BG Reads | News You Need to Know (August 10, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
*NEW* BG Podcast Episode 101 - Criminal Justice Reform with José Garza, Democratic Nominee for Travis County DA (SHOW LINK)
Note: Show also available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Sound Cloud, and Stitcher
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin mayor says COVID-19 infectivity rate must be below 5% for sustained reopening of schools, businesses (KVUE News)
On Sunday morning, Austin Mayor Steve Adler warned that while the city appears to be in a COVID-19 plateau, Austinites must not get complacent.
"The virus is real and the infectivity in our community is still too high," Adler said in his weekly newsletter. "With the school year fast approaching and businesses eager to reopen, it is tempting to disregard our health officials and pretend the virus doesn't exist. We have already seen that that does not work."
Adler said that as of Sunday morning, Austin's infectivity rate is between 10 and 15% but that it must be below 5% for the sustained reopening of schools and businesses… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin and Cap Metro Board vote to create entity to guide massive Project Connect transit plan (KUT)
The Austin City Council and Capital Metro Board voted Friday to form a new local government corporation to oversee the funding and implementation of Project Connect, the transit expansion plan.
The new joint venture – the Austin Transit Partnership – will have a governing board made up of members from the Austin City Council, the Cap Metro board and experts from the community.
Last week, leaders voted to move forward with a $7 billion plan that would add two new light rail lines, a commuter rail line, a downtown transit tunnel and several bus lines to the Cap Metro system.
This week, the council will formally decide whether to put a property tax increase on the November ballot. The tax rate of 8.75 cents per $100 of property valuation would fund the expansion, as well as efforts aimed at preventing people from being displaced if the new transit lines spark pricey real estate developments.
Both bodies also passed resolutions making commitments to voters about Project Connect. The council’s version stressed $300 million in anti-displacement investments and the importance of hiring local businesses and paying a living wage to people who work on the project. The Cap Metro board's resolution committed the agency to spending millions of its own money on expansion and not cutting current service levels to pay for Project Connect… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Tesla Gigafactory could transform Del Valle area (Austin American-Statesman)
Del Valle, an underdeveloped area of southeastern Travis County that had seen minimal commercial investment for decades, was already poised for growth. Grocery chain H-E-B is sniffing around an area badly in need of a grocery store. A Chanel subsidiary has a skin care products factory in the works in the area. Software company Zoho plans to build a headquarters nearby, employing hundreds. But with last month’s announcement that Tesla Inc., the worldwide darling of the electric automobile industry, would invest at least $1 billion in the area and employ 5,000 in manufacturing jobs, many are now wondering whether its so-called gigafactory will trigger a sea change to this often neglected area of Travis County.
On 2,100 acres just off Texas 130, Tesla is already — in the words of one developer — “moving at the speed of Elon” Musk, as bulldozers move dirt to pave the way for the huge assembly plant. Work on the site comes after the county and Del Valle school officials approved a combined $60 million in local tax breaks for the California-based company run by billionaire Musk. Tesla’s arrival is expected to rev up development — bringing in jobs, retail options and more housing — in an area that historically has lacked employment centers and fundamental services. “No libraries, no community centers, no public spaces for families to enjoy, and the primary park is behind barbed wire fences,” said Travis County Commissioner Jeff Travillion, whose district covers a large part of the Del Valle area, including the Tesla site. Development in the area could transform a community whose residents are nearly twice as likely to be Black compared with Travis County as a whole. The area’s concentration of Latino families is also above average for the county. As in many communities of color, the household incomes lag those in areas with a larger percentage of whites. Within Del Valle Independent School District’s boundaries, the average median income is $20,000 less than Travis County at large, according to U.S. Census Bureau data… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
First trial of a coronavirus vaccine under way in Houston (Houston Chronicle)
Linda Lamberth dutifully wears a mask and practices social distancing, but at 66, she figures a little additional protection couldn’t hurt. So Lamberth rolled up her sleeve Friday and became the first participant in a Baylor College of Medicine clinical trial testing the effectiveness of an experimental coronavirus vaccine, one of the world’s great hopes to halt the pandemic and restore a semblance of normalcy. “There needs to be a vaccine, and if I can help that process, I thought that was something I should do,” said Lamberth, a Spring resident who works in a Texas Medical Center laboratory that conducts research on bacteria. “It’s nice to know that my taking the vaccine could make life safer for other generations, both younger and older, and that if evidence from the trial shows it works, it’ll make others want to get it.”
