No, I did not early vote and I don’t feel bad about that (particularly since I was 1 of 3 voters at my polling place.) Also, I have been vacillating on Proposition 2 and since I believe that their is a inverse correlation between the geographic size/impact of a vote and the power/performance of a vote, it is more important to be sure about local ballot initiatives (and candidates).

I understand and support both sides of the issue on Prop 2 — an amendment to the City Charter banning tax incentives for multi-housing and multi-business development. It is poorly worded and will have a negative impact to the City Charter if it is passed. However, lately the COA City Council has shown a financial preference to big box retailers over local business, which translates into more money (and big money) going out-of-state in return for low-wage jobs. In the end I voted for Prop 2 for two reasons.

First, our Council members need to hear a clear message from the voters that we prefer “Keep Austin Weird” to convenient big box retail shopping. We can rely on the outlying suburb cities to keep us stocked in Best Buy, Michael Kors and Macy’s stores. Heck, since Bee Caves closed the Backyard to build a strip mall blight on the Hill Country landscape I think we can assume that they’ll be perfectly willing to destroy any city charm in favor of low-cost high-impact shopping. Second, the argument that expensive lawsuits will surely follow is flawed since the lawsuits will be cheaper then the cost of the tax incentives and economic impact.

Happy voting day everyone. If you’re in a swing state then good luck with your presidential candidate of choice. The rest of us need to focus on local concerns.