BG Reads | News You Need to Know (January 27, 2022)
Downtown Austin
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
I-35 frontage roads would be on the same side of the interstate under TxDOT's new plans (KUT)
The Texas Department of Transportation's latest proposal to expand I-35 includes a plan to run the northbound and southbound frontage roads directly next to each other on the same side of the highway between Cesar Chavez and Dean Keeton streets.
The frontage roads would be at ground level with the interstate lowered and possibly covered if the City of Austin can come up with an estimated $700 million to $800 million to pay for the coverings, or "caps" as they're called.
"The northbound frontage road will come across Holly, marry up with the southbound and will be in a boulevard-style setting," TxDOT Austin District Engineer Tucker Ferguson said at an unveiling of the new schematics… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin Police to graduate 66 new officers from 'reimagined' training academy (CBS Austin)
Friday Austin Police will graduate their first cadet class in 15 months. Austin City Council voted to halt training new officers in 2020 following concerns of racism and discrimination within the department.
The cadets graduating Friday are part of a pilot program taking APD training in a new direction, but that’s not the only thing that sets this class apart. These new officers are the most diverse group in department history.
Last summer APD enrolled 100 new cadets in their pilot, reimagined training academy. This week the 66 remaining cadets join the ranks as APD officers. Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon says it's typical for cadets to leave the training academy for various reasons and while losing 34 prospects is “a little bit on the high end” he adds it’s still within the normal attrition range seen over the years… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
$500M Hines project planned near Tesla; Plan includes 2,500 single-family homes (Austin Business Journal)
A Houston-based real estate developer announced Jan. 20 that it has closed on 1,400 acres southeast of Tesla Inc.'s gigafactory that it intends to develop into a master-planned community that includes 2,500 single-family lots and 75 acres of commercial space.
Representatives from Hines, along with its partners, said that Mirador will also include 50 acres of multifamily homes and townhomes, as well as on-site amenities including a 60-acre lake, over 600 acres of greenbelt, trails and a swimming pool. It is located near the corner of Pearce and Wolf lanes.
Dustin Davidson, managing director at Hines, said in an email that the project is expected to cost at least $500 million. He added that it has already received the necessary zoning from the city of Austin, and the square footage for the retail-led mixed-use development is still to be determined.
Homebuilders signed on to bring Mirador to fruition include Gehan Homes, Lennar Homes, David Weekley Homes, Highland Homes, and MHI Homes, with additional builders added later on, according to an announcement. Hines said the deal was in partnership with Trez Capital, Caravel Ventures and Sumitomo Forestry.
Construction is expected to begin this year, with the first home sales beginning next year. The Austin-American Statesman noted that the land was purchased from Qualico and was previously planned to be part of the company's Sun Chase subdivision, which is just south of the planned Mirador project.
"As Austin continues to grow into the tech epicenter of Texas, coupled with a supply-constrained market, the demand for new housing is at its highest,” Davidson said in a statement. "Mirador will be critical in providing more options for Austin’s growing population and we are excited to work alongside our partners given they each provide a unique and valued perspective in single-family development."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Growth driven by Tesla raises infrastructure concerns (Community Impact)
Fourteen years before Tesla would open a 4.2 million-square-foot factory in Travis County, Douglas Gilliland bought the 2,000-acre property in East Austin that would become the Whisper Valley community.
Before building houses, his team laid 7 miles of off-site water lines, starting in 2014. They also built a wastewater plant and miles of roadway, said Gilliland, president of real estate firm Taurus of Texas.
Now, there are 300 new families in the neighborhood, 400 homes under construction and more planned as Tesla attracts new residents.
“All the developers right now are having a hard time getting enough lots on the ground to meet the demand,” Gilliland said.
But as homes spring up, District 2 City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes said infrastructure, including access to food and child care, is already too weak for her district’s current population.“The future of Austin is east,” she said. “It’s where the land is affordable, where there’s space, but we have to ask ourselves as policymakers, do we have the infrastructure needed to make sustainable communities?”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Texas violated voting rights law during redistricting, retiring state GOP senator says in sworn court statement (Texas Tribune)
In a sworn declaration submitted as part of an ongoing federal court challenge, a senior Republican state senator with redistricting experience said he believes his party violated federal voting laws when it drew new boundaries for state Senate District 10 in the Fort Worth area. “Having participated in the 2011 and 2013 Senate Select Redistricting Committee proceedings, and having read the prior federal court decision regarding SD10, it was obvious to me that the renewed effort to dismantle SD 10 violated the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution,” state Sen. Kel Seliger said in a declaration signed in November.
