The U.S. subsidiary of France’s state-owned railroad company says a high-speed rail plan that would link Dallas and Houston would kill any chance of ultra-fast trains ever servicing Austin. SNCF America announced this week that it has formally submitted to the Federal Railway Administration its objections to the Texas Central Rail project, the privately funded plan that would run bullet trains between Dallas and Houston with a stop in between near College Station. “The Texas Central Rail project has been designed around the best interest of a single company, not what is best for Texans or the state’s rail transportation future,” SNCF America President and CEO Alain Leray said. “If the federal government allows the Texas Central Rail project to move forward as proposed, it would likely close the door on the future of high-speed rail in communities like Austin, San Antonio, Waco and Temple, while placing huge risks on the shoulders of local, state and federal taxpayers.” His company has instead proposed an alternative alignment dubbed the “T-bone” that would start down the Interstate 35 corridor in DFW before forking at Temple, with one line continuing to San Antonio and the other branching off to Houston. That network would connect Texas’ major cities with 480 miles of track, as opposed to the 763-mile triangle that would be required if Texas Central builds a direct route between Houston and Dallas. The company also took issue with Texas Central’s claims that it will be completely privately financed, arguing that the project will face significant debt financing that would have to be picked up by taxpayers if revenues don’t meet expectations – a scenario that is likely, SNCF America says, because the Texas Central plan puts its Houston station far from that city’s center. In a statement published by San Antonio radio station WOAI, Texas Central clapped back on SNCF America, putting special emphasis on its Gallic provenance: “Of course, SNCF, the state-owned and heavily subsidized (at more than $16 billion a year) French National Railway would declare they are against competition and block the world’s best high-speed train technology from coming to the U.S. Contrary to the European model, railroads in Texas are privately owned and operated, and meet the needs of the market, not top-down government plans. Rather than spend the amount of time and resources that Texas Central has invested over many years, the French State Railway is one of many competitors that would prefer to skip to the front of the line and thwart Texas Central’s progress.”

It gets pretty crazy out there during South by Southwest. The city would like to remind all festivalgoers (and those residents who are just trying to get through the next couple of weeks) that there are ways to reach out if you feel like your health or safety, or someone else’s, is being threatened:

• If you notice anything potentially dangerous or suspicious, including suspicious packages, the city urges you to call 911 immediately. If it’s not an emergency, and you’d rather keep it off the phone, you can submit an anonymous tip to arictexas.org/tip.
• You can report any general nonemergency complaints by calling 311, for example if you’re concerned that a festival food service establishment is lacking in terms of cleanliness or permitting. There is also an app for reporting such observations, available for Apple and Android devices.

Most discussions of the possible construction of a professional soccer stadium on city-owned land have included heavy use of the term “community benefits,” or what allowances developers and soccer club ownership will give to the city and residents in exchange for land use. On Tuesday Precourt Sports Ventures – the ownership group of the Columbus Crew Major League Soccer club that hopes to relocate to Austin – offered its first significant volley in the conversation now that the city’s McKalla Place property looks like the most likely spot for the 20,000-seat stadium. In a letter to City Council members, the group put forth a list of possible benefits, saying: “The following are ideas presented in an attempt to begin the discussions about potential community benefits and to make suggestions as a starting point. There is not an infinite number nor do we pretend to know or understand all of the needs or wants of the Community, but offer this as a conversation starter.”

The benefits include:

• $6.25 million in sourcing payments for local companies for good and services
• Up to $2.5 million and 2,500 annual volunteer hours given to local nonprofit organizations
• $4 million in fundraising opportunities provided to nonprofit organizations
• $1.35 million to local food and beverage companies servicing the stadium
• The use of meeting and event space for neighborhood nonprofit organizations
• One day of stadium use per year by the Austin Independent School District
• Free soccer training for underserved youth
• Youth soccer camps and clinics
• Equipment donations to local athletes
• 50 tickets minimum per game provided to local organizations
• Partnering with local organizations to hold a neighborhood cultural celebration
• Development of an annual concert featuring local musicians who will be highlighted with in-game performances

