F1 in Austin? I don't think so.....

Watching the F1 city council meeting today:

Austin City Council

From what I can see, it' ain't gonna happen.....

-Rob

oh come on, not again

In terms of "ain't"- is that more about tax $$ being put into the facility, or they are just not going to allow the event?

I saw that the tax $$ question is in the middle of a lawsuit- one that was initiated just this morning against the Texas Comptroller, which is about $25M that's supposed to go to this project.

I can't see the video....

I don't think they'll allow a vote an if they do, I am afraid they will vote no.

Too many people trying to shut it down with influence on the council.

There was a seat election this past Saturday, one candidate for F1, one against. The one against won and is trying to get the council to stop the vote until Tuesday when she's sworn in because she feels she was voted in to stop it.

I really burns me because the same city council recently voted to award $4 million (actually $3.8) of tax breaks for a new hotel, but won't approved the F1 because it uses the $25 million from a fund that is specifically designed for things like this AND they don't technically have access too.

Oh, and I didn't realize that Autoweek (sorry to quote another mag on the forum) posted an editorial AGAINST it. That's come up a couple of times, today.

I guess I'm even more frustrated because I live just outside of Austin, so I don't have a vote in this......

-Rob

Not knowing all of the particulars about the financing of that track, if I were a tax payer in that county, I'd be pretty pissed if tax money were going into the building of that track. Seeing how BatE36 M3 Bernie did IMS (Indianapolis Motor Speedway), it'll be a VERY expensive, money-pit of a club racing track within a few years.

I'll try to be short in case someone doesn't isn't up to speed and is interested.

1) F1 has a fee of $25million to run a race at a track. All tracks pay it.

2) The Circuit of the Americas is building the track out of their OWN funds.

3) Now, there are city things (new water lines/power/streets) etc. that a location needs assistance with (just like any construction project)

4) The state of Texas has a fund, built from taxes on event ticket sales and such, to fund events like the Superbowl, NBA Championship, etc. The idea is to invest to bring in revenue.

5) For an event to get access to those funds, the host city has to pay $4million into the fund.

6) The COTA told the city council they will pay the $4million the first year, if the city pays the others to get the state funds

7) When the council said no, the COTA said they would pay it for 10 years

8) The state event funding would, basically, pay the F1 fee while the city/county/state reap the rewards off the ticket sales.

Now it's "trying" to get up for vote.

-Rob

In reply to rob_lewis:

not trying to be difficult- but are you sure about the $25M for F1- that sure seems low.

^Yes, it's been widely available public number for many, many months.

I thought construction was well under way. How did they got that far with it without getting all that taken care of? That's way too much money to spend for nothing.

Graefin10 wrote: I thought construction was well under way. How did they got that far with it without getting all that taken care of? That's way too much money to spend for nothing.

it is already being built, which is why they're so keen on getting support from the city for the race, which doesn't appear to cost the city any more than the $4 million that they've presumably already paid into the state fund... seems like it would be something the city would like to have as far as making austin not only a destination for F1, but giving more exposure as a tourist destination. not everyone who goes to monaco is there for a race, y'know?

That's good ol' Austin for ya. Next there will be an environmental study done that proves there is a super rare beetle that just finds it's home in the middle of the acreage they're going to use for the track. So now they have to make adjustments to their layout in order to preserve this beetle's natural habitat. Then they'll institute manditory clean air rules to the F1 cars just to be eligable to run in the Austin race. After the first year and they see that the track actually makes money, they'll tax the everliving E36 M3 out of it and then toll every road in or out of the facility.

And THIS is why I left Austin. The town that holds itself in such high regards as the "Live Music Capitol Of The World" and institutes a friggin noise ordinance downtown where all the live music bars are, and also around the parks where the concerts take place because the yuppy asshats decided they wanted to move closer to the music are now complaining it's too loud! What a hipocritical city!

This is also the city that, once the major airport closed, we petitioned the city to allow us to meet out there and run races on the weekend and even pay a fee to cover whatever costs would be incurred, and they said no and spent $50k to run a bulldozer across the strip every 100' just so it would be completely useless. The property then stood VACANT for about 6 years until a hospital was built on it.

(please pardon spelling errors, I'm ranting)

This is ALSO the city that decided that Toll Roads were the best solution for all the road construction that had been under way for well over a decade. Then suddenly when they're voted to be toll roads (which now were all redrawn and remapped to run through land owned by numerous City Council Members into a blob of roads with no logical or logistical sense) they're completed in about a year. After they were completed, the council just happened to "find" the lost $2 BILLION road improvement fund that was put in place for just such a thing. Hhhmmmm...

Ok, rant over. Continue your discussion. LOL

yes, the way all those toll roads came about were shady as all get-out, highest toll-per-mile in state or country at time of completion, too

If the toll roads were handled differently, I wouldn't have a complaint. If you pay to drive on them, there shouldn't be a speed limit. The fact that they're patrolled like a friggin' prison is absolutely insane! There's a damn Hi-Po every mile or 2 it seems. I guess the fact everyone used them as their personal Autobahn for a little while before the cops figured it out didn't help. LOL

But I digest...

there was some dispute over the po-pos getting charged tolls as well to drive on, unless they were running code 3 (lights & sirens), to which they said that the toll road authority could respond to and clear their own accidents. obviously the toll people caved in the end

As Rob-Lewis noted, the $25M is from a state-provided trust specifically (and intended only) for the promotion of events exactly like the USGP. That fund cannot be legally used for any other purpose. People complaining about the misuse of funds are either ignorant, agenda-driven, or both.

I seriously doubt the Austin city council is (collectively) ignorant, but I'm also certain it has an agenda that is NOT conducive to the COTA.

Well, it can be easily seen that COTA is a Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys, NFL kind of thing.

And since Austin isn't exactly Dallas, and that area, maybe they really, really don't like it.

Texas is supposed to be fiscally conservative, at least to what the news reports the leaders there say. So maybe Austin is going that way?

COTA seems to be very political. Austin seems to be playing that.

But that's just my opinion.

In reply to alfadriver:

from what i've read, the questions asked have been on the order of "how is the track going to follow the cities green initiatives?" and "how is the race going to affect the air quality in austin?" along with contemplating whether or not there should be a community garden at the track (?)

The current speaker said something to the effect of, "It's not a factor of wanting it or not wanting it; it's just that it doesn't fit the statute of the major events trust fund." If F1 was wanted, the rules would be interpreted in a way that would be beneficial. It sounds like F1 is not wanted.

Should we start warming up the hearse?

alfadriver wrote: Texas is *supposed* to be fiscally conservative, at least to what the news reports the leaders there say. So maybe Austin is going that way?

Austin? Conservative? The words just don't go together ...

Just concluded vote to postpone agreement until June 29th.

Councils: gotta love 'em!

At least the track is under construction....they made it farther than the US F1 team that evaporated even if construction is halted and the site is converted into a community garden with solar powered composting toilets.

I MESS WITH TEXAS.

Now if Bruton Smith wanted it....it would have been finished already.

slantvaliant wrote:

alfadriver wrote: Texas is *supposed* to be fiscally conservative, at least to what the news reports the leaders there say. So maybe Austin is going that way?

Austin? Conservative? The words just don't go together ...

Yeah, no E36 emm trois. That the rest of Texas is conservative enough to overpower Austin is (pleasantly) surprising to me.