BG Reads | News - August 5, 2022
[AUSTIN METRO]
Mobility committee hears the case for remotely piloted delivery robots (Austin Monitor)
The colorful little robots roaming the streets of Austin, delivering burritos and fried chicken, are likely not going anywhere soon. If anything, this might only be the beginning of the era of robotic delivery.
At least that was the sentiment at the City Council Mobility Committee meeting Thursday when the Transportation Department gave a presentation on the future of personal delivery devices, or PDDs, in the city and outlined the rules they must follow.
PDDs are defined as automated devices operating in pedestrian areas, like sidewalks, or on the shoulders, such as bike lanes. They are currently piloted by employees with a 360-degree view of the road via the cameras built into the machine. Think remote-controlled car but bigger.
PDDs were first seen in Austin in July 2016. In 2019,?Senate Bill 969?went into effect, enacting statewide regulations for the robot delivery drivers. The robots aren’t permitted to exceed a speed limit of 10 miles per hour on a sidewalk and 20 miles per hour on a shoulder of a road,?according to Texas code. They must have a braking system, front and rear lights if operating at night, and must display the operating company’s information on the device.
“I just see (the delivery robots) as a pretty effective way to get people some of the things that they need in a timely manner. And from everything that I can tell, it’s pretty safe,” Council Member Mackenzie Kelly said.
Currently, only two companies,?Coco?and?Refraction AI, are using PPDs in Austin, but other PDDs on Austin streets or even in the air are on the horizon. One delivery robot,?developed by Ford, takes parcels from trucks to customers’ doors, and?Uber?and?Amazon Prime?are preparing to deploy – or have deployed – drone-like devices.
“These are not currently in Austin, but these are things that have been developed and are operating in various parts of the world,” said?Jacob Culberson, division manager of mobility for the Transportation Department.
Transportation has partnered with Coco and Refraction AI to ensure they are operating in compliance with state rules. The department is currently working with the companies to create best-practice guidelines, with rules such as prohibiting the use of parkland or avoiding state Capitol grounds…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Negotiations over downtown towers proposed at HealthSouth site hinge on affordable housing debate (Austin Business Journal)
While Aspen Heights Partners LP is still in the driver's seat when it comes to redeveloping the former HealthSouth building in downtown Austin, some aspects of the proposed project have changed since we last reported on it.
And now, the Austin-based real estate firm is negotiating with the city over the number of affordable housing units that will be included.
Aspen Heights, which Austin City Council selected early last year as the potential developer of the city-owned sites at 1215 Red River St. and 606 East 12th St., now wants to build two residential high-rises. Previously it had proposed a residential tower and an office tower.
Plans for the project changed in April, when Aspen Heights went under contract to purchase an adjacent quarter-acre tract at at 614 E. 12th St., owned by the Texas FFA Association. That additional land meant the developer could pursue two residential towers.
In recent years, other proposed downtown high-rises have switched from office use to residential use during planning stages, including?one planned by Cielo Property Group at 201 E. Fifth St…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
BAE Systems moving key programs to Austin (KVUE)
Virginia-based?BAE Systems, an aerospace company and defense contractor, will move "key programs from its control and avionics solutions unit to Austin,"?the Austin American-Statesman reported.
The move comes with plans to bring on 100 new employees, 75 of which the company anticipates hiring before year's end.
BAE Systems also has plans to move into a Parmer Austin Business Park facility measuring 390,000 square feet and costing $150 million. The company announced the campus in 2020 and said they hoped to double their Austin staff consisting of 700 people, the Statesman reported.
The control and avionics solutions division centers on support for commercial aviation and customers as well as flight control systems, cabinet management systems and more. The Statesman reported that an engineering director for the division said they "chose Austin because the new facility had the space, capabilities and resources to build out labs needed for the division's work, and the talent pool to fill out its workforce."…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Music Commission wants to study pros and cons of expanded convention center (Austin Monitor)
Before deciding its position on the proposed expansion of the Austin Convention Center, the Music Commission will form a working group to study details of the project that’s expected to cost up to $1.4 billion. Commissioners voted 7-1 at Monday’s meeting in support of forming the working group, with Commissioner Scott Strickland voting against the move.
The vote came after a presentation about the project from city and convention center staff, who outlined the timetable and major components of the plan that will see the facility torn down and rebuilt over a four-year period.
