BG Reads | News - July 22, 2022
[BINGHAM GROUP]
NEW PHILANTHROPISTS BOARD MENTORS OF COLOR PROGRAM
[HEARINGS/MEETINGS]
Thursday, July 28
[AUSTIN METRO]
Memo brings questions about affordability, public benefits for Statesman redevelopment (Austin Monitor)
A?new memo?that forecasts significantly higher costs for affordable housing and other public benefits proposed by the city for the largest development project in the South Central Waterfront has raised a number of questions as the planned unit development process moves forward in the coming weeks.
City Council was scheduled to conduct the second reading for the PUD that is being led by Endeavor Real Estate Group at its meeting next Thursday, though a request from a residents group could delay it into August. That could give Council members, city staff and Endeavor representatives more time to work through the findings of California-based Economic & Planning Systems. On July 8, the group shared an analysis with Rosie Truelove, director of the Housing and Planning Department, that said an anticipated shortfall needed to cover public benefits on the former site of the Austin American-Statesman will far exceed the $146 million estimate published in a 2020 analysis.
The memo also said six requests the city has made as part of the negotiations for height and density entitlement changes on the project would add nearly $350 million to the cost of the $2 billion project, likely making it economically impossible without further public contributions to pay for parks, roads and transit projects. Much of the $350 million is tied to requirements around affordable housing that Endeavor would have to provide either on the Statesman site or within the larger district…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin passes abortion-related measure, says it will fight Texas GOP on issue (Austin American-Statesman)
Vowing to fight back against Texas Republicans ahead of a statewide abortion ban, the Austin City Council has asked the city's Police Department to ignore the law by refusing to investigate any medical provider who terminates a pregnancy.
Additionally, the council amended a city ordinance to prohibit discrimination based on reproductive health action and asked the city manager to launch a public education program on long-term birth control, including vasectomies for men. They also asked the city manager to evaluate benefits to city employees seeking reproductive health care that is no longer lawful in Texas.
"We are sending the message we will continue to fight for reproductive freedom," Council Member Vanessa Fuentes said.
The Thursday vote — in a special called meeting that brought council members back a week early from their summer council meeting break — follows last month's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which had allowed a nationwide protection for abortion and comes days before a near-total abortion ban takes effect in Texas…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Here's what you need to know about Samsung's 11 proposed fabs in the Austin area (Austin American-Statesman)
Samsung has raised the possibility of a stunning string of investments in the Austin metro area over the next 20 years: 11 new chipmaking fabs that would create 10,000 jobs and account for an investment of about $192 billion.
While it's not certain that any of the proposed fabs will be built in either Austin or Taylor, Samsung's applications for 11 new Chapter 313 tax abatement deals do provide some details about the facilities, should they become reality.
All of the fabs are described this way in the applications: The fabs "would consist of a new manufacturing facility for semiconductors. The proposed investment would be used to build a new semiconductor wafer fabrication facility and purchase new production machinery & equipment used in connection with manufacturing, processing and fabricating semiconductors in a cleanroom environment."
Samsung didn't provide more specifics in the applications as to size or configurations…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Advocates, Council members rally behind affordable housing bond (Austin Monitor)
Support for a potential $300 million affordable housing bond is growing. On Thursday, housing advocates and politicians launched a campaign to support the bond, which they say is needed to address Austin’s housing crisis.
“If we’re going to protect what is special and magical about this city, we have to protect and preserve the people that live here,” Mayor Steve Adler said. “The way that we do that is to support housing in this community.”
The rally took place at the Jordan at Mueller, an affordable housing project built by Foundation Communities. In attendance were a host of affordable housing advocates and professionals, seven City Council members, as well as candidates for local elections, including mayoral candidates Celia Israel and Kirk Watson.?
“This is a broad coalition,” Jo?o Paulo Connolly, organizing director for Austin Justice Coalition, said. “We have 25 groups officially endorsing and many, many more joining us in the coming week.”
Council will vote July 28 whether to put the bond on the November ballot. A majority of Council has already shown support for the bond.
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If passed by voters, the bond would be the city’s third major injection of affordable housing funds in six years. In 2018, voters approved a $250 million bond, and in 2020, voters authorized $300 million to support anti-displacement efforts as part of Project Connect.?
“The 2018 affordable housing bond has resulted in almost a fourfold increase in the amount of affordable housing, subsidized affordable housing, in this community,” Adler said. “And frankly, we have run out of money. And this is absolutely the wrong time to stop. We have momentum. We have direction. And the need continues to increase.”…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin Water will not increase rates in upcoming year, but will look toward FY 2023-24 hikes (Community Impact)
Austin Water is not proposing rate hikes for fiscal year 2022-23, though officials are warning this is the last year before it will have to pass increased costs on to customers.
At the city’s?special waste and wastewater commission?meeting July 21, Austin Water staff said the department can support the FY 2022-23 $683.8 million budget on current rates, but it is facing looming budget constraints including inflation and upcoming projects.
“We are proud of that as affordability continues to be an issue for many of our ratepayers,” Austin Water interim Director Robert Goode said.
Under the current fee structure, the average resident pays about $80 a month for water and wastewater services.
Goode said the department is proud to keep the rate the same as other?utilities are raising their rates,?causing further strain on ratepayers…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Here are eight pivotal moments of the police response to the Uvalde shooting captured by officers’ body cameras (Texas Tribune)
Recently released body camera footage from seven Uvalde police officers responding to the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School offers a closer look at the actions of the law enforcement officers who entered the building that day.