Austinite Niyanta Spelman, executive director of the charity Rainforest Partnership, is passionate about rainforests. She describes them as “magical, mystical, full of the unknown,” and points out that there is much that we humans do not know about those forests, which are also sometimes called “the lungs of the Earth.” 2018 marks the ninth year that the Rainforest Partnership has presented Films for the Forest to Austin and the South by Southwest community. The films are part of a contest created by the Rainforest Partnership to draw attention to the need to conserve the rainforest, not just for the plants, animals and people who live there, but for the health of the entire planet. The films, which range from less than four minutes to over 20 minutes, were judged by Academy Award nominee Richard Linklater and Michael Cain, president of EARTHxFilm. The rainforest films will also be featured at EARTHxFilm festival in Dallas April 13-22. On Tuesday, three filmmakers with experience making films in Brazil, Ecuador and Peru described for their SXSW audience the ups and downs of making movies in the Amazon rainforest. Among those speaking was Brazilian director Rafa Calil, who is working on a documentary about the legacy of Chico Mendes and the everyday lives of forest dwellers. Mendes, Brazil’s most famous rainforest activist, was murdered in 1988. Calil described going out with a hunter to find meat in the forest and spending the night in a hammock high off the ground with a multitude of mosquitoes and a howler monkey jeering at them. Calil said he has footage of a local official cutting down a tree in a part of the forest that was supposed to be protected. That illustrates one of the big problems of protecting the forest – if local people don’t become involved in politics, it’s hard for them to convince others of the need to save the forest. Spelman said her organization “partners with the communities and local governments, so you make it harder for people to do certain things (such as cutting protected trees). It’s not easy. We’ve had a project coordinator who was on an assassination list – a long time ago.” But, she added, “we haven’t had that in years and I never feel unsafe.” For a description of Rainforest Partnership’s projects, visit RainforestPartnership.org.

It is our sad duty to report that Tuesday’s regular installment of the Travis County Commissioners Court has been called off this week due to South by Southwest. Ongoing storylines involving the search for a new courthouse property, the construction of a new women’s unit at the county jail, and whether or not to reinstate the countywide burn ban will be on hold while county officials and the journalists they cover instead head into the muck of robot car panels and occasional free drinks. Please be safe and we’ll see you at 700 Lavaca Street next week.

City Council took action Thursday to lower water and wastewater rates for retail water customers. The savings – which will be about $2.40 per month for the average residential customer – will take effect on May 1. The savings come from an increase in capital recovery fees, which are charged to developers for new connections to Austin Water service. The fees have increased substantially over the past few years. In 2013, the city collected $8 million in such fees. This year, it expects to collect about $30 million. Council approved the lower rates in a vote of 9-0, with Council members Greg Casar and Delia Garza absent for the vote. “I think this is a really big deal,” said Mayor Steve Adler. “This is the first water decrease … in anyone’s memory. This is a really big day.”

We whispered this at the beginning of the month, but as traffic begins to pile up out there, we thought we’d remind you that the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority has extended its service for these busy busy South by Southwest days. Here are some of our notes from before, with some updates (and maps!):

• MetroRapid will run until 2:30 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 12:30 a.m. on Sundays. Buses will run on a regular schedule until 12:30 a.m. Monday through Wednesday.
• Night Owl buses will be available from midnight to 3 a.m., and they will run more frequently than usual.
• MetroAirport Route 100 runs every 30 minutes between Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) and downtown, and it will run every 15 minutes on Sunday, March 18.
• Downtown bus routes 4, 17, 21, 22, 100, 122 and 484 will be detoured during the festival. Riders can find out detour info at specific bus stops by scanning the QR codes posted there. There is also a detour map.
• MetroRail will have extended service every day and will operate from 10:30 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, with the last train at 2:30 a.m. on Saturdays and midnight on Sundays. The complete schedule for MetroRail Week 1 is here and Week 2 is here.
• A couple of other handy maps: Late night services and major downtown stops.

As always, you can call the GO Line (512-474-1200) for more information on detours and trip planning, or visit CapMetro.org/specialevents. Capital Metro’s app is also super useful for purchasing tickets and planning trips.

