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Texas Has Always Been a Great Setting for the Apocalypse

texasmonthly.com

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Re: Texas Has Always Been a Great Setting for the Apocalypse

#91

Post by sangnoir »

MS90 wrote: post #45
achenatx wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there is no one reason why we dont have basements, but it is more likely to do with the fact that up north they have to dig deep (3-4 ft) for the frost line. If you are digging that deep anyway, you might as well go an additional 4-5 ft and build a basement. Excavating limestone isnt that hard. Instead of one day to dig a basement in soil, it would take about 14 days to dig a typical basement in limestone (based on d…

It might not be 'that hard' to excavate limestone, but an additional 21,000 dollars added to the cost along with 14x longer work time is not an insignificant difference. East Austin doesn't have them because of the unstable clay that expands and contracts with rains, same reason the track surface at COTA has had so many issues. The ground doesn't stay put. Couple those things with the frost line issue you mentioned,…

> East Austin doesn't have them because of the unstable clay that expands and contracts with rains

Which is why most people water their foundations to ensure the soild maintains steady state of dampness- rain or shine.

Re: Texas Has Always Been a Great Setting for the Apocalypse

#92

Post by thebradbain »

dkarl wrote: post #14

> But there was only one moment that really ruptured my suspension of disbelief while reading this whole gonzo book: a scene in which a character from “the autonomous city of Austin” remembers pushing his way onto that city’s subway. Obviously, one can accept that Austin would become a separatist people’s republic within a fractured Texas. But the idea of the “Austin Metro” operating there, even fifty years from now?…

> But the idea of the “Austin Metro” operating there, even fifty years from now?

Might be worth sharing that in 2020 Austin voters approved via ballot referendum (58% to 42%) what's likely to be the largest expansion of public transit this decade. It authorized $7.1 billion in initial bond funds and established a dedicated sales tax to establish ongoing funding for 4 light rail lines, 1 subway, a dedicated BRT system, and a complete transformation of their public transit system.

https://projectconnect.com/

The initial phase itself is already deep into the design and bid stage, groundbreaking should happen in the next couple years.

https://projectconnect.com/docs/librariesprovider2/maps/pcon...

Even the state government of Texas gave its permission to tunnel under a portion of what is state-owned land for the subway for a 99-year annual lease of $1, which some Austin advocates originally feared would be leverage that the state legislature would try to use to hold up the project.

Re: Texas Has Always Been a Great Setting for the Apocalypse

#93

Post by mmmpop »

slfnflctd wrote: post #48
mmmpop wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm I'm bothered by people hauling trailers to horde toilet paper, sure. But I'd absolutely fight you for the last roll on the shelf.

I would wipe my ass with my own hand before I'd engage in any kind of violence over fucking toilet paper. It's absurdly stupid and ethically bankrupt. Violence against another human being should be a last resort for self defense only.

> Violence against another human being should be a last resort for self defense only.

Idk, or boredom. I hope you don't assume the average fuck on the street has 1/100th the sense of honor you do.

Re: Texas Has Always Been a Great Setting for the Apocalypse

#94

Post by dkarl »

thebradbain wrote: post #92
dkarl wrote: post #14

> But there was only one moment that really ruptured my suspension of disbelief while reading this whole gonzo book: a scene in which a character from “the autonomous city of Austin” remembers pushing his way onto that city’s subway. Obviously, one can accept that Austin would become a separatist people’s republic within a fractured Texas. But the idea of the “Austin Metro” operating there, even fifty years from now?…

> But the idea of the “Austin Metro” operating there, even fifty years from now? Might be worth sharing that in 2020 Austin voters approved via ballot referendum (58% to 42%) what's likely to be the largest expansion of public transit this decade. It authorized $7.1 billion in initial bond funds and established a dedicated sales tax to establish ongoing funding for 4 light rail lines, 1 subway, a dedicated BRT system…

My theory about what turned the tide in favor of local support for transit is that business organizations were loud and clear about broadcasting the message, "We need this for Austin to be competitive." More than 42% of voters here have a distaste for density, public transit, and urban living in general, but a significant number of them were swayed to vote for the plan, and I think it was because of this pro-business message. These are folks who dislike cities but live in the suburbs and make their living from the urban economy, and they were willing to set aside their distaste and vote for transit. Like I said, it's just my personal theory, but I was impressed with how vocal the business community was before the vote.

