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- BG Reads 1.9.2025
BG Reads 1.9.2025
🟪 BG Reads - January 9, 2025
Bingham Group Reads
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January 9, 2025
➡️ Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 UT Austin President Jay Hartzell leaving to lead Southern Methodist University (KUT)
🟪 Density proponents encouraged by HOME six-month progress report (Austin Monitor)
🟪 Paxton joins the fray in Texas House speaker's race, says it should be the GOP's choice (Austin American-Statesman)
🟪 A looming 'demographic cliff': Fewer college students and ultimately fewer graduates (NPR)
🟪 ByteDance’s Lemon8 gains traction amid TikTok ban threat as creators push the app (Associated Press)
Read On!
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
Council Member Vanessa Fuentes (District 2) was elected by Council peers to serve as the 2025 Mayor Pro Tem, with Council Member Chito Vela (District 4) set to serve as Mayor Pro Tem in 2026. The Mayor Pro Tem performs the duties of mayor in case of the absence or inability of the mayor.
📝 City Memos:
💬 Council Message Board
➡️ Helpful Links
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
➡️ Density proponents encouraged by HOME six-month progress report (Austin Monitor)
The city of Austin’s Development Services Department has released its six-month report on the early outcomes of the Home Options for Mobility and Equity (HOME) Phase 1 initiative.
A memo released last month by José G. Roig, director of DSD, analyzed the early results of the initiative, which took effect in February 2024 and was created to increase housing supply by allowing up to three units on single-family lots. City Council also adopted incentives for preserving older structures as part of the initiative.
According to the report, 159 residential development applications were submitted under the new rules, with 99 receiving approval. Two-unit developments accounted for the majority, with 72 of 103 applications approved. However, tiny homes – highlighted as a potential solution to housing shortages – received no applications during this period.
The report also noted limited use of the Preservation Bonus program, designed to encourage retention of structures over 20 years old. Only two applications utilized the program, both in District 1, preserving an average of 91 percent of the original structures. City staff have flagged the bonus program for review to boost participation and outcomes… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ UT Austin President Jay Hartzell leaving to lead Southern Methodist University (KUT)
UT Austin President Jay Hartzell announced Tuesday he has accepted an offer to lead Southern Methodist University, a private university in Dallas. His last day at UT will be May 31, according to the University of Texas System.
“I am very grateful to Chairman Kevin Eltife and the UT System Board of Regents for the incredible opportunity they provided me to serve UT Austin in this role,” he wrote in an email announcing his resignation to the UT community.
Eltife and UT System Chancellor J.B. Milliken congratulated Hartzell on the new role.
"We have worked closely with UT Austin during Jay Hartzell’s five years as president, and we will continue to do so in the months ahead to ensure a smooth transition," they said in a statement… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ West Lake Hills to install license plate readers to improve public safety (Community Impact)
West Lake Hills residents can expect to see license plate reading cameras around the city in the coming weeks as installation begins on nine new cameras to help reduce and solve crime, according to a Jan. 2 city news release.
Produced by public safety technology company Flock Safety, the cameras send real-time alerts to law enforcement officials if the license plate of a stolen car or car involved in a crime logged in a state or national crime database is detected, according to the news release. Alerts are also issued if a vehicle associated with an individual missing in an AMBER or Silver alert is detected.“We believe the use of these Flock cameras will help us identify and locate stolen vehicles, assist our investigators with additional information and leads, and ultimately help us solve more crimes,” said Scott Gerdes, West Lake Hills police chief, in the news release.The Flock cameras will be used to reduce property and violent crime, and will not be used for minor traffic or parking violations, the release states… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
➡️ Paxton joins the fray in Texas House speaker's race, says it should be the GOP's choice (Austin American-Statesman)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, seeking to replicate his 2024 GOP primary success against lawmakers who had sought to boot him from office, on Tuesday urged grassroots activists at a campaign-style rally to hold Republican Texas House members accountable if they side with a candidate for speaker who'd be beholden to Democratic lawmakers.
"I want to make sure that the Republican House elects a Republican speaker amongst themselves, and that's my goal," Paxton told reporters after speaking to a crowd of about 200 gathered at the headquarters of a conservative think tank in Leander. "Whoever they elect, it's their choice. It's not mine."
