Keep Austin Working Doucment — original pdf

Backup

Keep Austin Working  .”  . Austin’s  NYT’s UpShot thinks  see the loss of around  , idea right now right this is about taking ​ ​ While public health outcomes continue to be unclear as we test more people and see infection  and death rates and predictions rise and fall, the economic picture is clearly dire. The Department  of Labor has set the official unemployment rate at 4.4% nationally, but unemployment nationwide has risen to somewhere close to 13% and will continue to rise unemployment numbers are just as dire, as the city is expected to “ 261,000 jobs, or an unemployment rate of about 25% – levels last seen during the Great  Depression   Because the City of Austin has, understandably, paused many Commission meetings due to  public health concerns, the Commissions I’m on (Economic Prosperity, D-8, and Ethics Review,  D-2) have not been able to meet to talk through and make recommendations to Austin’s City  Council. This is a running brainstorm of economic development, recovery and jobs programs that  I think have merit and may be worth trying. You should know that, for me, this isn’t about having  action and, in doing so, finding the right solution as  the ​ we go. It’s about challenges we’re facing right now as a city.    The goal with these ideas is to spur opportunity , small business creation and sustainability   Some of these are already being considered by Austin City Council and Travis County leadership,  many of these ideas have been curated and refined based on discussions I’ve had one-off with  fellow commissioners, other local nonprofit and business leaders, and constituents. These are not  know if they will work, but  fully-baked, I don’t know what public reception of them will be, I don’t ​ unprecedented moments require unexpected solutions so I’m throwing this open-source list out  there. If you’re on a City Commission, please feel free to take any of these and build  recommendations around them. They’re in a public Google Doc for a reason. Whether you’re on  a board or commission or not, if you have more ideas, please feel free to and I may add them to the list.    We’re all in this together, y’all. We’re gonna get through it together, too.  trying a whole bunch of ideas to mitigate all of the different, interconnected  ​ , economic security , job retention , job creation equality of  financial relief.  tweet at me email me  , and or         Hi, this is Nathan Ryan. All ideas open-source and crowd-sourced on Twitter , Facebook, and via email; no need to  attribute if you use them, but you can tweet at me or email me if you have ideas.  Looking for somewhere to donate? AllTogetherATX  ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Recommendation Ideas  Passed by #ATXCouncil    ● ✅ Done - Designate a portion of the City’s Emergency Funds for Direct Cash  Assistance programs to put unrestricted funds directly into people’s hands    Under consideration (by commissions or Austin City Council)  ● Streamline and simplify the city’s procurement process to allow City of Austin  public projects to be approved, move forward, and be paid out more quickly;  require that a clear majority of those projects be done by businesses that are  based in CoA  ● Rapidly create new health codes within the health department to allow  unemployed chefs to set up in-home takeout kitchens to sell fhood from    More  ● Establish a grant fund to distribute $50,000-$100,000 to small businesses with  100 employees or less  ● Create “pop-up” economic recovery customer service centers in each Council  district around the city, offering digital tools and job retraining to bring needed  short term rental income to support to small-scale Austin landlords  ● Establish a disaster loan for larger businesses and small businesses that need  more than $50,000-$100,000 to survive  ● Authorize the Director of the Economic Development Department to reclassify or  repurpose unused discretionary funds for the establishment of an Economic  Development Innovation Fund housed with the Economic Development  Department; Authorize Directors of Departments that administer City programs to  partner with the Economic Development Innovation Fund and/or the Office of  Innovation to help fund, within existing budgets, innovative solutions to a  prioritized list of Austin’s strategic priorities (a modification of one of Economic  Prosperity Commission’s recommendations in August of 2019)        Hi, this is Nathan Ryan. All ideas open-source and crowd-sourced on Twitter , Facebook, and via email; no need to  attribute if you use them, but you can tweet at me or email me if you have ideas.  Looking for somewhere to donate? AllTogetherATX  ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ● Forgive loans from the ● Forgive all City of Austin-issued loans that are being used for operating expenses  Family Business Loan Program  (even if that’s not what they were initially approved for)  ● Simplify construction permitting to approve construction jobs and start or continue  new projects ASAP  ● Extend existing city licenses from one to two or more years  ● Explore rent abatement or cancellation options for restaurants, bars, hospitality for  ● Establish a kind of City of Austin Civilian Conservation Corps to work in Austin’s  a period of time (3-12 months)  public areas once they reopen  ● Establish a City of Austin Digital Response Team within the Innovation Office to  employ unemployed tech workers and developers; they can focus on CoA digital  initiatives and improve the customer experience for Austin residents  ● Develop grant and loan programs to incentivize businesses to shift