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Austin musicians and venue owners rally outside City Hall for COVID-19 relief in the wake of the pandemic Monday.
Music venues and other businesses deemed vital to Austin's culture and vitality were given a $15 million lifeline Thursday.
Austin City Council unanimously approved the SAVES Resolution, which allocated COVID-19 relief money evenly among three major funds:
- $5 million: Music Venue Preservation Fund
- $5 million: Austin Legacy Business Relief Grant
- $5 million: Austin Childcare Provider Relief Grant
Music venues qualify for the first two funds, making them technically eligible for up to $10 million in relief money—the amount that advocates requested earlier this week during a City Hall rally. The extra support for music venues recognizes the special place they have in the community, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said.
City Council passed the SAVES resolution that creates a dedicated music venue preservation fund. This is only the 1… https://t.co/J1qjNuWsSr— Austin Texas Musicians (@Austin Texas Musicians) 1601594539.0
Qualifying restaurants, bars and art organizations will also receive money from the Austin Legacy Business Relief Grant. Similarly, the Austin Childcare Provider Relief Grant will support both in-home and center-based providers.
A city spokesperson confirmed the qualifications and process for applying will be established "in due course." The actions approved Thursday by council members allow city staff to proceed as outlined in a memo issued Monday.
Where does all this money come from? City staff proposals were revised slightly, landing on these three major sources:
- $8.5 million: Sales tax revenues
- $6 million: Financial Services Department Capital Budget
- $500,000: Building Services Department Capital Budget
Other relief funding sources, mostly proposed by Council Member Kathie Tovo, could come back to the council in the next month to fund a Business Preservation Fund and Live Music Fund. Council Member Greg Casar also asked staff to ensure there is a "fair and inclusive" distribution process, which is laid out to applicants in a transparent manner. City staff said that emphasis is already in place.
Related:
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- Austin, Travis County work to spend CARES Act money by deadline - austonia ›
- Local Texas governments scramble to meet CARES Act deadline - austonia ›
Popular
(Tesla)
Giga Texas, the massive Tesla factory in southeast Travis County is getting even bigger.
The company filed with the city of Austin this week to expand its headquarters with a new 500,000-square-foot building. The permit application notes “GA 2 and 3 expansion,” which indicates the company will make two general assembly lines in the building.
More details about the plans for the building are unclear. The gigafactory has been focused on Model Y production since it opened in April, but the company is also aiming for Cybertruck production to kick off in mid-2023.
While there is room for expansion on the 3.3 square miles of land Tesla has, this move comes after CEO Elon Musk’s recent comments about the state of the economy and its impact on Tesla.
In a May interview with Tesla Owners Silicon Valley, Musk said the gigafactories in Berlin and Austin are “gigantic money furnaces” and said Giga Texas had manufactured only a small number of cars.
And in June, Musk sent a company wide email saying Tesla will be reducing salaried headcount by 10%, then later tweeted salaried headcount should be fairly flat.
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(Dullnig Ranch Sales)
You’ll have to leave city limits if you’re looking for a proper ranch property like 417 Acres Shipp Lake Ranch, aptly named for its acreage. The property comes built out with three farmhouses, one of which has bedrooms and two bathrooms and two of which have two bedrooms and one bathroom. The nearly untouched property, which surrounds the 100-plus-acre Shipp Lake, has remained in the same family since the early 1900s and gives you picturesque views for the making of a dream home. In fact, the previous owners ran a water ski camp on the property.
Sitting waterside on Lake Austin, this home gives you the unique opportunity to own a piece of the lush Hill Country with views of Mount Bonnell. The 2,750-square foot, three-bedroom, four-bathroom house allows you to integrate indoor and outdoor life with large windows opening to an outdoor living area. The crown jewel is the .76-acre parcel of land that tapers off to your own lakeside resort, featuring an covered outdoor kitchen, fire pit, stone boat house to store your water sports supplies and veranda sitting at the mouth of the water, perfect for an entertainer.
Got dreams of becoming a real Texas rancher? 7814 Brown Cemetery Rd. is the perfect place to start with 40 rolling acres of land and its very own swimming hole. Just east of Austin in Manor, the modest-on-the-outside home clocks at 4,412 square feet with five bedrooms and five-and-a-half bathrooms, but there are an additional two living structures on the property. The horseshoe-shaped pond sits in the heart of the property and comes equipped with a water slide, diving board and a fishing dock.