No. of Recommendations: 4
Austin, Texas, will be the location for the headquarters of the new U.S. Army Futures Command, Army Secretary Mark T. Esper announced today at a Pentagon news conference.https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/...There's a huge military presence right up I-35 with plenty of room to accommodate growth, very close proximity to Baylor University, just up the interstate from University of Texas and several other universities, and just down the interstate from all the DFW-area universities. Choice of multiple major airports in addition to the military facility itself. A long established Army base just primed for growth and an area which could easily absorb the population growth. So why did they pick Austin?
The central downtown Austin urban area already suffers from huge traffic infrastructure problems and an ongoing housing crisis. On top of that, the city went to a council system based on districts, where many of the districts include outlying areas with little/no loyalty to the city itself. [In TX, a city can annex - without approval of residents - any adjacent property it wishes. Newly annexed residents receive little benefits and higher tax bills, leading them to vote for council representatives who vote "NO" on downtown improvements they have no use for.]
You can thank folks like Cornyn & Cruz for making this happen -- and it'll keep happening as long as the Pentagon is (for all practical purposes) as a jobs program for powerful members of Congress.
If they want to tackle gov't waste and inefficiency, end this kind of nonsense. In addition, stop programs where (because of Congress) the military buys equipment it doesn't want or need.