some of their  manufacturing capabilities to produce PPE and other needed medical devices  ● Develop new Arts and Cultural grant programs to support City of Austin artists  ● Work alongside colleges and universities to provide job training and upskilling  programs to unemployed workers  ● Increase marketing budgets to promote existing City of Austin Small Business  Program x University of Texas at Austin Center for Professional Education online  classes  ● Reduce or eliminate licensing or permitting fees for businesses, sole proprietors,  and freelancers  ● Develop a program that utilizes the city’s unemployed restaurant workers to make  and distribute meals to underserved communities, frontline workers, and civic  institutions  ● Convert existing loan programs into grants for a period of nine months; expand  those programs  ● Expand the Heritage Grant program to create more Heritage Capital and  Site-Specific Heritage Tourism Projects        Hi, this is Nathan Ryan. All ideas open-source and crowd-sourced on Twitter , Facebook, and via email; no need to  attribute if you use them, but you can tweet at me or email me if you have ideas.  Looking for somewhere to donate? AllTogetherATX  ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ● Evaluate and expand applicable programs and resources available within City of  Austin’s Get Back In Business program other disasters  for businesses affected by natural and  ● Prioritize and expand immediately available funds for previously approved transit  ● Legalize busking ● Experiment with property tax rebates for music venues as a kind of economic  ok, nevermind, busking is legal now  ● Expand funding for Austin Public Health programs ; employ Austinites through  infrastructure projects  development grant  these services  ● Create tax incentives and develop rent subsidy programs for businesses that are  encouraging or requiring employees to work from home to slow the spread of  COVID-19  ● Relax or eliminate ordinances or requirements that penalize entrepreneurs based  on their lack of collateral or credit scores in order to qualify for business loans or  grants  ● Increase hiring at parks, public pools, and other temporary recreational staffing  positions  ● Support Austin’s children, parents, educators by extending 10-month school jobs;  identify and stipend parents and older students who are/mentors for distance  learning transition or for SEL practices  ● Support the Texas Craft Brewers Guild petition to allow breweries to deliver direct  to consumers  ● Scale up the Equitable Green Jobs pilot program to provide expanded access to  workforce training and job opportunities focused on increasing sustainability and  resilience, with a particular focus on low-income communities and communities of  color    ● Adopt the Five Principles of a Just COVID-19 Relief and Stimulus to guide City  recovery efforts and ensure City-funded initiatives address the dual crises of  COVID-19 and climate change whenever possible        Hi, this is Nathan Ryan. All ideas open-source and crowd-sourced on Twitter , Facebook, and via email; no need to  attribute if you use them, but you can tweet at me or email me if you have ideas.  Looking for somewhere to donate? AllTogetherATX  ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ● If you’re part of a City of Austin Commission, please feel free to use these to  draft recommendations; they’re open source, no need to credit me. Have  another idea for this list? Email me .  a. A few more quick notes:  i. ii. iii. If you’re a City Commissioner or Board Member, note that you  should receive guidance from the city staff member that’s  responsible for managing your board or commission before you try  to meet digitally; in the meantime, you can prepare a  recommendation for your Commission on your own and submit it for  discussion and a vote once meetings are back up and running  If you’re not a City Commissioner and you have economic  development ideas, you can still send them to me here  For a full list of Boards and Commissions, see here  Resources  Program (PPP) loans  Management  COVID-19 Outbreak  ● How to apply for U.S. Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection  ● Apply for small business loans via the Texas Division of Emergency  ● Austin-Travis County Offers Help for Residents and Businesses During  ● Austin Chamber of Commerce’s list of COVID-19 resources  ● Austin Young Chamber of Commerce’s list of COVID-19 resources  ● Greater Austin Black Chamber of Commerce’s, COVID-19 update  ● Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce’s COVID-19 resources  ● Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce’s list of COVID-19 update          Hi, this is Nathan Ryan. All ideas open-source and crowd-sourced on Twitter , Facebook, and via email; no need to  attribute if you use them, but you can tweet at me or email me if you have ideas.  Looking for somewhere to donate? AllTogetherATX  ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ● Austin Technology Council, COVID-19 information  ● AppSumo is giving away $1 million in software to companies affected by  ● Nonprofit Resources for COVID-19 ● Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to  , via Mission Capital  Coronavirus Disease 2019 - CDC  ● Nonprofits and Coronavirus, COVID-19 , via the National Council of  COVID19  Nonprofits        Hi, this is Nathan Ryan. All ideas open-source and crowd-sourced on Twitter , Facebook, and via email; no need to  attribute if you use them, but you can tweet at me or email me if you have ideas.  Looking for somewhere to donate? AllTogetherATX  ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​