BG Reads | News You Need to Know (March 15, 2021)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
BG Podcast EP. 133: Music, Activism, and Politics with Riders Against the Storm
Today’s episode (133) features Austin-based hip-hop (and husband/wife) duo, Riders Against the Storm aka Chaka and Qi Dada
You can listen to this episode and previous ones on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Please like, link, comment and subscribe!
OUT WEDNESDAY // BG Podcast Episode 134 - Exploring San Francisco's Tech Exodus and Where Austin Fits featuring Jennifer Stojkovic, Executive Director of sf.citi, the tech trade association of San Francisco.
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
Austin Council Work Session (3.23.2021 @9AM)
Austin Council Voting Session (3.25.2021 @10AM)
[THE 87TH TEXAS LEGISLATURE]
LINK TO FILED HOUSE BILLS (5,104)
LINK TO FILED SENATE BILLS (2,363)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Austin Public Health lowers COVID risk level to Stage 3 as hospital admissions decline (KUT)
Austin Public Health is lowering its COVID-19 risk-based guidelines from Stage 4 to Stage 3. The changes comes after 12 consecutive days of average daily hospital admissions for COVID in the metro area remaining below 30. On Friday, the 7-day moving average of daily admissions was 23.71.
Under Stage 3, businesses are asked to keep capacity between 50% and 75% voluntarily instead of 25% to 50%. A recommendation for healthy people under 65 to avoid nonessential travel has been lifted.
“We are seeing more people getting vaccinated as supply to our area continues to increase,” APH Director Stephanie Hayden-Howard said in a statement. "Our most vulnerable are becoming protected and we are hopeful that because of this our numbers will continue to decline, but it remains important to continue all prevention measures."
The change does not affect city enforcement of mask wearing and social distancing. A state district court judge ruled Friday that Austin can continue enforcing the rules until at least a hearing set for March 26.
Saturday marks one year since the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Austin… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin a top 10 commercial real estate markets (Austin Business Journal)
Austin has again been ranked as one of the 10 best commercial real estate markets in the country, this time in a March 10 ranking from the National Association of Realtors.
The list wasn't individually ranked, so all Austin can boast is being a top 10 destination for commercial real estate. Cities making the list were expected to outperform other metro areas when it comes to drawing new residents, attracting new businesses and offering companies lower rents for office or retail space.
Austin and the other nine metros were selected after being judged on 25 categories such as GDP growth, unemployment rate, median household income, consumer spending, number of business openings, population growth and building permits for each major market, among other categories.
Joining Austin on NAR's top 10 list are: Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida; Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina; Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nevada; Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee; Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona; Raleigh, North Carolina; Salt Lake City, Utah; Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington; and, Tucson, Arizona.
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun added that a market’s ability to draw in new residents who have a greater flexibility to work from home gave metro areas such as Austin an edge over other markets.
“Commercial transactions are likely to pick up in the second half of 2021 and in 2022 as more people get vaccinated and more businesses open,” the NAR Q4 2020 Austin-Round Rock market report stated. “Higher fiscal spending and monetary accommodation will boost growth nationally and in the area.”
The NAR Q4 2020 report also pointed out that office rents in metro Austin trend higher than the national average. The asking rent for an Austin office was pegged at $42.40-per-square-foot for Q4 2020, more than $7 higher than the national average of $35.10-per-square-foot… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin already far outpacing 2020 for new jobs announced, chamber reports (Austin Business Journal)
Last year set a record for the number of jobs announced from business relocations and expansions to the Austin area, and the momentum doesn't appear to have slowed down so far in 2021.
In fact, the pace so far is running double time. By the end of February, more than 1,800 jobs had been announced from companies new to the Austin area or from businesses already here that were expanding, according to a tally from Opportunity Austin, the economic development initiative of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.
That compares to more than 900 jobs announced in January and February 2020, proving the Austin area continues to be an enticing market even during a pandemic.
According to Opportunity Austin research, 18 new companies have landed in the area so far this year — more than triple the number in the first two months of 2020 — and have announced roughly 1,160 jobs. Additionally, 21 businesses that were already here in Central Texas announced plans to expand by the end of last month, about the same number as the year prior. Those companies have announced nearly 675 jobs.
