Winners And Losers In Visitability Scuffle
Austin’s City Council approved a watered-down measure whose draconian original version, pushed by a segment of the disabled community, could have dramatically hiked the cost of the city’s dwindling supply of affordable housing. The amended ordinance, sponsored by retiring council member Betty Dunkerley in her last meeting, passed unanimously.
The approved ordinance was more realistic, requiring design modifications to make any first-floor bathroom in a new single-family home or duplex suitable for future conversion to wheelchair use.
Losers in the visitability scuffle may include spokesmen for the most radical flanks of the disabled community, who pushed for mandating all new homebuyers to bear the cost of expensive modifications that would make their properties wheelchair accessible regardless of homebuyers’ needs. The original proposal was seen by some as a test case that could be spread to other cities if successful here.
Winners may turn out to be city council members with future political aspirations who would almost certainly have faced a public backlash against limiting consumer choice and further meddling with private property rights if the original version of the ordinance had passed. Also coming out on top were affordable housing advocates such as Habitat for Humanity, as well as local homebuilders, who offered sober compromises to the original proposal.
Observers said another winner is the idea that important public policies should be openly debated, not rushed through at the last minute without proper input from everyone who could be affected.
Posted on June 19, 2008 – 10:07 am by APR
3 Responses to “Winners And Losers In Visitability Scuffle”
Did anyone see this quote by Kirk Watson in yesterday’s American-Statesman editorial about Betty Dunkerley?
“You know she has the city’s best interest at heart,” Watson said. “She has a loyalty to the people she’s helping you don’t often get with the typical civil servant.”
Why the gratuitous slap at public employees from our own state senator?
By faqu on Jun 19, 2008
If you’re looking for the real impact on affordable housing, try the McMansion task force’s latest hit brought to you by one of your council-members-elect.
By M1EK on Jun 19, 2008
I saw the offensive quote too and was dumbfounded until I remembered how arrogant Watson is.
By Power of the Dragon on Jun 19, 2008