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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?

crash_davis

By crash_davis
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Armybrat

Armybrat 40834

Posted
Posted (edited)
47 minutes ago, TKthunder2 said:

Anyone know if LTDs can request de-annexation? Or is it only ETJs? If so does anyone know how to get that process started?

https://therealdeal.com/texas/2023/12/28/austin-slammed-with-de-annexation-requests-under-lax-etj-law/

Here in Brushy Creek (west side of Round Rock - 78717) we voted to de-annex from Austin’s ETJ 20+ years ago and join with Round Rock’s ETJ, not long after the Legislature allowed it. 
We were fairly new residents then, so I do not recall how the process was started or who initiated it. 
In retrospect, I am very grateful we voted ourselves out of Austin’s unwanted clutches.

Edited by Armybrat
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Bozo_Casanova
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Well for starters it’s the one and only good public buidling we’ve got and it’s so popular that pretty millennial women take their instagram shots and hang out in groups on nice afternoons on the outs

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Ghost of LL

Ghost of LL 15531

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Armybrat said:

Here in Brushy Creek (west side of Round Rock - 78717) we voted to de-annex from Austin’s ETJ 20+ years ago and join with Round Rock’s ETJ, not long after the Legislature allowed it. 
We were fairly new residents then, so I do not recall how the process was started or who initiated it. 
In retrospect, I am very grateful we voted ourselves out of Austin’s unwanted clutches.

ETJ isn't really a thing anymore with legislation that has passed over the last decade.  I mean, it still exists.  But it doesn't have a real material impact on anybody who actually lives in the ETJ.  It only matters for developers (and it doesn't really matter to them anymore).  So it really wouldn't matter for you.

As to @TKthunder2's question--the disannexation vote is specific to Lost Creek.  It was annexed back in 2015 just before legislation took effect limiting (pretty much eliminating) cities' ability to annex.  Since then, a bunch of residents have been trying to get the Legislature to allow for a disannexation vote.  And that's what finally happened this last session.  But the legislation is very specific to Lost Creek.  Nobody else anywhere in the state is going to be able to do it without passing new legislation.

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Orange&White

Orange&White 5524

Posted
Posted

The ETJ Dis-annexation thing is backfiring spectacularly already.

All the people who lived out in the ETJ and wanted the cities to "just leave us alone" got what they wished for, and now developers can decide to leave the ETJ with no regard. Once those developers leave the ETJ of the city, there are literally no controls on what they can build.

So now there are MASSIVE manufactured housing developments being developed with on site sewer treatment and wells, massive industrial complexes, etc, right next to some pretty spectacular properties. And those adjacent owners are completely shellshocked there is nothing anyone can do to stop it from happening next to their family ranch. 

It was obvious knee-jerk, ill written legislation that was basically a middle finger to Austin and it is now backfiring all around the state.

It will all swing back the other way in a few years when everyone realizes how bad it is.

Making it difficult for the cities to annex puts a huge burden on the counties. They are left to provide law enforcement and, ems in some cases, in little donut holes in and around cities which makes patrolling them and getting to them in an emergency a clusterfuck. They also get stuck with more ongoing road maintenance. I suspect the County lobbyists will eventually get some of this relaxed.

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Mittens

Mittens 8263

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

ETJ isn't really a thing anymore with legislation that has passed over the last decade.  I mean, it still exists.  But it doesn't have a real material impact on anybody who actually lives in the ETJ.  It only matters for developers (and it doesn't really matter to them anymore).

Damn sure matters if you want to vote on shit that affects you, but doesn't show up on your ballot.

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TKthunder2

TKthunder2 4991

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

ETJ isn't really a thing anymore with legislation that has passed over the last decade.  I mean, it still exists.  But it doesn't have a real material impact on anybody who actually lives in the ETJ.  It only matters for developers (and it doesn't really matter to them anymore).  So it really wouldn't matter for you.

As to @TKthunder2's question--the disannexation vote is specific to Lost Creek.  It was annexed back in 2015 just before legislation took effect limiting (pretty much eliminating) cities' ability to annex.  Since then, a bunch of residents have been trying to get the Legislature to allow for a disannexation vote.  And that's what finally happened this last session.  But the legislation is very specific to Lost Creek.  Nobody else anywhere in the state is going to be able to do it without passing new legislation.

I’m in Austin. My area is under a “Limited Taxation District” which is like an ETJ. I have to comply with building regulations (I recently found out) but I pay no taxes. I added on to my home and the City of Austin is claiming I needed a City Build permit. I had one from Travis but not the City and they are up my ass on a bunch of bullshit (including telling me I have to install a fire suppression sprinkler system). The only city service I have is Austin Water. The question I’m trying to figure out is if I dig my own well and have no City services, could I leave the LTD or am I proper fucked.

Probably should have gone in the Help forum but whatever.

