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  #1461  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2019, 6:26 PM
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I was out walking around in the Rainey Street area Sunday night with two other forumers, and a scooter came flying by weaving between groups of people. They're actually banned from that area during SXSW.

It's not hard to imagine people getting annoyed by them who then decide to let their creative evil genius come out.



https://www.statesman.com/news/20190...-scooter-users
Quote:
A picture shared to Twitter shows a sticker that reads "clap activated" placed on a Bird scooter. Electric stand-up scooters were notably banned from pedestrian zones along Sixth Street, Red River Street and Rainey Street during Austin's South by Southwest festival.

https://twitter.com/wednesday181/sta...595776/photo/1
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  #1462  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2019, 7:52 PM
smith_atx smith_atx is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas View Post
I was out walking around in the Rainey Street area Sunday night with two other forumers, and a scooter came flying by weaving between groups of people. They're actually banned from that area during SXSW.

It's not hard to imagine people getting annoyed by them who then decide to let their creative evil genius come out.



https://www.statesman.com/news/20190...-scooter-users

https://twitter.com/wednesday181/sta...595776/photo/1
That's hilarious!

On my walk on Butler trail this morning I came across three different abandoned ones and this wasn't even that close to downtown. I need some "Not allowed on trail" stickers.
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  #1463  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2019, 8:42 PM
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Then there was that guy in a video on the news a couple nights ago using a scooter on Mopac during rush hour.
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  #1464  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2019, 3:03 AM
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Originally Posted by The ATX View Post
Then there was that guy in a video on the news a couple nights ago using a scooter on Mopac during rush hour.
I saw that on Facebook - someone posted a link. That's hilarious and also slightly stupid and dangerous. But only slightly.
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  #1465  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2019, 6:28 PM
wwmiv wwmiv is online now
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Here's an interesting idea for affordable housing:

https://vancouver.ca/home-property-d...homes-tax.aspx

Quote:
Each year, one owner of residential property in Vancouver is required to submit a property status declaration to determine if their property is subject to the tax.

Properties deemed empty will be subject to a tax of 1% of the property’s 2018 assessed taxable value.

Most homes will not be subject to the tax, as it does not apply to principal residences or homes rented for at least six months of the year; however, all homeowners are required to submit a declaration.

Net revenues from the Empty Homes Tax will be reinvested into affordable housing initiatives.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...7&postcount=16

Quote:
Originally Posted by SpongeG View Post
Vancouver right now has over 800 mansions listed for rent, its a way for the owners to get around the empty house tax.

Why are hundreds of luxury Vancouver mansions being rented for cheap?

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/why-ar...heap-1.4329800
Another relevant quote from the link in the above post:

Quote:
Last year, B.C. introduced new taxes targeting real estate speculators who purchased property, only to leave it sitting empty.

Under the new rules, if a property has a foreign owner and is left vacant, Vancouver can tax the owner for 1 per cent of the property’s assessed value, while B.C. can claim another 2 per cent.

That means on a multi-million-dollar property, the taxes can easily surpass $100,000. But if an owner opts to rent -- even for a pittance – they’ll save money.

While many owners seem to be asking a monthly rent almost exactly the monthly tax cost, some seem to be open to taking much less.
A link to the webpage British Columbia has devoted to explaining the tax:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/t...nd-vacancy-tax
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HTOWN: 2305k (+10%) + MSA suburbs: 4818k (+26%) + CSA exurbs: 190k (+6%)
BIGD: 1304k (+9%) + MSA div. suburbs: 3826k (+26%) + adj. CSA exurbs: 394k (+8%)
FTW: 919k (+24%) + MSA div. suburbs: 1589k (+14%) + adj. CSA exurbs: 90k (+12%)
SATX: 1435k (+8%) + MSA suburbs: 1124k (+38%) + CSA exurbs: 18k (+11%)
ATX: 962k (+22%) + MSA suburbs: 1322k (+43%)
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  #1466  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2019, 7:13 PM
urbancore urbancore is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wwmiv View Post
Here's an interesting idea for affordable housing:

https://vancouver.ca/home-property-d...homes-tax.aspx



http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...7&postcount=16



Another relevant quote from the link in the above post:



A link to the webpage British Columbia has devoted to explaining the tax:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/t...nd-vacancy-tax

Hilarious. Too bad it won’t work in ATX.
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  #1467  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2019, 7:21 PM
wwmiv wwmiv is online now
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Originally Posted by urbancore View Post
Hilarious. Too bad it won’t work in ATX.
Care to explain why rather than just shutting the idea down out of hand?
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HTOWN: 2305k (+10%) + MSA suburbs: 4818k (+26%) + CSA exurbs: 190k (+6%)
BIGD: 1304k (+9%) + MSA div. suburbs: 3826k (+26%) + adj. CSA exurbs: 394k (+8%)
FTW: 919k (+24%) + MSA div. suburbs: 1589k (+14%) + adj. CSA exurbs: 90k (+12%)
SATX: 1435k (+8%) + MSA suburbs: 1124k (+38%) + CSA exurbs: 18k (+11%)
ATX: 962k (+22%) + MSA suburbs: 1322k (+43%)
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  #1468  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2019, 1:14 AM
Riverranchdrone Riverranchdrone is offline
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I guess we just have here to communicate now. Most of the internet's biggest sites are all down. Facebook, instagram, whats app, yahoo mail. and a few others. I guess its better that they are down. I thought I got banned from facebook again.
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  #1469  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2019, 7:59 PM
WesternSon WesternSon is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wwmiv View Post
Care to explain why rather than just shutting the idea down out of hand?
The ATX real estate market isnt being driven by foreign speculators that don't live here. Have you seen the traffic- people are living in the homes here. I am sure there is some speculation and some second homes that sit empty a lot, but the towers aren't empty.

