BG Reads | News You Need to Know (July 13, 2021)
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
The Austin Council next meets for regular business on July 22.
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Austin City Council to resume in-person, public City Hall meetings July 22 for hearing on proposed budget (Community Impact)
Austin City Council members will convene in-person and publicly for the first time in well over a year July 22 for a hearing on the city's proposed budget for fiscal year 2021-22.
Council members have appeared together at various events in recent months, and many also worked from their City Hall offices while public meetings remained virtual. The summer budget hearing will mark the first time the majority of the council gathers in their City Hall chamber with members of the public present since their meetings shifted online last spring.
Audience occupancy in the chamber will be limited to every other seat, city spokesperson Yasmeen Hassan said, as long as Austin Public Health's COVID-19 risk status for Austin and Travis County remains at Stage 2 as of next week. The region moved into Stage 2 mid-May, however, the seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 hospitalizations—the key indicator for Austin-Travis County's risk thresholds—has in recent days tracked toward Stage 3 levels.
Hassan said additional precautions to potentially be in place at City Hall next week include a partitioned area for city staff and a restricted council dais. Masks will be recommended but not required at the meeting, and hand sanitizer will be available to visitors.
Council members had discussed several items related to their return to public meetings prior to their summer meetings break, including COVID-19 precautions and attendance preferences. While there was some talk earlier of a dais split evenly between in-person and virtual appearances, all members except District 9 Council Member Kathie Tovo are expected to be in the chamber for next week's meeting, although details could change before July 22… (LINK TO STORY)
City budget proposal gives taxpayers a break (Austin Monitor)
Despite a pandemic that still ravages parts of the country and in the face of hostile legislation from the state, Austin “has come through the many challenges of the past year in as good or better shape than any big city of America,” City Manager Spencer Cronk said Friday as he laid out city staffers’ proposed budget for 2021-22. In fact, both sales tax and property taxes are projected to be significantly higher than what was anticipated just a few months ago, he reported.
So Cronk proposed raising property taxes for next year just 3.5 percent, the amount allowed during normal fiscal conditions. (Because of Winter Storm Uri and its terrible toll on Texas, cities may temporarily raise their property taxes 8 percent for the upcoming year.) The tax rate is proposed to be 54.31 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The rate for the current year is 53.35 cents per $100.
Overall, the city’s budget is $4.5 billion, with about two-thirds devoted to public safety and with money restored to the police budget as required by state law. But the more important number for most people is the total yearly impact of the city’s property tax and other bills – payments for Austin Energy, Austin Water, trash and recycling collections, and various fees. The increase in costs of all those categories is about $38, according to city projections. That number takes into account the newly increased 20 percent general homestead exemption, which Council raised from 10 percent earlier this year.
How accurate those projections are for homeowners will depend in part on how much the assessed value of their homes has increased.
Cronk said, “I will tell you that we worked very hard to keep the combined tax and fee increase in this proposal below 1 percent, because despite the relatively good economic news overall in the past year, we obviously recognize the financial difficulty that many Austinites still find themselves in as a result of the pandemic.”
One reason Austin is in such good financial shape is its continuing growth and popularity. According to the city budget document, “This budget will raise more total property taxes than last year’s budget by $52,524,899 or 5.7 percent, and of that amount $21,368,668 is tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll this year.” The document notes that the city had yet to receive its certified appraisal roll from the chief appraiser of the Travis Central Appraisal District, so the amounts noted are estimates… (LINK TO STORY)
Real estate heavyweights plan massive office park at closed 3M plant in North Austin (Austin Business Journal)
A site of nearly 60 acres is poised for redevelopment in busy North Austin where 3M Co. used to run a manufacturing plant.
