BG Reads | News You Need to Know (October 19, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
Early voting in Travis County runs through Friday, October 30 (Monday-Saturday, 7:00 AM-7:00 PM, Sunday 12-6 PM). Find early voting locations here (Travis County only).
***NEW*** BG Podcast Episode 110: Discussing City Governments with Professor Sherri Greenberg, LBJ School of Public Affairs (SHOW LINK)
Overview: She and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss and weigh different local governance structures of cities and their implications on civic engagement. In July, Austinites for Progressive Reform launched with, among other initiatives, a call to adopt a mayor-council form of government, i.e. a strong mayor system. This would transfer the city manager’s duties to the mayor. They are currently gathering signatures for a city charter amendment (Austin’s constitution) vote in May 2021.
[AUSTIN METRO]
Will voters push back against Austin City Council’s shift to left? (Austin American-Statesman)
For the past two years, the Austin City Council members representing districts everywhere from Barton Hills to Northwest Hills and Riverside to River Place have leaned left of the political center. It’s the first time since the city broke off into 10 council districts with an at-large citywide mayor in 2014 that liberals held every seat at City Hall.
Perhaps, then, it comes as little surprise that council races this year are largely a referendum on the decisions the council made while conservatives were out of office — none more polarizing than repealing the city’s homeless camping ordinance last year and making cuts and changes to the Austin Police Department’s budget this year.
The presence of a conservative or two on the council would not have been enough to block those moves. But, former Council Member Ellen Troxclair said, “there is value in an alternative viewpoint being represented and discussed even if it’s not always adopted.”
Troxclair, a Republican who left the council at the end of her term in 2018, has reappeared this election season as a board member for a new political action committee that supports conservative candidates. Don Zimmerman, another former council member and a Republican, is raising money on behalf of conservative candidate Mackenzie Kelly in the West Austin district that Zimmerman once represented.
Even with anti-left fodder for conservatives to latch onto, they might have a difficult time coloring the blue City Council with a drop or two of red this election cycle. All four Democrats seeking reelection have raised the most money in their respective races and all have garnered many of the coveted political endorsements around town.
Moreover, liberals are energized to try to end President Donald Trump’s run in the White House — which could mean trouble for local conservative candidates when voters get to down-ballot races. Travis County voters — who historically and overwhelmingly favor Democratic candidates — saw ever-increasing early voting turnout last week that culminated with more than 40,000 votes cast on Friday.
“Voters will think, ‘Is this person for Donald Trump?’ They will eliminate all of those choices,” local political consultant Mark Littlefield said. He predicted all four incumbent council members will be reelected, “with maybe one or two of them having to go to a runoff to get there.”
In 2016, Trump received 27% of the vote in Travis County against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin's unemployment rate heads upward again (Austin Business Journal)
Unemployment numbers reversed course last month.
The Austin metro had been on a steady decline since peaking at 12.2% in April but rebounded in September. Last month's unemployment jumped to 6.4% with 80,800 unemployed from an unadjusted 5.5% in August, according to data from the Texas Workforce Commission and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It's still far from pre-pandemic levels when the local unemployment rate hovered around 3.5%.
The increase comes as more businesses close their doors in Austin. Downtown's P. Terry's Burger Stand and I Luv Video in North Austin are just a few examples of businesses to shutter in September.
And Austin may see unemployment continue to rise in October. This month has long been pegged as the last stretch for many of Austin's music venues, bars and restaurants, which were identified in a July survey by the Hobby School of Public Affairs as critical industries. The survey found 62% of live music venue respondents said they could close by October, along with 55% of bars and restaurants.
Austin City Council has identified $15 million in funding for relief for music venues, legacy businesses and child care facilities through the Save Austin's Vital Economic Sectors Act. City staff plan to make the funding available as soon as possible… (LINK TO STORY)
Leander announces plans for $1B mixed-use development with Crystal Lagoon (Austin Business Journal)
Four acres of teal blue water and white sandy beaches are in the pipeline for Leander as part of a potentially $1 billion development.
