BG Reads | News You Need to Know (May 11, 2021)
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
Special Called Meeting (Winter Storm Uri) of the Austin City Council - Today (Agenda)
Regular Meeting of the Austin City Council - Thursday, May 11 (Agenda)
[THE 87TH TEXAS LEGISLATURE]
LINK TO FILED HOUSE BILLS (6,042)
LINK TO FILED SENATE BILLS (2,748)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Austin won't make arrests during first phase of reinstating rules related to homelessness (KUT)
After voters passed Proposition B on May 1, Austin is reinstating rules that ban homeless encampments on public land, prohibit sitting or lying down in parts of the city, and place a nighttime curfew on panhandling.
While those rules go into effect Tuesday, the city said enforcement would be phased in.
In an announcement Monday, the city said police won't ticket or arrest folks during an initial 30-day period unless there's an immediate threat to public health or safety. The city said officers will instead "provide available resources and verbal warnings."
Police will "begin to issue written warnings and initial citations" in the second phase of enforcement, the announcement said.
In the third and fourth phases, the city said, officers can "initiate arrests and/or encampment clearances in situations where compliance has not been achieved after a citation has been issued."
Prop B won by a 15-point margin. Supporters argued the city's 2019 decision to soften criminal penalties related to homelessness made the city less safe and contributed to an increase in public encampments. Opponents argued criminal penalties for behavior related to homelessness often make things harder for people to get housing.
The outline of the plan comes after days of confusion surrounding the strategy. City Manager Spencer Cronk and interim Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon will provide an update at a news conference Tuesday.
Last week, Cronk floated the idea of a "phased approach," suggesting APD wouldn't immediately start issuing tickets to people who violated the ordinances.
"It is important for all of our residents to know that, even with multiple departments partnering on their implementation efforts, this is not going to happen on May 11," he said. "This is going to be a process that is over time."
Cronk's comments came shortly before Council's approval of a plan to find city-owned land for temporary campsites as part of the HEAL initiative. That effort, which preceded Prop B, aims to prohibit camping in some areas of Austin after connecting folks with housing.
Because of those ongoing efforts, Cronk said, the city will focus on "significant outreach and education" as it relates to enforcing the ordinances.
At an event hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation on Monday, Council Member Mackenzie Kelly said she believes a draft of the enforcement plan will be available Tuesday, adding that she thought it was "coming out too late."
"I voiced my concern about why didn't we have a plan in place. We knew this was going to happen," she said. "Everything is too late and it's too little here at the City of Austin. It's not great."
Back in 2019, the Austin Police Department prepared training bulletins for officers on how to best enforce the then-new rules. KUT asked the department if it had issued similar guidance in relation to Prop B, but has not yet received a response… (LINK TO STORY)
Council approves rezoning for Foundation Communities project, quashing valid petition (Austin Monitor)
A 100 percent affordable apartment project is coming soon to Southeast Austin.
City Council has approved a rezoning for the Parker Apartments, a project by affordable housing developer Foundation Communities with 135 income-restricted units catering to families.
Council members voted 10-0 on Thursday, with Mayor Pro Tem Natasha Harper-Madison off the dais, to grant Multifamily-Medium Density zoning with a 50-foot setback on the north side of the property (MF-3-CO) from Family Residence (SF-3) zoning.
The 8-acre site at 2105 Parker Lane is currently home to the Parker Lane Methodist Church, which recently shut down due to a dwindling membership and run-down facilities. To continue its mission without a congregation, the church partnered with Foundation Communities, leasing the site to the developer. The church will get office space in the new building, allowing it to carry on its work with Justice for Our Neighbors, an immigration advocacy service.
The new homes will be “deeply affordable,” Foundation Communities Executive Director Walter Moreau said. Most will be family-sized, with two and three bedrooms, and 14 will be reserved for families with children who have recently experienced homelessness.
Though Council’s support for the project was never in question, many neighbors opposed the project and tried to get the city to stop it.
Thirty-three percent of the homeowners within 200 feet of the property signed a petition opposing the rezoning, forcing a 9-vote Council supermajority for the project to be approved. Twenty percent of nearby homeowners are needed for a valid petition.
