What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?

[MAUFRAIS 6745]

Rock on, bubba.

[Anastasis 23724]

20 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Man,  I wish I could afford Rollingwood.  The homes/acreage that people buy over there just to tear down to then build another $4mm home on top of it.  Must be nice.  No, we're slumming it further south towards Campbell's Hole.  City of Austin mailing address with a homeless camp nearby and irregular water service to boot.  I'm thankful as a half-mexican sephardic Jew to be this close to downtown and good schools but it ain't the pasty-white Westlake that Porterhouse promised me.  

Ah. One of the extremely rare east of mopac WLHS strains. 

[YGIFS 19458]

actually several hundred homes east of Mopac in the WLHS zone.  But if the strain continues to be extremely rare, is there  like a pill or a lozenge you could  dispense to me?   

[MAUFRAIS 6745]

And you are claiming to live there?

[YGIFS 19458]

I’m claiming political asylum in whatever jurisdiction will have me.  And will pledge to observe the requisite nomenclature.  I just hope we have our own IHOP for diplomatic purposes.  

[ftf82 494]

Just wait until they finally finish the connection of Barton Skyway across the Creek!

[4th&Five 42013]

On 8/9/2023 at 7:08 PM, utee94 said:

Just for reference, the "What The Fuck Is Wrong With You Westlake" thread is over there ----------------->

Oh shit…I have 43 years of material for that thread. 

[YGIFS 19458]

4 hours ago, ftf82 said:

Just wait until they finally finish the connection of Barton Skyway across the Creek!

I confess that I go back and forth in very hypocritical fashion i between  "no- more development of any kind ever" and "more development, it's the only way to have quality of life for all citizens."  But I still look back at the road connection from MoPac to Lamar and even with some experience in the infrastructure and CRE space and think, "How much money did the people that drew up those plans and the other people who green-lit them owe to Pablo Escobar, a half dozen Austin Mayors, 3 Texas Governors, and Freddy Krueger?"  BEcause that proposal was beyond fucking insane and we once almost invested in a ski resort in Wisconsin Dells despite there being nothing remotely resembling anything you could ski off except the barfly's flaccid bust.  

[Brisketexan 106965]

despite there being nothing remotely resembling anything you could ski off except the barfly's flaccid bust.  

Dude…we have rules around here.

[Steel Shank 9556]

On 8/11/2023 at 9:47 PM, YGIFS said:

Man,  I wish I could afford Rollingwood.  The homes/acreage that people buy over there just to tear down to then build another $4mm home on top of it.  Must be nice.  No, we're slumming it further south towards Campbell's Hole.  City of Austin mailing address with a homeless camp nearby and irregular water service to boot.  I'm thankful as a half-mexican sephardic Jew to be this close to downtown and good schools but it ain't the pasty-white Westlake that Porterhouse promised me.  

One of the first times I got stoned, my buddy and I were sitting on the cliff above Campbell's Hole (early 80s). We had some strawberry Tidal Wave bubble gum. I chewed a piece of that and I felt like my mouth was indeed a tidal wave of flavor and shit that it was going to flow over into the creek. I think I was 15 or 16. 

/csb

[YGIFS 19458]

Very first time I got truly stoned to the bejsus belt in Austin.  I didn’t live here yet but was visiting some folks I met in Spain.  I had the fake ID so we are drinking beers and weed starts getting smoked.  Some neighborhood where all the streets are named for golfers, next thing I know we are going to a green belt-a term I had never heard before.  Then half drunk I’m wondering why they named a wet place after a desert animal’s anus?  Oh, Campbell not Camel. Turns out you just sit on a rock and listen to bongos and get high.  Supposed to be just wild.  Course that was back when we had water.  Cheapest fun I ever had.  Then somebody got wise and started businesses that charge $10 for a taco and beer.  And nobody picks up their dogshit.  Still a decent place to live but our low tax, law and order state are making it pretty fucking tough to like

[Pasken 1312]

On 8/9/2023 at 8:07 AM, YGIFS said:

I live in the City of Austin.  I pay City of Austin property taxes.  God bless election volunteers, but I've been turned away at city bond ballots/initiatives because the people see my zip code on my license and can't be bothered to see that right before that number it clearly says, "Austin, TX." 