Minnesota-based 3M (NYSE: MMM) still owns the land at 11705 Research Blvd. where it operated a plant making copper and fiber connectivity products until the end of 2019. However, 3M plans to sell the property, which real estate firms Trammell Crow Co. and Karlin Real Estate LLC will then redevelop into a 1.2 million-square-foot project, Amanda Swor, director of entitlements and policy at Drenner Group PC, said in a July 7 email. Swor is representing the project in a rezoning request at the city.
A brochure and other details posted on Karlin's website outline plans to build an office park dubbed Duval at the same address on Research Boulevard. The first two of five planned buildings will be 235,000 square feet and 250,000 square feet; those will be shovel-ready by the third quarter of this year, according to Karlin's website. Officials with Karlin declined to comment, and officials with 3M and Trammell Crow did not return requests for comment by publication time.
This redevelopment is yet another massive project planned in North Austin, which is slated to see even more activity as companies and residents flood the area. Just a few miles from the former 3M plant is Apple Inc.'s future $1 billion campus, which is driving up demand for office and residential space. Also nearby is 7700 Parmer, a business park that's undergoing a massive makeover, and plans are underway for a major expansion of U.S. Highway 183, aka Research Boulevard.
To put the plans to transform the old 3M plant into perspective, it would be about one-third the size of the new Apple campus, which is supposed to be 3 million square feet. At 1.2 million square feet, the project would be slightly smaller than Barton Creek Square mall… (LINK TO STORY)
Vision plan takes on mobility woes at Zilker Park (Austin Monitor)
Last month, the Parks and Recreation Department held its first community meeting for the Zilker Metropolitan Park Vision Plan, an ambitious effort to develop a framework for the park’s future. The department calls it the “first comprehensive planning effort in the park’s 104-year history.”
With months of planning under its belt far, the vision plan is determined in its efforts to develop the park, aiming to address issues ranging from parking and land use to historic preservation and equity.
The immense planning effort is partly explained by the park’s popularity; Zilker, which receives an average of 7,200 visitors a day, is among the city’s most iconic and unique attractions and in 2019, it pulled in $2.4 million in fees for events hosted in the park like ACL Festival.
Zilker’s usage as an event space is not just limited to large-scale festivals, though.
At last week’s meeting, Claire Hempel, landscape architect with Design Workshop, the primary consulting firm for the project, said, “Most people know of the bigger events like ACL, the Kite Festival, and the Trail of Lights, but there are actually hundreds of events and programs that happen almost daily throughout the year.”
The park’s popularity is actually at the root of many of Zilker’s mobility issues.
Hempel said that, since the vision planning effort was initiated, the planning team has noted “significant mobility gaps” at Zilker. Despite being located in Central Austin, getting in and out of the area can be difficult, as Barton Springs Road and MoPac Expressway are the two main access points to the park.
In a survey conducted by the city, the vast majority of Zilker visitors said they get to the park via their personal vehicles, followed by running/jogging/walking and bicycling. Public transit is an even less popular way of getting to Zilker.
One of the contributing factors to these trends comes down to accessibility and ease of use. Right now, there are around 2,700 parking spots at Zilker, but only one bus line that services the park and a lack of dedicated bicycle routes around the area. In a city heavily reliant on car usage, it’s significantly easier for the average person to get to Zilker via car than any other method.
Improving the area’s mobility will be an important part of the vision plan moving forward. Survey results indicate that the two biggest reasons people avoid the park are a “lack of parking” and because it’s “too crowded.”… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Texas Democrats land in Washington, D.C., and promise to stay out of Texas until after special legislative session ends Aug. 6 (Texas Tribune)
Shortly after landing in Washington D.C. in an effort to deny the Texas House a quorum to block a voting restrictions bill, House Democrats indicated they plan to remain out of state until the end of the special legislative session that ends Aug. 6.
Democrats’ Monday departure from the state upends the Legislature's ability to turn any bills into law just days into a 30-day session that was called largely to advance GOP-backed legislation that would enact new restrictions on voting.
Asked by a reporter what the caucus planned to do if Gov. Greg Abbott called another special session for the next day, state Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, suggested that was the reason behind why they had decamped to the capital.
