BG Reads | News You Need to Know (January 5, 2022)
Downtown Austin
[BINGHAM GROUP]
The BG Podcast is back! EP. 148 features Jose "Chito" Vela III a candidate for Austin's Council District 4.
The immigration and defense attorney declared in early November, following Council Member Greg Casar announcing his candidacy for Congress (triggering an automatic resignation).
Bingham Group CEO A.J. and Associate Wendy Rodriguez discuss Chito's campaign and what he hopes to achieve if elected.
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Austin likely to soon adopt strictest Stage 5 COVID guidelines amid post-holiday surge (Austin American-Statesman)
A rapidly worsening surge in COVID-19 cases — sparked by holiday gatherings and fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus — could push the Austin area in the coming days into Stage 5, triggering the strictest set of recommendations under Austin Public Health's risk-based guidelines.
Austin Public Health reported Tuesday that hospital admissions for COVID-19 in the Austin area had increased to numbers well within the most severe level of pandemic threat, with illnesses from omicron so rampant that health leaders are preparing to shift stages for a second time in as many weeks.
Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis County health authority, told members of the Austin City Council and the Travis County Commissioners Court during a joint coronavirus briefing Tuesday that while everyone is at risk of being infected with omicron, vaccines continue to reduce those risks and protect you from severe symptoms of COVID-19.
Walkes added that, unlike with past variants like delta, previous infections to the virus no longer prevent reinfection when it comes to omicron. Omicron now makes up more than 80% of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Austin and Travis County… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin Councilmembers Mackenzie Kelly, Leslie Pool appointed to National League of Cities' committees (KVUE)
Austin City Councilmembers Mackenzie Kelly and Leslie Pool announced on Tuesday they have been appointed to National League of Cities (NLC) 2022 committees – with Kelly to serve on the Public Safety and Crime Prevention (PSCP) Federal Advocacy Committee and Pool to serve on the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
Kelly was elected to a one-year term and "will provide strategic direction and guidance for NLC’s federal advocacy agenda and policy priorities," according to a release from Kelly's office.
“Public safety has always been one of my priorities, and I am honored to have been selected to serve on the PSCP committee at the national level,” said Kelly.
According to the release, Kelly will contribute to the committee's role in shaping NLC's policy positions and advocating on behalf of America’s municipalities before Congress, with the administration and at home.
“NLC’s federal advocacy committees are a key tool for gathering insights directly from the communities that our members serve,” said NLC President Mayor Vince Williams of Union City, Georgia. “I am excited to have Councilmember Kelly serve on the Public Safety and Crime Prevention Federal Advocacy Committee and look forward to working with her to fulfill the promise of America’s cities, towns and villages.”
Pool will also serve a one-year term in her role.
“It is an honor to serve a third consecutive year on the NLC’s Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Federal Advocacy Committee. This opportunity gives me the ability to continue our fight against the climate crisis we are in and the inequities that come with it,” said Councilmember Pool… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Canadian investor expands Central Texas portfolio with $33M in equity for Larkspur apartments (Austin Business Journal)
Vancouver, Canada-based Trez Capital LP has invested $33.3 million in equity into a multifamily project just north of Leander, helping add density to one of the Austin area’s fastest-growing communities.
The approximately 500-unit apartment project will be at the entrance to Larkspur, a 608-acre master-planned community off the 183A toll road in Williamson County.
The capital investment, a partnership with developer Thompson Realty Capital LLC, will cover a third of the project’s $100 million price tag. It is part of Trez Capital’s joint venture program, which funnels money into development in fast-growing areas.
This is not the first time the two companies have partnered on a Texas project. They have completed three multifamily projects — 843 units total — and have three more in the pipeline that will add another nearly 900 units… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Amid moratorium, Dripping Springs City Council allowing some developments in ETJ to move forward (Community Impact)
As Dripping Springs development remains somewhat in limbo for the duration of a temporary development moratorium, City Council voted to approve two waivers for proposed commercial buildings in the extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ.
