So uh..Austin Subway*, Light Rail Expansions and $3.2 - $10.2 Billion

[DanRydell 799]

And homeowners in Austin who have been in their homes for 10-15 years pay ever increasing taxes on profits (home value ) they don’t actually receive making them more cash poor each year until they are forced to make a choice to stay or sell. This is through no action on their part, just a victim of low supply and high demand. 
 
City keeps getting a raise from their existing inventory of homeowners regardless of action on said homeowners part, whole the homeowner loses more money each month with little to no increase or benefit. 

That’s because property taxes are dumb and should be replaced with income taxes.

[Armybrat 40814]

Nope.
Don’t live in a high dollar home and just live modestly if you want to avoid ruinous taxes. 
 But the appraisal districts should be allowed to give waivers for sfh below a certain size.p anywhere in the city/county.. say 2,000 sq/ft. You wanna live in a bigger house, then you gotta pay.

[atomheartbevo 89617]

12 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Don’t live in a high dollar home and just live modestly if you want to avoid ruinous taxes. 

Aren't you old enough to have your taxes capped?  Not making an age joke, just pointing that aspect out.

I know plenty of people who bought "modest" homes 15-20 years ago, that were going to be their permanent homes, and they shot up in value.  Plenty of people say "HEY YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY YOUR HOME INCREASED IN VALUE" but that just means they are paying a shitload more in taxes to continue living in the same house they had planned to spend decades in.

[Armybrat 40814]

Just my school taxes are capped (Age 65+), all the others are good to grow.

 

[ChickenSandwich 9824]

29 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Nope.
Don’t live in a high dollar home and just live modestly if you want to avoid ruinous taxes. 
 But the appraisal districts should be allowed to give waivers for sfh below a certain size.p anywhere in the city/county.. say 2,000 sq/ft. You wanna live in a bigger house, then you gotta pay.

10-15 years ago many bought modest middle class homes in Austin for $100-150k. Most now pay taxes on a home value triple that or more. They did exactly as you say, bought and lived modestly. The city has rewarded them by extracting more and more money annually from the homeowner from these unrealized profits. It’s a double shot with a rate increase combined with a value increase every year. It’s become an ATM
 

*missed atom’s post

Edited August 19, 2020 by ChickenSandwich

[Armybrat 40814]

19 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Aren't you old enough to have your taxes capped?  Not making an age joke, just pointing that aspect out.

I know plenty of people who bought "modest" homes 15-20 years ago, that were going to be their permanent homes, and they shot up in value.  Plenty of people say "HEY YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY YOUR HOME INCREASED IN VALUE" but that just means they are paying a shitload more in taxes to continue living in the same house they had planned to spend decades in.

That’s what my son in South Austin did. Bought a 1,200 sq/ft 1961 built house in the St. Elmo school neighborhood for $85,000 about 17 years ago. It is now appraised at &340,000. 
of course his neighborhood is in the early stages of gentrification, with several older homes being bulldozed and a couple of ugly two story duplex boxes being built on each lot.

Edited August 19, 2020 by Armybrat

[Armybrat 40814]

3 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

10-15 years ago many bought modest middle class homes in Austin for $100-150k. Most now pay taxes on a home value triple that or more. They did exactly as you say, bought and lived modestly. The city has rewarded them by extracting more and more money annually from the homeowner from these unrealized profits. It’s a double shot with a rate increase combined with a value increase every year. 

The city & county think those homeowners (including my son) are now rich and should pay their fair share so the city can give it away to deserving artists & drug addicted bums.

My suggestion about living modestly includes selling out to buy another much lower priced modest house of the same size in an area where they would pay lower taxes. Let the rich gentrifiers pay the crazy taxes.

[DanRydell 799]

Or rather than do dumbass shit like tax people on unrealized gains, tax income instead. If people don't want to pay high income taxes, they can earn modestly.

[Armybrat 40814]

Good luck with selling that.

