BG Reads | News You Need to Know (January 14, 2022)
Downtown Austin
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Austin orders businesses to post Covid guidance signs; Abbott says no way (Austin Business Journal)
Austin-Travis County leaders announced Jan. 13 new orders aimed at businesses as case numbers and hospitalizations from Covid-19 continue to rise in Central Texas. The orders could draw legal action from the state.
The only enforceable requirement set forward by the orders, which are called the “protecting customers and employees and preserving adequate workforce capacity orders,” is that businesses will have to post Covid-19 signage.
The required signage for Stage 3, 4 and 5 can be found here. Additional signage is also required for stores that have Covid-19 precautions in place. The orders go into place on Jan. 17 at noon.
The Austin orders drew swift pushback from Gov. Greg Abbott's office. It says those orders are preempted by executive orders signed by the governor last year and do not need to be followed.
“Any business would be within its legal rights to ignore this municipal order,” said Nan Tolson, a spokesperson for Abbott… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
PARD details the search for a new home for a newish boathouse (Austin Monitor)
It’s not every day that 300 people show up for a local webinar, but when a future rail system threatens to collide with a popular rowing center and cafe, community members tend to take note.
The occasion in this case was a community engagement forum on Wednesday that was part of City Council’s direction to staffers to search for a new home for the boathouse operated by the Austin Rowing Club.
The forum included a presentation by Peter Mullan of the Austin Transit Partnership on the proposed route of the Blue Line – from Republic Square to the airport – followed by the Parks and Recreation Department’s analysis of six potential sites that could accommodate a 7,000-square-foot building along the lake.
The city built the existing boathouse at 74 Trinity St. to make way for the Waller Creek tunnel project. Now the boathouse again stands in the way of progress. As the Austin Monitor reported last month, a vacant youth hostel on city property at 222 S. Lakeshore Blvd. appears to be the most feasible of the six possible relocation sites. The hostel closed permanently in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The building’s location is east of Interstate 35, and as Parks and Recreation Department Assistant Director Liana Kallivoka pointed out, the east side site would help alleviate the congested watercraft areas west of I-35… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Cedar Park City Council eyes $125M May bond election for transportation, parks, public safety projects (Community Impact)
Cedar Park City Council may call a May 2022 bond election based on a $125.3 million citizen task force recommendation that includes transportation, public safety and park and recreation projects.
The recommended projects total $125.3 in 2021 dollars, but a final bond package would range from $158.8-162 million because voters will consider bond amounts in future dollars based on inflation and cost escalation over time.
The recommended 2022 bond program would not require a city property tax rate increase, according to the city.
The city’s Bond Advisory Task Force presented its bond package recommendation to Cedar Park City Council Jan. 13.
The 15-member task force met to prioritize, rank and group an initial $200 million capital project list for a final recommendation to present to City Council. Task Force Chair Stephen Thomas said the task force member unanimously agreed on the final recommendation.Council members may approve the first reading and public hearing of an ordinance to call an election at its Jan. 27 meeting, and the deadline to call a May 7 election is Feb. 18.
What was recommended?
The projects spanned three categories: transportation, parks and recreation and public safety.
The task force considered public facilities projects, but they were ultimately left out of the bond program and recommended for future funding.
Transportation projects totaled $69 million and included:
Whitestone Boulevard at 183A Toll innovative (High-Capacity) intersection ($12.9 million)
New Hope Drive at 183A Toll innovative (High-Capacity) intersection (design) ($2.2 million)
Major road resurfacing ($5 million)
Neighborhood road resurfacing ($9.9 million)
Turn lane improvements ($5.9 million)
Bike and pedestrian improvements ($6.3 million)
Anderson Mill Road phase 2 ($11.4 million)
Toro Grande North extension ($4.7 million)
New Hope Drive expansion from RM 1431 to Lakeline Boulevard ($1.3 million)
Lakeline Boulevard ice damage and safety improvements ($2.9 million)
Ronald Reagan Boulevard expansion (design) ($1.1 million)
Turn signal improvements ($5.9 million)… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Downtown Austin office tower on Congress Avenue sells for $174 million (Austin American-Statesman)
Another Austin office tower has been snapped up.
