Stop Domain Subsidies

Learn why 123,209 voters (48%) in November 2008 nearly stopped this bad deal of the century for ordinary Austinites.  When you’re done here, be sure to visit our current site at ChangeAustin.org.  We’re still on the city’s tail!

Watch our 3 part series Public Money, Private Profit.

Part One: Anatomy of a Bad Deal

Part One reveals how the City of Austin was rushed into approving the Domain subsidies, and how the developers misled city leaders.

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Part Two: Funding the Competition

Part Two explores the benefits local merchants have on our community and how the Domain subsidies threaten those businesses.

If you are a business owner and want to be listed as a supporter below, please click here.

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Part Three: Who Decides?

Part Three explains why a charter amendment is necessary to stop the Domain subsidies, and how you can shape your city’s future.

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AUSTIN VOTERS — Did you know that the City of Austin is set to voluntarily start giving Simon Properties $65 million in sales and property tax rebates for The Domain luxury mall in NW Austin!?

Nearly 500 local businesses, together with 27,000 voters who signed petitions, have called for a vote this November to put the brakes on tax giveaways that undermine local business and raise the cost of living in our beloved city of Austin.

Sign up to keep informed and help us spread the word!

Our opposition is boasting that they will spend $250,000 to $500,000 in an attempt to bury Prop 2 on radio and TV.

What can the grassroots do to counter this?  The internet, the social networks and the video sites like YouTube, but of course!

Right now, we are having trouble getting our ranking high up on google.  Perhaps you noticed it was hard to find us on the web.

Also, we need your help to increase the visibility of our very fine mini-documentaries on the site. .
Wanna help?  Here’s what you can do:

1.  Google for a variety of phrases about the domain and the subsidies (eg.  “stop domain subsidies” or “the domain” with blogsearch.google.com Go to whatever blog discussions are taking place and sign up if required.  Add your own comments in the comment section of the blog and then send folks to our web site at http://StopDomainSubsidies.com.  Don’t forget to include the “http://”, so they are properly linked.

2.  Boost us on YouTube!    We have provided a list of clickable links to viral video sites below. The process is to click through to the site, sign up for the site, give your star rating, and make your comments. Do this on as many sites as you can.   Now, get after it y’all!

The Domain – Anatomy of a Bad Deal video on YouTube, Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, AOL Video, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos, Sclipo, Howcast and 5min – click each link, sign up, add comments, add your rating and tell your friends to do the same.

The Domain – Funding the Competition Video on YouTube, Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, AOL Video, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, Veoh, Stupid Videos, Sclipo, Howcast and 5min – click each link, sign up, add comments, add your rating and tell your friends to do the same.

If you’re on the social networks like twitter, facebook, myspace, friendfeed, etc this a great place to talk up our video content and embed the video (all the above sites will give you the “embed code” to copy and paste to your social network or website).  Make “stopdomain” your twitter friend at twitter.com/stopdomain

Together, we can start a grass roots revolution with viral video.  It’s the most powerful force for change on the net these days.

Margaret Mead said, when TV burst on the scene, “Thanks to television, for the first time the young are seeing history made before it is censored by their elders.”  Just change the word television to “the internet”, and update that statement for today!

Viralize! Click these links to spread your video around bookmarking and news sites.

The Domain – Anatomy of a Bad Deal:

	Bookmarking Site
YouTube
Yahoo
MySpace
Metacafe
AOL Video
DailyMotion
Blip.tv
Veoh
Stupid Videos
Sclipo
Howcast
5min

The Domain – Funding the Competition:

	Bookmarking Site
YouTube
Yahoo
MySpace
Metacafe
AOL Video
DailyMotion
Blip.tv
Veoh
Stupid Videos
Sclipo
Howcast
5min

Check out Charity the Pig, who attended our press conference last week to protest the hog developers still feeding out of the city trough for the Domain, in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.  When will the city and big boy developers get a clue?  Perhaps not until November 4th.  Call us for yard signs and door hangers for your neighborhood!

FOX 7-
Group Opposes Tax Subsidies for Domain

Statesman City Beat blog-
A pig on the city hall plaza

Daily Texan-
Protesters rally to advocate Proposition 2

Check it out y’all.  Southpaw won our “Mad As Hell Contest” at the Political Action Art Auction!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1Gn6cqBu-0

SA political action committee by the name of “Keep Austin’s Word” was filed on September 2.  The person who appointed the treasurer is former City Councilwoman Betty Dunkerley.  Councilwoman Dunkerley was a supporter of the Domain deal in 2003. (In fact, all the Council members at that time supported the deal, except Daryl Slusher.  The only remaining councilmember who voted for the original deal is Mayor Will Wynn.)  Dunkerley appointed the treasurer, Bobby Jenkins, of ABC Pest Control.  But, we’re sure this PAC has big wheel developers quickly raising money.  We learned recently that they’re bragging about town that their goal is to raise $250,000 to $500,000 to pound against our campaign on television.

