BG Reads | News You Need to Know (December 18, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
***NEW*** BG PODCAST - Episode 118 - 2020 Review & What's Next with George Elliman, CEO & Publisher, TRIBEZA
On today’s episode Bingham Group CEO A.J. speaks with George Elliman, CEO & Publisher, TRIBEZA. Founded in March 2001, TRIBEZA is Austin's leading locally-owned arts, culture and lifestyle magazine, covering the arts, fashion, architecture and design, music, community events and cuisine. A.J. and George discuss the pandemic’s impact on the magazine, look back on TRIBEZA’s history on the eve of its 20th anniversary, and what’s on the horizon.
Pre-filed bills for the 87th Texas Legislature:
[AUSTIN METRO]
CapMetro, Austin City Council to create new board for Prop A (Austin American-Statesman)
The Austin City Council and Capital Metro's board of directors will hold a joint meeting Friday that will finalize the creation of a new governing board that will dictate how to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on public transit.
Both bodies are meeting at 1 p.m. On the agenda are items formalizing the creation and incorporation of the Austin Transit Partnership, a government corporation designed to oversee the day-to-day operations of implementing Project Connect, the $7.1 billion public transit plan approved by voters in November. The boards also will vote on the membership of the Austin Transit Partnership's board.
The Austin City Council will pick one board member. CapMetro's board will pick another. Three other members will be nominated by a committee that interviewed numerous applicants.Mayor Steve Adler appears to be the consensus pick from the City Council. Adler floated his willingness to serve on the board earlier this week and hasn't faced any public opposition.
A nominating committee made up of CapMetro board members and City Council members will nominate Colette Pierce Burnette, Veronica Castro de Barrera and Tony Elkins for positions on the board reserved for transit experts.
The choice from CapMetro's board remains unclear.
Pierce Burnette is president of Huston-Tillotson University. She also was the treasurer of the pro-Proposition A political action committee Mobility For All. Castro de Barrera is the founding principal of VCdB Architecture & Art, a local design consulting practice. Elkins is a transportation and financing professional who has worked for WSP and Cintra… (LINK TO STORY)
City lays out diversity goals in next round of arts, tourism funding (Austin Monitor)
Groups that have been historically overlooked and underrepresented in the city’s cultural community will have priority in the Economic Development Department’s spending for cultural and tourism programs in the next budget year.
During an online meeting held last Saturday, the heads of three EDD divisions that allocate money from the Hotel Occupancy Tax – Heritage Tourism, Music and Entertainment, and Cultural Arts – discussed a variety of new programs that will emphasize diversity and inclusion in their award decisions.
The presentation was the latest in a series of input and planning sessions that will shape the official policy for the programs, with EDD expected to present basic guidelines to the public by the end of January.
From the outset, city officials explained that applications from Black and African American, Native American, Asian, Hispanic/Latino, Middle Eastern, Pacific Islander, LGBTQ and disability communities are of special interest for funding, with the goal of increasing opportunities and presenting those perspectives to tourists.
“We know Austin is a diverse and culturally rich city, so the artistic and creative content we’re seeking to pull up, highlight and elevate is born of the ability for artists to create a sense of belonging for so many … and for that inclusion to include more stories and perspectives of those people who have made Austin the culturally rich place that it is,” said Meghan Wells, manager of the Cultural Arts Division.
“Historically we’ve not had a platform to share that with the broader community and our tourists to continue to add to the identity we have as a city.”
Each department is either adapting existing funding programs or creating new ones specifically to address the need for diversity that the Arts Commission and other stakeholders have asked the city to highlight.
The total amount of funding for each program is unclear in some cases because the hotel tax revenue projections are still being determined, but individual award caps and initial criteria have been outlined… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin home prices climb sky-high as real estate experts issue warning to city leaders (CultreMap Austin)
At this point, we're running out of ways to say: Austin's real estate market is on fire. November was another record-breaking month following a record-breaking October, September, and August.
Despite the sky-high numbers, local real estate experts quoted in the Austin Board of Realtors' November Central Texas Housing Report issued a stern warning: this growth is not sustainable.
"While we’re grateful that the housing market rapidly recovered, last month’s numbers should give us all pause,” said Romeo Manzanilla, 2020 ABoR president, in the report. “Central Texans who could not find a property within Austin’s city limits have historically been able to expand their searches outward to find a home. But, when the entire region has virtually zero inventory, its leaders must think about how such a broad lack of housing will ultimately impact Austin’s suitability as a destination for businesses and economic growth.”
And if Oracle's recent relocation announcement isn't evidence enough, that economic growth is showing no signs of slowing down. Austin's residential real estate market, which has struggled with affordability and inventory over the past five years, simply needs more housing.