[Biff Tannen 45660]

On 8/17/2020 at 9:41 AM, BradInATX said:

As someone who moved out of Austin this weekend

Username no longer checks out

[Paco 1934]

I bought a modest house that I could afford. In 19 years my property taxes have almost tripled. My tax levy will most likely double in the next 18 years. So you're saying it's ok to pay $1000+ a month rent to the government on a property I own? THAT'S MORE THAN MY FUCKING MORTGAGE EVER WAS.

This property tax bullshit is the most un American, un Texan bullfuck imaginable.

[DanRydell 799]

1 hour ago, Armybrat said:

Good luck with selling that.

Unfortunately thanks to people like you there is little correlation between good decisions and popular ones.

[Armybrat 40814]

24 minutes ago, DanRydell said:

Unfortunately thanks to people like you there is little correlation between good decisions and popular ones.

Unfortunately thanks to people like you, Austin is clearly going down the shitter with a corrupt government that doesn’t give a damn about the taxpayers.

[DanRydell 799]

Unfortunately thanks to people like you, Austin is clearly going down the shitter with a corrupt government that doesn’t give a damn about the taxpayers.

It’s weird how the cities your ilk deem to be shitholes (Austin, NYC, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, LA, DC, Chicago) are also regularly among the most in-demand cities in the country.

[CooterBrown 18001]

It’s weird how the cities your ilk deem to be shitholes (Austin, NYC, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, LA, DC, Chicago) are also regularly among the most in-demand cities in the country.

I’m still waiting for someone, anyone, to name that mythical successful and desirable conservative large city.

[Armybrat 40814]

11 minutes ago, DanRydell said:

It’s weird how the cities your ilk deem to be shitholes (Austin, NYC, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, LA, DC, Chicago) are also regularly among the most in-demand cities in the country.

Your ilk apparently love homeless garbage, high crime, and corrupt government.

[Guest Lobo]

TO be fair, nobody ever wants to live in D.C.  They usually just have to for work, and for a short period of time.  You never meet a "born and raised" D.C. native  

[elfenix 34221]

On 8/18/2020 at 7:27 AM, Orange&White said:

The era of autonomous vehicles is within a generation of being on the road.

that might never happen.

[Orange&White 5521]

1 minute ago, elfenix said:

that might never happen.

Yes,  I have actually argued that specific point before. It's not a technology issue as much as it is legal, moral and liability issues that hamper the last mile effort to get there.

With that said, it will be enough to impact traffic, congestion and transportation efficiencies and very much impact safety.

[elfenix 34221]

Just now, Orange&White said:

Yes,  I have actually argued that specific point before. It's not a technology issue as much as it is legal, moral and liability issues that hamper the last mile effort to get there.

With that said, it will be enough to impact traffic, congestion and transportation efficiencies and very much impact safety.

well, no, it is a technological issue.  turns out solving vision is hard. 

[Biff Tannen 45660]

I mean, NEVER?  Come on now.  100 years ago do we think anyone thought the idea of a fighter jet could exist?  We'll figure it out.  It just may not be in the NEAR future.

[Orange&White 5521]

Well, we'll have to disagree. The article you posted even mentions that VW will reach a level 4 within the year and mentions that vehicles on fixed routes will be the first to happen.

 

The bigger issues are things like: 

 

* If I own the car and the car gets in an accident and I am not driving, who is liable? Me? The car manufacturer? The other "driver"?

 

*If the car is programmed to avoid hitting children running across the street and instead the algorithm swerves the car to miss the kid in the street causing the car to wreck into a tree and it kills my child in the back seat? Who is liable? Can I buy my car with an algorithm that is set higher to protect me and my occupants more than external factors? If I can't, why can't I?

 

 

[ChickenSandwich 9824]

3 hours ago, DanRydell said:

It’s weird how the cities your ilk deem to be shitholes (Austin, NYC, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, LA, DC, Chicago) are also regularly among the most in-demand cities in the country.

19/20 criminals agree

[Pasken 1309]

This is the most honest representation of the tax impact of Prop A that I've seen:

 

Please vote YES. The system is most similar probably to what Seattle has with the downtown tunnel.