Re: Texas Has Always Been a Great Setting for the Apocalypse

#95

Post by thebradbain »

dkarl wrote: post #94
thebradbain wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But the idea of the “Austin Metro” operating there, even fifty years from now? Might be worth sharing that in 2020 Austin voters approved via ballot referendum (58% to 42%) what's likely to be the largest expansion of public transit this decade. It authorized $7.1 billion in initial bond funds and established a dedicated sales tax to establish ongoing funding for 4 light rail lines, 1 subway, a dedicated BRT system…

My theory about what turned the tide in favor of local support for transit is that business organizations were loud and clear about broadcasting the message, "We need this for Austin to be competitive." More than 42% of voters here have a distaste for density, public transit, and urban living in general, but a significant number of them were swayed to vote for the plan, and I think it was because of this pro-business…

> These are folks who dislike cities but live in the suburbs and make their living from the urban economy, and they were willing to set aside their distaste and vote for transit

The vote for the plan was purely within Austin city limits. The plan was not at all voted for by suburbanites, nor are they paid for by the suburbs (except for purchases those suburbanites make in Austin proper, generating sales tax revenue).

> More than 42% of voters here have a distaste for density, public transit, and urban living in general

Source, please? Because I doubt it. Austin has one of the most pro-urbanist city councils in Texas, and has densified at a rate most other cities have not over the past 20 years (and second only to Dallas and Houston in terms of nationwide growth). I'm a Texan myself, born and raised, and it's a completely different built environment than what it was even 10 years ago, and that's not by accident, but actual policy supported by voters. Skyscrapers, density, apartments, townhomes, rezonings in previous single-family-only enclaves – things California talks about in studies and papers and committees, Texas is actually doing (I've lived in Los Angeles for over 5 years now, and the sentiment here is much more anti-development than I see in Austin and Dallas, which is generally pro-build-it-and-they-will-come).

Re: Texas Has Always Been a Great Setting for the Apocalypse

#96

Post by dkarl »

thebradbain wrote: post #95
dkarl wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My theory about what turned the tide in favor of local support for transit is that business organizations were loud and clear about broadcasting the message, "We need this for Austin to be competitive." More than 42% of voters here have a distaste for density, public transit, and urban living in general, but a significant number of them were swayed to vote for the plan, and I think it was because of this pro-business…

> These are folks who dislike cities but live in the suburbs and make their living from the urban economy, and they were willing to set aside their distaste and vote for transit The vote for the plan was purely within Austin city limits. The plan was not at all voted for by suburbanites, nor are they paid for by the suburbs (except for purchases those suburbanites make in Austin proper, generating sales tax revenue).…

The city limits include a lot of area that I consider suburbs, such as the area around Circle C in the southwest, the areas close to Cedar Park in the northwest, anything west of 360, etc.

> Austin has one of the most pro-urbanist city councils in Texas

Setting aside the fact that "in Texas" is one hell of a qualification to that statement, the voters haven't been helpful in allowing growth to happen. They just haven't been given the opportunity to stop it. CodeNEXT got a majority in the council, but it would have been crushed if it had been put in front of voters.

I think the influx of pro-density residents into central Austin is changing things really fast, though.

Re: Texas Has Always Been a Great Setting for the Apocalypse

#97

Post by taneq »

sremani wrote: post #38
taneq wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first time people got into literal fist fights in supermarkets over toilet paper, my faith in the rational ability of most humans was shaken. The third time around, it was gone. By now my expectations of humans are, sadly, extremely limited.

All the while the grocery store essential items are being procured, packed and supplied to your town in the middle of a global pandemic. Getting freshly grown produce, dairy and meat in the middle of apocalypse level panic? I envy world view of people like yours. I wish I had that level of self-entitlement. I truly do!

Do you really think that the “most humans” I’m referring to are the same ones responsible for that still-functional-despite-The-Circumstances supply chain? Those humans are too busy to fight over toilet paper in the aisles, and too competent to run completely out of it in the first place.

