Austinist: Villa Muse Project Near Groundbreaking East of Austin

LoudMouth

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:15:20 -0600

I read about it and I just came up with more questions than answers. In fact, it seems like the only response to this (other than the regurgitation of the shit they're spewing) is, "wtf are these crazy mofos thinking?" So how's about you try reading some people's ideas about the project and responding to them instead of blowing more smoke up our asses? Starting with mdhamus's questions up there and then moving on to the criticisms in this blog http://www.austin360.com/movies/content/movies/stories/2007/04/0420garcia.html and then moving on over to the other austinist write up in which the commenters bring up some really practical questions about how this is all going to (or not) pan out http://austinist.com/2007/04/19/villa_muse_a_new_dawn_for_the_austin_creative_industry.php.

Tron in the citay

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:03:42 -0600

Also, a way to help the people who work behind the camera, production staff, gaffers, electricians, etc. is to bring a steady stream of high-budget productions to the Austin, hence what I understand one of the goals of Villa Muse to be.

Tron in the citay

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:01:04 -0600

Maybe you should hold off on imagining scenarios and do some basic internet research before taking a solid position. I haven't seen anything about this being a Simon-esque development anchored by big-box retailers. In addition, I haven't read anything about the projected cost of housing in Villa Muse, so I'm not qualified to speculate. A quick search and maybe ten minutes worth of reading should give you enough information to engage in a more intelligent conversation.

LoudMouth

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:45:29 -0600

I just don't get this whole project at all. I don't understand who is going to be staffing the Starbucks and Old Navy stores, or are they only going to allow owner run businesses? How are they going to determine who is creative enough to live there? Will the performance artists and novelists and artists man the gas pumps and fry grills? Every scenerio I turn over in my mind winds up bad, so what are all those entertainment industry powerhouses seeing that I am not?

LoudMouth

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:33:40 -0600

I'm glad for you that it doesn't cost $400,000 to graduate from college now. Damn kid at the ACC office must have lied to me. As for reading about the project, you're right. All I've read was here and all that was is lip service. Nothing about how much a 1/1 house in the Land of Tomorrow is going to cost since there will be so many young game designers working there and God knows they'll never find a wife. So I looked at the site and it was eye candy and not much more so tell me, Tron in the citay, what kind of affordable housing is Villa Moose bringing?

Tron in the citay

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:01:51 -0600

LoudMouty--I'm graduating with $30,000 in student loans to pay off, not $400K. UT in-state tuition is roughly $4K/semester, so a local graduate would have to spend a lot of time as super senior to rack up that much debt. I'm not sure if you have read very much on Villa Muse, but it is more than a housing complex.

spee

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:54:13 -0600

I second that. "Buffoon." So hilariously disrespectful.

shilli

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:38:33 -0600

"Buffoon" is a funny word.

LoudMouth

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:28:57 -0600

Just a little perturbed.

YoYoMa

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:23:35 -0600

LoudMouth, I think you're mad. Are you mad? You seem mad.

LoudMouth

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:06:54 -0600

In reality, the only people they want to help is themselves go Cha-Ching! Cha-Ching! like a cash register.

LoudMouth

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:05:47 -0600

The hostility is that this is just another sprawling suburb disguised as a "artistic community" that promises to do abosolutely nada to help anyone except the developers that build it. If these developers wanted to help artists, even those outside the film commuity, they'd be building small little cheap houses for production assistants and gaffers and best boys and editors to live in. They'd have housing at the $50,000 for the kids just graduating from college who have (I don't know let's say) $400,000 in student loans to pay off.

LoudMouth

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:00:09 -0600

Solution: kill anyone who knows anyone.

kaffeeneko

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:59:21 -0600

And after anyone gets acclaim for their indie films and they want to do something more? I imagine they'd be able to afford a junker car to drive 30 mi. by then. If you compare commuting to Villa Muse studios to what someone would have to put up in LA or NY....driving 30 mi., and Austin real estate prices are the stuff of cry babies. I don't understand the hostility towards efforts to reduce a creative brain-drain. I do understand hostility to gentrification, but that has been happening in Austin for the past 10 years. At least this is about making films and not more fscking web-pages and internet companies.

LoudMouth

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:20:01 -0600

And spare me. They still won't be able to get jobs because there's just too many people graduating. If these kids want to make films they'll make films without getting paid for it. The only people that will get jobs at this studio will be people that can afford to either live nearby or drive 30 miles a day to get to work (since I assume no buses will run out there and it's a long bike ride), young rich people who know people that would have these jobs anyway, or old farts that know people that would have these jobs anyway.