The statement from the Amarillo Republican emerged this week as part of a dayslong hearing before a three-judge panel considering a lawsuit that claims the district was intentionally reconfigured to discriminate against voters of color in Tarrant County. Under the map passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, some Black and Hispanic populations previously in District 10 were split into two other districts with majority-white electorates. The Black and Hispanic voters who remain in the newly drawn District 10, in urban areas of south Fort Worth, were lumped in with several rural, mostly white counties to the south and west that drive up the district’s population of white eligible voters while diminishing the number of voters of color. A group of plaintiffs — including state Sen. Beverly Powell, D-Burleson, who represents the current SD-10 — is asking the federal judges to throw out the new district ahead of the March primaries… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Will RodeoHouston actually happen in 2022? Hidalgo says yes, as long as COVID wave subsides (Houston Chronicle)
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Tuesday the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo should proceed as planned, citing a decline in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. “It’s difficult to predict what things are going to look like in a month, but I’m very hopeful,” Hidalgo said. “I hesitate to say A-OK, because I know what our hospitals are facing.” She did not rule out, however, shuttering the event for the third straight year if trends reverse. Hidalgo returned the county to its highest virus threat level on Jan. 10, which urges the more than 1 million unvaccinated residents here to stay home and avoid unnecessary contact with others.
There is growing evidence that the omicron wave is waning in the Houston region. Virus hospitalizations have declined 8 percent since peaking on Jan. 18. Unlike previous surges, the Texas Medical Center has never exceeded its base ICU capacity while dealing with omicron. The carnival area of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo was near empty after the announcement of the rodeo closing early on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. Remain calm and exit in an orderly fashion reads a sign at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Wednesday, March 11, 2020, at NRG Center in Houston. Officials announced the rodeo will be closing at 4pm on Wednesday. Dominic Palmieri, a concession owner, loads unused food from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo onto a pallet Friday, March 13, 2020, near NRG Stadium in Houston. Vendors donated unused food to local charities, including the Houston Food Bank and the Star of Hope, after the rodeo was canceled due to concerns about COVID-19. "It's tens of thousands of dollars of food," he said. RodeoHouston has been cancelled two years in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Houston Chronicle staff) Hospitals across the state, however, have suffered from severe staffing shortages driven by the virus. The city of Houston issues the permits for the rodeo, since the event is within city limits. Harris County owns NRG Park, which it rents out for the event. The rodeo is scheduled to run Feb. 28 through March 20… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
The names to know as Biden mulls Breyer's replacement (The Hill)
President Biden is set to have his first opportunity to appoint a judge to the Supreme Court after news broke that Justice Stephen Breyer is expected to announce his retirement in the coming days.
Biden vowed multiple times during the 2020 campaign to appoint the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, and a number of Democrats quickly began applying pressure on the president to follow through on that pledge.
Breyer’s retirement, which had been a subject of speculation among Democrats, gives Biden and his party a chance to replace the 83-year-old jurist with a younger liberal justice and potentially diversify the bench.
The opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice is rare for presidents and can be a legacy-defining decision. Here’s a look at some of the names Biden is likely to consider nominating as Breyer’s replacement… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Spotify takes down Neil Young’s music after his Joe Rogan ultimatum (Wall Street Journal)
Spotify Technology SA has removed Neil Young’s music, the company confirmed Wednesday, as the folk-rock star isn’t wavering in his objections to Joe Rogan’s podcast.
The “Heart of Gold” and “Harvest Moon” singer earlier this week penned an open letter to his manager and label asking them to remove his music from the service, saying it is spreading fake information about Covid-19 vaccines through Mr. Rogan’s show. “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both,” he wrote.
Mr. Young’s record label, Warner Music WMG -0.20% Group Corp.’s Warner Records, formally requested Spotify remove the music Wednesday.
“We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators,” a Spotify spokesman said Wednesday. The company has detailed content policies in place and has removed over 20,000 Covid-19-related podcast episodes since the start of the pandemic, he added.
“We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon,” he said.
For Spotify, the controversy is a significant test of its big bet on Mr. Rogan, one of podcasting’s most popular and polarizing voices. Spotify struck a deal with Mr. Rogan in 2020 worth more than $100 million, according to people familiar with the matter, bringing his loyal followers and lucrative show exclusively to its service. Mr. Rogan is central to Spotify’s podcast strategy in attracting listeners and ad dollars to its platform and shows… (LINK TO FULL STORY)