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hornian

hornian 5217

Posted
Posted
19 minutes ago, TKthunder2 said:

I’m in Austin. My area is under a “Limited Taxation District” which is like an ETJ. I have to comply with building regulations (I recently found out) but I pay no taxes. I added on to my home and the City of Austin is claiming I needed a City Build permit. I had one from Travis but not the City and they are up my ass on a bunch of bullshit (including telling me I have to install a fire suppression sprinkler system). The only city service I have is Austin Water. The question I’m trying to figure out is if I dig my own well and have no City services, could I leave the LTD or am I proper fucked.

Probably should have gone in the Help forum but whatever.

How'd they find out? All my neighbors in that area always said not to involve the city and they wouldn't snitch on each other. 

 

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 105106

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Shit's on fire, yo:
 

 

I wonder if that fire will improve that place's review scores?

Quote

The room was held together by tape… I booked last minute for Valentine’s Day since my hubby wanted a room with a tub. I found this and thought it was a good price. The tub worked, but instead of a faucet to fill it up, there was an unfinished plastic pvc pipe contraption. I asked for another room thinking that this was unacceptable, but the other room he showed me was creepy. There was a two way mirror in front of the tub, that faced the other room. It was also old smelled of mold and looked like it had been painted by kids. Not what we’re into… ok pvc pipe room it is. Everything was ok, except I couldn’t help but notice there were an absence of women? Why were there so many men there? Idk. Felt creepy but I was with hubby, so ok… in the morning(valentines day) the manager came knocking, and tried to ENTER the room with his card 1 hour before check out. I was not dressed yet, and found it really weird that he knew we were in the room and tried to open the door anyways…. He asked if we were going to stay another night…. Why wouldn’t he call the room? Why didn’t he knock I twice? Why did he need to know this in advance? It was not check out time yet… all questions left unanswered. We checked out in time and when leaving I found a sharp (aka a used injection needle) in the tisssue box that I had been wiping my nose with all night. This was really creepy, unsanitary, and unsafe. Tahanj go we made it out alive. When I told the front desk about it, they did not seem v. Shocked.

 

The pictures are very deceiving!!!
The lady at the front desk offered my wife and I a full refund because the conditions of this place was really bad and smelled like an ashtray, the carpet was spotted up badly, our room smelled like someone urinated in the bed badly, the curtains had brown spots all over them and the place had bed bugs. The owner needs to shut this place down this was the most sleaziest hotel I’ve ever stepped in, in my entire life!
Danger!
It was really bad. The room was dirty and clearly undergoing repairs of some kind. There was no water in the shower, there was only one dingy towel, not one garbage can. The couch was stained, the floor was definitely not clean. The hallways were being deep cleaned at night. The whole place smelled bad. There were so many things that just didn’t feel right.
 
The hotel offered a "15 minute review of your room to decide if you wanted to stay." I chose to not stay. The room was dirty. The window unit AC made the window unsecured.
 
Do NOT stay here!
I had to leave without staying. The room smelled, had blood stains on the wall and was not clean. While checking on a couple came to the desk stating their room was so bad they wanted to leave. It was non refundable so I lost $200. Do NOT stay here.

 

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Updawg

Updawg 2266

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

Maybe we have a fledgling arsonist? In this case, I can see insurance fraud but we’ve had a lot of structures go up in flames of late/abandoned or no. 

Is drowning people not enough for you?

have to give you credit though, you are a go getter

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TKthunder2

TKthunder2 4991

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, hornian said:

How'd they find out? All my neighbors in that area always said not to involve the city and they wouldn't snitch on each other. 

 

Travis county made us apply for new septic permit since we have Austin water. At no time during the process did they tell me I needed a city build permit. The water inspector bastard reported us after the build was completed when he gave us our license to operate and now I’m dealing with a gigantic load of bullshit.

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hayden_horn

hayden_horn 11362

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Updawg said:

Judging by those reviews the owner probably started it

 

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Owner.  Dropped crack pipe.  Bare electrical wires.  Pretty much an unlimited menu of how a place like that can burn down.

yeah how was casulo still even open much less standing. 

that's got to be an insurance burn if there ever was one

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B00M

B00M 6415

Posted
Posted
33 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I'm not sure I want to know why any of you are familiar with that particular hotel.

where else are we supposed to jerk off onto and into furniture, remote controls, pillows, 2 way mirrors, and pvc pipes?

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Armybrat

Armybrat 40834

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Ghost of LL said:

ETJ isn't really a thing anymore with legislation that has passed over the last decade.  I mean, it still exists.  But it doesn't have a real material impact on anybody who actually lives in the ETJ.  It only matters for developers (and it doesn't really matter to them anymore).  So it really wouldn't matter for you.

