Random Thought of the Day

Quote: Evenbob

Texas, do people live there on purpose
or are they sentenced there, like punishment
for something. The two times I was there
it was like breathing thru a wet towel.

As for Austin specifically, it's hell. No one should move here. If you come for the F1 race or SXSW and think it would be a great place to live, think again. Enjoy the events, spend lots of money, go home and stay there.

Quote: JimRockford

As for Austin specifically, it's hell. No one should move here. If you come for the F1 race or SXSW and think it would be a great place to live, think again. Enjoy the events, spend lots of money, go home and stay there.

You tryin' to keep Austin City Limits, all those bars and all those broads for yourself? What about the real estate boom and craft beer boom there? Or was that original Slackers movie actually telling the truth?

You know the common complaint in Trek as to why the aliens all speak English? Why does everyone overlook the even more obvious: why do the humans speak contemporary English?

Seriously, look up writing from 500 years ago and see how much you can understand. Not to mention how people back then used to construct sentences.

Quote: JimRockford

As for Austin specifically, it's hell. No one should move here. If you come for the F1 race or SXSW and think it would be a great place to live, think again. Enjoy the events, spend lots of money, go home and stay there.

LOL Yes, Austin sucks. That is one of the places I am considering retiring,

Austin is growing so fast that urban sprawl and congested roads are threatening to turn it into another Houston. I moved here 25 years ago for a high tech job, so I guess I'm part of the group who started the demise.

Quote: JimRockford

Austin is growing so fast that urban sprawl and congested roads are threatening to turn it into another Houston. I moved here 25 years ago for a high tech job, so I guess I'm part of the group who started the demise.

I think it happens to a lot of communities where it was a nice place to live. Word gets around. Too much development.

"Freedom of business" lovers on this board are going to complain when I say local governments ought to interfere hard with attempts to let real estate developers crowd more housing into less space (more $$$). That's crap, for the most part.

The first two houses my parents owned were small and in an urban environment but they had more space allotted than many larger and nicer homes I see today.

Quote: rxwine

"Freedom of business" lovers on this board are going to complain when I say local governments ought to interfere hard with attempts to let real estate developers crowd more housing into less space (more $$$). That's crap, for the most part.

The first two houses my parents owned were small and in an urban environment but they had more space allotted than many larger and nicer homes I see today.

If there are willing buyers why would you want to limit it? Should apartment buildings and condos also be prevented?

Quote: rxwine

with attempts to let real estate developers crowd more housing into less space (more $$$). That's crap, for the most part.

Not sure what you mean by this.

Often builders are given permission to build at high density in a certain area in return for zero density in other areas of the property. This allows a high rise of apartments with some lower density commercial space nearby and the rest of the property dedicated to wetlands, scenery, recreation, etc.

Also many land owners bought long ago with the intention to 'sell off some land later' so if you impair building rights with infrastructure easements you are actually impairing the existing property owner's rights to enjoy his long term investment.

Tiny houses may be adventuresome and satisfactory in many respects but it does bring down a neighborhood if everything else is a SFH on ten acres.

On Kodiak, it was the Borough and the P&Z commission that determined building permits. The city had paid for the extension of sewer and water onto a part of the island and they demanded either commercial building or multi-family dwelling, and would not allow single family housing although many were willing to pay the price for the stellar sea frontage location. The city wanted the "tax density" that is charged on those types of building.

Also any future land that can be built on is let out in small parcels by the Borough and bid on by anyone who wants to bid. Usually it is the builders who are willing to pay that much for lot sized property. The Borough doles out little parcels for the income, and doesn't let small acreages go, so they control all the building that way as well. Further in state the college has huge land trusts, that they sell to finance college projects and moneys, as was allotted when Alaska became a state. And then there is the state that owns land and parcels it out occasionally. Sometimes there is still "homesteading" [although not the old 160 acre tracts] or "sea steading" [ocean front property's] where parcels are let go for free, for people to improve, and then the land becomes theirs essentially for the amount of taxes allotted to that property.