Re: Texas Has Always Been a Great Setting for the Apocalypse

#98

Post by thebradbain »

dkarl wrote: post #96
thebradbain wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These are folks who dislike cities but live in the suburbs and make their living from the urban economy, and they were willing to set aside their distaste and vote for transit The vote for the plan was purely within Austin city limits. The plan was not at all voted for by suburbanites, nor are they paid for by the suburbs (except for purchases those suburbanites make in Austin proper, generating sales tax revenue).…

The city limits include a lot of area that I consider suburbs, such as the area around Circle C in the southwest, the areas close to Cedar Park in the northwest, anything west of 360, etc. > Austin has one of the most pro-urbanist city councils in Texas Setting aside the fact that "in Texas" is one hell of a qualification to that statement, the voters haven't been helpful in allowing growth to happen. They just haven…

> "in Texas" is one hell of a qualification to that statement

I think you're mistaken, or (very understandbly!) applying Texas's social conservatism to their land policies, which are likely some of the most liberal in the nation.

As someone who grew up in a real estate family "in Texas" – it's probably one of the most "pro-development" states in the country. Sure, historically that development hasn't been "urban", but as the market heads that direction the development has adapted.

Texas cities have been very amenable to building density (Houston doesn't even have any zoning or density/height limits whatsoever!), it's just that in the past there wasn't the population density to justify it when you could spread ever outward. What we've seen in the past decade is a shift to the cities, and cities like Dallas/Houston/Austin have drastically increased density (I've seen entire single family blocks turned into mid-rise apartments in my neighborhood alone), no rezonings necessary.

Dallas and Houston _each_ built more homes last year than the _entirety of the state of California_, and routinely have been doing so since 2010. Here's one from 2014, but you can find articles from 2021 and 2020 with a cursory google search, too.

https://houston.culturemap.com/news/real-estate/04-02-14-boo...

In 2017, Austin/Dallas/Houston issued about 10% of nationwide housing construction permits that year. That's crazy!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-16/texas-lea...

For better or worse, Texas also has an aversion to process and paperwork that seems to plague other cities' planning departments – getting a by-right ADU permitted in California, which is the law of the land, took me over a year in Los Angeles. In Dallas, it required council approval for a zoning exemption, but the process took 2 weeks total.

I frankly do not really understand where this idea that Texas is against development is coming from -- the sentiment for "more more more" has existed since the oil boom in the 80s. Houston and Dallas both have grand ambitions of being the Manhattan of the South. Maybe it's the coastal people from much more NIMBY cities moving in?

Re: Texas Has Always Been a Great Setting for the Apocalypse

#99

Post by dragonwriter »

thebradbain wrote: post #98
dkarl wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The city limits include a lot of area that I consider suburbs, such as the area around Circle C in the southwest, the areas close to Cedar Park in the northwest, anything west of 360, etc. > Austin has one of the most pro-urbanist city councils in Texas Setting aside the fact that "in Texas" is one hell of a qualification to that statement, the voters haven't been helpful in allowing growth to happen. They just haven…

> "in Texas" is one hell of a qualification to that statement I think you're mistaken, or (very understandbly!) applying Texas's social conservatism to their land policies, which are likely some of the most liberal in the nation. As someone who grew up in a real estate family "in Texas" – it's probably one of the most "pro-development" states in the country. Sure, historically that development hasn't been "urban", bu…

> Dallas and Houston _each_ built more homes last year than the _entirety of the state of California_, and routinely have been doing so since 2010. Here's one from 2014, but you can find articles from 2021 and 2020 with a cursory google search, too.

Are the ones from 2020 and 2021 also just straight-out lying? The 2014 one you link both claims Houston to be higher than CA as a whole (without providing numbers for current Houston starts or CA starts) and claims that the rate in Houston is expected to peak at around 50k starts/year a couple years later in 2016.

But, in 2014, single and multifamily starts in California were each already around 50k, and growing.

https://journal.firsttuesday.us/the-rising-trend-in-californ...

Re: Texas Has Always Been a Great Setting for the Apocalypse

#100

Post by nunez »

wardedVibe wrote: post #90
mmmpop wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm I'm bothered by people hauling trailers to horde toilet paper, sure. But I'd absolutely fight you for the last roll on the shelf.

Y'all need some bidets...

Finally someone lays down the facts.
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