BG Reads | News You Need to Know (October 20, 2021)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
EVENTS // Thursday, October 28 (6PM - 10PM0, A Night In Verde Presented by St. David’s Healthcare - benefiting the 4ATX Foundation (Austin FC’s non-profit arm).
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Austin Councilmember Greg Casar, State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez considering runs for Congress (KVUE)
Austin City Council member Greg Casar and State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin) are looking into the possibility of running for Texas Congressional District 35. The pair's announcements come one day after Congressman Lloyd Doggett announced he's running for the new District 37, leaving District 35 open.
The 35th District covers East Austin to San Antonio.
Casar has a team of people to help him explore the possibility, including elected officials, labor advocates and community leaders such as former state senator Wendy Davis.
“We can win better jobs, a clean planet and an end to the Republicans’ discriminatory laws," Casar said in a statement. "We can make the world a better place if we fight for it. If we organize for it. That’s why I’m considering running for Congress – to fight for working class and everyday Texans.”
His exploratory committee includes fellow city council members and other politicians in Austin, as well as officials from Bexar and Hays counties… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Chacon gives progress report on making Sixth Street safer (Austin Monitor)
After decades of discussion about the culture and safety of the Sixth Street entertainment district, a team of city staffers from multiple departments is making headway toward carrying out City Council-directed measures to ensure the public’s safety.
Council adopted a series of distinct action items in July for the interdepartmental team to review and implement, if feasible. The Safer Sixth Street initiative – sponsored by Council Member Kathie Tovo, whose district includes Sixth Street – came after a mass shooting in June that killed one person and injured more than a dozen others.
An uptick in gun violence this year preceded the mass shooting, reportedly kindled by a fight between two different groups of teens. And as recently as Oct. 9, multiple gunshots were fired after an argument near East Sixth and Sabine streets, resulting in the death of Michael Carothers, 17. An APD officer working the area fired his weapon as he responded to the gun fight, but it’s not yet clear whose weapon fired the bullet that killed Carothers.
In a memo updating Council on plans and progress on the Safer Sixth Street initiative, Police Chief Joseph Chacon outlined several action items underway. Possibly the lowest hanging fruit among the directives is the issue of lighting, and the team has already identified several locations where more illumination is needed.
Historic Sixth Street is graced with decorative street lamps, which had previously been upgraded to LED. Austin Energy has upgraded and performed maintenance on the traditional street lights along side streets and alleys. Chacon noted that the interdepartmental team recommends installing additional lighting designed for pedestrians rather than vehicular traffic.
To better respond to the threat of mass casualties in the future, the three public safety departments – APD, Austin Fire and Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services – will have a dedicated presence and staging area on Sixth Street and will also serve as the command post for a rescue task force, Chacon wrote.
APD and the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission will also be jointly targeting underage drinking and fake identifications. Chacon’s memo did not address the possibility of limiting the presence of teenagers on Sixth Street on weekend nights – language that was included in the resolution.
During Council’s discussion of the resolution in July, the notion of reinstating a curfew, even in one area of downtown, sparked immediate opposition from Mayor Pro Tem Natasha Harper-Madison and Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, who pointed out that curfews have greater adverse impact on Black and brown teenagers.
Tovo said she is still open to having a conversation around an underage curfew in relation to Sixth Street and evaluating the pros and cons from all perspectives.
Overall, though, Tovo said she’s pleased that the interdepartmental team is in place and responding to Council’s directives… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Alabama firm to oversee $174M in development in Manor school district (Austin Business Journal)
An Alabama-based program management firm has been hired to provide project management and quality control for more than $174 million in new development for Manor Independent School District as part of a $280 million bond package approved by voters in 2019.
Hoar Program Management LLC, which is based in Birmingham, announced Oct. 12 it will work alongside the district to ensure schedule and budget compliance over the next three years, as it oversees the development of several new classrooms, transportation improvements and multipurpose facilities.
Among the projects budgeted when the bond passed were a new early college high school campus, elementary and middle schools, a performing arts center and multipurpose sports facilities. It also included money budgeted for new buses, roof repairs, technology enhancements and a Manor ISD police station.