The Baylor trial brings to Houston the latest chapter in the battle against the coronavirus — pivotal, late-stage testing of a vaccine candidate developed in record time using new genetic technology. If it works, it could result in more wide-scale deployment by early next year. The vaccine, arguably the most hyped of the many coronavirus vaccines in development, was made by the biotech firm Moderna. At the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, researchers last week began testing another genetic vaccine, made by Pfizer and the German firm BioNTech. The vaccines, both part of President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed project to accelerate an effort that usually takes years, are the two furthest along of more than 100 in development. Through the two trials, 60,000 people will receive either the vaccine or a placebo at more than 200 sites this summer. Neither participant nor medical staff providing the inoculations will know which is being given… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Restaurants, bars and breweries scramble to reinvent themselves to get around Gov. Greg Abbott's bar shutdown (Texas Tribune)
Hundreds of Texas bars and restaurants are scrambling to change how they operate, maneuvering through loopholes that will allow them to reopen after being closed by Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest shutdown targeting bars.
Abbott has shut bars down twice since the coronavirus pandemic emerged in Texas. The first time bars were swept up in a total lockdown of statewide businesses. But the second time, on June 26, Abbott singled bars out while allowing virtually every other kind of business in Texas to stay open.
But other operations such as restaurants that sell a lot of booze, wineries and breweries were ensnared in the same order and also forced to close because alcohol sales exceeded 51% of total revenue, meaning they were classified as bars.
“Generally everyone has a common sense understanding: ‘What is a bar? And what is a restaurant?’ I think that 51% rule is so broad that it actually picks up or encompasses businesses that we would normally think of as really being restaurants,” said State Rep. John Wray, R-Waxahachie, one of more than 65 lawmakers who signed a letter asking Abbott to update his order’s definition of a restaurant.
Wray gave the example of a burger restaurant, where a patron might buy a burger and two beers. Oftentimes, the beer will cost more than the food, but that doesn’t make the restaurant a bar, he said.
Emily Williams Knight, Texas Restaurant Association president, estimates that about 1,500 restaurants ranging from steak houses to coffee shops that sell wine were “inadvertently” forced to close when Abbott shut down bars, translating to about 35,000 lost jobs in the state… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says local governments can't stop or delay evictions (Texas Tribune)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton advised Friday that local Texas governments' attempts to delay evictions for renters grappling with the COVID-19 recession amounted to rewriting state law — something they can't do, he said in nonbinding legal guidance.
“While local officials do possess certain emergency powers ... statewide eviction procedures far exceed the requirement that those powers be exercised 'on an appropriate local scale,'” Paxton said in a letter. “Government Code does not authorize local governmental entities operating under a declared disaster to independently rewrite state law as it applies to their jurisdiction to prohibit, delay, or restrict the issuance of a notice to vacate.”