Leander city officials announced Oct. 15 a public-private partnership with Leander Springs LLC — a company set up by Austin-based iLand Development Group — for a 78-acre planned development in the Williamson County suburb. At the heart of the project, also dubbed Leander Springs, will be a manmade Crystal Lagoon created by Crystal Lagoons U.S. Corp.
The lagoon would be a first for Central Texas, although others are already completed or being built in the Houston and Dallas areas. According to the company's website, there are also planned lagoons in Bastrop, Spicewood and New Braunfels.
The Crystal Lagoon would anchor the massive, mixed-use development planned at the southwest corner of FM 2243 and the 183A toll road, relatively close to the heart fast-growing Leander. It also backs up to a planned 500-home residential development called Horizon Lake… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
Gov. Greg Abbott spends millions to help down-ballot Republicans in Texas (Texas Tribune)
Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign is ratcheting up its down-ballot efforts in the final weeks before the November election, working to defend the Republican majority in the state House and to remind voters about the importance of electing the party’s judges farther down the ballot.
In what his campaign described as a “mid-seven-figure” total expenditure, it is putting its weight behind two dozen House races and running statewide TV and radio commercials about judges. The news of the effort, detailed to The Texas Tribune, comes as early voting is underway and both sides have already invested millions of dollars in the House fight.
Abbott’s campaign is confident Republicans will beat back the Democrats’ drive to capture the majority, which would be a major prize ahead of the 2021 redistricting process.
“They’re spending a lot of money — there’s no question about that — and that’s nothing we didn’t expect from Day 1,” Abbott’s chief political strategist, Dave Carney, said in an interview. He acknowledged Republicans “will lose some members,” but noted the possibility that the party could win back some seats it lost in 2018… (LINK TO STORY)
Cornyn defended Trump for siphoning Pentagon budget to pay for border wall, but now claims he was against it (Dallas Morning News)
Sen. John Cornyn, trying to distance himself from President Donald Trump as Election Day looms, now says he opposed siphoning off billions from the Pentagon in order to build the border wall, a claim that directly contradicts multiple statements defending that budget maneuver. In February, for instance, he argued that congressional Democrats had left Trump no choice by refusing to authorize wall funding. “I believe border security is part of national security. So I support the efforts to accomplish that secure border,” Cornyn told reporters on Feb. 20, asked about Trump’s recent move to siphon another $3.8 billion from the Pentagon’s budget. “The president’s left with a bad hand and has to play the best hand he can.”
But Friday, 18 days before voters decide whether to give him a fourth term or replace him with Democrat MJ Hegar, Cornyn met with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial board and insisted otherwise. Describing himself as “very much a defense hawk,” Cornyn maintained that he opposed shifting money from the defense budget to build the wall. Cornyn aides did not respond to requests to explain the discrepancy between the senator’s public statements on the topic and his new assertion that he opposed siphoning Pentagon funds. “
This is a blatant lie,” said Billy Begala of the Texas Democratic Party. The Trump administration has taken nearly $10 billion from the defense budget to pay for border security, using military construction funds and other accounts. In February the Pentagon shifted $3.8 billion intended by Congress to pay for fighter jets, shipbuilding and National Guard equipment. In July, a 5-4 Supreme Court allowed the use of such funds to continue, overturning rulings from lower courts in Texas and California… (LINK TO STORY)
Investors in Texas tiny homes are reaping big rewards during COVID (Houston Chronicle)
Waco’s most famous destination is a former cotton oil mill reimagined as a home-decor store. The unusual set up is part of the allure. Chip and Joanna Gaines, who oversaw the conversion, are famous for transforming old homes into places that feel one-of-a-kind, and an estimated 50,000 visitors a week from around the world travel to see, first hand, the example of their handiwork: proof that unique design can turn a building into a destination. Waco residents Kenneth Wheeler and his son, Amos Wheeler — who have worked with the Gaineses more than once — have taken the lesson to heart. They, too, fashion homes that exude a combination of minimalism and homeyness, with shiplap aplenty, as well as a twist: all of their homes are miniature, made of shipping containers the size of a hotel room. Just like hotel rooms, most are for rent.
