BG Reads | News You Need to Know (March 19, 2021)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
BG Podcast EP. 134: Exploring San Francisco's Tech Exodus and Where Austin Fits
Today’s episode (134) features Jennifer Stojkovic, Executive Director of sf.citi, the tech trade association of San Francisco.
With 1,000+ members and supporting companies, such as Google, Salesforce, and Microsoft, sf.citi engages in policy and projects serving the larger San Francisco community.
She and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss the impact COVD-19 has had on San Francisco, particularly how the pandemic has accelerated an exodus to rising Tier 1 cities like Austin.
You can listen to this episode and previous ones on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. Please like, link, comment and subscribe!
Also check out The BIG 3, the three top headlines Austinites need to know.
We’re posting on our social media platforms and YouTube every Monday and Friday. We’d love your feedback and story suggestions as we develop this offering. Email at: info@binghamgp.com
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
Austin Council Work Session (3.23.2021 @9AM)
[THE 87TH TEXAS LEGISLATURE]
LINK TO FILED HOUSE BILLS (5,214)
LINK TO FILED SENATE BILLS (2,392)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
No on B aims to fight with Republicans (Austin Monitor)
A new political action committee called Homes Not Handcuffs has announced its presence in Austin with an email declaring that “every part of Travis County’s big tent Democratic Party” is joining together to oppose Proposition B in the No on B campaign.
Proposition B would prohibit camping in most areas of the city and allow police to arrest people sitting or lying on the sidewalk or other public property.
Democrats are clearly portraying the enemy in this fight as the Republican Party. Mackenzie Kelly, the only Republican member of City Council, is the only member to tell the Austin American-Statesman she would vote in favor of the camping ban. Council members Kathie Tovo and Alison Alter, both Democrats, voted against repealing the old anti-camping law in 2019, but Tovo now says she will not vote for Prop B and Alter said she was undecided.
Travis County Republican Party Chair Matt Mackowiak co-founded Save Austin Now, the group pushing to put Proposition B on the ballot, with Cleo Petricek, a Democrat. But Mackowiak said Thursday that Republicans would not consider officially supporting or opposing any of the May 1 ballot propositions until their meeting on April 20. Clearly, they do not plan to label the proposition as Republican-sponsored.
Prominent supporters of the No on B campaign include Mayor Steve Adler, Council Member Greg Casar and former Democratic congressional candidates Mike Siegel and Julie Oliver.
Organizations supporting the campaign to defeat Proposition B include the Travis County Democratic Party, University Democrats at UT, Circle C Area Democrats, Texas Working Families Party, Bend the Arc Austin, the Grassroots Law Project, UT Young Socialists of America, and Sunrise ATX… (LINK TO STORY)
People in nearby counties encouraged to get vaccinated in Williamson as its waitlist wanes (KUT)
Williamson County has been able to open its COVID-19 vaccine waitlist to people in the 1C category and get those people scheduled for appointments all in the same week, a county spokesperson said.
The state this month expanded vaccine eligibility to include people in the 1C category — those between 50 and 64 years old — as well as people who work in schools and child care facilities.
As the new categories were announced, Williamson County and its hub, Family Hospital Systems, hosted a vax-a-thon; opened the Dell Diamond complex, where 5,000 people a day can get vaccinated; and expanded its partnership with the health care company Curative Inc. to administer shots.
And now, the number of people on the county's waitlist who are eligible to get vaccinated has dwindled, said Williamson County spokesperson Connie Odom. More than 45,000 people had been fully vaccinated in Williamson County as of Thursday afternoon.
Since the county cannot vaccinate people outside the state's priority groups, Odom said it is encouraging people from other counties to get vaccinated in Williamson.
“I encourage people from neighboring counties to go ahead and get on our waitlist and they can receive a vaccine here,” she said. “We're just trying to ensure that we have everyone who wants to receive a vaccine in those groups, that they have that opportunity first. But we are sticking with the state's priority lists. We cannot go beyond that.”
Family Hospital Systems spokesperson Jen Stratton said she expects more people to try to get appointments as they return from spring break.
Because the hub has proved it can cut down the waitlist, she said, FHS has partnered with Vaccinate Austin to open another list.
