BG Reads | News You Need to Know (June 24, 2021)
Credit: atmtx CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Central Health's downtown innovation district planned unit development project approved, campus cleared for potential redevelopment (Community Impact)
More than 14 acres on the eastern edge of Austin's downtown was cleared for potential redevelopment earlier this June, marking another step in the growth of the city's medical and economic innovation district.
The property encompassing the former Brackenridge hospital campus off I-35 is owned by the Travis County Healthcare District, or Central Health, and is bounded by E. 12th, E. 15th and Red River streets. Central Health for years had been seeking to remake the space into a revenue-generating mixed-use development, a possibility that was facilitated June 10 after City Council unanimously voted for the rezoning of the property to a planned unit development, or PUD.
The approved rezoning comes after council had previously sought to open the property to commercial redevelopment via a a code amendment process that was eventually ended in favor of the PUD proposal.
“Rezoning the property is a critical and long-awaited milestone in the redevelopment of this valuable and important property,” Mike Geeslin, Central Health president and CEO, said in a statement. “With a diverse mix of revenue sources, Central Health won’t rely solely on funding from property taxes to care for a growing number of Travis County residents with low income.”
Tenants for the majority of the site have yet to be determined, although Central Health has said it aims for the property to become a walkable district with an emphasis on medical uses. Through the city rezoning process, 100 units of affordable housing were also added as a requirement if any future development includes a condominium or multifamily residential component.
“The community helped create the master plan, which provided a clear vision for this redevelopment,” Sherri Greenberg, chairperson of Central Health's board of managers, said in a statement. “We listened when residents who told us they wanted a vibrant hub for healthier living that is easily accessible on foot, bike, public transit or by car. The community wanted a development that included space for health care services, medical research and innovation, and creates a sense of community. We’re eager to move this project forward.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Parks board rejects alcohol sales at Zilker Cafe, but the vote is in question (Austin Monitor)
A key vote by the Parks and Recreation Board may need to be recast due to a shortage of board members required to consider a proposal to sell beer and wine at the newly renovated Zilker Cafe adjacent to Barton Springs Pool.
Parks and Recreation Department officials were apparently unaware that more than six members were needed to decide the question of whether to recommend a conditional use permit for the cafe. Under city code, the sale of beer or wine in a public space requires a zoning change as well as a recommendation from the parks board before the matter can be considered by the Planning Commission.
After an hour of public testimony and a round of robust deliberation, the board voted 4-2 on Tuesday against recommending the permit application for the cafe. Constructed in 1950 and 1960, the modified building is a contributing structure to the Zilker National Register Historic District. The cafe closed in 2016 to allow for repairs and renovation while preserving most of the historic outer shell. The cafe is scheduled to open this year, with or without the sale of alcohol.
On Wednesday, it was unclear what the parks department would do next, considering that two board members who were absent from Tuesday’s meeting – Sarah Faust and Kim Taylor – would round out the six votes in opposition, assuming all members are present if the case returns to the board. Faust and Taylor each sent an email stating their opposition, which Chair Dawn Lewis read into the record.
Parks Director Kimberly McNeeley said Wednesday that the department is reviewing the code and considering options for next steps. Department staff members had worked hard to deliver on a proposal that was launched under former Parks Director Sara Hensley, and the vendor is eager to get started.
The Zilker Cafe case comes at a time when the department is overwhelmed by several challenges heading into a busy summer on the heels of the Covid pandemic. There is the annual scramble to hire lifeguards and open city pools, coupled with the ongoing pressure to comply with separate mandates from voters and the state to move people experiencing homelessness out of parks and other public places… (LINK TO STORY)
Central Austin's median home price topped $700,000 in May (Community Impact)
The median home price in Community Impact Newspaper's Central Austin readership area reached $701,450 in May, according to data from the Austin Board of Realtors, topping $700,000 for the first time.
Across the entire city, prices are breaking records, with Austin's median home price up 34.9% year over year to an all-time high of $566,500, but the capital city's core remains especially expensive. Median home prices in Central Austin have risen each month in 2021, climbing up over $100,000 since January and more than $150,000 since May of 2020, when pandemic stay-at-home orders slowed down the market during what is typically a strong selling season for residential real estate.
