Austin is slowly dying from heart disease (Spring, Cesar Chavez: neighborhood, property taxes)

[atxcio]

Sorry to the OP, but the premise is completely false.

Choose any "vital sign", Austin is the quite possibly the healthiest in the country.

Except maybe congestion -- the doctor says it needs to walk or bike more. Typical

[scm53]

Originally Posted by wehotex

You can't have business without government agencies to regulate them. Otherwise, they would run roughshod all over the consumer. You can't have businesses exist and prosper without infrastructure to make them possible. Government makes all of that possible.

I will put you firmly in the "you didn't build that" camp. Probably best to keep that thought to yourself around most business owners. You are hopelessly delusional if you think that the only force that keeps a balance between a business and their customer is government. I am jealous that you can honestly have such a simplistic, and uninformed view.

Thanks for checking in from the state that fully embodies your view - and lost almost 1,000,000 private sector jobs since 2008, has five businesses a week leaving for other states, had 2,700 employers disappear between 2007 and 2011, has 12% of the population and 33% of the welfare recipients, and has the largest municipal debt in the nation - double that of the next closest state. Physician, heal thy self. Unless your drug is the cause ...

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by scm53

I will put you firmly in the "you didn't build that" camp. Probably best to keep that thought to yourself around most business owners. You are hopelessly delusional if you think that the only force that keeps a balance between a business and their customer is government. I am jealous that you can honestly have such a simplistic, and uninformed view.

Thanks for checking in from the state that fully embodies your view - and lost almost 1,000,000 private sector jobs since 2008, has five businesses a week leaving for other states, had 2,700 employers disappear between 2007 and 2011, has 12% of the population and 33% of the welfare recipients, and has the largest municipal debt in the nation - double that of the next closest state. Physician, heal thy self. Unless your drug is the cause ...

I never said anything about what is the ideal balance between government and industry. I just feel that government is REALLY needed. If you had bothered to listen to Pres Obamas entire "you didn't build that" speech, you most likely agree thst he was right. Whole parts of this country would not have flourished if not for the massive InterdtAte highway system. The George W Bush Texas Stadium in Arlington would not have happened without large government help. I worked for a Tx state agency back in the 80s that regulated HMOs which were fairly new to Texas back then. Our fearless Director (who could cuss with the best of them) made sure that there were adequate consumer protections in the documents submitted to the State by those insurance companies. Her toughness most likely made a difference in people's' lives. Back then, she and her husband (also a State employee) lived off Koenig Rd between Lamar and Burnet. I hate to see where they'd have to live now.

[ppp38]

Originally Posted by scm53

Like Round Rock? Leander? Georgetown? Explain to me how that would pay for the transportation infrastructure bill for Austin or Travis county?

And again, who ever said anything about moving a single state office?

Elsewhere in Austin, obviously.

[Uberguber]

Originally Posted by wehotex

The George W Bush Texas Stadium in Arlington

[Uberguber]

misnomers aside, Ameriquest Field (formerly called the Ballpark in Arlington) was a burden to the taxpayers of that city. The govt convinced the public sector to pay for a privately owned stadium. If the government hadn't put forth taxpayer bond money, well then the owners would have. Jerry Jones saw this, and realized he had a sucker, so he dipped into the Arlington cookie jar as well. BTW, have you ever been to Arlington? No public transportation, and the entire city is run down, outside the Sixflags/Stadium area.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by Uberguber

Forget it. He's rolling.

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by scm53

Forget it. He's rolling.

Lol. I know that it's not named that, but it probably will be someday. They already named a toll road for Daddy Bush over there in republican nutjobland, and Daddy's still alive. W was the most prominent investor in the Arlington swindle.

[sketteroo]

I can sum up a large part of urban Austin's traffic congestion problem in three little words:

Urban. Bike. Lanes.

When a city takes an already congested thoroughfare and inserts a bike lane, as they did on Spicewood Springs Rd; or when a formerly four lane road is reconfigured to a two lane plus bike lane road, the city is not concerned with automobile traffic facilitation.

183 was crowded as heck when we moved to Balcones CC in 1973. The city/county gov't had the mindset that "if we don't build it, they won't come". But they DID come, in droves. It took Austin 30 years to expand 183 to what it should have been 25 years ago. Now, open for only a few years, it's already far overcongested.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by sketteroo

I can sum up a large part of urban Austin's traffic congestion problem in three little words:

Urban. Bike. Lanes.

When a city takes an already congested thoroughfare and inserts a bike lane, as they did on Spicewood Springs Rd; or when a formerly four lane road is reconfigured to a two lane plus bike lane road, the city is not concerned with automobile traffic facilitation.

183 was crowded as heck when we moved to Balcones CC in 1973. The city/county gov't had the mindset that "if we don't build it, they won't come". But they DID come, in droves. It took Austin 30 years to expand 183 to what it should have been 25 years ago. Now, open for only a few years, it's already far overcongested.

Of course that does not explain congestion on main lanes of highways where bikes are not allowed, e.g. MoPac, IH-35, US 183, etc. Go troll on the Houston forum.