Stratton said it will help streamline the process and lift some burden from the county. The county's waitlist won't go away, though, and people on it will get priority in Williamson County… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin Public Health to release 4K vaccine appointments Thursday, including for group 1C (Austin Monitor)
Austin Public Health reopened Covid-19 vaccine appointment signups Thursday night, after technical problems Monday left many people frustrated and still waiting for a shot.
APH will be releasing about 4,000 appointments to eligible individuals, including those in the 1C group, according to a spokesperson for the department. The 1C group, people 50 and older, became eligible for the vaccine in Texas on Monday.
The online queue for first dose appointments opened Thursday at 5:45 p.m. Those eligible are placed in a “waiting room” and given a number in line. Then when it’s their turn, they can begin scheduling an appointment. People who are able to book a slot are then sent a confirmation by text or email. (To participate in this process, you have to first register in the system.)
On Monday, users were unable to move past the appointment confirmation page. The glitch forced APH to cut the scheduling process short, and only 2,300 appointments got scheduled.
“After identifying the issue, we are testing the system to have a successful first dose appointment release on Thursday evening, Mar. 18,” APH said in a statement Wednesday.
APH has been providing updates and tips on the scheduling process on its Twitter feed and on this FAQ page.
APH announced last week that it would be releasing appointments every Monday evening, and if it has vaccines left over, on Thursday evenings as well. The number of appointments depends on how many vaccines the department is allocated by the state and the timing of those shipments.
So far, Austin Public Health has been getting 12,000 first doses of the Moderna vaccine each week. At the start of the week, APH said it had more than 200,000 people in the 1A and 1B groups registered in its system who still needed an appointment. That doesn’t include people 50 and older and school and child care workers, who are also eligible to sign up for an appointment… (LINK TO STORY)
Winter storm only made Austin home prices hotter (Austin Business Journal)
The February statistics from the Austin Board of Realtors tell a story that may alarm homebuyers but likely thrill sellers.
Housing inventory for the Austin area in February 2021 continues to be super low — 0.4 months for the region— and year-over-year median home prices are still rising; up 22% to $395,000. Total sales volume was up to $1.2 billion, a 15% increase over one year ago.
If you're familiar with the concept of a fire backdraft, that's basically what's happening to Austin's housing market now, experts said. After being deprived of sales during winter storm Uri, voracious demand is back and the housing scene is exploding.
“As expected, the winter storms in February impacted real estate transactions as home sales dipped for the month,” according to the March 18 ABOR report. “At the same time, median prices continued to rise, and inventory remains at record lows. The fundamentals of the market remain the same: high demand, low inventory but still plenty opportunities for potential buyers/sellers to complete a transaction.”
Most counties in Central Texas had less than one month of housing inventory in February. Caldwell County had 1.1 months of housing stock – the highest in the region. Housing inventory for the other Austin area counties was 0.7 months in Bastrop; 0.4 months in Hays; 0.5 months in Travis and 0.3 months in Williamson County. The city of Austin’s housing inventory last month was 0.5 months.
Experts routinely say a healthy housing market has closer to six months of inventory.
“Although the winter storms slowed activity in February, this does not indicate a market slowdown. We’re still very much in a sellers’ market,” Susan Horton, 2021 ABOR president, said in a statement. “Across the region, a high quantity of offers, cash offers, and requests to waive appraisals or option fees are increasingly commonplace.”
Closed sales, however, were down for the Austin metro last month. ABoR reported 2,389 sales in February, an 8% drop year-over-year and less than the 2,523 sales in January.
New listings were also down in February. The 2,565 new listings last month represented a 25% drop, compared to February 2020. February’s new listings were also down compared to January when there were 2,878.
Realtors expect a heyday as summer approaches — a typical high point of the year that will be complemented by a flood of vaccinated buyers and sellers.
Travis County and the city of Austin both had the highest median sales prices for the region — $427,750 and $455,000, respectively. Caldwell County had the lowest median sales price at $257,450.
The complete ABOR report can be viewed here… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
After House stalls on readjusting electricity prices, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick urges Gov. Greg Abbott to use emergency powers (Texas Tribune)
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Thursday pleaded for Gov. Greg Abbott to take executive action on reversing billions of dollars in charges for wholesale electricity during last month’s deadly winter storm after the Texas House adjourned for the week without taking up the issue.
“The governor of Texas is a very powerful person,” Patrick said at a Capitol news conference, ramping up his dayslong campaign to get Abbott to intervene. “He can do anything he wants.”
