of it, and that they've been sold a false vision of the disappointing reality. Chasing west coast cities with obsolete ideas and spending hundreds of millions on amenities that very few use while leaving major problems almost completely unsolved will not end well.

Having recently moved from a growing urban area (Cincinnati) that built and launched downtown light rail while I lived there, I don't have the highest expectations for it. Barely anybody uses it, the route was poorly planned out, and they can't keep their corporate sponsors on board to help offset the costs. However, I will say it did create an explosion of development along the track (we'll see how long that lasts).

Anyway, I know every city is different, but I'm skeptical.