BG Reads | News You Need to Know (November 12, 2021)
Downtown Austin
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Austin positioned for economic boom in 2022 and beyond (Austin American-Statesman)
Business activity in the Austin area is poised to boom in 2022 and beyond after the local economy shrugged off the debilitating grip of the coronavirus pandemic over the past year and rebounded strongly, economists said.
Speaking during an economic forecasting event sponsored by the Austin Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, they said the region's diverse and growing base of employers, its skilled workforce and its acclaimed quality of life will fuel substantial gains going forward.
"You should be particularly happy with the outlook" heading into 2022, said Joe Quinlan, a Bank of America managing director who spoke remotely from his New York office to the local business leaders in attendance.
Austin has "a very attractive backdrop for more growth," Quinlan said. “You are attracting people (and) you are attracting corporations" to the metro area.
Jon Hockenyos, an Austin-based economist who also spoke Wednesday, said he views the Austin area as "being in the early stages of a growth surge."
Changes to corporate practices and workforce preferences driven by the coronavirus pandemic have "only enhanced the things that made us the (economic) star we were," Hockenyos said. "I think Austin is going to be one of the great global cities of the 21st century — I firmly believe that.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin needs more time to recalibrate Downtown Density Bonus fees (Austin Business Journal)
Developers will now have to wait until next year to learn what the recalibrated fees will look like for the popular Downtown Density Bonus Program.
That means the temporary fees approved by Austin City Council in May, which have caused concern among the development community, will remain in place a little bit longer.
The city has been examining the DDBP for several months, trying to update the calculations for fees-in-lieu for affordable housing contributions so they are in line with market conditions. That's largely meant higher fees for added density in tower projects.
Rosie Truelove, director of the city's Housing and Planning department, said in a Nov. 10 memo to Austin City Council that staffers found an error in the modeling tool used to determine the new fee calculations. Once that's addressed, the city will again have to go through the process of testing the model and communicating with stakeholders, city commissions and other boards.
Truelove's memo said the recalibrated fees are now expected to be brought to Council in January 2022.
This isn't the first time staff have changed the timeline. Staff had originally planned to present to Council by late August… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas State student accused of setting fire to Austin synagogue arrested (KXAN)
Arson investigators with the Austin Fire Department arrested a man Wednesday who is accused of intentionally setting fire to an Austin synagogue on Halloween night.
Franklin Barrett Sechriest, 18, is suspected of using an accelerant near the sanctuary doors of Congregation Beth Israel to ignite the flames, causing an estimated $25,000 in damage, according to AFD. Texas State University on Thursday confirmed to KXAN Sechriest is one of its students.
“We will continue to assist the FBI and Austin Fire Department in the ongoing investigation that led to the arrest of Texas State University student Franklin Barrett Sechriest for the arson attack that damaged the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Austin on Oct. 31,” Texas State said in a statement.
The university went on to say it “decries this hateful act of bigotry and violence and all the antisemitic events perpetrated recently in Austin, San Antonio, and San Marcos.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
North Texas principal resigns to end fight over whether he was teaching “critical race theory” (Texas Tribune)
A Black North Texas principal has agreed to resign after being put on paid administrative leave in August amid accusations he was teaching and promoting critical race theory.
James Whitfield chose to resign from his position as principal of Colleyville Heritage High School and the school board unanimously accepted on Monday. His resignation won’t be official until Aug. 15, 2023. As part of a settlement between Whitfield and the district, he will remain on paid administrative leave until then.
“I'm ready to turn that next page,” Whitfield told The Texas Tribune on Wednesday.
The agreement seemingly puts an end to Whitfield’s arduous battle with the school district that date backs to July 26, when he was first accused of teaching critical race theory during a Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District school board meeting by Stetson Clark, a former candidate for the district's school board.
Clark said Whitfield was “encouraging the disruption and destruction of our district” because Whitfield, the high school's first Black principal, wrote a letter to the community during the summer of 2020 detailing how hurt he was over the deaths of three Black Americans: George Floyd in Minnesota, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia.
In the ensuing days, Whitfield found himself at the center of the debate over how race is taught in Texas schools. He received a disciplinary letter from the district a few weeks later and was placed on administrative leave soon after that.
Colleyville is a majority-white city with only 1% of residents identifying as Black or African American, according to census data. The median household income tops $150,000… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Tesla can now sell electricity to Texans (KXAN)
There may soon be a new seller in Texas’ energy market. The Public Utility Commission of Texas has approved an application from Tesla Energy Ventures, LLC, to be able to provide retail electricity “throughout the area served by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT),” according to the application. That means the company can sell its energy to residential or business customers in places like Dallas-Fort Worth or Houston, but not to municipal or co-op areas like Bluebonnet, Pedernales, or Austin Energy service areas, says David Tuttle, research fellow at the University of Texas at Austin’s Energy Institute. The company first filed its application on Aug. 16. In it, the company says it will target current Tesla customers through its mobile app and Tesla’s website. “In addition to the Tesla mobile application and Tesla website, the applicant’s existing Tesla Energy Customer Support organization will be trained to provide support and guidance to customers in customer acquisition efforts,” the application reads.
“I think it’s fair to speculate that Tesla, since they make and install solar panels and batteries, that that’s going to be the core technology,” Tuttle says. Some of that Tesla Energy solar technology is already being used in Austin. Earlier this summer, the company partnered with two others — Dacra and Brookfield Residential — to build solar-powered homes in southeast Austin’s Easton Park, featuring Tesla solar roofs, Powerwall systems and electric car charging stations. “My first instinct was, ‘Wow, that’s awesome and that’s great to be in a neighborhood that’s kind of on the edge of trying new things,'” says John Miller, who lives in the neighborhood. He and his husband, Mike Yager, moved in March 2020 before the Tesla home announcement.
“This world-class solar technology will produce sufficient energy to power the average home, reduce demand on local energy grids, and provide back-up power with Tesla Powerwall in the event of an outage,” the website reads. Tuttle explains that with the PUC’s approval, it means that Tesla can now take that energy and use it as part of a virtual power plant (VPP). According to filings with the PUC, Tesla explains that a VPP is a network of solar and battery systems that work together to generate and store energy for homes on-site, and pump extra power back into the grid. The company cites the South Australian government for the explanation… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
When the Travis Scott concert stopped, the social-media posts—and conspiracy theories—were just beginning (Wall Street Journal)
The aftermath of the Astroworld Festival incident that left nine people dead in Houston last week is raising concerns about how footage and misinformation related to the event is being circulated on social media.
Videos showing people being crushed and unconscious circulated on TikTok, Twitter Inc. and other platforms. “Travis Scott concert” was one of the most searched terms on Google on Saturday, the day after the incident, according to Google Trends data.
On TikTok, videos using the hashtag #Astroworld had about 2.4 billion views as of Thursday.
And more than 400,000 tweets have mentioned either Travis Scott or the festival by name since the event on Nov. 5, according to an analysis by Storyful, a social-media research firm, which is owned by News Corp, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal.
Conspiracy theories, including that the concert was part of a satanic ritual, also became prevalent. Tweets mentioning satanism more than tripled from Nov. 7 through Nov. 9 compared with the three-day period beforehand, according to the Storyful analysis…(LINK TO FULL STORY)