Teddy Brosevelt Show | Episode #17 - Urban Alchemy Update and Worst Items on this Week's Austin City Council Agenda

To the listeners who tune in to Teddy for world and national news analysis, I appreciate your patience. We had two back-to-back episodes focused on Geoengineering with the legendary Blue Canaries on Thursday and Friday. Now two straight Austin episodes.It’s been 5 days since the last ‘normal’ episode of ‘The Teddy Brosevelt Show. So we will tape a ‘regular’ edition in the next 24 hours.Show #17 is almost exclusively devoted to discussing the worst items on this week’s Austin City Council agenda for this Thursday, July 28.But before we discuss this week’s absurd agenda items, we’ve got an update on the bombshell story we dropped on Austin Texas Times and Substack yesterday, along with an emergency podcast.Seems like a perfect time to drop this bad boy right here:Subscribe now to Teddy Brosevelt’s Substack newsletter. You’ll receive the latest posts + podcasts as soon as they hit the internet.Here’s the Twitter thread I posted about Urban Alchemy. It should have blown up way more. I give it a 2/10 on the impact scale. Was hoping for more like 8/10. Then again, Twitter hates me and they are based in San Francisco.Some purple-haired, Teddy-hating, flying purple people eater over at Twitter who gets their weekly meth from an Urban Alchemy ‘street ambassador’ down the block must have taken action and surreptitiously shadow-banned Teddy’s truth tweets.URBAN ALCHEMY Even though Austin City Council doesn’t vote on awarding the contract to Urban Alchemy for another four days, Urban Alchemy is so positive this deal is happening, they have updated the FAQs on their website to feature Austin as the very first city listed in the first sentence, ahead of San Francisco, Oakland and L.A.Look at the ‘emergency’ process used by Austin Public Heath to suspiciously award the contract to Urban Alchemy at the last minute:Item 190 RFP: The City That Cries ‘Emergency’ to Conduct Questionable ActivityAustin Public Health says new management is needed for the ARCH homeless shelter in downtown Austin. Austin Public Health declares “emergency” conditions.Why do they keep declaring emergencies?Check out this Thursday’s Austin City Council agenda, and you’ll see City of Austin declares a state of emergency (for unspecified reasons) FOUR different times.* Item 10* Item 11* Item 17* Item 18Here’s Item 10.Here’s Item 11.By declaring a state of emergency, the City of Austin avoids having to deal with all those pesky rules and requirements. Check out the timeline of Austin Public Health’s rushed, suspicious and rules-be-damned 96 hour process to award a $4,143,350 contract to Urban Alchemy for management of the downtown ARCH shelter. Seven days ago, nine non-profit organizations pitched APH with their proposals to manage the ARCH.On July 19, a tenth candidate contacted Austin Public Health.Then out of nowhere, Urban Alchemy contacts APH as the eleventh organization to submit a proposal.The next day, Urban Alchemy gets the deal.Nice vetting process, huh?Top ten search results for ‘Urban Alchemy criticism’ on DuckDuck should have immediately eliminated this scandal-tainted bunch of convicted felons from consideration.TIMELINE: Item #190 - Austin Public Health’s Suspicious Five Day Process* July 18 - Nine non-profits give homeless pitch to APH* July 19 - Tenth non-profit contacts APH* July 20 - Urban Alchemy swoops in* July 22 - Urban Alchemy gets contract Enough about Urban Alchemy.On to this week’s agenda. WORST ITEMS ON AUSTIN CITY COUNCIL’S AGENDA FOR THURSDAY, JULY 28ITEMS 12, 13 + 14During a time when the city government can’t pick up garbage, open all the pools + tons of city job openings…Let’s drop $353,000 to paint 3 walls:* Barton Springs Bathroom - $104,000* Dove Springs Health Facility - $110,000* Burnet Road corridor - $139,000If it takes three months to paint a $100,000+ mural, minus a generously estimated $20,000 for paint, supplies and ladders, that’s $80,000 to paint a wall in 90 days or less. That’s the equivalent of a $320,000 annual salary to paint a mural on a wall. I guarantee that many budding Austin visual artists would paint that wall for a small stipend of $5000.S**t, Teddy will paint all three walls for FREE over Labor Day weekend with a team of friends if the city picks up the tab for paint, brushes and ladders. Artists like Teddy want exposure and the chance to showcase our work on a huge outdoor canvas.Getting a six figure check to paint a mural in 90 days is like winning the lottery. ITEM 85:Austin wants to do a $14.7 million internal deal with Cap Metro transportation to lease a few hundred bicycles for the city’s MetroBike rental program over the next ten years.For $14.7 million, Austin could purchase 73,500 bicycles at $200 a pop and give them away to anyone who needs one.Austin’s population is around 730,500, so one out of every ten residents who would like a free $200 bicycle for transportation can get one.If the city wants to provide bicycle rentals for downtown visitors and tourists, outsource it to a company that specializes in it. ITEM 16 - WALKER, TEXAS RANGER GETS A FREE CHECK FOR $250,000:Chuck Norris starred in Walker, Texas Ranger when it first started back in 1993. and has been syndicated in over 150 countries. There’s a new reboot of Walker, Texas Ranger called ‘Walker’ on The CW. It premiered in 2021 and is entering it’s third season of production. Austin City Council had previously approved a $213,910 incentive for Season 2 of Walker on September 2, 2021.This Walker, Texas Ranger reboot was already planning on filming the show in Austin. Why is Austin handing out a free check for $245,472 to a profitable California-based production company owned by billion dollar Viacom.That’s nearly $500,000 in free money to Walker, Texas Ranger in just the past ten months.Consider:* Main character of show (legendary Texas Ranger Cordell Walker) lives in Austin* The guy who stars as Cordell Walker (Jared Padalecki) is from Austin* Jared Padalecki also is a producer of the showWalker is produced by a Viacom-owned production company called Eye Productions Inc..Viacom generates billions of dollars in annual revenue. So why is Austin awarding them nearly $500,000 in free incentives in ten months?Well, the RFP says that when ‘Dawson’s Creek’ and ‘One Tree Hill’ were on The CW back in the 1990s, it drove people to Wilmington, North Carolina for Dawson’s Creek walking tours. Watch for a Walker, Texas Ranger-fueled travel boom in Austin this fall.12 PM - MIDNIGHT SNACK:Not sure if there’s a band called ‘Midnight Snack’ playing at this meeting.Or if this a real, actual midnight snack in middle of a stupid long, porktacular tribute to government waste and excess. If Midnight Snack is a 5 piece band, they will have easy math when they split the free $250,000 check for their 15 minute set.Step right up - everyone gets a free check!Just tell us how many zeroes!MEANINGLESS PROCLAMATION:Worthless Mayor Pro Tem Allison Alter has a big announcement to share, as she officially proclaims it’s now ‘City of Austin Parks Month’.Mayor Pro Tem Allison Alter will hand out free keychains, paperweights and Pinewood Derby size trophies to Austin Park Foundation members and Austin Parks & Recreation staff.Gave myself a deadline of 8:55 a.m. and ran out of time before I could finish. I cover all of these agenda items and more in Episode #17 of ‘The Teddy Brosevelt Show’, streaming now everywhere. Stream ‘The Teddy Brosevelt Show’ - Episode #17 now:* Spotify* iHeartRadio* Apple Podcasts* TuneIn Radio* Substack This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit teddybrosevelt.substack.com