The ETJ is a buffer zone around the city where council has limited control over development that could affect Dripping Springs.
Mayor Pro Tem Taline Manassian was the only member to vote no on both waivers at the meeting Jan. 4. She pointed out that the moratorium bought the city time to address two problems: that the wastewater capacity had peaked and that the comprehensive plan for the city needed to be completed before development continued. The plan, influenced by public discussions, will lay out what kind of developments and roads should go where in the area.
Though the Julep commercial development, the first to receive a waiver Jan. 4, will not use the city’s wastewater system, Manassian worried the public might want a different kind of project on that plat of land.
City planner Howard Koontz said normally the city has very little power over developments in the ETJ, though the moratorium allows the city to stall development in the ETJ. However, once the moratorium ends, the Julep developers could go ahead with plans without approval from council… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Plunging natural gas supply shows Texas still not ready for cold (Bloomberg)
Texas’s natural gas industry had almost a year to prepare for last weekend’s cold blast and avoid another loss of production. But yet again, instruments froze, output plunged and companies spewed a miasma of pollutants into the atmosphere in a bid to keep operations stable. Though Saturday’s cold front wasn’t as severe as the February storm that killed hundreds and knocked out power to much of the state, nearly 1 billion cubic feet of gas was burned or wasted due to weather-related shutdowns, according to filings with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. At the same time, production plunged to the lowest level since the last freeze, BloombergNEF data shows.
That has environmental implications. Natural gas is composed mostly of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. And the roughly dozen gas facilities that reported problems with the cold also emitted a combined 85 tons of sulfur dioxide and 11 tons of carbon monoxide, among other pollutants, according to a Bloomberg review of environmental filings. “We know this is pollution that can hurt people’s health and, overwhelmingly, this is avoidable,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of the nonprofit Environment Texas. “These facilities could be investing in better insulation and other kinds of things that would prevent equipment from freezing,” he said. “It’s easier to pay a fine.” It’s a stark reminder of the industry’s continued vulnerability to extreme weather. Despite calls for producers to harden their infrastructure against cold, much of the industry has managed to avoid doing so. The Texas Railroad Commission, the state’s top regulator of the industry, plans to adopt some weatherization standards but those won’t go into effect until 2023, and they include loopholes that allow some companies to opt out of compliance… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Gov. Abbott sues to shield Texas National Guard from Biden’s vaccine mandate (Houston Chronicle)
Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday sued the Biden administration over its military-wide COVID vaccine mandate, arguing the requirement should not apply to members of the Texas National Guard who have not been activated by the federal government. Abbott’s plan — laid out in a letter to Texas Adjutant General Tracy Norris, who oversees the state’s National Guard — follows efforts by other Republican governors who have tried to shield National Guard members from the federal vaccine requirement. Hours ahead of Abbott’s announcement, a federal judge struck down a similar lawsuit filed by the Oklahoma governor, noting that National Guard troops are already subject to nine other required immunizations. In his letter to Norris on Tuesday, Abbott said the National Guard remains under his authority unless deployed by the president — meaning they are not subject to the federal vaccine mandate, he argued.
“Unless President Biden federalizes the Texas National Guard in accordance with Title 10 of the U.S. Code, he is not your commander-in-chief under our federal or state Constitutions,” Abbott wrote to Norris. “And as long as I am your commander-in-chief, I will not tolerate efforts to compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine. To the extent the DoD vaccine mandate conflicts with the order I have given, my order controls.” Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit on Abbott’s behalf in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, based in Tyler. In October, Abbott ordered Norris not to enforce the federal coronavirus vaccine mandate for service members, which the Biden administration had announced in August. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin later rejected Oklahoma’s request to exempt National Guard troops from the mandate and said the Pentagon would cut off funding for troops who refuse the vaccine… (LINK TO FULL STORY)