The majority of signatures came from residents in the condos to the north of the site, who opposed the prospect of denser development next door. Some feared that if the Foundation Communities project fell through, a different developer could build a much denser project on the rezoned land. The current proposal is not nearly as dense as it could be, in order to leave space for a wildflower meadow, heritage trees and a surface parking lot.
Council Member Kathie Tovo, with an eye toward placating the neighbors, motioned to recommend MF-3 zoning with a conditional overlay requiring a 50-foot setback from the condos to the north. “That eliminates one of the concerns that I heard from some of the neighbors,” she said.
Council Member Leslie Pool concurred: “It injects the predictability that I think is important for the community.”
Though Foundation Communities requested MF-4 zoning, Moreau said that the project could still be built with MF-3 zoning combined with participation in the city’s Affordability Unlocked program, which grants developers more entitlements in exchange for affordable units.
Some neighbors had also envisioned the site as a future community center and a natural disaster resilience hub.
Our House, a nonprofit that used the church for meetings, said: “The neighborhood now seriously suffers for lack of a real community center where the marginalized and badly underserved residents can come together to seek assistance and the services they badly need.”
At a recent Planning Commission hearing for the project, Moreau said he was surprised at the opposition. “All of the services the neighbors want … that’s exactly what we do,” he said, adding, “There are just some neighbors who are opposed to the project, no matter what.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Rodeo Austin, Austin Pride, ACL Fest among big events planning comebacks (KVUE)
AUSTIN, Texas — As COVID-19 cases decrease and vaccine demand fades across the Austin area, a handful of the city's biggest events have already announced tentative plans for in-person comebacks.
On Monday, one of Austin's first large-scale productions to announce a cancellation at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 announced it would be returning two years later.
"Rodeo Austin is looking forward to bringing back Gritty Fun March 12-26, 2022," the rodeo said in an email announcement. "Rodeo Austin remains a mission with a rodeo that brings heritage and entertainment to the community. Mark your calendars for Rodeo Austin 2022! Come be a part of real Texas grit...live and hands on!
Also on Monday, Austin Pride announced a date for 2021. While more information is on its way, Saturday, Aug. 14 will be the date to watch.
Austin City Limits Musical Festival also announced earlier this year that it's planning to host the 2021 festival in-person this year at Zilker Park.
Currently, ACL Fest is slated to take place during the weekends of Oct. 1-3 and Oct. 8-10. No lineup announcements have been made just yet.
Meanwhile, SXSW 2021 did hold a virtual event this year. It's also announced dates for 2022 – March 11-20. However, whether that will be in person or virtual remains up in the air.
"We at SXSW are hopeful that once people feel it’s safe enough to return to what will be the new normal of life, there will be a real enthusiasm for getting back to the things that brought them joy or opportunity or just the simple need to be out amongst humanity," the SXSW website states. "We can’t wait to bring people together once again to meet and share ideas. Austin Public Health’s Interim Authority Dr. Mark Escott recently said, 'I’m very confident that SXSW will look normal, or near-normal next year.' We, too, share his optimism that we will be able to hold an in-person event in 2022."… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Texas gets $15.8B bonanza in pandemic aid, far more than it lost in revenue (Dallas Morning News)
The state, cities and counties of Texas will soon receive a $25 billion bonanza under the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief law signed by President Joe Biden in March. The Treasury Department issued details Monday of the $350 billion set aside for state and local governments under the massive package, approved by Congress with only Democratic support. Dallas County will receive $512 million. The city will get another $355 million. Only Harris County and Houston are higher on the list in Texas, with budgetary infusions of $916 million and $608 million heading their way soon. Republicans in Congress vehemently opposed the state aid, deriding it as a bailout for states that mismanaged their budgets.