The city on your driver's license has jack shit to do with if you live inside city limits. That is a signifier for your post office to help mail get to the right place. It doesn't describe if you've been annexed. Plenty of people live in the ETJ of Austin/Manor/Dripping Springs with an "Austin" on their driver's license. So that's why they ignored your license. 

[YGIFS 19458]

Admittedly, I don’t know all the ins and outs TXDL law.  My expertise is bird law.   But yeah, to your point, there are many folks with my same zip code who live in a handful of other small, but independent municipalities.  And then a fuckton in ETJ Austin. But I am drawn into City of Austin proper.  Every single map verifies that.  
 

read that one of AISD high schools announced they won’t have HVAC this week.  And the algae in town lake is getting worse.  

[TKthunder2 5059]

26 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Admittedly, I don’t know all the ins and outs TXDL law.  My expertise is bird law.   But yeah, to your point, there are many folks with my same zip code who live in a handful of other small, but independent municipalities.  And then a fuckton in ETJ Austin. But I am drawn into City of Austin proper.  Every single map verifies that.  
 

read that one of AISD high schools announced they won’t have HVAC this week.  And the algae in town lake is getting worse.  

I have Austin on my DL. I live in a LTD under RRISD and pay no city taxes nor can I vote in certain City elections.

[texasdago 7771]

29 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Admittedly, I don’t know all the ins and outs TXDL law.  My expertise is bird law.   But yeah, to your point, there are many folks with my same zip code who live in a handful of other small, but independent municipalities.  And then a fuckton in ETJ Austin. But I am drawn into City of Austin proper.  Every single map verifies that.  
 

read that one of AISD high schools announced they won’t have HVAC this week.  And the algae in town lake is getting worse.  

Man, honestly, everyone's A/C is starting to go tits up.   One of our units died... neighbor down the street had both die... another neighbor around the corner is dealing with a dead one.  Its an air conditoning death pandemic.  

[Pasken 1312]

1 minute ago, TKthunder2 said:

I have Austin on my DL. I live in a LTD under RRISD and pay no city taxes nor can I vote in certain City elections.

bc Texas is fucking stupid you have to divorce conversations about school district and city/county. They correlate generally but for the most part they have jack shit to do with each other. There are about 8 school districts across all land inside city limits. Most of it is AISD but other districts like Manor, Del Valley etc. pop their heads in along the edges of Austin Proper. 

[BabaYaga 15629]

1 minute ago, texasdago said:

Man, honestly, everyone's A/C is starting to go tits up.   One of our units died... neighbor down the street had both die... another neighbor around the corner is dealing with a dead one.  Its an air conditoning death pandemic.  

Girl that used to work for me, her husband sold HVAC systems.  All in, those units they charge you ten, twelve, fifteen grand?  They are usually around $2,500--$3K each.  The margins are stupid!

I forget the username, but we have someone on the site that runs such a business so he can clarify.  

[texasdago 7771]

19 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Girl that used to work for me, her husband sold HVAC systems.  All in, those units they charge you ten, twelve, fifteen grand?  They are usually around $2,500--$3K each.  The margins are stupid!

I forget the username, but we have someone on the site that runs such a business so he can clarify.  

Yup.  It is their Christmas.

[PvilleStang 2998]

1 hour ago, texasdago said:

Man, honestly, everyone's A/C is starting to go tits up.   One of our units died... neighbor down the street had both die... another neighbor around the corner is dealing with a dead one.  Its an air conditoning death pandemic.  

And I bet 50% if not more are a capacitor issue that you could self diagnose and fix if you have a multimeter and half a brain.  Capacitors cost around $20 at Ferguson HVAC supply (two locations in Austin).  

Although, I am forgetting the drain pipe clogging.

[4th&Five 42013]

1 hour ago, BabaYaga said:

Girl that used to work for me, her husband sold HVAC systems.  All in, those units they charge you ten, twelve, fifteen grand?  They are usually around $2,500--$3K each.  The margins are stupid!

I forget the username, but we have someone on the site that runs such a business so he can clarify.  

get a good home warranty.  total replacement in july cost us $2,000.