As to @TKthunder2's question--the disannexation vote is specific to Lost Creek.  It was annexed back in 2015 just before legislation took effect limiting (pretty much eliminating) cities' ability to annex.  Since then, a bunch of residents have been trying to get the Legislature to allow for a disannexation vote.  And that's what finally happened this last session.  But the legislation is very specific to Lost Creek.  Nobody else anywhere in the state is going to be able to do it without passing new legislation.

Changing ETJs was the right move at the time for us because Austin would’ve annexed Brushy Creek. 
At least now we have more direct input to controlling our own shitshow.

 

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Texas Jeff

Texas Jeff 1945

Posted
Posted
22 hours ago, Ghost of LL said:

Nope--only at this place I never heard of halfway across town.

BTW, I have been to the new permitting office and I happened to go during an early voting window.  For that election, they were offering free parking.  The ballot place was in the first floor lobby.  I was there for another reason, but a few folks were voting.

It's a nice new building close to the new ACC Highland Mall campus.  A little hard to find, and I felt that driving around ACC was a bit confusing, but a phone GPS should take you straight there.

I agree that Austin is trying some electioneering here that may backfire.  They don't want you to leave, so they don't want you to vote, so they are making it difficult.  But that may ensure that only those angry enough to drive over there will vote.

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Samson's Wig

Samson's Wig 3192

Posted
Posted
29 minutes ago, Texas Jeff said:

I agree that Austin is trying some electioneering here that may backfire.  They don't want you to leave, so they don't want you to vote, so they are making it difficult.  But that may ensure that only those angry enough to drive over there will vote.

This is assuming that the city will even legally count the ballots.  In a place where leadership has made it abundantly clear that they don't care what the majority of people want and are willing to pull shenanigans like this one with the polling location across town, write ballot language in a manner to deliberately confuse voters (on what seems like every single controversial bond or referendum), why are we supposed to trust that they even acknowledge the true vote count if it doesn't turn out the way they've already engineered it to turn out?   Although I hope they never have stooped that low, we've got plenty of reason to be suspicious given their willingness to play ridiculous games in every other aspect of local elections.  More often than not they can rely on the abundance of useful idiots (young voters) to pass whatever they put before them so long as it is couched in the right language, but for those moments when they don't believe they can count on the vote to go their way we've seen the blatant attempts at rigging the outcome they're willing to pull.  It's not a far cry to think they may pull even dirtier moves behind the scenes.

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Bolero88

Bolero88 277

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

This is assuming that the city will even legally count the ballots.  In a place where leadership has made it abundantly clear that they don't care what the majority of people want and are willing to pull shenanigans like this one with the polling location across town, write ballot language in a manner to deliberately confuse voters (on what seems like every single controversial bond or referendum), why are we supposed to trust that they even acknowledge the true vote count if it doesn't turn out the way they've already engineered it to turn out?   Although I hope they never have stooped that low, we've got plenty of reason to be suspicious given their willingness to play ridiculous games in every other aspect of local elections.  More often than not they can rely on the abundance of useful idiots (young voters) to pass whatever they put before them so long as it is couched in the right language, but for those moments when they don't believe they can count on the vote to go their way we've seen the blatant attempts at rigging the outcome they're willing to pull.  It's not a far cry to think they may pull even dirtier moves behind the scenes.

That's just straight paranoia with nothing to back it up whatsoever. 

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Samson's Wig

Samson's Wig 3192

Posted
Posted
44 minutes ago, Bolero88 said:

That's just straight paranoia with nothing to back it up whatsoever. 

Sure, yep. 

However, if the countless examples of the city working its ass off to rig votes in every way they possibly can that are plain on their face (purposefully muddled language on ballots, polling location shenanigans, etc.) don't make you question things a little bit, you may be a bit too trusting.

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Samson's Wig

Samson's Wig 3192

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

sounds a little trumpian doesn't it?

 

C'mon.  that stings.  Cut me a bit of slack there.  I acknowledged in my post that it was speculation based on their past open and obvious attempts to manipulate election results. I find it interesting that anyone would assume they wouldn't do something even shadier when there is a clear pattern of deceit and foul play.

 

My political ire generally runs the other direction, but the City of Austin has decades of crooked, faulty, or just plain bad leadership that can't be ignored. 

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Orange&White

Orange&White 5524

Posted
Posted
56 minutes ago, Bolero88 said:

That's just straight paranoia with nothing to back it up whatsoever. 

Is it though?

Remember when the citizens voted to re-instate the camping ban and the City made a map that showed that they would re-locate all of the homeless to the neighborhood parks, even though that was illegal?

Now, incorrectly counting votes to achieve their outcome is a bit cray cray, but making it difficult to vote for your neighborhood to be de-annexed is exactly the type of petty bullshit the city staff has shown themselves to not be above.