"We are grateful to the Manor ISD community for voting to pass the 2019 bond. As we continue to put scholars first, these new state-of-the-art educational facilities will address equity gaps, overcrowding and prepare for the continued population growth," Manor ISD Superintendent Andre Spencer said in a statement. "Most importantly, Manor ISD scholars are more than deserving of quality facilities that will enhance their learning environment. We are excited to work alongside HPM for this effort. HPM is truly a remarkable project management partner. It would be almost impossible to complete $280 million worth of bond projects without their expertise and dedication to excellence in Manor ISD."
These debt-funded projects aim to help the school district keep up with recent rapid growth in Manor, which is expected to continue due its proximity to large-scale projects such as Tesla Inc.'s $1.1 billion electric vehicle factory. The Manor population grew 171% over the past decade to 13,652 residents in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. At the time the bond was passed, school district leaders expect to add 2,780 students over four years… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Developer aims to create ‘legacy’ music venue with massive 20,000-seat amphitheater in southwest Austin (KXAN)
Developers hope to add a crown jewel to the Austin area’s already bustling live music scene: a 20,000-seat amphitheater at the center of a 71-acre entertainment and residential project near Bee Cave.
International Development Management Co. aims to open the first pieces of the Violet Crown project in 2023, with the amphitheater targeted to open by Labor Day 2023. Plans also call for two luxury apartment towers, a distillery and tasting room, a Top Golf-style driving range and a parking garage. The site is northwest of State Highway 71 and Southwest Parkway.
“Austin has been given the moniker of the [Live] Music Capital of the World. By God, I’m going to solidify that with this project,” said IDM President Craig Bryan, who noted the Violet Crown development should cost between $600 million and $750 million… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Prop B would allow the City of Austin to ‘swap’ one piece of land for another. Here are 3 things to know. (KUT)
The City of Austin wants a piece of land to make into a park. And it’s trying to put a sweet deal on the table to make that happen.
That’s the crux of Proposition B. But man, is it confusing.
Some background: Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department has its Central Maintenance Complex on a 9-acre piece of city-owned land along South Lakeshore Boulevard. The city uses this facility to store equipment and supplies that it uses to maintain its parks — drinking fountains and irrigation parts, for example.
But according to a City of Austin spokesperson, the buildings are in poor condition and there’s no longer enough space to house equipment and to host meetings at the complex. So, the city’s looking to use this land, which is immediately south of Lady Bird Lake, to arrange some sort of trade.
In other words, the city wants to offer this land to an unknown entity (more on that later) in exchange for land that could be turned into a park (the city won’t specify where, but more on that later), plus funding for new and updated maintenance facilities.
And because the 9 acres of city property is considered parkland, the city needs permission from voters to get rid of it.
Here’s how the ballot language reads: (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Gov. Greg Abbott didn’t get everything he wanted in the special session. Will he call lawmakers back for more? (Texas Tribune)
After nine months of the most conservative lawmaking Texas has seen in recent memory, legislators were confronting a daunting question Tuesday: Will Gov. Greg Abbott push them to go even further still?
Early Tuesday morning, both the House and Senate adjourned the third special session of the year, capping a grueling stretch that featured a weekslong Democratic walkout over the GOP’s priority elections bill and a series of proposals to build on what was already a triumphant regular session for conservatives.
But the latest special session ended without lawmakers passing two of Abbott’s priorities — legislation to increase an illegal-voting penalty and to ban vaccine mandates by any entity in Texas.
In each of the previous three legislative sessions this year, Abbott was firm that he would keep calling lawmakers back to Austin until they addressed the legislation he required of them — most notably the GOP elections bill and changes to the bail system targeting violent offenders. He placed a bill targeting transgender student athletes on each of the three special session agendas until it was finally passed in the most recent session.