[texasdago 7771]

1 hour ago, PvilleStang said:

And I bet 50% if not more are a capacitor issue that you could self diagnose and fix if you have a multimeter and half a brain.  Capacitors cost around $20 at Ferguson HVAC supply (two locations in Austin).  

Although, I am forgetting the drain pipe clogging.

Except they were literally tits up.  Mine was 20 years old.  So were some of the others.  We had already gone down the capacitor path but it literally had a heart-attack and died.  

[Texas Jeff 1999]

read that one of AISD high schools announced they won’t have HVAC this week.  And the algae in town lake is getting worse.  

At least one AISD high school had their AC fail yesterday, on the first day of school. It’s working today. Two years ago they had month long failures in parts of the same building.

Bond money will be paying for a complete upgrade of the HVAC, but they haven’t had time yet to replace it. Thank you to everyone who voted for the last two AISD bonds!

[BabaYaga 15629]

1 hour ago, PvilleStang said:

if you have a multimeter and half a brain.

[fattyflattie 4640]

Also, big proponent of adding the soft starts to your AC's.   Mine sounded like they were on their last legs a couple of years ago, so threw them on as a bandaid to help them along.  Been going nice and easy since then.  Then again, don't know if they've turned off since May. 

[swraith 348]

2 hours ago, Texas Jeff said:

 

At least one AISD high school had their AC fail yesterday, on the first day of school. It’s working today. Two years ago they had month long failures in parts of the same building.

Bond money will be paying for a complete upgrade of the HVAC, but they haven’t had time yet to replace it. Thank you to everyone who voted for the last two AISD bonds!

 

My daughter's elementary classroom has no functional A/C. It was expected to be fixed prior to school start but it didn't happen.  The portable unit in the room doesn't keep up.  Her class has relocated to the school library indefinitely until the A/C is fixed.  Oh, and the cafeteria has a massive portable A/C that does work.  No idea how many years it will be left in place.  

[royiv 9821]

5 hours ago, Texas Jeff said:

 

At least one AISD high school had their AC fail yesterday, on the first day of school. It’s working today. Two years ago they had month long failures in parts of the same building.

Bond money will be paying for a complete upgrade of the HVAC, but they haven’t had time yet to replace it. Thank you to everyone who voted for the last two AISD bonds!

 

It's criminal that AISD has to use bond money to upgrade critical systems like HVAC while they send $800 million -more than half of what AISD taxpayers pay each year- annually to the state so that small districts can afford to build football palaces. 

[Steel Shank 9556]

On 8/13/2023 at 10:59 PM, YGIFS said:

Very first time I got truly stoned to the bejsus belt in Austin.  I didn’t live here yet but was visiting some folks I met in Spain.  I had the fake ID so we are drinking beers and weed starts getting smoked.  Some neighborhood where all the streets are named for golfers, next thing I know we are going to a green belt-a term I had never heard before.  Then half drunk I’m wondering why they named a wet place after a desert animal’s anus?  Oh, Campbell not Camel. Turns out you just sit on a rock and listen to bongos and get high.  Supposed to be just wild.  Course that was back when we had water.  Cheapest fun I ever had.  Then somebody got wise and started businesses that charge $10 for a taco and beer.  And nobody picks up their dogshit.  Still a decent place to live but our low tax, law and order state are making it pretty fucking tough to like

 

stoner

[bolverk 30354]

4 hours ago, royiv said:

It's criminal that AISD has to use bond money to upgrade critical systems like HVAC while they send $800 million -more than half of what AISD taxpayers pay each year- annually to the state so that small districts can afford to build football palaces. 

 

[Anastasis 23724]

Recapture sucks. But that tweet is fake news. 

[crash_davis 23470]

It's actually worse. The Robinhood money goes into the general budget which may or may not be used for schools. The state conveniently doesn't track the money. Fucking crooks.

[South Austin 53233]

18 hours ago, Texas Jeff said:

At least one AISD high school had their AC fail yesterday, on the first day of school. It’s working today. Two years ago they had month long failures in parts of the same building.

Bond money will be paying for a complete upgrade of the HVAC, but they haven’t had time yet to replace it. Thank you to everyone who voted for the last two AISD bonds!

