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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?


crash_davis

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1 hour ago, BrickHorn said:

No doubt. Such a great point. I read all these sad woe-is-me tales about poor people and homelessness, and I’m just like “Did any of these stupid fuckers ever think to make more money? Duh!” 

They should pull themselves up by the bootstraps.

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1 hour ago, bolverk said:

Dumb response. In Austin, you'd have to make $26.65/hour at 40 hours/week to afford a 1-bedroom apartment. How many posts do you have complaining about homelessness in this town?

 

 

The article states "average" price.  So your math is great for average.  "How can someone afford that!?!?"   Well, they live in a less expensive one bedroom apartment than the "average" one costs.  Or they are have a significant other and they share the cost/expense.   Or they live in a 2 bedroom place with a roommate that costs more than a 1 bedroom but not 2X the price of a one bedroom.  Or.....

The article creates a false narrative.

Here is the breaking news from the article:  Housing prices are high in Austin compared to many other parts of Texas or the country.  Because of that if you make less money (minimum wage or otherwise) it is harder to find affordable or good housing. News at 11!

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Who only pays minimum wage in Austin?  At least with a straight face, that is.  You can be a stocker at HEB for $16/hour.  Also, I know of a brewery/restaurant that pays $20/hour for the people bussing tables AND they get to share in tips.  So, I don't know who pays minimum wage anymore in Austin.    

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3 minutes ago, texasdago said:

Who only pays minimum wage in Austin?  At least with a straight face, that is.  You can be a stocker at HEB for $16/hour.  Also, I know of a brewery/restaurant that pays $20/hour for the people bussing tables AND they get to share in tips.  So, I don't know who pays minimum wage anymore in Austin.    

Fast food?

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15 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

Also finding it difficult to believe anyone making minimum wage HAS to live in the trendiest city in US.  I bet I can find an apt in Beaumont you can afford on your minimum wage.  Plenty of minimum wage gigs, too. 

Bootstrap bros, assemble! 

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13 minutes ago, texasdago said:

Who only pays minimum wage in Austin?  At least with a straight face, that is.  You can be a stocker at HEB for $16/hour.  Also, I know of a brewery/restaurant that pays $20/hour for the people bussing tables AND they get to share in tips.  So, I don't know who pays minimum wage anymore in Austin.    

Seriously. Mcdonalds has a banner on Mopac thats says starting at $13/hr. 
 

Life guards make $15/hr

Walmart pays $10+ starting

What/Where are these minimum wage jobs in Travis county not at Goodwill or salvation army?  Im sure both of those giants can absorb some more labor cost. 
 

Great headline for clicks

Edited by ChickenSandwich
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22 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

Also finding it difficult to believe anyone making minimum wage HAS to live in the trendiest city in US.  I bet I can find an apt in Beaumont you can afford on your minimum wage.  Plenty of minimum wage gigs, too. 

Who is going to wait your tables and bag your groceries and deliver your food and drive your Ubers if you kick them all out of Austin?

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4 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Who is going to wait your tables and bag your groceries and deliver your food and drive your Ubers if you kick them all out of Austin?

What restaurant has servers averaging under $8/hr with tips?  MCds starts at $13  (Far  West/Mopac)

What grocery store pays under $8 in Travis County?  Not HEB, Sprouts, Trader Joes or Whole Foods etc

 

Average Austin Uber is $33/hr

https://www.glassdoor.com/Hourly-Pay/Uber-Driver-Austin-Hourly-Pay-EJI_IE575263.0,4_KO5,11_IL.12,18_IM60.htm#:~:text=%2433&text=The estimated total pay for,Uber is %2433 per hour.

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2 hours ago, bolverk said:

Dumb response. In Austin, you'd have to make $26.65/hour at 40 hours/week to afford a 1-bedroom apartment. How many posts do you have complaining about homelessness in this town?

 

He'd have to work 59 hours/week to afford a 1-bedroom apartment in Austin at that wage. 

Which is far different than the 147 hours in the article. And he is 17.

There is no right for people to get to live by themselves in one of the most popular cities in the country and demand higher wages for the privilege while working an entry level job.

 

Check out every metropolitan city in the world and they look the same.

I moved to NYC right out of college and could barely afford to live there but I didn't blame anyone else for my situation and somehow found my way.

 

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29 minutes ago, Orange&White said:

Which is far different than the 147 hours in the article. And he is 17.

There is no right for people to get to live by themselves in one of the most popular cities in the country and demand higher wages for the privilege while working an entry level job.

 

Check out every metropolitan city in the world and they look the same.

I moved to NYC right out of college and could barely afford to live there but I didn't blame anyone else for my situation and somehow found my way.

