BG Reads | News You Need to Know (November 5, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
*NEW* BG Blog: By the Numbers: Austin and Travis County 2020 Election Results (BLOG LINK)
[AUSTIN METRO]
What's Project Connect's first stop after Austin voters handily pass Prop A? (KUT)
Before any shiny new train and bus lines hit the streets of Austin, the less glamorous work of planning and administration must begin.
The Austin City Council and Capital Metro Board will meet next month to discuss appointments to a new local government corporation that will oversee the transit expansion, known as Project Connect.
The announcement comes just a day after Austin voters overwhelmingly supported Proposition A, the ballot measure that raises property taxes to help fund the $7.1 billion plan for new train and bus lines, park and rides and other transit improvements.
The new Austin Transit Partnership will be led by a five-member board. One member will come from the council and another from the Cap Metro board. There will also be an expert in finance, one in engineering and another in community planning. The board must be seated by Jan. 1, according to a City of Austin memo released Wednesday.
“That’s perhaps job number one: finding the leadership for that board,” said Wade Cooper, chair of the Cap Metro board. “We don’t want to waste a single day here.”
While major projects like the new Blue and Orange Line light rail trains are several years away, Cooper said other parts of the plan will be in place sooner.
Cap Metro has already begun the process of requesting federal funding to help with an expansion of MetroRapid limited bus stop service, including a new line in East Austin along Pleasant Valley Road. Upgrades on the Red Line to add new stations and capacity are also planned for the next few years.
Officials are anticipating that federal grants could cover 45% of the costs of major projects.
Prop A enjoyed wide support from a coalition of community groups, which said they continue to be involved in shaping the plan… (LINK TO STORY)
Planning Commission postpones ‘Statesman’ tract cases (Austin Monitor)
In its Oct. 27 meeting, the Planning Commission indefinitely postponed consideration of neighborhood plan amendment and rezoning cases related to transforming the Austin American-Statesman site at 305 S. Congress Ave.
A development team wants to redevelop the newspaper’s downtown property on the South Central Waterfront into mixed-use development, parks and open space.
Richard Suttle, an attorney representing the development group, said they’re still pursuing the project even though an implementing plan for the South Central Waterfront is not in place.
“So it’s a complicated case,” he said.
Suttle said they were “a little disappointed” that city staffers recommended an indefinite postponement “because that means that we’re probably looking somewhere out past the end of the year.”
Suttle said they need to sort out some notification issues with the city as well.
“We need to have notification go out again on this because it’s been sitting around for over a year and a half. What we need is some traction and some encouragement that we’re actually going to start the hearing process.”
The Housing and Planning Department’s Jerry Rusthoven said city officials are not at a point yet to make a recommendation about the project. But he acknowledged that the case has been “around for over a year now” and that a postponement would help “keep the case alive.”
“There’s a lot of back-and-forth. There’s a lot of moving parts on this case,” Rusthoven said. “The site’s obviously a very important site for the city – it’s a very prominent location at Congress and the river.”
Rusthoven said a discussion about the project would be scheduled for the Environmental Commission “sooner rather than later,” as well as a discussion with the South Central Waterfront Advisory Board.
“There’s too many outstanding issues to commit to a date, but I do commit to getting the case back on track,” he said.
Russell Fraser with South River City Citizens, a neighborhood association, said he wanted more clarity about the city’s regulation and financial plans for the property… (LINK TO STORY)
What’s the holdup? Why Austin FC is staying patient with its roster build (Austin American-Statesman)
Somewhere, the list exists. Whether it’s encrypted in a file only accessible by the Austin FC technical staff or on a home office whiteboard, sporting director Claudio Reyna eluded to a list of “four to five or six” players that fit each position on the pitch.
So far, only two players — Rodney Redes and Cecilio DomÍnguez — have been signed by the club. More than two months have passed since DomÍnguez was revealed as the first designated player. And yet, a whole roster still needs to be filled in the next few months.
Only a select few know who Austin FC is after. Even rumors have been scarce.
