BG Reads | News You Need to Know (November 9, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
***NEW*** BG Podcast Episode 113: A Post-Election Discussion with Vanessa Fuentes, District 2 Councilwoman-Elect
BG Blog: By the Numbers: Austin and Travis County 2020 Election Results
[AUSTIN METRO]
County Judge-elect Andy Brown eager to start new job (Austin Monitor)
Travis County Judge-elect Andy Brown is getting ready to start his new job. The most likely date for his first day on the job is Nov. 17, since commissioners will be canvassing the vote this week. Democrat Brown, who will serve the remainder of former County Judge Sarah Eckhardt’s term, won with 70 percent of the vote, which was no surprise as Travis County declined to elect any Republicans on Nov. 3. Eckhardt was elected to the Texas Senate in July to fill the spot vacated by Kirk Watson.
Sam Biscoe, who has been filling in as interim leader of the Commissioners Court since May, will be able to retire once more when Brown takes his seat. Some of the duties Brown will inherit include pandemic precautions, such as ordering bars to remain closed to prevent further spread of the virus.
Brown, who spoke with the Austin Monitor on Friday, said he was “excited to work with Dr. Mark Escott,” the interim Austin-Travis County health authority, and other elected officials, to make sure “we’re doing the science-based approach to getting through the coronavirus as quickly as possible.” He said any decision he might make about allowing Travis County bars to reopen would be based on Escott’s recommendation.
“If you look around the state, things are getting worse,” he said. Travis County needs to follow the advice of its medical experts to make sure that citizens remain safe, Brown said. “That’s the way that we get back to business the quickest, by being safe and following the science.”
Next on Brown’s list is criminal justice reform. Though he is not a judge in the usual sense of the word, Brown said, “I think we had a very clear mandate from the voters to look at what the county budget is investing in. I want to make sure that we are investing in mental health, behavioral health and health care access across the county.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin City Council eyes tax incentives in effort to rescue local businesses from pandemic closure (Community Impact)
In the ongoing effort to curb the pandemic’s decimation of Austin’s small-business ecosystem, especially those in the live music, arts, child care and restaurant industries, City Council could soon approve an emergency tax incentive program aimed at coaxing landlords into renegotiating commercial leases.
The Austin Economic Development Department is offering the program to City Council for a vote Nov. 12. The proposal would allow the city to offer commercial property tax reimbursements to landlords who renegotiate their leases and offer rent reductions to business tenants. Qualifying businesses will need to be headquartered in Austin, prove revenue drops of at least 25% and employ no more than 75 people. Renegotiated leases must extend for at least 12 months.The proposal, which offers a lifeline out of the pandemic, comes in response to City Council’s unanimously supported effort to preserve and ensure the success of the child care, live music, art, restaurants and/or bar industries—industries city leaders said are especially vulnerable, represent the city’s essence and would be hard to revive if shutdown by the coronavirus.
According to city documents, the economic development department is wagering the cost of reimbursing property taxes to commercial landlords will be outweighed by the property and sales taxes generated by the saved business, the impact of the establishment on the city’s brand, and the property and sales tax generated by employees of the business staying employed and remaining active consumers.
Since March, the pandemic has scorched several legacy local businesses, many of which were already struggling prepandemic with the city’s growing affordability problems. Iconic names such as Threadgill’s, Shady Grove, I Luv Video and Magnolia Café have all shuttered. For the past couple months, City Council has been debating ways to intervene in the market and buoy struggling local businesses… (LINK TO STORY)
Proposed tourism district could fund convention incentives, homeless services with new tax (Austin Business Journal)
A long-discussed public improvement district may soon move forward.
For years, Mayor Steve Adler has pushed for the creation of what’s now being called the Austin Tourism Public Improvement District, or ATPID, as part of a greater effort to strengthen Austin's urban core and tackle issues such as homelessness. The ATPID is also designed to increase hotel business in Austin, which has been hammered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Austin City Council on Nov. 12 will consider the approval of a draft service plan and petition language for the ATPID.
As written, the ATPID would impose an annual 1% tax of gross room night rental revenue for eligible hotels within the public improvement district, with the ability to raise that to 2%. Any rate increase would require a three-fourths vote from the ATPID board of directors and majority vote from City Council, according to the draft service plan.
Here's how the district would work: Only freestanding hotels with at least 100 rooms that are located in Austin city limits will be taxed and can benefit from the district. A tourism public improvement district can only be created if more than 60% of a given area’s hotels petition the city for one, under Texas Local Government Code.
The ATPID tax would be in addition to the current hotel occupancy tax of 11%. In return, hotel owners are expected to benefit from increased marketing efforts and incentives that could boost hotel business.
