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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?


crash_davis

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3 hours ago, BottleRocket said:

I have an interesting story regarding one of my Texas ancestors and William "Billy" Barton (owner of springs and apparently, slaves).  I'm a direct descendant of Gen. Ed Burleson (from Republic of Texas fame).  William Barton's son, Wayne Barton, married a daughter of General Ed.  William Barton was the first Sherriff of Travis County.  There was a dispute between the Burleson son (John) and William Barton and Barton shot and killed John.  A couple of years later, two of John Burleson's brothers found William Barton and killed him. 

edited to add that my GGG Grandfather, David Crockett Burleson (1837 - 1911) would have been about 12 years old at the time.

AUSTIN COLONY PIONEERS, Ray, 1995 Wayne Barton, son of old Billy Barton, was a waggish fellow with a strong sense of humor, says Noah Smithwick in his "Evolution of a State." (Because of his temper and because of his inherited dislike of neighbors... and perhaps because he had killed a son of Gen. Edward Burleson in 1848, two of Gen. Burleson's sons went after and killed him.. after numerous rounds were exchanged, despite the fact that Wayne Barton was the husband of their sister, Mary.)

NORTHERN STANDARD, of Clarksville, February 3rd, 1849, p.2, col.5: "Wayne Barton was killed in Washington County by two sons of General Burleson. Several shots were fired on both sides. Mr. Barton was a son-in-law of General Burleson, the former Vice-President of Texas. The quarrel originated from an old grudge - Barton having killed a brother of the Burlesons last year, and this was the first opportunity they had of taking revenge."

Damn.  FAFO indeed.

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On 11/30/2023 at 8:40 AM, PvilleStang said:

Forcing AirBNB out of town isn't the answer here.  I would bet you a bulk of the AirBnB listings are owner occupied units that are rented out during major events like F1, SXSW, ACL, etc.  We have a neighbor that puts his house on AirBnB for 5K / night, and I can't tell you if it's EVER been rented, but it's one of those, if they want to pay it, why not?

 

I think the more irritating thing is seeing Chito and Vanessa tweet about how they're modeling HOME or the rail system after Portland or some other random city they've visited recently.  The QUICKEST way to piss most people off is trying to shoe-horn some bullshit from a city that's in disrepair into the City of Austin.  The longer I watch, the more I turn into Armybrat, watching all the transplants move here and try to turn Austin into the shithole they fled.

You could address the issue with occupancy requirements for home owners (200 days etc)

Just catching a 1/4 of the STR market would more than double the existing homes for sale on the market. 

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11 minutes ago, South Austin said:

How fast did you get that horse and buggy up to?

Dad’s 1961 Chevy Impala sedan, straight 6 with three on the tree. 
Hit 55 in 2nd  by the time the cop bagged me.

Prior to that I had been cruising the Pig Stand at Live Oak & S. Congress.

Edited by Armybrat
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3 hours ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

I still accidentally call it 19th sometimes. Not because I'm THAT old, but because my dad and other older relatives always called it that.

 

26th will always be 26th, however.

As will Town Lake.

 

Why would Town Lake be 26th?

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A few years ago y'all approved a $250 million bond for affordable housting.  As part of that bond, Austin is partnering with the Austin Housing Conservancy to buy old apartments.  The two paid $35 million for 200 apartments, of which $15 million came from you the taxpayer.  That's $175,000 per apartment ... the city part is $75k per apartment.  These are old but cheap run down places.

According to this article, the current owners raised rents up to 25% on existing residents prior to closing on the deal, as a condition of the sale.  From the article:

“The city was wanting us to raise the rents and to start charging for utilities and trash pick-up and pet fees,” said Reese, who left Central Properties a couple of months before the sale was finalized. “Which didn’t make any sense to me because they said they were (creating) affordable housing.”

One of the buildings was renamed "The Adler" in honor of our former mayor:

https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2023/12/austin-helped-buy-cheap-apartments-with-the-intent-of-keeping-prices-low-instead-rents-went-up/

 

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13 hours ago, Texas Jeff said:

A few years ago y'all approved a $250 million bond for affordable housting.  As part of that bond, Austin is partnering with the Austin Housing Conservancy to buy old apartments.  The two paid $35 million for 200 apartments, of which $15 million came from you the taxpayer.  That's $175,000 per apartment ... the city part is $75k per apartment.  These are old but cheap run down places.According to this article, the current owners raised rents up to 25% on existing residents prior to closing on the deal, as a condition of the sale.  From the article:


“The city was wanting us to raise the rents and to start charging for utilities and trash pick-up and pet fees,” said Reese, who left Central Properties a couple of months before the sale was finalized. “Which didn’t make any sense to me because they said they were (creating) affordable housing.”

One of the buildings was renamed "The Adler" in honor of our former mayor:

https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2023/12/austin-helped-buy-cheap-apartments-with-the-intent-of-keeping-prices-low-instead-rents-went-up/

 

I thought "The Adler" was when you pay a homeless person to shit in your mouth?

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On 12/1/2023 at 3:45 PM, Armybrat said:

Dad’s 1961 Chevy Impala sedan, straight 6 with three on the tree. 
Hit 55 in 2nd  by the time the cop bagged me.

Prior to that I had been cruising the Pig Stand at Live Oak & S. Congress.

We’re still talking about chasing tail, right?

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4 minutes ago, swraith said:

Fingers crossed but I am assuming by statements put out earlier this week that the Council will still pass this phase 1.

Oh, I have no doubt it will pass.

