Figuring out who and what to vote for

Finally I can see what is on my ballot and the League of Women Voters now has their guide out (see vote411.org). But I'm freaking out because looking at the race for Senator, Cornyn looks decent and reasonable (he's even wearing a mask in his picture) whereas Hegar looks slightly unhinged. Yet my prior experience has been that Cornyn basically does whatever Cruz wants (even though he's been in the Senate longer) and that Cruz is usually a Trump yes-man. And that Hegar is basically sensible but believes that in order to win in Texas you have to appeal to emotion. My previous experience is probably biased but I find it hard to believe that it's so biased that I don't even get what kind of people these candidates are.

So now I don't even trust myself in using my favorite tool for helping me figure out how to vote. But I'm still going to vote. So here is my first draft of what I'm thinking now.

First, I would like some people who are not corrupt, who don't suffer from untreated mental issues that make it impossible for them to even understand the concept of public service (doing things for people other than yourself), who don't have a policy of ignoring facts they don't like, and who will work within the law (of course legislators can change the law) and stuff like that. For all these millions of races, it's not easy to figure out stuff like that.

And then I do also care about issues. I want us to fight climate change. In general, Republicans are either doing nothing or (especially in Texas, even though we have lots of wind and sun as well as fossil fuels) fighting to protect climate-destroying industries. And Democrats are not doing enough. So I'm leaning toward Democrats. We really need both liberal and conservative ideas, but at this point, anyone who's willing to implement ideas (that aren't already known not to work) is what I will settle for.

I want to fight the pandemic. I used to think we'd have to be closed down until there was a vaccine, but now I see that we only had to close down until we had testing and tracing, and that since this is a virus, no vaccine is likely to be as effective as the ones against things like polio and measles, but instead more like the flu vaccine. The Republicans have mostly resisted even mask wearing, so again I'm leaning toward Democrats.

I'm a big fan of equality, and it's become clear that equal treatment, even if that were happening, is not enough due to historical, systemic inequalities. Generally, only Democrats even pretend to get that this is a thing.

Finally, it's clear we're erring in the direction of taxes not being progressive enough and of the gap between the rich and the poor being tragically wide. Again, it's Democrats who get that. Republicans have been going along with Trump's trickle-down strategy, which was already proven not to work (except for rich people) by Reagan.

National

So for the general powerful positions--President, Senator, and Representative--I'll be voting Democrat (Biden/Harris, Hegar, and Oliver). I see no evidence that those particular candidates are any more corrupt than their opponents and I know their opponents are generally not going to be better at the issues I mentioned.

But then there are also a lot of more specialized positions on the ballot.

Texas

Railroad Commissioner

This person is in charge of energy and the environment (not trains). Usually it's somebody experienced in the oil industry, and that is true of both major candidates in this race.

The Democrat at least thinks we should gut the earth of all its fossil fuels in a slightly more responsible way. (The Republican has not responded to the League of Women Voters).

Currently: Leaning toward Castañeda

Texas Supreme Court Justices

No clue.

Judges

I feel like currently the criminal justice system is erring in the direction of too much incarceration (partly because of the interests of private prison owners), so I'm inclined to vote for Democrats for judge positions because they're more likely to look for ways to help criminals reform than to just toss them in prison. (Prison isn't cheap, either, at $30,000 per inmate per year.)

County

Attorney and District Attorney

No clue.

Sheriff

I have liked that our current sheriff has stood up to decrees that police should spend their time tattling on undocumented immigrants instead of fighting higher-priority crimes. But I could stand to learn more.

Tax Assessor-Collector

No idea. I vaguely remember our current guy promising things that he has not delivered.

Constable

Don't know.

County Commissioner

Don't know.

More judges

Leaning Democrat.

City

Council Member

My current council member is up for re-election. I know he cares for the little guy. I feel he is utterly not corrupt. He did use spare money to add speed humps, which I hate.

In my city there is kind of a vicious political war between the people who want to make big, scary changes to handle the scary population growth and rising housing costs (like improving mass transportation and allowing denser building) and those who think that everything is pretty and fun now and that all changes will be boring eyesores. I'm leaning toward the former. My council member is pretty extremist in that direction, and currently I like that. If everyone were that extreme, and there was no one left to remind people that different neighborhoods are unique and that souless developers shouldn't just get whatever they want, then I would be more worried.

His opponent sent something in the mail that was sickening, but in the way that lots of political bragging is sickening--saying what a bunch of problems are but not how they think they can fix them.

My vote: Casar.

AISD Board of Trustees (two positions)

No clue.

