Certain organizations are in the business of outrage. They take issues like HOME ( tech billionaires! ) or the Zilker Vision plan ( Amusement park! ) or light rail ( costs too much, does too little! ) and they twist and lie and make you outraged. They pretend that it is to save our springs or to support our community. In reality it is not. It is to get you so outraged that you donate to their cause. It is to get you to parrot their words on platforms like this. You are the product. You are buying into cult mentality.
Use critical thinking and don’t just believe what you are told. Not by me. Not by them. Look at the issue rationally and critically that is before you. Make your own decision. Do your own research.
jeez. i know lots of people who work for environmental groups and causes and few, if any, are rich b/c of it. most people know that going into the job versus a corporate job or for investors and developers where the money seems to be endless.
but sure… it’s a money grab by the treehuggers and has nothing to do with reality. a bunch of liars, idiots and hucksters living all around you.
excellent community building forum you’ve got here!
On a positive note of convenient truth i think, The pilot dog park in little Zilker seems to be working well. Needs to be bigger IMO. Encompassing the entire area next to the tennis courts. So dogs have a long area to run and fetch.
@ggggarret all I’m saying is would community not commodity exist without outrage. Even save our springs was created by legitimate outrage. So sometimes it is warranted. But mostly it is generated because it is the oxygen for these organizations and even when something flies in the face of their mission - like density is actually good for the environment - they will create divisive propaganda so their organization can thrive.
Also…
Not true. Best comparison I can make is when I talk to my republican friends who don’t know each other and they say the exact same thing verbatim I wonder what talk radio or podcast they are all listening to. In this case I get the same emails and communications from various NIMBY focused organizations and most of your posts are just repeating them verbatim.
It would be great if we could get a concerted effort going being that we have been trying to do the school at same time. Some of the issue is irrigation but the pressure (according to FD #11) is better on that side… there are actually grants we can apply for as well…to none other than C3 and their side kicks!
On that side-purely sod and making sure enough top soil… probably close to $75K all in if you want to do it right… could also find some neighborhood folks that could save us mark up and maybe get it down to 50K but id plan on 75-100K
Interesting, It’s a form of subsidy. Will it have to be paid back? Will the city streamline the development process? ie, engineering on things that don’t need to be engineered, paying to check fire hydrants that have been around for decades, paying 4 times what a sidewalk should cost not to put one in because underground utilities won’t allow a sidewalk to be put in. etc. etc. These are the things that add huge costs and barriers to build. Will the people who get the assistance have to retain the property for a set number of years or can they sell and start their own developer/builder careers. I don’t think this will help with affordability, those who go through the pain of building will want the full value of their efforts. It’s human nature and basic economics.
I’m not sure. Like the initial HOME ordinance it is just an instruction to investigate options. Very low interest loans could be appealing.
@brentcooke you have a lot of good points that make the process over burdensome. You should go talk to the planning commission as they dive into this and Phase II of HOME.
i’m still not clear on what your interpretation is of “affordable” housing for middle income earners. if you’re talking about teachers and EMS then do the math on what they typically earn and share with us what the price of a unit will need to be for any of them to afford to live in zilker. then we can all debate actual numbers instead of “affordable” and “inclusive” buzzwords that are thrown around but never pinned down.
You are right. Phase I won’t move the needle enough to accommodate those professions. It will move the needle though, and it is a start. Hopefully additional work will move it even further. As a speaker said, don’t let perfect get in the way of good.
I do truly value community. And honest not parroting input. I appreciate yours.