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BG Reads 1.5.2024

BG Reads 1.5.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - January 5, 2024

January 05, 2024

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January 5, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

✅ Council Members Alison Alter and Qadri’s 2024 priorities

✅ Stream Realty expects ‘rejuvenation’ on 6th Street over ‘next few months’

✅ Americans have been accidentally caught up in the Texas crackdown on migrants

✅ The hidden force pushing mortgage rates down

Read on!

[CITY HALL WATCH]

🔎 2024 Austin Council Meeting Schedule

City Manager Search Update

Source, Mayor Watson’s office posted on the Council Message Board (12.26.23)

City contracted Mosaic Public Partners will “officially” open the application process on January 8th.
The goal (with an emphasis that Council shouldn’t feel rushed in any way) is for Council to decide on a new City Manager in early to mid-April, under two possible timelines:
- (1) Pick someone and they can start very soon after chosen; or
- (2) pick someone but they have a later start date.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

The City Manager is the highest ranking city employee akin to the CEO. They can only be hired or fired by the City Council.
The office carries strong executive power over the day-to-day operations of the city, as well as responsibility for carrying out Council policy directives.

📌 Checkout our sister site -> www.austinlobbyists.com 📌

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

In first year, Qadri touts progress on housing, collaboration and I-35 caps and stitches (Austin Monitor)

More housing policy changes as well as work on transit and mobility are among Qadri’s main priorities for 2024, along with addressing labor issues for EMS and other public safety workers, plus taking steps to prevent artists and creative organizations from being priced out of the city.

Also important: working with community groups to shape the expansion of Interstate 35 as much as possible, even though Qadri has pushed against the multibillion-dollar project. The most substantial role for the city to play appears to be moving forward with plans for a series of plaza-like caps and east-west “stitch” roadway crossings, with Council needing to select a funding mechanism for the $500 million-plus project cost… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Alison Alter diversifies her investments in public safety (Austin Monitor)

Heading into the new year, Alter’s top priorities include hiring a new city manager and reaching a new labor contract with the Austin Police Association.

Since the firing of former City Manager Spencer Cronk, interim City Manager Jesús Garza has made a series of major organizational changes, attempted to implement a controversial telework policy and rankled some Council members with his appointment of Gail McCant to direct the Office of Police Oversight.

Alter is looking for an experienced manager familiar with the council-manager form of government.

“We also need someone who’s curious and willing to learn and who’s able to integrate new thinking into the way they approach their work and who can demand accountability and responsibility from their staff,” she said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Stream Realty expects ‘rejuvenation’ on 6th Street over ‘next few months’ (KXAN)

According to Stream’s initial proposal on this project, the goal is to revitalize “the heart of Austin, while preserving its historic roots.” As part of the project, Stream had to get approval from the city to build above the previous height cap of 45 feet.

City leaders have long said they believe making Sixth Street a more mixed-use district will lead to a decrease in crime… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

CapMetro bus is focus of $1.26M automation test under federal program (Austin Business Journal)

A team of technology and engineering companies are working with Austin’s Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority on a $1.26 million plan to automate one of its 40-foot electric buses.

It's an initial test that could eventually spur cost savings and greater efficiency for the transit agency, and the project is part of a wider initiative on the federal level to evaluate improvements to public transportation.

The new technology — a mixture of sensors, cameras and on-board computers — is designed to allow buses to be autonomously driven in the city’s work yard, allowing for safer and more efficient working conditions. The test could help pave the way for the technology to be adopted across the industry, according to representatives of Canadian consulting firm WSP Global Inc., one of the companies spearheading the project… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

U.S. citizens have been accidentally caught up in the Texas crackdown on migrants (NPR)

In Texas, a controversial border crackdown known as "Operation Lone Star" has wrongfully targeted some U.S. citizens. One family in El Paso is seeking accountability and justice. Under Governor Greg Abbott's controversial border plan, Operation Lone Star, Texas has installed miles of razor wire, bussed tens of thousands of migrants to Democratic-run cities and pursued hundreds of vehicles they suspect are transporting undocumented migrants. Some U.S. citizens have been accidentally caught up in the governor's crackdown. Now there's worry that under a new Texas law, those car stops will only increase. The law, which takes effect in March, allows any Texas law enforcement officer to arrest people suspected of entering the country illegally.

