Good early Friday morning --

A few more updates this morning:

• AAS Reports on Why Prop Q Went Down and What Comes Next

The Austin American-Statesman’s Tony Plohetski reports on the stunning Prop Q defeat. This story is a must read.

‘A taxpayer revolt:’ What Prop Q’s defeat says about Austin’s current politics

An examination of why Austin voters resoundingly rejected the 20% property tax hike — and what comes next.

When she went to the polls during early voting, Rachel Walker felt pressure from some fellow progressives to support Austin’s Proposition Q tax increase, believing it would help fund crucial services, including ongoing initiatives to address homelessness.

But the 39-year-old waitress who lives in East Austin also questioned whether years of city spending had really helped that many people get off the streets, and feared her landlord could raise her rent to offset the tax hike.

“I’m already working seven days a week, and I can’t work eight,” she said. “And I don’t know what the City Council is doing with their money, so there is cynicism there for sure.”

The resounding defeat of Prop Q on Tuesday showed Walker’s concerns were widely shared.

The outcome, which served as a litmus test for how residents view the performance of local government in Austin, laid bare months of growing distrust that will continue to reverberate through City Hall and shape multiple City Council races next year.

Prop Q’s 63% loss among Travis, Williamson and Hays County voters represents harsh disapproval of the City Council’s ability to manage its finances, according to political experts, voters and city leaders themselves. Those mounting concerns came amid recent revelations that the city spent $1.1 million on a rebranding effort that produced a widely unpopular new logo and ongoing reporting by the American-Statesman that questioned discretionary spending among city officials that was out of step with their peers – and at times, the city’s own rules.

But the defeat also occurred amid an era of distrust in government that political observers say has trickled from national to local – and what voters such as Walker perceive as broader instability that made them less willing to open their wallets to a tax increase of about $300 a year for the average Austin homeowner.

A ‘tough environment’ for Prop Q

As a whole, Americans are concerned about affordability and the economy, Joshua Blank, research director of