BG Reads | News You Need to Know (June 19, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
*NEW* COVID-19 City of Austin’s Mask Order
Issued Wednesday, the order states commercial entities in the city that provide goods and services directly to the public must come up with a health and safety policy that — at the minimum — requires employees and visitors to wear face coverings. Businesses have to start implementing the policy, which must be posted somewhere employees and customers can see it, by Tuesday.
*NEW* BG PODCAST Episode 93: Processing with Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette, President/CEO at Huston-Tillotson University (SHOW LINK)
Today's podcast features returning guest Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette, Ed.D., President and CEO of Huston-Tillotson University (HT), a private historically black university located in Austin’s East Side.
She and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss the state of world in HT’s corner including the May, including the June 7th Black Lives Matter protest sparked by the murder of George Floyd, adapting to COVID-19, and ways organizations can support the university.
Note: Show also available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Sound Cloud, and Stitcher
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin Police Chief Brian Manley Will Keep His Job, City Says, Despite Calls For His Removal (KUT)
Austin Police Chief Brian Manley will stay in his position, a city spokesperson confirmed in an email Thursday.
“I have had very pointed conversations with Chief Manley over the last several weeks,” City Manager Spencer Cronk also said in the email. “He has assured me he is sincerely committed to making the reforms necessary.”
Local activists have called for Manley to be fired, but the police chief cannot be fired, per state law. Instead, he can only be demoted to the position he held before chief, and the only person who has the power to do that is Cronk.
Over the past two weeks, five council members publicly called for new leadership of the police department or asked Manley to resign, after police seriously injured at least two people during protests against systemic racism and police violence.
"I believe the honorable thing would be for you to resign,” Council Member Greg Casar told Manley earlier this month… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Tesla could get more than $60M in tax breaks to choose Travis County site (Austin American-Statesman)
In a bid to help lure Tesla to Central Texas, the Del Valle school district southeast of Austin is considering an incentives deal that could save the electric automaker up to $68 million on its property tax bill over 10 years if it brings a major assembly plant — and thousands of jobs — to Travis County.
The proposed agreement — which was made public by the Texas comptroller’s office Thursday — calls for Tesla to build a 4-million- to 5-million-square-foot facility that would eventually employ 5,000 or more workers on a site just off Texas 130 in southeastern Travis County. If the Del Valle school board approves the agreement and Tesla moves forward with the factory there, construction could start in the third quarter of this year and take two to three years to complete, according to documents filed with the Texas Comptroller’s Office.
The Travis County commissioners are also considering a separate incentives agreement with Tesla, but the terms have not been made public. It has not yet been approved by the Commissioners Court. Gov. Greg Abbott’s office has not said whether the state is also considering offering incentive money from the Texas Enterprise Fund… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin's hot hotel industry won't rebound fully until after 2024, report says (Austin Business Journal)
Austin’s hotel industry won’t fully recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and recession until after 2024, according to a new report from CBRE Group Inc.
Because it typically has high hotel occupancy rates — 72.1% in 2019 — the Austin area was hit harder by the pandemic than other cities and likely won’t return to those numbers for years, said Jeff Binford, managing director of CBRE Hotels South Central Division.
“Austin runs higher occupancies than most other Texas markets,” he said. “It is going to take a little bit longer to get back up to where they were.”
Average daily room rates in the Austin area are expected to bounce back and exceed the average seen at the end of 2019, $144.08, before the end of 2023, Binford said. Revenue per available room, better known as RevPAR, isn’t expected to reach 2019 levels until after 2024… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas students will return to school campuses this fall, Gov. Greg Abbott tells lawmakers (Texas Tribune)
Texas students will be returning to public schools in person this fall, Gov. Greg Abbott told state lawmakers Thursday morning.
The state's top education officials confirmed the plans in a statement to The Texas Tribune.
"It will be safe for Texas public school students, teachers, and staff to return to school campuses for in-person instruction this fall. But there will also be flexibility for families with health concerns so that their children can be educated remotely, if the parent so chooses," said Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath.
When students return, school districts will not be required to mandate students wear masks or test them for COVID-19 symptoms, said Frank Ward, a spokesperson for the Texas Education Agency… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott forming work group for legislative responses to George Floyd’s death (Dallas Morning News)
In response to social unrest and nationwide calls for change after the death of George Floyd, an African American man, at the hands of police, Gov. Greg Abbott is forming a work group to tackle criminal justice issues ahead of the 2021 legislative session. During a virtual town hall meeting Wednesday night, Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, said the governor had called him and Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, about joining the work group. “I want to tell him that rather than trying to design something that will pass, I think we need to start with designing something that takes care of the problem,” said Dutton, who leads the Texas Legislative Black Caucus.
