BG Reads | News You Need to Know (March 1, 2023)
[AUSTIN METRO]
City outlines public safety plans for bustling spring festival season (Austin Monitor)
With downtown Austin set to host five major events in a six-week period beginning with South by Southwest, city leaders have presented their plans for road closures and increased public safety measures that are likely to disrupt normal activities in the city core.
Among the most noteworthy changes to the normal flurry of activity: new road closures on the northern section of Red River Street near Waterloo Park, a portion of West Fourth Street, and intermittent closures of Riverside Drive. And in a change from years of parties and brand activations in one of the city’s newest nightlife areas, festival activity has been curtailed in the Rainey Street district to accommodate its increasing residential makeup.
At a Downtown Austin Alliance forum held last week, leaders from SXSW and several city departments detailed what’s in store for spring festival season, which kicks off with SXSW and also includes the Texas Relays, Urban Cultural Fest, Moontower Comedy Festival, and the CMT Music Awards, which will take place at the Moody Center in the event’s first time outside of Nashville… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
View the complete presentation detailing road closure schedules and more here.
Austin ISD expects to complete all 2022 bond projects in the next six years (KUT)
The Austin Independent School District plans to modernize more than two dozen campuses over the next six years. Some campuses will be partially renovated, while others will be completely rebuilt.
The projects are part of the district's historic $2.4 billion bond program voters approved last November.
The voters’ approval allows Austin ISD to borrow money to cover the cost of hundreds of projects districtwide. Many of the projects are aimed at improving the facilities at Title 1 schools, which have a higher percentage of economically disadvantaged students… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin residents concerned Zilker Park vision plan draft is more conducive for music festivalS (Fox 7)
Austin residents are concerned the draft for the Zilker Park vision plan is more favorable for music festivals, instead of everyday use. Those involved in the planning process assure that’s not the case.
This vision plan has been in the works since February 2021 drawing in thousands of public comments.
"We are loving Zilker to death by leaving it alone," Barton Springs Conservancy Board Chair Michael Cannatti said.
The Austin Parks and Recreation Department has put together a plan to modify Zilker Park. The goals are to improve accessibility, current facilities, and programs, and preserve the historical, cultural, and ecological characteristics.
"Park land is precious and Austinites have too little of it," an Austin resident said during Monday’s Parks and Recreation Board Meeting.
With that in mind, Parks and Rec have proposed parking garages to consolidate parking, increased bike, pedestrian, and trail connections, a welcome center, and new play areas… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Council gears up for Austin transit-oriented development policy update; public engagement beginS (Community impact)
Austin leaders and transportation planners said they are looking to ensure development along future Project Connect transit routes takes place equitably, and City Council is preparing to approve a new policy framework aimed at managing such growth.
Austin's equitable transit-oriented development, or ETOD, framework is nearing a council vote this month that could end up guiding much of the new development that is already occurring along future Project Connect bus and rail lines. Changes are targeted at equitable planning for those who end up living and working around the transit network.
Community and land-use planning linked to transit has been ongoing in the city since the 2000s, and three TOD districts have since set related regulatory standards. Those areas, based around Capital Metro's Plaza Saltillo, MLK and Crestview stations, have each seen significant development over recent years… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Business and legislative leaders push to replace expired tax break with a new onE (Texas Tribune)
Texas lawmakers are facing pressure to come up with a replacement for Chapter 313, a recently expired program that helped oil and gas companies, chip manufacturers and other industries secure billions in tax abatements through local school districts.
Nearly 200 representatives of trade organizations, economic development councils and chambers of commerce are included among the signatories of a Feb. 14 letter to the Legislature calling for “a new, transparent, and accountable economic development policy.” The signatories warned that Texas could lose business if legislators don’t hurry up and create a new tax break program.
“Over the last year, Texas lost several multibillion-dollar deals, including Rivian to Georgia, Intel to Ohio, and Micron to New York,” the letter says. “Texas stands to lose more jobs, more investments, more tax base and more growth if we don’t restock our economic development toolbox with a new economic development incentive this legislative session.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Thousands of Asian Texans targeted in driver’s license breach (Dallas Morning News)
The state shipped thousands of Texas driver’s licenses to an international organized crime group in a security lapse that is still under investigation, Department of Public Safety Chief Steve McCraw said Monday. The Department of Public Safety has identified at least 3,000 Texans who have been affected and is investigating more potential cases, department officials told House budget writers during a hearing Monday. Texans of Asian descent were targeted by what McCraw described as “a Chinese organized crime group based in New York working in a number of different states.” “We’re not happy at all,” he told the lawmakers. “Controls should have been in place and this should have never happened.” The agency is working with federal agencies, McCraw said, and the investigation spans at least four states, as other states have also been similarly targeted. It’s not clear when the investigation will be completed… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Dallas gets a toolkit to help people keep their homes amid gentrification (DalLas morning News)
Dallas is getting a new toolkit to fight displacement and gentrification. Builders of Hope Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit developer and community development organization, on Monday unveiled the first key pieces of a multilayered strategy that aims to give vulnerable communities “the right to stay” and the “opportunity to return” to neighborhoods amid rapid development and rising housing costs. The toolkit uses data to help the community identify neighborhoods where gentrification is underway to provide guidance and steer development decisions. The plan was presented at a Monday meeting of Dallas’ housing and homelessness solutions committee. Stephanie Champion, Builders of Hope’s community development and policy officer, says the group has been working behind the scenes to raise private funds and gather a team focused on giving tools to the public after years of local residents feeling pushed out of their homes and communities… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Pandemic food assistance that held back hunger comes to an end (NPR)
Millions of Americans will have less to spend on groceries as emergency food assistance that Congress enacted early in the pandemic has ended.
On average, individuals will get about $90 less this month in benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Some households will see a cut of $250 a month or more, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a non-partisan research institute.
"This is a change that will increase hardship for many individuals and families, especially given the modest amount of regular SNAP benefits, which are only about $6 per person per day, on average," says Dottie Rosenbaum, director of federal SNAP policy for the institute.
More than 40 million people in the U.S. are helped out each month by SNAP. Some states had already phased out the pandemic assistance, and the remaining 32 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands issued their last emergency benefits in February… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot ousted, frontrunners face off in April (Associated press)
Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson will meet in a runoff to be the next mayor of Chicago after voters on Tuesday denied incumbent Lori Lightfoot a second term, issuing a rebuke to a leader who made history as head of the nation’s third-largest city.
Vallas, a former schools CEO backed by the police union, and Johnson, a Cook County commissioner endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, advanced to the April 4 runoff after none of the nine candidates was able to secure over 50% of the vote to win outright.
Lightfoot, the first Black woman and first openly gay person to lead the city, won her first term in 2019 after promising to end decades of corruption and backroom dealing at City Hall. But opponents blamed Lightfoot for an increase in crime that occured in cities across the U.S. during the pandemic and criticized her as being a divisive, overly contentious leader.
She is the first elected Chicago mayor to lose a reelection bid since 1983, when Jane Byrne, the city’s first female mayor, lost her Democratic primary… (LINK TO FULL STORY)