BG Reads | News You Need to Know (September 22, 2021)
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
Work Session of the Austin Council (9.28.2021 at 9AM)
Regular Meeting of the Austin City Council (9.30.2021 at 10AM)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
***NEW*** BG Podcast Ep. 146: District Organizing with Austin Justice Coalition
A.J. speaks***NEW*** BG Podcast Ep. 146: District Organizing with Austin Justice Coalition
A.J. speaks with Austin Justice Coalition (AJC) reps João Paulo Connolly and Rockie Gonzalez about the launch of its new grassroots organizing strategy, District Organizing: Project Engage (DOPE). DOPE is a plan mobilize and build community power at the Council district level. The conversation covers the impetus and vision of the program, and how Austinites can engage. Show link here. with Austin Justice Coalition (AJC) reps João Paulo Connolly and Rockie Gonzalez about the launch of its new grassroots organizing strategy, District Organizing: Project Engage (DOPE). DOPE is a plan mobilize and build community power at the Council district level. The conversation covers the impetus and vision of the program, and how Austinites can engage. Show link here.
CEO A.J. recently sat down with Voyage Austin for an interview on his path to lobbying and founding Bingham Group. Check it out here.
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Report: City lacks complete list of homelessness agreements (Austin Monitor)
The Office of the City Auditor reports that City Council initiated 47 resolutions, ordinances and other orders related to alleviating homelessness between September 2018 and May 2021. As a result of those directives, the city entered into at least 101 agreements, mostly with nonprofit organizations, to provide various homelessness services. Some of these agreements are still in the process of being implemented.
Auditors did the research and wrote the report in response to a request from Council members Mackenzie Kelly and Leslie Pool, who both served on the Council Audit & Finance Committee. In the request, Kelly and Pool asked which resolutions from Council relate to homelessness, which agreements relate to homelessness, and whether city spending aligns with Council direction on the issue between September 2018 and May 2021.
Over the fiscal years 2019 to 2021, auditors found that the city budgeted $179 million to combat homelessness. Auditors reported that 59 percent of the money for homelessness came from the city’s General Fund, while 27 percent came from state and federal funding. The remainder came from the Capital Improvements Program and enterprise funds.
The auditors noted that there are about 15 city departments involved in homelessness assistance efforts, but the three most responsible for managing those issues are Austin Public Health, the Housing and Planning Department and the Downtown Austin Community Court.
Auditors found the majority of homelessness assistance agreements were managed by Austin Public Health, which reported 74 such agreements. The Housing and Planning Department had 17 agreements and the community court had a total of 10.
However, the audit team that worked on the report said they were unable to determine whether the city had entered into agreements that were not found during their research. “Multiple city departments manage agreements related to homelessness assistance,” they wrote, “but there is no single department responsible for tracking all agreements related to homelessness assistance.” When auditors perform a regular audit, their standard operating procedure is to arrive at conclusions and make recommendations. But in the case of a special report, they do not offer conclusions or recommendations.
Auditors did find that overall spending on the homelessness issue generally aligns with directions given by Council. The team selected five Council resolutions to study to see if they could determine whether agreements with those nonprofits aligned with Council direction. All five resolutions were managed by Austin Public Health and resulted in 10 separate agreements.
Auditors wrote, “Six of the 10 agreements had associated spending which aligned with Council direction. The remaining four agreements are in the process of being finalized or were recently created and do not yet have associated spending as of the time of this review.”
The audit team noted, “Not all spending action can be directly traced to specific guidance from Council. City departments have a level of discretion to allocate spending that is aligned with their department mission. Overall, departments appear committed to the city’s strategic direction on economic opportunity and affordability.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
City backtracks, now says people can testify by phone at public meetings (KUT)
The proverbial phone line had been cut. Now, it’s being restored.
Over the summer, the city of Austin said residents would no longer be able to phone in to public meetings as they’d been doing during the pandemic. The change was allowed after Gov. Greg Abbott suspended parts of the Texas Open Meetings Act, which outlines how public meetings can be run.
When Abbott said the rules would go back into place starting in September, the city’s Law Department said people would have to return to giving testimony in person – that is, at City Hall.
“Members of the public are allowed to participate by videoconference, but not by teleconference,” Assistant City Attorney Caroline Webster told City Council members at a meeting last month. Without the ability to set up videoconferencing for the public, the city said that meant testimony was limited to in-person.
The city’s legal team is now reversing course, saying that’s not true.
The change was revealed in an internal memo sent to Council members by the city clerk earlier this month. In it, Jannette Goodall writes: “The Law Department recently informed us that audio testimony is a viable option.”
While it’s an option, it’s a costly one. In the memo, Goodall said continuing to offer virtual meetings, including phone testimony, would cost the city $540,000 a year. She does not explain why the legal team changed its reading of the law.
The memo was sent a week after the city held a Council meeting with in-person-only testimony for the first time since the pandemic began. In the weeks leading up to the meeting, Council members and citizens lamented what they said the public would lose by returning to in-person-only testimony, including the convenience of being able to testify from home, and said they felt a phone-in system made testifying more accessible.
