Folks hit by national recession continue to overwhelm Austin and Central Texas (Houston: real estate)

[inthecut]

Per Austin Business Journal, Central Texas needs to address the rapid growth issues per the burden on infrastructure immediately....managed growth being the key to the same.....

To Paraphrase a bit of the article:

“These latest figures from the Census Bureau underscore the fact that we can’t stop talking about how to manage growth effectively, even during a recession,” said Brian Kelsey, director of community and economic development for CAPCOG. “The number of people relocating to the Austin-Round Rock region has likely slowed as a result of the recession, but we need to appreciate that Hays, Travis, and Williamson alone added nearly 60,000 people between July 2007 and July 2008, according to these latest figures. For some perspective, that’s more people than the entire city of Cedar Park.”

The key is to maintain and build infrastructure without overwhelming the same, or the tax base...

http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin...3/daily61.html

How do you folks think the Austin metro is doing providing the basic infrastructure for growth, per roads, schools, services, and such?

[centralaustinite]

Well, I live very central, so I do not think that it affects me as much as people in the rapidly growing outer areas. Plus you have the problem of over-lapping or conflicting political and taxing units (TxDot, CAMPO, the various ISDs, plus City of Austin, City of Round Rock, Travis County, Williamson County, Hays county, etc). It gets complicated quickly!

I am very satisfied with police and fire service in CoA, I wish that there was more money for park maintenance, I love Austin Energy, I am glad that the sewer upgrades are almost done.

I recognize that there is a potential problem here but I do not think that it is unsolvable or impossible to navigate because more people also means more resources, more tax base, etc. It is a tricky dance to balance the various competing interests and build infrastructure but it not rocket science. It can be done.

[kittymama]

Yeah, I think living in a place where people WANT to move would be a huge advantage. One thing that surprised me when I moved to Fairbanks is that it hasn't really grown much. I never realized that I lived somewhere where people move to and areas grow practically all my life before living in Fairbanks. Fort Worth, Austin, Boston. Heck, even when I lived in Oklahoma there was more growth than Fairbanks. So I bought a house downtown Fairbanks and after a couple of years, was thinking, where's my growth? From a business perspective, having new people move in all the time presents all kinds of opportunities and diversity. But yeah, I always took growth as a cultural assumption until I came here. If people aren't willing to move to a place, I want to know the reason WHY. In Fairbanks, it's pretty obvious - not many are willing to put up with the awful winters, including me. Big companies tend to locate in a place where they can find a pool of workers, which of course attracts more workers to move there.

But as a side note I've seen many businesses fail in this town that succeeded other places because there's often not enough of a population base to support a whole business. That being said, if my family lived in California and I could afford to move there, I probably would because now would be a great time to pick up a piece of real estate at the lowest price in a decade. I think long term that most places that have enough people to support an economy will come back from this recession.

[HappyTexan]

Well from what I see outside of Austin, it's all sprawl as far as the eye can see.

[centralaustinite]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

Well from what I see outside of Austin, it's all sprawl as far as the eye can see.

That's why I stay in my central austin bubble! North of William Cannon, south of 183, east of MoPac, and west of 183 on the east side!!

Sprawl, I don't see no stinkin' sprawl!

[love roses]

It's more convenient for us to live where we are right now, because neither of us work downtown. I work in Hutto at a PDO and my husband commutes to Temple. Plus, I have family out here and in Houston and it's easy to get there taking back roads to 290 out of Elgin. If we moved closer in we'd be spending way more money in gas going the other way.

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

Well from what I see outside of Austin, it's all sprawl as far as the eye can see.

Oh, yes, I agree with that. Sprawl just seems to create Anytown, USA.

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

Well, I live very central, so I do not think that it affects me as much as people in the rapidly growing outer areas. Plus you have the problem of over-lapping or conflicting political and taxing units (TxDot, CAMPO, the various ISDs, plus City of Austin, City of Round Rock, Travis County, Williamson County, Hays county, etc). It gets complicated quickly!

I am very satisfied with police and fire service in CoA, I wish that there was more money for park maintenance, I love Austin Energy, I am glad that the sewer upgrades are almost done.

I recognize that there is a potential problem here but I do not think that it is unsolvable or impossible to navigate because more people also means more resources, more tax base, etc. It is a tricky dance to balance the various competing interests and build infrastructure but it not rocket science. It can be done.

True..actually, HAS to be done.....property and retail taxes bear the brunt, but special levies may be needed if growth exacerbates.....the infrastructure will always trail the growth to one extent or another, but the till must be flush for even that to happen......still an open question whether Central Texas is able and willing to bankroll efficiently the huge growth vectors in the next year or two......traffic is just a part.......schools and other vitals very much as well.....all we can do is wait and see if the area lags markedly per infrastructure if cofffers slow a bit...