But only blue California, which actually ran a surplus during the crisis, stands to receive more than Texas, where the infusion will have an outsized impact on a budget controlled by Republicans: Gov. Greg Abbott and the GOP hold majorities in the Legislature. Texas stands to receive a $15.8 billion windfall – far more than the roughly $4 billion the state lost as COVID-19 sent economic shudders across the globe, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. Texas counties will share about $5.7 billion, and cities will get $3.4 billion. “Because states and local governments have to balance their budgets, a lot of them had to lay off employees when the economy.... slowed and tax revenues fell. We’re talking about 1.3 million state and local employees out of work,” Biden said at the White House. “The money we’re distributing ... now is going to make it possible for an awful lot of educators, first responders, sanitation workers to go back to work.” States have wide flexibility on how they use the funds from the American Rescue Plan… (LINK TO STORY)
How an obscure Texas security company helped convince Americans the 2020 election was stolen from Trump (Washington Post)
Key elements of the baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen from President Donald Trump took shape in an airplane hangar here two years earlier, promoted by a Republican businessman who has sold everything from Tex-Mex food in London to a wellness technology that beams light into the human bloodstream. At meetings beginning late in 2018, as Republicans were smarting from midterm losses in Texas and across the country, Russell J. Ramsland Jr. and his associates delivered alarming presentations on electronic voting to a procession of conservative lawmakers, activists and donors. Briefings in the hangar had a clandestine air. Guests were asked to leave their cellphones outside before assembling in a windowless room. A member of Ramsland’s team purporting to be a “white-hat hacker” identified himself only by a code name. Ramsland, a failed congressional candidate with a Harvard MBA, pitched a claim that seemed rooted in evidence: Voting-machine audit logs — lines of codes and time stamps that document the machines’ activities — contained indications of vote manipulation. In the retrofitted hangar that served as his company’s offices at the edge of a municipal airstrip outside Dallas, Ramsland attempted to persuade failed Republican candidates to challenge their election results and force the release of additional data that might prove manipulation.
“We had to find the right candidate,” said Laura Pressley, a former Ramsland ally whose own claim that audit logs showed fraud had been rejected in court two years earlier. “We had to find one who knew they won.” He made the pitch to Don Huffines, a state senator in Texas. Huffines declined. He tried to persuade U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.). Sessions declined. No candidate agreed to bring a challenge, and the idea of widespread vote manipulation remained on the political fringe — until 2020, when Ramsland’s assertions were seized upon by influential allies of Trump. The president himself accelerated the spread of those claims into the GOP mainstream as he latched onto an array of baseless ideas to explain his loss in November. The enduring myth that the 2020 election was rigged was not one claim by one person. It was many claims stacked one atop the other, repeated by a phalanx of Trump allies. This is the previously unreported origin story of a core set of those claims, ideas that were advanced not by renowned experts or by insiders who had knowledge of flawed voting systems but by Ramsland and fellow conservative activists as they pushed a fledgling company, Allied Security Operations Group, into a quixotic attempt to find evidence of widespread fraud where none existed… (LINK TO STORY)
In runoffs for San Antonio City Council, two progressive candidates make headway (San Antonio Express-News)
A pair of young progressives could push the San Antonio City Council further left and form a left-wing coalition on the council — should they win in the June runoff elections. Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and Teri Castillo surged to the front of crowded fields in races May 1 to represent the East Side and near West Side, respectively. Both have drawn the backing of the Democratic Socialists of America’s San Antonio chapter and the Texas Organizing Project, a grassroots organization that heavily funded the recently failed Proposition B campaign to strip collective bargaining from the police union. They each face candidates considered more moderate in the June 5 runoffs. In District 2, McKee-Rodriguez will go head to head with his former boss, first-term incumbent Jada Andrews-Sullivan. In District 5, Castillo is up against Rudy Lopez, a retired city employee, for the open seat.