Paxton’s letter, issued in response to a question from Republican state Sen. Brandon Creighton of Conroe, seems to chide local officials like Austin Mayor Steve Adler, who last month extended the eviction moratorium in the city until Sept. 30. Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe extended his ban until the same date. In other counties, like Harris and Dallas, some justices of the peace have decided to not hear evictions. It is unclear if Paxton’s opinion will influence those judges… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
What a NIMBY victory in Plano means for the future of urban planning in Texas (D Magazine)
The final death knell for one of the most promising, forward-thinking urban planning efforts in North Texas sounded Aug. 5. During a joint session of the city of Plano’s City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission, Plano officials are expected to vote to repeal the city’s Plano Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan and replace it with the 1986 master plan—literally putting Plano a generation behind on planning for its future growth and success. The Plano Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 2015, and since then, it has been embroiled in a long legal feud seeking its repeal. Opponents feared the new plan and said it would allow dangerous amounts of density that would erode the suburban city’s character. To me, the Plano Tomorrow plan looked like exactly the kind of urban planning vision that could begin to reverse the damaging effects of 70 years of sprawl-style suburban growth.
That style of growth, while often trumpeted as the bedrock of the region’s incredible economic success, has also proven to treat North Texas cities and communities like disposable commodities, cycling urban neighborhoods and inner-ring suburbs alike through a series of booms and busts. The short-term economic gains of sprawl-style growth do not pay for the ultimate erosion of tax bases, inequitable transfers of wealth, and hidden costs of living. Plano was once the poster child of sprawl, which made the Plano Tomorrow plan even more extraordinary and revolutionary. The plan recognized that the pattern of growth that has defined the last 70 years of urban expansion in North Texas will not allow the region to remain sustainable, and it charted a new path forward. It allowed for pockets of density, rethought how to integrate transit into a highway-dominated city, and accommodated for a deepening tax base driven by a mix of commercial and residential investment. It reimagined the suburban city not as a commuter-berg of single-family houses flanked by highways and strip centers, but as a vibrant, resilient community unto itself. Plano Tomorrow wasn’t perfect, but it recognized reality: more than a half-century of economic growth has transformed Plano from an ideal suburban utopia into a more dynamic and complex city, with large job centers, an expanding commercial base, and demand for a diversity of housing, services, and mobility options. But that was too much for some Plano residents. They fought the adoption of the plan through the courts while waging a disinformation campaign that drudged up tired clichés about density and urban life… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Dallas councilman vows to help builders untangle permitting process (Dallas Morning News)
A Dallas city councilman is pledging to help local builders who are struggling with a slowdown in the city’s building permit process. Since the start of the pandemic, homebuilders say they’ve faced delays in getting permits to begin new construction project. The city of Dallas has shifted almost all of its permitting process to an online platform to keep workers and the public safe from COVID-19.
But builders say glitches with the web-based system can sometimes add a month or more to getting approvals to start their projects. Dallas councilman Chad West said he will work to set up a concierge program to help builders, and he wants an efficiency study for the city’s building permitting process. One option is to privatize some of the services, which are now backed up, West said. “To provide basic services like public safety, streets and sidewalk repair, and maintenance of parks and libraries, the city relies on sales tax and property taxes,” West said in an email. “Sales taxes are going to take a big hit due to COVID… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Trump signs executive actions on coronavirus economic relief (NBC News)
President Donald Trump signed four executive actions Saturday for coronavirus economic relief, upending negotiations with Congress after lawmakers failed to reach a deal on Friday.
The executive actions defer payroll taxes through the end of the year for Americans earning less than $100,000 a year.
They also defer student loan payments through the end of the year; discourage evictions; and extend enhanced unemployment benefits that expired last week, but at a reduced level of $400 instead of the prior $600.
The payroll-tax memo defers rather than eliminates them, which means the government could choose to collect the money at a later date. Nothing in the order requires employers to stop withholding the tax, which is earmarked to pay for Social Security and Medicare, and it is not clear how many will do so, considering that all the money may have to be paid back… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Postal Service overhauls leadership as Democrats press for investigation of mail delays (Washington Post)
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy unveiled a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s mail service, displacing the two top executives overseeing day-to-day operations, according to a reorganization memo released Friday. The shake-up came as congressional Democrats called for an investigation of DeJoy and the cost-cutting measures that have slowed mail delivery and ensnared ballots in recent primary elections. Twenty-three postal executives were reassigned or displaced, the new organizational chart shows. Analysts say the structure centralizes power around DeJoy, a former logistics executive and major ally of President Trump, and de-emphasizes decades of institutional postal knowledge. All told, 33 staffers included in the old postal hierarchy either kept their jobs or were reassigned in the restructuring, with five more staffers joining the leadership from other roles.
