Dan Keshet
Recent Posts
Nine Barriers to Building Housing in Austin’s Central City
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The Austin area has, for the 5th year running, been in the top two major cities in population growth. Yet, even though everybody knows about the new apartments sprouting up on transportation corridors like South Lamar and Burnet, much of the population growth has been in our suburbs and the more suburban areas of the city. Our […]
Fed Up With National Politics? 5 Reasons to Move Your Energy Local!
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Are you fed up with national politics? Sad your candidate lost? Just sick of the whole thing? Here’s 5 reasons to turn your eyes local. 1. You can become an expert Issues in national politics can be extremely complicated. Wonks and academics spend lifetimes studying things like healthcare or foreign policy, while partisans spend lifetimes reframing them. There is a learning […]
Developers Are Required to Make Car-Friendly Houses. Read One Coop’s Reply!
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Anybody building housing outside downtown is required to make it car-friendly by building or buying parking spaces. ICC Coops is a non-profit with a social mission for providing affordable, democratically-run housing. They ran into these requirements as they’re building out their new affordable student housing in West Campus. Unlike most developers, they decided to fight the […]
9 Things People Always Say at Zoning Hearings, Illustrated by Cats
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If you watch enough zoning hearings, the testimony begins to sound pretty repetitive. That novel argument you’re making? The Council members have heard it a million times before. Here are 9 of the things we hear most often at zoning hearings, illustrated by cats. 1. I’m not opposed to all development. Just this development. Those […]
5 Things We Learned From City Council’s Vote on Granny Flats
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Yesterday, City Council voted to make it easier to build a backyard cottage (aka ADU, granny flat, garage apt, etc). Read the details at the Monitor. Here’s the lessons I took from the debate: 1. Party Labels Don’t help Understanding Land Use Politics The granny flat resolution was introduced by Greg Casar, whose main claim to fame before City Council was […]
6 Reasons to Be Skeptical of Pouring More Money Into the Austin Convention Center
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The Austin Convention Center is considering expanding to another 3 blocks downtown. Here’s 6 reasons to be skeptical: 1. The Convention Center Loses An amazing Amount of Money Even though the convention center doesn’t pay rent like a normal business, it loses stacks and stacks of money: $15.3m in 2013. It takes skills to run a business well […]
Affordability for the Long Run
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The major theme of the 2014 Austin elections was affordability and a major theme of City Council since then has been defining the word. Long-time readers of this blog are no stranger to tussles over the definition. Michael King took on the subject in the Austin Chronicle, taking aim at the Statesman’s editorial board and their false equation of affordability with “low property taxes”. […]
UberAccess Expands Mobility
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I’m honored to have today’s guest post from friend-of-the-blog Boone Blocker. Boone is an active citizen in the transportation field, having served on the city’s Urban Transportation Commission and CapMetro’s Access Advisory Committee. Boone was Rider Zero for UberACCESS; he brings his user’s perspective on the new service that provides mobility for people with mobility challenges: Around the world […]
Homelessness, the Problem That Affects All of Us
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A very small percentage of Austinites are homeless. During the January 2015 count of homeless individuals in Austin, a total of 1,877 homeless residents of Austin were found, or roughly 0.2% — 1 in every 450 Austinites. Yet, homelessness is a problem with an extremely wide reach. The knock-on problems that come from our inability to end homelessness […]
Council Member Greg Casar on Springdale Farms and Larger Issues of Gentrification
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I like to pick out videos from city proceedings which people explain the philosophies behind their actions. District 4 Council Member Greg Casar took the occasion of an appeal of a Conditional Use Permit denial for the use of Springdale Farms as an event space to discuss what he sees as the broader causes and cures for […]
Don Zimmerman vs. Reality on Whether Sprawl Is Fiscally Effective
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Earlier this week, I brought to you a debate between Council Member Don Zimmerman and Council Member Delia Garza on whether downtown density or suburban sprawl causes more congestion. At the same meeting, CM Zimmerman also found himself in a debate between two sides of himself: his belief in limiting government spending and his belief in subsidizing suburban sprawl. To set this clip up, […]
Delia Garza and Don Zimmerman Debate Density vs. Sprawl
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In this video, Council Member Delia Garza argues that downtown density is better for congestion than suburban sprawl, and Council Member Don Zimmerman argues the opposite. I call the argument for Council Member Garza. Here’s why: Downtown, destinations are closer, reducing travel distance CM Zimmerman is right that one reason suburban development causes more congestion than downtown development is that suburban […]