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- BG Reads 1.17.2025
BG Reads 1.17.2025
🟪 BG Reads - January 17, 2025
Bingham Group Reads
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January 17, 2025
➡️ Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 An arctic blast will bring freezing weather and a chance of snow to Austin next week (KUT)
🟪 Austin ranks 5th in major cities vulnerable to wildfires (KUT)
🟪 How Fort Worth supplanted Austin as Texas’ top boomtown (Texas Tribune)
🟪 Austin Energy to add hundreds more EV charging ports over next five years (Austin Chronicle)
🟪 Biden won't enforce TikTok ban, official says, leaving fate of app to Trump (Associated Press)
Read On!
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
đź’¬ Council Message Board:
Updated List of Council Committees and Appointments (1.14.2025)
Council Committee Ordinance
An ordinance draft posted on the Council Message Board provides clarity on two new Council Committees, including the:
Economic Opportunity Committee: This committee may review topics including industry growth, emerging technology, job creation and retention, workforce development, education, childcare initiatives, small and minority business development, economic incentives, improvement districts, downtown matters, economic development corporations, trade and commerce, local and regional partnerships, minority- and women-owned business contracting policies, tourism, cultural arts, entertainment, and related matters.
đź“ť City Memos:
Short-Term Rental and Preservation Bonus Code Amendments (1.10.2025)
City Executive Changes
In a city memo released yesterday, City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced the retirement of Assistant City Manager Veronica Briseño, effective February 28, 2025.
Mr. Broadnax also stated that in the coming days, he will announce his plans for appointing a new Assistant City Manager to oversee the Austin Convention Center, Economic Development, Housing, Planning, and Development Services departments.
Robert Goode is now Interim Director of Capital Delivery Services and Mobility Officer for Project Connect Office. He most recently served as Assistant City Manager (ACM) over Austin Water, Aviation, Capital Delivery Services, Project Connect, and Transportation and Public Works departments.
Effective January 13, Michael Rogers assumed the role of Assistant City Manager overseeing those departments.
Before joining the City of Austin, Michael served as Assistant City Manager for the City of Fresno, California, where he provided strategic leadership for key city functions, including Airports, Transportation, Economic Development, the Convention Center, and Emergency Preparedness.
Michael was also the Director of Transportation for the City of Dallas from 2017 to 2020 and Director of Transportation for the City of Raleigh, North Carolina from 2016 to 2017.
Council District 10 Staff
Per Council Member Marc Duchen’s newsletter, his staff are:
Carrie Smith, Special Assistant to the Council Member / Acting Chief of Staff
Annie Candido, Constituent Liaison
Laura Yeager, Senior Policy Strategist
Sophia Mirto, Communications Director
ℹ️ Helpful City Links:
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
➡️ An arctic blast will bring freezing weather and a chance of snow to Austin next week (KUT)
Austin, prepare to start next week off with biting temperatures and potentially, some wintry precipitation.
The mild, sunny days of this week are coming to an end over the weekend as an arctic blast is forecasted to arrive Saturday and bring sub-freezing temperatures every consecutive night until Wednesday. Mack Morris, a National Weather Service meteorologist, forecasts Monday and Tuesday to be the coldest days of the snap with daytime temperatures in the mid-30s.
There’s also a chance of snow on those days, Morris said, which could make the roads icy.
"Basically right now is the time to push for cold weather preparedness. Be prepared to protect your people, pets, pipes, [and] plants by Saturday night from the cold weather," Morris said. Morris also said to keep an eye on your space heater if you’re using one, because they can cause fires. Never plug a space heater into a power strip and never leave them unattended, he said… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Austin ranks 5th in major cities vulnerable to wildfires (KUT)
Those who were in Austin in 2011 remember the tragic wildfires that hit Bastrop, Steiner Ranch and Spicewood that summer. The fires collectively burned through thousands of acres of land and destroyed over a thousand homes.
“You can still drive down 21 in Bastrop and see where the trees were,” Travis County Fire Marshal Gary Howell said. “The scar is still there. And it’s starting to grow back up, but you can still see some of the trees that were burned… they’re like toothpicks sticking up out of the ground.”
In the wake of the devastating wildfires that have blazed through more than 40,000 acres in the Los Angeles area, local officials are warning about the growing risk of similar fires here.
According to an August report by property data company CoreLogic, Austin is ranked fifth in the nation in homes at risk of being destroyed by wildfires. The report asserts Austin has more than 94,000 homes with elevated risk. The top four cities are all in Southern California.
Central Texas doesn't have the same high-powered winds that are accelerating wildfires in Southern California, but there are similarly hot and dry conditions and dense vegetation that can fuel fires... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Council Member Krista Laine opts to discontinue District 6 field office (Austin Monitor)
As she prepares for her first City Council meetings later this month, newly elected District 6 Council Member Krista Laine will represent residents of Northwest Austin and a portion of Williamson County without the use of a satellite office that has been available for constituent relations for 10 years.
After her November win over former Council Member Mackenzie Kelly, Laine decided that the $18,000 yearly lease on the commercial space on Anderson Mill Road near the Balcones Greene neighborhood wasn’t an effective use of the $844,878 budget to cover her staff’s salaries and all other operating expenses. The office, which was opened by inaugural D6 Council Member Don Zimmerman when he took office in 2015, was seen as necessary to allow constituents to meet with Council staff without traveling approximately 40 minutes to City Hall.
The office was the sole satellite operation while it was open, with other Council districts located closer to the city core and not presenting as much of a travel challenge.