“When we set up a situation that people can only participate in person, we’re excluding part of our population,” Council Member Ann Kitchen, who represents parts of South Austin, said at the time. “We’re putting them in a position where they have to choose between their individual circumstances and their own health, and their family’s, and their ability to talk to us.”
A city spokesperson told KUT the city made the change after realizing other Texas cities were continuing to allow phone testimony.
“After consulting with various other governmental entities around the state, we determined that offering the public the opportunity to continue to call in to meetings as they had been doing during the pandemic was acceptable under TOMA as long as in-person testimony was also being offered,” a city spokesperson wrote in an email.
The spokesperson would not provide more information about the change… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
City of Austin approves ACL health and safety plan, holds off on final permit (Community Impact)
Austin Public Health approved Austin City Limits Music Festival's health and safety plan, bringing the event one step closer to receiving a final permit, the city of Austin and festival organizers announced Sept. 21.
APH approved festival organizers' existing plan requiring ACL guests to provide a negative COVID-19 test result dated no earlier than 72 hours before entry to the event. Fully vaccinated ticketholders may show proof of vaccination in lieu of a negative test result, the city confirmed—a detail that was ambiguous in the city's latest special event permitting rules.
ACL also announced for the first time that masks would be required in certain areas of the festival.
"As required by city of Austin Order 20210811-033, masks will be required in areas of Zilker Park where it is difficult to maintain social distancing, including on festival shuttle buses; entrance lines; areas closest to the stages; and in the limited indoor areas at the festival, including our on-site merchandise store. Free masks will be available at each entry gate," ACL said in a news release.
A final permit for ACL has yet to be approved, however… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Natiivo, a hybrid condo/hotel project, sells out as it nears completion (Austin American-Statesman)
Outperforming sales targets in Austin’s booming real estate market, developers say all 248 units in the Natiivo hotel/condominium tower have been sold, and that construction on the high-rise in downtown Austin is almost complete.
The 33-story high-rise is at 48 East Ave., in the Rainey Street district. The tower represents a new concept in short-term rentals and in the hospitality industry, and is the first of its kind in Texas, say the developers, Austin-based Pearlstone Partners and Miami-based Newgard Development Group.
Developers say the hybrid condo and hotel tower combines the benefit of conventional condo ownership with the services and amenities of a hotel, including concierge bookings, housekeeping, grocery delivery, laundry service and more.
Natiivo owners can purchase a fully furnished unit and list it for rent, either on a home-sharing platform of their choosing or through Natiivo Managed. Under Natiivo Managed, MasterHost handles all reservation requests, inquiries, check-ins and check-outs.
In addition to Austin, there are also Natiivo projects in Miami and Nashville.
Units in Austin's Natiivo were priced from $300,000 to $1 million. Prospect Real Estate was the listing agent.
“All 248 residential units sold out ahead of schedule and beating all our projections,” Denise Bodman, Prospect's vice president of sales, said in a recent news release announcing the milestone. “Due to unprecedented market conditions and the extremely low single-family home inventory, Prospect has seen an Increasing demand for residential homes in the urban core."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Turner fires Houston housing director who accused him of 'charade' bid process to benefit developer (Houston Chronicle)
Mayor Sylvester Turner fired the city’s housing director Tuesday after he publicly accused the mayor of manufacturing a “charade” of a competitive process to distribute affordable housing money to a select developer. According to state documents, a company listed as a “co-general partner” and “co-developer” with a stake in the deal, Harbor Venture Group, is run by the mayor’s longtime law partner, Barry Barnes, and another partner at Barnes’ firm, Jermaine Thomas. Turner left the firm after being elected mayor in 2015. Turner denied wrongdoing and said he fired housing director Tom McCasland because he “has lost confidence in his leadership and abilities to manage the department in the city's best interest, and it is time to move on. We wish him the very best.”
McCasland, who did not mention Barnes or Thomas when he spoke at a meeting of the council’s housing committee earlier in the morning, sent council members a packet of emails and memos detailing how Turner rebuffed housing officials’ recommendation to approve four affordable housing developments in favor of one project in Clear Lake, called Huntington at Bay Area.
The four staff picks would have used $16.2 million in city money to help finance 362 affordable units, whereas the project Turner’s administration selected to replace them uses $15 million for one project with 88 affordable units. The company with the majority stake in the Huntington at Bay Area proposal is MGroup, a Montrose-based firm founded by Bellaire couple Laura and Mark Musemeche, who have been involved in many tax credit housing projects in Texas. Barnes and Thomas, who reported on state forms they had no experience with the state tax credit process — and whose company was formed Dec. 29, 2020, records show, just weeks before the proposal was first filed — did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A receptionist at the law firm said they were in a conference. Mark Musemeche is on vacation this week, according to his receptionist. He also did not immediately respond to a request for comment… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Tarrant County delays vote on tax break for electric truck plant proposed for Fort Worth (Dallas Morning News)
Tarrant County officials on Tuesday delayed a vote on a potential tax abatement for California-based Rivian Automotive, which is searching for a 2,000-acre site for a factory. A site in the Walsh development is one of the finalists. Bloomberg News reported last month that the Fort Worth location was the front-runner. Tarrant County’s potential tax break, alongside an approved tax break from the city of Fort Worth and a planned tax break from Parker County, is intended as an incentive to lure Rivian to the Metroplex. Rivian projects investing $5 billion and adding 7,500 full-time jobs by the end of 2027. If those projections were met at the Fort Worth-area site, it would make Rivian one of the largest employers in Dallas-Fort Worth.
