Have you seen the raging debate (a good one) about Prop 1 on
ChangeAustin.org’s Facebook page? Join the discussion – it’s not boring, promise!
If you ask the big donors who put up $1 million to promote Prop 1 — the Austin Chamber, the Real Estate Council, Heritage Title (Gary Farmer) etc. — what has brought about Austin’s traffic woes, they will blame anyone but themselves.
But while the Chamber’s Opportunity Austin was using city funds to woo more people to move to Austin by paying magazines to rank Austin as one of the best places to live, “their” City Council never asked them to pay a dime in road impact fees. The resulting loss of 100s of millions of dollars over the last decade was happening just as Austin took it’s nosedive into its affordability crisis.
In 2015, Mayor Adler and the new 10-1 Council failed to impose road impact fees on new developments, a loss of somewhere between $50-90 million for roads.
Now Adler — together with his big real estate friends want YOU – renters and homeowners alike – to bear the full weight of a seriously flawed and hugely expensive ($720 million, in reality $1.799 billion) bond combining all project spending into one and only one bucket. If it harms local businesses along the corridors slated for “beautification” under Prop 1, to these guys they’re just collateral damage.
Vote NO and send your message to City Hall. Ask the Council — just as City Councilwoman Ora Houston has asked — to open up this process over the next 18 months and come back with a better, more affordable plan that would allow you to vote on several items separately.
Have you signed our petition “Austin is Not Developers’ Monopoly Board?” This also tells the Council you want growth to begin to pay for itself. Please sign and share!
We have plans following this election and look forward to your involvement.
For now, please help us spread the word.
See the hand we have out there for your hard earned dollars? Give
As usual, we have our hand out.
some if you can and hope to see ya soon.