BG Reads | News You Need to Know (May 20, 2021)
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
Regular Meeting of the Austin City Council - Today @10AM (Agenda) - Watch Here
Items to watch:
Item 39 - Approve a resolution initiating an update to the Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint.
Item 60 - Approve a resolution directing the City Manager to explore funding in an amount not to exceed $25 million from the American Rescue Plan, General Revenue, and other city, state, and federal funding sources, to stabilize the Austin cultural arts and music communities as they combat the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and Winter Storm Uri.
[THE 87TH TEXAS LEGISLATURE]
LINK TO FILED HOUSE BILLS (6,376)
LINK TO FILED SENATE BILLS (2,805)
Austin to loosen COVID rules for live music and events (KUT)
Austin's ailing live music and arts scenes have been hurting in the pandemic.
But as more and more Central Texans get vaccinated and COVID-related hospitalizations wane, the city known for live music is priming itself for a return to relative normalcy.
As part of that process, the Austin Center for Events announced Wednesday it's revising the health and safety requirements it laid out in March for organizing events.
Starting next week, officials said, event organizers applying for permits won't have to require attendees to prove they're vaccinated.
On top of that, city officials said permit applicants "can anticipate changes to the social distancing requirements and masking requirements."
In the announcement, Austin Public Health's interim medical director Dr. Mark Escott said the city's vaccination rates factored into the decision to loosen event rules.
"Now that we have vaccines widely available in our community, and more than 50% of our population has taken advantage of that opportunity, we are able to relax our guidelines and our rules," Escott said. "As we continue along this positive path, many people may return to their normal activities and more special events will begin taking place."
The announcement comes as large-scale music festivals and events gear up.
Austin City Limits Festival announced Wednesday that tickets go on sale for its first weekend tomorrow afternoon. Earlier this week, Levitation announced its plans to return to the Red River Cultural District over Halloween.
And while clubs and venues have been hosting smaller scale shows over the past few months, many intend to ramp up to full capacity over the summer for live music, including Mohawk and Continental Club… (LINK TO STORY)
Land auction delayed again in Phoenix as speculation builds that Samsung will pick Austin for $17B plant (Austin Business Journal)
An auction for land outside Phoenix, Arizona, identified by sources as a potential landing spot for a $17 billion Samsung plant was delayed a second time May 19, when no bidders came to the auction. Meanwhile, media outlets in South Korea are reporting that the technology giant is likely to choose Austin for the semiconductor factory.
Sources with knowledge of the search had indicated a site in Goodyear, near Perryville and McDowell roads, and a site in Queen Creek, near Ironwood Drive and Germann Road, were the sites the company was considering in Arizona.
Samsung has been eyeing Arizona, Texas and upstate New York for a new manufacturing plant.
The auction for the Queen Creek was also delayed May 19, until June 10, after no bidders placed offers on the land. Both auctions had previously been postponed once when no bidders participated.
Samsung has been eyeing sites in Arizona, Texas and upstate New York for a new manufacturing plant. Both Arizona sites were scheduled to be sold at auction Wednesday. The Queen Creek auction was also rescheduled from Wednesday to June 10 after no bidders placed offers on the land. Both auctions had previously been postponed once when no bidders participated.
A spokeswoman for Samsung in Austin said no decision has been made as to a final location for a plant. But South Korean media is reporting, based on anonymous sources, the company could announce the decision this Friday, May 21, when President Joe Biden is to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Washington D.C. Reuters even picked up the item, based on South Korean news. However, that timing seems unlikely, given there has been no progress on the incentives the company was seeking in the area.
The new factory is to be the first where Samsung will develop its five-nanometer chips outside of South Korea.
Samsung’s search for a site in the United States was first reported in January, but the company has remained quiet about the site selection process for the plant, which is expected to create about 1,800 jobs.
Austin is already home to a large Samsung manufacturing campus, with two fabrication facilities or fabs. The campus employs roughly 3,000 people, plus thousands of contractors.
A winter storm in February shut down the Samsung Austin Semiconductor plant for more than a month, which had many people asking how that might affect executives' decision about the $17 billion plant. The stoppage cost Samsung at least $268 million because tens of thousands of wafers were damaged, the Austin American-Statesman reported… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin housing market breaks another record as median home price hits $550,000 (CultureMap Austin)
Record-breaking milestones continue for the Austin real estate market, according to the Austin Board of Realtors' latest data. ABoR's April 2021 report, released May 18, details new all-time highs and unprecedented growth at the city, county, and metro levels.
Home sales in the city of Austin skyrocketed 51.4 percent in April 2021 compared to April 2020, ABoR says. And while the city was under shelter-in-place orders last year that essentially put the market on hold, last month's home sales figure (1,167 sales) was an all-time high for any April on record, the report notes.
With that jump in sales came a very significant jump in price. The median home price in Austin soared 31.7 percent last month to $550,562 — the highest price ever recorded. By comparison, in February 2021 — just two months prior — the city's median price made waves as it neared the $500,000 mark for the very first time.