As the upward trend persists and inventory levels remain critically low, with less than a month of housing stock available, local real estate experts say affordable living options are becoming unattainable.
"Access to affordable home ownership has become a challenge for many Austin residents, but shrinking inventory, lot and labor shortages, and rising construction costs means it’s not an easy process to get more affordable housing on the market," said Nora Linares-Moeller, executive director of HousingWorks Austin, in a statement. "The solution here is to be strategic about placing lower-priced homes and rentals in all parts of the city and urge our city’s leaders to continue making affordability a priority."
ABoR representatives say Austin City Council's recent vote to increase the city's homestead exemption from 10% to 20% is a step toward making home ownership more affordable, and that local officials should focus on similar solutions moving forward… (LINK TO STORY)
Cyclists split on sharing bike lanes with pizza delivery robots (KUT)
A small fleet of robots delivering pizza in Central Austin has set off a debate about whether the semi-autonomous machines' use of bike lanes will squeeze cyclists off the road or launch a technological revolution to reduce motor vehicle deliveries and boost demand for bicycle infrastructure.
"My personal view is that I don't believe these belong in the bike lane," said Jake Boone, who serves as vice-chair of the city's Bicycle Advisory Council.
"I almost feel like we're the test subject for this new technology, and that does bother me," he said. "What if in two years we have several hundred of these on the road?"
Michigan-based Refraction AI started operations in Austin last week with 10 semi-autonomous robots delivering Southside Flying Pizza in Travis Heights and the Central Business District. The company's REV-1 vehicle looks sort of like a futuristic ice cream cart with two wheels in the front and one in the back.
For now, an attendant on an electric scooter follows the REV-1 while the machine's artificial intelligence learns Austin streets. Eventually, the robot will roll alone at up to 15 miles per hour with a remote operator monitoring over the internet.
"We're huge bike advocates and big believers that they are an important part of city transportation," Refraction AI CEO Luke Schneider said. "The robots are required to yield the right-of-way to bicycles, to pedestrians as well as to regular vehicular traffic."
Some cyclists remain uncertain about exactly how a REV-1 would move out of a cyclist's way on a path next to cars and trucks whizzing past at 30 miles per hour or more, as is the case on parts of South Congress.
Austin Transportation Department staff provided a briefing on Refraction AI's delivery robots Tuesday night to Austin's Bicycle Advisory Council (BAC), a nine-member body created "to advise the City of Austin and other jurisdictions on all matters relating to the use of the bicycle," according to city bylaw. The city did not consult the BAC before Refraction AI starting operations in Austin.
A statement from Austin's Transportation Department says it had provided a list of groups Refraction AI should reach out to ahead of launching service here. The list of groups included the Bicycle Advisory Council. The company provided no briefing to the BAC ahead of the launch, although it was planning to speak to some members Wednesday… (LINK TO STORY)
Bastrop City Council approves development agreement for 546-acre film studio proposal (Austin American-Statesman)
The Bastrop City Council on Tuesday night unanimously approved a development agreement between the city and Alton Butler II, the founder and owner of Line 204 Studios, for a proposed 546-acre film studio project near the Colorado River.
The council’s decision came after 37 minutes of debate, discussion and public comments Tuesday about the revised development agreement, which the council first discussed on June 8 when it spent nearly four hours listening to presentations, public comments and deliberated the document.
The proposed development — known as the Bastrop 552 Development — would comprise 546 acres in Bastrop, west of Lovers Lane and the River Meadows subdivision and is bounded by the Colorado River on the project’s western edge. The development's primary use will be a film studio but it will include a mixture of uses, such as recreation, studio space and other accommodations that serve the studio and its customers.
Residents who live near the proposed development have mobilized to oppose the project and have spoken out against it at three city meetings this month. They've raised concerns about the development's possible impact to their quality of life, property values, drainage, the environment and wildlife, as well as potential increases in noise and light pollution and traffic.
When the council first discussed the development agreement on June 8, it directed staff to continue negotiating the agreement with the developer to incorporate more specific provisions and less vague language after residents spent hours during that meeting voicing concerns about the agreement and the project.
According to city documents, changes to the revised development agreement that the council approved Tuesday include requiring Bastrop Colorado Bend — the Texas-based company that will develop the project and that Butler manages — to submit a public frontage plan, which would detail sidewalk design, landscaping, street lighting, a perimeter fence and a perimeter road for the proposed project.
