July 3, 2021 Still catching up on life, thanks to being vaccinated, and watching the impact on Covid of the Delta variant and vaccination progress, plus selfies on Mars, Texas 2022 election doings, 2 Lakeway Council meetings, LOTS of fawns, and much more.

HAPPY 4^th of JULY!

The Coronavirus

Worldwide, the Delta variant is fueling outbreaks in a wide variety of countries, from Europe, to the Middle East, to Asia, to Africa. France and Italy are worried about surges this summer. Portugal has imposed curfews in its cities. The UK recently recorded its highest number of new cases since early February, making the planned end of lockdown later this month doubtful. Australia is locking down again. The WHO is tracking a new variant, Lambda. In addition, the Delta variant has a cousin, Delta Plus, which sports a spike protein from the Beta variant. As Delta Variant Surges, Outbreaks Return in Many Parts of the World 7/1/21 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/30/world/asia/virus-delta-variant-global.html

In the US, new cases were up 10% last week, after a long period of declining numbers. The Delta variant continues to spread, accounting for over 25% of new infections nationally but 50% of infections in southern and western states, where vaccination rates are also the lowest in the country. The result is a pattern of localized hot spots. Seeing rising hospitalizations in these areas, health care workers worry that history is repeating itself: just as the last surge in cases was caused by partisan refusal to wear masks, now a surge may well be caused by partisan refusal to get vaccinated. Yet, our daily death toll has dropped 20% in the last 2 weeks and (for the first time since March of 2020) now averages under 300 per day. Despite the WHO recommending a return to masking even for the vaccinated, the CDC still says vaccinated Americans don’t need to mask in most situations. Turning to economic results of the pandemic, millions of older Americans responded to the upended job market and other Covid consequences by deciding to retire early, reversing a trend.

Vaccinations–the safe path to herd immunity

Worldwide, in the Philippines, people refusing Covid shots are being threatened with jail. The UAE announced that as of Aug. 20 unvaccinated adult residents will be banned from public places including schools, universities, nurseries, shopping centers, restaurants, cafes, gyms, museums, theme parks, resorts, and all other retail outlets (with essential service locations like food markets and pharmacies the only exceptions). Even Russia’s President Putin, who usually downplays Covid, pleaded with people to get vaccinated; as of now, only 15% of his country is protected. India has prioritized shots, inoculating up to 8 million people per day lately in an effort to vaccinate one billion people by the end of 2021. The Vatican issued a statement urging people to get vaccinated, condemning “a pernicious form of hesitancy” driven by fake news, myths and disinformation about vaccine safety, among religious groups.

In the US, we will miss President Biden’s goal of having 70% of adults vaccinated by July 4. Instead, we are close to 68%; we’ll get to 70% soon, and that number will continue to rise. Twenty states and DC have now exceeded 70%, while 16 states are below 60%. Mississippi swirls the drain at 46 percent. About 1 million Americans get vaccinated every day.

The biggest roadblock to herd immunity, politics aside, seems to be adults age 18-39. Currently, only 30% in that group are vaccinated. Reasons are varied, but many feel unthreatened by Covid, are too busy, or have been corrupted by misinformation.

Louisiana is the latest state to start a lottery (“Shot at a Million”) for people getting vaccinated.

The mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) may protect us for years. As long as the virus does not evolve much further from the original form, we won’t need booster shots.

Cruise ships are setting sail again from Florida. Vaccination cannot be required, thanks to Florida’s Republican governor, but unvaccinated guests must wear masks and pay for frequent testing.

Red states beware. Studies show that counties with vaccination rates of 30% or less have nearly 3 times the number of new COVID cases as counties with vaccination rates of 60% or more. Of course, areas with low vaccination rates are predominantly Republican, with the GOP largely having decided to trivialize COVID and talk fear-mongering trash about the vaccines. The rise of the Delta variant—more contagious and more deadly, yet prevented by the vaccines—will only increase new infections among the unvaccinated.

Still need proof vaccinations save lives? In Los Angeles, 99.8% of Covid deaths in the last 6 months were in unvaccinated people.

