Brock Skinner Austin City Council Candidate

Native Texan looking to cut unnecessary spending and make our community safe again in the great city of Austin

[Brock Skinner Austin City Council Candidate @Vote4Brock]

@loganrobinson @austintexasgov The amount cut was $99,000. Do you think spending 10x that to change street signs better serves our city than safer equipment for firefighters?

[Brock Skinner Austin City Council Candidate @Vote4Brock]

@loganrobinson @austintexasgov 8 have died in the last 40 years, and even if it was 0 we don’t want to wait for someone to die in service of our city to make us do the obviously right thing and give them best equipment possible.

[Brock Skinner Austin City Council Candidate @Vote4Brock]

@austintexaslisa @austinreforms @stelmobrewing I will be!

[Brock Skinner Austin City Council Candidate @Vote4Brock]

Thanks, Phillip. I appreciate you taking the time to look over my platform.
One way to free up real resources without raising taxes is to make all NGO and social-service spending strictly performance-based. We currently spend millions on contracts that routinely miss their targets and goals. Tying funding to results would deliver better outcomes and stretch every tax dollar further.

[Brock Skinner Austin City Council Candidate @Vote4Brock]

Excited to share my vision for the future.
Head over to my campaign website to learn more about the issues that matter, my plans, and how you can get involved.
👉 https://t.co/cnDmBIni2I
Let’s build something better together.

[Brock Skinner Austin City Council Candidate @Vote4Brock]

I believe Project Connect—specifically the light rail component—was approved by voters under false pretenses. Given the significantly revised costs, reduced scope, and new figures that have since been released, the project should be put back before the voters for a new vote.
On small businesses: every theft, act of vandalism, or break-in must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The city needs to clearly demonstrate that it values its business owners and police officers more than those who are terrorizing them.

[Brock Skinner Austin City Council Candidate @Vote4Brock]

This is exactly why I support an independent audit. Tax payers in our city are being robbed blind. I appreciate how much you care and what you’re saying is exactly my plan. I am not a data center expert, I am not going to pretend to be. My goal is to get all pertinent information and make a decision based on what I and those in my district believe is best for our community. I will be open to hearing anyone’s arguments and recommendations.

[Brock Skinner Austin City Council Candidate @Vote4Brock]

My original post was clear: our infrastructure is already strained, and I don’t think we should keep adding new loads that make it worse. When I said “data centers are not my concern, infrastructure strain is,” that’s the same point. I’m not anti-data center. I’m against building things our grid and resources can’t handle.

[Brock Skinner Austin City Council Candidate @Vote4Brock]

@reddotaustintx @austintexaslisa @WillieNelson Data centers are not my concern, infrastructure strain is. Yes, I don’t think data centers are a neighborhood necessity but I’m not opposed to projects as long as they are sustainable and beneficial.

[ATX data @data_atx]

Yesterday Austin city staff presented the 2% tax raise budget that the mayor has been asking for instead of 3.5%

They needed to cut 10.7m

Instead of cutting the DEI department, marketing, millions in consultants, travel - they cut parks, police, fire, safety, the permanent housing homeless programs that actually work, plus increased building fees massively.

The deep city is rigging the game , pushing us towards a max tax increase

[Austin Justice @AustinJustice]

Austin's Project Connect is the most disastrous transportation plan in America. All you need to know:

- In 2020, Austin asked voters to permanently raise everyone's property taxes for a train.
- The pitch: $7.1 billion, 20 miles of light rail, 26 stops, a downtown tunnel, a direct ride to the airport.
- It passed with 58%. The tax is permanent.
- Then the plan changed. No tunnel and no airport. Half the length and just 15 stations. And it costs much more: $8.23 billion.
- That's $840 million per mile. Most expensive transit project per mile in Texas history. Second-most-expensive light rail project in America
- Half the money ($4 billion) is supposed to come from DC. No grant awarded and no signed agreement.
- The rest is your property tax, plus loans repaid with your property tax, plus bonds repaid with your property tax.
- The FTA reviewed the financial plan and said the revenue assumptions are bogus and there's no reserve for overruns.
- First passengers ride in November 2033.
- Does it fix traffic? Projected effect on regional driving in 2045: a 0.044% reduction. Four hundredths of one percent.
- Ridership is so low it works out to $244,000 in construction cost per daily rider.
- The city's own analysis says congestion gets worse with the train.
- Morning rush hour bottlenecked intersections will increase about 33%. 71 businesses displaced and hundreds of homes affected.
- Parking will get much more expensive -- 607 parking spaces to be eliminated downtown, on South Congress, etc.
- Meanwhile the city spent $255 million on 197 electric buses. The batteries couldn't handle Austin heat so many sitting in storage.
- ATP, the agency spending your money, is run by five appointed board members. You vote for none of them. The CEO makes $405k. They tried to lease fancy downtown office space for $32 million in rent, and only dropped it after people noticed and pressured city council.
- Transportation experts call this one of the most wasteful transportation plans they’ve ever seen

If the 2020 ballot had read "9.8 miles of rail, no tunnel, no airport, $8.2 billion, a quarter million dollars per rider, worse traffic, less parking, first passenger in 2033" -- would it pass?

[CTXNews @CTXNews]

@data_atx Love this. Attuned to all the right points. A tall order to get someone like @Vote4Brock elected, but he is clearly what is needed to make Austin a safe, liveable city.

[Brock Skinner Austin City Council Candidate @Vote4Brock]

My biggest concern is the amount of electricity these projects require and the strain they could put on our power grid. If we have the infrastructure in place to support something like this, I’m all for it. But with our area already growing so quickly, I worry that continuing to build more data centers may not be sustainable in the long run.

[Brock Skinner Austin City Council Candidate @Vote4Brock]

@ouiserbordeaux @WillieNelson Austin’s rapid growth is already straining our city’s resources and services. I’m not against data centers, but I am against approving projects before we have the infrastructure in place to support them without disrupting the quality of life we already have.

[ATX data @data_atx]

Pretty good platform 👍 best candidate for d3 IMO

[Jen Robichaux @JenRobichaux]

"in Austin, 79% of the Public Health Dept. NGOs funding comes from the City's General Fund. Compare that to Houston, the figure is only 7%"

The data is from 2019. So many questions, starting with:

Why does Austin apparently exist to support the NGOs?

How much worse is it now?

[America 1stly @america1stly]

Interesting new candidate for Austin City Council D3

[Cindy Calland @cindycalland]

Exciting new candidate running for Austin City Council in District 3.

“accountability, public safety, and fiscal common sense”

[Brock Skinner Austin City Council Candidate @Vote4Brock]

@KUT Bus drivers are an essential part of our community. We need to support them and make sure they are — and feel — safe every day they serve us. I am running for Austin City Council District 3 to bring safety to our drivers and riders, vote November 3rd