BG Reads | News You Need to Know (May 5, 2022)
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[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
City floats proposed structure for commercial parkland dedication (Austin Monitor)
The framework for a new ordinance that would require public parkland for new commercial developments in Austin is coming together.
In April, City Council approved a resolution that asked city staff to look at requiring parkland dedication for retail, office and industrial developments. Currently the city only requires parkland dedication for residential developments. Since 2018, the existing parkland dedication ordinance, which applies to new residential developments, has helped create 200 acres of new city parkland.
The Council vote mirrored previous endorsements by the Parks and Recreation Board, which voted in 2020 and again in 2022 to require commercial parkland dedication. Last week, the parks board heard an update on the crafting of the new ordinance. Of note was a proposed framework for how parkland dedication – which can be made through land dedication, park improvements or by paying a fee-in-lieu – would be calculated.
The proposed formula calculates the required parkland by multiplying a “functional population” of a new development by 6.8 acres and then dividing that number by 1,000. For the purposes of this formula, functional population is calculated differently for office, retail and industrial uses. Those formulas are detailed in the slide below and based on an April 2022 study by the city… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin's controversial $1 million giveaway plan heads to City Council vote (Austin American-Statesman)
After tabling a controversial plan last month to distribute $1 million in taxpayer money to 85 struggling families, Austin City Council members are finally prepared to take a vote.
By the looks of it, two members think it will pass.
Ahead of Thursday's council meeting, Mayor Steve Adler and Council Member Vanessa Fuentes have scheduled a morning news conference — just as they did days before the planned vote two weeks ago. Their renewed optimism follows Adler's presenting additional details that, while still vague, offer some additional information about the program's purpose and address what state law says about taxpayer money giveaways.
The continued lobbying for the idea by Adler and Fuentes follows pushback from the community and from their City Council colleagues, including four who said they were not prepared to vote on April 21 and instead requested a two-week postponement.
Those four council members — Chito Vela, Ann Kitchen, Mackenzie Kelly and Leslie Pool — raised concerns about the undefined process for selecting recipients and for evaluating the program.
Some of them also suggested that money for such a program should come from the private sector or the federal government, and not from a municipal government that must also pay for such services as parks, police and road improvements… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Historic tag recommended for West Fourth LGBTQ bar block; proposed redevelopment could still proceed (Community Impact)
Plans to demolish of a portion of Austin's LGBTQ entertainment district were put on hold May 4 following weeks of community outcry, although the redevelopment project could still move forward in the coming weeks following further city review.
In a unanimous vote, the Historic Landmark Commission initiated historic zoning on a section of West Fourth Street covering the buildings located between 310-312 Colorado St. and 201-213 W. Fourth St. The historic tag came in response to a request from Hanover Company to tear down those structures before partially reconstructing their facades at the base of a new high-rise tower.
The commission is only charged with determining potential historic value. The project could still move forward after review from City Council.The properties are now home to LGBTQ bars such as Coconut Club and Oilcan Harry's, and the district's status in the local gay community drew dozens of residents to the commission meeting to speak to the fate of those establishments. The redevelopment proposal had also generated widespread community discussion after project plans were first detailed during an April meeting of the commission's architectural review committee... (LINK TO FULL STORY)
How much rain can Austin expect Thursday, and how hot is it really going to get this weekend? (Austin American-Statesman)
Overcast skies have been hanging over Austin all week, but we're due to get a solid soaking Thursday, ahead of possibly triple-digit temperatures this weekend on Mother's Day, forecasters say.
Extreme heat typically translates into high demand for electricity to run air conditioners and fans. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages nearly all of the Texas power grid, said Wednesday that it is bracing for a spike in usage from Friday to Monday.
ERCOT said it has asked power plants to postpone planned outages and to lift any outages in progress before the weekend arrives. The agency maintained in a statement that Texas will have enough electricity to meet the spike in demand.
In Austin, the first few days of May this year have produced only 0.06 inch of rainfall, which even for this early point in the month is about a half-inch less than normal.
May is, on average, Austin's rainiest month of the year. The gauges at Camp Mabry, site of the city's main weather station, normally record 5.04 inches of rain for the whole month… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Crypto in Austin: City getting set to host major emerging tech event Consensus 2022 (Austin American-Statesman)
The digital currency movement will take center stage in Austin next month, as thousands of attendees are expected for a conference focused on cryptocurrency, blockchain, the metaverse and other emerging technologies.
The event, called Consensus 2022, is scheduled for June 10-12. Hosted by cryptocurrency-focused news site CoinDesk, it will include speakers and panels focused on the blockchain and crypto ecosystem.
Consensus is expected to bring together top developers, creators, investors, policymakers, artists and academics across a wide array of projects and platforms.
Held in New York since its founding in 2015, Consensus is moving to Austin this year as organizers say they are aiming for more of a festival approach. The event will also include musical performances. Ticket prices range from $1,000 to $9,000, with discounted rates for students… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Abortion access is already nearly impossible in Texas. It’s about to get a lot harder. (Houston Chronicle)
Earlier this year, Emma Hernández found herself in the same place thousands of Texas women have found themselves: unexpectedly pregnant and past the new six-week abortion limit imposed by the state. She would have to find another way to get an abortion. Her ordeal is now a glimpse into the future for women of reproductive age in other states, where legal abortion access hangs in the balance after the leak Monday of a draft Supreme Court opinion overturning decades-long federal abortion protections. “Just knowing that there’s going to be more people put in that situation and feeling like they don’t have access to the support needed, that’s devastating,” said Hernández, 29, of San Antonio.
The effects of Texas’ unprecedented six-week ban last year were swift. Legal abortions in the state fell by half, compared with the year before, one study showed. Nearly 1,500 women on average went to seven surrounding states to obtain an abortion each month, 12 times as many as before. Another study revealed that requests more than tripled for abortion pills from a nonprofit provider in Europe, where abortion medications are legal. But even that is no true sign of what life could be like in states where abortions are totally outlawed. With the Supreme Court likely to throw out federal protections, obtaining abortions will only become more tenuous in states with anti-abortion leaders. Women would be forced to seek out even more difficult — and for some, impossible — alternatives. Nationwide, there are about 36 million women of reproductive age who are considered in danger of losing access to abortion in their home states. One in five, or about 7 million, live in Texas. The burden of providing abortion care will continue to shift to out-of-state providers, and, as is the case now, an unknowable number of pregnant Texans will have no choice but to carry to term, said Kari White, principal investigator at the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas at Austin. And, White said, the repeal of Roe would continue to have an out-sized impact on minority Texans, who are more likely to require the services, and could exacerbate existing racial disparities in maternal mortality… (LINK TO FULL STORY)