@TexasTribune
Cool how the Texas Supreme Court can make this ruling remotely. Sure would be nice if all Texans could exercise the most fundamental right we have without fearing for our lives!
It looks like the 4th of July in Austin. Thousands of people turned out for
@BetoORourke
and Willie Nelson. You couldnโt pay people and get this turnout for Ted Cruz.
Currently departing Canada for America. Iโve been wanting to read
@RonanFarrow
โs new book โWar on Peaceโ for a long time, and in light of the G7 meeting, it seemed more relevant than ever. Canโt wait to read it!
This morning I was driving through lovely Tarrytown where the cheapest home on the market is $2M and where apartments are illegal and I thought to myself, โthe REAL problem in this city is Luxury Highrises Downtownโ
Today in why we need to build more housing, a friendโs 12-month lease in ATX was renewed & he received:
- 1 free month of rent
- $500 off the 2nd month
- $106 off his current monthly payment for the remainder of the lease
Thatโs over $3,300 in rent reduction โ YIMBY in action!
@oneunderscore__
Omg this reminds me of when Tobias got hair plugs and his body rejected them and all he had to do to not die was remove the hair. They made a whole drama that was basically that?!
NEW:
Dem leaders say Postmaster General privately committed to offering concrete plan to ensure smooth vote-by-mail.
New letter from
@SenSchumer
and
@SpeakerPelosi
seeks to pin him down on that. Should prompt intense media scrutiny of his intentions:
Expanding I-35 subsidizes sprawl. It is not helpful for growth in Austin proper
It will make quality of life in the urban core worse, strain city finances, and for years be a massive mess for anyone who lives here. And it wonโt fix traffic.
We donโt need a bigger I-35 to grow
@sam_d_1995
@TxDOTAustin
Itโs horrific! Itโll take 10 years, cost billions, increase pollution and climate change, displace homes and businesses, displace part of our running and biking trail downtown, and not. Fix. Traffic.
Some of Austinโs so-called environmentalists should take a trip to the beautiful Texas hill country sometime and see how much of it has been โ and continues to be โ paved over due, in part, to NIMBYs preventing the construction of dense and affordable housing in ATX
Socialism: good for poor countriesโ growth rates as they develop towards some form of capitalism; not so good for developed countries. Really enjoying โCapitalism, Aloneโ by
@BrankoMilan
What do people *really* think about
@realDonaldTrump
& the
@GOP
? We analyzed almost half a million tweets and 4,000 comments from
@nytimes
to find out. The numbers don't lie: The
#GOP
is not yet viewed as The Trump Party.
#TechTuesday
The contempt our cityโs police union has for the people of Austin is unacceptable. They tried to trick voters, got walloped in the election, and now they want to undermine the results.
This behavior is scandalous.
The Austin Police Association is aware of the election results and is taking immediate action to determine the city's intentions regarding the implementation and enforcement of the illegal provisions contained in Prop A. The APA simply will not stand by while this city and 1/4
@MichelleWilli7
@TexasTribune
Iโm from Texas. My family lives in Texas. Most of my friends live in Texas. I want them, you, and all Texans to be able to vote by mail safely and securely exactly like I can in Pennsylvania.
More apartments getting built =
Your rent goes down, and the landlord crypto bro gets sad
Itโs exactly what we need to make Austin affordable for everyone, and thereโs still more work to do
Crazy stats in this. Austin TX has 120,000 apartments in the current pipeline ready to rollout.
This is over 50% of the volume of apartments that Austin holds right now.
Rental rates are gonna fold like a tent.
Yikes.
A 640 sq ft house in austin that has a washing machine in the kitchen where the dishwasher should be is selling for $800,000.
Austin. Listen. This is not acceptable. We need to build more housing.
I hate these posts because you can eat this same low calorie, not particularly nutritious breakfast in America, only difference is youโre walking more in Italy
Donald Trump isnโt going to change. Heโs going to keep saying racist things, inspiring the next killer like he did the one in El Paso. Under him, the FBI will not be able to crack down on white nationalist terrorism. We need a new president.
New study from UT looks at redevelopment of single family homes into dense homes in Houston: more affordable homes replaced SFHs, & they were mostly in high-demand areas w/o driving out existing folks. This was possible bc Houston reduced minimum lot size
@OrinKerr
You violated norms against me, I didnโt retaliate, and then you escalated and kept violating norms. Constitutional hardball is bad or at least non-ideal; asymmetric hardball is worse
@AlexanderMcCoy4
@ArmandDoma
You can follow financial freedom by 30 as a landlord of multiple properties IG accounts and these guys are also very openly like โugh so much new housing is being built and thatโs not good for meโ
This shouldnโt be hard to understand!
Meanwhile our compatibility rules have prevented 72,000(!) units from possibly being built on lots zoned for multifamily
Airbnb certainly has an impact on housing costs, but the bigger issue is we constrain new housing from being built
This graph from โThe Triumph of Injusticeโ by
@gabriel_zucman
๐
The avg tax rate on capital โ corporations, dividends, estates, etc. โ has dropped while taxes on labor have increased.
In 2018, for the 1st time in US modern history, capital was taxed less than labor.
Austin has a serial bomber. The story is getting plenty of national coverage. What itโs not getting is a response from major political leaders. Hoping that changes and that the killer is stopped and brought to justice
First time cooking for a crowd in uhhh, quite a while! Weโve got buttermilk fried chicken, buttermilk biscuits, mashed potatoes, green beans, and an apple pie. Happy Easter!
Successful day canvassing for my friend
@ZoForAustin
in Mueller.
Austin district 9 voters, Election Day is this Tuesday. Make a plan to vote for this future awesome council member!
@JakeCorman
At least one PA Republican has discussed the โcontingency planโ w/ the Trump campaign to subvert our will. If it wasnโt you, who? If you want a fast count of our votes, why havenโt you passed Governor Wolfโs plan to allow counties to begin counting ballots early? Do your job.
Even as a bi man, I never realized how a lack of visibility for bi people has harmed our community. It takes us proudly claiming that label to help break the cycle. Really important piece for
#pride
by
@ZacharyZane_
This is phase 1 of the system, a fact that isnโt really being conveyed to the public.
The plan we choose should maximize ridership and support expansion. That probably means going underground downtown, even though that means the initial line is shorter
BREAKING: Five new light-rail options are being unveiled to Austin right now. The plans are significantly scaled back from the 28-mile map shown to voters before the November 2020 election.
Beautiful day in Austin to build affordable housing! And if not mistaken, these are the first duplexes Austin habitat for humanity is building! ๐ท๐ป๐จ
After about 6 hours of public testimony, chambers have cleared out as today's hearing wraps up.
I know my count is off by a handful of people but the breakdown roughly ended up around:
-111 in favor of HOME
-54 against
-5 neutral
Cutting minimum lot sizes is a great way to boost more housing
In Austin, city council will soon take up HOME Phase 2 โ with a goal to reduce our minimum lot sizes and create more affordable, dense housing in our urban core. Letโs build! ๐ก ๐๏ธ ๐ช๐ป
New research!
I have a working paper out on the effects of Houstonโs minimum lot size reform on assessed land values. I look at the effect of the 2013 reform that reduced the amount of land required to build a house outside of the cityโs I-610 Loop:
@GovAbbott
Itโs time to expand Medicaid. If Texas opts in to the federal expansion, we get a $3.9 billion funding boost over two years and more than 2 million uninsured people will become eligible for Medicaid coverage.
What a relief! Got my second shot and in 2 weeks, Iโll be ~extremely~ protected from COVID ๐ Find the vaccine nearest you and get vaccinated as soon as you can: