BG Reads | News You Need to Know (July 6, 2021)
Photo by Austin Public Library of Austin available through a Creative Commons license
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
Public Safety Commission - Regular Meeting Agenda (Today @3PM)
Winter Storm Review Task Force - Regular Meeting Agenda (Friday, 7/9 @9AM)
Presentation of the City Manager's proposed budget (Friday, 7/9 @9AM)
The Austin Council next meets for regular business on July 22.
[BINGHAM GROUP]
What Will a Post-Pandemic Austin Look Like? (for Texas CEO Magazine)
Following a prolonged, pandemic-induced pause, Austin is on its way somewhere. Could the city be back in a significant way? That’s possible—and for most of us, it can’t happen fast enough. Arms have been jabbed with vaccines, most mask requirements have been lifted, flight traffic at Austin-Bergstrom International has picked up, and festivals are scheduled to reignite the city’s recent glory as a music lover’s destination—i.e., the “Live Music Capital of the World.”
However, taking an honest temperature of Austin means cogently visualizing both the positives and negatives laid bare during the worst of the pandemic. Yes, Austin is on its way back; but it’s how we politicians, leaders, and constituents collectively choose to steer its direction going forward that will make the difference… (LINK STORY)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Austin Police: 911 response times up for critical calls, ‘dire’ staffing blamed (KXAN)
Response times to the city’s most urgent 911 calls are “dramatically” slower, Austin Interim Police Chief Joseph Chacon said at a luncheon last week at the Headliner’s Club.
“Whether it’s a minute 20, a minute 30, if you’re in crisis, someone’s breaking into your house or you’re getting assaulted,” said Chacon, “a-minute-and-half can feel like an eternity, so that’s why we have to get those levels down.”
Victim advocate Cathy Collins knows the pain all too well. Her brother Stephen Barbour was murdered in Austin in 1990.
“He was just a really very incredible loving person,” said Collins. “With grief, you never get over it, but you learn to live with it.”
Chacon said the rising homicide rate is at a level that “we’ve never really seen here before.” At the same time, responses to violent crimes are up. When it comes to the most critical calls called “P0” — shootings, stabbings, rape and domestic violence in progress — the current response time average is nine minutes and two seconds, Chacon said. That is a minute-and-a-half slower than the department’s three-year average of seven minutes and 30 seconds… (LINK TO STORY)
City will start in-person services in July at new Permitting and Development Center (Austin Business Journal)
Builders and developers will soon be able to visit the city's new Permitting and Development Center for in-person services.
Austin's Development Services Director Denise Lucas said in a June 29 memo to Austin City Council that the center will be open to customers beginning July 6. Construction of the new building — which now houses multiple departments that are part of the development process — was completed last summer, though the pandemic has delayed its use.
The Permitting and Development Center, or PDC, is at 6310 Wilhelmina Delco Dr. at the former Highland Mall campus in North Austin. The city of Austin purchased the building for $121 million upon completion, according to an announcement made last year… (LINK TO STORY)
Living Streets petition urges city to allow resident-led streetscape changes (Austin Monitor)
In the early months of the pandemic, neighbors living along the city’s Healthy Streets – a program that blocked through traffic and slowed cars on selected streets – had an idea: Why not use paint, barrels, picnic tables, and other materials to invite people to gather and play in the street? What followed was “amazing,” Adam Greenfield, president of the advocacy group Walk Austin, told the Austin Monitor.
Along Willow Street in East Cesar Chavez, neighbors used their own supplies to create a “beautiful gathering place where kids were making lemonade on the picnic table, and neighbors were co-working, and new neighbors were walking by and sitting down and just hanging out,” Greenfield said. “It completely changed the dynamic of the street.”
A similar scene arose along Avenue G in Hyde Park, complete with a snow-cone truck. But then, the city came in. Even though the right of way was passable, the city told residents that the installations must be removed. “In both Avenue G and Willow Street, within 24 hours (the city) cleared that stuff out and it was treated as an emergency,” Greenfield said.
Now, Greenfield, along with other advocates and community members, want to make these community-led changes to the streetscape legal with an initiative called Austin Living Streets. “The overall theme of it would be empowering neighbors, residents to shape their own streets using their own materials and city materials where appropriate,” Greenfield said. The initiative is a local example of a global movement to reorganize urban space that has arisen during the pandemic.
The group launched a petition last month urging City Council to adopt several new types of permits:
A place-making and traffic calming permit, allowing residents to use their own materials to alter the streetscape for a given period of time
A permit for neighborhood-created play streets to block through traffic and slow cars during designated hours so children can safely play in the street
A permit to borrow city-owned barricades and signage to be deployed as part of an updated Healthy Streets program
A daylong block-party permit (current permits are for four hours)
The benefits of such a program, according to Greenfield, include community building, safer streets for all users – children especially – and improved physical and mental health.
According to Greenfield, most of the activities Living Streets proposes are not currently allowed. While the city does have a Neighborhood Block Party Program, according to Greenfield’s analysis, the program’s regulations are excessive compared to those of similar programs elsewhere. “It’s so restrictive that a lot of people just can’t have block parties at all,” he said.