John Wittman, an Abbott spokesman, confirmed the governor’s request to the lawmakers. He could not provide more information on the work group. Dutton criticized Abbott earlier this month for not including black lawmakers in discussions about how to respond to Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police last month, which has sparked national unrest and calls for systemic change against police brutality and racism. Derek Chauvin, the white police officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes while Floyd said he could not breathe, was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. On a town hall with the caucus’ North Texas delegation on Tuesday, Collier had also criticized Abbott… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Juneteenth takes on added meaning as nation remembers George Floyd, leaders push for federal holiday (Houston Chronicle)
Juneteenth festivities at Houston's Emancipation Park 2 of 11Juneteenth festivities at Houston's Emancipation ParkPhoto: Emancipation Park Conservancy In this June 17, 2020, photo, a statue depicts a man holding the state law that made Juneteenth a state holiday in Galveston, Texas. The inscription on the statue reads "On June 19, 1865, at the close of the Civil War, U.S. Army General Gordon Granger issued an order in Galveston stating that the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation was in effect. That event, later known as "Juneteenth," marked the end of slavery in Texas. Celebrated as a day of freedom since then, Juneteenth grew into an international commemoration and in 1979 became an official Texas holiday through the efforts of the late state Rep. Al Edwards. 3 of 11In this June 17, 2020, photo, a statue depicts a man holding the state law that made Juneteenth a state holiday in Galveston, Texas. The inscription on the statue reads "On June 19, 1865, at the close of the Civil War, U.S. Army General Gordon Granger issued an order in Galveston stating that the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation was in effect. Photo: David J. Phillip, STF / Associated Press Nine months ago, Sam Collins III joined a group of 30 or so people who walked with 92-year old Opal Lee on a 2.5-mile tour of Galveston’s historic landmarks to raise awareness for recognizing Juneteenth as a national day of observance. Lee, a Fort Worth resident, hosts the walk around the county to represent the 2.5-year lapse between President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 and June 19, 1865, the day slavery was officially abolished when Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger of the Union Army arrived in Galveston. While Lee’s walks, including the one in Galveston in September, gained widespread media coverage, a petition she established to make Juneteenth a national day of observance had not picked up steam. But in recent weeks, Collins, a local historian, watched something extraordinary happen: Lee’s Juneteenth petition, which as recently as a month ago had been stuck at around 10,000 signatures, surged to over 300,000 as of Thursday.
The momentum is fueled largely by the viral video of George Floyd, a Houston native who died last month as a Minneapolis police officer pinned him to the ground with a knee to the neck for nearly nine minutes. Floyd’s death has sparked an ongoing wave of Black Lives Matter protests and demands for police reform. Pitched furor from activists erupted over President Donald Trump’s decision to hold a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma — the scene of a horrific race massacre in 1921 — on Juneteenth. Trump delayed the rally by a day “out of respect,” a move he later boasted “made Juneteenth very famous.” “The initial number (Congress) told us we had to have was 100,000 (signatures) to even get it on the radar screen,” Collins said. “The message of freedom ultimately is what individuals are celebrating.” While Juneteenth is already recognized as a state holiday in 47 states, several companies, including Twitter, Nike and the Houston Texans, have announced in recent days that they will offer it as a paid day off for employees. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this week he was signing an executive order recognizing Juneteenth as a paid holiday for state employees, calling it “a day we should all reflect upon.” In Congress, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said Thursday that she had introduced a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, also sponsored a resolution honoring Juneteenth, which passed the Senate on Monday… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Trump whacked from within by John Bolton (AXIOS)
John Bolton's brutal memoir about his 17 months in the White House portrays President Trump as an easy mark for dictators and others who know how easily he falls for flattery. Why it matters: There has never been — and may never be — another book like this. Trump's national security adviser took hyper-detailed, real-time notes, and is sharing them with the world just nine months after leaving.
The Justice Department last night asked a federal judge for an emergency temporary restraining order against publication of "The Room Where It Happened," scheduled for next Tuesday. But it's too late: Axios and other news organizations already have copies, and reviews and extensive excerpts were posted yesterday. Trump told the Wall Street Journal in an interview last night that Bolton "is a liar": "[E]verybody in the White House hated John Bolton." The most damaging revelations concern the president's efforts to cozy up to Chinese President Xi Jinping— revealed during an election season when Trump wants to portray himself as tough on China and Biden as a patsy. Bolton said Trump gave Xi the green light to build concentration camps in Xinjiang, and "stressed the importance of farmers, and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat" to his own re-election… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
How the Trump campaign’s plans for a triumphant rally went awry (New York Times)
Brad Parscale, the Trump campaign manager, needed to find a host city for the president’s triumphant return to the campaign trail, and he didn’t have much time. Reviewing a list of potential locations over the past few weeks, Mr. Parscale quickly settled on Tulsa, Okla., people familiar with the planning said in interviews, mostly because it seemed easy. A deep red state President Trump carried by 36 percentage points four years ago, Oklahoma wasn’t in play for the November election. But it was the furthest along of any state in the country in terms of reopening, and it had seen fewer than 400 Covid-19 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. A city with a supportive Republican mayor, where the coronavirus was no longer having a deep impact on daily life, seemed like the most effortless way to pack an arena and deliver Mr. Trump the adulatory validation he craved.
But instead of offering Mr. Trump a glide path back into the campaign season, where he could sell a message about a country overcoming daunting challenges, Mr. Trump’s Tulsa rally has become yet another flash point for a candidate who has repeatedly displayed insensitivity about race in America and ignited controversies and divided people with his use of racist language. It is coming at a deeply painful time for the country, when protests, riots and police violence have roiled major cities in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, a black man, at the hands of white police officers. Mr. Trump and his aides failed to grasp the significance of holding a rally on Juneteenth, a holiday celebrated annually on June 19 that honors the end of slavery in the United States. Nor did they appear to realize that Tulsa was the site of one of the country’s bloodiest outbreaks of racist violence. “Think about it as a celebration,” Mr. Trump said in an interview with Fox News when asked if the date was intentional. “My rally is a celebration.” About 30 hours later, he changed the date to Saturday. Ignoring Tulsa’s troubled history, as well as the Juneteenth holiday, has put the community on edge as the rally approaches, and refocused attention on how few African-American aides work on Mr. Trump’s campaign or in the White House… (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.
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