Other changes in the revised agreement include removing an exemption for lighting and requiring all lighting within the project to comply with city regulations as well as requiring the developer to make a reasonable effort to preserve and protect current trees and vegetation… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
VP Kamala Harris, under relentless pressure to visit border, finally heads to El Paso on Friday (Dallas Morning News)
Under relentless pressure to visit the border, Vice President Kamala Harris – the Biden administration’s point person on a migrant crisis that has seen illegal crossings surge to record levels – has scheduled a tour in El Paso on Friday. If she waited much longer, she would have faced the embarrassment of being upstaged next week by Donald Trump, who will visit McAllen area on June 30 with Gov. Greg Abbott, including an hour in prime time from nearby Edinburg with conservative host Sean Hannity. Fox News announced that event on Wednesday. Republicans were quick to accuse Harris of picking the wrong spot, arguing the impact is far more acute in the Rio Grande Valley, 700 miles from El Paso, or Del Rio about halfway downriver.
“Vice President Harris is ignoring the real problem areas along our southern border that are not protected by the border wall and are being overrun by the federal government’s ill-thought-out open border policies,” said Abbott, adding that in the 90 days since Harris “was named Border Czar... Texans have had their homes broken into, property damaged, and guns pointed at their heads” by gangs, drug cartels, smugglers and human traffickers. Harris is not in fact the “border czar,” though Republicans have insisted on labeling her as such since President Joe Biden deputized her to lead the effort to address illegal migration. He assigned her to focus as he did as vice president on the source – the dire economic conditions and rampant violence facing poor residents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. During a stop in Guatemala on June 7, Harris shrugged aside demands she visit the U.S.-Mexico border, dismissing such a trip as a mere “grand gesture” compared to the longer-term effort to improve conditions in Central America and ease pressure to migrate… (LINK TO STORY)
Some Texas power plants unexpectedly went offline last week. The grid operator says it still doesn’t know why (Texas Tribune)
Last Monday, Texas’ main power grid operator asked Texans, mid-heat wave, to turn their thermostats to 78 degrees during the afternoon and evening for the week to reduce electricity demand on the grid after 12,000 megawatts of power generation unexpectedly went offline — enough to power 2.4 million homes on a hot summer day.
By the end of the week, that appeal from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas expired without a public announcement, and ERCOT officials still have not said why they asked Texans to cut back on electricity use.
Were there damages to the power grid infrastructure stemming from February’s deadly winter storm? Were there nefarious actors looking to manipulate the electricity market? What does this mean for power generation during the rest of the hot Texas summer?… (LINK TO STORY)
‘Critical race theory’ roils Fort Worth school board meeting as Texas braces for continued fight (Dallas Morning News)
Even before all the Fort Worth school trustees could take their seats, the chants of “No CRT!” echoed in the room only to be countered by a woman shouting out: “Stop whitewashing history!” Parents, pastors, teachers and recent graduates packed a routine meeting that quickly transformed into one of the first major conflicts since Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law aimed at keeping “critical race theory” out of classrooms. Many of those gathered Tuesday night decried the concept, which has become a political lightning rod for conservatives. Others, however, implored trustees to push for honest conversations about America’s often painful past and present. “Keep steadfast on this racial equity work,” parent Martina Van Norden urged the FWISD trustees.
The debate is far from over and will likely continue dominating Texas’ boardrooms. Abbott still wants legislators to do more to “abolish” critical race theory in schools — though he hasn’t yet outlined specific steps he wants taken in an upcoming special session. Fort Worth trustees heard from parents concerned that schools are wading into divisive politics with their children as well as from many families who urged the district to take steps to make education more equitable for students of color. The term “critical race theory” — a decades-old academic framework that explores how racism is embedded in U.S. policies and systems — recently has been co-opted by conservative pundits. Opponents often conflate it with districts’ broader diversity and inclusion efforts, anti-racism training or multicultural curricula. In doing so, school district boardrooms have become a central battleground in this culture war even as the central issue is often misunderstood. Some parents threatened to leave the district over this fight. They accused the district of indoctrinating students and making students feel like they are “oppressed or oppressors” based on their skin color… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
States across the country are dropping barriers to voting, widening a stark geographic divide in ballot access (Washington Post)
More than half of U.S. states have lowered some barriers to voting since the 2020 election, making permanent practices that helped produce record voter turnout during the coronavirus pandemic — a striking countertrend to the passage of new restrictions in key Republican-controlled states this year. The newly enacted laws in states from Vermont to California expand access to the voting process on a number of fronts, such as offering more early and mail voting options, protecting mail ballots from being improperly rejected and making it easier to register to vote. Some states restored voting rights to people with past felony convictions or expanded options for voters with disabilities, both long-standing priorities among advocates. And in Virginia, a new law requires localities to receive preapproval or feedback on voting changes as a shield against racial discrimination, a first for states after the Supreme Court struck down a key part of the federal Voting Rights Act in 2013.