Edited October 14, 2020 by Pasken

[Guest Lobo]

Two issues with that and I'll dive deeper into them later, but thanks for posting this---it's a helluva lot clearer than what the proponents are putting out there:

40% of the people subject to this Proposition don't fucking live in AISD.  Why is it so fucking hard for Adler and Council to acknowledge this?  He pretends like lower income households in myriad other districts aren't subject to his bullshit?  It's not all fucking Tarrytown and Travis Heights.  Some of us work for a fucking living.  

Second, and most importantly---the way our city floats paper and covers its debt service is a fucking joke.  But it's a 5-10 year joke based on each bond proposal.  When it comes to this multi-faceted rail project...we'll be paying debt service on shit that won't be happening for decades, let along years.  The hidden cost of debt service on a regular bond with the usual capital improvement delays is one thing, it costs out city tens of millions per year.  These fuckups will be measured in the hundreds of millions, just on this one prop...alone.  And as usual, they completely obfuscate what this means to renters.  The fucking $250k home owner is a ridiculous benchmark.  It's nowhere near the median or mean price anymore.  And it wouldn't fucking kill them to say "Here's what it means to the average $1,200/month renter...it means probably an extra $15/month in rent."  

Anyway, I'm still in favor of the core projects.  But as usual, not in the way we finance it.  I'll come back to this but kudos for bringing good info to light. 

Edited October 14, 2020 by Lobo

[Orange&White 5521]

Here are the actual dollar figures you can expect if Prop A and Prop B are passed.

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

 

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/politics/vote-texas/election-austin-transportation-props-project-connect-mobility-2020/269-5d3f6c65-25d0-44a0-832f-010d8eda093f

 

Quote

According to the City, if Proposition B is approved and you own a home with a median value of:

• $250,000, you could expect a monthly impact of $4.17 and an annual impact of $50 by 2026
• $325,000 you could expect a monthly impact of $5.42 and an annual impact of $65 by 2026
• $500,000 you could expect a monthly impact of $8.33 and an annual impact of $100 by 2026
• $750,000 you could expect a monthly impact of $12.50 and an annual impact of $150 by 2026

If you own a $250k house (i.e. - no one in Austin), Prop A adds $18.23/month and Prop B adds another $5/month. Closer to a normally appraised house in Austin ($400k), you are looking at about $38/month increase. For a project that only serves about 25% of the residents and won't even be close to operational for more than a decade.

Fixed rail anything in this city, at this point in time, is a fucking scam. Additionally, the City still has BILLIONS of dollars of previous bonds that they have not even come close to making a plan to use. Let them use that before asking for more.

Please vote "NO" for this horrendously wasteful bullshit.

 

Edited October 14, 2020 by Orange&White

[Updawg 2266]

Would like more info about these billions in bonds just sitting around doing nothing

[freyguy 4258]

I'm voting against anything related to light rails or tunnels right now.  The city needs to get their shit together and put together a bond solely dedicated to revamping online capabilities for AISD.  Binding this together with other shit removes all ability to ensure the $ is getting spent in the right places.

[Guest Lobo]

nmnm

Edited October 14, 2020 by Lobo

[Guest Lobo]

4 minutes ago, Updawg said:

Would like more info about these billions in bonds just sitting around doing nothing

It's not billions.  And after 5 years of asking, I still don't have a clear picture.  But it's (back of the envelope) somewhere between $200-$400mm.  Bonds approved, paper sold, projects on hold, debt being paid for at least 12 months (I can forgive up to a one year delay in government work, it can be worse than that in the private sector) and in some cases up to 120 months with nothing active happening besides design revisions.  The pointless debt service on overly-ambitious bond floats that aren't yet deployed to capital projects, but were already sold on the market...add up to a fuckton of money to the taxpayer (and yes, fuckton is a finance term for this exercise).  

Edited October 14, 2020 by Lobo

[Trey3216 15343]

On 8/13/2020 at 11:24 AM, bschoolprof said:

Really great of the city to spend 2 4 6 8 $10 billion on an underground homeless shelter for the hot summer months.  It will even come with a novelty train you can ride for a mile or two.  

