BG Reads | News You Need to Know (February 4, 2022)
Republic Square, Downtown Austin
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Council eyes new protections for renters (Austin Monitor)
City Council passed two resolutions Thursday aimed at protecting renters from eviction and granting them more organizing rights.
“With the escalating housing costs that we see and with the daily emergencies that we know so many families face, it’s clear to me that we need permanent renter protections,” said Council Member Greg Casar, who sponsored the resolutions.
The first resolution, which passed unanimously, proposes giving tenants more time to pay late rent or correct lease violations before facing eviction. The change to city law would give renters a grace period lasting between seven and 30 days instead of the current three-day grace period under Texas state law.
“We’ve seen how just one missed paycheck, or just losing your job, or the medical emergency of a family member can put you behind,” Casar said at a press conference Wednesday that he co-hosted with Council members Vanessa Fuentes and Kathie Tovo, tenants’ rights group BASTA, and homelessness advocacy group ECHO.
Casar also noted how eviction can lead to homelessness.
The resolution tees up conversations among renters, landlords and public officials to decide exactly how long the grace period will be. After those talks, Council will vote on adopting the ordinance. Some small landlords who called in to the meeting Thursday expressed concern over the proposed change, fearing it would allow people to live rent-free for extended periods. The landlords said that because of eviction moratoriums during Covid, some tenants have not paid rent in many months. Most people who spoke at the meeting supported the proposed renter protections.
The other resolution, which also passed unanimously, aims to enshrine in city code additional rights for renters, particularly the right to organize so that neighbors have more power in disputes with landlords.
According to a report from the University of Texas, “Texas provides very few protections for organizing activities, making it much harder to successfully form and operate tenants’ associations.” For example, landlords can retaliate against tenants after six months of organizing activity by raising rents or refusing to renew leases.
The resolution calls for adopting some or all of a draft ordinance outlined in the UT report. The ordinance would include protections against landlord retaliation as well as the right to meet on the property and distribute literature. Council will consider the ordinance at its July 28 meeting… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Council committee assignments offer few surprises (Austin Monitor)
By the looks of the new City Council committee assignments approved Thursday, the mayor and most Council members will continue serving in their same appointments – with a few changes.
Incoming Council Member Chito Vela, who will be sworn in Monday, will serve on the Housing and Planning and Public Safety committees, succeeding outgoing Council Member Greg Casar on those committees.
Other changes have Council Member Vanessa Fuentes advancing to chair of the Austin Water Oversight Committee and joining the Audit and Finance Committee. Council Member Mackenzie Kelly moves up to vice chair of Public Safety. Mayor Steve Adler, who oversees the annual committee assignments with input from Council members, removed himself from at least a couple of committees (Audit and Finance and Public Safety), making way for others.
Here’s the complete list of Council committee assignments as well as appointments to intergovernmental entities such as the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board and the Regional Affordability Committee… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Greg Casar's legacy: A more progressive Austin City Council, but not without detractors (Austin American-Statesman)
Greg Casar's time on the Austin City Council is almost over, which is sure to elicit a range of feelings from those who like him and those who are pleased to see him go. Possibly the most liberal elected official to ever work in Austin, Casar, who served two full terms and part of a third, is often seen as the primary catalyst for the city's sprint to the political left in recent years. He engineered policy shifts on immigration, worker protections, policing and homelessness — issues that not only brought legal challenges against the city, but spurred pushback from Republicans in the Legislature and, near the end of his tenure, from some Austin voters. His final council meeting is Thursday. He'll be gone four days later with the swearing in of his replacement, Jose "Chito" Vela, whom Casar endorsed in January's special election in North-Central Austin's District 4.
Casar's departure comes as he pursues a seat in Congress, beginning with the March 1 Democratic primary for the 35th Congressional District. He has three opponents, including state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, whose campaign recently turned up the heat by distributing a mailer attacking Casar as responsible for Austin's tent encampments. Casar, a worker rights advocate before joining the council in 2015, fought to slow evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic by opening up funds for renters, tightened a loophole on wealthy homeowners along Lake Austin who were not paying city property taxes, pushed the city to address a backlog of DNA samples in rape investigations, and campaigned in favor of a voter-approved housing bond in 2018 after persuading a majority of the council to set the amount at $250 million, much higher than in earlier discussions. In a recent conversation with the American-Statesman, Casar, 25 when he entered office and 32 at his departure, reflected on his seven years in City Hall and his polarizing approach to governance. Casar, a son of Mexican immigrants, said he had a liberal bent to politics while attending high school at Strake Jesuit in Houston but "definitely became very progressive and politically active in college" at the University of Virginia… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Vista Equity exec donates to UT, backs program for Black men on campus (Austin Business Journal)
Vista Equity Partners Managing Director Martin Taylor has made the largest ever gift to support the University of Texas' Heman Sweatt Center for Black Males.