The Tarrant County commissioners were scheduled to vote Tuesday on a tax break of about $35.8 million, which equates to a decade-long 70% abatement on the value that Rivian would add to the site. But officials instead delayed the vote until a later meeting. In a statement, Tarrant County spokesperson Bill Hanna said the county is working with Rivian “to finalize some of the information necessary to complete our tax abatement agreement documents.” “Tarrant County is excited to still be a finalist for the location of the Rivian manufacturing facility,” Hanna said in the statement. He added that the tax break will be back on the county commissioners’ agenda at some point after next week’s meeting. On Tuesday, the Tarrant County Central Labor Council released a statement in approval of the delay. Council president Brian Golden urged increased transparency throughout the process and said that residents deserve assurances that the tax break will help create “high-quality jobs with decent wages and benefits.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Dallas plans to approve its largest city budget ever. Here’s what to know (Dallas Morning News)
Dallas council members on Wednesday are scheduled to approve the largest budget in city history. Largely boosted by higher-than-expected property and sales tax revenues, Dallas’ proposed new $4.35 billion spending plan includes increased funding to improve streets, public safety and long-standing city inequities. Federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act is also part of the spending plan. The current budget was adopted last September at $3.85 billion. The current fiscal year ends Sept. 30.
The City Council tentatively approved the budget on Sept. 9, but can make some adjustments before a final vote Wednesday to formally adopt the plan. The council meeting starts at 9 a.m. Amid calls last year from some city officials and others to boost police funding to combat violent crime and other offenses, the Dallas Police Department is slated to receive the biggest bump — $42.4 million — from the city’s general fund. As of Monday, the department’s budget is proposed at $555.9 million, but could see a $10 million increase for police overtime that is currently earmarked for a reserve fund. The police budget calls for hiring 250 new police officers starting in October.
Another 250 are slated to be hired starting in fall 2022. In addition to more police funding, the city plans to hire 31 more code enforcement officers. Plans are in the works to hire 42 people in the transportation department and task more of its employees, rather than police officers, with traffic duties like blocking off roads for accidents and road hazards… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
U.S. border agents chased migrants on horseback. A photographer explains what he saw (NPR)
Images of U.S. Border Patrol agents on horseback chasing Haitian migrants along the Rio Grande are "horrific," the White House says. The migrants were attempting to return to a camp near the Del Rio International Bridge, where thousands of migrants have gathered on the U.S. side of the border river. Many of them carried food they'd just bought in Mexico. But when the migrants attempted to cross the river and return to the U.S. side of the border, agents used their horses to try to turn them back. The dramatic scene immediately sparked new questions about how a "nation of immigrants" treats people who are desperate for a better life.
Video from the scene shows an agent whirling his horse's long reins as he tries to block a man from entering the U.S. And in widely seen photographs, an agent lunges nearly out of his saddle to grab a man by the shirt as the man carries bags of food. "I thought the Haitians were quite scared, and I think there was probably some panic, which resulted in them trying to run around the horses," photographer Paul Ratje told NPR's Morning Edition. "The agents tried to block them, and then the one agent grabbed a man by his shirt and then kind of swung them around," said Ratje, who frequently covers border issues. "And I don't know what prompted that." His photos quickly went viral, along with video from the scene. The images have now triggered an investigation into what happened, as well as questions about the Biden administration's immigration policies. "Absolutely unacceptable," Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, said as she posted Ratje's photos on Twitter. "No matter how challenging the situation in Del Rio is right now, nothing justifies violence against migrants attempting to seek asylum in our country.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Biden slips into political quicksand amid Haitian migrant buildup (Politico)
The thousands of Haitians massing at the U.S. southern border has put the Biden administration in the exact place it’s tried to avoid: knee deep in immigration politics.
In the past 24 hours, the White House has responded to images and videos of aggressive tactics used by Border Patrol agents to corral those migrants by supporting an internal investigation into the matter. What it hasn’t done, yet, is figure out a solution to the crowding and sanitary issues arising in what’s become a makeshift encampment — or stop its policy of deporting migrants upon arrival.
That’s left the president and his team with few supporters and allies.
A coalition of more than 38 civil rights and immigrant advocacy leaders sent the White House a letter Tuesday evening calling on Biden to immediately stop expulsions of Haitians, some of whom arrived at the border community of Del Rio, Texas, after fleeing violence and natural disaster in their home county. The letter, first provided to POLITICO, marks a “final straw,” said Nana Gyamfi, executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration and president of the National Conference of Black Lawyers. The coalition, which includes the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, and the The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, described the moment as “an inflection point” for Biden’s commitment to a humane immigration policy… (LINK TO FULL STORY)