 

Highlighted a very key detail. There are just a few people that don't go to college. I'm guessing your income now is multiples of what it was when you first graduated college. You had a path to increasing your income by a lot. Many people don't have that ability and have to figure out how to live on $35k or less per year. 

I don't understand how some of y'all can't figure out why affordable housing is important for a healthy, vibrant city. And to the people who keep saying, but NYC, but SF, etc., have you checked out the average wage in those locales compared to Austin? Austin's average wage has not kept up with the increase in COL. I've had to make this argument to compensation analysts over and over and over when they look only at average wage in the market and say "no, we're good" when I'm lobbying for COL increases.

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4 hours ago, crash_davis said:

It's like no one learned a god damned thing from San Francisco.

Kara Swisher had Lawrence Wright on her podcast during SXSW, and they talked about the influx of SF/Silicon Valley and all the ways Austin has changed rapidly. Despite our new neighbors' saying how they know damn well how they ruined SF and vowing to do better in their new city, they just can't help themselves because of their unwillingness to do one fucking thing that doesn't benefit their net worth. So the cycle will continue. 

And FWIW, my kid gets $12 at a Sno-Cone stand when she decides to work. 

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3 hours ago, royiv said:

They should pull themselves up by the bootstraps.

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2 hours ago, Js1 said:

Who is going to wait your tables and bag your groceries and deliver your food and drive your Ubers if you kick them all out of Austin?

Your mom 

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12 minutes ago, Cap33 said:

Kara Swisher had Lawrence Wright on her podcast during SXSW, and they talked about the influx of SF/Silicon Valley and all the ways Austin has changed rapidly. Despite our new neighbors' saying how they know damn well how they ruined SF and vowing to do better in their new city, they just can't help themselves because of their unwillingness to do one fucking thing that doesn't benefit their net worth. So the cycle will continue. 

And FWIW, my kid gets $12 at a Sno-Cone stand when she decides to work. 

Oh God, that Larry Wright piece. NIMBY Boomer spends fifty years fighting development in an effort to ossify their community, becoming wealthy in the process, bemoans loss of “weirdness” in their town. That’s what happened in the Bay and should sound familiar to Austinites, but that flew over his head. 

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15 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

The same people that do it in other expensive cities?   Somehow it just works there, but not Austin?  

It doesn’t work in other expensive cities. You have a shortage of low, or even middle wage, workers and higher prices. And these cities also rely on rent control and other tenant protections that Texas is, um, lacking in. 

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1 hour ago, We’reTexas said:

It doesn’t work in other expensive cities. You have a shortage of low, or even middle wage, workers and higher prices. And these cities also rely on rent control and other tenant protections that Texas is, um, lacking in. 

There are no servers in SF, or NYC?Funny thing, I remember eating and bars being tended every time I’ve been.  What are y’all doing with all the empty restaurants and hotels?

Rent is only worth what someone will pay.  Sorry not sorry, but flipping a burger is apparently worth $12 an hour in Austin. I’m looking for the joke everyone loves when O&G is hurting.  Oh yeah, learn to code? 

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44 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

There are no servers in SF, or NYC?Funny thing, I remember eating and bars being tended every time I’ve been.  What are y’all doing with all the empty restaurants and hotels?

Rent is only worth what someone will pay.  Sorry not sorry, but flipping a burger is apparently worth $12 an hour in Austin. I’m looking for the joke everyone loves when O&G is hurting.  Oh yeah, learn to code? 

Actually, in SF quite a few restaurants began pivoting to the counter-service model due the labor shortage, and this was pre-pandemic. The labor shortage resulting from housing crisis has resulted in a very distorted economy in HCOL areas for some time, not to mention retaining teachers, police officers and fire fighters.

I’m not directing this at you, but the “not everyone deserves in X” argument is totally besides the point and quite tone-deaf. Annoyed only one of ten grocery aisles has a checker or a police officer won’t show up for a car break in? Stop blocking housing. 

Edit: also want to mention students. Something like 5% of UC students are homeless or housing insecure at some point, which is insane. Something absolutely has to be done for UT student housing. 

Edited by We’reTexas
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56 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

There are no servers in SF, or NYC?Funny thing, I remember eating and bars being tended every time I’ve been.  What are y’all doing with all the empty restaurants and hotels?

Rent is only worth what someone will pay.  Sorry not sorry, but flipping a burger is apparently worth $12 an hour in Austin. I’m looking for the joke everyone loves when O&G is hurting.  Oh yeah, learn to code? 

Maybe not. 
 

Newly released U.S. census data shows that the city’s biggest population losses from 2020 to 2022 came from residents in their late 20s and early 30s. 

