BG Reads | News You Need to Know (September 3, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
*NEW* BG Blog: Bingham Group Announces Partnership With APC Collective (BLOG LINK)
*NEW* BG Podcast Episode 105: Building a Communications Firm with Audrey Ponzio, CEO & Founder, APC Collective (SHOW LINK)
Note: Shows also available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Sound Cloud, and Stitcher
[AUSTIN METRO]
Downtown Austin construction continues booming despite pandemic (KVUE-ABC)
The City of Austin’s growth downtown hasn’t slowed down much during the coronavirus pandemic, as more than two dozen projects keep pushing ahead that’ll continue changing the skyline.
According to data kept by the Downtown Austin Alliance, only one project has been canceled because of the pandemic. Five others have been completed.
There are 26 projects under construction with 25 others proposed or in planning, according to DAA data.
“The activity that we see in downtown right now is an indication of the very healthy real estate market economy that we had when we entered this pandemic,” said Michele Van Hyfte, vice president of urban design for the Downtown Austin Alliance.
2019 was a record-breaking year for real estate and Austin was the number one real estate market in North America for 2020.
The DAA said a crane is an indicator that a project is at least a year into its lifespan with a year or two left before opening its doors. Over the next few months, more construction or cranes could start to pop up downtown.
“We have seen trends in projects that indicate that we will have taller, larger and more mixed-use, high-rise buildings in Downtown Austin,” Van Hyfte said. “That means that our skyline will continue to dramatically change. We'll see new interesting shapes form on the skyline. There are several large mixed-use projects that are under construction right now that will increase the skyline's height.”
It’ll be six to 18 months before any sort of noticeable slowdown in Austin’s construction projects, Van Hyfte said. There’s also a lot of hope that the city’s strong real estate market at the beginning of the pandemic will make the impacts less severe… (LINK TO STORY)
ABIA to get nearly $12M from FAA for terminal upgrades (Austin Business Journal)
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport has been approved for a grant of nearly $11.7 million from the Federal Aviation Administration that will go toward replacing decades-old systems in the main terminal, some of which have been in use since the airport opened in 1999.
The FAA announced the grant Sept. 1 as part of a wider distribution of more than $1.2 billion in safety and infrastructure grants from its Airport Improvement Program to 405 airports across all 50 states and six U.S. territories.
That includes Texas airports receiving more than $60 million, with Alliance Airport in Fort Worth receiving the most at $15.8 million to pay for noise mitigation and taxiway extension work. The FAA is also awarding $16.6 million to the state of Texas for nonprimary airports through a block grant program.
In Austin, the money will pay for upgrades to "passenger and cargo activities" in the Barbara Jordan Terminal, airport spokesman Bryce Dubee said. That could mean infrastructure that helps the airport run such as a baggage handling system.
"Some of the systems here in the terminal are original, from the 1999 construction," he said. "These are really system upgrades to improve the overall lifespan of the terminal."
Austin-Bergstrom applies for these federal grants every year. The airport received a similar grant in 2019, which is going toward runway improvements currently underway, Dubee said… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin-based dating app Bumble discussing IPO at $6B valuation (Austin Business Journal)
Bumble, an Austin-based dating app company and champion of a women-first approach to meeting, may be headed for an IPO.
The company, which planted its roots in north central Austin a few years ago, is making moves in advance of a potential initial public offering that could come early next year, Bloomberg reported Tuesday evening, citing sources familiar with the matter.
But the Bloomberg report noted that nothing is finalized just yet, and the company didn't comment on the news -- nor did its majority stake investor, private equity firm Blackstone Group.
