Austin Politics

Capital Metro's commuter rail line, set to begin operation in a few months, still doesn't have approval from the Federal Railroad Administration.

Wear: What's in rail name? Tougher rules

Looks like former rail director, Rich Krisak bailed for Atlanta just in time.

A pedestrian was struck by a Houston Metro Rail train earlier this week. One of nearly 40 rail accidents that go unreported or underreported. Another glimpse of things to come for Austin.

Capital Metro's commuter rail line is (not surprisingly) running behind schedule. The rail line running from Leander to downtown Austin is now not expected to open until March.

One more broken promise from CapMetro. First, Austin taxpayers get soaked with annual operating costs that are double what they voted for, now the project is months late.

Austin's Health and Human Services and Police departments paid UT $48,000 to survey Austin's omnipresent panhandlers. I'm sure they were shocked to learn that these people have problems:

Panhandlers in Austin want regular jobs but confront multiple barriers, including mental health problems and lack of identification materials, that make it hard for them to secure them, according to a study conducted by University of Texas researchers for the City of Austin.

I'm more than a little skeptical of the "want regular jobs" part.

This comes after caving to homeless advocates on stricter panhandling. If you haven't been to Austin lately, imagine a busy intersection - just about any intersection in any part of town - and then imagine at least two panhandlers, sometimes three. There are multiple well-established homeless camps under several bridges just in Northwest Austin alone. Even more downtown. Apparently, the police can't do anything to remove them.

Welcome to the hobo capital of the southwest.

Update: much more on this at Quid Nimis

Two stories today on illegal immigration. First, the Statesman has a report about state Sen. Dan Patrick and Rep. Frank Corte, Jr.'s request to the Attorney General to issue an opinion on the policies of "sanctuary cities" (like Austin) that restrict the ability of local police to enforce immigration laws. Cities like Austin argue that police should be focused on crime, not immigration. Entering the country illegally is a crime.

Also, the Travis Monitor reports on the upcoming state house district 50 race between Democrat incumbent Mark Strama and Republican challenger Jerry Mikus. North Austin conservatives will be interested to know that their representative voted in favor of giving illegal immigrants welfare.

I blogged about this a couple of weeks ago. AISD met last night to take public input on a proposed property tax increase to pay for teacher raises and benefits. No one opposed to the increase showed up for the meeting. The board will vote next Monday to put the proposal on the November ballot.

I'm not vehemently opposed to giving teachers a raise personally. I just wish any tax increases would be matched with a complimenting increase in accountability.

Our mayor and city council... the bigger the price tag, the more they seem to like any proposal that comes to the chamber.

The Travis Monitor: Up in Smoke - Austin's BioFuel Boondoggle

District 50 state rep. and uber-liberal Mark Strama extolled the virtues of the Democrats' "Drill nowhere. Drill never. Pay more" energy plan last at the Travis County Democratic Issues Policy Forum.

Sticking to the party talking points, Strama repeated the asinine "we can't drill our way out" meme (maybe not, but more drilling would certainly move us further toward energy independence than sitting on our hands) and claimed that even Republican T. Boone Pickens agrees. Blue Dot Blues has the real story on T. Boone's plan and it ain't altruism.

Predictably, Strama blamed Republicans for "making families suffer" because of their energy policy, but neglected to point out the fact that gas prices have risen 74% since the Democrats took control of congress.

Texas Libertarian Party Executive Director Wes Benedict wants Republicans to hand over participant list for the 2008 precinct conventions, but it seems nobody's home at the Travis County Republican Party headquarters.

Libertarians' emails and phone calls requesting the lists have gone unanswered since April. Benedict plans to visit the TCRP office again on Monday to repeat the request in person.

Benedict says the precinct documents are public record, "The Texas Election Code specifies that all documents filed with and retained by political parties are public information, with several exceptions. An attorney with the Texas Secretary of State's office has told us that the copies of the precinct convention lists are public information, and that members of the public are entitled to make copies of that information."

Why do the Libertarians want the Republican's precinct lists?

"We know that many of the people who attended the Travis County Republican precinct conventions are Ron Paul supporters. We would like to contact them and invite them to join and support the Libertarian Party. The Republican Party has repeatedly shown them nothing but disrespect and hostility," Benedict said.

My advice? Give them the lists and pronto.

Getting a chance to hear Texas Public Policy Foundation education policy analyst Brooke Dollens Terry speak at last night's Austin Townhall Conservatives Meetup was fortuitous because I learn this morning that AISD bureaucrats are looking to raise property taxes this year in a referendum that may go to voters in November:

The Austin school district is proposing a $862.5 million 2008-09 budget, 8.8 percent larger than the current budget. The plan calls for an operations tax rate of $1.0765 per $100 of assessed property value. Including the portion of the rate used to pay off debt, the overall rate would be $1.1995.

The district is already at the highest operations tax rate, $1.04, that can be set without going to the voters for approval in a rollback election. Because property values on average went up this year, staying at that rate would mean more revenue as tax bills increase. However, new school finance laws require that Austin send more of that revenue to the state to give to property-poor districts, $61 million this year. So to raise additional money that the district can keep, administrators are seeking the tax rate increase.

AISD's proposal, which includes a 3% pay raise for teacher salaries, would raise property taxes on an average-priced home ($233,324) in Austin by about $340 per year, but the union wants more:

Teacher groups and a school board subcommittee met Tuesday to discuss the teacher salaries and benefits after reaching an impasse in negotiations.

Education Austin President Louis Malfaro said the Fort Worth, San Antonio, Dallas and Houston districts pay their teachers $5,000 to $6,000 more than Austin on average. He said teacher pay in Austin lags behind that of other Central Texas districts by up to $2,500. His organization, which represents more than 4,000 local teachers and staff members, wants a 5 percent salary increase, family health coverage and a $10 minimum wage for hourly employees.

The union's proposal would raise property taxes on an average-priced home by more than $430 per year.

Here's an idea: we'll give you the money, but reduce the across-the-board rate of increase and use the rest to reward teachers who perform.

Update: somewhat surprisingly, the Austin American-Statesman has come out against the tax increase:

Both proposals are too high. The union's plan to squeeze 8 more cents from taxpayers is particularly egregious, given the economic slump in which many people are struggling to pay for basics — gasoline, housing, utilities and food.

Give them — and the rest of us — a break.

h/t: Texans for Fiscal Responsibility