Bond propositions

To me, there are four questions to be answered:
1) Do I want the changes proposed?
2) Do I like the proposed plan for making these changes?
3) Do I trust those who are in charge to do a good job or to complete it as promised?
4) Do I think it's a fair price?

Generally, Austin clumps a huge number of things into one bond, and I want some of them and I don't want some of them, so another thing to consider is what is the proportion of good to bad.

Proposition A - Project Connect

This one is huge and hotly debated. It claims "to address traffic congestion, expand service for essential workers, reduce climate change emissions, decrease traffic fatalities, create jobs, and provide access to schools, health care, jobs and the airport; to include neighborhood supportive affordable housing investments along transit corridors and a fixed rail and bus rapid transit system, including associated road, sidewalk, bike, and street lighting improvements, park and ride hubs, on-demand neighborhood circulator shuttles, and improved access for seniors and persons with disabilities."

Yes, I would want that, but can they do it? What is the actual plan? Two more light rail lines, one commuter rail line (how is that different?), nine new park-and-ride locations, some more bus routes, "15 new neighborhood circulators providing on-demand pickup services" (whatever those are), maintenance and improvements, "conversion to an all-electric zero-emissions bus fleet," "an all-electric bike fleet integrated into the CapMetro App for bike rentals and payment," and "$300 million for purchasing land along future transit lines for affordable housing and to support policy tools that will help communities manage neighborhood change resulting from new investment along transit corridors." Wait, I like the sound of those things. I really do! (Except that there will be a lot of construction.)

Who is in charge? "to be operated by the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, expending its funds to build, operate and maintain the fixed rail and bus rapid transit system; the additional revenue raised by the tax rate is to be dedicated by the City to an independent board to oversee and finance the acquisition, construction, equipping, and operations and maintenance of the rapid transit system by providing funds for loans and grants to develop or expand transportation within the City, and to finance the transit-supportive anti-displacement strategies related to Project Connect."

In the past, I did not trust Cap Metro--they seemed to squander everything with nothing to show for it. But the last change they made (in the before times) really did seem to be an improvement (they changed a lot of routes and made a lot more of them have buses coming every 15 minutes, and mine really did come every 15 minutes). I also used to never trust the city. The Independent Board sounds good, or is it just another place money can disappear into or some brother-in-law deal?

What's the cost? "ad valorem tax rate of $0.5335 per $100 valuation." "If Proposition A passes, a homeowner whose home is valued at $250K would expect to pay an additional $197 in property taxes per year." Uh, even my house is worth more than that, so maybe double that for most people. I already pay $6,000 per year, and extra $300 is well worth it to me. Of course everyone will get charged this, an addition of 5% is significant.

But then the total cost is $7.1 billion. For the first phase. That's a lot of money for a lot of stuff. I don't know if it's a fair price.

Currently: leaning pro

Proposition B - Transit Bond

"The issuance of $460,000,000 in tax supported general obligation bonds and notes for planning, constructing, reconstructing, and improving sidewalks, urban trails, bikeways, bridges, roads, streets, intersections, and related utility and drainage infrastructure for the roads and streets; improving traffic signal synchronization and communications and control systems and acquiring and installing traffic signals and related technology to implement traffic safety and traffic fatality reduction strategies; and acquiring land and interests in land and property necessary to do so; and the levy of a tax sufficient to pay for the bonds and notes."

Apparently this includes "a plan to complete a network of trails and sidewalks, the Vision Zero road safety plan which works to eliminate traffic deaths, and several large infrastructure projects."

And there is a breakdown:
This $460 million bond proposal would fund city mobility projects, including:
$80 million for sidewalks
$80 million for urban trails
$40 million for bike lanes
$65 million for safety improvements
$20 million for Safe Routes to School
$19 million for transit enhancements
$53 million for street improvements
$102 million for large capital projects, and
$1 million for the Neighborhood Partnering Program.

I don't like bonds. I don't know what those "large capital projects" are.

I do love the people in charge of sidewalks. They carefully prioritize where to add sidewalks, starting in places with something to walk to in the less rich parts of town, and doing only one side of the street (because then you can do twice as many streets).

I used to never trust street improvement projects, because they actually turned out worse. But the traffic circle they added at 51st and I-35 actually made traffic much better (except for pedestrians trying to cross 51st on the other side of I-35), so maybe?

And the rest sounds pretty good.

About the cost: If Proposition B passes, the average homeowner in Austin would expect to pay an additional $77 in property taxes per year. That's probably 1/3 as much as the other bond, but it seems like we're getting way less stuff? But I don't know how many sidewalks, bike lanes, etc. we're talking about.

So maybe?