And then there’s Kirk Rudy, Endeavor Development, the original developer of the Domain luxury shopping mall.  He’s been making the rounds with the person they hired to help run their campaign.  It appears to us that Rudy is also trying to appeal to Obama supporters, perhaps based on the fact that he’s raised money for Obama.  Does he think that Obama supporters are going to see this as payback time?  We don’t think this is going to work for out for him either!

So far, the key message of our opposition is to “keep Austin’s word”.  We say, that’s right, let’s keep Austin’s word, particularly, since there is no obligation that the city has for this deal.  That’s right folks, the city still plans to give the Domain developer $1.5 million VOLUNTARILY!  You read that right too — due to a 2005 court settlement, the city can walk away without penalty, but they won’t — even as the country is in an economic crisis.

David Adamson of the Central Labor Council, which recently endorsed Prop 2 said it so very well, “The revenue shortfall for the City of Austin required not funding around fifty city positions, raising the solid waste collection fees, raising fees for road maintenance and rolling closures of public libraries.  However, there is between $2 and $3 million dollars in the City budget to rebate to Simon Properties, the largest multinational shopping mall operator on this planet, to enhance their already highly profitable bottom line. The CLC supports a yes vote for the Stop Domain Subsidies City Charter amendment, Prop 2.

You too, can stop this madness.  Vote for Prop 2 and call us to help get out literature and signs in your neighborhood.  And, of course, we can really use any size donation to help our counter the opposition on radio and TV.  Go to our contribution page to give, or just call us at 383-8484 to give or volunteer!

This spectacular outdoor art/musical/dancing event is now officially rescheduled for Sat., Sept. 20, from 5 to 9 pm.  Come get ready, folks, for the BIG fight for the heart and soul of Austin as the BIG BOY developers are raising mega-cash to snuff out our movement on television!  Can the grassroots win — only YOU can answer that question!

There’s gonna be fire dancers and the South Austin Jug Band, maybe even at the same time, if they’ll let us talk ‘em in to it!

The Alamo Drafthouse just agreed to co-host the Political Action Art Auction (along with the Austin Art Garage) at 2200 S. Lamar on Saturday, Sept. 20, 5 to 9 pm.  See schedule below.  Original commissioned political art will be live auctioned (with lots of great stuff from donated by local biz’s in our silent auction), as the South Austin Jug Band does their musical thing. This is the kick off of our Get Out the Vote Effort for Stop Domain Subsidies.

RSVP here or send an email to or call 383-8484.

Schedule!

5:00  Party starts with music, food, drinks and art viewing

6:00  South Austin Jug Band

6:50  Mad As Hell Songwriter’s Contest

7:00  Live Auction

8:00  South Austin Jug Band & Fire Dancers!

8:50  Movie-The Domain Subsidies:  Public Money, Private Profit

You can now follow stopdomain on twitter. You can ask us questions about Prop 2 and find others in the Austin community concerned with this issue.

Thanks to the hard work of our friends, in particular Bill Bunch, Kelly Borum, Roy Waley, Wes Benedict, Katy and Matt Culmo of By George, and many more, we succeeded in getting decent (not perfect) ballot language for the Stop Domain Subsidies amendment.  A special thanks to Councilmember Randi Shade who helped us get a last minute change made to the ballot language.

The race is now on for November.

Watch for the first installment of our documentary coming in a few days…get set to forward to every Austinite you know to spread the word.

Pass Prop 2 in November — let’s close up the trough at City Hall!

Press Release July 1, 2008

Stop Domain Subsidies’ Claims Substantiated by Liveable City Report
“The Domain: Anatomy of a Bad Deal”

Liveable City, whose mission is to build a shared and sustainable vision for Austin’s future, released a report on economic development practices on Monday authored by economist Michael Oden, a professor in the Community and Regional Planning Department at the University of Texas at Austin. The report, entitled, “Building a More Sustainable Economy: Economic Development Strategy and Public Incentives in Austin”, systematically exposes the folly of the subsidies slated for The Domain luxury shopping mall, by concluding, “The Domain deal stands out among all the incentive packages supported by the city in the past ten years as a generally bad deal by most meaningful criteria.” The report was also most critical of the one week notice the Austin City Council gave to the public before passing the $65 million subsidy package the study referred to as “a bad deal”. The report goes on to substantiate claims made by Stop Domain Subsidies founder, Brian Rodgers, who has been working since 2003 to stop the taxpayer boondoggle, which led to a citizen’s petition drive to place the issue on the November ballot.

The report was commissioned for the purpose of reviewing the City of Austin’s policies and procedures related to tax incentives. The overall report gives a series of recommendations that will help safeguard that in the future the City’s taxpayers are protected. You can read the full report here. The Domain deal is discussed starting on page 62:

http://www.liveablecity.org/IncentiveStudy.pdf

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For more information or to interview Brian Rodgers:

Jeff Heckler
StopDomainSubsidies.com
2153 S. Lamar, Suite 205
Austin, TX 78704
512-366-5000
512-657-2089 cell