BG Reads | News You Need to Know (January 13, 2022)
Downtown Austin
[BINGHAM GROUP]
We are proud to announce Bingham Group CEO A.J. has joined the Austin Habitat for Humanity Board! Unanimously approved last month, A.J. will serve a three year term.
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Project Connect team unveils report on anti-displacement strategy (Austin Monitor)
Project Connect is one step closer to realizing its $7.1 billion public transportation investment, after a report outlining plans for the $300 million set aside for anti-displacement programs was completed last Thursday. The report, developed by a team of impacted community members and city staffers, describes a racial equity anti-displacement tool designed to direct and evaluate funding for these initiatives.
While Project Connect is slated to bring significant expansion of public transportation options to the historically underserved Eastern Crescent, some have voiced concerns that the development may exacerbate Austin’s gentrification and affordability crises. In response, the anti-displacement report details the city’s approach to both short- and long-term mitigation strategies.
“The purpose of the racial equity anti-displacement tool is to drive racial equity and anti-displacement in Project Connect decisions,” the report reads. “It is designed to be used by a broad audience … to score anti-displacement fund proposals and to inform policy, planning and program decisions.”
The anti-displacement tool prioritizes programs like affordable housing initiatives, loans and grants for small businesses, and rent, mortgage and property tax relief that would impact historically displaced groups within a mile of new transportation infrastructure. The tool intends to assist a range of vulnerable populations including BIPOC communities, renters, those below 80 percent median income, immigrants, senior homeowners, families with children, and the disabled.
Alongside immediate relief for those at risk of displacement, the report outlines policy ideas for long-term investments in maintaining and revitalizing Eastern Crescent communities. The report calls for a designated pool of $27 million for a community-capacity building fund designed to rebuild and return networks of economic power to displaced populations. Workforce programs, public land purchases and the funding of organizations considered “cultural anchors” to the surrounding community are just a few of the report’s recommendations… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Fast food chain Bojangles plots Austin expansion (Austin Business Journal)
Bojangles Inc., the North Carolina-based fried chicken fast food chain, could make its way to the Austin market in the coming years.
Bojangles announced in early January plans to open about 50 locations across Texas, five of which would be in Austin, with others in Dallas Fort-Worth, Houston and San Antonio.
The company said it will target locations on the north side of the Austin metro, including suburbs such as Cedar Park, Leander, Round Rock, Pflugerville and Georgetown.
The announcement was light on details and the company did not provide a timeline on when its stores may debut. But Bojangles has developed a fervent fan base across states such as North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, and its pending arrival in the Austin area is sure to turn heads.
About seven months ago, the chain first announced it was expanding into Texas, with stores in Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth.
Bojangles has divulged some of its franchisees in other Texas markets but not Austin. They include Lash Foods LLC in the Houston area, SAT Restaurant Group LLC and Zenith USA Investments LLC in greater DFW, TXBO Group Inc. in Collin County north of Dallas and Copacetic Group LLC in San Antonio.
In Austin, Bojangles will have three investment partners and a multi-unit restaurant operator, according to Jose Costa, Bojangles chief growth officer.
Additionally, Bojangles has plans to expand into more than 100 restaurants in Texas over the next seven to 10 years. The chain has more than 760 locations across 14 states, according to its website.
The chain is crediting its rapid expansion to its strong profits, especially from morning sales. The company states 40% of its sales come before many competitors open for lunch. Some locations open as early as 4:30 a.m… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Tecovas raises $56M to add more retail locations, products (Austin Business Journal)
Austin-based bootmaker and Western wear company Tecovas Inc. has raised a $56 million series C round that is expected to propel explosive growth in the coming year.
The funding, announced Jan. 12, was led by previous investor Elephant, which was joined by Access Capital, Seamless Capital and Kemmons Wilson Companies.
Tecovas has now raised roughly $120 million in equity funding; the company declined to provide an updated valuation after the raise.
