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The link is a transcript of this NPR Planet Money podcast: https://www.npr.org/2019/10/18/771371881/episode-945-the-liberty-city https://www.npr.org/2019/10/18/

The link is a transcript of this NPR Planet Money podcast: https://www.npr.org/2019/10/18/771371881/episode-945-the-liberty-city https://www.npr.org/2019/10/18/771371881/episode-945-the-lib... TL;DR: A rural city was afraid of being taken over by San Antonio, they decided to become a city to defend against this. They wanted to keep city taxes low, and the plan was to attract big chains, to monetize the traffic on the Interstate via sales taxes. None of the chains would build because there was no sewer system. Residents generally feel the "liberty city" experiment is failing them, but the guy behind it feels it is succeeding because they have very low taxes. Now, however, they are starting to make money off speeding tickets. (from memory, listened to it yesterday or the day before) I highly recommend Planet Money, it's one of my favorite podcasts.

Hamuko 7y ago
>None of the chains would build because there was no sewer system. They also spent quite some time negotiating with San Antonio to connect them to their sewer network. The final deal would've had San Antonio covering most of the costs, but the mayor of Von Ormy refused to raise taxes or take a loan to cover the deal.
redonk 7y ago
So you’re saying it’s everyone’s third game of Cities: Skylines, but brought to life in excruciatingly real time?
HarryHirsch 7y ago
They want to increase the revenue from speeding tickets from 60 kUSD to 250 kUSD. That sounds promising, wasn't there a town in North Florida that got slapped with a consent decree because it relied on traffic fines as well for revenue and went completely overboard with speed traps? Farming motorists for revenue really does wonders for the perception of law enforcement.
- rhizome 7y ago
  Here's a recent dive into the problem: https://www.governing.com/topics/finance/gov-addicted-to-fines.html https://www.governing.com/topics/finance/gov-addicted-to-fin...
SilasX 7y ago
Thank you. It was a pain trying to piece that together from the transcript.
selimthegrim 7y ago
This sounds redolent of the saga of (recently revived by court order) Damascus, OR.

Hamuko 7y ago

>None of the chains would build because there was no sewer system. They also spent quite some time negotiating with San Antonio to connect them to their sewer network. The final deal would've had San Antonio covering most of the costs, but the mayor of Von Ormy refused to raise taxes or take a loan to cover the deal.

redonk 7y ago

So you’re saying it’s everyone’s third game of Cities: Skylines, but brought to life in excruciatingly real time?

HarryHirsch 7y ago

They want to increase the revenue from speeding tickets from 60 kUSD to 250 kUSD. That sounds promising, wasn't there a town in North Florida that got slapped with a consent decree because it relied on traffic fines as well for revenue and went completely overboard with speed traps? Farming motorists for revenue really does wonders for the perception of law enforcement.

rhizome 7y ago
Here's a recent dive into the problem: https://www.governing.com/topics/finance/gov-addicted-to-fines.html https://www.governing.com/topics/finance/gov-addicted-to-fin...

SilasX 7y ago

Thank you. It was a pain trying to piece that together from the transcript.

selimthegrim 7y ago

This sounds redolent of the saga of (recently revived by court order) Damascus, OR.