"The Austin region’s diversified industry base, outstanding talent pool and great quality of life continues to attract companies with a variety of jobs, even in the midst of a pandemic," Charisse Bodisch, senior vice president of economic development for the chamber, said in a statement.
Opportunity Austin's count includes deals it helped facilitate and others that staff members uncovered. It’s also likely that other announcements have happened under the radar. A few companies chose to remain anonymous from public announcements and were not included in the list, according to the chamber, but the total number of jobs announced were provided to Austin Business Journal for this article… (LINK TO STORY)
TxDOT reveals early plans to accommodate I-35 caps (Austin Monitor)
Discussion at Thursday’s City Council Mobility Committee meeting showed both the Texas Department of Transportation’s intent to accommodate caps over Interstate 35 and city leaders’ will to make it happen.
TxDOT said all three of the design alternatives for the proposed multibillion-dollar I-35 Capital Express Central project will allow caps – though TxDOT will not pay for them.
“We have determined that we will be environmentally clearing the right-of-way footprints with the caps in mind,” said Heather Ashley-Nguyen, TxDOT advance project development director. “In terms of locations, we’re still working on those.”
TxDOT’s project, which the agency says will improve traffic by adding two HOV lanes in each direction, would sink the I-35 main lanes between Lady Bird Lake and Airport Boulevard below the frontage road. Some alternatives show tunneled HOV sections.
The caps would allow the city to build parkland above the sunken freeway. Caps in other cities, such as Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, include amenities like lawns, sports fields, stages, cafes, playgrounds, splash pads, and food truck stalls. An urban boulevard concept – which some consider an upgrade from TxDOT’s typical frontage roads – could also be built over the caps.
But fully aligning city- and state-level priorities for the project will prove difficult. Council Member Paige Ellis, who chairs the committee, said, “We know that our seat as a City Council looks very different from TxDOT’s responsibility as the manager of this project, and that comes with different perspectives.” Ashley-Nguyen said the process will involve “give and takes.”
Ashley-Nguyen indicated that caps could fit along multiple stretches. “Right now, we’re looking between First and Fourth (streets) as a definite location,” she said, adding that several other locations for caps are being considered, including between Eighth and Ninth streets and 11th and 12th streets.
First, Ashley-Nguyen said, TxDOT needs to finalize “how to load and unload downtown from a traffic perspective. Based on that, it will determine the right-of-way footprints that will be needed for the cap.”
Though coordination between TxDOT and the city has been underway for some time, the city has not committed publicly to building the caps and has not identified funding sources. Corridor Program Office Director Mike Trimble is leading the city’s cap efforts, along with the Downtown Austin Alliance.
“I really appreciate the conversation about capping that still keeps coming up,” Mayor Pro Tem Natasha Harper-Madison said at Thursday’s meeting, “but I haven’t heard anybody talking numbers.” Ashley-Nguyen responded that Klyde Warren Park – similar in size to a cap between First and Fourth streets – cost around $100 million. The park was funded with both private and public money, including some from TxDOT.
TxDOT said many of the approximately 2,300 public comments it received during the project’s first scoping phase mentioned the caps. Several local groups, including Reconnect Austin, the Downtown Austin Alliance and the Urban Land Institute, have pushed for caps, arguing that they would go a long way toward stitching the divide between East and West Austin, which was caused in no small part by I-35.
In a tweet Saturday, Harper-Madison joined progressive advocates and urbanists to oppose the project on the whole… (LINK TO STORY)
Lawsuit filed against city of Austin over decision in February to buy hotel for homeless (Austin American-Statesman)
A lawsuit was filed against the city of Austin this week over its decision in February to buy a hotel for homeless people in Northwest Austin for $9.5 million.
The lawsuit, filed by Chaudhari Partnership,which owns two nearby hotels,says the city is violating a deed restriction for the subdivision that forbids development for residential uses.