Founded in 2015, Tecovas launched as a direct-to-consumer e-commerce company. It opened its first store in Austin in 2019 at 1333 S. Congress Ave. It is best known for its boots, though it also sells bags, jeans and other apparel. The company topped $100 million in revenue in 2021, according to the announcement, and sold its millionth pair of boots during the year's fourth quarter.
"Our goal at Tecovas is to build the most welcoming brand in western," founder and CEO Paul Hedrick said in a statement. "This latest funding will allow us to scale our vision and welcome even more customers to the brand. We've seen rapid growth since Tecovas' launch in 2015, and we plan to use the proceeds from this round of funding to continue on that trajectory, investing significantly in hiring, expanding our retail footprint, buying more inventory, and launching many new products."
Tecovas has more than 400 employees and 90 at its Austin headquarters, Hedrick said in an email, up from about 80 in October. The company plans to reach 130 local employees by the end of 2022, the CEO said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin based rideshare app Fetii continues to disrupt, transporting over 21,000 groups in 2021 (Austin Startups)
2021 was a year marked by growth and accomplishment for Fetii, the new Austin-based rideshare app that transports groups using 15-passenger vans and shuttle buses.
Fetii works similar to Uber and Lyft in that it allows users to hail a vehicle on-demand using an app, the difference though comes in their vehicle supply and group-centric technology features. Using a network of 15-passenger vans and buses, Fetii lets groups ride together to get from point A to point B.
“Whether it be a night out with friends or a special corporate event, groups currently have two options,” says CEO Matthew Iommi, “they either have to take multiple vehicles or reserve a charter vehicle days in advance. Fetii changes that.”
The group rideshare app operates currently in Austin and College Station and has become the next big thing, especially within the Gen Z population.
Iommi says that right now 80% of their users are Gen Z, primarily the University of Texas and Texas A&M students, who find themselves going out in groups multiple times a week. The other 20% consists of older groups and corporations who hold events for their employees.
Despite COVID-19 headwinds, Fetii proved its utility in 2021. The rideshare app officially launched in Austin in September 2021 and immediately saw the same success it had seen in College Station a year prior.
In 2021 the group rideshare company offset more than 200,000 metric tons of carbon emissions, conducted 21,556 trips, and safely transported 167,954 passengers, resulting in triple-digit year-over-year revenue growth. In 2022, Fetii aims to expand into new Texas markets as it looks to fulfill its mission of “changing how the world moves”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Texas journalism veteran Evan Smith to step down as Texas Tribune CEO (Austin American-Statesman)
Texas journalism veteran Evan Smith said Wednesday that he will step down as CEO of the Texas Tribune, the nonprofit news organization that he has run for 13 years.
Smith, 55, said he will depart the Tribune by the end of 2022 and will remain as a senior adviser to his replacement through the end of 2023.
He said he has no definite plans regarding what he will do after his exit: "It will be good to have the time and bandwidth to think hard about what’s next. What I know for sure is that there will be a next."
"Like so many during the crazy two years of the pandemic, I feel my battery slowly draining — in my favorite film analogy, the boulder is catching up to Indiana Jones — so I’ve encouraged our board to begin the process of identifying my successor," Smith said in a post on the Texas Tribune site. "After months of discussion, they’re ready to rev up a national search with the help of a respected recruiting firm they’ve selected."
A native of New York, Smith began his career at Texas Monthly in 1991. He went on to become the magazine's top editor in 2000, and during his tenure the publication won two National Magazine Awards in the general excellence category.
Smith left Texas Monthly in 2009 to found the Tribune with Austin venture capitalist John Thornton and journalist and media entrepreneur Ross Ramsey.