Laura Dierenfield, who works on Healthy Streets at the Austin Transportation Department, responded to the petition in a statement to the Monitor. “Many North American cities, including right here in Austin, have several of the program elements suggested here,” she said, pointing to the block party program and a new phase of Healthy Streets that builds on lessons from the first version.
Dierenfield said ATD looks forward to hearing more about the petition and encouraged residents to share how the Transportation Department can “serve everyone’s needs in the public right of way” through ATX Walk Bike Roll, an initiative to update the city’s Sidewalk, Bikeway and Urban Trails Plan.
The petition also asks Council to carve out money during the August budget process for the program, which should be relatively inexpensive. “We’re not really asking the city to do very much here, we’re basically asking the city to get out of the way and let the community embrace their streets and shape their streets,’” Greenfield said… (LINK TO STORY)
Pflugerville approves three-year plan to create convention and visitors bureau (Austin American-Statesman)
With funding from the city, the Pflugerville Chamber of Commerce will begin a three-year plan to create a convention and visitors bureau.
The City Council on June 22 approved a three-year plan with the chamber that will allocate $58,000 from the city's hotel occupancy tax fund beginning Jan. 1, 2022.
"It's going to recruit tourism and dollars," said Shontel Mays, president and CEO of the Pflugerville Chamber of Commerce. "The chamber has always recognized that tourism is an important economic element to the area and through this partnership with the city, we can further enhance the tourism initiative as Pflugerville continues to grow and welcome travelers."
City officials said the tourism budget for the project would be presented annually to the City Council for approval, along with a report on progress.
Since 2015, the city has received $1.1 million in hotel occupancy tax revenue.
Mays said that the first year of the program will include forming a visitors center.
"Our plan is to lay a foundation that we would build on to gain some visibility and then grow our tourism base that really sets us up for those following years," Mays said. "We'd include an outdoor kiosk where visitors can get maps, guides, information and brochures any time of the day and incorporate the historical marker that we have in our outdoor space to create a more inviting area for all of our visitors."… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
State Sen. Jane Nelson announces she won't seek reelection (Texas Tribune)
Veteran state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, announced Monday she is not running for reelection.
Nelson has been the top budget writer in the Senate and is the most senior Republican in the chamber.
“It has been a great honor to represent our community in the Texas Senate,” Nelson said in a statement. “I promised to listen, work hard, and deliver results and have strived to fulfill that pledge. Our accomplishments have improved the lives of Texans, which makes me proud.”Nelson has served in the Senate since 1993. She has chaired the budget-writing Senate Finance Committee for the past four sessions.
When Nelson was first appointed to lead the committee in 2014, she became the first woman tapped to lead a standing budget-writing panel in the Legislature’s history… (LINK TO STORY)
Half of Texas’ eligible population fully vaccinated as 419 new COVID-19 cases, 11 deaths reported (Dallas Morning News)
As Texas reached the milestone of fully vaccinating 50% of its eligible population, the state reported 419 more COVID-19 cases Sunday, including 261 new cases and 158 older ones that were recently reported by labs. The state also reported 11 COVID-19 deaths. That count represents the progress against the virus this year. In late January, the state reported a one-day high of 471 COVID-19 deaths. Officials said then that the total fatalities stood at 35,639. Today, the official toll has risen to 51,349. About 25,600 more people were reported fully vaccinated since Saturday’s tally, pushing Texas to the 50% mark, according to data kept by The Dallas Morning News.
The state’s achievement was met just as the White House encouraged gatherings and fireworks across the country to mark the nation’s “independence” from the virus. And there is much to cheer: Cases and deaths from COVID-19 are at or near record lows since the outbreak began, thanks to the robust U.S. vaccination effort. Businesses and restaurants are open, hiring is picking up, and travel is getting closer to pre-pandemic levels. According to the state, 13,963,922 people in Texas have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, while 12,028,594 are fully vaccinated. Still, it’s hardly a “Mission accomplished” moment. More than 200 Americans still die each day from COVID-19, a more infectious variant of the virus is spreading rapidly at home and abroad, and tens of millions of Americans have chosen not to get the lifesaving vaccines. President Joe Biden has come up short of the vaccination goal he had set for the Fourth with great fanfare. He’d hoped to have 70% of the adult population vaccinated by Sunday but clocked in at about 67%, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention… (LINK TO STORY)
Allen West announces he is running against Gov. Greg Abbott in Republican primary (KUT)
Texas GOP Chairman Allen West announced Sunday he is running for governor, challenging fellow Republican Greg Abbott.
The announcement was made during at appearance by West at Sojourn Church in Carrollton, where the former Florida congressman played a video launching his campaign.
“I’ve not been in elected political office for about a decade, but I can no longer sit on the sidelines and see what has happened in these United States of America and ... the place that I call home," West said in the video, which was preceded by West reading aloud the Declaration of Independence to the churchgoers gathering on July Fourth.
West's campaign launch comes about a month after he announced his resignation as state party chairman. The resignation is effective July 11, when the State Republican Executive Committee is set to meet to pick West's successor as chair.