The property changing hands this time is 816 Congress, a 20-story downtown high-rise. The new owner is Regent Properties, which is buying it from Atlanta-based Cousins Properties. Cousins said the 435,000-square-foot building sold for a gross sales price of $174 million.
The tower on Congress Avenue was built in 1983 and is currently 78% leased, with lease expirations expected to take it to 60% leased in early 2023, Cousins said.
The property offers panoramic views of downtown Austin and the Texas Capitol. It also includes a fitness center, a conference center, two parking garages and a sky lounge with a roof terrace. Its location puts it within walking distance of numerous hotels, restaurants, retail stores and museums, as well as the state capitol building.
"We are pleased to begin the year by adding 816 Congress to our growing portfolio of top-tier office assets," said Eric Fleiss, CEO of Regent Properties, which is based in Dallas and Los Angeles. "Austin is a high-conviction market for us, driven by positive local economic trends, strong demographics and a business-friendly environment that continues to drive company expansions and relocations in the region."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Ken Paxton violated law and must release records related to Jan. 6 Trump rally, district attorney says (Texas Tribune)
The Travis County district attorney on Thursday found that Attorney General Ken Paxton violated the state's open records law by not turning over his communications from last January when he visited Washington, D.C., for a pro-Trump rally that preceded the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The district attorney's office gave Paxton four days to turn over the documents or face a lawsuit. The action was prompted by a Jan. 4, 2022, complaint by the top editors at five of the state's largest newspapers: the Austin American-Statesman, The Dallas Morning News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News. The journalists argued that Paxton was withholding communications from the days surrounding Paxton's trip to Washington last year that are subject to public release under the state's open records law.
The Texas Public Information Act grants the public the right to government records, even those kept on personal devices or on a public official's online accounts.
Jackie Wood, director of public integrity and complex crimes at the Travis County District Attorney's Office, agreed with the journalists and hand-delivered her ruling in a letter to Paxton's office on Thursday. The letter said Paxton's office had broken Texas open records laws by withholding or failing to keep communications that would be releasable under the law.
Paxton did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Thursday night by phone and email… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes arrested in Capitol attack (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
A North Texas man who is known as the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers was arrested Thursday in connection to the breach of the U.S. Capitol last January. A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging 11 people with seditious conspiracy and other charges connected to the Capitol attack seeking to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s election defeat of Donald Trump. Oath Keepers leaders Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, 56, of Granbury, was arrested Thursday morning in Little Elm, according to a Justice Department news release.
A 63-year-old Arizona man, Edward Vallejo, was arrested Thursday as well. The others named in the indictment are nine previously charged defendants and include one other North Texas man. They are Thomas Caldwell, 67, of Berryville, Virginia; Joseph Hackett, 51, of Sarasota, Florida; Kenneth Harrelson, 41, of Titusville, Florida; Joshua James, 34, of Arab, Alabama; Kelly Meggs, 52, of Dunnellon, Florida; Roberto Minuta, 37, of Prosper, Texas; David Moerschel, 44, of Punta Gorda, Florida; Brian Ulrich, 44, of Guyton, Georgia; and Jessica Watkins, 39, of Woodstock, Ohio. In addition to earlier charges filed against them, they now face additional counts of seditious conspiracy and other offenses, federal authorities said in the release… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Supreme Court halts COVID-19 vaccine rule for U.S. businesses (Associated Press)
The Supreme Court has stopped the Biden administration from enforcing a requirement that employees at large businesses be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing and wear a mask on the job. At the same time, the court is allowing the administration to proceed with a vaccine mandate for most health care workers in the U.S. The court’s orders Thursday during a spike in coronavirus cases was a mixed bag for the administration’s efforts to boost the vaccination rate among Americans. The court’s conservative majority concluded that the administration overstepped its authority by seeking to impose the vaccine-or-test rule on U.S. businesses with at least 100 employees. More than 80 million people would have been affected… (LINK TO FULL STORY)