I watched about an hour of phone calls, and it was all against HOME. I then watched about 30 minutes later and they were to the in-person testimony, which was much more in favor of HOME. That includes one ass who said "When I see the people against HOME, I don't see the people that are the future of Austin." That got the crowd howling at him.

Edited by FirstTimeCaller
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6 minutes ago, We’reTexas said:

To be fair, old people are technically not the future of anything. 

Neither was this guy. Had all the signs of a 20-something that moved here in 2019 and calls it SoCo.

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Oh, I have no doubt it will pass.
I watched about an hour of phone calls, and it was all against HOME. I then watched about 30 minutes later and they were to the in-person testimony, which was much more in favor of HOME. That includes one ass who said "When I see the people against HOME, I don't see the people that are the future of Austin." That got the crowd howling at him.

You will not replace us.
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26 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Phase 1 passed, does that mean investors are now able to approach Leslie Pool’s neighbors with offers of rental home construction for their back yards?

Leslie pre-purchased a second home in Mueller, where these rules do not apply.  She's good.  When her term ends she can sell her current home for top dollar and move to the protected house, which is not subject to the new rules.

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2 minutes ago, Texas Jeff said:

Leslie pre-purchased a second home in Mueller, where these rules do not apply.  She's good.  When her term ends she can sell her current home for top dollar and move to the protected house, which is not subject to the new rules.

Ummm. You do realize Mueller already has duplexes and quadplexes, right? I'm assuming triplexes too but not certain. The HOME initiative is trying to replicate what's been legal in Mueller since its inception.

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7 minutes ago, UrbanAchiever said:

Ummm. You do realize Mueller already has duplexes and quadplexes, right? I'm assuming triplexes too but not certain. The HOME initiative is trying to replicate what's been legal in Mueller since its inception.

Yep.  But her house is a single family dwelling on 6100 sq ft of land, at a corner lot, with no neighbors across the street.  It's not even legal to park in front of her house.

In other parts of Austin, it will soon be legal to divide that parcel into two (with HOME phase 2) and put three homes on each of those smaller lots.

Leslie will never have to worry about someone buying the property next to her and redeveloping it, because the HOME rules do not apply to Mueller.

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Ah yes, Mueller, where density has led to affordable middle-class homes.

I actually love making it easier (faster permitting and being less crazy about the rules) to build an ADU in the backyard. It allows another person or two to live in a space. I abhor the idea of redeveloping a SFH into three houses on one lot.

If you want to do that with a new development, that's great -- everyone knows the game going in. I think Mueller seems like a great spot and it is possible because that's what was planned from the start. To change the rules after a neighborhood is established is trash.

And the "middle income" and idea this will reduce housing prices is ridiculous. 

Edited by FirstTimeCaller
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4 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Ah yes, Mueller, where density has led to affordable middle-class homes.

25% of the Mueller housing stock is for low to middle-income households. There are at least three low-income communities (Wildflower, Aldrich 51, the Jordan) and a couple more in the works for households up to 60% median family income, and 10% of the for sale stock is set aside for households earning up to 80% median family income.  

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45 minutes ago, UrbanAchiever said:

25% of the Mueller housing stock is for low to middle-income households. There are at least three low-income communities (Wildflower, Aldrich 51, the Jordan) and a couple more in the works for households up to 60% median family income, and 10% of the for sale stock is set aside for households earning up to 80% median family income.  

Great, that's not in HOME at all. Yet it wants to argue that HOME is going to lead to affordability. Without the income caps, it's insanely cheaper to buy a home outside of Mueller.

image.png.52465bc4186cbb6cfc785eb853fb0b2b.png

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41 minutes ago, UrbanAchiever said:

Now look at central city neighborhoods without PUDs like Mueller, and see which homes are most affordable. What you'll see is that the housing inventory on shared lots is the cheapest in the neighborhood, housing that was largely illegal to build until now. 

It looks the same to me:

image.png.0936e1f99109715a22c7adba54db6ab2.png

image.png.52465bc4186cbb6cfc785eb853fb0b2b.png

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I will say that housing prices have dropped like a stone. With interest rates affordability is still a major issue, but the value of my massive McMansion '80s build 3/2 on less than a fifth acre has gone from about $680K at the peak of the Covid bubble to about $515K -- 25% drop.

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These young transplants and true believers will be sorely disappointed when this does nothing to improve housing affordability in Austin for any of them.  I don't think that's really the goal for even the pie-eyed, however.  It's more of an us vs. them jerkoff session. 

Those who stand to make money off this are laughing their asses off at how stupid we all are.  Now, I'm off to purchase a home in central San Francisco, Portland, Chicago, New York, Boston ,Toronto, or somewhere similar. You know, the cities where multiunit development in historic single-family neighborhoods has been in place for decades, and therefore they have no issues with housing affordability.

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7 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

These young transplants and true believers will be sorely disappointed when this does nothing to improve housing affordability in Austin for any of them.  I don't think that's really the goal for even the pie-eyed, however.  It's more of an us vs. them jerkoff session. 

Those who stand to make money off this are laughing their asses off at how stupid we all are.  Now, I'm off to purchase a home in central San Francisco, Portland, Chicago, New York, Boston ,Toronto, or somewhere similar. You know, the cities where multiunit development in historic single-family neighborhoods has been in place for decades, and therefore they have no issues with housing affordability.

You realize most of those places are bastions of NIMBYism that have had very little development for decades and the motivating force for initiatives like HOME, right?

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2 minutes ago, We’reTexas said:

You realize most of those places are bastions of NIMBYism that have had very little development for decades and the motivating force for initiatives like HOME, right?


Those places are stacked to the gills with multi-unit per-lot developments.   I'm not talking about the suburbs.

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