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PvilleStang

PvilleStang 2889

Posted
Posted

Someone with the knowledge, fill me in here.  If an ETJ votes for disannexation, are they required to get a winning percentage of the vote, or do they have to obtain a certain amount of FOR votes in order for the proposal to pass?  E.g. in an ETJ of 1000 registered voters, they need to receive 501 YES votes to proceed, vs a mere 51% of the votes.

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Orange&White

Orange&White 5524

Posted
Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, PvilleStang said:

Someone with the knowledge, fill me in here.  If an ETJ votes for disannexation, are they required to get a winning percentage of the vote, or do they have to obtain a certain amount of FOR votes in order for the proposal to pass?  E.g. in an ETJ of 1000 registered voters, they need to receive 501 YES votes to proceed, vs a mere 51% of the votes.

ETJ de-annexations are done at the request of the land owner. So the de-annexations occur on a parcel by parcel basis. It is NOT that the entire ETJ gets to vote for removal and, if the majority vote is for it, then the entire ETJ is dissolved.

Edit/Clarification: IT CAN be done the way you described. If you live in a subdivision and think that the entire subdivision should be removed from the ETJ, you can submit through the appropriate process and, if you have all of the requirements met, the city will have to have it on the next election and all of your neighbors will have to approve it by majority to have the entire subdivision removed. 

However, the VAST majority of what is happening now is that a single landowner petitions to remove his property and the City is granting.

There is a process the city can make the landowner go through to get approved, but it is so costly, time-consuming and so stacked in favor of the land owner that the Cities are simply just granting them their request for de-annexation from the ETJ.

Edited by Orange&White
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LCHorn

LCHorn 2620

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Samson's Wig said:

Sure, yep. 

However, if the countless examples of the city working its ass off to rig votes in every way they possibly can that are plain on their face (purposefully muddled language on ballots, polling location shenanigans, etc.) don't make you question things a little bit, you may be a bit too trusting.

I tend to think ignorance is more likely than nefarious intentions.  

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hayden_horn

hayden_horn 11362

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Bolero88 said:

That's just straight paranoia with nothing to back it up whatsoever. 

 

4 hours ago, Samson's Wig said:

Sure, yep. 

However, if the countless examples of the city working its ass off to rig votes in every way they possibly can that are plain on their face (purposefully muddled language on ballots, polling location shenanigans, etc.) don't make you question things a little bit, you may be a bit too trusting.

lol yeah how short memories are. remember the whole rideshare fuckshow?

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Orange&White

Orange&White 5524

Posted
Posted
40 minutes ago, texasdago said:

See... here's where I screwed up.  I stopped at Southside Market in Elgin on the way back from Houston and I should have just driven my car into the creek for a fatty cut of beef.  I already had a pint of sauce with me.

Um...that was not beef, it was the last homeless guy that died in that camp. 

Donner party style.

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Ghost of LL

Ghost of LL 15531

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, PvilleStang said:

Crap, my bad, I didn't mean ETJ, I meant areas like Lost Creek subdivision.  The ones that are currently being put to a vote. 

It's just Lost Creek that is being put to a vote.  It's the result of a very specific piece of legislation passed last year by the 88th Legislature, following years of lobbying by a handful of residents.  Perhaps it won't surprise you to learn that there are a few lobbyists who live in Lost Creek.

Anyway, it's just a majority of votes cast needed for disannexation.  That's why the City's move here is so puzzling.  In a low-turnout election, it's going to be the highly motivated people who carry the day.  And on this issue, that's clearly the pro-disannexation people.

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45909

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

it's just the city council two step.  they do it all the time to ensure elite white folks are the only voters who know what's at stake

Sure, that's how they win the elections/propositions.  It doesn't mean they're going to throw away ballots.

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Nicole44

Nicole44 22059

Posted
Posted

Looks like we do have an arsonist…hmmm

 “A prominent Austin businessman and founder of Continental Automotive Group, or CAG, was arrested Thursday on charges of Felony Arson and a State Jail Felony offense of Burglary.

Dorsey Bryan Hardeman, 75, is accused of starting a fire at a downtown Austin building on Sunday, according to an arrest affidavit.”

https://www.kxan.com/investigations/prominent-local-businessman-arrested-in-austin-accused-of-arson/
 

Not sure I totally get the motive but whatever what a dildo. 

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texasdago

texasdago 7573

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

Looks like we do have an arsonist…hmmm

 “A prominent Austin businessman and founder of Continental Automotive Group, or CAG, was arrested Thursday on charges of Felony Arson and a State Jail Felony offense of Burglary.

Dorsey Bryan Hardeman, 75, is accused of starting a fire at a downtown Austin building on Sunday, according to an arrest affidavit.”

https://www.kxan.com/investigations/prominent-local-businessman-arrested-in-austin-accused-of-arson/
 

Not sure I totally get the motive but whatever what a dildo. 

you are dumb for real GIF

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