The Ayalas, like many El Paso families, routinely visit relatives just across the border in Mexico. Gerardo Ayala says one evening in October, after they cleared customs and immigration, they made their usual drive back to their house on the Texas side. His wife, their 13-year-old daughter and her grandmother were in the car with him on a busy, well-lit road.

Suddenly, two unmarked trucks seem to appear out of nowhere and boxed in his family's compact car. At first, Ayala says he thought it was a chain-reaction pileup on this busy roadway near the border. The car was damaged but running. Already shaken, it only got worse for the family. He says at least four men wearing street clothes and tactical vests quickly surrounded the car. They were pointing semi-automatic rifles at them. Alejandra Lopez is Ayala's wife. The Ayalas are U.S. citizens.

They say there was no probable cause to pull them over and certainly none to ram their car and threaten them with guns. It's not clear how often these improper stops happen.

The Texas Department of Public Safety has a complaint process but does not specifically track those involving Operation Lone Star. Human rights organizations say they will soon begin training Texans about their rights and how to file profiling and other complaints. The Ayalas' 13-year-old daughter, Isabella, says the experience has changed her view of law enforcement… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

New York City sues bus companies that Texas hired to transport migrants (Texas Tribune)

New York City filed a lawsuit on Thursday against 17 bus and transportation companies that have contracted with Texas to take thousands of migrants to the city as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s immigration policies.

The city is seeking $708 million in damages from the companies, which is how much the city has spent to shelter migrants, according to the lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court.

“New York City has and will always do our part to manage this humanitarian crisis, but we cannot bear the costs of reckless political ploys from the state of Texas alone,” said Mayor Eric Adams. “Gov. Abbott’s continued use of migrants as political pawns is not only chaotic and inhumane but makes clear he puts politics over people. Today’s lawsuit should serve as a warning to all those who break the law in this way.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

Capitol riot, 3 years later: Hundreds of convictions, yet 1 major mystery is unsolved (Associated Press)

More than 1,230 people have been charged with federal crimes in the riot, ranging from misdemeanor offenses like trespassing to felonies like assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy. Roughly 730 people have pleaded guilty to charges, while another roughly 170 have been convicted of at least one charge at a trial decided by a judge or a jury, according to an Associated Press database.

Only two defendants have been acquitted of all charges, and those were trials decided by a judge rather than a jury.

About 750 people have been sentenced, with almost two-thirds receiving some time behind bars. Prison sentences have ranged from a few days of intermittent confinement to 22 years in prison. The longest sentence so far was handed down to Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys national chairman who was convicted of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors described as a plot to stop the transfer of power from Trump to President Joe Biden… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

The hidden force pushing mortgage rates down (Wall Street Journal)

A key factor that pushed up mortgage rates over the past two years is now starting to pull them down.

Average 30-year fixed mortgage rates have been higher than usual relative to the benchmark Treasury yields they typically track. But that extra differential, or spread, has been shrinking for eight straight weeks. It is now at its lowest since March.

The 30-year mortgage rate has fallen by more than a percentage point recently to 6.62%, according to data released Thursday by mortgage giant

Freddie Mac.

. The shrinking spread between that and the 10-year Treasury yield amounts to roughly one-sixth of the decline. (Treasury yields have also fallen sharply.)

The spread is still far larger than its historical average. But its downward trend is giving mortgage rates an extra push lower. It is a boon to would-be home buyers who have been sidelined by high borrowing costs, as well as to hard-up mortgage lenders and real-estate agents… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Respiratory illnesses are on the rise after the holidays (NPR)

In most U.S. states, respiratory illness levels are currently considered "high" or "very high," according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A few respiratory viruses have been driving the upward trend. "The influenza virus is the thing that's really skyrocketing right now," says Dr. Steven Stack, public health commissioner for the state of Kentucky and president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. "Influenza is sharply escalating and driving more hospitalizations."

Nationally, levels of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) appear to have plateaued and possibly peaked, while COVID-19 levels are elevated and are expected to climb higher… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[2024 Austin City Council Race Watch]

Next fall will see elections for the following Council positions, District 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, and Mayor. Candidates can’t file for a place on the ballot until July 22, 2024.

Declared candidates so far are:

District 2