Austin
I moved to Austin for college and immediately fell in love with the city. I have lived here basically my entire adult life and am now raising my children here. However, I have become disappointed in what has become of this great city in the past few years. I look at this city and do not recognize it. What has happened to the innovation that has brought so many jobs and prosperity to this city and used to make this such an exciting place to live? The problem starts at the local level with the city council. They are clamping down on property owners rights and are also turning their back on a great employer and one of the few public technology companies headquartered in Austin, Homeaway. For an Austinite, assuming your rental is owner occupied, you still have to follow a permitting process that is so strict, to permit my structure requires a permanent stove and full size refrigerator in a 200 square foot room. With rising property taxes and skyrocketing home valuations, the majority of people renting their properties are simply trying to support their families with extra income. This is not the only bad decision by the city council. They are also trying to clamp down on Uber and Lyft. The only conclusion of this is that nobody on the city council is under 30 because they never went to sixth street at 2 AM on a Saturday before these services entered Austin. If I could refresh everyone's memory, you could easily spend an hour to an hour and a half waiting for a cab to pick you up. If it is Texas Relay or SXSW or Formula 1, you may never be able to get a cab. How can we have a dynamic, safe, city with no public transportation options and cabs that will flat out refuse to take you on rides if it is not where they want to go? That is just the city of Austin. Our state is run by people who prohibit Tesla motors from selling one of the most technologically exciting cars ever created in this state because of lobbyists and special interests. We have world renowned deans and professors leaving The University of Texas at Austin because the governor insists 18 and 19 year olds be allowed to bring guns into sometimes heated debates in classrooms. What has happened here? How can we say we want innovative businesses in this city and state while creating regulations so severe that investors are reducing investments here because of the hostile climate. How are we going to attract the best and brightest to come here if people are scared to start businesses, we kick out innovative business because they change the status quo, and the biggest worry of our government is too few guns in the hands of children? The exodus is already happening. Homeaway is planning to march against city council, Localeur is planning on leaving Austin, deans and students are choosing other Universities, and Mike Maples won't invest in certain companies here. If Austin and the state don't turn this around, we will become irrelevant and these jobs, people, and the money will just go back to California.