BG Reads | News You Need to Know (June 8, 2021)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Council to commit to ‘transformational’ homelessness spending – if others do too (Austin Monitor)
City Council’s plan to spend a majority of the city’s share of American Rescue Plan Act money on homelessness is gaining traction, with a vote scheduled for Thursday to approve a spending framework for the $143.6 million in federal stimulus money.
City staffers propose spending $84 million – that’s 58 percent – of the ARPA money on various homelessness services, though Council could modify that amount between now and Thursday.
But there is one big caveat in regard to homelessness spending: county government and philanthropists must buy in too.
It would take $515 million in the next two years to solve the problem, according to staffers, who based their estimate on a recent homelessness summit with local stakeholders. Even with the ARPA funds, the city alone could not provide anywhere near that amount, making the proposed “transformational” joint spending effort close to an all-or-nothing bet on solving homelessness.
If everyone buys in, Council believes that the city can effectively end homelessness by providing 3,000 homes in three years. If others don’t buy in, Council may decide to stick with the current homelessness budget and spend less of the ARPA funds on homelessness.
At Monday’s special called meeting, Mayor Steve Adler outlined the stakes: “If you look at other cities that have not addressed this in that great way, the challenge continues to grow … I don’t know what you do if you’re Los Angeles or Portland or San Francisco or Seattle, because the scale of their challenge is so much bigger than what we’re dealing with.”
Adler said because Austin’s problem is not yet so extreme, there’s still a chance to solve it. “If we don’t act,” Adler said, “I think the penalty that the city will pay for this six, eight years from now will be enormous.”
If the city’s spending framework is approved, the next step will be to court Travis County and philanthropists. So far, none have revealed plans to commit lots of money to homelessness, perhaps waiting for the city to make the first move.
Council Member Alison Alter said the lack of buy-in so far is partly “because we don’t have the details out there. We haven’t figured out how to communicate.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Several Austin City Council members concerned about spending on homelessness services (KXAN)
The Austin City Council could vote as soon as Thursday to direct millions of dollars in federal pandemic relief funds to homelessness services. But several council members expressed concerns about the path forward and the city’s current spending on programs.
City of Austin staff has recommended that the city council direct 58% of funds the city will receive from the American Rescue Plan – nearly $84 million – to homelessness services over the next two years.
“I’m pretty sure my neighbors next door, who have direct access to me, don’t know what this means or what this contains,” Council Member Leslie Pool said during a special called meeting on Monday.
The funds would be used to fill part of the $293 million funding gap for a plan to house 3,000 people experiencing homelessness in the next three years.
Council Members Pool, Natasha Harper-Madison, Kathie Tovo, Mackenzie Kelly, and Alison Alter, each said they need more details about how the federal funds will be used before moving forward.
“I need to be able to communicate to my constituents exactly what we’re investing in, what we’re getting, and how it’s different from what we’ve done thus far,” Alter said. “I’m not convinced by the model that I’m better off spending that money in the homeless system versus what I would call prevention.”
Kelly has called for an audit of city spending on homelessness services for the previous five years – a position shared by Save Austin Now, the group that successfully pushed Proposition B to reinstate the public camping ban.
But Kelly – often on an island within the council for her conservative positions – wasn’t alone in wanting evidence of which homelessness programs are working.
“I’ve spoken with community members and stakeholders and they, like I do, remain skeptical on the spending without a better understanding of how effective previous spending has been,” Kelly said.
Mayor Steve Adler described the federal funds as “transformational,” urging council members to act swiftly to approve some of the city’s allotment for homelessness programs. Council Member Ann Kitchen shared Adler’s position, warning that some council members appeared to be “bogged down” in the details.
“I think that on Thursday we have an opportunity to send a high-level message,” Adler said. “Our constituents are asking, why haven’t you acted?”… (LINK TO STORY)
Nearly 40 apply for Austin Police Chief job (KXAN)
The process for selecting Austin’s new police chief is ramping up.
Assistant City Manager Rey Arellano told the Public Safety Commission the application process was closing on Monday. So far, they have received 36 applications, but were still expecting a few more to come in before the process was officially closed.