2, 4, 6, 8 how many billion will it take!?  
for transit, yeah, yeah, for transit!

whew!

[AUS-97HORN 11756]

a few days ago I saw an interview with District 10 Candidate Jennifer Virden who made a very solid point about this proposition.  

She basically asked- why are we moving forward with this proposition in the middle of a pandemic where we wont even know the outcome of how much the world has changed as a result of Covid?  Thats why shes against it and it makes a lot of sense to me as well

 

We know for sure the business world has massively changed due to covid.

A huge amount of white collar workers (who comprised a shitload of the intended targets for this boondogle) are no longer needing to commute to Austin every morning to do their job.   many companies have said that change is permanent.    From first-hand anecdotal evidence, roughly 70% of the companies I work with are expecting more than half their employees to be 98% remote workers (maybe come in the office 3-4 times a year for training or a large event post-covid).  and yes that may sound convoluted and made up, but the numbers are accurate based on my experience as well as many of my teammates.

Many of my accounts expect to need only 1/3 to 1/2 of the floorspace they had been occupying on March 1, 2020.  And for the most part its not because they fired the folks, its because so many are going remote full time.

So waiting 2 years to see how the Austin traffic flow happens after covid is the prudent - and its not a "kick the can down the road" excuse.  I can see all kinds of "remote worker communities" pop up at the shared co-working locations already all around town (Wework, Common Desk, Regus)- meaning not as much  traffic using the major roads to get to a centralized downtown location.    There are at least 6 Co-working buildings within 1 mile of me in the 78757. 

 

So all the plans this Proposition were based on in terms of how many daily riders are COMPLETELY off possibly by as much as 50% of the planned ridership no longer needing to make the move.

 

Lets wait 2 years and see about it then.  Voting No this year.

[ChickenSandwich 9824]

Vote No on Prob A &B

[LCHorn 2612]

21 minutes ago, freyguy said:

I'm voting against anything related to light rails or tunnels right now.  The city needs to get their shit together and put together a bond solely dedicated to revamping online capabilities for AISD.  Binding this together with other shit removes all ability to ensure the $ is getting spent in the right places.

AISD operationally isn't within the purview of the City of Austin.  If you have a complaint there take it to the school board or the state. 

[Orange&White 5521]

37 minutes ago, Lobo said:

It's not billions.  And after 5 years of asking, I still don't have a clear picture.  But it's (back of the envelope) somewhere between $200-$400mm.  Bonds approved, paper sold, projects on hold, debt being paid for at least 12 months (I can forgive up to a one year delay in government work, it can be worse than that in the private sector) and in some cases up to 120 months with nothing active happening besides design revisions.  The pointless debt service on overly-ambitious bond floats that aren't yet deployed to capital projects, but were already sold on the market...add up to a fuckton of money to the taxpayer (and yes, fuckton is a finance term for this exercise).  

This City approved $975M worth of bonds just two years ago and $720M in 2016 and another $300M in 2012. Are you telling me that only $200-$400M of that has not been spent? I am calling bullshit right now until you can prove that. 

Here is an article from one year ago:

Quote

Austin is nearing three years since voters approved a record-breaking $720 Million Mobility Bond. As of today, about 12 percent of that money has been spent on improvements.

https://cbsaustin.com/news/project-gridlock/project-gridlock-whats-complete-from-austins-720m-mobility-bond

 

Edited October 14, 2020 by Orange&White

[freyguy 4258]

And this is one austin voter that doesn't give a shit about that.  Priorities need to be aligned....

[Pasken 1309]

52 minutes ago, freyguy said:

I'm voting against anything related to light rails or tunnels right now.  The city needs to get their shit together and put together a bond solely dedicated to revamping online capabilities for AISD.  Binding this together with other shit removes all ability to ensure the $ is getting spent in the right places.

The city of Austin has jack shit to do with AISD.

