BG Reads | News You Need to Know (September 16, 2021)
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
Work Session of the Austin Council (9.28.2021 at 9AM)
Regular Meeting of the Austin City Council (9.30.2021 at 10AM)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
CEO A.J. recently sat down with Voyage Austin for an interview on his path to lobbying and founding Bingham Group. Check it out here.
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Draft map of Austin's redrawn City Council boundaries ready for community review (Community Impact)
A new map of Austin's 10 City Council districts is now ready for community review, after a draft update to the civic boundaries was approved Sept. 15.
The city's Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, made up of a panel of volunteer residents tasked with a nonpartisan redrawing of the district maps, voted unanimously in favor of the draft map. Around a month and a half remains until the City Council map is completely finalized, and the new boundaries will come into play for Austin's November 2022 city elections.
The Sept. 15 commission meeting came one week after an initial map outline was unveiled, and following several tweaks proposed by the NAACP/Hispanic Coalition and individual commissioners. The session saw commissioners work through a series of votes on those final adjustments to the draft plan aimed at having districts follow select geographic boundaries, maintain historic neighborhood borders and reach demographic goals.
The commission began its review by approving a slate of changes proposed by the coalition in council districts 1 through 4 to strengthen the base of Black and Hispanic residents there. The alterations were made to reconcile differences between maps presented by the coalition and those drafted by commission Mapping Specialist George Korbel, a process that played out at the commission's direction over the past week.
Among the notable changes was a realignment of District 1 to include the LBJ Presidential Library and Waterloo Park west of I-35, a move that would also cause no population change. The southern tip of District 9 was also separated into District 3… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Music Commission’s oversight could further delay emergency funds for musicians (Austin Monitor)
The Music Commission has asked city staff for more input and involvement in how a pair of financial assistance programs for Austin musicians will be carried out, with an emergency aid fund tied to Covid-19 possibly delayed three weeks as a result.
The commission heard presentations Monday on two programs: the Live Music Fund Event Program that’s funded with $2.3 million local Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue, and the third iteration of the Austin Music Disaster Relief Fund, which uses federal dollars to provide up to $2,000 grants to musicians impacted by the pandemic.
While commissioners were largely on board with the criteria and structure of the Covid relief program, they had repeated questions about how the event fund will be administered, including the scoring considerations for promoting equity in the recipient pool.
The city purchasing office has pushed for having the same third-party organization handle both programs. Any delay in finalizing the event program or selecting the third-party group would also delay the Covid grants to cash-strapped musicians.
The commission ultimately voted to form a working group that will review and make recommendations on the request for proposals for the third-party administrator and also look at having separate groups administer the two programs and evaluate the application questions for event fund entrants. The working group will report back at the next commission meeting in early October, at which point staffers will have final instructions on how to move forward.
Commissioner Lauryn Gould noted that the purchasing department is not necessarily in touch with the needs of the music community. “One of the problems we had in the past with a third-party administrator that was used in administering grants was they had no idea what this community is,” she said.
“I’m concerned that if the decision is left with somebody who has no connection to the people who are going to be affected by these programs … it’s worrisome to me and that’s why I’m worried about these two things being combined.”
Staff members defended the work of the Better Business Bureau, which recently administered music programs, while interim Economic Development Department Director Sylnovia Holt-Rabb said the new event program will involve much learning and adjusting.
“I would say this is a pilot year, so we’re going to learn a lot as we go through it. It’s the same constituents as we’ve had on various other (music) programs and we work with the law and purchasing departments on how to streamline the process. We feel pretty confident about it.”
Commissioner Graham Reynolds said the oversight desired by other commissioners was undermining the work of the Music and Entertainment Division and EDD as a whole, while also possibly delaying payments made to emergency fund recipients into January… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
New supermajority law for historic districts now in effect (Austin Monitor)
The already tough task of creating historic districts in Austin just got a little harder, thanks to new state laws.
In 2019, the Texas Legislature changed the rules governing the designation of historic landmarks by requiring a supermajority of the Historic Landmark Commission or Planning Commission, and a supermajority of City Council, to zone a property historic over the owner’s objections.
This year, the Legislature amended that rule once again. As of Sept. 1, the supermajority threshold also applies to the creation of historic districts if there is an objection by a property owner that would be included in the proposed district.
Under the city’s Land Development Code, historic districts must be contiguous and at least one block, with an explicit prohibition on “carving out” properties when creating a district. While the landmark commission could eliminate properties on the perimeter, should a property owner in the interior of a proposed district object to the district, the commission could not simply remove that property from the district to eliminate the supermajority requirement.
Historic Landmark Commission Chair Terri Myers noted that, under the new rules, the Aldridge Place Local Historic District, which was approved in 2017, would not have been created.
State law was also amended to clarify that a supermajority of the Historic Landmark Commission – or nine votes – is the threshold to move such a case on to the Planning Commission, then to City Council.
“More hand-wringing,” Historic Landmark Commissioner Witt Featherston said. “I don’t think this was well thought out, but I think that we’re stuck with it. And I hope that, as time goes on, the importance and integrity of our work will be appreciated and supported.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Nearly $60M secured for more Mueller housing (Austin Business Journal)
Knighthead Funding LLC, a New York-based investment management company, has provided $59.5 million in financing for a mixed-use condominium development in Austin’s Mueller community. The previously announced condominium, office and retail project will be brought online by a joint venture between Austin-based developer Pearlstone Partners and New York-based ATCO Properties & Management Inc.
The financing deal was announced Sept. 14, as Austin continues to struggle with near record-low inventory. The mixed-use project could be online by fall 2023.