Travis County was also home to significant growth last month, with home sales up 46.8 percent year-over-year and the median home price up a whopping 37.8 percent to $537,500. And at the metro level, Austin-Round Rock's median sale price clocked in at $460,000 in April 2021, up 42 percent from the previous year, with sales up 37 percent.
“One year ago, shelter-in-place orders effectively ground real estate transactions to a halt, leaving uncertainty in the market,” Susan Horton, 2021 ABoR president, said in a release. “Although striking at face value, last month’s housing market activity demonstrates not only a strong recovery since last spring, but significant growth beyond that recovery.” (LINK TO STORY)
Some Austin businesses drop mask requirements, others say keep masking up (Austin American-Statesman)
After closing for a month at the beginning of the pandemic, the Great Outdoors nursery reopened with strict safety measures that required employees and customers to wear masks.
Now, after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Austin Public Health have eased mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people, Great Outdoors has ended its COVID-19 protocols.
"As soon as CDC made the announcement, masks were changed to optional," said Elizabeth Lane, Great Outdoors floor manager. "Employees who are two weeks past their second vaccination can wear a mask if they want to, but they don't have to. Customers can decide too."
The Great Outdoors is no longer limiting the number of people who can enter, and public restrooms have reopened.
"Business is back to normal," Lane said. "But I'm totally vaccinated and still wear my mask. I live with my mother and two-year-old son, so it's just to be careful and courteous to people who are still uncomfortable."
In an unexpected move, the CDC on Thursday announced that vaccinated people can stop wearing masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings.
The guidance still calls for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings such as buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters, but it helps clear the way for reopening workplaces, schools, and other venues — even removing the need for social distancing — for those who are fully vaccinated.
Over the weekend, major retailers including Target, Walmart and Trader Joe's said they would no longer require masks unless they are required by state or local ordinances.
Masks were still required in Austin and Travis County until Tuesday, when Austin Public Health eased rules and said many businesses no longer need to require masks for fully vaccinated people indoors if fewer than 500 individuals are inside at once.
The new pandemic rules caught many Austin businesses — from mom-and-pop retailers to global tech companies — by surprise. Some, like Great Outdoors, have dropped mask requirements while others are keeping their protocols, and many are still deciding how to move forward.
H-E-B has not indicated a change to its mask policy, which states it "expects" customers to wear masks while in their stores.
"Mask use at our stores will remain," HEB said in a statement in March when the statewide mask mandate was lifted. "Our signs requiring mask use will remain posted at entrances and we will continue to make announcements in store."
Brandon Hodge, a South Congress Avenue retailer, called the change in Austin's mask policy "short-sighted and premature."
“Once again, civic leaders have failed to recognize the undue burden of enforcement that these premature policies place on small businesses and their employees," said Hodge, who owns the Big Top Candy Shop and toy store Monkey See! Monkey Do!, both of which are on South Congress
"The so-called 'honor system' is just a free pass that provides cover for bad actors, at a time when the business community is still already struggling with staffing shortages and financial recovery," said Hodge, who also is president of the South Congress Merchants Association, which represents more than 120 retailers, restaurants and other business owners in the South Congress district. "We simply do not have the capacity for enforcement as we attempt to maintain safe and healthy environments for vulnerable customers."… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Gov. Greg Abbott signs into law one of nation’s strictest abortion measures, banning procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy (Texas Tribune)
Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law Wednesday a measure that would prohibit in Texas abortions as early as six weeks — before some women know they are pregnant — and open the door for almost any private citizen to sue abortion providers and others.
The signing of the bill opens a new frontier in the battle over abortion restrictions as first-of-its-kind legal provisions — intended to make the law harder to block — are poised to be tested in the courts.
Abortion rights advocates have promised to challenge the new law, which they consider one of the most extreme nationwide and the strictest in Texas since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. It would amount to an outright ban on abortions, as the six-week cutoff is two weeks after a missed menstrual cycle, opponents say.
The law takes effect in September.
“Our creator endowed us with the right to life and yet millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion,” Abbott said in a bill signing ceremony, captured on videos posted on social media. The Legislature "worked together on a bipartisan basis to pass a bill that I'm about to sign that ensures that the life of every unborn child who has a heartbeat will be saved from the ravages of abortion.”
The governor’s signature comes just after the U.S. Supreme Court said it would hear a case concerning a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks, and which could lead to new limits on abortion rights. It is the first major abortion case heard before the court's newly expanded conservative majority, and could have far-reaching effects for Texas, where a pending bill would outlaw nearly all abortions if the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade.
Senate Bill 8 was a top priority for Republican lawmakers, nearly all of whom signed on as an author or sponsor of the measure… (LINK TO STORY)
Texas may neuter cities' powers to create rules around business hiring, benefits (Austin Business Journal)
Of the many clashes at this year's Texas Legislature about state control versus local control, one has particular significance for businesses: who gets to set rules around hiring and employee benefits at private companies. Senate Bill 14 would stop municipalities and counties from adopting rules around terms of employment "that exceed or conflict with federal or state law." Those terms include employment leave, hiring practices, employment benefits and scheduling practices. That would bar things such as mandatory paid sick leave in Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, and could impact other local ordinances that have been in effect for years. SB 14 is moving through the Legislature. It was approved April 13 by the state Senate and as of May 17 had been approved by a House committee and was waiting to be heard by the full House.