In Texas, as of June 26, just 11.8 million people (40.6% of Texas’ population) are fully vaccinated. In Travis County, 59% are fully vaccinated.

Recent Covid articles I recommend….

They Didn’t Expect to Retire Early. The Pandemic Changed Their Plans. 7/2/21 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/02/business/economy/retire-early-pandemic-social-security.html

How Dangerous Is the Delta Variant? 7/1/21 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/opinion/covid-delta-variant.html

As Delta Variant Surges, Outbreaks Return in Many Parts of the World 7/1/21 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/30/world/asia/virus-delta-variant-global.html

Fauci warns there may soon be ‘two Americas’ as divide widens between places with high and low vaccination rates and the Delta variant spreads 6/30/21 https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/30/health/us-coronavirus-wednesday/index.html

Why Young Adults Are Among the Biggest Barriers to Mass Immunity 6/28/21 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/us/covid-vaccine-immunity.html

Pfizer and Moderna Vaccines Likely to Produce Lasting Immunity, Study Finds 6/28/21 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/health/coronavirus-vaccines-immunity.html

Nearly all COVID deaths in US are now among unvaccinated 6/24/21 https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-06-24/nearly-all-covid-deaths-in-us-are-now-among-unvaccinated

Anthony Fauci on the Lab Leak Theory and Emailing Mark Zuckerberg–30 minute podcast interview with America’s chief immunologist 6/21/21 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/21/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-anthony-fauci.html?campaign_id=39&emc=edit_ty_20210621&instance_id=33504&nl=opinion-today&regi_id=122311001&segment_id=61280&te=1&user_id=85e9340cba19164d75f3915211a487be

Daring Mighty Things

Perseverance and Ingenuity took a selfie on Mars.

Texas state elections

Greg Abbott for President? Yikes…. ‘Tip of the spear’: Texas governor leads revolt against Biden 6/21/21 https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/21/texas-abbott-immigration-biden-resistance-495172

Abbott’s spiteful veto of funding for his legislature is headed for the Texas Supreme Court. Legislators aside, over 2,000 state workers will be denied pay thanks to Abbott’s temper tantrum after Democrats walked out of the Capitol and defeated his pet bill to restrict voting rights. Democrats and staffers have sued, asking the Texas Supreme Court to intercede. Texas House Democrats and legislative staffers take Gov. Greg Abbott to court for defunding Legislature 6/25/21 https://www.texastribune.org/2021/06/25/texas-greg-abbott-veto-legislature-funding-court/?mc_cid=d7a78f34aa&mc_eid=fc281ae7cc

Beto O’Rourke still has not declared he will run for governor. Instead, he is concentrating on protecting voting rights in Texas. Beto O’Rourke on Texas: ‘I don’t know that we’re a conservative state’ 7/3/21 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/03/beto-o-rourke-interview-texas-politics

In Lakeway

Another great innovation by Mayor Kilgore is including in The Lake Way, the city’s emailed newsletter, a summary of Council meeting results. This is an easy way to stay informed on local issues. Go here to sign up for The Lake Way, plus other notifications if desired– https://www.lakeway-tx.gov/list.aspx

Council’s June 21 regular meeting

Before getting to the specifics of what happened, I will point out the Agenda for this meeting had 30 items. The meeting started at 6:30pm, with a full house and people spilling out into the lobby. I lasted 3 hours (mostly spent on one complex and divisive item) before heading home, giving up on 2 items that I cared about that were buried deep in the Agenda. I watched the rest online the next day; the meeting lasted nearly 6 hours total, adjourning at 12:09am on Tuesday.

That’s nuts. Worse, that is not good government. Council meetings–with debate, presentations, testimony and interaction of residents, staff and elected officials–should not be a grueling marathon, with the inevitable short-cuts, bad tempers and attention lapses brought on by exhaustion. To be clear, I’m not blaming the current mayor or council. Worse meetings happened in the last administration, just going by the clock at adjournment. But, I hope Mayor Kilgore will look into ways to improve this situation. More meetings? Earlier start time? Certain basic items should not be in front of Council at all; it was mentioned that is being reviewed. Then there’s the opposite—when a new issue is so incendiary that Council Members are deluged with resident emails, calls AND a petition as soon as the Agenda goes out, that issue needs review and community consultation BEFORE being aired at a Council meeting. (The problematic item on June 21 was consideration of a new Agreement to develop a tract off Clubhouse Drive with major variances; the fact the land is currently in Travis County’s jurisdiction and not subject to Lakeway’s development rules made things that much more difficult.) Anyway, it was a long and less than satisfactory night all around….