The data shows that the number of San Franciscans ages 25-29 dropped from 94,000 in April 2020 to 74,000 in June 2022, a 21% decrease.The second largest decline was among 30-34 year olds, going from 105,000 in 2020 to just under 88,000 in 2022, a 16% decrease. The third greatest decrease was among 0-4 year olds.

The fastest growing five-year age group in San Francisco was 75-79 year olds at 15%.

 

 

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/san-francisco-population-data-18140254.php

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38 minutes ago, We’reTexas said:

I’m not directing this at you, but the “not everyone deserves in X” argument is totally besides the point and quite tone-deaf. Annoyed only one of ten grocery aisles has a checker or a police officer won’t show up for a car break in? Stop blocking housing. 

If you’re asking if I’d rather live around $7 hour employees or spend an extra 15 mins in a grocery line, I believe that’s a pretty easy answer.  “Making it out the hood” isn’t a thing/saying for no reason.  

I don’t understand your police example. Police are largely paid well enough to live in their general area.  Teachers maybe a better example, but if you paid them enough to live in any given locale, you’d have gobs of more qualified people replacing them in short order in the desirable areas  

The problem is we have too many people who are only qualified to do work that teenagers can also accomplish.  It’s hard to plan for someone whose 30 and doesn’t have any discernible skills worth paying more than $15 hr. 

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8 hours ago, Js1 said:

I mean, you can bitch about homelessness until you're blue in the face, but the minimum wage has been $7.25 in Texas for what, a decade and a half?

Let me know when people have as much desire to raise it as they do to eradicate the homeless population. 

You know Texas is a big state right? No one in Austin works for the minimum wage but plenty of people outside of the Texas triangle still do. The State of Texas could raise the minimum wage by $5/hr and it wouldn’t effect Austin in any noticeable way.

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2 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

If you’re asking if I’d rather live around $7 hour employees or spend an extra 15 mins in a grocery line, I believe that’s a pretty easy answer.  “Making it out the hood” isn’t a thing/saying for no reason.  

I don’t understand your police example. Police are largely paid well enough to live in their general area.  Teachers maybe a better example, but if you paid them enough to live in any given locale, you’d have gobs of more qualified people replacing them in short order in the desirable areas  

The problem is we have too many people who are only qualified to do work that teenagers can also accomplish.  It’s hard to plan for someone whose 30 and doesn’t have any discernible skills worth paying more than $15 hr. 

What on earth are you talking about? All I’m saying is that Austin’s affordability crisis is going to have significant impacts on its economy and that moral arguments about housing are irrelevant. I can’t speak for NYC but one of the first things you understand living in SF is how many people essential workers (especially police) have 2+ commutes and are constantly in shortage. This is going to be a generational issue and it’s bizarre there’s not more alarm about it. 

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8 minutes ago, We’reTexas said:

This is going to be a generational issue and it’s bizarre there’s not more alarm about it. 

Because people understand that wanting to live in a very expensive city may not be in the cards for someone who’s “worth” is $10/hr.  It’s the reason commutes and shithole parts of cities exist.    There is nothing to be alarmed about.  Roommates still exist. Colleges still exist.  Get a roommate or an education and your inability to afford Austin disappears.   

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Austin wont Up-Zone their way to “affordable” housing. The suburbs have cheap land and offer the best ave to affordable housing. 
 

WFH, better distance transit and cooperation will lead to the most affordable available housing in the shortest amount of time. 

https://luskin.ucla.edu/upzoning-alone-wont-solve-housing-crisis-manville-says

Density Makes Housing Less Affordable, Not More

https://www.cato.org/commentary/density-makes-housing-less-affordable-not-more

 

We have land. Use it. 

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9 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

Because people understand that wanting to live in a very expensive city may not be in the cards for someone who’s “worth” is $10/hr.  It’s the reason commutes and shithole parts of cities exist.    There is nothing to be alarmed about.  Roommates still exist. Colleges still exist.  Get a roommate or an education and your inability to afford Austin disappears.   

Dude I'm renting a tiny room in a decent but undesirable part of town right now for $800/mo. You're acting like this is metro area DFW or HOU. Austin is fucking expensive. 

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Just now, ztejas said:

Dude I'm renting a tiny room in a decent but undesirable part of town right now for $800/mo. You're acting like this is metro area DFW or HOU. Austin is fucking expensive. 

I agree. But you’re choosing to live there.  I’d fucking love to live in River Oaks, right down Chevy Chase.  But I’m a few million a year short for that.  So I don’t get to.  

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1 minute ago, fattyflattie said:

I agree. But you’re choosing to live there.  I’d fucking love to live in River Oaks, right down Chevy Chase.  But I’m a few million a year short for that.  So I don’t get to.  