[Pasken 1309]

29 minutes ago, Orange&White said:

This City approved $975M worth of bonds just two years ago and $720M in 2016 and another $300M in 2012. Are you telling me that only $200-$400M of that has not been spent? I am calling bullshit right now until you can prove that. 

Here is an article from one year ago:

https://cbsaustin.com/news/project-gridlock/project-gridlock-whats-complete-from-austins-720m-mobility-bond

 

It should not surprise anyone that the bulk of money comes during construction and we are just now about to enter the primary construction position of the plan. This schedule was public back in 2016. It takes years of planning if you want multiple years of public input and approvals, the necessary auditing of utilities to minimize complications during construction and proper  design and engineering. 

[Guest Lobo]

33 minutes ago, Orange&White said:

This City approved $975M worth of bonds just two years ago and $720M in 2016 and another $300M in 2012. Are you telling me that only $200-$400M of that has not been spent? I am calling bullshit right now until you can prove that. 

Here is an article from one year ago:

https://cbsaustin.com/news/project-gridlock/project-gridlock-whats-complete-from-austins-720m-mobility-bond

 

No $200-$400mm has been sold, but not allocated (and then spent).  Going back 10-15 years, we have sold paper, which has yet to be close to spent, totaling $200-$400mm.  Let them actually spend it on actual projects. I have no issue with that.  I'm talking about, through their own internal clusterfucks, they end up selling way more than they need to and just sit on the cash and pull the G&A con game, while that interest just racks and racks.    I'm not talking about planning delays either.  I'm talking about bond money that is close to a decade old, that was sold, and serviced, with absolutely jackshit to show for it except a design phase amendment filed 2 years ago.  If something hits a snag during actual construction, that's one thing.  I'm talking about projects that haven't left the preliminary or even community input phase from several years ago that haven't gone anywhere.  But they are fully funded and accruing lots and lots of interest.  

Edited October 14, 2020 by Lobo

[Pasken 1309]

1 hour ago, Lobo said:

Two issues with that and I'll dive deeper into them later, but thanks for posting this---it's a helluva lot clearer than what the proponents are putting out there:

40% of the people subject to this Proposition don't fucking live in AISD.  Why is it so fucking hard for Adler and Council to acknowledge this?  He pretends like lower income households in myriad other districts aren't subject to his bullshit?  It's not all fucking Tarrytown and Travis Heights.  Some of us work for a fucking living.  

Second, and most importantly---the way our city floats paper and covers its debt service is a fucking joke.  But it's a 5-10 year joke based on each bond proposal.  When it comes to this multi-faceted rail project...we'll be paying debt service on shit that won't be happening for decades, let along years.  The hidden cost of debt service on a regular bond with the usual capital improvement delays is one thing, it costs out city tens of millions per year.  These fuckups will be measured in the hundreds of millions, just on this one prop...alone.  And as usual, they completely obfuscate what this means to renters.  The fucking $250k home owner is a ridiculous benchmark.  It's nowhere near the median or mean price anymore.  And it wouldn't fucking kill them to say "Here's what it means to the average $1,200/month renter...it means probably an extra $15/month in rent."  

Anyway, I'm still in favor of the core projects.  But as usual, not in the way we finance it.  I'll come back to this but kudos for bringing good info to light. 

Prop A is not a bond so there isn't any borrowed money or interest. It's more Pay as you go. The first few years will be spent on design and engineering which will allow the fund to build up money to pay for the actual construction. Then you have the project like the Green Line which aren't even scheduled for work until after light rail opens when the money will be available. The cheaper improvements are scheduled 1st like Red line improvements and the Bus Rapid routes, park and rides etc. 

 

This is a really good plan IF you like mass transit. If you don't then vote against it but anyone who says the plan is not right for X reason is full of shit or lying. The best comparison I have is Seattle's light rail. They also have a tunnel in downtown that helps the system tremendously by avoiding clusters, not taking away lanes for buses, and allowing the trains to be extended in the future which we could not do at street level due to the shorter length of our downtown blocks.

[Orange&White 5521]

1 minute ago, Lobo said:

No $200-$400mm has been sold, but not allocated (and then spent).  Going back 10-15 years, we have sold paper, which has yet to be close to spent, totaling $200-$400mm.  Let them actually spend it on actual projects. I have no issue with that.  I'm talking about, through their own internal clusterfucks, they end up selling way more than they need to and just sit on the cash and pull the G&A con game, while that interest just racks and racks.  

Someone told me that CoA debt service is a little more than 20% of the annual budget. Is that correct?

[Orange&White 5521]

9 minutes ago, Pasken said:

The best comparison I have is Seattle's light rail. 

You mean the plan that cost 54 fucking BILLION dollars? And before it was even two year from the approval date they had already tacked on another $2B? 

That is the PERFECT plan to compare it to.

 

https://komonews.com/news/local/sound-transit-abandons-pricey-seattle-light-rail-tunnels

Edited October 14, 2020 by Orange&White

[Guest Lobo]

12 minutes ago, Pasken said:

Prop A is not a bond so there isn't any borrowed money or interest. It's more Pay as you go. The first few years will be spent on design and engineering which will allow the fund to build up money to pay for the actual construction. Then you have the project like the Green Line which aren't even scheduled for work until after light rail opens when the money will be available. The cheaper improvements are scheduled 1st like Red line improvements and the Bus Rapid routes, park and rides etc. 

 

This is a really good plan IF you like mass transit. If you don't then vote against it but anyone who says the plan is not right for X reason is full of shit or lying. The best comparison I have is Seattle's light rail. They also have a tunnel in downtown that helps the system tremendously by avoiding clusters, not taking away lanes for buses, and allowing the trains to be extended in the future which we could not do at street level due to the shorter length of our downtown blocks.

I appreciate what you're saying.  The ballot language, as per usual, is purposely obfuscating.  Here's my favorite part though:

"finance the acquisition, construction, equipping, and operations and maintenance of the rapid transit system by providing funds for loans and grants to develop or expand transportation within the City, and to finance the transit-supportive anti-displacement strategies related to Project Connect" 

 I didn't say Prop A would be a bond, I used our bond sales procedures as an example of why this would be another fuckup on their part though.  Although they don't directly state it, to "finance the acquisition, construction...etc.   by providing loans and grants to develop."  There's a discount rate in there they're not revealing (1-because they don't know, 2-they don't want us to know).  A project of this timeline and size, it's impossible to "pay-as-you-go."  There is an NPV to taxpayers.  And there is some future value that nobody can conceive of because it's gonna take 20 years of moving Earth.  I realize the federal grant money will be a lump sum as we go, but the rest of it, as they tacitly admit, is going to be initially funded now with some external growth rate that's not being disclosed.  You can't contract somebody for 10 years to build a tunnel under downtown using just 2020 sources & uses, and not bake in a rate of some sort.  Something is going to have to pay that delta, probably a debt instrument of some sort (can't just up the taxes again 10 years down the road on another ballot measure because they 'll know we'll be sick and tired of the bullshit construction that's going nowhere).  And guess who pays that off?  Us.  And not at these "this deal's a steal at twice the price" costs in 2020.  Pay-as-you-go civic projects lasting this long always end up over, not because of graft or fraud or earthquakes.  Because they're counting on us having to borrow money against what we said we'd pay to keep up with the escalating cost of construction over 10-20 years.  Guess who gets to insert themselves into that term sheet?  Hint, it ain't you or I.  

Edited October 14, 2020 by Lobo

[atomheartbevo 89617]

2 hours ago, AUS-97HORN said:

So all the plans this Proposition were based on in terms of how many daily riders are COMPLETELY off possibly by as much as 50% of the planned ridership no longer needing to make the move.

Lets wait 2 years and see about it then.  Voting No this year.

In two years, there will be another 100,000 additional people living here, if not more.

[BrazilHorn 6586]

3 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

In two years, there will be another 100,000 additional people living here, if not more.

Will they be living in an area that takes advantage of the rail system or in Leander/Buda?

