The recent population growth in Texas, particularly Austin, has been a great blessing. Businesses have been relocating here, bringing jobs, stimulating the economy, and making the city and surrounding areas more resilient to the economic hardship that the rest of the nation is facing. However, with the massive influx of recent arrivals coupled with unnecessarily...
Lately, Philadelphia has not been known for its safe streets. Images from the Kensington neighborhood show mentally ill, drug addicted, chronically unsheltered individuals in an amalgam of squalor and human detritus. Online, footage from the mass looting of an Apple Store, Footlocker, and Lululemon has gone viral. Still elsewhere, open-air drug markets have become the...
School districts across the state are anticipating the passage of the property tax relief proposition by voters this November and are already poised to slowly erode any relief that taxpayers may receive. Outside of the monuments to future generations debt that are some high school district sports complexes, or the absurd salaries and benefits awarded...
Austin’s policy failures on homelessness are bordering on criminal negligence. Heading into the downtown area, tents are visible under overpasses. A bit further from immediate view is evidence of more densely populated camps. A recent video from Save Austin Now shows just one of these encampments on the West Bouldin Creek trail. As those recording...
Inside the Austin’s city-run Northbridge homelessness shelter were scenes of squalor—and death. At the urging of Austin City Council member Mackenzie Kelly, the Austin American-Statesman reviewed photos provided by a whistleblower. Those photos showed “housing units strewn with drugs and drug paraphernalia throughout trashed rooms, a gun and employees asleep on the job.” Kelly wants...
La Joya ISD Superintendent Gisela Saenz resigned her position in the spring, after she supported a plan that would close two elementary schools and lay off 120 employees—this after LJISD used more than $20 million in public funds to buy an entire water park, including tube slides and a lazy river. The troubled school district—which...
“We knew it was coming,” Francisco Nuñez says. Housing is in such high demand in Austin right now that Nunez wonders if he can afford to stay in the city. In 2020, Austin gained an average of 180 new residents a day, causing a shortage of homes and driving up home prices dramatically. This demand,...
My grandfather was always a frugal man. He went to college on the G.I. Bill, he never owned a large house and he never drove a luxury car. By living under his means and investing wisely, he was able to build impressive wealth. As the years went on, he decided to move closer to his...
Texas experienced tremendous population growth in 2022, becoming “the only state other than California with a resident population above 30 million.” One key reason for Texas’ booming population is the state’s reputation for low taxes and limited government. People want small government and they’re willing to vote with their feet to prove it. And yet,...