Proponents call the move necessary to avoid a patchwork of regulations that change from one city to the next. Opponents argue local government officials are better suited to set those kinds of rules for their communities and decry what they see as rolling back worker protections. Austin City Hall, for instance, is trying to mandate that almost all employers offer paid sick leave but the effort is tied up in court. "With rules and different regulations in different communities, it's virtually impossible for me administratively to keep up with the multiple policies and to administrate the pay schedule," Don "Skeeter" Miller, owner of The County Line barbecue restaurants, said May 6 during a hearing of the House State Affairs Committee. Miller said his eight locations of The County Line and Flyright Chicken in Austin and San Antonio employ more than 500 people, and they already have access to benefits such as IRA matching funds and interest-free loans… (LINK TO STORY)
'This program is run amok': Texas lawmakers criticize costly tax incentive program (Houston Chronicle)
Texas lawmakers called for wide-ranging reforms Tuesday to the state’s largest corporate tax incentive program to ensure that more than $10 billion in tax breaks go to companies that truly need them. “I think that this program is run amok, and it’s time to start over with an absolute clean slate,” said state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, a Brenham Republican and a member of a Senate committee that met in a hearing Tuesday to consider a bill to renew the program. Kolkhorst and others at the hearing cited a Houston Chronicle investigation published last week that revealed how companies are receiving billions in tax breaks to do business in Texas — despite some firms announcing dozens of projects or even starting construction before applying for the incentives.
Chapter 313’s gatekeepers — the Texas comptroller’s office and local school boards — rarely deny applications, and only one company has ever had to repay a tax break for failing to meet its job-creation target, though dozens have fallen short of those targets. At Tuesday’s senate hearing, Kolkhorst and other members of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development were considering a bill that would renew Chapter 313 for two years. They said that time should be spent studying and reforming the program, which is used mostly by wind and solar farms and manufacturers, led by huge oil and gas companies. “Certainly, I concur that it is a challenging program,” said state Sen. Brian Birdwell, the committee’s Republican chairman, whose own bill seeking changes in the program has not advanced this session. “It does need to be looked at very carefully. I do think we need to get the reforms that we were looking for.”… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Survivors of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre share eyewitness accounts (NPR)
During emotional testimony on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Fletcher, who is now 107, recalled her memories of the two-day massacre that left hundreds of Black people dead.
"I will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our home. I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams," Fletcher told lawmakers. "I have lived through the massacre every day. Our country may forget this history, but I cannot."
Fletcher and two other survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, her younger brother Hughes Van Ellis and Lessie Benningfield Randle, testified before a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Wednesday nearly 100 years to the date of the massacre. Some historians say as many as 300 Black people were killed and another 10,000 were left homeless. Greenwood was destroyed by the attack that was launched on May 31, 1921… (LINK TO STORY)
Colonial Pipeline CEO tells why he paid hackers a $4.4 million ransom (Wall Street Journal)
The operator of the Colonial Pipeline learned it was in trouble at daybreak on May 7, when an employee found a ransom note from hackers on a control-room computer. By that night, the company’s chief executive officer came to a difficult conclusion: He had to pay.
Joseph Blount, CEO of Colonial Pipeline Co., told The Wall Street Journal that he authorized the ransom payment of $4.4 million because executives were unsure how badly the cyberattack had breached its systems, and consequently, how long it would take to bring the pipeline back.
Mr. Blount acknowledged publicly for the first time that the company had paid the ransom, saying it was an option he felt he had to exercise, given the stakes involved in a shutdown of such critical energy infrastructure. The Colonial Pipeline provides roughly 45% of the fuel for the East Coast, according to the company.
“I know that’s a highly controversial decision,” Mr. Blount said in his first public remarks since the crippling hack. “I didn’t make it lightly. I will admit that I wasn’t comfortable seeing money go out the door to people like this.”
“But it was the right thing to do for the country,” he added.
In return for the payment—made in the form of bitcoin, about 75 in all, according to a person familiar with the matter—the company received a decryption tool to unlock the systems that hackers penetrated. While it proved to be of some use, it ultimately wasn’t enough to immediately restore the pipeline’s systems, the person said.
The pipeline, which transports gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined products from the Gulf Coast to Linden, N.J., wound up being shut down for six days. The stoppage spurred a run on gasoline along parts of the East Coast that pushed prices to the highest levels in more than 6 ½ years and left thousands of gas stations without fuel.
East Coast stockpiles of gasoline dropped by about 4.6 million barrels last week, the steepest weekly drop since late February, Energy Department data showed.
For years, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has advised companies not to pay when hit with ransomware, a type of code that takes computer systems hostage and demands payment to have files unlocked. Doing so, officials have said, would support a booming criminal marketplace.
But many companies, municipalities and others debilitated by attacks do pay, concluding it is the only way to avoid costly disruptions to their operations… (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!