BG Reads | News You Need to Know (September 22, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
*NEW* BG Blog: Leadership changes at City of Austin Economic Development Department (BLOG LINK)
See also, BG Podcast Episode 97: Talking Relief and Recovery with Veronica Briseño, Director of Austin's Economic Development Department (Show Link)
*NEW* Job Posting: Local Government Affairs Program Manager (Austin-Bergstrom International Airport)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Affordable housing proposals advance after outcry over gentrification, institutional racism (Austin Monitor)
Charges of institutional racism and bias in housing policy engulfed a pair of votes at the Austin Housing Finance Corporation Board of Directors meeting Thursday.
The board, which is made up of all of the members of the Austin City Council, considered requests to authorize negotiating and executing agreements with development teams on two affordable housing projects in Austin’s District 3. But roughly two dozen residents urged Council to enter into agreements with Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation, a local community nonprofit developer, on the projects instead.
Ultimately, Council voted to enter negotiations for a GNDC-affiliated proposal on one project, but decided to stick with the staff recommendation on the other.
The properties in question were a 6-acre tract at 900 Gardner Road and a 5.15-acre tract at 1127 Tillery St. – two of three vacant AHFC-owned sites proposed for development in a memo last October.
City staffers gathered public input on development objectives for the sites this spring, and issued requests for proposals in June. They wanted to minimize the amount of city subsidy for the projects and maximize the number of affordable, deeply affordable and multi-bedroom units, Community Development Administrator Mandy De Mayo said.
The highest-scoring proposal for the Gardner project was submitted by DMA Development Company and Big Medium for 219 multifamily units and 26,000 square feet of art and office space, according to a city memo this month. For the Tillery project, a proposal by MRE Capital and Imagine Art for 64 multifamily units and 8,000 square feet of art space topped the scoring matrix.
Both recommended proposals offered more total units than their closest competitors, but 100 percent of the units were planned as rental units. “We felt like these top-scoring applicants met the development criteria, the objectives that we had laid out there before the community,” De Mayo said.
For the Gardner project, a proposal by developer Vecino Group and partner Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation for 134 units, including 26 ownership units, finished second in the scoring matrix.
A GNDC-affiliated proposal also finished third in the scoring matrix for the Tillery project.
During public comment, a flurry of speakers urged Council to enter negotiations with development teams that included GNDC, highlighting their existing relationships with the community.
“They have all the trust from the neighborhood in the world,” said Govalle Neighborhood Association’s Jessica Eley.
Many of the speakers highlighted the gentrification and displacement already occurring in this part of the city due to rising costs of living.
“We need to ensure that our families can afford to live in East Austin,” said Eric Ramos, a Martin Middle School teacher. “I don’t want to continue to lose the families that I serve at my school.”
Carmen Llanes Pulido, with Undoing Racism Austin, said the scoring matrix did not place needed value on homeownership and historic relationships within the community.
“We have to be intentional when we address systemic racism and doing the right thing,” she said. “We can’t just look at the number of units. Don’t make us all renters. You have an opportunity to give some land back. Please do it today.”
Speakers in favor of GNDC labeled other potential developers as “white-owned” or “white-led” outsiders that were trying to capitalize off the east side’s growth with “hip” projects that don’t necessarily serve the local area.
Eventually, those types of comments prompted pushback from Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison on the virtual dais.
“It is not necessary to villainize other organizations because you prefer one over the other,” she said. “They still do good work in our community, on the east side by the way.”
Council Member Pio Renteria, whose district includes the two projects, motioned to enter negotiations with the Vecino-GNDC development team for the 900 Gardner project.
“I’m really excited about homeownership because we do have a lot of apartments being built in the Govalle area,” he said.