“We’re in a good place, really,” Reyna said, answering the question that seems to be on everybody’s mind.
The question: Why have things been so quiet since August, even as transfer windows around the world remained open into October?
“We’re kind of on schedule and I think whether we had two or four or five (players), I don’t think it really makes a difference. We’ll have a squad ready to go when we need to in January.”
There are a lot of factors at play amidst the COVID-19 pandemic that will forever be part of the Austin FC expansion story. A soccer team has never been pulled together under the unique circumstances that Reyna and head coach Josh Wolff find themselves navigating.
Here is a breakdown of some of those factors, with quotes from Reyna during a one-on-one interview with the American-Statesman. Signing players from within MLS and the United States, including the expansion draft, will be tackled in a future piece… (LINK TO STORY)
Can Austin Handle Tesla (Austin Business Journal)
Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk's confirmation of plans to manufacture cars in Austin was a game changer.
With it came the promise of thousands of jobs, a major infrastructure project and a monumental boost to the local economy amid a global pandemic. It also underscored a growing trend of major companies flocking to Central Texas from the coasts.
As the first major car plant in the Austin area, the Tesla gigafactory will have a massive economic impact. But it also comes with unanswered questions. Can Austin produce enough workers for Tesla? How will Tesla impact housing, which is notoriously low on supply? What about affordability concerns? Will small, local businesses be able to compete for young talent?
Those who have seen the multibillion-dollar company's impact firsthand admit there are positives and negatives. Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) broke ground on its gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada, about 20 miles east of Reno, in 2014 — and since it opened in 2016, it has raised concerns about worsening affordability.
"We weren’t prepared for the huge, positive impact Tesla had, as well as the many challenges ... and we’re still grappling with those," said Ann Silver, CEO of the Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce. "From a housing and transportation perspective, I don’t think we were entirely, at the time, on top of what that impact would be."
Even before Tesla picked Austin, affordability issues have mounted from a culmination of company relocations, higher wages, continued development and a population boom. Now that Tesla — the world's most valuable carmaker — is throwing its money and resources into the city, it begs the question: Can Austin handle Tesla's impact?
Musk has long boasted that you don't need a college degree to work at Tesla, which sources said could push other employers to adopt similar standards.
Tesla plans to create at least 5,000 jobs, which will likely lead to thousands of relocations to Central Texas as the facility reaches full capacity over the next few years — from both Tesla employees and those working for companies in the manufacturer's supply chain.
By press time, almost 100 job openings were posted on Tesla's website, about one-third of which were related to the construction of the gigafactory — a 4 million- to 5-million square-foot facility underway on about 2,100 acres in East Austin. Musk has confirmed the facility will be up and running by next year and even producing its Model Y cars. The company may also be manufacturing the battery cells for its cars at the facility, according to filings with Texas Commission on Environmental Quality… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
State Rep. Dade Phelan says he has votes to become speaker of Texas House (Texas Tribune)
State Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, announced Wednesday he has the votes needed to become the next speaker of the Texas House and soon after released a bipartisan list of 83 members supporting his candidacy. That number, should it hold, is more than enough votes for Phelan to win the gavel when the Legislature convenes in January.
But by Wednesday evening, a group of Republicans who had not signed on to support Phelan's candidacy indicated they were not backing down.
State Rep. Trent Ashby, a Lufkin Republican, had been Phelan's main competitor for the speakership — and after Phelan's announcement Wednesday, Ashby said the GOP caucus should meet to "vote to back a candidate ... as soon as possible." Hours later, though, Ashby said he would support state Rep. Geanie Morrison, R-Victoria, for the job — less than 24 hours after Morrison had pledged her support to Ashby for the gavel. If elected, Morrison would be the first woman to serve as speaker… (LINK TO STORY)
Joe Biden’s struggles along the Texas border raise questions about Democrats’ outreach there (Texas Tribune)
When vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris made an 11th-hour stop in McAllen on Friday, she stressed the importance of the predominantly Hispanic border city and its surrounding region to Democrats.
