Judge Blocks Apartments Near Good Neighborhoods - A Thanksgiving Treat!

Happy Thanksgiving to us all! I'm thankful to be part of a group of people that will do anything to win and we're always winning! Bill Aleshire, bless his heart, sued the city to stop an already approved apartment complex near RM 2222 and Loop 360. We all know that west Austin is not the place where we want those types of people to live! Who cares if this was done on a technicality?! We won! We need to put up every road block we can to stop housing from being located near good neighborhoods. If they wanted to build these apartments in East Austin where those types of people want to live, then we wouldn't have needed to challenge this, but we can't have them in the neighborhoods where we live. Bless you Bill Aleshire and your handsome mustache!

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/local/breaking-judge-voids-austin-approval-controversial-development/LLhDfmINxUjuwFxttluexM/

Children Are Ruining Our Neighborhoods

Recently, a little house sat on the property line between 2 lots next to where I live and was sold to a developer (probably the cause of CodeNEXT somehow). We were horrified to see it go, but now hoping that building will start before CodeNEXT sets in. Under CodeNEXT, as many as 6 units could be build on these two lots and could become coops, senior living (that's what single family homes are for), or daycare facilities. Can you imagine the noise that children would bring at 3 pm in the afternoon at a daycare facility when people are trying to take their naps?! What if those smaller homes had children because the poor or people with kids could afford them because they aren't as expensive?! We've carefully crafted our current zoning rules to remove children from our neighborhoods by increasing the cost of housing to be out of reach of families. AISD enrollment has been going down for years, which has been a great success! CodeNEXT could change that and we need to stop the #CodeWreck!!!!

Supply and Demand Is A Myth

Finally the uppity elite are starting to understand that supply and demand it a myth and does NOT apply to housing! If you build a lot of housing and there's too much housing, prices will only go up! Neo Urbanists say that we can't solve traffic problems by building more roads, so why would they believe that we can build more housing and that'll help somehow? Doesn't seem to work other places.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/vancouver/academic-takes-on-vancouvers-housing-supply-myth/article37015584/

Important Event! Decoding CodeNEXT - 7 Experts Help Decode CodeNEXT Nov 12!

Join everyone for this important event on November 12! Learn how CodeNEXT will impact your neighborhood at this approved AustinNeighborhoodsCouncil.com event (TM)! These balanced speakers will teach you everything you need to be worried about!

Ana Aguirre
Carmen Llanes Pulido
Bobby Levinski
Robin Rather
Fred McGhee
Ed Wendler
Laura Morrison

Fred Lewis on protecting our neighborhoods from realtors and land developers!

Fred Lewis on protecting our neighborhoods from transients, drunken students, walkable businesses, and change!

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> Dear Neighbor,
> 
> Realtors and land developers are used to getting what they want in Austin.
> 
> Seven of the 13 individuals who sit on the City’s Planning Commission have professional ties to that industry, and their recommendations will weigh heavily when it comes to CodeNEXT, the controversial land-redevelopment plan that will make it easier to demolish single-family neighborhoods and replace them with luxury residences.
> 
> That’s not just unfair—it’s also a violation of our City’s charter <http://www.mystatesman.com/news/local/group-says-planning-commission-roster-violates-austin-city-charter/qldEx400KFTagKZFEItR7M/>, which limits the number of land-development professionals on the Planning Commission.
> 
> I am taking action. I have joined Nelson Linder of the Austin NAACP, Bill Bunch of Save Our Springs Alliance, and others in filing a complaint <http://www.statesman.com/news/local/group-asks-district-attorney-investigate-planning-commission/nFv3JZLE8ILJLIDpRfLgPO/> with our local district attorney. It asks her to remove any planning commissioners who are serving unlawfully.
> 
> A copy of that complaint is attached to this email. Please review it and feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions, or wish to offer your neighborhood association’s support. I lead Community Not Commodity <https://communitynotcommodity.com/>, and we are always in need of the following:
> 
> Signatures for this petition <https://communitynotcommodity.com/wp-content/uploads/Petition-for-an-Austin-Ordinance-Requiring-Waiting-Period-and-Voter-Approval-Before-CodeNEXT.pdf>, which demands that CodeNEXT be put to a public ballot
> Block-walkers and other neighborhood-based volunteers
> Financial donations <https://donateway.com/donate/jrK7BSBb/community-not-commodity/payment>
> 
> Thank you for your continued support!
> 
> Your friend and ally,
> 
> Fred Lewis
> 
> 
> About Community Not Commodity
> Community Not Commodity (CNC) provides Austinites with useful information about CodeNEXT, the sweeping new land development code being proposed by city leaders. We will fight for a code that protects our community, does not displace you or your neighbors, and maintains Austin’s livability. For more information, see communitynotcommodity.com <https://communitynotcommodity.com/>.

Austin Commission Wants to Encourage Backyard Trailers (ADUs) in CodeNEXT

Oh boy just what I've always dreamed of doing. Renting a tiny house in some one's back yard to raise my family in. Accumulating no equity. Accumulating no assets. Raising them in a large City festering and over ran with all the things we should have learned by now; always come with big city living. Such a bright future for our children and grandchildren .... not!

https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2017/11/commission-embraces-adus-codenext/

Austin Commission Goes Rogue With Irresponsible Obama Recommendations

The Planning Commission, which has been shown to be an illegal commission in a previous post, set out to cause more chaos at their November 2 meeting. There was an irresponsible resolution that passed 9-1-3 that told city staff to follow the Obama Housing Development Toolkit. Anyone that knows anything about Obama knows that he's in the pockets of big developers and wants to give our neighborhoods over to them! Obama says we should eliminate off-street parking, streamlining the permitting process, and establishing by-right development. It also puts a strong emphasis on high-density development. WRONG!

"Accumulated barriers to housing development can result in significant costs to households, local economies, and the environment" - NOT TRUE! Barriers to housing help keep our neighborhood character!

"Modernized housing regulation comes with significant benefits." - NOT TRUE! Modern regulations are bunk!

“when new housing development is limited region-wide, and particularly precluded in neighborhoods with political capital to implement even stricter local barriers, the new housing that does get built tends to be disproportionally concentrated in low-income communities of color, causing displacement and concerns of gentrification in those neighborhoods. Rising rents region-wide can exacerbate that displacement.” -NOT TRUE! Gentrification happens when you allow too much housing and people leave their neighborhoods so they don't have to live next to the types of transients that live in apartments!

The Planning Commission is not being honest with the public. If they TRULY had Austin's best interests in mind, they'd posture less at PC meetings and instead listen and learn about real land use planning. They wouldn't offer up the poorly thought-through resolutions they constantly offer up. They really don't know what they are doing. They crow loudly and dishonestly ats PC meeting for their own political gain. Their actions created way more chaos that night than it did solutions. They need to their crap together, lest they become an anchor that snags CodeNext on a reef.

https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2017/11/land-use-commissions-diverge-ahead-codenext-third-draft/