I really am not choosing to live here. But you seem to have no idea what you're talking about so who gives a shit. Go look up for me what any decent 2/2 is going for per month in downtown Austin. Then realize that this isn't LA or New York or Chicago or any other city that has been world-renowned for decades if not centuries, and recognize that the cost adjustment underway is extremely problematic for tens if not hundreds of thousands of people. 

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2 minutes ago, ztejas said:

and recognize that the cost adjustment underway is extremely problematic for tens if not hundreds of thousands of people. 

No one is arguing that. We have lots and lots of people who don’t draw much water, but like to live in one of if not the “trendiest” cities in America.  People not being able to afford what they want is not new.  

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7 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

No one is arguing that. We have lots and lots of people who don’t draw much water, but like to live in one of if not the “trendiest” cities in America.  People not being able to afford what they want is not new.  

Do you understand how the economy works? Because it seems like you don't. 

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38 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

Because people understand that wanting to live in a very expensive city may not be in the cards for someone who’s “worth” is $10/hr.  It’s the reason commutes and shithole parts of cities exist.    There is nothing to be alarmed about.  Roommates still exist. Colleges still exist.  Get a roommate or an education and your inability to afford Austin disappears.   

Again, totally irrelevant. Low wage workers in HCOL cities don’t live there - they commute to work there, from very long distances, because that’s where wages are. And many have stopped, leading to labor shortages. 

 

38 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Austin wont Up-Zone their way to “affordable” housing. The suburbs have cheap land and offer the best ave to affordable housing. 
 

WFH, better distance transit and cooperation will lead to the most affordable available housing in the shortest amount of time. 

https://luskin.ucla.edu/upzoning-alone-wont-solve-housing-crisis-manville-says

Density Makes Housing Less Affordable, Not More

https://www.cato.org/commentary/density-makes-housing-less-affordable-not-more

 

We have land. Use it. 

Ok boomer. 

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32 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Do you understand how the economy works? Because it seems like you don't. 

Well, I guess I do better than the 10’s to hundreds of thousands that can’t figure out rent? 
 

28 minutes ago, We’reTexas said:

Again, totally irrelevant. Low wage workers in HCOL cities don’t live there - they commute to work there, from very long distances, because that’s where wages are. And many have stopped, leading to labor shortages. 

So this goes back to trading minor inconveniences as to not live next to low paid, low skilled workers. Ok. 

Edited by fattyflattie
Payed Siri? cmon
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2 minutes ago, We’reTexas said:

Ah we’re on the DT that makes sense. 

This is one of the best threads on the site partially because it isn't in CR. We talk politics in here all the time but it's kept within the scope of our city itself and I think we do a very good job of judging ideas based on their merit. 

I don't post in the CR at all nor do I really enjoy discussing politics. Maybe you do. We're both rolling our eyes at the same person being a dipshit in this thread. This thread can get very liberal and it can get very conservative but I always find good discussion. What I think we don't tolerate is shitty arguments and viewpoints. I see people in here (including myself) talking politics that don't post about politics anywhere else on the board. That's valuable to me. 

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10 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Austin wont Up-Zone their way to “affordable” housing. The suburbs have cheap land and offer the best ave to affordable housing. 

Yes, let's focus on sprawl, push cars further around and scrape the Hill Country. That will fix things 

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1 hour ago, texasdago said:

Yes, let's focus on sprawl, push cars further around and scrape the Hill Country. That will fix things 


 

 

https://thebreakthrough.org/journal/no-15-winter-2022/sprawl-is-good-green

 

https://www.domain.com.au/news/highdensity-living-worse-for-environment-than-suburban-sprawl-new-study-shows-20171031-gzcdkw/

Edited by ChickenSandwich
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23 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Maybe not. 
 

Newly released U.S. census data shows that the city’s biggest population losses from 2020 to 2022 came from residents in their late 20s and early 30s. 

The data shows that the number of San Franciscans ages 25-29 dropped from 94,000 in April 2020 to 74,000 in June 2022, a 21% decrease.The second largest decline was among 30-34 year olds, going from 105,000 in 2020 to just under 88,000 in 2022, a 16% decrease. The third greatest decrease was among 0-4 year olds.

The fastest growing five-year age group in San Francisco was 75-79 year olds at 15%.

 

 

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/san-francisco-population-data-18140254.php

I don’t know what you are trying to show but that data shows that older people who are near retirement age are staying and younger people who need jobs are leaving. Basically, old people don’t move from cities where healthcare is good unless they can’t afford it. This is especially true of SF old people who already own their homes because they purchased when the price of home in SF was $100K.
 

I would be curious to know if the homeless population is moving into the city or if it has always been there at the same numbers. I doubt they were included in the census but I wonder how much they would skew the numbers. Probably not a huge difference because a few homeless seem like a lot - 15 tents and trash and shit and grocery carts - looks like a city. 

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