Public Notice: Bashing Austin Policy

The South Central Waterfront District ... maybe. (Courtesy of City of Austin)

There was a lot of news on the development front this week: As per usual, there should be something in here to piss off everyone in town, but at the same time, none of it is likely to have any actual positive effects. So, thanks everyone. You're all doing a great job.

For starters, there's the Legislature, where our normally dependable state senator voted Thursday with developers and conservative Republicans to pass one of the worst of the Austin-bashing bills out of committee (and that's not the only Austin-bashing news). Then there's the South Central Waterfront district, the 118-acre tract centered around the old Statesman property. You knew you hadn't heard the last of that, right? And indeed, on Monday came the lawsuit many had expected: Save Our Springs Alliance and others making the same claim that they had made throughout the deliberations at Planning Commission and City Council – primarily that the property tax benefits being granted inside the district are illegal, under the definition of a tax incre­ment reinvestment zone. Will that argument do better in court than it did at the Council dais? I'm no lawyer, but I will say, it wouldn't be the first time. And then we start the negotiations all over again. Remember CodeNext.

Then there's the article in Bloomberg last Friday, centered on housing development in Austin, that's been getting a lot of reads locally. The headline voiced what's been obvious to local observers for some time: "Cities Keep Building Luxury Apart­ments Almost No One Can Afford." The article, by Prashant Gopal and Patrick Clark, details the ways in which the urbanist push to "build, build, build" has not succeeded in reducing housing costs. Austin has been building apartments at a record pace for the last decade – we lead the nation in per capita apartment construction by a huge margin, and have "topped the 50 largest US metropolitan areas in 9 of the last 10 years" – yet: "Inconveniently for the Yimbys, Austin, like other cities, is still way more expensive than it was years ago, even though it's built so many apartments." That's because "the market leads developers to build luxury housing on scarce and ­sought-after property to maximize the return on their investment." Or as Founda­tion Communities' Walter Moreau puts it: "The market left to its own devices will never build enough for folks at the lowest income level. Those folks are just priced out of town."

Yet despite the mounting evidence, the dominant political focus in Austin and in large cities in general remains on maximizing the total number of units in housing projects, as opposed to maximizing affordable components and other public benefits. "Academics, developers and people in their 20s and 30s – particularly those most active on social media – have reached an unusual level of consensus" as to the solution: "Loosen regulations, such as zoning, and build more homes of any kind."

Or as UT architecture prof Rich Heyman puts it: "Somehow, the real estate industry has gotten a lot of self-styled progressives to buy into the idea that deregulating land use is the one key to unlocking affordability in housing."

Which brings us back to Austin Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, who joined six conservative Republicans to vote Senate Bill 491 out of the Local Government Committee. That's a bill I wrote about a couple of months ago ("Public Notice: What's Wrong With Mineola?" Feb. 10) that would gut compatibility rules in Texas' five largest cities, including Austin. Specif­ic­ally, it forbids those cities from enforcing any limits on a building's maximum height "based on the lot's proximity to another lot that is located more than 50 feet from the original lot." Eckhardt was the only Demo­crat in favor; Dallas' Royce West voted no, and San Antonio's Roland Gutier­rez was absent. I assume good motives, because Eckhardt always votes with her hardt, but this is bad process – not the kind of thing the state should be meddling in – and bad policy to boot. SB 491 has just been passed by the full Senate as we go to press on Wednesday; it'll head to the House next.

Barks for Beers is back, offering 30 beers for $30, at 30 different local craft breweries. Buy a pint glass and Pawsport for $30 at any participating brewery and get a free beer at each of them April 28-May 31. And it's a fundraiser for Divine Canines, a great organization that recruits and trains dogs and their owners, and schedules regular therapy visits to people in need. See all about it at divinecanines.org/barksforbeers.

An I-35 town hall, hosted by Rethink35 and Bertha Delgado, head of the East Town Lake Citizens Neighborhood Association, will address TxDOT's proposed expansion – its "problems, specific East Austin impacts, and how to get involved" – this Saturday, April 29, noon-2pm at Pan Am Rec Center, 2100 E. Third.

Austin Justice Coalition and the UT Initiative for Law, Societies & Justice present a Community Listening Session for people "impacted by policing, DPS, CPS, incarceration or other parts of the criminal legal system to come have their voice heard about what they've faced, what they need and how things need to change" Fri., April 28, 4:30-6pm at Cherrywood Community Center, 1605 E. 38½.

Austin Small Business Week is this coming Mon.-Fri., May 1-5, offering 15 free training sessions presented by the City's Small Business Program. See the full schedule and register at SmallBizAustin.org.