The organization, led by UT faculty, helps promote academic excellence among students. The $1.5 million gift commitment was announced Feb. 2. Of that, $750,000 will go to the Heman Sweatt Center to help the organization expand its programs that provide career paths for Black men on campus, including project-based learning overseas, networking events and scholarships. The funds also support a new scholarship for high-potential students from low- and middle-income households.
Some of the money will also go to UT athletics facilities construction projects, including the nearly finished Moody Center and the south end zone project at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
“To achieve their full potential, students and young people need to understand the myriad opportunities that exist," Taylor said in a statement. "By providing exposure to various industries and career paths for Black students, I hope to widen the aperture of what’s possible for those young men who participate in the program.”
Vista Equity is one of the most powerful private equity tech investment firms in the nation. Its executives are known for big philanthropic gestures: In 2020, Vista CEO Robert Smith gifted $50 million in personal funds to The Student Freedom Initiative, a nonprofit that supports STEM education. And in 2019, he committed to paying off the student loan debt of an entire graduating class at Morehouse College in Georgia… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
As culture wars envelop schools, North Texas sees a superintendent exodus (Texas Tribune)
A new state law limiting how race can be discussed in the classroom, community fights over whether to require coronavirus safety precautions and new scrutiny on books available on campus have turned school board meetings into rancorous arenas. Meanwhile, the pandemic has also sickened teachers and staff, often leaving fewer people to help students navigate what’s become a new normal.
“All of that creates pressure on the educators that are in the classroom, the leaders on campus and the leaders of the central office,” said Shannon Holmes, executive director of the Association of Texas Professional Educators. “That’s been going on for a solid two-and-a-half or three years at this point. And so it’s creating some issues where people are considering retirements and resignations.”
Since last summer, many Texas parents have been at odds with school administrators. Some see mask mandates as an infringement on personal freedoms. Some have been appalled at explicit content in books available on campus. And many see diversity and equity initiatives — and social studies lessons on slavery and systemic racism — as attempts to make white students feel guilt or discomfort… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Stormy weather adds turbulence to Texas politics as the 2022 gubernatorial race heats up (Dallas Morning News)
It would be understandable if Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is afraid of the dark. This week’s winter weather brings memories of last February’s storm, a mammoth event that caused the state’s faulty grid to fail and knock out power for millions of Texans. The Department of State Health Services estimate that 246 people died because of the storm and blackout. As Thursday’s wintry mix sent Texans into the warmth of their homes, most residents are anxiously pondering a critical question: Will Texas’ power grid will hold up? Perhaps no one is more vested in the answer than Gov. Greg Abbott, who has tried to assure Texans that the electric grid has been fortified and residents will come out of this winter event in good shape. How the grid holds up in the next couple of days and the rest of the winter will impact Abbott’s bid for a third term as governor.
“I’ve talked to Governor Abbott. ‘We are ready to go. There is not going to be a loss of power. You’re not going to be sitting in the dark,’” said conservative radio talk host Chris Salcedo on his show this week, who added the “left-wing is praying natural disaster.” “Well, all I can say is it damn well better not be,” Salcedo said. “One Texan dies of exposure because they lost power, and you might as well just say Gov. Robert Francis O’Rourke.” Democrat Lillian Salerno, a former appointee in the presidential administration of former President Barack Obama, said everyone wants the grid to be fixed. “The governor promised that the grid was fixed. Whether or not he’s done that I think everybody’s waiting to see,” Salerno said. “Democrats aren’t sitting around waiting and hoping that things go wrong so Beto O’Rourke would have a better chance, but certainly people are interested in whether or not the governor is true to his word.” Democrats up and down the 2022 ticket have made bolstering the state’s electric grid a campaign issue… (LINK TO FULL STORY)