Hotels have been among the businesses hardest hit by the pandemic. According to an economic update released last month by the Downtown Austin Alliance, downtown hotel occupancy was down 62% in September from the onset of the pandemic, though that trend started to turn around in the last quarter… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
In Texas, an emerging problem for Democrats on the border (New York Times)
Democrats spent years focusing on how they could finally win Texas. But since Tuesday’s election, they have been wrestling with a more pressing question: How did they lose Zapata County? In the reliably Democratic and majority-Hispanic stronghold of South Texas, Zapata County, population 14,179, had never been a political bellwether. It is a largely rural border community on a narrow stretch of the Rio Grande between Laredo and McAllen, home to oil-field workers and one of the highest poverty rates in Texas. Mitt Romney lost Zapata County in 2012 by 43 percentage points. Donald J. Trump lost it in 2016 by 33. Ted Cruz lost it in 2018 by 26. On Tuesday, President Trump reversed many years of political history, including his own, and won Zapata County by 5 percentage points. “When I would tell people I helped a friend sell air fresheners in the shape of Trump’s head, I would apologize because I supported Trump,” said Anna Holcomb, 55, a Latina and former oil-field administrative assistant who lives in Zapata, the county seat.
“Why should I apologize for it? I’m not going to apologize anymore. Just because the president wants people to come into the country the right way, it doesn’t make him a racist. He’s not a racist and neither am I.” The flipping of Zapata County was one of many Republican victories in a state that Mr. Trump carried. But it stunned Democrats and reflected their enduring struggle in the country’s largest conservative-led state. Not only do Democrats have a problem surging forward, they may be going backward in places. “When I was running, I’d get 85 percent in Zapata County — and Trump carried it,” said Garry Mauro, 72, a Democrat and former state land commissioner who was the chairman of the Hillary Clinton campaign in Texas in 2016.
“The idea that Trump, who has been so overtly racist about Hispanics in particular, was able to do so well has got to be a failure of our party not having a message.” In the aftermath of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory in the national election, a changing Texas remained largely unchanged. Mr. Trump defeated Mr. Biden in Texas, winning a more narrow victory than he had in 2016 but winning nonetheless. Senator John Cornyn, a Republican, won re-election. Wendy Davis lost again, one of several Democrats who tried and failed to grab Republican-controlled congressional seats. A push to flip the Texas House foundered, as Republicans held on to their majority… (LINK TO STORY)
George W. Bush congratulates President-elect Joe Biden on his victory, says the "outcome is clear" (Texas Tribune)
Former President George W. Bush congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on Sunday, sending a clear signal to other Republicans, including President Donald Trump, who are questioning the election results.
"Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country," Bush said in a statement. "The President-elect reiterated that while he ran as a Democrat, he will govern for all Americans. I offered him the same thing I offered Presidents Trump and Obama: my prayers for his success, and my pledge to help in any way I can."
Bush, a Republican who also served as Texas' governor, said he had spoken with the Democratic president-elect and had thanked Biden for "the patriotic message he delivered last night" in his acceptance speech. He also said he called Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Bush said that Biden "earned the votes of more than 70 million Americans," but noted that Trump had the right to "request recounts and pursue legal challenges"
"The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld and its outcome is clear," Bush said. "The challenges that face our country will demand the best of President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris – and the best of us all. We must come together for the sake of our families and neighbors, and for our nation and its future."… (LINK TO STORY)
Sen. Cruz says presidential race isn’t over, backs Trump claims of fraud (Dallas Morning News)
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz called projections that president-elect Joe Biden has won the White House “way premature,” citing lawsuits across the country that allege voter fraud, during a Sunday morning appearance on Fox News. “I believe President Trump still has a path to victory,” Cruz said. “And that path is to count every single legal vote that was cast, but also not to [count] any votes that were fraudulently passed or illegally cast, and we have a legal process to determine what’s legal and what isn’t.”
Other Republicans, like Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and former President George W. Bush, have accepted the unofficial results of the election. But Trump still has not conceded. On Thursday, Donald Trump Jr. called out Republicans considering a 2024 presidential run for not “taking action” to defend his father. Cruz has made it clear that he remains loyal to Trump. He questioned the results in Michigan, which The Associated Press called for President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday. He referenced an alleged software glitch that caused unofficial votes from a small Republican-leaning county in Michigan to indicate a Biden landslide. Cruz said this error could indicate a larger problem in other Michigan counties that use the same software.
“That same software is used in 47 counties throughout Michigan,” Cruz said. “That needs to be examined to determine that there’s not a problem counting the votes, and the legal process is how you resolve those questions.”… (LINK TO STORY)
El Paso’s COVID-19 spike is a binational problem (Texas Monthly)
Thursday brought mostly sunny skies and a high of 84 degrees to El Paso. Aside from a fluky late-October snow day, temperatures have remained typically warm the last two months, as COVID-19 infections in the city have overwhelmed hospitals and prompted officials to temporarily close nonessential businesses in an attempt to control the spread of the novel coronavirus. Public health experts have warned for months about the dangerous spike in cases now under way nationally, expecting that cooler fall temperatures would drive gatherings of family and friends indoors. But the grim milestone El Paso marked on Thursday—surpassing more than 1,900 new daily cases of COVID-19 for the first time—can’t be blamed on the weather.