West quickly hinted that he was considering a run for statewide office after he announced his resignation, though speculation had run rampant for months that he was eying a bigger job. As state party chairman, he did not shy away from conflict with state leaders, most notably Abbott.
Since his election as Texas GOP chair in July of last year when he soundly beat then-incumbent James Dickey, West has criticized Abbott's coronavirus response and sought to push the governor's legislative agenda further to the right.
Abbott has mostly ignored West's attacks. But the governor has increasingly catered to his right flank in recent months as he has appeared to try to tamp down potential vulnerabilities ahead of his reelection campaign… (LINK TO STORY)
Exxon CEO reiterates climate policy after secret recording of lobbyist (Houston Chronicle)
Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods on Friday reiterated the company’s stance on climate policy and carbon pricing after one of the Texas oil giant’s lobbyists was caught on camera undermining its stated positions.
Woods called the secret Greenpeace recording of the lobbyist “disappointing for everyone at Exxon Mobil and for me personally.” In the video released earlier this week, Senior Director of Federal Relations Keith McCoy was recorded describing how the company sought to weaken Biden’s climate policies and undermining its longtime support for a tax on carbon emissions.
“(The) comments are entirely inconsistent with our commitment to the environment, transparency and what our employees and management team have worked toward since I became CEO four years ago,” Woods said.
Environmental groups have long criticized Exxon for not doing enough to fight climate change, though the company knew for decades about the threat of global warming. Facing activist investors and government regulations, Exxon in recent months has pledged $3 billion toward carbon capture projects, floated plans for a $100 billion carbon capture project in Houston and set emission reduction targets.
CLIMATE: Big Oil confronted with 'day of reckoning' on climate change after Exxon board shake-up
The company also promised to add two directors to its board, one with energy experience and one with climate experience. The concession did little to satisfy shareholders, who elected three activist investor candidates to Exxon’s 12-member board… (LINK TO STORY)
Dallas-Fort Worth apartment rents rebound past ‘pandemic pricing’ levels (Dallas Business Journal)
Some apartment landlords called it “pandemic pricing.” Others called them “COVID concessions.”
No matter their nomenclature, the days of discounts for renters of apartments in Dallas and most cities in North Texas seem to be done, according to the July National Rent Report by Apartment List.
Starting in March 2020, rent prices in Dallas fell dramatically in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, renters have enjoyed “pandemic pricing” and double-digit rent drops in some places, according to Rob Warnock, research associate at Apartment List.
Today, nearly a year and a half later, prices in Dallas have fully rebounded and are back above pre-pandemic projections… (LINK TO STORY)
Taco Cabana could go national under new owner (San Antonio Business Journal)
One of Texas' most well-known chains could make a leap outside of the Lone Star State after it sells to a large California restaurant operator later this year.
Anil Yadav, CEO of Fremont, California-based Yadav Enterprises Inc., said he could see Taco Cabana expanding across the country after his company takes on ownership later this year. An affiliate of Yadav's company entered into a stock purchase agreement with current owner Fiesta Restaurant Group Inc. (Nasdaq: FRGI) to buy the brand for $85 million in cash, Fiesta announced Thursday.
"It's a great brand, and has so many different elements of success and opportunity to take it to the next level," Yadav said. "It was intriguing for us to be part of this brand to not only grow, but it even has the potential to be a national brand."
Before that conversation can happen, the company has work to do to maintain the business and keep it going without any disruption, Yadav said. Much of the company's strategy with Taco Cabana is yet to be determined… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Five big questions about the Jan. 6 select committee (The Hill)
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) last week kicked off Congress's special investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, naming eight members to a newly formed select committee and announcing that the first hearing will feature Capitol Police officers.
But the roster on the 13-member panel remains incomplete; its powers to compel testimony remain uncertain; and without a defined deadline, the timeline for the committee to complete its examination and recommend reforms remains up in the air.
Here are five questions that remain unanswered as the investigation commences… (LINK TO STORY)
Jeff Bezos built Amazon 27 years ago. He now steps down as CEO at critical time (NPR)
Jeff Bezos stepped down as Amazon's CEO on Monday, exactly 27 years since he started the e-commerce giant in a garage in West Bellevue, Wash.
Bezos is handing day-to-day duties to his longtime deputy Andy Jassy but will continue to hold considerable sway as the company's executive chairman.
Under Bezos, Amazon transformed itself from an online bookseller startup into the world's largest online retailer. Bezos led the company safely through the dot-com bubble bursting in the early 2000s then launched a period of ruthless expansion, pushing its influence far beyond Internet commerce.
Amazon now commands sizable businesses in grocery stores, cloud computing, smart devices, filmmaking and even fashion brands.
Bezos, the richest man on the planet, told employees earlier this year that handing the reins to Jassy would allow him to focus on other projects, like philanthropic pursuits addressing climate change and his space exploration company Blue Origin (Bezos himself is planning to fly to the edge of space on a rocket built by the company in two weeks)…(LINK TO TO STORY)