Pearlstone and ATCO are building the development at 1701 Simond Ave., which is about three miles north of downtown Austin. The development occupies 225,000 square feet and will have 200 condos — 170 at market rate and 30 as affordable housing units. Dirt was first moved on the Simond Avenue project, known as Parkside at Mueller, on July 8.
Also to be included in the development: 22,318 square feet of office space and 4,884 square feet for retail… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
In Austin, a self-driving car could soon deliver your Walmart order (Austin American-Statesman)
Self-driving cars could soon be delivering your Austin-area orders from Walmart, as Ford Motor Company and Argo AI continue to expand autonomous vehicle activity in Austin.
Ford, Argo AI and Walmart are partnering on the delivery service, which is debuting in Austin, Miami and Washington. The service will use Ford's self-driving test vehicles, which are equipped with Argo AI's self-driving system technology.
Initial operations for the delivery service are slated to begin this year in a defined area, primarily in the South Austin area near the Walmart store on East Ben White Boulevard. Delivery availability is expected to expand over time, according to executives.
Scott Griffith, CEO of Ford's autonomous vehicles and mobility businesses said Ford and Argo are preparing for large-scale autonomous vehicle operations across a broad footprint of U.S cities.
“Pairing Walmart’s retail and e-commerce leadership with Argo and Ford’s self-driving operations across these multiple cities marks a significant step toward scaling a commercial goods delivery service that will ultimately power first-to-scale business efficiencies and enable a great consumer experience," Griffith said in a written statement… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Project Connect’s $312.8M budget receives approval for FY 2021-22 (Community Impact)
The Austin Transit Partnership board unanimously approved a $312.8 million Project Connect budget that will largely go toward funding the MetroRail Orange and Blue line designs during its Sept. 15 meeting.
As a result of the Austin City Council increasing the property tax rate by 4.7% instead of the typical 3.5%, due to recent disaster declarations, the revenue increased by $1.2 million compared to staff's August proposal.
The budget also added an additional $600,000 in funding for community engagement. That funding will in part go toward a mobile experience center, said Diane Siler, budget director at the Austin Transit Partnership.
“Think of it as a museum on wheels that will be able to educate the public on the technology that goes behind what we're doing and also the process that we've taken to get a light rail built,” Siler said.
More than 50% of the budget will go toward the Orange Line—a 20-mile stretch that would run north to south through downtown—and the Blue Line, which would run from downtown to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Texas’ abortion ban prompts push in Congress to pass federal reproductive rights bill, while renewing filibuster feud (Texas Tribune)
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will vote on a reproductive rights bill when lawmakers reconvene in Washington this month, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to block Texas’ new six-week abortion ban.
The Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021, introduced by Rep. Judy Chu of California, would guarantee a pregnant person’s legal right to abortion and “permit health care providers to provide abortion services without limitations or requirements that single out the provision of abortion services.” Though the proposed legislation is expected to pass the House with a slim majority, it faces unlikely odds in the Senate.
The bill is a direct response to the new Texas law that effectively bans abortions before most women are even aware they are pregnant. Legal and reproductive health experts argue the law’s unique mechanism of enforcement, which invites the public to sue abortion providers and anyone assisting an abortion-seeker, effectively sidesteps a pregnant person’s constitutional right to an abortion established in Roe v. Wade… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
The 1st all-civilian crew has launched to orbit the Earth (NPR)
For the first time, a group of all civilians, four in total, have launched in a SpaceX mission to orbit the planet.
The commander of the flight, Jared Isaacman, is the founder and billionaire CEO of Shift4 Payments. He is accompanied by Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital; Chris Sembroski, an aerospace data engineer; and pilot and geoscientist Sian Proctor.
It's the latest step in the commercialization of space. By going into orbit, the crew of four will travel further into space than the recent privately funded Blue Origin mission that had Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos on board.
It has not been disclosed how much Isaacman paid for him and the crew to get sent into space.
The mission, dubbed Inspiration4, will help support Isaacman's goal to raise $200 million to help cure children's cancer. While in orbit, the crew will also conduct research "designed to advance human health on Earth and during future long-duration spaceflights," according to SpaceX.
The flight launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The astronauts will land off the coast of Florida after approximately three days… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Pandemic frustrations zero in on unvaccinated Americans (The Hill)
The growing frustration with the ongoing pandemic is boiling over, with all eyes turned to the unvaccinated as the key to getting through the COVID-19 crisis.
As cases approach winter levels, the U.S. has been left to decide how to deal with and treat the millions who still haven’t received their shots, months after they became widely available.
In response, some have resorted to mocking and joking about the unvaccinated, an approach public health and psychology experts say is unlikely to change the minds of both hardline activists or the vaccine hesitant.
Experts support stricter actions like mandates to boost the vaccination rate and protect the public, although several also encourage patience while acknowledging the increased irritation. President Biden and others, however, have indicated their “patience is wearing thin.”
Gary Bennett, a professor of psychology, neuroscience, global health and medicine at Duke University, said the “national shift towards much more frustration” directed at unvaccinated individuals is likely linked to the highly transmissible delta variant that has increased hospitalizations across the country and led to more breakthrough cases.
“That seems to be a pretty significant driver of this most recent kind of concern for that large number of people who remain unvaccinated,” Bennett said.
Nearly five months after all adults became eligible to get the shot, approximately a quarter of American adults, or 62.5 million, have not received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Despite more than half of the total population having received at least one dose by the end of May, the vaccination rate has not been high enough to curb COVID-19. Cases, hospitalizations and deaths have climbed in recent months, reaching seven-day daily averages of more than 152,000 new cases, about 100,000 admissions and 1,800 fatalities.
“It's clear that there's a lot of human wood out there for this coronavirus forest fire to burn,” said Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota… (LINK TO FULL STORY)