Austin Texas Community

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Travis County republicans are asking for hand counted primary ballots which take forever and cost a small fortune in headcount. The current voting machines print a ballot and electronically count it as well, so I guess they could do this if they want to pay for it. They should make them compare the electronic and hand count results to see how closely they match.

This is one of the more misdirected things the city has done. There are literally rows of empty houses and empty apartments near me that stay permanently empty except some weekends when they are filled with bachekorettes going WOOO at 1 AM.

You can walk down Haskell and see such a row of small apartments, all empty and used strictly for STRs.

And the removal of occupation limits hamstrings one of the only tools holding the AirBNB owners accountable, not that they care much about fines anyway.

The STR issue is rapidly killing our neighborhoods, and now there will just be more.

Here is data if you don't believe me.

http://insideairbnb.com/austin/

Also people are doing this anyway, just building sheds from scrap lumber and running an extension cord to them and renting them out. Code doesn't seem to care, so how could this ever go wrong?

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Austin Energy customers should expect to see another increase to their utility bills starting Friday. The city’s energy company said customers will see a 5%, or about $2 per month, bump. Matt Mitchell, a spokesperson for Austin Energy, said the increase is for what is called a pass-through charge that the utility company pays to the state’s power grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT. “This is purely for cost recovery,” Mitchell said. “It only goes to pay the utility back for money that the utility already spent on behalf of our customers for power during this extremely hot summer and during the cold winter months as well.” The change comes after customers saw an increase this month of slightly more than $2 in their monthly energy bills. Residents also saw increases in water bills and other city fees, including trash, this year. Previously, residents were told to expect an increase of about $14 per month or $172 per year in combined utilities, according to the city's tax impact statement. The new increase means residents should expect to pay about $24 more on top of that. Austin has worked to expand its customer assistance program that gives discounts to low-income residents and others in need. Utility bill discounts can help reduce bills by an average of $560 a year, according to the city. “That program is there and we want people to use it,” Mitchell said. “Certainly around the holidays, we know things can get tight. If for some reason you are falling into financial distress please call us. Do not wait.”

“It keeps the character of the town, what it was originally built for, and it allows the people who are coming to visit to see the city as it was,” said Reid. At Thursday’s public hearing, two environmental groups also defended saving the bridge and making needed repairs. “This is a historic bridge, a designated contributing feature to the Zilker Park National Register Historic District, and staff is asking you to vote to destroy it and replace it with a big ugly new highway bridge,” said Bill Bunch, Executive Director of Save Our Springs Alliance. “The disruption to traffic is going to be enormous. I am concerned about the disruption to the environment, also,” said Roy Waley with the Austin Sierra Club. Preliminary estimates show replacing the bridge will cost $36 million dollars. Backers of repairing the bridge want to know that price tag before any decision is made.

They talk about disruption to traffic but aren't they also talking about restricting traffic completely on that part of Barton Springs?

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What are some holiday lights and trails you like to do every year?

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The event features the latest technology from well-known companies, as well as new companies trying to make a name for themselves in the electric vehicle industry. Organizers said the exhibitor roster includes BMW, Ford, Giant Bicycles, Lexus, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo, NIU, Bosch E-bikes and many others. “Electrify Expo is the destination for car lovers who want to talk with EV experts,” organizers said. The Electrify Expo is running all weekend beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday

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Been cutting back on my water use, but it seems impossible to lower the bill when fees, street cleaning, wastewater, etc all add up to $100 a month. I don’t even know what “clean community service” is, considering all the trash and graffiti I see strewn everywhere in Austin. Is everyone in Austin paying $100 per month for these services?

It really looks like people just went through and hit Yes on everything.

Note the $44 to $48 million in yearly maintenance costs after the project is completed.