The footage came days after?video from the school’s security cameras was leaked and gave the public a first glimpse?into the police response to the shooting. The new material further illustrates the lack of coordination, the confusion over the chain of command and the delays in confronting the shooter.
The Texas Department of Public Safety, lawmakers and law enforcement experts have widely called the police response to the shooting?a failure?and said that the blunders caused the situation to stretch longer than necessary — possibly costing the lives of injured students and teachers who succumbed to their wounds.
Here are eight pivotal moments and new details from the footage…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Sens. John Cornyn, Ted Cruz say Brittney Griner is ‘wrongfully detained,’ call for her release (Houston Chronicle)
Texas U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz are supporting a resolution saying Brittney Griner was “wrongfully detained” in Russia on charges of transporting drugs and calling for her immediate release. The resolution was written to match a similar one that already passed the House; it was sponsored by Cornyn and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden from Oregon. The resolution calls on the Russian government to immediately free Griner, expresses support for the Griner family and calls for the U.S. government to press for Griner’s release at every turn, as well as that of Paul Whelan and “all prisoners unjustly imprisoned in the Russian Federation.” Whelan, a former Marine, is detained in Russia on accusations of espionage.
Griner is accused of carrying vape cartridges that contained hashish oil when she flew into Russia, where she plays professional basketball during the WNBA offseason. The resolution notes that Griner is from Houston, is a superstar basketball player, leads charitable efforts in her community, has twice represented her country in the Olympics and won gold medals and “is a renowned leader in the LGBTQ+ community.” She faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Earlier this month, she acknowledged her guilt of the charges and said that she packed the hashish oil accidentally and it was not her intent to break the law. Her lawyers in Russian court last week produced a letter from Griner’s doctor prescribing her use of marijuana to treat chronic pain, news outlets reported, showing that she was given permission in Arizona — where she lives — to use the drug…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
ERCOT breaks demand record for 11th time this summer, reaching 80,000 megawatts (Houston Chronicle)
In a summer punctuated by days of record-breaking power demand within ERCOT, Wednesday represented a watershed moment for the grid that provides electricity to 90 percent of Texans. For the first time in Texas' grid history, demand exceeded 80,000 megawatts for a moment shortly after 4:30 p.m. Wednesday -- enough electricity to power 16 million homes on a hot summer day. Wednesday also marked the 11th time this summer that demand broke the all time record. Before this year, the previous record was set on Aug. 22, 2019, with 74,820 megawatts used. That record was first broken June 12 of this year, and was most recently broken Tuesday with 79,621 megawatts. David Tuttle, a research fellow and lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin's Energy Institute, said he expects the grid to continue breaking demand records throughout August and September.
"It means we're more risk," he said. "Barring some unforeseen catastrophic event, we're not going to have another (2021 freeze) long-term debacle with massive blackouts. But supplies will be tight, and if we see enough generators break or fail, we could see rolling blackouts." ERCOT forecasters originally thought there would only be about a 5 percent chance that demand would exceed 80,000 megawatts in their most extreme summer scenario. More likely, they wrote in their Seasonal Assessment, was that demand would reach only about 77,317 megawatts on the highest-demand day this summer. Wednesday marked the seventh day we've beat that peak-demand estimate this summer, according to ERCOT. Nearly half of all the demand for power comes from air-conditioning units, Tuttle said, which become less efficient as temperatures rise. But the heat also makes some thermal power plants (like natural gas powered plants) less efficient and more prone to issues, especially in a year when many have been told by ERCOT to delay maintenance to help feed the sky-high demand. Critics of wind energy have also pointed to some low output days putting stress on the grid earlier this summer, although the resource was producing about 8,000 megawatts by 2 p.m. Wednesday and is typically strongest at night…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Dallas County is out of monkeypox vaccinations as cases continue to climb (Dallas Morning News)
Dallas County is out of monkeypox vaccines as cases continue to rise amid a national vaccine shortage. The county health department is waiting for a shipment of around 300 doses of the Jynneos vaccine, which helps prevent monkeypox and smallpox, although director Dr. Philip Huang said he doesn’t know exactly when the vaccines will arrive from the federal government. Dallas County Health and Human Services placed the order for additional doses last week. The slowed vaccine allotment is in sharp contrast to how requests were being filled in weeks prior, said Texas Department of State Health Services spokesman Chris Van Deusen.
“Those shipments from the feds have slowed down a bit,” he said. “Early on, even into last week, any requests we had for the vaccine they were turning around the next day.” Because of the small number of available vaccinations, Dallas County has limited appointments to people with known skin-to-skin contact with an infected individual. The county reported 52 confirmed and two suspected monkeypox cases as of Wednesday, representing nearly 65% of Texas’ 81 cases. The state’s case count, though increasing, is still much lower than some other areas of the country. California has more than 350 confirmed cases as of Wednesday, while New York has more than 581. Washington, D.C. has the highest number of monkeypox cases per capita in the U.S., with at least 122 cases as of Monday, Mayor Muriel Bowser said. The city set up a website for residents to pre-register for vaccine appointments, although the shots are currently available only to certain groups, including sex workers and men who have sex with men and have had sex with multiple partners in the last two weeks…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
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