The candidates hail from parts of town with high poverty and poor public infrastructure, the result of decades of discriminatory policies that discouraged investment in Black and Hispanic areas. The candidates’ areas also now face rising property values owing to the ongoing revitalization of nearby downtown. Castillo and McKee-Rodriguez feel frustration toward a council that leans left but that they see as insufficiently aggressive when it comes to protecting the city’s poorest and most vulnerable residents. “I believe that I represent a wave that the local government has ignored,” said Castillo, a 29-year-old teacher. “I think it’s just folks hearing their sentiments echoed, and folks are ready to push that forward.” To Castillo and McKee-Rodriguez, that means pressuring the council to go bold on a progressive agenda: reforming police, plugging more city funds into affordable housing, boosting protections for renters and forcing city-owned CPS Energy to close its coal-fired Spruce power plant, among other ideas. “They’re going to really push the council,” political consultant Demonte Alexander said… (LINK TO STORY)
Trump backs Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s 2022 reelection in first endorsement for Texas statewide candidate (Dallas Morning News)
With more than a year until the 2022 election, former President Donald Trump on Monday backed Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s bid for re-election. “He is outstanding and has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” the announcement said. Patrick, a Republican who presides over the Senate, has said he will seek a third four-year term. The stamp of approval is Trump’s first for a Texas statewide candidate this year and comes notably early in the election cycle.
The legislative session is still underway. Patrick has not yet drawn any official Republican primary challengers, unlike other statewide GOP officials. On Monday, former state Sen. Don Huffines jumped into the governor’s race and signaled he would be running to the right of Gov. Greg Abbott. Land Commissioner George P. Bush is weighing a bid against embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is reportedly under FBI investigation over allegations he abused his office to help a campaign donor. Paxton denies wrongdoing. Many Texas Republicans are vying to align themselves with Trump, who remains popular with the state’s conservative base, which often turns out for primary elections. It remains to be seen whether other endorsements from Trump will follow. Brandon Rottinghaus, a political scientist at the University of Houston, said the Trump endorsement cements Patrick’s “conservative credibility,” which could help him raise money and insulate him from potential primary challengers. In his statement, Trump said Patrick has stood up “for Life, Liberty, the Second Amendment, Border Security, our Military and our Vets, and our God-given Freedoms.”… (LINK TO STORY)
'Get your tiger back inside': Caretaker drives off after deputy's showdown with big cat in Houston (Houston Chronicle)
Police are looking for a man whose tiger escaped a west Houston home and came face-to-face with an armed off-duty Waller County Sheriff's Office deputy in a residential neighborhood, according to video of the encounter. The footage shows the tiger lounging in the grass and then walking toward a man with a gun drawn around 8 p.m. in the 1100 block of Ivy Wall Drive, near the Energy Corridor. Police spokesman Victor Senties identified the man as a law enforcement official from the nearby county who happened to be nearby when neighbors spied the tiger.
At least one 911 caller told police that the tiger “had a collar around its neck” and was “looking aggressive,” according to authorities. The apex predator paced toward the deputy by crossing the street, prompting him to shout out some profanities to the tiger’s apparent caretaker who emerged from a home, the video shows. The caretaker, when confronted, said, “We’re with the zoo" but did not elaborate. “Get your tiger back inside,” the deputy cried out, without firing any shots during the tense confrontation. The tiger was later corralled back inside a home. Within minutes, the caretaker rushed the animal away in a white Jeep Cherokee as police arrived. Its escape was noted in police radio traffic. “We’ve got one running away with the tiger in the car,” officials said on a law enforcement radio channel. The officers chased after the caretaker but lost sight of him as he fled at a high rate of speed toward Highway 6, Senties said. No charges have been filed… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
U.S. children ages 12 to 15 could begin COVID-19 vaccinations Thursday (Reuters)
U.S. regulators authorized Pfizer (PFE.N) and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for use in children as young as 12 and said they could begin receiving shots as soon as Thursday, widening the country’s inoculation program as vaccination rates have slowed significantly.
This is the first COVID-19 vaccine to be authorized in the United States for ages 12 to 15. Vaccinating younger ages is considered an important step for getting children back into schools safely. U.S. President Joe Biden has asked states to make the vaccine available to younger adolescents immediately.
Biden issued a statement hailing the authorization as "a promising development in our fight against the virus."
"If you are a parent who wants to protect your child, or a teenager who is interested in getting vaccinated, today’s decision is a step closer to that goal," he said.
The vaccine has been available under an emergency use authorization to people as young as 16 in the United States. The vaccine makers said they had started seeking full approval for the immunization in people 16 and older last week.