The reshuffling threatens to heighten tensions between postal officials and lawmakers, who are troubled by delivery delays — the Postal Service banned employees from working overtime and making extra trips to deliver mail — and wary of the Trump administration’s influence on the Postal Service as the coronavirus pandemic rages and November’s election draws near. It also adds another layer to DeJoy’s disputes with Democratic leaders, who have pushed him to rescind the cost-cutting directives that have caused days-long backlogs and steady the Postal Service in the run-up to the election. DeJoy clashed with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), in a meeting on the issue earlier this week. Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), chair of the House subcommittee responsible for postal oversight, called the reorganization “a deliberate sabotage” to the nation’s mail service and a “Trojan Horse.” David E. Williams, formerly chief operating officer and executive vice president, will take the role of chief logistics and processing operations officer, a new position for a trusted adviser to former postmaster general Megan Brennan and members of the agency’s governing board. A new organizational chart also gives Williams the title “executive vice president,” though that role was not included in the internal restructuring announcement obtained by The Washington Post. The Postal Service’s Kevin L. McAdams, the vice president of delivery and retail operations and a 40-year USPS veteran, was not listed on the chart… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Trump antagonizes GOP megadonor Adelson in heated phone call (Politico)
When President Donald Trump connected by phone last week with Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson — perhaps the only person in the party who can cut a nine-figure check to aid his reelection — the phone call unexpectedly turned contentious. The 87-year-old casino mogul had reached out to Trump to talk about the coronavirus relief bill and the economy. But then Trump brought the conversation around to the campaign and confronted Adelson about why he wasn’t doing more to bolster his reelection, according to three people with direct knowledge of the call. One of the people said it was apparent the president had no idea how much Adelson, who’s donated tens of millions of dollars to pro-Trump efforts over the years, had helped him. Adelson chose not to come back at Trump. When word of the call circulated afterward, Republican Party officials grew alarmed the president had antagonized one of his biggest benefactors at a precarious moment in his campaign. They rushed to smooth things over with him, but the damage may have been done.
Adelson's allies say it’s unclear whether the episode will dissuade the Las Vegas mogul — long regarded as a financial linchpin for Trump’s reelection — from helping the president down the home stretch. A White House spokesman declined to comment. The president needs the money. With less than three months until the election, he is overwhelmed by a flood of liberal super PAC spending that his party has failed to match. Since this spring, outside groups supporting Joe Biden have outspent their pro-Trump counterparts nearly 3-to-1, an influx that’s helped to erase the president’s longstanding financial advantage. Now, Republican leaders are pleading to billionaires for help. Trump advisers are pining for new outside groups to form, and the White House is growing anxious to see what Adelson, who has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into Republican super PACs over the past decade, will do. “It’s important that the word get out to donors that we need the super PACs and we need them to step up to the plate,” said Club for Growth President David McIntosh, whose group is poised to launch a $5 million TV campaign next week. “There hasn’t been the urgency on the super PAC side. But now we’re seeing that you’ve got to take care of that, too.” The avalanche of spending on the left isn’t expected to end anytime soon. Pro-Biden groups have reserved over $70 million on the TV airwaves between now and the election, while Trump-allied groups have booked just $42 million, according to the media tracking firm Advertising Analytics… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
The Bingham Group, LLC is an Austin-based full service lobbying firm representing and advising clients on municipal, legislative, and regulatory matters throughout Texas.
PLEASE RESHARE and FOLLOW:
Twitter #binghamgp
Instagram #binghamgp