“They’re going to provide a mix of ownership and rental,” he added. “They have proposed to provide more multi-bedroom units. They have a lot of experience implementing preference policies.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Board of Adjustment debates the value of maintaining area character (Austin Monitor)
Swapping primary and secondary residences is an approach to creating larger living spaces for homeowners that has become a popular tactic for preserving homes that contribute to area character. However, at the Sept. 14 meeting of the Board of Adjustment, members debated whether preservation of area character was a disingenuous “get-out-of-jail-free card” for those looking to maximize the development potential and value of their lots.
“We act like retaining an existing building prevents gentrification,” Board Member Rahm McDaniel said. “I don’t think we should maintain that facade anymore.”
Other board members pushed back, saying that maintaining an original home and thereby area character as part of a variance, benefits those moving into a neighborhood as much as it does those already living in the area. “It has to do with what people are looking for in a neighborhood and the feel they are looking for when they walk down the street,” Board Member Brooke Bailey explained.
Board Member Jessica Cohen agreed with those on the board who advocated for the virtues of preservation, saying she votes in favor of maintaining area character in order to keep a neighborhood from becoming “overly modernized.” She noted that maintaining existing structures becomes even more important in neighborhoods where gentrification is actively displacing longtime residents, such as the Springdale neighborhood.
The property that incited the discussion is a single-family lot at 4700 Milburn Lane, which has an 800-square-foot structure sitting on the lot. The property owners came before the board to request a variance to allow the existing structure to become a secondary unit while they built a two-story, 2,500-square-foot primary unit at the back of the lot.
John Flowers, the applicant and owner of the East Austin property, told board members this inverted plan will echo the layout of his two neighboring lots that both have multi-story residences at the rear of the property. Flowers pointed to two protected trees at the front of the lot as well as a desire to maintain area character as the hardship that required him to request the variance.
The board voted unanimously to grant the variance, with the condition that the existing home on the property retain its size in the future.
Bailey emphasized that part of the applicant’s justification for requesting the variance was to maintain the original character of the neighborhood. Therefore, it was within the board’s purview to request that the home remains in its historic configuration.
“I think that we are using aesthetics as a substitute for character and I think it’s turned into a get-out-of-jail-free card for gentrification,” McDaniel argued. He said character was much more than the look of an area. “Let’s not pretend people aren’t being pushed out of Springdale,” he reminded the board… (LINK TO STORY)
Demolition permitting changes could be next in Austin's land development code overhaul (Austin Business Journal)
The demolition permitting process could be the next change for area contractors in the city’s continued effort to overhaul the land development code.
During its Oct. 1 meeting, Austin City Council will consider establishing a contractor registration program for building and demolition permitting, as well as notification requirements.
Demolitions have been on the rise in Austin over the last decade, and the proposed changes are part of the city’s effort to redesign the demolition permitting process in response to a 2017 city audit of demolition permits. The audit found that the permitting process wasn't meeting the needs of stakeholders and was not taking safety risks of demolitions into account.
A resolution to create the registration program, if approved, will call on City Manager Spencer Cronk to consider implementing construction license requirements already outlined in the land development code in the context of demolition permitting, as well as requirements for bonding and insurance. The resolution suggests not requiring owners of a one- or two-family residential structure with an active homestead exemption to participate in the program.
A motion from Council Member Paige Ellis recommends including benefits for contractors participating in the program, like reduced permitting fees or a streamlined permit process. Ellis has also suggested the City Manager look for metrics to determine whether the program promotes equitable outcomes for small businesses, minority-owned businesses and women-owned businesses.
With affordability as a continued focus in the land development code discussion, Ellis’ motion also calls on the city manager to consider exemptions from mandatory registration for owners or residents because of affordability issues.
A separate proposed ordinance requires applicants for demolition permits to provide notice of the demolition to adjacent one- and two-family structures and a multifamily component of any other nearby structure. The notices would be, at minimum, on a city form that specifies when the demolition may happen, which should be between five to 10 days after the notice is provided. Notices will also have to be distributed to the adjacent properties and visibly posted at the demolition site.
Council will hold a public hearing for the proposal at the Oct. 1 meeting.