The push to make voting easier around the country comes even as Republicans have embraced voting restrictions in GOP-controlled states such as Georgia, Florida and Iowa. Some states have passed laws that make some elements of voting easier and others harder, leading to mixed effects. But the overall result is a deepening divide in ballot access depending on where voters live — one shaped by how lawmakers have reacted to both the pandemic and former president Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was tainted by massive fraud. “There’s a fault line that’s developing between states working to strengthen our democracy and states actively restricting it,” said Liz Avore, vice president for law and policy with the nonpartisan Voting Rights Lab, which tracks developments in state election law and analyzed this year’s legislative action in a report last week. “It is stark when you look at the map … That division is really remarkable.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Black candidates rack up city wins (The Hill)
Voters are turning to outsider candidates to run their cities in a political earthquake that has ousted incumbents and shattered expectations across the country.
Municipal elections are always rife with local intrigues and upheavals. But this year, many of the outsider candidates who are winning, often over the opposition of the entrenched political class, share a specific trait in common: They are Black.
By the end of this year, there are likely to be more Black mayors among the nation’s 50 largest cities, 12, than there are Republicans, 11. Three of the nation’s four largest cities — New York, Chicago and Houston — will be run by Black elected officials.
Voters in New York City on Tuesday gave more than half of their first-choice votes, in the city’s first experiment with ranked choice voting, to Black candidates.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams (D) won almost 32 percent of the first-round vote in the Democratic mayoral primary, making him the odds-on favorite to win once the remaining rounds of preferences are counted. The only candidate with even an outside chance at overcoming him is Maya Wiley, a former top city official who claimed 22 percent of the initial vote.
If either Adams or Wiley go on to win in November, as expected in the heavily Democratic five boroughs, he or she would be the second Black mayor of the nation’s largest city.
But they would not be alone among a class of first-term American mayors that is far more diverse than previous city executives… (LINK TO TO STORY)
Supreme Court Rules for high-school cheerleader Brandi Levy in free-speech case over Snapchat post (Wall Street Journal)
The Supreme Court extended its protection of student speech to social media on Wednesday, by an 8-1 ruling that a Pennsylvania school district overstepped its authority by punishing a high-school cheerleader who used a vulgar word on Snapchat when she didn’t make the varsity cheerleading team.
The court said there are some occasions when schools can reach beyond campus to regulate student speech, mentioning bullying and cheating as subject to discipline whether they occur in the classroom or in cyberspace.
But the court has long held that even on campus, students retain First Amendment rights to speak on controversial matters so long as they don’t cause a substantial disruption. Beyond school grounds, administrators’ power to punish students diminishes further still, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the court.
In this instance, “the school’s interest in teaching good manners is not sufficient, in this case, to overcome [the student’s] interest in free expression,” Justice Breyer wrote, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
The case stems from a May 2017 Snapchat post that Brandi Levy, then a high-school sophomore in Mahanoy City, Pa., sent to some 250 followers after failing to make the varsity cheerleading squad.
“F— school f— softball f— cheer f— everything,” the 14-year-old, frustrated at the prospect of another year on the junior-varsity team, wrote on her cellphone, posting a photo of herself and a friend extending middle fingers. The Snap automatically disappeared in 24 hours, but a screenshot of the message made its way to a cheerleading coach. Despite Ms. Levy’s apologies, the school then suspended her from the junior-varsity team for the school year, saying she had violated various rules including prohibitions of foul language, unsportsmanlike conduct and disrespect of the school… (LINK TO STORY)