After the Senate moved at a breakneck pace Monday to pass Senate Bill 2142, electricity repricing legislation prompted by the storm, the House indicated that it would not take action on the proposal. The lower chamber instead stressed it planned to take a more deliberative approach. And, while the bill was referred to a House committee Thursday morning, the House gaveled out until Monday afternoon. (LINK TO STORY)
Google to invest $50M to expand in Austin and across Texas (KVUE - ABC)
Google has announced it plans to invest $50 million in Texas this year in office space and data center sites, the company confirmed to KVUE.
The investment comes as part of an overall plan to spend $7 billion and create 10,000 new full-time jobs throughout the U.S. in 2021.
Google said it owns 550,000 square feet worth of office spaces in Downtown Austin at its three locations: 100 Congress Ave., 901 E. Fifth St. and 500 W. Second St. Meanwhile, the company said another 750,000 square feet of office space is scheduled to open in 2023 at 601 W. Second St.
“I believe a lasting economic recovery will come from local communities, and the people and small businesses that give them life,” said Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai in a statement. “Google wants to be a part of that recovery.”
The report comes days after Google announced a new "Fiber Space" on South Lamar Boulevard, which will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Google Fiber also announced its 10th Gigabit Community in Austin – Chalmers Court East – through its partnership with the Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA), giving nearly 110 residents a gigabit internet connection at no cost. Through its Gigabit Community program, Google Fiber provides the option for free gigabit internet to more than 875 families in HACA communities across Austin, according to the company.
In Houston, Google said it expects to complete construction on its first office, totaling 11,000 square feet in the One Buffalo Heights building, in May of this year.
“Google’s plans to invest in Houston for the long-term is recognition of the city’s potential and a testament to the talent that already exists," said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. "The completion of Google’s new office in the nation’s fourth-largest city is a huge milestone in laying the groundwork to make Houston home for the digital universe. The tech leader will be an economic boon to the city and bring us closer to becoming Silicon Bayou.”
The tech giant also owns a data center in Midlothian, south of Dallas. That data center is now operational. Google said that since its groundbreaking in 2019, the data center has created hundreds of construction jobs and will support a range of full-time Google and external supplier careers.
In 2020, Google provided $26.45 billion of economic activity provided for 162,400 Texas businesses, nonprofits, publishers, creators and developers, the company said… (LINK TO STORY)
'A commitment to change' - female-majority council takes step in closing gender wage gap in San Antonio (San Antonio Express-News)
In celebration of Women’s History Month, a female-majority City Council affirmed its support Thursday to close the gender wage gap in San Antonio. The resolution supports gender pay equality initiatives and directs the city’s Human Resources Department to evaluate best practices for salaries, conduct analyses, monitor the city’s pay structure and provide training opportunities to promote women in leadership positions. “This passage is a commitment to change,” District 3 Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran said in a statement Thursday. “It is our duty to continue to look further into the unequal opportunities for women at all points — from education, to training and to their career choices.”
Women in San Antonio with full-time jobs are paid a median annual salary of $26,925, while their male counterparts are paid $33,358, according to city data. The resolution also calls for the Department of Human Services and Economic Development Department to recommend strategies to close the gender wage at nonprofits the city contracts with. For companies seeking economic development incentives such as tax abatements, the Economic Development Department will recommend gender awareness training, women sponsorship and leadership programs and other practices to promote equity among all employees.
"Pay parity will be transformational for San Antonio,” District 5 Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales said. “It goes well beyond paying women their equal worth. Pay parity will change our quality of life in positive ways because when women thrive families thrive, and when families thrive so do children and communities… (LINK TO STORY)
Texas museum removes wax Trump figure after visitors kept punching it (The Hill)
A wax museum in downtown San Antonio, Texas, removed its wax statue of former President Trump after it was repeatedly vandalized, the San Antonio Express-News reports.
Louis Tussaud's Waxworks pulled the figure from public view after it sustained multiple beatings, and transferred it into storage.
The scratches on the Trump figure's face were especially damaging, said Clay Stewart, the regional manager of parent company Ripley's Entertainment.
"When it's a highly political figure, attacks can be a problem," Stewart said, according to the Express-News.
The effigy of the former president likely won't return to the display floor until the new wax figure of President Biden is added into the rotation. It's currently still under production in Orlando, Fla., Stewart notes… (LINK TO STORY)