The goal was to create a nonpartisan news outlet focused on covering policy, politics and social issues. The Tribune operates a free website and shares articles at no charge to other news outlets… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Cold weather reignites debate about stability of Texas' gas-powered grid (Houston Chronicle)
A week since temperatures dipped below freezing in Houston — and almost a year after the deadly February 2021 blackout — a spat has erupted again over the ability of the state’s natural gas operations to withstand severe cold and keep the power grid running. On one side are environmentalists and other watchdogs who claim that initial data released in the wake of the cold that spread over Texas in the first days of 2022 showed flaws in the state’s natural gas framework. Bloomberg, for example, first reported that 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas had been flared as operators dealt with the cold. That number was later revised to 1 million cubic feet. S&P Global released a report Jan. 3 indicating that natural gas production in the Permian Basin dropped by 20 percent as temperatures there dipped into the teens the day before.
But as more data became known, natural gas proponents said the numbers painted a different picture. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated that average natural gas production in the Permian that week fell by 800 million cubic feet per day, a 5 percent decline from the previous week. But the Texas Oil and Gas Association said that analytics company RBN Energy found there may have been a 22 percent decrease at the worst of the recent cold. With the disparate data, natural gas industry proponents claim that environmentalists have overblown the risk of another freeze knocking out much of the natural gas supply, while watchdog groups say the industry has done too little to prepare for another winter storm. “The truth is somewhere in the middle of that, as normally you would expect,” said Charles McConnell, executive director of the University of Houston’s Center for Carbon Management and Sustainability and a former U.S. assistant energy secretary… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Dallas approves more than $3 million in incentives to attract Ford self-driving vehicle facility (Dallas Morning News)
On Wednesday, Dallas City Council approved a proposed package of tax incentives and grants totaling more than $3 million for a potential new $160 million Ford Motor Company and Argo AI self driving vehicle facility. The facility would create at least 250 jobs and be located on the western perimeter of Dallas Love Field Airport. Dallas and two cities in California are the finalists for the partnership’s next facility, according to city documents. If Ford Motor Company selects the Dallas site, the company would be eligible to receive more than $3 million in tax breaks over five years, according to city documents. The company would also receive $200,000 in grant money if the jobs it creates meet certain salary thresholds, and another $50,000 for construction costs. In order to receive the tax abatements, the company would have to invest $160 million in property improvements and equipment at the Love Field site by the end of 2027.
Council member Tennell Atkins expressed approval of the incentive package and Ford’s project, but stressed that the city would need to market itself aggressively to win economic investments like these. “We all voted today, they’re probably voting in another city on the same agenda and we’ve got to send a message to [Ford] that we are ready for them to come to Dallas,” Atkins said. Ford has thus far been mum on the details of the work that would be performed at the new facility, telling The Dallas Morning News this week that it is focused on building a profitable autonomous vehicle business. “Scaling this technology is key, driving us to explore a variety of cities in the U.S. to expand our self-driving services. We will share more information about our self-driving business in the future,” a spokeswoman for Ford said previously. Ford, which invested in Argo AI in 2017, has already launched tests of delivery and ride hailing services in Austin and two other cities. The self-driving tech startup was founded by former leaders at Google and Uber. The incentive agreement approved by Dallas city council this week also contained language compelling Ford and its self-driving vehicle partner to develop workforce training initiatives for students at Dallas and Richardson ISD as well as Dallas College… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Hawley introduces bill banning lawmakers from making stock trades in office (The Hill)
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced on Wednesday that he will introduce a bill banning congressional lawmakers and their spouses from maintaining stock holdings or making new transactions while in office.
Hawley’s announcement came the same day a pair of Democratic senators introduced a similar piece of legislation that would ban members of Congress and their families from making stock transactions while serving in office.
Like Hawley’s bill, the Democrats’ legislation — introduced by Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) — requires that members and their families, including spouses and dependent children, divest certain holdings or transfer them to a qualified blind trust.
The Democrats, however, require that the holdings be moved within 120 days of a new member entering office, and their penalty for violation of the law would be a fine in the amount of their entire Congressional salary… (LINK TO FULL STORY)