He explained these applicants would be screened by the consulting group, overseeing the hiring process.
In early July, he expects six to 10 of these candidates to be presented to himself and the city’s Human Resources department. They will bring the top candidates to Austin for final interviews and to interact with the community in late July or early August.
Arellano wasn’t able to tell commissioners whether any of the applicants were internal or already employed by the city… (LINK TO STORY)
Will GOP mapmakers give Austin a Democratic U.S. House district? Some experts say that's a likely scenario. (Austin American-Statesman)
With Texas political mapmakers now certain that the state will get two more U.S. House seats, the focus shifts to where those districts will go and how others will be redrawn to create 38 districts of equal population. One scenario would create a district centered in Austin. Travis County, a Democratic stronghold, is currently sliced into five districts — four drawn to elect a Republican and one drawn to elect a Democrat — all of them running to other regions of the state. But with the county's rapid growth over the past decade, the task of dividing those voters into a pinwheel of districts that extend into rural, reliably Republican areas, and keeping four of them safely Republican, gets harder.
One solution for GOP mapmakers, who will control the process at the Capitol this fall after more detailed census data are released: one heavily Democratic district anchored in Austin. “Republicans want to claim both of the new districts the census awarded Texas,” Dave Wasserman, the U.S. House expert at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, told the American-Statesman. “The best way is to draw a new Democratic district in Austin.” Concentrating Democratic voters in a compact district in Travis County would accomplish several goals for Republicans: Shore up neighboring GOP districts; Redraw the one Travis County district represented by a Democrat — Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Austin — with more Republican voters to make it harder for him to win reelection; Create a new GOP district in another part of the state. Net result: two more Republican members of Congress. “Bottom line is drawing a fence around Austin helps a lot of Republicans’ problems in the state,” Wasserman said. It also helps Republicans in Washington… (LINK TO STORY)
546-acre Bastrop 552 project could create moviemaking mecca east of Austin (Austin Business Journal)
Line 204 Studios, a Southern California-based company that rents out equipment, sound stages and props in Hollywood, has gotten the initial go-ahead to turn 546 acres in Bastrop into an entertainment hub that would include a film studio.
The Bastrop Planning and Zoning Commission on June 3 recommended approval of a development plan for Bastrop 552, which would be located west of Lovers Lane and wrapped by the Colorado River. The plan still needs City Council approval.
The site would house a private, multi-faceted film studio, including production facilities, sound stages, backlots, storage and other ancillary spaces, according to a city staff report. The development would also include lodging, restaurants, event spaces and recreational facilities to support the studio.
The private facility would create more than 1,400 jobs over several years as well as 700 construction jobs, and generate a $2 billion economic impact over 10 years, according to a company presentation during the meeting… (LINK TO STORY)
After fireworks, Springdale PUD moves a step forward (Austin Monitor)
On Thursday City Council approved on second reading Planned Unit Development (PUD) zoning for the properties at 1011 and 1017 Springdale Road, home of the infamous East Austin tank farm. But the 10-0 vote came only after Council Member Vanessa Fuentes argued in favor of postponement, angering Council Member Pio Renteria, who called her a “gentrifier.” Council Member Mackenzie Kelly did not attend the meeting. The item is set to return to Council for third reading this Thursday.
Representatives of some neighborhood groups – though not necessarily the ones closest to the property – urged Council not to approve the 93-foot height maximum and to postpone consideration of the case until July 29. Several speakers attacked the project for its alleged gentrification impacts, while others urged Council to move forward with the zoning and its promise to help them deal with existing flooding problems.
The project is in Renteria’s district and he is well aware of who supported him and who opposed him in his two elections to the District 3 office, as well as their actions to hinder various zoning requests. He pointed out one person in particular opposing the project who does not live in the Springdale neighborhood.
Most of the conversation among Council members was about how to designate use of the dollars the developer would be donating for affordable housing. Attorney Michael Whellan, representing the developer, Jay Paul Company, said his client is offering more than $8 million in benefits that include affordable housing dollars and money for parks and flood control.