“There are people here who matter, people who are working hard, people who love their country, and we need to be responsive to that,” she told reporters.
On Tuesday, statewide results confirmed her message, but not in the way her party had hoped. Democrats once again won a large number of counties along or near the Texas-Mexico border, but by a much narrower margin than in recent elections. And that underperformance played a big role in disappointing results up and down the ballot for the state’s Democrats.
In 28 counties in South Texas or near the border, Biden won by a combined 17 percentage points, according to election night returns. That’s about half of Hillary Clinton’s 33-point margin over President Donald Trump across those counties four years ago. Biden’s underperformance was even more pronounced in the Rio Grande Valley, which comprises the four southernmost counties in the state. Biden carried those counties by 15 points after Clinton won them by 39 in 2016… (LINK TO STORY)
El Paso reports more than 3,000 new COVID-19 cases in a single day, shattering previous record (Texas Tribune)
Cases of COVID-19 in El Paso continued to skyrocket on Wednesday as the city reported a record 3,100 new people contracted the virus, smashing the previous single-day record by more than 1,000.
City officials also reported eight additional deaths and more than total 21,900 active cases.
El Paso in recent weeks has struggled to stem the tide of the novel coronavirus. Hospitals are near or at capacity, and El Paso County has set up four temporary morgues.
The record-breaking case count came as a state district judge heard arguments Wednesday over a shutdown order issued last month by El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego. The county judge mandated a countywide, two-week closing of all nonessential businesses to help contain the outbreak… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Centrist Democrats talk leadership changes after negative election results (The Hill)
Stung by their party’s dispiriting showing at the polls Tuesday, two moderate House Democrats say they and other centrists are privately discussing a plan that was unthinkable just 24 hours earlier: throwing their support behind a challenger to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
The two Democrats told The Hill on Wednesday that they were reaching out to their colleagues about backing one of Pelosi’s top lieutenants, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), for Speaker in the next Congress.
“He’s the only one prepared and positioned” to be Speaker, said one of the Democratic lawmakers. “He bridges moderates and progressives better than anyone. And most importantly, he’s not Nancy Pelosi.”
The idea was immediately shot down by Jeffries, who says he's focused on keeping his current spot. Yet the grumbling reflects a remarkable shift in internal Democratic thinking in the immediate wake of Tuesday’s elections.
Heading into the polls, Pelosi enjoyed the overwhelming support of her caucus — facing no threat of a Speakership challenge — and Democratic leaders were eyeing big gains to their majority, with some estimates in the double digits.
But the early returns revealed a different reality: Not only did Democrats lose a number of their most vulnerable members, they had not picked off a single Republican incumbent heading into Wednesday evening… (LINK TO STORY)
California voters give Uber, Lyft a win but some drivers aren't so sure (KUT)
California voters handed Uber and Lyft a big victory — and labor unions a big setback — when they approved a measure allowing the ride-hailing companies to keep classifying their drivers as independent contractors.
For Joe Renice, who drives for Uber in San Francisco, the measure's passage was a relief.
"This is a job that I make over $100,000 a year doing. And I have complete and total freedom and flexibility to do that," he said.
The measure, known as Proposition 22, cements the business models of transportation and food delivery apps, which pay workers for the services they provide on demand. If the measure had failed, the companies would have had to abide by a new state law that says gig workers should be considered employees, and therefore entitled to costly benefits like unemployment, health insurance and paid sick leave.
Proposition 22 does mandate that the companies offer drivers some new benefits, including stipends to buy health insurance, accident insurance and some guaranteed level of pay. Still, it's a far cry from the standard benefits most employers in the state must offer their permanent workers.
Renice says most people know what to expect when they start driving for the app companies.
"We know going in this is a tradeoff," he said, adding that he is willing to give up benefits like a set salary, retirement savings and insurance "for the ability to do this when and where and how I want to do it."
But, he acknowledged, "it's not for everybody. Some people are better off being employees. Not me."… (LINK TO STORY)