LoudMouth

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:17:29 -0600

I meant the Hotel San Jose you buffoon.

kaffeeneko

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:59:27 -0600

Hey Loudmouth, It weren't much over 10 years ago that San Jose was a little hick cowtown suburb that no one in their right mind would want to get stuck in. I grew up in the Bay Area and I remember. It was only Silicon Valley and the DotCom explosion that took it all off in the late 90s. I don't think RTF young new graduates would want to live at Villa Muse, but the prospects of having the resources within the Austin Area to produce big films might let them think there were alternatives from needing to jet off to NY or LA (or SF/Seattle/Chicago for Recording Studio folks). I would imagine they would like to live in studio flats closer to downtown and have the hopes of something more than just bussing tables and serving drinks for their money-making future.

mdahmus

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:12:47 -0600

Tron, that's all well and good, but your buddies at Villa Muse are also asking us to let them build whatever they want at the edge of our city which brings along a ton of direct costs to us - but only indirect nebulous benefits, if'n, that is, we agree to let them disannex themselves and keep their taxes.

LoudMouth

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:50:23 -0600

Yeah right. This will make RTF students stay, they'll be able to afford a Villa Moose, stars will suddenly want to stay there instead of the San Jose and a goose at the Austin Zoo will start laying golden eggs filled with happy yolks for happy folks and everyone can be happy and fulfilled.

Tron in the citay

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:37:43 -0600

Oh haters, not everything is a conspiracy designed to screw the taxpaying citizens. LoudMouth--I live in central Austin, and the last time I checked, there isn't a spare 1000+ acres of empty space waiting to be snapped up for a development of this size. I'm sorry if some developers make money off this project, but Villa Muse may provide a reason for large budget film and television projects to come to Texas, thus allowing the existing production community to have their dream of steady work come to fruition. Despite all of the buzz about the Austin film scene, we are lucky to have one $40 million movie per year. Austin Studios had to receive a bond package just to have freakin' air conditioning installed in one of their stages. RTF is one of the most popular undergrad degree programs at UT, yet most of the graduates take off to LA or NY because of the lack of work in Texas. *gasp* With a full-fledged studio in their backyard, young and innovative artists may have a reason to stay!

LoudMouth

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:59:03 -0600

"Veeya Moosay" I like that. I also like "Villa Moose". "Be a Moose"?

kenneth1

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:34:05 -0600

If Rick Perry and Dawnna Dukes are boosting it, you can bet the taxpayers are gonna get screwed. This just looks like another Perry corporate-welfare proposal, where the developers get millions in "incentives," yet aren't required to pay local taxes or adhere to Austin land-use/development restrictions.

kenneth1

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:33:51 -0600

Tarvin

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:28:49 -0600

Veeya Moosay is sprawl, pure and simple. As such, it shouldn't be encouraged.

mdahmus

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:53:33 -0600

Exactly - heyzeus. The benefits to Austin are nebulous compared to what we're being asked to give up - property and sales taxes which help build and maintain the roads and utilities that this facility will need to connect to and other services its residents will require of the city of Austin. Even state highways require injections of local money to keep going (unless we build them as toll roads, which then gets the suburbanite crowd up in arms) - so even if they build all their own stuff on the site interior, Austin taxpayers will still incur road costs. They'll likely need to hook up to our electrical, water, and sewer systems (or worse, build with septic). Etc.

heyzeus

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:49:06 -0600

Villa Muse is demanding to be released from Austin's ETJ or it'll take its ball and go home to another location. This article you've written, S, doesn't mention that this is how it's been posed to Austin. It also doesn't mention that Villa Muse is mostly in a floodplain, and that getting out of Austin's ETJ allows it to ignore COA land use controls and environmental protections. It also doesn't mention that the real aim of opting out means the City loses out on property tax and sales tax from the development. There's more to this story.

LoudMouth

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:35:47 -0600

That is what we need right? More overpriced suburbs on toll roads?

LoudMouth

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:33:58 -0600

1. How is planting "artists" (secret code for old farts that want to live on a country club but think they're staying cool by "supporting the arts" (going to the shitty Arthouse auction once a year)) in Webberville attracting them to city life in Austin? 2. Congrats to Webberville for the new tax base. Hope your schools enjoy the economic boon. 3. Way to attract and retain young new and innovative artists to Austin and keep the lifeblood flowing.