The $6 billion to $8 billion valuation the company is said to fetch would represent a big boost from the also lofty valuations market observers and investors have placed on the company previously. Last fall, reports said Bumble could be worth well over $1 billion, with some suggesting $3 billion might be a fair valuation… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
The Latina progressive who faced down Texas Republicans (Politico)
In late April, Lina Hidalgo stood at a microphone in the Harris County emergency operations center in Houston and pushed up the teal fabric face mask that had slipped off her nose. Her voice was slightly muffled as she spoke. Next to her, an American Sign Language interpreter translated for an audience that couldn’t see her lips. But there was no need to worry her message would be lost. Soon it would become the subject of debate across the country—and so would she. Hidalgo, the county judge of Harris County—the top elected official in the nation’s third-largest county—announced that millions of people in the Houston area would be required to wear a face covering in public to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
People who didn’t comply would risk a fine of up to $1,000. Behind her, charts and graphs told the statistical story that had led Hidalgo to this moment. Since early March, when the state’s first case of Covid-19 had been identified in Houston, the urban heart of Harris County, the number of infected people in the county had climbed to 3,800. That day, the death toll stood at 79 and Houston’s mayor, Sylvester Turner, warned that number could “exponentially increase.” Hidalgo had been bracing for the disease for weeks. She had sought advice from officials in King County in Washington state, the nation’s first hot spot.
Armed with their insight, she rallied her own emergency management and public health officials to prepare a response and on March 16 ordered the closure of bars and restaurant dining rooms. Initially, state officials followed suit. Three days after Hidalgo’s order, Gov. Greg Abbott declared a public health disaster for the first time in more than a century. Texans huddled indoors. But by early April, pressure was mounting on Abbott to end the lockdown. Hidalgo was pulling the other way. What has transpired over the past several months in Texas is more than an object lesson in public health. The larger battle over the response to the coronavirus—epitomized by the policy disputes between Hidalgo and Abbott—has revealed rifts in a once deeply red state where Republicans have long ruled statewide elections but where demographic shifts in its big cities have offered Democrats reason to think they can compete in the most important races.
Hidalgo’s forceful if controversial handling of the pandemic in the state’s largest metro area has provided Democrats with an example of what the youthful progressive wing of their party can do when it has the power to make decisions on the ground in a life-and-death situation. At the news conference on April 22 when she announced the mask mandate, Hidalgo warned against complacency and said Harris County residents must continue to hunker down. “If we get cocky, if we get sloppy, we get right back to where we started,” she said, “and all of the sacrifices people have been making have been in vain.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Dallas Democrat Colin Allred nabs endorsement from U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a traditional GOP ally (Dallas Morning News)
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a historically conservative-leaning business group, has endorsed Dallas Rep. Colin Allred, a freshman Democrat whom Republicans are spending considerable money and effort to defeat. Thomas Donohue, the chamber’s chief executive officer, said Wednesday that Allred’s “leadership in Congress will benefit the nation as we combat the coronavirus, work to restore economic growth, and expand opportunities for all Americans.”
“In challenging times, we are reminded of the importance of having leaders who understand the genius of the American system of government and free enterprise and who are willing to tackle the hard problems that confront our nation,” he said. Allred said he was honored by the endorsement, saying he “will always fight for the small businesses and workers that power our economy” and that “North Texas is at its best when our government, workers and business leaders all work together to create good-paying jobs and grow our economy.” Allred’s Republican opponent, Dallas businesswoman Genevieve Collins, responded that the “U.S. Chamber has completely lost its way.” “When I speak to business owners large and small here in the 32nd district, they don’t care about an endorsement from the disconnected and bloated D.C. special interest U.S. Chamber,” said Collins, who’s backed by the National Federation of Independent Business… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
C.D.C. tells health officials to be ready to distribute a vaccine by November, raising concerns over politicized timing. (New York Times)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has notified public health officials in all 50 states and five large cities to prepare to distribute a coronavirus vaccine to health care workers and other high-risk groups as soon as late October or early November. The new C.D.C. guidance is the latest sign of an accelerating race for a vaccine to greatly ease a pandemic that has killed more than 184,000 Americans. The documents were sent out last week, the same day that President Trump told the nation in his speech to the Republican convention that a vaccine may arrive before the end of the year. Over the past week, both Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, and Dr. Stephen Hahn, who heads the Food and Drug Administration, have said in interviews with news organizations that a vaccine could be available for certain groups before clinical trials have been completed, if the data were overwhelmingly positive.
