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Council Reaches Decision on Acacia Cliffs, As Residents Make Last Stand
The Austin City Council had another crowded zoning agenda on June 5. Numerous residents of East Austin turned out to express reservations about proposed DB90s (Density Bonus, 90 feet in height) at the northeast corner of Oak Springs and Airport and another at 2967...
Watson’s Quiet Cajoling
To begin let’s return briefly to the City Council meeting on May 22 of this year. The Acacia Cliffs item is about to be heard. That’s the case in which the owner of a naturally occurring affordable apartment complex in northwest Austin is proposing to tear down the...
Attention Democrats: MAGA Did Not Make This Up
Let’s begin by following up on our last story about the Acacia Cliffs apartment complex. That’s where a new City Council-devised development incentive called DB90, supposedly designed to create new affordable housing, instead turned into an incentive for the owner of...
Neighbors Seek to Avoid Destruction of NW Austin Apartment Complex – After Council Removes a Key Tenant Protection
The Acacia Cliffs apartment complex on Hart Lane in Northwest Austin defies several Austin political/governance precepts that get repeated often by members of the “progressive” cohort. First of all Acacia Cliffs is a high density affordable housing development in NW...
Other Cities to Austin: ‘”How the hell are you doing this?’”
“I can tell you for certain that Austin, Texas is in the vanguard of the national housing discussion and cities all over this country right now have been looking to us for ideas about how they address their own affordability challenges. Boston, Philadelphia, Dallas,...
Local Boy Wreaks Havoc – On Nation and His Own Company – Plus J.D. Vance Echoes Chito Vela
It’s really difficult right now, and maybe not wise, to stay focused exclusively on local issues, even for a locally focused publication like this one. So let’s look in again on our semi-local guy who’s making it big in the second Donald Trump administration. I’m of...
True Stories
Task Force Recommends No Cadet Class and No Guns for Police – Plus A Short Check In on Greg Abbott
Let’s start by checking in on Governor Greg Abbott, who we haven’t discussed in a while. Abbott is actually an Austin voter and he took time after voting early on Tuesday April 20 to tell waiting media that he voted for Proposition B. That is the proposed reversal of...
Will Others in Texas Follow Austin’s Lead on COVID? Just Kidding
Travis County’s COVID-19 fatality rate is less than half that of Texas. Commissioner Shea wonders if others in Texas will try to learn from Austin
Explanations from ERCOT and Austin Energy Plus a Possible New Approach for Ted Cruz
Let’s hit a few points not covered in the accompanying article. First, a lot of questions were raised yesterday about why downtown Austin was still lit up while adjacent East Austin was almost totally dark — as were many other parts of town. Austin Energy responded...
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