The lawsuit asks the 395th District Court in Williamson County to order Austin to stop the purchase of the Candlewood Suites Hotel at 10811 Pecan Park Blvd.
In an email Friday, spokesman Jeff Patterson said the city of Austin was aware of the suit. "We are prepared to defend (the Austin City) council's purchase of property that will be used for affordable housing," he said.
The city bought the hotel to convert it into permanent supportive housing for homeless people, the lawsuit said.
The property is in a portion of Austin in Williamson County.
Turning the property into a hotel for homeless people would harm the property value of the two hotels that the Chaudhari Partnership owns next to it, according to the document.
Chaudhari Partnership has invested $23.2 million in the hotels and also shares an easement with Candlewood Suites Hotel, the lawsuit said.
The partnership is seeking more than $1 million in damages.
Williamson County officials, as well as neighbors of Candlewood Suites, also have protested against the city's decision to purchase the hotel for homeless people.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday, also says that Austin never provided public notice or held public hearings about its intentions for the hotel before buying it… (LINK TO STORY)
Delay lets Austin, Travis County enforce mask mandates for now (Austin American-Statesman)
Declining to rush into a decision, a judge in Travis County delayed action on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's request for a court order blocking Austin and Travis County from continuing to enforce their mask mandates.
Instead, state District Judge Lora Livingston set a March 26 trial on the issue, saying it made more sense to let all sides fully prepare for one big hearing instead of taking a piecemeal approach to an important topic during a hastily called emergency hearing on Friday.
That approach will let Austin and Travis County continue to require that masks be worn in public places and that businesses require face coverings for customers and employees — at least for two more weeks, including next week's spring break for many area schools.
"I don't know why there's any emergency," Livingston said during the hearing, which was held online and streamed on the court's YouTube channel
"People have been wearing masks for a year. I don't know that two more weeks is going to matter one way or the other," she said.
Lawyers for Paxton pressed to hold an injunction hearing Friday, saying they were ready to move forward.
Livingston declined. "I don't know that it is fair to any defendant to be served with a petition on Thursday and to be required to call witnesses, put on evidence, file a response (hours later), and that's what's happened here," she said.The judge set aside three hours for a trial on March 26, the first date available on her docket, and promised to issue a ruling that same day. "It's a big deal to all of you, I know, and to the public," she said.
Livingston also acknowledged that her courtroom was just the first stop in a process that will continue in the appeals courts when the losing side invariably seeks to overturn her decision.
The showdown between Paxton, a conservative Republican, and the prominent Democrats leading Austin and Travis County was set up when Gov. Greg Abbott rescinded his earlier orders that required masks and limited business operating capacity to combat the spread of COVID-19… (LINK TO STORY)
Equity proponents push developers for better feedback in housing projects (Austin Monitor)
As Austin continues to rapidly grow, developers and community advocates from across the city see a need for more engagement with marginalized communities when planning housing projects intended to reduce gentrification.
The need for door knocking and face-to-face involvement was one of the central takeaways from a recent panel discussion organized by the Urban Land Institute Austin that looked at how to better engage communities around the issue of equitable development.
The discussion followed a recent 21-day challenge organized by ULI that pushed its members in the real estate, planning and development sectors to employ more effective communication methods for reaching populations of the city that could benefit from affordable housing projects.
Housing equity and community preservation advocates said for many years developers and local leaders have underperformed in reaching out to all groups that could have an opinion on how residential and commercial projects near them are designed. While online forums and digital tools can help with gathering feedback, interactions with neighborhood leaders often reveal segments of the community that are hard to reach.
“The city or a private entity is thinking in terms of how they communicate, and they don’t always know their audience or know the community. … You cannot assume that residents can log in to some internet site to watch you or have the means to get to your office downtown,” said Monica Guzman, policy director for Go Austin/Vamos Austin. “You need to come off the dais to meet them where they’re at – that means putting the info in a community newspaper because that’s where they’re getting their news from.”
Sean Garretson, president of Pegasus Planning and Development, said his group has had to adjust its plans while completing the phases of the development known as the Chicon because the makeup of the East Austin neighborhood around it has changed over the past 15 years. While the project is still heavy with affordable units, Pegasus has been mindful to serve longtime residents of the area as well as newcomers with different needs.