In making a motion to postpone, Fuentes said, “This conversation that we are having right now about amending …. We owe it to the community knowing that this is a rapidly gentrifying area, the impacts of displacement. We owe them some more time. So I would like to offer an amendment that we would consider this” on second reading.
Renteria, who apologized to his colleagues a few minutes later, said, “You know my colleague here is a gentrifier. She wasn’t born here,” at which point Fuentes interrupted him, saying, “That’s very disrespectful ….” A few words after that were unintelligible, until Renteria said, “You can make whatever motion you want to make,” to which she responded, “I just did.”
Fuentes also argued that giving neighbors more time to sign a restrictive covenant would be beneficial, but Renteria said he was confident they would not sign it no matter how much time they had. He warned his colleagues that a postponement could mean a loss of millions of dollars for the city if the developer decided to walk away from the zoning request.
Whellan told Council, “This case has been before the city for over a year. We met with two of the contact teams prior to filing or immediately after we filed in May 2020 and we presented to Council the development assessment in August 2020. We then filed the zoning case in September 2020. And since then, we have met extensively with the neighbors, the neighborhood groups, the contact teams and city staff as well as appearing before the Environmental Commission, where we received unanimous support. And in front of the Planning Commission, where we also received support this past March.”
After Council approved the new zoning on first reading on April 22, Whellan said, “We had subsequent meetings with the contact teams, where we were presented more ideas for community benefits, which we responded to by taking the suggestions and increasing our package … by $925,000 … since April 22.”
If Council ultimately decides to reject the PUD zoning, Whellan said his client is ready to move forward with a project that would include two extra acres of impervious cover and would not deal with stormwater from an adjacent development that is flooding residents along Saucedo Street. The city would also lose the numerous community benefits that would go along with the extra height and the PUD zoning. Whellan said his client already has a site development permit and has started preliminary work on the site… (LINK TO STORY)
Palm planning process kicks off, with school preservation a key goal (Austin Monitor)
After years of talk, a long-held dream of creating a district that celebrates the cultural history of a historically Hispanic neighborhood in the eastern segment of downtown Austin is finally ramping up with the Palm District Planning Initiative.
The planning area includes Waller Creek, the Red River Cultural District, Palm School, Rainey Street, the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, and the Austin Convention Center. The planning district’s boundaries include 15th Street and Lady Bird Lake to the north and south, and I-35 and Trinity Street to the east and west, respectively.
The primary goal of the initiative is to hear from as many members of the community as possible, particularly those in the Mexican American community and people with direct ties to Palm School and Rainey Street, where homes have since been replaced by bars and residential towers… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Business coalition asks Abbott to add preemption of local employment regulations to an upcoming special session (Quorum Report)
Disappointed in the failure of such legislation in the regular session of the Texas Legislature, a coalition of business groups is asking Gov. Greg Abbott to add what they call “consistency” in employment regulations to the agenda when lawmakers return to Austin later in the year."We respectfully ask that you add this critical issue — providing the regulatory consistency that will help our economy flourish — to the call of the upcoming special legislative session,” said the coalition known as ASSET Texas.
The coalition specifically wants lawmakers to revisit the kind of preemption measures included in Senate Bill 14, which would block local governments from doing things like mandating paid sick leave for employees.
The full letter from ASSET is here.
Gov. Greg Abbott signs bill to punish businesses that require proof of COVID-19 vaccination (Texas Tribune)
Texas businesses that require customers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 will be denied state contracts and could lose their licenses or operating permits under legislation Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law Monday.
“Texas is open 100%, and we want to make sure you have the freedom to go where you want without limits,” Abbott said before signing the law, in a video he posted Monday on Twitter. “Vaccine passports are now prohibited in the Lone Star State.”
Senate Bill 968 by state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, is a sweeping piece of legislation passed in the final days of the legislative session that includes a clause banning businesses from requiring proof of the vaccine from their customers… (LINK TO STORY)
Texas House rallies behind Speaker Dade Phelan, even as Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick blames him for GOP legislative failures (Texas Tribune)
The unity and levity in the Texas House on the last day of the regular session directed toward Speaker Dade Phelan belied the political strife of the previous few days.