“That’s our message to Congress,” said Turner, the Fort Worth Democrat who chairs the House Democratic caucus. “We need them to act now.”
At least 51 of the 67 Democratic members of the Texas House — the number needed to break quorum — fled the state on Monday, most of them boarding two chartered planes that landed in D.C. around 7 p.m. Central time.
Last month, a delegation of Democratic state representatives and senators traveled to the U.S. Capital to advocate for a pair of federal bills. The first would preempt significant portions of the Texas bills and set new federal standards for elections like same-day and automatic voter registration. The second would restore sweeping safeguards for voters of color by reinstating federal oversight of elections in states like Texas with troubling records of discriminating against voters of color.
This time the group was much larger — at least two buses full of members as of Tuesday night — and state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, referred to the expanded numbers as “reinforcements.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Kamala Harris, Greg Abbott react to Texas Democrats leaving state to block GOP elections bill (Austin American-Statesman)
As Texas Democrats boarded chartered flights to Washington on Monday, they receivedboth praise and scorn for their latest effort to block the passage of a GOP priority bill that would make sweeping changes to election and voting laws in the state. The House Democrats behind the quorum-busting move said they wanted to block Republicans from forcing through dangerous legislation that would trample on Texans' freedom to vote." The same members walked off the floor at the end of the regular session in May to kill the original version of the election legislation by breaking quorum and preventing a vote.
Vice President Kamala Harris said "fighting for the right to vote is as American as apple pie" during a voting rights discussion Monday in Detroit. "I applaud them standing for the rights of all Americans and all Texans to express their voice through their vote, unencumbered," she said. “They are leaders who are marching in the path that so many others before did, when they fought and many died for our right to vote.” But Gov. Greg Abbott, who ordered lawmakers back for a special legislative session to pass the elections bill and other GOP priorities, said Democratic members are "abandoning" the state Capitol and leaving work unfinished.
"The Democrats must put aside partisan political games and get back to the job they were elected to do," he said in a statement. "Their constituents must not be denied these important resources simply because their elected representative refused to show up to work." The elections bill is one of 11 issues Abbott added to the special session agenda, which includes funding for border security, an effort to limit instruction on critical race theory in schools and further restrictions on abortions. Lawmakers also have the opportunity to restore funding for the legislative branch and affiliated agencies, which Abbott vetoed from the state budget after Democrats walked off the floor in May… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
The top U.S. Commander in Afghanistan has relinquished his post (NPR)
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan relinquished his position at a ceremony in the capital Kabul on Monday, taking the United States a step closer to ending its 20-year war. The move came as Taliban insurgents continue to gain territory across the country.
Another four-star general will assume authority from his U.S.-based post to conduct possible airstrikes in defense of Afghan government forces, at least until the U.S. withdrawal concludes by Aug. 31.
Gen. Scott Miller has served as America's top commander in Afghanistan since 2018. He handed over command of what has become known as America's "forever war" in its waning days to Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command. McKenzie will operate from Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
The handover took place in the heavily fortified Resolute Support headquarters in the heart of Kabul at a time of rapid territorial gains by Taliban insurgents across Afghanistan… (LINK TO STORY)
Teachers prepare for court fights on race education (AXIOS)
Teachers and civil rights activists are organizing and preparing to go to court to stop conservatives' efforts to block curriculum about institutional racism.
Why it matters: "It is the modern-day Scopes trial," American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten tells Axios, recalling the 1925 case over teaching evolution.
Legislators in nearly half of U.S. states in recent months have passed or introduced proposals to constrain lessons about how racism has shaped the nation's history and political and economic systems.
Conservative groups also are driving recall campaigns against school board members around the U.S.
Driving the news: Weingarten said her union will defend teachers' right to teach American history — and will aggressively protect any educator accused of violating such new laws and restrictions… (LINK TO STORY)