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	<title>ChangeAustin.org &#187; changeaustin.org bringing austin voters and local business to city hall</title>
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	<link>http://changeaustin.org</link>
	<description>Some folks are speaking out for Austin. How &#039;bout you?</description>
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		<title>City Budget Charades</title>
		<link>http://changeaustin.org/2010/07/city-budget-charades/</link>
		<comments>http://changeaustin.org/2010/07/city-budget-charades/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:46:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Linda Curtis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cost of growth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[city budget]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transparency]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://changeaustin.org/?p=1006</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We recently attended the city&#8217;s only budget charade, uh we mean charrette. City staff must have outnumbered the audience 3 to 1. Just 2% of the budget was up for discussion to close the City&#8217;s $11 to $28 million shortfall. ChangeAustin.org came up with an easy $14 million by having developers pay fees to process [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong></strong>We recently attended the city&#8217;s only budget charade, uh we mean charrette.  City staff must have outnumbered the audience 3 to 1. Just 2% of the budget was up for discussion to close the City&#8217;s $11 to $28 million shortfall.</p>
<p><span style="color: #7853ac;"><strong><em><span style="color: #800080;">ChangeAustin.org</span></em></strong></span> came up with an easy $14 million by having developers pay fees to process their development plans, like they do in other cities.  But that item wasn&#8217;t in the 2% up for dialogue.</p>
<p>Watch this short video.<br />
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<p>We&#8217;d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.<br />
Make sure you <strong>mark your calendar for our upcoming volunteer meeting on Thursday, July 15th, 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Carver Library</strong>.  <em>(We&#8217;ll do a followup on property tax protests there too.) </em></p>
<p>There&#8217;s more to tell you about historic property tax giveaways to some of Austin&#8217;s wealthiest, the new coalition working for police accountability and open government, congrats to TAG and, taking the cake this month is the City&#8217;s decision to spend $44 million more wasted taxpayer dollars to build th $1.3 billion Water Treatment Plant #4.  Never mind the wasted water, right?</p>
<p>Growth must pay for itself y&#8217;all, before they run us all outta town!</p>
<p><em></em>Check out the rest of<a href="http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs079/1101759914600/archive/1103474049081.html"> our first newsletter and watch our new videos here.</a> Pass it on.</p>
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		<title>Council Stiffs Reform Efforts &#8211; Mark Your Calendars!</title>
		<link>http://changeaustin.org/2009/10/council-stiffs-reform-efforts-mark-your-calendars/</link>
		<comments>http://changeaustin.org/2009/10/council-stiffs-reform-efforts-mark-your-calendars/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:08:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Linda Curtis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Domain Mall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economic incentives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fiscal responsbility]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[independent review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[subisidies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transparency]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://changeaustin.org/?p=707</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Check and balance?  &#8220;No thanks, trust city staff to give away your tax money.  We don&#8217;t need no stinkin&#8217; oversight!&#8221; This was, in short, what citizens got from City Hall on the recent passage of a hollow economic incentive ordinance which dismissed the concerns of 123,000 Austin citizens who voted to stop the Domain Mall [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Check and balance?  &#8220;No thanks, trust city staff to give away your tax money.  We don&#8217;t need no stinkin&#8217; oversight!&#8221;</p>
<p>This was, in short, what citizens got from City Hall on the recent passage of a hollow economic incentive ordinance which dismissed the concerns of 123,000 Austin citizens who voted to stop the Domain Mall tax subsidies last year.</p>
<p><a href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=ubel6adab.0.0.itieadcab.0&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.austinpost.org%2Fcontent%2Fjust-another-dog-and-pony-show-city-council-kills-independent-review-tax-subsidies-corporations&amp;id=preview" target="_blank">Read it here at AustinPost.org and please share your comments</a> &#8212; but keep it clean!</p>
<p>Mark your calendars, folks for our first quarterly meeting &#8212; November 7, from 3 to 5 pm.  Location to be announced.</p>
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