Garretson said the city’s community feedback process in planning and zoning often tends to favor the squeakiest wheel, rather than the consensus of input around a project and what could most benefit the community.
“One of the elephants in the room is the city of Austin’s development and review process and how City Council will listen to the loudest and last person at the end, and everything else gets thrown out,” he said.
“Developers need to go beyond just the neighborhood planning contact team and whoever is associated with that. How can you be sure the neighborhood planning contact team has your best interests in mind? You have to show up, go to the meetings and provide your feedback.”
That sentiment was echoed in part by Shoshana Krieger, project director for Building and Strengthening Tenant Action (BASTA). Krieger said traditional feedback programs favor property owners’ opinions, and renters living near housing developments should have the chance to give their input.
“There isn’t ‘the community’ – there are a whole bunch of communities. And so pay attention to who has a seat at the table, and who is the loudest voice at the end of the day who is getting their way and oftentimes doesn’t represent the community, or even a substantial part of the place-based community,” she said. “Oftentimes they’re the folks who have the most access or have historically been the loudest voices. And probably aren’t the loudest voices for renters because renter issues have not been at the forefront of conversations in Austin – probably since Austin’s inception… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Texas has new incentive to expand Medicaid with COVID relief package that Democrats passed in Congress (WFAA)
Expanding Medicaid to give health insurance to more than 1 million low-income Texans just became more lucrative for Texas lawmakers. Part of the American Rescue Act, the latest COVID-19 relief package that Democrats passed last week, includes a provision by U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Houston, to give states more money if they expand the federal program.
“It puts money on the table. It increases the federal match for any new expansion state. I hope that my colleagues in Austin will look very closely at these incentives because 1.4 million low-income Texans in our state would have access to healthcare if the legislature will expand Medicaid,” Fletcher said Sunday on Inside Texas Politics. Expanding Medicaid was part of the Affordable Care Act that Democrats passed in 2010, but a dozen Republican states have refused to expand it. In the last decade, though, some have done so, providing health insurance to lower-income citizens. “This provides incentives to do that. What my bill does in particular, it increases the federal share for all Medicaid costs. It increases it by 5%. So, there’s really an incentive to get Texas to make this decision now and help get more people covered,” Fletcher added. The American Rescue Act is not only providing financial assistance to some families, but the Democratic legislation that President Biden signed into law also sets aside billions of dollars for Texas cities that have resorted to furloughs and layoffs because of less tax revenue during the pandemic… (LINK TO STORY)
Abbott quietly disbanded his Strike Force to Open Texas. Five months later, he lifted pandemic restrictions. (Austin American-Statesman)
Nearly a year ago, about two weeks after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered Texans to stay at home to slow the spread of a new, deadly virus, he presided at a Capitol news conference to announce the assembly of a panel of luminaries to advise him on ways to reopen Texas. “We’re now beginning to see glimmers that the worst of COVID-19 may soon be behind us,” Abbott announced April 17, 2020. “We have demonstrated that we can corral the coronavirus.” On that day, state health authorities reported 1,321 COVID-19 patients being treated in Texas hospitals. That figure has never as low since then. COVID-19 had killed fewer than 600 Texans, which would turn out to be a fraction of the state's coronavirus death toll, now more than 44,000 and counting. But six months later, with most businesses still under pandemic restrictions as daily virus cases and hospitalizations were on the rise, Abbott quietly disbanded the panel.
When he made the decision this month to finally rescind his mask mandate and remove all business restrictions — moves that epidemiologists and public health experts said will endanger lives because of the continued community spread of the disease and low vaccination rates in Texas — Abbott publicly cited direct input from just one strike force member: Dr. John Zerwas, one of four physicians on the panel, an anesthesiologist and former Republican state legislator who serves as executive vice chancellor for health affairs for the University of Texas System. Early in the pandemic, during committee meetings, according to interviews with two strike force members, communication between the governor and the strike force typically was a one-way street, with the governor informing the panel on conference calls about his plans — leaving little time for questions and no time for any real discussion. One strike force member told the American-Statesman that efforts to communicate further ideas were met with silence. A second member told the Statesman the strike force "was never set up to seek what do you think about this, debate it or discuss it."