As the Monitor has reported, there are various questions yet to be answered about the petition drive to put CodeNEXT on the ballot. Apparently, one of the questions raised by the process might soon have an answer. Recently, petitioners questioned whether they had the right to solicit signatures on the grounds of the Central Library. In response to that question, on March 9, attorney Bill Aleshire received an email written by City Attorney Anne Morgan on behalf of the city manager and library director. That email stated that criminal trespass notices issued to petitioners would be rescinded and, at the March 26 meeting of the Library Commission, an item to reconsider the Library Use Rules will be on the agenda. “Thank you for your patience as the City has worked through questions raised by you and your clients about the Library’s designation of its property as a nonpublic forum. We appreciate that there are differing views about the appropriate use of library grounds for petitioning and other First Amendment purposes,” read the email. “During the interim period preceding the Library Commission meeting, the Austin Public Library will allow petitioners to solicit signatures on library grounds in a manner that is not disruptive of library services to its customers, or to the library services provided by library staff. Specifically, the City will allow petitioners to solicit signatures on the library grounds in a manner that is not disruptive of the normal use of library services or property by library staff or other customers or in violation of Library Use Rules.”

Kerry Overton, the deputy general manager and chief customer compliance officer at Austin Energy, which operates the Utilities Customer Service Office, reminded the Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee on February 28 that back in October 2017, his team noticed an unusual spike in escalation calls related to September water bills. According to him, after all was said and done, 17,000 customers experienced the pattern of low August bills followed by high September bill. 7,400 of those customers found themselves billed at a higher tier due to the alleged quantity of water they consumed during that period. In the last five months, Austin Energy in conjunction with Austin Water has made a herculean effort to correct this widespread error. “Fairly close to about 100% of those customers have (begun) to already see the credit on their bill,” said Overton. Letters of notification about the credit have gone out and Overton expects that the “bill smoothing” process should be complete by March 15. However, he noted that “If we still receive customer calls (related to the matter) … we will still do that beyond that time period” to issue corrections. To avoid this snafu in the future, Austin Energy has hired a new vendor to do meter reads citywide, and they are requiring them to take a photo of every meter to confirm that their read was accurate and that the meter reader was on-site. Nevertheless, despite all of this effort, Austin Energy has still not identified the root cause of this problem.

Refusing to be left out of the fun, City Hall will host a midnight pitch event tonight, brought to Austinites by the City of Austin’s International Program, within the Economic Development Department’s Global Business Expansion Division, and Alibaba Group. The event will take place from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. at City Hall, and will feature pitches from local businesses: Merlot Skincare, Before Elixir, Cuvee Coffee, Rhythm Superfoods, Blue Avocado, Atlas Wearables, NurturMe, Amorada Tequila and Sneaky Apron. According to a press release from the city, “Nine entrepreneurs will take the stage to pitch their products to a captive audience of Chinese retailers on Taobao Global, Alibaba’s solution that allows small-to-medium size businesses from outside of China to reach Chinese consumers via buying agents. This follows the first U.S. live pitch event in Austin, Texas last year, which garnered more than 13,000 views and 5 of 11 businesses received offers from Taobao Global to sell to China. … The Pitch Event aims to increase visibility of Austin brands and give businesses a chance to explore the Chinese consumer market, minus the expense of flying to tradeshows in China to meet buyers.” And, because this is Austin, the event will have musical sets between pitches.

It’s spring break now, but City Council is ready to set its sights on tackling CodeNEXT in earnest after the festival has packed up and left town. According to Council Member Leslie Pool’s post on the City Council Message Board, she is asking that Council’s tentative plan to take up the land development code rewrite on May 30 and May 31 has been scrapped be reconsidered due to conflicts with high school graduation ceremonies. Instead, Pool has suggested public meetings during the first week of June in addition to one of the May dates. Formal action to set the public hearing dates will be taken at the March 22 meeting of City Council, so stay tuned.

This whisper has been corrected to reflect the fact that Pool’s suggestion is to include a June date in the public hearings, not abandon the idea of a May hearing altogether.

All offices and schools in the Austin Independent School District will be closed for Spring Break, which runs March 12-16. View the district calendar here for future closings, have fun and stay safe out there!