After trying to flex some unnecessary regulatory muscle and running the insanely popular transportation companies Uber and Lyft out of town and potentially hitting its citizens with $29 million in lost wages, the city of Austin is working on a brain-dead “solution” to the problem it created: it wants to use taxpayer money to help fund alternatives.
In December, the Austin City Council passed new regulations for Uber and Lyft, which eventually led the companies to decide to shut their apps down inside city limits. Now, in the wake of that move, thousands of Austin residents are upset that they don’t have as many convenient options to get to work, catch a sober ride home from the bars and have flexible part-time work to help pay the bills.
In response, the city council on Thursday approved a resolution that asks city staffers to look at ways to expedite the growth of new Uber- and Lyft-style transportation companies, including using taxpayer-backed loans the city could offer to help new companies pick up the slack in the absence of Uber and Lyft.
That is the classic liberal playbook right there. Create an economic burden, then pretend to be benevolent by “helping” with a taxpayer-funded economic burden.
Yeah, these people keep getting elected. Public education’s goal of creating a stupid, easily manipulated electorate is working.
Austin is suffering some self-inflicted image damage with this debacle that may take some time to repair. The city has fancied and branded itself as a hip tech hub lately and this mess makes it look like your great grandfather on a rotary phone.
As I mentioned in the earlier post, let us hope that the nonsense in Austin is serving as a cautionary tale for other liberal regulation-happy nanny cities.
If not, start saving up, you may be forced to “help” soon.
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