“With a steady influx of job creation in the pipeline, the housing market will continue to post strong numbers well into 2021,” said Mark Sprague of Independence Title. “But, because Austin’s housing market is not slowing down, we will continue to see demand outpace the inventory available. This growth is not sustainable. The one variable that will hold the market back is the lack of inventory.”… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
Amid COVID resurgence, Gov. Abbott hails COVID vaccine as 'miracle,' no hint of lockdown (San Antonio Express-News)
Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday applauded the arrival of the new coronavirus vaccine, calling it a “monumental medical miracle” as he sought to boost morale amid some of the pandemic’s toughest days.
Speaking outside a UPS distribution center in Austin, the governor painted an especially rosy picture of the weeks ahead, promising a swift vaccine rollout even as national supplies are limited and the state is reporting high numbers of new daily infections. Hospitals in some cities across Texas are being overrun with COVID-19 patients. The vaccine, which began rolling out on Monday, “is on a daily basis saving lives and beginning to restore normalcy in our community,” Abbott said. About 90,000 doses have been distributed in Texas already, and another 150,000 were being shipped out on Thursday. The first batch is intended for health care workers treating COVID-19 patients… (LINK TO STORY)
Texas officials expect it to take months for coronavirus vaccine to be available to anyone who wants it (Texas Tribune)
Texans can expect to see “widespread distribution” of COVID-19 vaccines by March to recipients beyond the front-line health care workers who are currently receiving them, including teachers and senior citizens, Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday.
“There will be multiple vaccines available to us by the time we get to March, and we’ll be providing far more doses of vaccines than what we currently have,” he said in remarks from the UPS Distribution Center in Austin. Abbott added that he had not gotten the vaccine but will “at the appropriate time.”
The governor and the state’s leading health authority both stopped short of saying that a vaccine would be available to anyone who wants it in that short time frame.
“It’ll still be weeks, perhaps months, before it is absolutely available to anyone who chooses to have it, and also in the meantime we need to continue the kinds of things that have gotten us this successful so far,” said Texas Department of State Health Services Commissioner John Hellerstedt. "I can guarantee you that there's still an emphasis on increasing our capacity to have these vaccines as soon as possible and at as great a quantity as possible.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Texans have filed nearly 4 million unemployment claims during coronavirus pandemic (Texas Tribune)
The week ending Dec. 12, a total of 35,618 Texans filed initial applications for unemployment relief.
Nearly 4 million people have filed for unemployment relief since the beginning of the pandemic, and the state’s unemployment rate remains nearly double what it was at the start of the year. Texas’ sales tax revenues — the largest source of funding for the state budget — have created a shortfall that officials will have to fill.
The state’s outdated and understaffed unemployment insurance office has left countless Texans confused and without unemployment benefits. An extra $600 weekly unemployment payment that was part of a federal relief bill expired in July. In August, the state received federal funding to provide an extra $300 every week for people who have lost their jobs. However, nearly 350,000 unemployed Texans didn't qualify for the extra benefit, and the payments ended in September.
When eviction moratoriums were lifted in July, unemployed renters faced a system that housing attorneys — and some eviction judges — say is already stacked against tenants. In September, the federal government announced a nationwide eviction moratorium that could protect millions of Texans from being evicted.
Economists say weakened oil prices, high unemployment and the ongoing public health crisis will slow Texas’ economic recovery… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Biden to pick North Carolina regulator Michael Regan to lead EPA (NPR)
President-elect Joe Biden will name Michael Regan, North Carolina's environment secretary and a former EPA official, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a source familiar with the decision who spoke about private conversations on the basis of anonymity.
If confirmed by the Senate, Regan would be the first African American man to run the EPA. He stands to inherit an agency that has been ground zero as the Trump administration rolled back climate and pollution regulations.
Biden has promised to make climate change a top priority, which would make the head of the EPA a major player in the new administration. The agency regulates pollution released by cars and trucks, industrial facilities, oil and gas wells, and power plants, and keeps track of U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause global warming… (LINK TO STORY)
Biden makes historic pick with Haaland for Interior secretary (The Hill)
Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) has been selected to lead the Interior Department in President-elect Joe Biden's administration, making history as the first Native American tapped for a Cabinet position.
Haaland, who has been backed by a number of progressive groups as well as tribes, would take over a sprawling, 70,000-person agency with a mandate from Biden to help deliver on his climate promises.
“A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior,” Haaland said in a statement thanking Biden for the nomination.
“As our country faces the impacts of climate change and environmental injustice, the Interior has a role and I will be a partner in addressing these challenges by protecting our public lands and moving our country towards a clean energy future."
If confirmed by the Senate, Haaland would likely deliver a significant turnaround for an agency that has rolled back environmental and endangered species protections and expanded oil and gas drilling. Biden has pledged to bar any new oil and gas leasing on public lands — an effort likely to require action from Interior… (LINK TO STORY)