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Archives for 2009

$0.10 Gas Tax Freakonomics

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Austin Gas Tax Freakonomics
Austin Gas Tax Freakonomics

A 2007 U.S. Census estimate places Austin’s population at 743,074 people.   We’ll use 0.85 as the multiplier to approximate the number of vehicles per capita in the State of Texas.  Assume the average car owner drives 12,000 miles a year and gets 24mpg.   That person will purchase 500 gallons of gas each year.  By employing a $0.10 gas tax per gallon, for the driver this equates to $50.00 per year, or only $4.17 per month.  But, the City could collect over $31.6MM in a single year. (The City could realistically expect much more from drivers passing through.)

$31.6MM is more than half the cost of Portland’s, Tampa’s, or Seattle’s budget for their street car system (article, pdf).  A real world case study in streetcar economics yielded enhanced property values, connectivity, 400 new businesses (90% locally owned), the majority of these businesses are owned by women and minorities.

Even I, an economic conservative, can identify with the social value generated by $4.17 per month towards paying for an Austin streetcar.  Food for thought for our next City Council.

-Jude

Ligne Roset Opening On 2nd Street

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As we scootered over to last night’s Urban Core Happy Hour at SoCo designs (sponsored by DANA, SoCo designs, and Barton Place), we noticed the construction paper had been taken down on the southwest corner of 2nd and Colorado, and a bright white room was filled with some of my favorite furniture.  Ligne Roset has arrived in Austin.

Ligne Roset is set to open its Austin store on April 16th, according to Forbes.  I’ve recently been pretty tough on 2nd Street’s tenant mix, but there is a special place in my heart for Ligne Roset and the Togo series.  Can’t wait for the grand opening.

SoCo designs
DANA
Barton Place

-Jude

The Challenges of Waterloo Park

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Headstone at Waterloo Park
Headstone at Waterloo Park

With vegetation, a natural creek bed, seclusion, and rolling hills, Waterloo Park has the “right stuff” to be the best park in Austin.  Flanked on the east and west by Red River Street and San Jacinto Blvd Trinity, respectively, Waterloo Park’s configuration runs north-south length wise between 15th and 12th streets, as Waller Creek meanders through it.

A couple weekends ago, we wanted to check out the “Birth of Cool” exhibit at the Blanton museum, and we decided to walk from our building (Sabine) along Waller Creek through Waterloo Park.

As we walked through Waterloo Park, we were overtaken with its beauty but disappointed in its care.  We found a littered creek, overgrown vegetation, and hazardous pathways.  One unmarked sinkhole in the middle of the pathway would have seriously injured anyone who didn’t notice it – easily three feet deep.

Waterloo Park sits in an industrial zone
Waterloo Park sits in an industrial zone

With all of its innate beauty, Waterloo Park is analogous to a gifted MVP baseball player, who somehow gets stuck playing for a losing team.

Waterloo Park sits underutilized inside an industrial zone of competing real estate interests: Travis County, State of Texas, University of Texas, and Brackenridge Hospital.

Tough location, eh?

Hospital parking garages to the east.  State of Texas parking garages to the west.  Social services and more parking garages to the north.  The neighborhood and urban fabric breaks down north of 11th Street.  Lack of coordination by the major real estate holders yields nothing of significant neighborhood value to draw a critical mass of pedestrians.

Waterloo Park is a great example of the results of poor urban planning and stakeholder coordination – the park is surrounded with parking garages (blight), is not integrated into the fabric of our neighborhood, and is often inhabited with drug addicts, drunks, and panhandlers.  As such, it remains a destination that few people care to visit.

Rail Stops Vs. Bus Stops

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Great quote via the Overhead Wire…

“Rail transit drives walkable urban places. I’ve never seen one dollar of real estate investment invested because of a bus stop. But if you have [rail] transit, it’s a different story altogether.” – Chris Leinberger

Permanence yields investment.  Bus stops come and go.  I would take it a step further and suggest that in several cases the presence of a bus stop could actually inhibit real estate investment.