The strike force members who spoke to the Statesman critically about the panel asked not to be named for fear of running afoul of Abbott. Pointing to a report produced by the strike force replete with public health recommendations for businesses and patrons, as well as a series of checklists about how and when businesses should reopen, banker James Huffines, a former UT regent who chaired the group, said its members had carried out substantial work in concert with the governor's office… (LINK TO STORY)
Ken Paxton whistleblower case can go on, appellate court rules, though appeal likely (Houston Chronicle)
The 3rd Court of Appeals on Friday denied a petition from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office to stop a trial court hearing in a suit filed by whistleblowers who claim they were wrongfully terminated after reporting Paxton to law enforcement for alleged bribery and other public corruption. Attorneys for the office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but they are likely to appeal the decision to the Texas Supreme Court. “We were pleased, but not surprised, by the 3rd Court’s ruling,” said Carlos Soltero, who represents David Maxwell, the agency’s former director of law enforcement who was fired in November. “This brings us closer to being able to move forward and present our case on the merits, which we are looking forward to doing.”
All eight whistleblowers no longer work for the office after they reported Paxton in October for allegedly abusing the power of his office to help Nate Paul, an Austin-based real estate investor who donated $25,000 to Paxton in 2018. Five have been fired and three resigned. The FBI is reportedly investigating those claims. The state’s top lawyer, who has also been under indictment for felony securities fraud for five years without going to trial, has denied all wrongdoing. In the whistleblower suit, four former employees are seeking damages for what they say was retaliation for speaking up about Paxton’s alleged crimes, and two of them have requested reinstatement to their jobs. A Travis County trial court on March 1 heard a motion by Paxton’s attorneys to dismiss the case. When the judge left the issue under advisement and continued on to entertain an injunction hearing in the case, Paxton’s attorneys appealed, arguing she needed to first rule on the motion to dismiss before proceeding. The appellate court temporarily stayed all further action in the case; the stay was lifted with Friday’s order… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATIONAL]
Why the next big-tech fights are in state capitals (Wall Street Journal)
The next frontier in the push to limit Silicon Valley’s power may be state capitals. Arizona, Maryland and Virginia are among states where lawmakers are seeking to limit the power of tech companies like Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Apple Inc. AAPL on a range of issues, from online privacy and digital advertisements to app-store fees. State policy proposals have bipartisan support from lawmakers who want to temper companies’ influence and financial clout, which have grown during the pandemic. The measures have tech companies turning attention to statehouses across the country, with Google, Apple and others hiring local lobbyists and immersing themselves in the minutiae of proposed legislation, according to state representatives. Tech companies face potential rules that would curb the reach of their platforms, crimp revenues with taxes or force them to facilitate additional privacy disclosures.
While federal lawmakers have held hearings and are in discussions about policies to regulate tech companies, debates and votes could occur in states first. If passed, state laws matter because they can become de facto national standards in the absence of federal action, as with California’s 2018 privacy law, which gave consumers both the right to access personal information that businesses collect from them and the right to request that data be deleted and not sold. Facebook initially opposed the California measures, but supported them after they took effect. Companies such as Microsoft Corp. have opted to honor the new rules across the country.
“So much has happened since California passed the original [data] privacy act” in 2018, said Sam McGowan, a senior analyst at policy research firm Beacon Policy Advisors LLC. Lawmakers’ concerns now stretch well beyond privacy to such topics as anticompetitive behavior and how social-media companies police content, he said. In Arizona, a closely watched bill regarding app-store payments has cleared the state House and is expected to be debated in the Senate in the next several weeks. The legislation would free some software developers from fees that Apple and Google place on apps, which can run up to 30% of sales from paid apps and in-app purchases. App developers would be able to charge people directly through the payment system of their choice. The bill would apply to Arizona-based app developers and consumers yet could set a wider precedent… (LINK TO STORY)