More grim predictions from Austin Mayor Steve Adler
He’s pushing Congress to pass another relief package because failing to do so would have “dire consequences” for local small businesses.
“Just to be able to help our restaurants be able to get through it issomewhere between $30-50 million. We don’t have $30-50 million at the city level in order to be able to provide that level of protection,” says Adler.
There has been very little movement in Congress regarding another relief bill. Aince March, more than 15% of all restaurants and bars across the state of Texas have had to closed down permanently.
The Dirty Dog bar closed
You can add another local music venue to the list of casualties caused by COVID-19. The Dirty Dog, which has operated on 6th Street for 15 years, says it held on as long as it could. However, without any revenue from SXSW, the ROT Rally or tourism, the owners say they can’t can’t keep the doors open any longer. The bar’s lease expires today, and it will not be renewed.
More bars in Austin of reopening as restaurants, and that’s starting to draw some larger crowds. Bob Woody, with the Texas Bar Nightclub Alliance, tells CBS Austin he’s glad to see it. He’s alos keeping a close eye on the number of patrons and where they are coming from.
“I got a call a couple of nights ago and I had a group of 100 they wanted to come in. I said, ‘is it a fraternity?’ And they said, ‘yeah.’ I said, ‘we’re not gonna do that,’” Woody says
With social distancing and mask mandates in place, he’s not that worried about a new spike in cases tied to bars. He says Texas will not be shutting down again.
Staff reductions at APD
Austin Police Chief Brian Manley is shifting positions around in response to the city council’s recent cuts to the Austin Police Department budget and manpower. Manley says patrol shifts are the backbone of the departments, so nearly 100 specialty units will have to begin filling those.
“We do recognize that behind each of these, again, positions is an officer who worked hard to get to that position,” says Manley.
Staff reductions will be felt in DUI enforcement property crimes, the sex offender task force, organized crime, and park patrols. Manley says officers will be selected based on their seniority.
Car club meet up shootings
Car club meet ups in Austin have been the source of complaints for years. Over the weekend, police say there were multiple shootings tied to those meetings. As Austin prepares for this new era with fewer police officers, some people like this woman who lives near those meet up locations tells KVUE something has to be done.
“There needs to be more boots on the ground. I mean, there’s one cop that comes and there’s 200 people out there,” she says.
She and others say they hear fighting and tires screeching every weekend in the parking lot of the AMC Movie Theater and I-35 near Tech Ridge. However, they say nothing’s been done to prevent any of it.
Mail-in voting
Today, Texas Democrats will take another shot at expanding mail-in voting. Attorney Chad Dunn will argue in federal court that the state’s election code, which only allows people who are 65 or older, disabled, injured or out of the country to cast a mail in ballot, is unconstitutional.
“The condition of individual voters based on their age alone being treated differently in terms of how they can cast their vote is absolutely foreclosed by the 26th Amendment, which prohibits any discrimination or abridgement of the right to vote based on age,” says Dunn.
That case will be heard by the Fifth Circuit Court in New Orleans.
Austin rent prices
Austin’s rents are among the top 10 fastest shrinking among major U S Cities. Apartment List’s Chris Salviati says Austin area rents fell by 1.7% since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When we look across the 50 largest cities in the nation, that decline of 1.7% since arch is actually the eighth fastest decline that we see across the country,” Salviati says.
For a two bed apartment, the median rent fell to $1,448. For a single bed, it dropped to $1,173.
COVID-19 update
For several consecutive weeks now, the number of people in the hospital for coronavirus has tumbled. As of this morning, that number is at 139. That’s nearly 40 less than the same time a week ago. Ventilator usage has also dropped steadily day over day. There have been 26,434 cases confirmed and 25,267 are recoveries.
246 cases of COVID are said to be still active in Williamson County. That includes the 76 people in the hospital. The rate of new infections in the county is right around 5%. That marks a dramatic shift from late last month, when it was above 17%. 7,646 off the total 7,893 cases are now classified as recoveries.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-8-31-20