I would also guess that the radically anti-tax State Legislature would shut this down so quickly if the City went after it.
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  #1470  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2019, 9:38 PM
wwmiv wwmiv is online now
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WesternSon View Post
The ATX real estate market isnt being driven by foreign speculators that don't live here. Have you seen the traffic- people are living in the homes here. I am sure there is some speculation and some second homes that sit empty a lot, but the towers aren't empty.

I would also guess that the radically anti-tax State Legislature would shut this down so quickly if the City went after it.
Thank you! What you’re saying definitely makes sense.
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HTOWN: 2305k (+10%) + MSA suburbs: 4818k (+26%) + CSA exurbs: 190k (+6%)
BIGD: 1304k (+9%) + MSA div. suburbs: 3826k (+26%) + adj. CSA exurbs: 394k (+8%)
FTW: 919k (+24%) + MSA div. suburbs: 1589k (+14%) + adj. CSA exurbs: 90k (+12%)
SATX: 1435k (+8%) + MSA suburbs: 1124k (+38%) + CSA exurbs: 18k (+11%)
ATX: 962k (+22%) + MSA suburbs: 1322k (+43%)
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  #1471  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2019, 10:33 PM
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A guy on surlyhorns mentioned a friend owning 2 condos downtown in different towers. He was told they're pretty empty, and the rooms are rented out via Airbnb. He said his 2 had about an 80% occupancy rate.
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  #1472  
Old Posted Mar 16, 2019, 8:33 PM
claustrum claustrum is offline
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Originally Posted by lzppjb View Post
A guy on surlyhorns mentioned a friend owning 2 condos downtown in different towers. He was told they're pretty empty, and the rooms are rented out via Airbnb. He said his 2 had about an 80% occupancy rate.
Nearly all of the condo buildings downtown (and I believe all of the larger ones) ban short-term rentals entirely and severely limit the number of units occupied by long-term tenants (typically to around 25% of all units). This is driven by insurance premiums—it's much cheaper to insure a building when most of the owners are residents. Obviously, some people still rent out their condos despite these restrictions, but in absolute terms the numbers are pretty small. If you check airbnb, you'll find that there are very few high-rise rentals available downtown compared to other large cities that have much older/smaller housing stock, and their locations are generally described in vague terms to avoid HOA detection and fines. I don't doubt that a non-zero fraction of downtown housing stock consists of rich people's second or third homes, and sits vacant much of the year, but I don't think downtown Austin has a meaningful investment property/short-term rental problem compared to most other large cities. Probably the opposite, actually, given the high property tax (i.e., it's proportionately much more expensive to maintain an empty home in Texas than in most other states).
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  #1473  
Old Posted Mar 25, 2019, 7:27 AM
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I lived in one of those giant apartment towers in China when I lived on the east coast. Ugly as they are, the community that organically developed with pop-up markets, kids playing, etc., was pretty fun. People had such a strong desire to get outside (and the culture has a lot to do with it) that you actually got to know your neighbors.

That said, they are ugly. No denying that. And the lower floors get *no* sun.
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  #1474  
Old Posted Mar 27, 2019, 4:39 AM
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Man, I wish Google Earth would update their images of Austin. I can only see imagery from 1/14/2018. Stuff has happened since then, Google! Drop everything else and get something going for Austin, please.
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  #1475  
Old Posted Mar 27, 2019, 7:00 AM
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Originally Posted by drummer View Post
Man, I wish Google Earth would update their images of Austin. I can only see imagery from 1/14/2018. Stuff has happened since then, Google! Drop everything else and get something going for Austin, please.
HA! It's funny you mention that, it's been bothering me for some time as well, especially since San Antonio and Dallas were both updated with imagery from this past November. I think it'll be coming soon, all of the hill country west of San Antonio and Austin is currently being blanket updated it appears.
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  #1476  
Old Posted Mar 27, 2019, 7:22 AM
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While it's true Google updated the photographic imagery for San Antonio last November, they haven't updated the 3D building imagery in several years for San Antonio.

For Austin, they updated the 3D imagery last year, and the photographic imagery appears to be from the same time period.

San Antonio will likely get a 3D image update before Austin does again.
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  #1477  
Old Posted Mar 29, 2019, 7:25 PM
austlar1 austlar1 is offline
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Watched this depressing video about Seattle on YouTube last night. In some ways this is starting to happen around Austin. We must not let it take over. The real culprit here is rampant drug addiction rather than homelessness or affordable housing. Let's keep it real.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpAi70WWBlw

Last edited by austlar1; Mar 29, 2019 at 8:08 PM.
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  #1478  
Old Posted Apr 4, 2019, 7:53 PM
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For all the ugly buildings I've never loved before. I heard this on KLBJ the other day and just had to share how awesome this is.

Video Link
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  #1479  
Old Posted Apr 7, 2019, 5:52 PM
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Huts Hamburgers is turning 80 years old this year.

https://communityimpact.com/austin/d...ates-80-years/
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  #1480  
Old Posted Apr 7, 2019, 7:13 PM
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Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas View Post
Huts Hamburgers is turning 80 years old this year.

https://communityimpact.com/austin/d...ates-80-years/
Been ordering the Tuby’s Tickler since ‘83. Never strayed once. Had one last week. Damn, it good!
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