Austin Police Officers will have to abide by the “Texting While Driving” ban but not really. Police officers will be allowed to email (notice they use email not text) using semantics to avoid a law everyone else will be ticketed for come Friday.
KLBJ radio Austin reported yesterday that in 2009, there were 129 serious crashes in Austin that had cell phone usage as a factor. Interestingly some of the collisions involved Austin police officers.
The City of Austin is ending a rebate program subsidizing the installation of water efficient toilets in apartments and businesses. Similar to the city’s push for solar panel installation, this potty initiative has overflowed the budget.
Houston haircare billionaire Farouk Shami is focusing on one issue at this early point in his Democrat gubernatorial bid; jobs. This focus is fine, Texas does need more jobs, but the path Shami wants to take will not lead to job creation but job destruction.
With an abundance of transportation contractors and the poor overall health of the global economy, Texas is in a good position to pick up some needed infrastructure on the cheap.
After failing to push a gas tax and fee increase through last legislative session Tarrant County officials are foolishly pushing for an even larger tax and fee package.
The results of Texas’ constitutional election yesterday indicate Texans are tired of business as usual when it comes to our property tax system.
Potter County officials may have spent too much time researching the object of their latest desire. Exposure to heavy fumes is the only way one can reasonably explain the purchase of $450 per gallon paint.
Not surprisingly, the Fort Worth Star Telegram editorial board is offering poor advice to taxpayers.
We at Texans for Fiscal Responsibility are going to be recommending that voters support propositions 2, 3 and 5 while keeping in mind they are temporary and incomplete solutions to the ultimate problem, our property tax system. Texas’ property tax system is a complex and costly taxing mechanism and we would all be well served to move away from it as a source of funding.
Texting while driving is an issue that has been in the spotlight over the last half-year and increasingly state legislatures, including Texas’, are planing on doing what they do best: try and legislate the problem away. In this case that may not be necessary and in fact detrimental.
In an effort to keep up with city improvements without growing Austin’s budget city manager Marc Ott is employing a new cost sharing technique. Ott is hoping to match willing residents, non-profit groups and businesses with the city to fund tasks like putting in speed humps and repainting bike lane stripes.