The renewal rate Laine was given was higher than the roughly $1,200 per month Kelly said she was charged, or the $1,000 per month that Kelly’s predecessor Jimmy Flannigan said his office paid for the space. “$18,000 a year just for rent, plus other expenses, it’s a cost that comes out of our office budget that doesn’t come out of any other district office budget,” Laine said told Austin Monitor, adding that the office was due for tenant-cost improvements to make it suitable for regular use with district residents… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
➡️ How Fort Worth supplanted Austin as Texas’ top boomtown (Texas Tribune)
Fort Worth may soon become the state’s next city with more than 1 million people.
Fort Worth had nearly 990,000 residents as of January 2024, according to recent estimates from the Texas Demographic Center — just barely surpassing Austin to become the state’s fourth-largest city.
Fort Worth has grown faster than any other major Texas city since 2020 as the city added tens of thousands of jobs. The city’s relatively low home prices and rents, laidback Western vibe, cultural offerings like the city’s museum district and proximity to the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers make it an attractive destination for newcomers and contributed to its growth, observers said.
“Fort Worth is on a roll,” said Cullum Clark, director of the George W. Bush Institute’s Economic Growth Initiative at Southern Methodist University. “When you visit, it's pretty clear that it's a place that is booming, where people are very excited about the direction of things.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ City of Houston employees will be required to work in the office full-time starting in February (Houston Public Media)
Most City of Houston employees will be required to work in the office full-time starting next month, according to a letter sent from Mayor John Whitmire this week.
In a letter to department directors, Whitmire said it’s crucial to return to the office to work more collaboratively and have swift decision-making. City employees were given the opportunity to work from home after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with the city subsequently adopting a hybrid work policy that has allowed many employees to split time between their homes and offices. “In-person collaboration fosters the kind of teamwork, innovation, and accountability that allows us to deliver on our promises,” Whitmire wrote in the letter. Municipal employees have been allowed to work remotely through the Hybrid-Telework Program.
Whitmire’s rescinding of that policy will impact about 1,600 of the city’s roughly 22,000 workers. Starting Feb. 1, city employees will be expected to return to their office workstations unless they’ve been approved for a different accommodation… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US and World News]
➡️ Trump nominee to lead HUD says the agency is failing in its mission (NPR)
[Scott] Turner laid out his strategy to incentivize more housing development – and in-turn lower housing costs – that included loosening regulations on a federal, state and local level. He argued that fees and zoning requirements limit the creation of affordable housing units.
Turner also said the costs of construction materials can be lowered by getting the “fiscal house in order.” He also supports expanding the opportunity zone initiative, a program he worked on in the first Trump administration as the director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, which provides tax benefits for investors in low-income areas to encourage development... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Kash Patel has vowed retribution. As FBI director, he could do it. (Washington Post)
If Kash Patel has his way, he has written, the FBI’s top ranks will be fired. The bureau’s headquarters in downtown Washington will be emptied out and shuttered, and its authority will be “dramatically limited and refocused,” he wrote in his 2023 book. President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of Patel to lead the FBI has set off spasms of alarm among many national security veterans, law enforcement officials and others who have worked with him.
The former prosecutor and national security aide appears to have secured the support of at least some key Republican senators, but critics say Patel lacks the record and temperament needed to run the country’s premier law enforcement agency.
They point to his lack of experience as well as his history of remarks attacking Trump opponents and threatening to punish perceived foes. “The idea that he is going to become the FBI director is appalling,” said Charles Kupperman, who was deputy national security adviser in the previous Trump White House while Patel worked as an aide to the National Security Council. “His legal career is modest at best. His ideas are ludicrous.”
Patel’s record is light on managing a large workforce and heavy on bombastic rhetoric and fervent loyalty to Trump, according to a review of his published writing and interviews with more than 20 people who have worked with him over the years. He also has at times overstated his achievements. His detractors, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss information they were not authorized to disclose, said they fear Patel would weaponize an agency with sweeping powers and misuse sensitive intelligence.
Some Republicans have hailed the pick, however, saying that if confirmed Patel would bring needed changes to an agency they think has become too politicized. Trump, for one, called him “the most qualified” person ever tapped to lead the FBI. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) said: “If you’re going to clean up the FBI … Kash is the perfect person.” Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general, has also backed Patel for the FBI job. During the first day of Bondi’s confirmation hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Democratic senators repeatedly grilled her about the FBI nominee.
“I have known Kash, and I believe that Kash is the right person at this time for this job,” Bondi said. She also highlighted the chain of command. “Mr. Patel would fall under me and the Department of Justice,” Bondi said, adding that she would make sure “all laws are followed, and so will he.” Robert O’Brien, Trump’s last national security adviser, said in an interview that Patel had laudable accomplishments — including working to win the release of Americans held hostage overseas — “but never made a big deal about it.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Biden won't enforce TikTok ban, official says, leaving fate of app to Trump (Associated Press)
President Joe Biden won’t enforce a ban on the social media app TikTok that is set to take effect a day before he leaves office on Monday, a U.S. official said Thursday, leaving its fate in the hands of President-elect Donald Trump. Congress last year, in a law signed by Biden, required that TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance divest the company by Jan. 19, a day before the presidential inauguration. The official said the outgoing administration was leaving the implementation of the law — and the potential enforcement of the ban — to Trump. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal Biden administration thinking.
Trump, who once called to ban the app, has since pledged to keep it available in the U.S., though his transition team has not said how they intend to accomplish that. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration and be granted a prime seating location on the dais as the president-elect’s national security adviser signals that the incoming administration may take steps to “keep TikTok from going dark.” Incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz on Thursday told Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” that the federal law that could ban TikTok by Sunday also “allows for an extension as long as a viable deal is on the table.” The push to save TikTok, much like the move to ban it in the U.S., has crossed partisan lines. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said he spoke with Biden on Thursday to advocate for extending the deadline to ban TikTok… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
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