On Monday night, as the chambers were nearing sine die, Abbott declined to say whether a fourth special session would be necessary. He also did not say anything Tuesday about the possibility, but he did issue a statement applauding lawmakers for their work in the third special session that suggested he was satisfied with what they had gotten done… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas lawmakers approve more than $3B for college projects across the state (Dallas Morning News)
Texas legislators reached an agreement early Tuesday morning to provide about $3.3 billion dollars to help colleges and universities accommodate growth. The deal for capital projects in higher education across the state was reached in a swift whirlwind before lawmakers adjourned the Legislature’s third special session. The funding bill now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott for signature. It was originally set to fork out roughly $3 billion dollars under a Senate version, but negotiations with the House raised the number as they worked to include more schools. Texas hasn’t passed a revenue bond package to fund higher education growth since 2015 and since 2006 before that. University and college leaders were hopeful that one would come about this year, particularly after the pandemic strained resources nationwide.
“These are tough economic times that we’re recovering from, so this request in higher education … is key to that recovery,” Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, said during Friday’s Senate debate on the bill. Abbott added the higher education funding issue to the special session’s agenda on Friday after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick sent a letter urging him to do so. The issue needed to be included on the call in order to be able to be considered. If signed into law, the legislation would allocate about $52.4 million each to the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Texas at Arlington for construction and renovations; $100 million to the University of North Texas at Dallas for the construction of a science building; and nearly $60 million to the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth for its campus. It would also change the name of “tuition revenue bonds” to “capital construction assistance projects” after lawmakers declared the term was confusing. The funds are generally used only for physical improvements to campuses — such as new facilities or renovations — and not tuition assistance for students… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas natural gas industry showing limited progress in winter storm prep, experts say (Houston Chronicle)
Efforts to get the Texas natural gas industry ready to operate through another severe winter storm like February’s are so far showing limited gains, with independent experts saying they see little evidence of companies increasing investments to weatherize their facilities against cold weather. Since the frigid weather knocked out power to millions of Texans, state and federal officials have called on energy companies to weatherize the power grid and the natural gas system on which it relies to avoid a repeat of a disaster that led to more than 200 deaths and billions of dollars in property damage. Experts say the power sector is shoring up generation against cold weather, but there is little evidence the gas industry is doing much to ensure that natural gas keeps flowing even in the harshest winter conditions.
Randall McCollum, a senior vice president who tracks the gas industry for the research firm Wood Mackenzie, said he not seen any natural gas producers in Texas making significant investment to protect their wells and other equipment against the cold. “I highly doubt they’d spend the capital to do it as it’s not economic for an occasional event,” he said. That assessment stands in stark contrast to the picture painted by Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, who in a letter to the Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee earlier this month said the industry was, “as ready as physically possible for this upcoming season.”
“Our industry is not waiting,” he wrote, “and has already made significant changes resulting in a dramatically improved status of readiness.” In an interview, Staples explained his claim as based on companies mapping natural gas wells and other facilities so they can alert power utilities not to cut electricity in the event of rotating outages — which vast majority of facilities failed to due ahead of February’s storm. During that event, the cutoff or electricity to natural gas fields struggling to operate in freezing temperatures “partially contributed to the decline in production of natural gas,” the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said in a report last month. That resulted in a downward spiral in the state power supply, which relies on natural gas for more than 50 percent of its generating capacity. With natural gas-fired plants cascading off-line due to limited fuel and other weather-related problems, the grid came within a few minutes of shutting down altogether, an event that could have taken weeks if not months to recover from… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Here's why Zillow won't be buying any more homes to renovate and resell this year (NPR)
The real estate website Zillow announced it would stop buying and renovating homes through the end of the year as it works through a backlog of properties and it deals with worker and supply shortages.
"We're operating within a labor- and supply-constrained economy inside a competitive real estate market, especially in the construction, renovation and closing spaces," Jeremy Wacksman, Zillow's chief operating officer, said in a statement.
"We have not been exempt from these market and capacity issues and we now have an operational backlog for renovations and closings," he added.
Through its Zillow Offers program, the company buys homes directly from sellers, completes the necessary upgrades and lists them for sale. This lets sellers avoid having to do repairs or set up showings themselves, the company says.
Zillow, which is known for its online real estate listings, told shareholders that it purchased 3,805 homes through the program in the second quarter of this year, a major increase over previous years.
Zillow Offers, which launched in 2019, sold 2,086 homes and made a gross profit of $71 million over the same period… (LINK TO FULL STORY)