Public health experts agree that agencies at all levels of government should urgently prepare for what will eventually be a vast, complex effort to vaccinate hundreds of millions of Americans. But the possibility of a rollout in late October or early November has also heightened concerns that the Trump administration is seeking to rush the distribution of a vaccine — or simply to suggest that one is possible — before Election Day on Nov. 3. “This timeline of the initial deployment at the end of October is deeply worrisome for the politicization of public health and the potential safety ramifications,” said Saskia Popescu, an infection prevention epidemiologist in Arizona. “It’s hard not to see this as a push for a pre-election vaccine.” Three documents were sent to public health officials in all states and territories as well as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston and San Antonio on Aug. 27. They outlined detailed scenarios for distributing two unnamed vaccine candidates — each requiring two doses a few weeks apart — at hospitals, mobile clinics and other facilities offering easy access to the first targeted recipients…(LINK TO STORY)
Outgoing Seattle police chief felt 'destined to fail' after cuts and public backlash (NPR)
Carmen Best, Seattle's first Black police chief, is leaving her post on Wednesday, in the midst of protests against police brutality in her city and across the country.
Best announced her resignation last month after the city council approved a proposal to slash the police department budget by $4 million and cut as many as 100 officers from the force. The council had at one point considered cutting the budget in half.
"I believe 100% that they were putting me in a position destined to fail. Cutting a police department that already had low staffing numbers, that was already struggling to keep up with the demand," Best said in an interview with NPR's All Things Considered on Wednesday. "How are we going to provide for adequate public safety in that environment?"
Best said she was excluded from conversations around reimagining the future of policing, which made it "very difficult to move forward and make the changes needed to move the department in the right direction.".
Best is leaving her post after nearly 30 years with the force, during which time she held almost every position within the department.
But her final months on the job were overshadowed by protests against systemic racism and police violence. In Seattle, protesters overtook a six-block zone in the heart of downtown for weeks after police vacated a nearby precinct building. Best has weathered criticism for her department's response to the protests, and acknowledged that the downtown zone became "lawless" in the absence of a police presence.
"We haven't always been on the right side of history," Best said of law enforcement broadly, "but I think there's a real movement and real energy to make sure that we are."… (LINK TO STORY)
With a hand from Trump, the right makes Rittenhouse a cause célèbre (Politico)
Kyle Rittenhouse was charged with homicide after shooting three protesters last week, two of them fatally.
But on Tuesday, Trump supporters had their own way to describe the 17-year-old from Illinois.
They called him a patriot. They called him a hero. They thanked him for defending the city.
Alan Endries was among them. When asked what spurred him to make the 40-mile drive from Milwaukee for President Donald Trump’s visit to Kenosha on Tuesday, he said he felt empathy for Rittenhouse. “I just feel bad for that 17-year-old.”
“He’s a hero. He stuck up for the population, for property owners,” Endries said. “He didn’t come up here just to shoot people. He came up here to defend himself.”
The defense of Rittenhouse by Trump backers reflects the chasm that’s opened across the nation in the wake of deadly violence in Kenosha and Portland, Ore. Activists on the left rushed to defend Jacob Blake, a Black man shot seven times in the back by a white police officer, launching a series of demonstrations protesting what they call systemic racism by police.
But many people on the right see a different dominant narrative from Kenosha: A teen who was wrongly charged with homicide and should be lionized. Online crowdfunding petitions have sprouted, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of Rittenhouse. And he's gotten a hand from the president himself, who refused this week to denounce the teen’s actions.
The divisions were on full display Tuesday in Wisconsin, one of the most pivotal swing states in the country. During Trump’s visit, his supporters and Black Lives Matter activists clashed in the street along the main government complex near downtown, trading chants of “All Lives Matter” and “Black Lives Matter.”… (LINK TO STORY)