Not sure what other schools had this problem, but the AC was out the first day in a good chunk of the campus at my daughter's school, McCallum.  I think that school will get some money from the prior bond election, but not in time for her, since she's in her senior year.  But hopefully my son who's a seventh-grader at Lamar will have at least a year or two in high school that won't be in a complete shithole.

[Armybrat 41422]

On 8/13/2023 at 10:59 PM, YGIFS said:

Very first time I got truly stoned to the bejsus belt in Austin.  I didn’t live here yet but was visiting some folks I met in Spain.  I had the fake ID so we are drinking beers and weed starts getting smoked.  Some neighborhood where all the streets are named for golfers, next thing I know we are going to a green belt-a term I had never heard before.  Then half drunk I’m wondering why they named a wet place after a desert animal’s anus?  Oh, Campbell not Camel. Turns out you just sit on a rock and listen to bongos and get high.  Supposed to be just wild.  Course that was back when we had water.  Cheapest fun I ever had.  Then somebody got wise and started businesses that charge $10 for a taco and beer.  And nobody picks up their dogshit.  Still a decent place to live but our low tax, law and order state are making it pretty fucking tough to like

Campbell’s Hole was popular for undisturbed weeknight skinny dipping with y’all’s moms & grandmas back before whatever the fuck happened to Austin.

[Armybrat 41422]

25 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Not sure what other schools had this problem, but the AC was out the first day in a good chunk of the campus at my daughter's school, McCallum.  I think that school will get some money from the prior bond election, but not in time for her, since she's in her senior year.  But hopefully my son who's a seventh-grader at Lamar will have at least a year or two in high school that won't be in a complete shithole.

I recall when a workman walked unannounced into my 2nd floor Porter Junior High classroom (during US History class) without a by your leave and started jackhammering a pre marked hole in one corner. Took him a few minutes to get it done so I could resume putting the thirty 8th graders to sleep. 
That was in early October 1969, about six weeks after the school’s air conditioning system was supposed to have been installed and up & running. 
Think I read that the old school building (renamed for Ann Richards) was demolished and replaced recently.

Edited August 16, 2023 by Armybrat

[Armybrat 41422]

23 hours ago, Pasken said:

The city on your driver's license has jack shit to do with if you live inside city limits. That is a signifier for your post office to help mail get to the right place. It doesn't describe if you've been annexed. Plenty of people live in the ETJ of Austin/Manor/Dripping Springs with an "Austin" on their driver's license. So that's why they ignored your license. 

My zip code 78717 includes not only CoA neighborhoods like Davis Spring, Pearson Ranch, & Avery Ranch, but also Brushy Creek MUD (where we live) which is unincorporated and in Round Rock’s ETJ. So my DL address says Austin.
Kinda confusing to the newbs.

Edited August 16, 2023 by Armybrat

[Samson's Wig 3230]

1 hour ago, South Austin said:

Not sure what other schools had this problem, but the AC was out the first day in a good chunk of the campus at my daughter's school, McCallum.  I think that school will get some money from the prior bond election, but not in time for her, since she's in her senior year.  But hopefully my son who's a seventh-grader at Lamar will have at least a year or two in high school that won't be in a complete shithole.

My kids are at Lamar as well.  Here's hoping for a better future at McCallum.  It's a damn shame the way funding works has cut off AISD at its knees (and that the political children who run this state take joy in ensuring AISD, in particular, falls apart).  Add weak leadership at AISD over the years (mainly in the form of well-intentioned do-gooders, who often cause more harm than good) and things compound into a complete mess.   I suspect we'll see TEA take over the district before your son or my kids get to high school, and I don't know what to make of that other than Mike Morath would serve humanity better by picking up dog shit in public parks than running TEA.  He makes Betsy Devoss look like a decent human being.

[royiv 9821]

9 hours ago, Anastasis said:

Recapture sucks. But that tweet is fake news. 