Peter Marks, director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told reporters that states will likely be able to begin vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds after an advisory committee of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the expansion on Wednesday.
Most children with COVID-19 only develop mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. However, children are not without risk of becoming seriously ill, and they can still spread the virus. There have been outbreaks traced to sporting events and other activities for children in this age range… (LINK TO STORY)
Credit-Card debt keeps falling. Banks are on edge. (Wall Street Journal)
Americans are paying down their credit-card debt at levels not seen in years. That is good news for everyone but credit-card issuers.
Large card issuers that cater to borrowers ranging from the affluent to the subprime say that overall card balances—and thus the firms’ interest income—are falling. To make up for it, issuers are spending more on marketing and loosening their underwriting standards.
Discover Financial Services said on its earnings call last month that the share of card balances that were paid off at the end of the first quarter were at the highest level since 2000. Capital One Financial Corp. said that nearly half of the credit-card balances it had at the beginning of March were paid off by the end of the month, which the company described as historically high. The companies’ calculations are based on the credit-card balances that they packaged into securities and sold to investors.
Synchrony Financial, the largest issuer of store credit cards in the U.S., said payment rates have been higher than they averaged before the pandemic.
Card balances at the three companies were down 9%, 17% and 7% in the first quarter from a year prior, respectively.
The results reflect the pandemic’s topsy-turvy effect on consumer finances. A year ago, lenders expected delinquencies to surge and many borrowers to turn to credit cards to make ends meet. But then the government stepped in, issuing stimulus checks, expanding unemployment benefits and making it easy for borrowers to pause payments on many mortgages and student loans, and the expected jump in delinquencies didn’t happen.
Now, even as Americans return to spending on their credit cards, they are continuing to pay down their card balances. That signals many borrowers are faring well even during the pandemic. But many card issuers rely on growing card usage and balances for their revenue, and they are wondering if the pandemic trends will turn into a long-term shift.
“We are very focused on returning to growing loans,” Discover Chief Executive Roger Hochschild said. “Delinquencies can’t get much lower than where they are now, but if your loans keep shrinking, your revenues come down [and] margins will get worse.”
Some consumers curbed their credit-card use because the things they normally spent money on, like travel and dining at restaurants, weren’t an option last year. Others shifted to debit cards because they didn’t want to take on new debt in an uncertain economy… (LINK TO STORY)
California scores staggering $75B budget surplus (The Hill)
California’s budget is in the black — by a staggering amount. A state that expected perhaps the most severe budget crunch in American history instead has a more than $75 billion budget surplus, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Monday, after a booming stock market and better-than-anticipated tax revenues over the pandemic-plagued year. As recently as a year ago, California’s top elected officials were staring into a budgetary abyss that made the Great Recession look like a pothole. Newsom’s office projected a budget deficit of up to $54 billion, or about a quarter of the entire state budget. Legislators prepared to cut state government to the bone.
“We were scared, all of us,” state Assemblyman Chad Mayes (I) told The Hill last month. “We all agreed, 'Hey, we’re going to take a hit because we’re heavily dependent on high-income earners.'” But the stock market’s rebound, and its yearlong rally, have helped repair the gap. California is unusually reliant on receipts from capital gains tax, so a strong year in the market is good news for state government. Initial public offerings from companies like DoorDash and Airbnb helped, while sales tax revenues also came in in greater amounts than expected. Newsom said in an address Monday that he would propose using much of the money to fund what he said would be the biggest economic recovery package in state history. Newsom’s $100 billion proposal would add $12 billion more in direct payments to California residents, including $600 to most people and an extra $500 to families with dependents. The payments would go to families making less than $75,000 a year… (LINK TO STORY)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
BG Podcast EP. 139: Q1 20201 Review: COVID-19's Impact on the Built Environment with Michael Hsu
On today’s episode we speak with return guest, Austin-based Michael Hsu, Principal and Founder of Michael Hsu Office of Architecture.
He and Bingham Group CEO A.J. catch up from their June 2020 show, updating on impacts to the design/built environment sector through Q1 2021.
You can listen to all episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. New content every Wednesday. Please like, link, comment and subscribe!