While insisting that he is not seeking to impose his will on the incoming House – where Republicans will hold an 88-62 advantage when the 2025 legislative opens in a week – Paxton made clear he has grown frustrated with the long-standing House tradition of awarding the minority party at least some legislative committee chairmanships and other leadership roles. He said that he will not only support but seek out primary challengers for House Republicans who back Rep. Dustin Burrows for speaker over the GOP majority's choice of Rep. David Cook… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ TxDOT gives advice for Texas fans planning to travel for Cotton Bowl (CBS Austin)
The wintery weather moving across the state of Texas this week could impact travel plans for Texas fans heading to Arlington to the Cotton Bowl this Friday.
TxDOT crews have been on alert and ready to prepare the roads. Their message to fans is to stay home but if they do decide to travel up for the game, then be prepared.
“If you are making the way you're up north, be sure to prepare in advance for that,” said TxDOT’s Media Relations Director Adam Hammons.
Hammons says given the impact of potential winter weather, his message to fans looking to travel to the game is one of caution.
“Obviously, if you have a ticket, if you are going to the game,” he said. “Give yourself plenty of time to get up to where you're going, but also check the road conditions before you get out the door.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ San Antonio ranks second in Texas for highest homeless population, new data shows (KSAT)
San Antonio now ranks second in Texas for the highest homeless population, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The 2024 Point-in-Time count revealed an estimated 3,398 individuals experiencing homelessness in San Antonio, surpassing Houston, Austin, and Fort Worth.
The report, released in late 2024, addresses a growing concern for affordable housing nationwide. Katie Wilson, the executive director of Close to Home, helps lead San Antonio’s PIT count each year. She said 2024’s data revealed that families are most at risk.
“It’s really an economic and affordable housing issue,” Wilson said. “We were seeing an increase in families that started after the end of the eviction moratorium, post-COVID, and also as we started to see fewer funds available for things like homelessness prevention.” Nikisha Baker, President and CEO of SAMMinistries, called the increase in families a critical area that needs more attention.
“That is an area where we undoubtedly have to make headway,” Baker said. So, how is the count collected? Wilson said a group of officials and volunteers physically count the number of people in shelters and streets one night each year. For this year, the count is scheduled for Jan. 28. Patrick Steck, Assistant Director of the Department of Human Services for San Antonio, said this data did reveal some successes for San Antonio, mostly through its shelters.
“Our shelter system is working very well relative to the country as a whole,” Steck said. Steck said the city has a goal to get 500 people in shelter beds and off the streets in 2025. He said it’s a feasible goal with the city’s centralized system to coordinate shelter providers.
“We’ll see a lot of progress in 2025,” Steck said. Haven for Hope is one of those shelters. Terri Behling said that in the group’s fiscal year 2024, it served 611 families. That’s a 17% increase from the previous fiscal year. “We’ve been over capacity for the past two years,” Behling said. “Homelessness doesn’t discriminate, and it can happen to anyone.”
So, how can change happen? City and community leaders agree it comes down to affordable housing. “Ultimately, it’s going to take a lot of coordination towards those longer-term, big-picture solutions like permanent supportive housing and affordable housing,” Wilson said. “Ultimately, housing is what ends homelessness. You have to have a place you can afford to live and be stable.” The next PIT count will take place on Jan. 28, 2025, but the full data will not be available until later in the spring… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US and World News]
➡️ A looming 'demographic cliff': Fewer college students and ultimately fewer graduates (NPR)
This "demographic cliff" has been predicted ever since Americans started having fewer babies at the advent of the Great Recession around the end of 2007 — a falling birth rate that has not recovered since, except for a slight blip after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Demographers say it will finally arrive nationwide in the fall of this year. That's when recruiting offices will begin to confront the long-anticipated drop-off in the number of applicants from among the next class of high school seniors.
But the downturn isn't just a problem for universities and colleges. It's a looming crisis for the economy, with fewer graduates eventually coming through the pipeline to fill jobs that require college educations, even as international rivals increase the proportions of their populations with degrees… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ ByteDance’s Lemon8 gains traction amid TikTok ban threat as creators push the app (Associated Press)
Amid a looming U.S. ban on TikTok, content creators have been pushing the platform’s sister app. Lemon8 resembles an amalgamation of the types of short-form videos found on TikTok and the picture-perfect aesthetic of Instagram and Pinterest.
Like its popular relation, Lemon8 is owned by China-based ByteDance, whose collection of internationally available apps also includes the video editing app CapCut and the photo and art editing app Hypic. In addition, the company operates Douyin, the Chinese sibling of TikTok that follows Beijing’s strict censorship rules.
Lemon8 launched in the U.S. in 2023, a few years after it first popped up in Asian markets. Though it garnered some media and user interest in its early days, the app hasn’t taken off as much as TikTok, which has more than 170 million U.S. users… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
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