El Paso experienced a summer spike along with much of the rest of the state, but this time around it’s far worse off than other major Texas cities (though infections are trending up statewide). There’s no single convincing reason why that’s the case. Some blame weak enforcement of coronavirus restrictions by local authorities.
Some blame failures of the city’s contact tracing system, which does appear to have buckled under the strain of the skyrocketing case counts. Others suggest the relatively high percentage of larger, multigenerational households in El Paso County, compared with much of the country, is a factor. There’s also been talk of how El Paso’s proximity to Ciudad Juárez, just across the Rio Grande, may have contributed to the rise. While El Pasoans often speak of their close relationship to Juárez with pride, as a source of strength for the region, in recent weeks leaders on both sides of the border have pointed to international crossings as significantly affecting the circulation of the virus.
The city’s public health authority suggested as much in early October, and a city analysis of contact tracing data found that 19 percent of those who tested positive for the virus had recently traveled to Mexico (though shopping at stores and dining inside restaurants were much more common activities among the infected). Likewise, Juárez mayor Armando Cabada, who himself was recently hospitalized for COVID-19 complications, has blamed “indiscriminate crossings at the border in Ciudad Juárez” for his city’s spike in coronavirus infections. Last week, the state of Chihuahua announced that multiple hospitals in Juárez had reached capacity, and the city instituted a two-week shutdown of nonessential businesses… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Biden will call governors, mayors about mask mandate (The Hill)
President-elect Joe Biden will personally call on governors around the country to enact mask mandates in their states once taking office next year, NBC News first reported on Sunday.
A Biden campaign official told the network that governors who resist the incoming president's requests will see Biden pressure mayors of cities in their respective states to enact mandates at the local level, potentially setting him up for confrontations with Republican governors around the U.S.
“If a governor declines, he’ll go to the mayors in the state and ask them to lead,” said the official, according to NBC. “In many states there is the capacity of mayors to institute mandates.”
The former vice president clashed with President Trump on the campaign trail over the issue of mask-wearing amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reached more than 9 million confirmed cases in the U.S. as well as more than 230,000 deaths… (LINK TO STORY)
Can Joe and Mitch get it done? (New York Times)
In late July 2011, with an economy-shaking Treasury default only a few days away and Congress flailing, Senator Mitch McConnell received a Saturday phone call from Joseph R. Biden Jr., then the vice president. “I think it’s time we talk,” Mr. Biden told Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, who was then the minority leader. That opening, recounted by Mr. McConnell in his memoir, “The Long Game,” initiated the second in a series of one-on-one tax and budget negotiations that produced agreements that rescued the government from imminent fiscal disaster while drawing mixed reviews from fellow Democrats. President-elect Biden could be making a lot more of those phone calls in the years ahead. Unless Democrats pick off two Senate seats in Georgia to be decided in runoff elections on Jan. 5, Mr. Biden will have to navigate a Senate narrowly controlled by Mr. McConnell, who has happily turned the chamber into a graveyard for Democratic legislation.
The likelihood of a Senate under Republican rule severely constrains Mr. Biden’s legislative and personnel agenda from the start, dashing the hopes of those anticipating a post-Trump opening for bold initiatives on health care, taxes and the environment and an administration populated by progressive icons. Yet as much as anyone across the aisle, Mr. Biden — as garrulous as Mr. McConnell is aloof — has a close relationship with the Senate leader and a track record of working with him to strike bipartisan deals. The Kentuckian has described Mr. Biden not only as someone he liked, but also as a man of his word who understands how congressional negotiations work and who knows how to give as well as take.
“He doesn’t waste time telling me why I am wrong,” Mr. McConnell said in a bipartisan parting tribute in 2016 as Mr. Biden presided over the Senate. “He gets down to brass tacks, and he keeps in sight the stakes. There’s a reason ‘Get Joe on the phone’ is shorthand for ‘time to get serious’ in my office.”… (LINK TO STORY)
'A Vexing Decision': Calif. Governor mulls who will replace Harris in Senate (NPR)
Speculation about who California Gov. Gavin Newsom would choose to fill out the rest of Kamala Harris's U.S. Senate term if she got elected vice president began almost the moment President-elect Joe Biden announced her as his running mate.
Now that Harris is Vice President-elect, filling her Senate seat is not a matter of if, but who and when. And what are the qualities Newsom should consider as he makes his most important political decision yet as governor? Newsom's considerations include diversity, geography, electability and political compatibility.
Asked on Election Day about the possibility of choosing a successor, Newsom insisted he was not looking forward to it.
"I mean, honestly, I'm not even exaggerating. There's a hundred chores that I'd prefer. I'm not kidding," Newsom joked.
"This is not something that I wish even on my worst enemy, because you create enemies in this process you know, not just friends. And it's a vexing decision. It's a challenging one," Newsom said.
Harris, who was elected to her first Senate term in 2016, would be up for reelection in 2022. Whomever Newsom chooses to replace her will get a couple of years in the Senate before running (Newsom has ruled out a special election to fill out the term)… (LINK TO STORY)