“We always go through ups and downs, that’s the nature of the Legislature,” said state Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, as the House prepared to adjourn the regular session. “But what we’re really here to tell you is: You did a great job. Thanks for being a friend to the Texas House of Representatives. Thanks for standing up for the Texas House. Thanks for bringing integrity to the Texas House.”
That praise was echoed throughout the day by House Republicans and Democrats in their own floor speeches. And it was a stark shift in tone from the escalating tensions that had hovered over the Legislature in recent days, culminating in a walkout by House Democrats that killed a controversial GOP elections bill, which the minority party said would restrict voting rights.
Since the regular session ended last week, though, Phelan has been fending off criticism about his leadership from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the speaker’s GOP counterpart in the Senate, who has blamed the speaker for failing to pass certain conservative priorities.
“We’re a conservative Republican state, and we don’t need a speaker who’s kowtowing to Democrats not to hurt their feelings or make them look bad when they go home,” Patrick told Dallas radio host Mark Davis on Wednesday. “That’s not our job. They lost the election, we won.”
Meanwhile, Phelan, a Beaumont Republican, has said he’s satisfied with his first legislative session as leader of the House, with the exception of the failure of the elections bill and priority bail legislation that was also killed with the Democrats’ walkout. In interviews over the past week, Phelan has touted a list of conservative wins, such as passing legislation to let Texans carry handguns without a license and approving some of the strictest restrictions on abortion in the country… (LINK TO STORY)
Carnival will require COVID vaccinations for all passengers cruising from Galveston (Houston Chronicle)
Carnival Cruise Line on Monday announced plans to begin cruising from the Port of Galveston on July 3 — the first full-fledged cruise to leave from the port since pandemic shutdowns halted cruises nearly 16 months ago. The cruise line will require travelers to show proof that they’re fully vaccinated. According to Carnival spokesperson Vance Gulliksen, the cruise line is evaluating whether a brand-new Texas law prohibiting “vaccine passports” would conflict with Carnival’s protocol. Carnival believes it can proceed, Gulliksen said, since it’s following U.S. CDC orders. “We’re still trying to figure out all these new laws,” said Rodger Rees, CEO of the Port of Galveston. The cruise industry is a significant driver of Galveston’s economy. In 2019, its economic impact was estimated $1.6 billion impact. The national situation, Rees noted, is fluid. Besides the Texas law, Florida has sued the CDC, seeking for it to lift its COVID restrictions on cruise ships.
Vaccine researcher Peter Hotez, of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, said that cruise ships, with their close quarters, put travelers at higher risk of contracting COVID-19. The Diamond Princess cruise in Japan, he noted, was associated with 14 deaths and roughly 700 cases. “The only way to make cruise ships safe again is through vaccination,” said Hotez. “This really requires everyone to be fully vaccinated.” The CDC still “recommends that all people avoid travel on cruise ships,” since the COVID-19 virus appears to spread rapidly in such close quarters. But, per CDC guidelines, cruise companies are beginning to operate “test” cruises with volunteer travelers. “The current CDC requirements for cruising with a guest base that is unvaccinated will make it very difficult to deliver the experience our guests expect, especially given the large number of families with younger children who sail with us,” Christine Duffy, president of Carnival, said in a press release. “As a result, our alternative is to operate our ships from the U.S. during the month of July with vaccinated guests.”… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Built-to-rent suburbs are poised to spread across the U.S. (The Wall Street Journal)
For some residents, the gated community in the Arizona desert is their first go at suburban living. The 222 houses have tile roofs, garages and white-fenced backyards where residents host barbecues and their dogs play. But these aren’t forever homes, or even starters: They are one- and two-bedroom rentals, with rents starting at $1,420 a month.
Subdivisions such as Christopher Todd Communities on Happy Valley, located 30 miles outside of Phoenix, were built for renters from the start. Owner and developer Todd Wood, a former organic food mogul, started his real-estate company almost five years ago to seize on what he saw as an increasing demand for rental housing. Mr. Wood has now developed more than 2,000 rental houses around greater Phoenix.