Please explain. Walnut Grove is, in fact, a new HS in Prosper. Propser ISD is on the recipient end of recapture funds to the tune of about $80 million per year. Prosper ISD has also decreased its tax rate for three years running. I get that it's not a 1:1 transfer from Austin to Prosper, but Austin is floating bonds to pay for basic upkeep and Prosper is building a new school with a food court, indoor practice facilities and state of the art gym.

https://www.prosper-isd.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=3948&ModuleInstanceID=61480&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=72985&PageID=25427

[YGIFS 19458]

First Day of School for our little district.  And yeah, we had a bond approval this past May.  And people roll their eyes who don't live in our district.  But they don't know that despite our property tax lift and great varsity sports and wonderful teachers, the physical condition of most of our campuses is laughably bad.  We had a fundraiser to keep one campus' portable toilets from leaking into the cafeteria.  Ventilation systems are older than most of the teachers.  Dad's group does most of the landscaping and cleanup because we can only afford 1 FTE custodian on an elementary campus of 500+50 staff (admittedly, there's a part-timer that comes for a few hours each day from lunch to end bell).  

Wife's BiL was looking at some practices to buy between Fort Worth to Granbury to Stephenville to the Panhandle.  And I did a lot of real estate recon with him.  And more than half of those small towns are fucking dying.  Boarded up main streets, few fast food joints and Dollar Generals out by the federal highways.  Rundown parks, courthouses with broken light fixtures, streets in decay, homes that are really just brick structures to offer shade to all the shit being stored in the lawn.  But then you drive by the junior high and the high school.  And holy shit, built out at $300/foot, sparkling new with every toy and amenity the imagination can conjure.  Kids can barely read and most won't move more than 50 miles from the campus, but it just sparkles and gleans.  No thought given to opportunities down the road, safety, well-roundedness, or nurturing a community of critical thinking.  But god dammit, they got themselves 60,000 square feet of brand new greatness with a 10,000 seat stadium to boot.  Meanwhile, the dead limbs from last Winter's freeze that I personally cut down over 18 hours one weekend last June.  Finally got cleared away by the district's one landscaping truck earlier this week so the kid's didn't fuck with it during recess today.  I just hope I can afford my property taxes this year.  Must be nice for the rest of Texas.  If I had one competent leader at any level of government from the Capitol to City Hall to my County to my School Board, I'd give thanks.

[crash_davis 23470]

11 minutes ago, royiv said:

Please explain. Walnut Grove is, in fact, a new HS in Prosper. Propser ISD is on the recipient end of recapture funds to the tune of about $80 million per year. Prosper ISD has also decreased its tax rate for three years running. I get that it's not a 1:1 transfer from Austin to Prosper, but Austin is floating bonds to pay for basic upkeep and Prosper is building a new school with a food court, indoor practice facilities and state of the art gym.

https://www.prosper-isd.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=3948&ModuleInstanceID=61480&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=72985&PageID=25427

 I think the issue is that we don't know which ISDs actually get money from Robinhood. I think the state is taking in almost $5B from Robinhood. I highly doubt all that $5B is being allocated to "poorer" ISDs. The state is using the excess (however much) to spend on other bullshit things, things which were not in the original intent of the plan.

I'm all for supporting poor ISDs but fuck the current system.

[BonzoMontreaux 1137]

On 8/15/2023 at 8:57 AM, YGIFS said:

...

read that one of AISD high schools announced they won’t have HVAC this week. 

Hehehe, we didn't have HVAC or AC units period in the school district I graduated from - Waco area.  At least not until my later high school years.  I was recalling this week how we would get out of school because it was too hot.  

[texasdago 7771]

15 minutes ago, BonzoMontreaux said:

Hehehe, we didn't have HVAC or AC units period in the school district I graduated from - Waco area.  At least not until my later high school years.  I was recalling this week how we would get out of school because it was too hot.  

a) Thanks, Grandpa

b) OK, boomer

 

And when I went to UT there was a dorm with no A/C (Brackenridge?) but that stuff is not OK anymore.  It is absurd that AISD can manage to send nearly a billiion dollars... billion with a B for bitchass joke of a state.  Absurd.  

...and yeah, small rural communities are falling apart and yet they keep voting in for the same jokers who are screwing them the hardest.

[Pasken 1312]

 

10 hours ago, crash_davis said:

It's actually worse. The Robinhood money goes into the general budget which may or may not be used for schools. The state conveniently doesn't track the money. Fucking crooks.

I'm not sure that's exactly true. I believe the bulk of it goes toward funding charter schools.

[Armybrat 41422]

5 minutes ago, texasdago said:

 

...and yeah, small rural communities are falling apart and yet they keep voting in for the same jokers who are screwing them the hardest.