It's part of a wider effort to revamp the city's land development code. Robust changes to Austin's land development code have long been a priority of city leaders, but the most recent effort to revise the code was postponed in mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Days later, a Travis County judge ruled in a citizen-led lawsuit that the city of Austin violated local government code by failing to formally notify individual property owners of potential zoning changes that are part of the rewrite.
A push for a major rewrite of the land development code was revived in October 2019 — after the city's divisive CodeNext rewrite process was abandoned in August 2018 amidst deep community divisions… (LINK TO STORY)
Census deadline looms, and Austin-area officials push for complete count (Austin American-Statesman)
The race is on to count as many people as possible in the next nine days as the deadline to complete the 2020 U.S. census looms.
Central Texans have until the end of the month to respond to the once-a-decade census, a highly influential count that is used to help determine how the federal government distributes billions of dollars each year, along with political representation.
To underscore the importance of a complete census, Mayor Steve Adler and state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt on Monday kicked off a 10-day campaign to encourage people to respond to the census as the count winds down.
“We need all hands on deck,” Adler said during a news conference Monday. “This is crunch time with the census.”
The U.S. Census Bureau’s efforts to provide a complete count of every U.S. resident has faced multiple challenges this year. Even before the count began, the Trump administration’s attempts to place a citizenship question on the census raised concerns in immigrant communities that the data might be used to find people who were in the country illegally.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic began. It threw off the Census Bureau’s schedule as the government gauged how to best conduct follow-up counts that rely heavily on face-to-face interactions -- which suddenly had been deemed dangerous to public health.
And then in early August, the Census Bureau announced that it was cutting short the time allotted for follow-up at residences where the bureau did not receive a response.
Adler said that each person counted in the census amounts to roughly $1,500 in federal money per year. He pointed to federal pandemic relief the city and Travis County received, which went toward rent assistance programs, meals for the unemployed and other forms of aid, as something directly affected by the census.
“The amount of money we got was directly proportional to the number of people believed to be in our community,” he said… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
As Texas college towns emerge as coronavirus hot spots, universities try to keep students from infecting locals (Texas Tribune)
In Texas — as around the country — college towns are emerging as new hot spots for the coronavirus, with cases surging among student populations and administrators scrambling to keep infections from reaching the broader population.
In the counties where four-year college students make up at least 10% of the population, including Lubbock, Hays and Brazos, cases have grown 34% since Aug. 19, according to a Texas Tribune analysis. That’s compared to 23% in counties with a smaller proportion of students, including larger metropolitan areas like Houston and Dallas that also house universities. The number of new cases each day and other key metrics like COVID-19 hospitalizations have been trending down across the state.
The Texas counties where university students make up the biggest share of the population are home to Texas State University, Texas Tech University, Stephen F. Austin State University, Sul Ross State University, Sam Houston State University, and several A&M campuses, including the flagship in College Station, Tarleton State University, Prairie View A&M University, Texas A&M University-Kingsville and Texas A&M University-Commerce… (LINK TO STORY)
Pappas brothers exploring acquisition of Luby’s (Houston Chronicle)
Houston restaurateurs Christopher and Harris Pappas have filed paperwork in what could evolve into a bid to buy Luby’s assets from the floundering company. Following the board’s vote to dissolve the iconic restaurant chain earlier this month, the brothers and Luby’s executed a confidentiality agreement on Sept. 11 that allows the pair access to confidential Luby’s information while they evaluate whether or not to make an offer, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Christopher Pappas has served as the president and chief executive officer since March 2001. He controls 18.4 percent of the company’s outstanding shares, his brother controls 17.9 percent. Harris Pappas served as chief operating officer of Luby’s until his retirement in 2011 and as a member of its board until his resignation on Jan. 31, 2019. Following years of struggle for the cafeteria brand, Luby’s board voted unanimously on Sept. 4 to liquidate and dissolve the company. Dissolution plans require approval from shareholders during a special meeting. Luby’s board also formed a special committee to examine “a range of strategic alternatives available to the Company with the objective of maximizing stockholder value.” The company also said in an SEC filing today that it had approved a raise for Chief Operating Officer Benjamin Coutee, whose base salary will increase to $300,000 from $283,000… (LINK TO STORY)
High-speed train between Dallas and Houston gets federal approval (Texas Tribune)
The high-speed train that promises to transport passengers between Dallas and Houston in 90 minutes has been approved by the Federal Railroad Administration, according to Texas Central Railroad, the company in charge of the project.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration issued the two key rulings, which provide the regulatory framework and the environmental review for the high-speed train, that Texas officials were waiting on to move forward with the project, according to the company. The announcement was first reported by the Houston Chronicle.
