New city proposal (Austin, Cedar Park, Kerrville: home builders, taxes, restaurant)

[sheaday]

Originally Posted by TheCardinal

Well, I've only lived here for 22 years so maybe that's not enough. But I've worked in and around city politics for some time so I feel like I have a little sense of what's what.

Look, I hear what you're saying. The council does a lot of things that seem outrageous to COA observers, including you it seems. The examples you cite are certainly open to vigorous debate and AAS will write editorials and so forth. But few of those policies - however misguided they seem to the people paying attention - have the potential to incite outrage like this ADA-accessibility-in-private-homes issue. Your average Joe Blow Voter in Circle C or Steiner or NW Hills won't be picketing City Hall over the affordable housing switcheroo, but they will damn sure get their pitchforks out if we start telling them to outfit their private homes for the ADA. When you start hitting people in the face with do-gooder policies they tend to notice the "hitting in the face" part and forget about the "do-gooder" part. The plastic bag ban was bad enough.

The above posters have it right anyway - this idea is dead once 10-1 gets implemented anyway, so I'm not going to spend a bunch of time worrying about it.

Voting under 10-1 doesn't go into effect until the November 2014 election. That's plenty of time for the current council to attempt to push these crazy ideas through.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

Where does Austin find these lunatics?


I own a wheelchair that has been used extensively by immediate family members in recent years, but come on people!

And one of my grandsons who has cerebral palsy spent about a year in a wheelchair when he was a toddler recovering from corrective surgeries, so it's not like I'm hostile to the idea of making houses ADA friendly.

Choice....how does it work?

I'm not hostile to ADA for public places.

But I'm fairly certain that since we don't know each other your grandson is not likely to visit me. So you wouldn't require me to make accommodations for him. I'm also confident you would CHOOSE to do just about anything to make your home visit-able for your friends and family.

[gpurcell]

I wonder if they'll also require the $10K ADA mechanisms to lower people into pools. Just saw a couple of these for the first time down in Rockport.

[je4xff]

Originally Posted by Komeht

So first: 20% margins are quite typical for production builders. No idea where you are getti g your information.

Second. I said "if the costs are 2000..." As in IF the cost to the builder is 2000 THEN the cost to buyer would be about 2400 based on 20% gross margins. IF the cost to the builder is 10K THEN the cost to buyer would be about 12k.

So down people. Read.

Well we're not in disagreement, but quite frankly, WHO CARES how much it would cost? This is a private property issue - and something that shouldn't even be on the table for discussion, regardless of whether it costs a penny or a million dollars. It says something about the mindset of someone who believes it is even within the context of their authority to enact and enforce such measures on a private residence.

Is it just me, or do people seem to be developing an increasing dis-regard for the sanctity of private property? We wonder why the state bureaucrats keep meddling in Austin's local scene, but with stuff like this, what do you expect?

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by gpurcell

I wonder if they'll also require the $10K ADA mechanisms to lower people into pools. Just saw a couple of these for the first time down in Rockport.

Those are already required at all public pools, that was a recently implemented requirement of ADA but it applies to existing pools as well as new pools. That requirement also applies to HOA pools if they allow anyone from outside of the HOA to buy memberships to use the pool.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

I'm not hostile to ADA for public places.

But I'm fairly certain that since we don't know each other your grandson is not likely to visit me. So you wouldn't require me to make accommodations for him. I'm also confident you would CHOOSE to do just about anything to make your home visit-able for your friends and family.

That is correct.

[capcat]

Originally Posted by mesmer

Lever handles are actually much more difficult to baby proof than normal doorknobs, and much easier for small children to figure out. It's a safety risk for families with young children to have lever handles on a bathroom door.

My thoughts, exactly.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by sheaday

Voting under 10-1 doesn't go into effect until the November 2014 election. That's plenty of time for the current council to attempt to push these crazy ideas through.

That's exactly what I was going to say. I think they are going to try to push as much of this through as they can before then.

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Perhaps if everyone could round up a few more people and take them to vote it might help.
Pertaining to the issue...it's difficult to understand how they are going to do this with private property. I smell a lawsuit brewing if they really push it.

It's already an option the article states. Why make it mandatory?

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

Pertaining to the issue...it's difficult to understand how they are going to do this with private property.

The same way they are able to limit the size of houses built on private property or prevent people from cutting trees down on their private property.