PROJECT BULLDOZER: 320,000 Austin Residents Living Within One Mile of Project Connect Construction Zone In Danger of Being Displaced This Decade
Approximately 320,000 people and 135,000 housing units are located within one mile of Project Connect’s boundaries and are at risk for displacement “due to an inability to absorb housing costs"
Project Connect is the biggest boondoggle in Austin history.
Adam Loewy (Austin's most beloved billboard attorney) had a tweet this morning about the I-35 and Project Connect construction that went viral (22k views) on Austin twitter.
It wasn't Mr. Loewy's original tweet - but the reply from Michael Searle (founder of Austin-based, first-rate strategy firm Searle Strategies) - that seized my attention.
"Approximately 320,000 people and 135,000 housing units are located within one mile of Project Connect’s boundaries and are at risk for displacement “due to an inability to absorb housing costs,” city officials told KXAN."
Not a care in the world."
Austin is the 10th biggest city in the USA, with a population of nearly one million humans.
If 302,000 people and 135,000 housing units are in danger of being displaced in a city of 1 million, due to the unfortunate tragedy located within one mile of Project Connect’s boundaries
You don't gotta be Pythagoras to do the math on this one:
1,000,000 people divided by 302,000 people living within one mile of the Project Connect construction zone
Equals 30.2% of Austin potentially displaced from their homes
QUESTIONS:
How many of the 320,000 people living within one mile of Project Connect's construction path are relaxing tonight?
How many are blissfully unaware that the horrifying nightmare of an armored bulldozer owned & operated by the city of Austin might arrive one morning this decade to destroy their home?
Screengrab from KXAN.com from Oct 25, 2023.
Even more terrifying:
You are relying on Austin elected officials, WFH sloths and the United States Postal Service to keep you posted on all the latest news and developments.
About the whole "government destroying your house with a bulldozer" thing.
Happy Halloween, suckers!
Screengrab from KXAN.com, snapped on Oct 25, 2023.
How many of these 320,000 Austinites (1 out of 3 people in the whole damn city, Euclid) will NOT be properly notified?
Due to the complex nature of the job being performed by government employees who've been "working from couch" every single month this decade except the very first two.
THINK ABOUT IT:
The Austin city government is in charge of masterminding THIS project?
Bwahahahahahahahahaha!
Wait it's not funny.
How many of the 320,000 people living within one mile of the Project Connect demolition path won't EVER receive notice?
Until they HEAR the sounds of the Project Connect destruction crew.
Just days, hours or nanoseconds...
Before a wrecking ball smashes through your north-facing bedroom wall and a bulldozer plows through your front door.
Yo dawg. We heard you like irony.
We raised your property taxes 25%. Then we destroyed your property using those taxes.
Now you're paying for irony with your tax dollars and property.
Don't worry.
Austin leaders provide 90 days notice before the Project Connect demolition team arrives in an armored bulldozer to pillage your remaining possessions, destroy your house and shoot anything that's 70% water, breathes oxygen and looks at us funny.
If 700,000 Palestinians getting displaced triggers an international crisis, you'd think 320,000 Austin citizens getting removed from their homes against their will would raise at least a little peep locally.
But you will never hear a peep from a registered Democrat in Woke City, Texas.
They will protest all day against I-35, because I-35 represents cars and climate change.
But Project Connect represents solving climate change.
No protests for you!
Within 90 days, project heads will issue a rights of entry.
From there, the title and surveying process can take roughly 90 days to complete, with an additional 90 days needed for appraising the property.
The original $7 billion Project Connect plan featured absurdly unachievable ideas created by graphic designers and architects, not the engineers and scientists who could determine if an East Coast-style underground tunnel and plaza was even doable based on the Earth's crust under Austin.
Project Connect original 2020 plan. Artist (rather than engineer) designed underground tunnel, featuring 'Equity and The Inclusions' performing their smash hit 'Boondoggle' in front of passengers waiting to board solar-powered bullet trains to the airport. [/caption]
Since November 2020, the project has been dramatically scaled down, while the price of this boondoggle has ballooned to over $10 billion.
“Estimated costs of Project Connect are up more than 40% to above $10 billion because of inflation and design changes based on community feedback and technical challenges.”
Has a shovel even hit the dirt yet?
SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT AUSTIN TEXAS IN 2023:
320,000 people live within one mile of Project Connect
320,000 people are in danger of being displaced from their homes this decade
320,000 people must rely on the grossly incompetent city government to keep them posted.
This really seems like a massive property acquisition / real estate development scam disguised as a train.
Look how many hotels, vacant lots and random properties the City of Austin has already acquired this decade.
You thought people were struggling with the cost of living in 2023?
Imagine informing them by mail in 2024 that they have 'X' days to move and find a new place to live.
City of Austin wants you to know most landlords require security deposit and first month's rent. We don't want you to become homeless.
We're giving you 90 days notice now, so you'll have three full months to save up, pack up and move a mile away before D-Day.
The other 780,000 people in Austin receive a prize package that includes:
A dramatically scaled down, 40% more expensive, never-ending nightmare boondoggle that seems more every day like a giant real estate grab than a viable public transportation solution.