Go here for the Meeting Packet info– https://www.lakeway-tx.gov/archive.aspx

And, go here to watch the video of the meeting– https://lakewaytx.new.swagit.com/videos/123171

RESULTS IN ALL CAPS

–Item 7 (part of the Consent Agenda) Making only specified action committees subject to Texas Open Meetings Act, as allowed by state law: PASSED

–Item 13 Disclosure of surveillance system on city street: CAMERAS TO BE REMOVED AND DATA ERASED

It was revealed that, back in January of 2021, the Rough Hollow HOA allowed a company called Flock Safety to install 8 cameras (locations shown on page 33 of the meeting packet) in the public right of way (which is city property), trained on Highlands Blvd. and other heavily used public streets. They record vehicle details, license plate numbers, and time for all traffic, on a 24/7 basis. (These are NOT traffic cams.) The stated purpose is monitoring for missing persons, outstanding warrants, stolen vehicles and stolen plates. However, the data itself can be sold to third parties, which raises privacy concerns. Then-Chief of Police Todd Radford signed the MOU (memorandum of understanding) with Flock but did so without consulting or notifying the Mayor, Council or City Manager. (The city only recently became aware when a resident asked about the cameras.) Mayor Kilgore reported that the HOA President told him Chief Radford presented this as a city initiative. In addition to there having been no city approval of this, the police department has no policy in place to manage the data or protect officers or the city in the event of a controversy. Bill Hayes of Legends testified that he assumed this was an approved City of Lakeway project; he assured Council he would have the cameras removed immediately, as well as request all accumulated date be erased. No other immediate action was deemed needed.

Personally, I trust the city is looking into at least 3 troubling issues raised here: 1) What other things did Chief Radford do without informing the City Manager, Mayor or Council, or obtaining the required authorization? 2) What role did Legends play? 3) Did anyone profit from this?

–Item 14 5.5 acre tract on Rupen is being looked at for development yet again, this time for 12 single family homes, R-1 zoning: APPROVED

–Item 18 Special Use Permit for Village Square for a bakery known as Love and Cookies: APPROVED

–Item 19 Special Use Permit for Lohmans Crossing Shopping Center for a tea/baked goods/ice cream shop known as Pearl’s Tea Café: APPROVED

–Item 23 Adoption of First Amended and Restated Development Agreement for Rough Hollow Lakeway Highlands (page 114 of the Meeting Packet). Legends wants a variance for all 68 homes in its Highlands Phase 3, Section 6B to allow front-facing garages so they can have 3-car garage auto-courts. This concession is demanded even though Legends got VERY favorable treatment–more condos, and even a storage facility—in the recently negotiated new development agreement the city just ironed out for completion of Rough Hollow: APPROVED

–Item 24 Adoption of Development Agreement for 314 Clubhouse (page 177 of the Meeting Packet). Now in the ETJ, at Longwood, the 6.3 acre tract would be annexed to the city with 17 single-family homes built. Zoning would be R-2, they want front facing garages with no turnaround, 15’ set-back, building materials specified, zoning fees waived, developer has 5 years to begin construction. POSTPONED UNTIL THE JULY 19 COUNCIL MEETING, to allow time for the developer to work with the city and residents.

During Citizen’s Participation, a resident quoted rude and belittling comments made by Council Member Kumar at the site inspection. Unfortunately, his smug attitude went a long way toward inflaming resident animosity and derailing the meeting.