Texas Central expects to start construction in the first half of 2021.The federal Surface Transportation Board still must approve the project before construction can begin.
The rulings announced Monday brought cheers from leaders in Dallas and Houston, but criticism from project opponents along the path the train could take to connect the cities.
Although the company had to layoff 28 workers due to the coronavirus-related financial crisis in March, Texas Central Railroad had described the project as “shovel ready” and waiting for the federal government’s approval.
“This is the moment we have been working towards,” said Carlos Aguilar, CEO of Texas Central Railroad in a statement. “The release of the final (approvals) by the Federal Railroad Administration represents years of work by countless individuals, affirming a very thorough and careful federal regulatory process that will make the Texas Central Railroad the first high-speed rail system to be implemented in the United States.”
The company estimates that the construction for the project will take up to six years, with a total cost of around $20 billion. The train will use the same technology as the Shinkansen bullet trains in Japan, which can reach speeds of more than 200 mph… (LINK TO STORY)
The autonomous truck stop? DFW emerging as hub as yet another firm looks to step up (Dallas Business Journal)
The Dallas area is getting the attention of the driverless trucking industry – and yet another company is looking to expand in the region.
More key players in the market are investing in the region as they see opportunities to try out their technology in North Texas. That often means setting up operations and hiring local folks for the autonomous vehicles, or AVs, as travel on nearby roads.
Waymo – part of Google parent Alphabet and a pioneer in driverless -- is setting up a hub in the Dallas area for its trucking effort, a spokesperson said last month. In July, Aurora, an Amazon-backed firm, that said it would set up an operation in North Texas, first with minivans and then larger semi-trucks.
And yet another company is eyeing more for the region. Embark – which has raised more than $100 million – sees opportunities ahead for North Texas, according to Monika Darwish, policy counsel for the company. It previously tested on the state’s roads, though it’s been keeping that closer to a hub in California of late.
“The Dallas-Fort Worth region is ripe for the nation's first deployment of automated commercial motor vehicles given the sheer volume of freight it sees, its location along major freight corridors, and the willingness of Texas lawmakers to engage in meaningful discussions on safety and education,” Darwish said. “The region is a high priority on our roadmap, and we look forward to building out facilities there soon to add to our transfer hubs in California and Arizona.”
And there are more. Kodiak Robotics announced last year it be supporting its growing testing and freight operations from a facility in Lancaster. Then there’s TuSimple, which in July said it will open a new shipping terminal in North Texas after operating autonomously on seven different routes between cities that include Dallas.
“I think it would be hard to argue that Dallas isn't the clear operations hub at this point,” said Daniel Goff, head of policy for Kodiak.
The Dallas areas is benefitting from its traditional role a key trucking area while providing policy at the state level that’s friendlier to driverless technology than some areas. The reputation for a business-friendly environment doesn’t hurt either.
It puts North Texas in the mix for what could be a key – and more quickly embraced – part of driverless tech. The trend is a good one for North Texas, helping to expand the shipping sector for the future, Thomas Bamonte, senior program manager, Automated Vehicles North Central Texas Council of Governments.