Investors have been buying up single-family houses to rent out for some time, typically in disparate bunches in communities where most people own their homes. Tenants may have absentee landlords. Built-to-rent developments, however, are entirely new subdivisions designed for renters. They are managed more like new apartment buildings, with designated staff for repairs and maintenance. In the past few years, the model has taken off around Phoenix and elsewhere—and is likely to become a dominant force in the rental housing market in the coming years, with implications for the communities that surround them, and the nature of home ownership.
Today, built-to-rent homes make up just over 6% of new homes built in the U.S. every year, according to Hunter Housing Economics, a real estate consulting firm, which projects the number of these homes built annually will double by 2024. The country’s largest home builders are planning for that future. Backed by banks and private investment firms, they have already bet billions on the sector, and will put down some $40 billion more during the next 18 months, Brad Hunter, founder of Hunter Housing Economics, projects. Built-to-rent subdivisions have been constructed or are under development in nearly 30 states. Taylor Morrison Home Corp. , Mr. Wood’s development partner and the nation’s fifth-largest builder, has said built-to-rent could soon become 50% of its total business. The company didn’t disclose the current share.
Homeownership is expected to decline over the next two decades—a trend that started with the generation after the baby boomers, according to the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank that advocates for homeownership. Prices are rising faster than ever, leaving more people, including those with higher incomes, more likely to rent… (LINK TO STORY)
US recovers most of ransom paid after Colonial Pipeline hack (Associated Press)
The Justice Department has recovered most of a multimillion-dollar ransom payment made to hackers after a cyberattack that caused the operator of the nation's largest fuel pipeline to halt its operations last month, officials said Monday. The operation to recover the cryptocurrency from the Russia-based hacker group is the first undertaken by a specialized ransomware task force created by the Biden administration Justice Department, and reflects a rare victory as U.S. officials scramble to confront a rapidly accelerating ransomware threat that has targeted critical industries around the world. “By going after the entire ecosystem that fuels ransomware and digital currency, we will continue to use all of our tools and all of our resources to increase the costs and the consequences of ransomware attacks and other cyber-enabled attacks,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said at a news conference announcing the operation.
Georgia-based Colonial Pipeline, which supplies roughly half the fuel consumed on the East Coast, temporarily shut down its operations on May 7 after a gang of cybercriminals using the DarkSide ransomware variant broke into its computer system. The ransomware variant used by DarkSide, which has been the subject of an FBI investigation for the last year, is one of more than 100 that law enforcement officials have identified, said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. Colonial officials have said they took their pipeline system offline before the attack could spread to its operating systems, and decided soon after to pay ransom of 75 bitcoin — then valued at roughly $4.4 million — in hopes of bringing itself back online as soon as it could. The company's chief executive is set to testify before congressional panels this week. Cryptocurrency is favored by cybercriminals because it enables direct online payments regardless of geographical location, but in this case, the FBI was able to identify a virtual currency wallet used by the hackers and recovered the proceeds from there, said the FBI’s Abbate. Though the FBI generally discourages the payment of ransom, fearing it could encourage additional hacks, Monaco said one takeaway for the private sector is that if companies come quickly to law enforcement after ransomware incidents, officials may be able to help them recover funds too… (LINK TO STORY)
Kamala Harris tells Guatemalans not to migrate to the United States (NPR)
Vice President Harris, in her first foreign trip since taking office, had a direct message for Guatemalans thinking of migrating to the United States: "Do not come."
Speaking at a news conference Monday after meeting with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, Harris said the Biden administration wants "to help Guatemalans find hope at home." She then added, "I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come."
She added, "The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border."
Record numbers of people, mostly from Central America, have come to the U.S. border with Mexico in recent months to try to seek asylum, fleeing violence and corruption. The humanitarian challenge has created a political problem for the Biden administration, and Republicans have been critical that Harris — assigned to tackle the root causes of the migration — has not visited the border… (LINK TO STORY)