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Last Thursday, the Austin City Council voted to grant a massive tax subsidy package, known as a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ), to a developer for a 2,600-acre project in an area of Southeast Travis County known as Dog’s Head. The anchor tenant on this land will be Amazon, a $2.5 trillion company. Under the proposed TIRZ agreement, Austin taxpayers will foot the bill for an estimated $107 million per year in tax revenue that will go to the developer and not the city.
Whether the city should be using this economic development tool on a parcel of land in one of the county’s fastest-developing areas to benefit a deep-pocketed developer and one of the world’s largest corporations is an important legal and public policy question. Regardless, the council’s approach to this particular case is deeply troubling.
The Dog’s Head project is massive—more than three times larger than the Mueller TIRZ development. It sits on environmentally sensitive land bounded on three sides by the Colorado River. Yet instead of giving this proposal careful consideration, the council fast-tracked a vote to annex the land just before its summer recess and approved the TIRZ on Thursday.
The council bypassed some city staff departments and commissions that typically would review such a proposal, including Austin Watershed Protection, the Planning Commission, the Environmental Commission, and the Parks and Recreation Board. Austin residents who live near Dog’s Head and will be significantly affected by the development were caught completely off guard.
Why did Council fast-track the annexation and pass the TIRZ? Follow the money.
The Endeavor Real Estate Group that’s developing Dog’s Head and its lobby firm on the project, Armbrust & Brown, are major donors to Austin City Council members. With this council, developer money talks. Last year the council rejected just two of the 110 development rezoning applications that made it to the dais. Since December 2023, my opponent, District 5 Council Member Ryan Alter, has accepted almost $30,000 in campaign contributions tied to employees of Endeavor and Armbrust & Brown.
This isn’t the way city government should work. This isn’t the way Austin should work. Representative government fails when council members show up to work to do the bidding of special interests instead of the voters who elected them.
I pledge not to accept any campaign contributions from large special interests seeking massive tax subsidies from the city and its taxpayers. My interest is representing the people of District 5 and I remain steadfast in that commitment. Please join me this November in bringing this important change to City Hall.
David Weinberg has spent his career protecting the environment, defending voting rights, and standing up for working families, from preserving funding for state parks and fighting voter restrictions to leading local grassroots campaigns. After 16 years in District 5 raising his family and serving the community, he is running for city council to bring that experience to local government.