I don't feel need to pay more in taxes so people in Del Valle or Kyle can get into downtown austin easier. Also given how absolutely unsafe the city council has allowed buses/bus stops to become with the homeless I cannot see how a train station set up makes that any better.

No thanks

[Guest Lobo]

I'd like to see what happens with the new train stop at the convention center (when is that being delivered again?)...and also with the expanded shitshow at Republic Square Park?  

It's deeply connected to the homeless issue and is not being addressed.  I've seen some shit at several bus and train stations that would make me think about never taking an expanded line, nor letting my family do so.  I don't mind somebody asking for spare change.  I'm talking about wildly open needle use, squat 'n shits, people fucked up beyond belief on drugs and alcohol, handjobs for cash.  And on top of that, I missed my bus home from South Austin's mom's house. 

[Pasken 1309]

8 minutes ago, Lobo said:

I'd like to see what happens with the new train stop at the convention center (when is that being delivered again?)...and also with the expanded shitshow at Republic Square Park?  

It's deeply connected to the homeless issue and is not being addressed.  I've seen some shit at several bus and train stations that would make me think about never taking an expanded line, nor letting my family do so.  I don't mind somebody asking for spare change.  I'm talking about wildly open needle use, squat 'n shits, people fucked up beyond belief on drugs and alcohol, handjobs for cash.  And on top of that, I missed my bus home from South Austin's mom's house. 

You mean the train station that is ahead of schedule, under budget and will help with the frequency of the red line? 

[AUS-97HORN 11756]

25 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

In two years, there will be another 100,000 additional people living here, if not more.

again- you are using numbers based off of what were expected PRE-Covid.

So many people that may have planned on moving to Austin (for a job or otherwise) may not be required to move here anymore.   

Also, there has been a massive, massive MASSIVE shift to folks flocking to "resort" cities to live permanently but remotely with their companies blessings. 

You dont believe me... try buying a beachfront house in Corpus, Port A or any of the Gulf coast cities not impacted by hurricanes this year and you will see that beachfront/ lakefront property prices have shot up 25-30% from Feb.  

The Title companies are so overwhelmed with extra business that they were telling realtors to expect a minimum of 75 days to close just a few weeks ago.

Thats a lot of folks that used to work in cities that now dont mind living 50-80-200 miles away from their home city anymore in a place that makes them happy because they can work remotely.    

My sales team encompasses roughly 70 people both inside and outside positions handling the Philly area.  3 of the outside sales members have already moved to the Jersey/Delaware coast (despite knowing they will have to commute to Philly at some point when things reopen).

My manager moved to a lake in Illinois after living in Nashville for 10 years. 5 Nashville based reps on my team have moved in the last 4 months, 1 moved to Pensacola, one to Atlanta, one to Phoenix and 2 moved to lakeview houses 30+ miles outside Nashville.   All of them are on every zoom call every week still.   Thats 9 people on my team alone that have moved since covid hit.   roughly 13% of my team.   And I know my team isnt unique.       even if its just 7-8% of folks who go full remote who chose to live in nicer areas that number almost entirely makes up for the "100k new people" moving to the Austin area in 2 years point you made.

It sounds cliche, but the world absolutely changed overnight.     SOOO many folks who had to work in NYC are leaving the city once their leases end and moving to either upstate NY or NJ (where their rent is literally 1/4 of what it was in Manhattan), or wherever they want since they dont have to be in the city anymore.  That same shit is happening in Austin.

 

as I stated, we really need to wait 2 years to see how all this falls out

 

[DanRydell 799]

3 hours ago, freyguy said:

I'm voting against anything related to light rails or tunnels right now.  The city needs to get their shit together and put together a bond solely dedicated to revamping online capabilities for AISD.  Binding this together with other shit removes all ability to ensure the $ is getting spent in the right places.

The city doesn't fund or operate AISD.

[Biff Tannen 45660]

Welp, I don't know what to think on this shit.  Part of me wants to vote yes because this is the first time we've actually got a plan that makes sense in terms of WHERE the rail is proposed to go.  Finally Lamar corridor.