–Item 25 Adoption of Development Agreement for East Side Landing by Legacy DCS (page 208 of the Meeting Packet). Now in the ETJ, near the western end of Flint Rock Road, the 43.88 acres would be annexed to the city. During the platting phase of development, a 100-foot right-of-way for the extension of Flint Rock Road would be dedicated to the City, allowing the proposed extension of Flint Rock Road to Bee Creek Road in accordance with the Thoroughfare Plan. The number of single-family homes is not specified. A portion would be R-1 zoning; another portion would be R-3 zoning (with front-facing garages). Building materials are specified; developer has 5 years to start and 10 years to complete. APPROVED

–Item 26 Reviewing traffic rules for golf carts. To summarize, as of NOW: driver must be licensed; allowed on roads posted at 30mph or less; only allowed during daylight hours; only allowed for transportation to/from a golf course; must use recreation lane or path when provided; and violations are subject to fines up to $500. In addition, there are various state law provisions. COUNCIL DESIRES TO CHANGE THE LOCAL ORDINANCE TO ALLOW MORE CART USE AND DIRECTED STAFF TO INVESTIGATE OPTIONS, WITH ACTION AS EARLY AS JULY.

–Item 27 Police chief advisory committee to be formed, being a search team composed of Mayor Kilgore and 2 council members to assist the City Manager in identifying and interviewing candidates to fill the vacancy. COMMITTEE IS MAYOR KILGORE, PLUS COUNCIL MEMBERS SMITH AND VANCE.

–Executive Sessions: Item 28—ETJ; Item 29—police department; and Item 30–601 Dragon. NO ACTION ADJOURNED 12:09am

Council’s June 28 Special Meeting

What a difference a week makes…. After June 21’s contentious session, this week’s meeting was calm and informative, discourse was civil, and it wrapped up before anyone needed to call 911. Sure, it was a budget meeting, but still—nicely done! One caveat—including at least some of the Budget info in the Meeting Packet would help immensely those following along from home; Mayor Kilgore promised to do this as the budget process develops, estimates firm up, and bids are received.

Go here for the Agenda and Meeting Packet— https://www.lakeway-tx.gov/archive.aspx

And, go here to watch the meeting— https://lakewaytx.new.swagit.com/videos/123518

RESULTS:

Item 3: Chris Rea from Lake Travis Fire Rescue updated everyone on wildfire mitigation efforts in HGB I and II, consisting of removing downed trees and establishing shaded fuel breaks. (See the Meeting Packet for extensive info, including maps.) He confirmed completion of HGB I by 8/21 and HGB II by 3/22. Also, he stated the $158K unspent from the $350K allocated should be sufficient to complete this phase of the project. Next area is North Lakeway Village, likely done in spring/summer, 2022. (For that work, the $46K total will be met with a $37K FEMA grant and $9K of city funds.) Questions were raised about maintenance work later on; Chris said maintenance is far less expensive than the original clear out; originally, he estimated $3,500/acre, then agreed this seemed high and promised to provide specifics later. [No action was needed, as the plan and funding were approved previously.]

As noted at the meeting, Lake Travis Fire Rescue will come to your house and perform a FREE Home Ignition Zone Assessment of the exterior. You just need to live within the ESD 6 jurisdiction, which is Lakeway and surrounding areas (a map is linked on the webpage below). I did this in 2019, and it was a great experience. Chris walked the lot with me, pointing out fire vulnerabilities and what could be done to correct them. I also got a 16 page report on my property that was very helpful. I was able to make several of the suggested changes, to make my yard and home less vulnerable to fire. If interested, go to the city’s “Be Wildfire Ready!” page https://www.lakeway-tx.gov/235/Wildfire-Readiness and scroll down to Get your free Home Ignition Zone Assessment for contact info.

Item 4—TML Health Care Proposal for an employee benefits package. (TML is a non-profit risk pool. Considerable info is in the Meeting Packet). Cost for the coming year will increase by 3%, which amounts to $31K. For health insurance, they are switching to Blue Cross Blue Shield’s network and claim payments. It was noted that city employees had roughly $650K in Covid-related expenses (testing, vaccinations, and treatment) for the year ending 5/21. [No action needed, as this will be handled as part of the budget approval process.]