Austin says hey, hello!

[crash_davis 23470]

3 minutes ago, Pasken said:

 

I'm not sure that's exactly true. I believe the bulk of it goes toward funding charter schools.

I doubt that you can prove that because the state has admitted once the money goes to the general fund, it does not know where and how that money is spent. 

[bolverk 30354]

4 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Austin says hey, hello!

I'd bet you my monthly AISD property tax bill that most of us (Austin voters) would gladly support a statewide income tax over this bullshit.

[Anastasis 23724]

42 minutes ago, royiv said:

Please explain. Walnut Grove is, in fact, a new HS in Prosper. Propser ISD is on the recipient end of recapture funds to the tune of about $80 million per year. Prosper ISD has also decreased its tax rate for three years running. I get that it's not a 1:1 transfer from Austin to Prosper, but Austin is floating bonds to pay for basic upkeep and Prosper is building a new school with a food court, indoor practice facilities and state of the art gym.

https://www.prosper-isd.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=3948&ModuleInstanceID=61480&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=72985&PageID=25427

That link does not address recapture funding, appears to address reductions in their tax rate.  Here is the TEA report on recapture by district: https://tea.texas.gov/finance-and-grants/state-funding/state-funding-reports-and-data/recapture-paid-by-district-1994-2023.xlsx

Prosper paid 400k in 2017, 1MM in 2018, and 2MM in 2019. Does not appear that they have been assessed recapture in 2020-2023, corresponding to the timeframe of the tax reductions you link. 

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable about the formulas used here can chime in, but that fucking looks to me like after getting hit with a $2MM recapture, they reduced their tax rate to avoid recapture in 2020-2023. I don't think that that necessarily means that they received substantial recapture funding during that period, but if you have those data I would be happy to consider them. Looks at least superficially to me like Prosper is gaming the system to reduce their recapture exposure, which if true, seems pretty fucking smart. 

The buildings were funded by a $1.3B tax payer funded bond package in 2019: https://www.prosperisdbond.net 

At least superficially looks like they gamed their tax rates to lower recapture, and ran out a big bond package to fund buildings. If that is accurate, seems like a bit of a shell game that prevents their taxpayer resources being deployed into the recapture black hole.  

 

31 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

 I think the issue is that we don't know which ISDs actually get money from Robinhood. I think the state is taking in almost $5B from Robinhood. I highly doubt all that $5B is being allocated to "poorer" ISDs. The state is using the excess (however much) to spend on other bullshit things, things which were not in the original intent of the plan.

I'm all for supporting poor ISDs but fuck the current system.

All of this.  A good portion of the money is never redistributed and goes to the general fund.  It's a fucking scam. 

[Armybrat 41422]

Oh, no doubt about that.

But the numbnuts at 11th & Congress would still keep the high property taxes going in some form.

 

[crash_davis 23470]

Socialism is bad, unless you quietly or game the system to benefit from it. 

These small town city folks who hate the politics of big city folks sure love the money from big city folks. 

 

[DalTxHornFan 3130]

All the credit goes to Judge F. Scott McCown, a true idoit (no CR -- it is known!).

[Anastasis 23724]

1 minute ago, crash_davis said:

Socialism is bad, unless you quietly or game the system to benefit from it. 

These small town city folks who hate the politics of big city folks sure love the money from big city folks. 

 

Two simple data points would help in this broader discussion.  

How much does the state general fund realize in recapture funding?

How much leaves the state general fund and goes directly back to school districts to fund education?

[BonzoMontreaux 1137]

24 minutes ago, texasdago said:

a) Thanks, Grandpa

b) OK, boomer

 

And when I went to UT there was a dorm with no A/C (Brackenridge?) but that stuff is not OK anymore.  It is absurd that AISD can manage to send nearly a billiion dollars... billion with a B for bitchass joke of a state.  Absurd.  

...and yeah, small rural communities are falling apart and yet they keep voting in for the same jokers who are screwing them the hardest.

I will accept a.

It's funny.  That the same school district I mentioned handles their shit better than Austin ISD these days.  Kidding and snark aside, I would be fucking pissed as a tax payer that this is still a thing like you mentioned.  You are bending me over on property taxes, the least you could do is keep up with basic maintenance.