The Music Commission has a particular interest in the expansion plans because of the possible impact of new convention business that would increase hotel stays and generate more Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue for live music efforts, cultural arts programs and historic preservation.
South by Southwest remains the major building block of local convention business. But hotel and tourism advocates have said for years that the space and infrastructure constraints after the most recent expansion can lead interested event organizers to book elsewhere…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas cities say streaming giants Disney, Hulu and Netflix owe them millions of dollars in unpaid fees (Texas Tribune)
A lawsuit filed Thursday by 25 Texas cities claims that Disney, Hulu and Netflix have for years stiffed the cities out of dollars the streaming giants are required to pay under state law — and now cities are coming to collect.
Austin, Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth are among the cities that sued the streaming services in Dallas County to recover money they say they has been owed since 2007 and to require the services to pay each year going forward. Under state law, the services have to pay cities a franchise fee — which traditional cable providers also pay — in exchange for using communication lines over public rights of way to transmit their services into homes.
As more people abandon cable subscriptions in favor of streaming services, cities have lost franchise fee revenue — money that goes to fund city services like police and fire protection as well as roads, parks and libraries.
Cities haven’t made up that revenue with fees from streaming services, said Steven Wolens, a former Texas lawmaker and lead attorney for the cities. Even though state law classifies them as video service providers that must pay the fees, the major streamers haven’t paid cities a dime, Wolens said.
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“They should have been paying this fee from the very beginning,” Wolens said. “Shame on them because they are using the public right of way that every other company pays the city to use.”
Exactly how much the streaming giants owe Texas cities isn’t known, Wolens said. For a smaller city, the losses could number in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said. For a larger city, that figure could be in the millions…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Amid ‘mixed race’ speech blowback, Orban echoes Trump in Dallas (The Washington Post)
It was a Trump rally with a Hungarian accent.
Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister who has consolidated?autocratic power?with hard-right opposition to?immigration?and?liberal democracy, addressed a crowd of thousands of American admirers in Dallas on Thursday with a red-meat speech that could have easily been delivered by any Republican candidate on the campaign trail this year.
Orban presented the two countries as twin fronts in a struggle against common enemies he described as globalists, progressives, communists and “fake news.”
“The West is at war with itself,” Orban said. “The globalist can all go to hell. I have come to Texas,” he added, stumbling over a famous slogan attributed to Texas legend Davy Crockett.
The speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) went ahead despite Orban’s latest controversy: a speech in which he railed against Europe becoming “mixed race,” saying that Europeans did not want to live with people from outside the continent. One of his own close advisers?resigned in protest, calling the speech “pure Nazi.”…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Abbott touts Texas, taunts California as CPAC conservative gathering kicks off in Dallas (Dallas Morning News)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took aim at Democratic leaders in Texas and across the country in his?appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference gathering Thursday in Dallas.
The governor boasted about the state’s business-friendly policies bringing in companies from California, and the busloads of newly arrived migrants the state has sent to Washington.
American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp, and his wife and CPAC senior fellow Mercedes Schlapp, interviewed Abbott about his record on business, immigration and education in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
Abbott and the Schlapps took jabs at California and the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, who has jousted regularly with Texas Republicans. The California Democrat most recently?ran ads in Texas newspapers, criticizing Abbott and other Texas Republicans’ policies on abortion and gun control.
Abbott shot back at Newsom on stage.
“He’s just pissed off that all of his businesses are moving to Texas,” Abbott said of Newsom.
Immigration and border security were a major talking point for Abbott on stage. He called for Republicans to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas if the party takes control of the House after the midterm elections.
Abbott also criticized Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, who?asked the White House for assistance from the National Guard?in managing the thousands of migrants who have?arrived on buses sent by Texas and Arizona…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Black voters’ dissatisfaction could spell trouble for Democrats (The Hill)
Organizers are warning Democrats not to take Black voters for granted ahead of the midterms, worried that the party isn’t listening to the community’s concerns in an election year where their vote could be decisive in key races.
Advocates who spoke to The Hill expressed frustration that the Democratic Party consistently overlooks Black voters until it’s too late, a sentiment common in previous election cycles.?
As the U.S. grapples with the possibility of a recession and social upheaval following controversial Supreme Court rulings, growing Black voter dissatisfaction could have an outsized impact on the party in an election year where the scales already feel tipped toward the GOP…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
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