As Austin City Hall continues exacerbating a homeless disaster in the city, one of their proposed $6.5 million homeless shelters is receiving last-minute pushback from local Williamson County: The Commissioners Court unanimously voted to authorize Judge Gravell to...
If you’re an Austinite making minimum wage, a new study shows you may want to vote different city officials into power very soon, for your own sake. According to a recent study by Magnify Money, Austin is the most costly major city in the nation for those making...
According to one homeless Austinite, “it’s a blast” to be without a home in Texas’ capital city. “This is a famous place to live on the streets. Everybody knows that,” the man said amid the noisy whoosh of cars overhead on the highway. “If you want to live on...
AUSTIN — After five months of raging public controversy, high safety risk, and local government neglect, the state has now taken action in Texas’ capital city to begin restoring security for the entire community. On Monday, the Texas Department of Transportation began...
What is really causing Austin’s homeless crisis? If you read the first part of this story, you know Austin is currently experiencing a homeless crisis, and the city council is about to spend $28,000 per homeless person over the next year to try and solve the growing...
You already read the headline, but that’s not even the worst part. Yes, Austin City Council is spending a record-high $62.7 million this year to try and solve homelessness, equivalent to giving roughly $28,000 to each homeless person in the city. But the more...
An abridged version of this essay appeared in City Journal on May 15, 2019. Big cities across the U.S. increasingly sacrifice public safety for political correctness, catering to left-leaning critics by hamstringing law enforcement. In Los Angeles, San Francisco, and...
Would you ever set your couch on fire to warm your house? Probably not. There are usually better ways—like simply using the heater—that are a little less destructive. However, “burning the couch” is exactly how Austin’s socialist City Councilman Greg Casar...
Austin has a rising homeless problem — and the city council is actually helping it grow. Currently, many Austinites are experiencing a harsh reality: the number of homeless residents jumped 5 percent between January 2017 and 2018, and the number of people sleeping...
Working Austinites are in a crisis — but city officials are leading them to a catastrophe. It doesn’t take long to see the predicament currently unfolding in the city: suffocating property taxes are forcing many out of their homes; overbearing taxes on businesses are...
“It’s not just homeless encampments … but also the emergence of a kind of citywide caste system: the wealthy, the service class, and the destitute.” John Daniel Davidson, a senior correspondent for The Federalist, wrote of the harsh reality now being lived out in San...
Whether they realize it or not, working Austinites gained a victory Friday when a court order protected them from a harmful new city law. On Friday morning, Texas’ 3rd Court of Appeals ordered a temporary injunction on Austin City Council’s mandatory paid sick leave...
San Francisco, square in the middle of a housing crisis and with a pervasive homeless population that warrants such extreme measures as a public excrement map, is close to blindly throwing more taxpayer money at its homeless problem. On Election Day, San Francisco...
In June, voters in Washington, D.C. approved a measure to increase the minimum wage to $15 for servers and other employees relying largely on tips to make a living. Known as Initiative 77, and approved by a margin of 55 to 44 percent, the increase is part of a broader...
Mandatory sick leave laws are trying to gain a foothold in Texas. Here’s why all Texans should oppose them. In February, the City of Austin passed an ordinance requiring all businesses to provide paid sick leave for their employees. Since then, other cities across...
One of Texas’ largest business associations is claiming that sanctuary cities are somehow “pro-business.” Sanctuaries cities are municipalities that undermine or refuse to comply with federal immigration laws. It’s an issue that was thrust into the national...
A year and a half into Sylvester Turner’s tenure as mayor, he ranks near the top of the list for mayoral salaries across the country. Houston’s mayor comes in third, making slightly less than the mayors of San Francisco and Los Angeles. According to a study by...
Unsurprisingly, government regularly interjects itself into the free market, often relying on the absurd notion that bureaucratic policy will enhance the lives of those it affects. One area where regulation is significantly limiting business growth is parking...
Criticism of municipal regulations in Texas usually centers around Austin and San Antonio, while Houston is often praised for its zone-free model and relaxed land use regulations. Houstonians appreciate the absence of zoning restrictions that allow developers to...
It was evident from the mass transit projects and plastic bag ban that the Austin City Council wants to make Austin look (and spend) like a West Coast utopia. Now they want to go one step further, imitating the City of Portland by paying city employees to take...