“Automated trucking is part of a larger effort to automate warehouses, freight yards, last-mile freight delivery, etc.,” Bamonte said. “DFW has to be at the forefront of technology innovation in the freight sector.”
With Waymo, the new investment comes after the company earlier this year said it would be testing the technology in Texas and New Mexico.
“Waymo has clearly put a stake in the ground by saying that DFW and Texas are critical to them,” Goff said. “Given we made South Dallas our home for testing and development, we see it as a great validator for our approach.”
Kodiak is backed by some big names as well, including Battery Ventures, CRV and Lightspeed, and is working to bolster the opportunity by using the driverless technology on the more predictable and less dynamic highways. It's focusing on AVs that are used between a drop-off or pick-up sites that can include more technical challenges.
Aurora is a company with more than $690 million in funding – and it’s led by an executive whose name, Chris Urmson, is familiar to the self-driving industry as a longtime player. He led the self-driving car effort at Google before co-founding his new company in 2017.
Like all new technologies nothing is certain. An early player in the Dallas region was Starsky, which quietly opened up a shop here in 2018. Yet earlier this year, the CEO, Stefan Seltz-Axmacher, announced the company was shutting down, citing issues such as a lack of investor interest and challenges in the trucking industry.
A key for Texas – and a help for Dallas – has been legislation passed in 2017, giving strong policy coverage for the industry, Bamonte said. Also, The Regional Transportation Council recently approved a program to optimize the movement of freight vehicles between freight hubs and expressways – another signal to the industry that DFW is supportive of AVs and related transportation technologies.
“DFW’s status as a major and growing freight hub is attractive for AV developers, who are looking to transition from technology testing to building viable freight businesses,” Bamonte said… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Senate GOP faces pivotal moment on pick for Supreme Court (The Hill)
Republicans will gather as a conference on Tuesday and for the first time discuss whether to speed forward with confirming a successor to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
All signs suggest the GOP will move with speed to confirm a nominee before Election Day, a move that would upend the Senate and begin a new tumultuous era for the body.
President Trump said Monday he would nominate a justice by Friday or Saturday, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in a floor speech said there was “more than enough time” to confirm a nominee before the end of the year.
Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) over the weekend said nothing is off the table if Republicans move to replace Ginsburg with a conservative justice before Election Day, just four years after the GOP blocked former President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, from getting even a hearing eight months ahead of an election.
Schumer’s threats have been widely interpreted as signals that Democrats would move to do away with the legislative filibuster or even seek to add justices to the Supreme Court if the GOP moves forward… (LINK TO STORY)
Liberals want blood. Joe Biden is sticking with bipartisanship. (Politico)
Liberals are furious. And they want Joe Biden to channel their angst and calm their nerves by advocating for every tactical maneuver available to stall Donald Trump’s coming Supreme Court nomination in the Senate.
Biden did something else on Sunday, using his first extended remarks about the future of the high court since the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to strike notes that have formed the basis of his campaign: respect for precedent, appeals to reason, bipartisanship, devotion to checks and balances.
In imploring a handful of Republican senators who control the fate of Trump’s third nomination in four years to defy the president, Biden again landed squarely on the themes even many Democrats ridiculed as archaic, possibly naive — right until his party rewarded him with the nomination.
So it’s not surprising that Biden skipped over progressive wish list items like court packing, something he said more than a year ago would cause Democrats to “rue that day.” While some Democrats want him to embrace and advocate court reforms more broadly, one official said privately he saw the speech as designed to address the moment, rather than moments that still might come.
With a steady lead in national and battleground-state polls, the former vice president has also refused to entertain every idea or respond in real time to every pressure point the Trump campaign tries to apply. Biden outright rejected calls to release a list of potential Supreme Court nominees, arguing doing so could sway their decisions and expose them to unrelenting political attacks. (There’s some recent precedent for this: He never confirmed a list, but many of Biden’s vice-presidential contenders came under intense scrutiny, sometimes privately from each other.)… (LINK TO STORY)