Item 5–WORK SESSION: Fiscal Year 2022 Budget. The City Manager reported that TCAD does not yet have final numbers, so everything is estimated for property taxes. The “no new revenue rate” is 0.1563 as of now. Residential values are up, and commercial values are down. The result is that even if the city does not raise its tax rate, the increased valuations will result in higher property tax bills for residents. (As always, appraised values are determined by Travis County, not City of Lakeway. In addition, City of Lakeway gets less than 10% of the property tax payments that residents make; other taxing authorities get most of what we pay–the big winner is LTISD, followed by Travis County and your MUD.)

As far as revenues, franchise fees are down, due to a change in state law. Sales tax revenues are up. Activity Center and Swim Center revenues should return to normal in the coming year.

Expenditures, as far as proposed new and big-ticket items, include: a crime scene tech for the Police Department; a maintenance operator for Parks and Rec; $157K for 4 positions previously approved but only partially funded; 3%-3.5% salary increases for employees, costing $350K; health care increase for employees, costing $31K; subscription for an alert notification app to send emergency and routine text messages to residents, costing $6K; new vehicles for Police Department (2 Tahoes and a 4X4), Public Works (4X4 dump truck), and Building & Development (a small pick-up); subscription for an app for the Police Department to track officer training; new signage for Canyanlands trail system, costing $10K; city-wide training for emergency preparedness; retention pond repair and maintenance ($30K allocated); franchise fee audit ($10K allocated); service contract for dispatch consoles at the Police Station; electronic device data extraction service for the Police Department; maintenance service for cameras inside the Police Station; Witches Ride, a Halloween event to be sponsored by Parks and Rec, costing $25K; 4 AC units for the Activity Center; parking lot work at Swim Center and Activity Center; replacing some exterior doors at City Hall; an expert consultant to assist the Economic Development Committee; and additional items to be submitted by various departments and committees.

All together, the city is now looking at $16M in expenditures. The usual annual transfer of $350K to the Capital Reserve Fund seems feasible, leaving a 45% fund balance ratio. So, a larger transfer to CRF may be possible.

More budget meetings are coming up, including afternoon of July 19; that will be a double-header, with a regular Council meeting that evening. At the July 26 meeting, we should have TCAD’s final numbers. At the Aug. 16 meeting, Council needs to propose a property tax rate. More data will be available at the Sept. 13 work session. The property tax rate will be adopted at the Sept. 20 meeting.

Mayor Kilgore asked staff to look at the current set-up for Activity Center memberships for residents, revenue generated, city funding for LAC, options, etc., as related to the budget. [No action needed at this time.]

Addendum—Purchase by the city of 601 Dragon “in order to address significant drainage issues in the area around the property, and in order to allow this property to retain its current state as the natural drainage channel for run-off in this part of Lakeway.” It will remain undeveloped, and some channel work may be needed. Purchase price (not stated) is within the appraised value range. Council voted unanimously to purchase this tract.

Adjourned at 8:16pm. Wow, shank of the evening….

Back to me….

Still catching up on life after Covid, now that I’m safely vaccinated. Doctor’s appointment for me, vet appointment for Tulip, maintenance check for the car, house stuff, on and on….

The election fiasco in New York City added ranked voting to my list of Things I Don’t Plan to Ever Understand. Other items on that list include cryptocurrency, Middle East relations, jazz, France, US Senate rules, map-reading, celestial mechanics, programming my sprinklers, and just about any form of insurance.

Still reading a lot. Recommendations (both are at Lake Travis Community Library):

— After the Fall: Being American in the World We’ve Made, by Ben Rhodes (2021) The senior aide to Pres. Obama traveled extensively after 2018, finding America’s fingerprints everywhere and connecting democratic struggles in Hungary, Hong Kong and, Russia to what is now happening here at home. This book will not cheer up anyone. But it presents many intriguing ideas….

— Win, by Harlan Coben (2021) Forget about this series’ usual hero, Myron Bolitar. This time, the focus is all on his ultra rich and quite possibly psychotic sidekick, Windsor Horne Lockwood, III. Win is a nice antidote to the sometimes too-nice-guy Myron, and the dark humor is bitingly yummy.

My morning walks are earlier now, due to the heat, and I’m seeing even more sweet fawns.