Unlike hotel rooms, however, the tiny-home rental business is booming during the era of social distance, a pandemic-proof investment during a period that has put traditional hotels deep in the red. A quirky rental that combines the affordability of a hotel room with a distance from neighbors associated with a cabin or single-family home has become a destination in itself this pandemic. Even before COVID, tiny homes — and the Wheelers’ tiny homes in particular — were catching the eyes of travelers like the ones flocking to the former mill. In a report released in February, Airbnb announced one of the double-decker container homes built and managed by the family’s companies was among the Top 5 wish-listed tiny houses in the world. Bookings for tiny homes in general were already up 85 percent in 2020 compared to the year before, said Airbnb.
“With sustainable travel in focus, more travelers are taking the minimalist approach when it comes to planning their getaways this year,” the report said. “More than half of Americans would like to spend their money taking a long weekend trip, and more guests are also exploring destinations by car, with searches for listings with free parking up 46 percent.” Then came the novel coronavirus… (LINK TO STORY)
The census doesn’t count Arab Americans. That leaves some Texans feeling invisible. (Texas Tribune)
The U.S. census count ended abruptly last week after several deadline changes amid a legal fight with President Donald Trump’s administration. But the length of time people had to respond makes little difference to Arab Texans, who say they will once again be dramatically undercounted and suffer another 10 years of underrepresentation.
That’s because they’re told to identify as white on the all-important national count.
The census does not include an option for people to identify as Middle Eastern or North African Americans. Advocates say that subjects Arab Americans to a lack of political representation. They also say it’s more difficult to receive grant funding for health and social services that are funded with at least $675 billion in federal money distributed annually to communities with the help of census data… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Fauci says he was 'absolutely not' surprised Trump got coronavirus after Rose Garden event (The Hill)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House's COVID-19 response team, said in a new interview that he was not surprised that President Trump was sickened with coronavirus after seeing him and others maskless at a White House event for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
Fauci, who is the nation's top infectious disease expert, told CBS News in an interview that images he saw of the event alarmed him even before it was revealed that numerous attendees had tested positive for the virus. He worried that numerous people would be infected, he said.
"Were you surprised that President Trump got sick?" asked CBS's Dr. Jon LaPook.
"Absolutely not," Fauci responded. "I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask."… (LINK TO STORY)
The hidden factors that could produce a surprise Trump victory (Politico)
By almost every measure that political operatives, academics and handicappers use to forecast elections, the likely outcome is that Joe Biden will win the White House.
Yet two weeks before Election Day, the unfolding reality of 2020 is that it’s harder than ever to be sure. And Democrats are scrambling to account for the hidden variables that could still sink their nominee — or what you might call the known unknowns.
Republican registration has ticked up in key states at the same time Democratic field operations were in hibernation. Democratic turnout is surging in the early vote. But it’s unclear whether it will be enough to overcome an expected rush of ballots that Republicans, leerier of mail voting, will cast in person on Election Day.
“There are more known unknowns than we’ve ever had at any point,” said Tom Bonier, CEO of the Democratic data firm TargetSmart. “The instruments we have to gauge this race, the polling, our predictive models … the problem is all those tools are built around quote-unquote normal elections. And this is anything but a normal election.”
On a recent video call with Democratic Party state chairs, Bonier laid out an overwhelmingly positive electoral landscape for Biden. But he cautioned that even small variations in turnout projections could have a substantial effect on the outcome. For that reason, among others, Democrats are poring over early vote totals, circulating anxiety-ridden campaign memos and bracing for a long two weeks.
“We don’t know what insanity Trump will hurl into the mix,” said Matt Bennett of the center-left group Third Way. “Every day is a week and every week is a month. It’s going to feel like a long time between now and November 3rd."… (LINK TO STORY)