View this email in your browser

Was this email forwarded to you? Click Here to Sign Up!

October 12, 2023

In today's BG Reads:

✅ EV companies shape economy of emerging metroplex

✅ The Californization of the Texas housing market

✅ Progressives face backlash over response to Israel attacks

Read on!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

🎙️ BG Podcast Ep. 221:

• On this episode the Bingham Group CEO A.J. Bingham welcomes returning guest, Ed Latson, CEO, Austin Regional Manufacturers Association (ARMA).

• He and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss the Austin City Council's recent approval of Ch. 380 agreement with NXP, and its importance to Austin and Central Texas.

• The BG Podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

🔎 Jobs List

• Austin Convention Enterprises, Inc.: Project Administrator

• Austin Economic Development Corporation: General Counsel

• Cruise: Senior Government Affairs Manager, Southern California ($135,700/yr - $199,500/yr)

• Lime: Regional General Manager ($122,000/yr - $163,000/yr)

• Opportunity Austin: Vice President of Policy & Advocacy ($110,000/yr - $125,000/yr)

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

EV companies shape economy of emerging metroplex (Austin Business Journal)

Tesla’s massive wake is not only felt in the Austin area, where the manufacturer has planted its headquarters and a gigafactory. Its impact stretches much farther, including south toward San Antonio.

Elon Musk's electric vehicle company plans to lease hundreds of thousands of square feet of warehouse space in the small city of Kyle and has already done so in San Antonio itself. Meanwhile, two automotive companies that are reportedly Tesla suppliers, Simwon North America Corp. and Plastikon Industries Inc., have set up shop in Kyle.

Central Texas and Atlanta are the two hottest EV markets in the country outside Silicon Valley, according to Daniel Ives, a well-known technology analyst with Wedbush Securities who has Tesla in his portfolio.

Jason Shawhan, director of manufacturing at Tesla's Austin-area gigafactory, recently shared that the company had surpassed 20,000 employees at the facility — and said the headcount could triple in the coming years. He shared an image during a September event held by the Austin Regional Manufacturers Association that indicated hundreds of employees came from communities such as Kyle, San Marcos and New Braunfels… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

APD pushed to improve training, engagement with Austin’s disabled community (Austin Monitor)

Disability advocates in Austin want the Austin Police Department to include training and research on the lives of people with disabilities as part of basic academy education, while encouraging department staff to build stronger relationships with the local disabled community.

Those were some of the recommendations included in a recent report from the Office of Police Oversight that summarized the findings from a handful of feedback sessions with dozens of attendees and hundreds of data points on police interactions with disabled residents.

A memo released on Tuesday from Gail McCant, director of the oversight office, explains to City Council members what was learned from two 2020 community feedback sessions and a follow-up town hall in June 2022… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Accenture to slash hundreds of jobs in Austin for the third time this year (Austin American-Statesman)

Tech staffing firm Accenture is cutting about 350 positions in Austin, marking the third time the company has laid off hundreds of employees in Central Texas this year.

The Irish American contract firm focuses on information technology services and consulting. It has contracts globally with large technology giants to provide workers, but the tech industry at large has been increasingly looking to reduce costs and jobs in recent years. The company is considered one of Central Texas' largest technology employers.

The cuts have been reported in WARN letters, which stands for Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The federally mandated rule requires employers to notify local governments of major layoffs… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

The Californization of the Texas housing market (Wall Street Journal)

Texas has long had a reputation as an affordable place to live, in large part because homeownership stayed within reach for the middle class. Now the state is being walloped by the same forces that have made homes a lot less affordable in many cities previously known for reasonable prices: pandemic-era migration from California and other more expensive areas. California to Texas was the most popular interstate relocation route in the country in 2021, according to an analysis by storage-space search site StorageCafe using Census Bureau data. During that year, about 111,000 people—about 300 a day—moved from California to Texas. Soaring prices have left many longtime residents grumbling about the Californization of Texas. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas recently analyzed data on housing affordability in Texan cities, defined as the percentage of the housing stock affordable to families earning the median income in those places.

At the beginning of 2014, nearly two-thirds of homes in San Antonio were affordable for a median-income family. By the end of 2022, fewer than one-third were.

Affordability, defined as what a family spending 28% of its gross income on housing could buy, also declined in Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin, before ticking up slightly early this year. Maintenance technician Randy Templeton moved from Illinois to San Antonio a decade ago because of Texas’ low cost of living. This year, however, when he started looking for an affordable home to buy and fix up for his growing family, he got an unpleasant surprise.

“The prices on those fixer-uppers shot up ridiculously,” he said. “And then even if you do find a home that’s for sale, you’re paying twice what you would have paid even just four years ago.” Similar price spikes are hitting many other cities around the country where government workers, teachers, and other middle-class professionals have long found affordable housing. In this year’s second quarter, 40% of homes in Raleigh, N.C., were considered affordable, down from 73% in first-quarter 2014, according to data from the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index. In Sacramento, the share of affordable homes fell from 45% to 18% during that period. The Affordability in Colorado Springs dropped from 79% to 25%, and in the Fort Myers, Fla., metro area, from 69% to 26%… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Dan Patrick says PAC leader’s meeting with white supremacist was a “blunder,” but will keep group’s $3 million contribution (Texas Tribune)

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Wednesday that he does not plan to return any of the $3 million he received from a group whose leader recently hosted white supremacist Nick Fuentes.

Patrick’s statement follows a Sunday report by the Texas Tribune showing that Jonathan Stickland, the president of Defend Texas Liberty and a former lawmaker from Bedford, hosted Fuentes on Friday at the offices of a consulting firm, Pale Horse Strategies, that Stickland also owns. Defend Texas Liberty is a major donor to Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton and other Republicans, and is funded primarily by two far-right West Texas oil billionaires, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks.

Patrick said Wednesday that he spoke to Dunn, who “told me unequivocally that it was a serious blunder” for Stickland to meet with Fuentes, and assured him that the political action committee would have no “future contact” with the well-known white supremacist and Adolf Hitler admirer.

Dunn “stated emphatically that everyone at the PAC understands that mistakes were made and are being corrected,” Patrick said. “I accept Mr. Dunn at his word. I know him to be a man of integrity and an avid and staunch supporter of Israel.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

How Houston and its renowned medical complex took a back seat to Dallas in federal health project (Houston Chronicle)

The news that Texas will be home to a new federal research institution is good news for Houston, by most accounts, but it comes with a bittersweet asterisk. The Biden administration announced last month that one of three hubs for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health will be coming to Texas. But in a blow to Houston, the hub’s headquarters will be in Dallas and Texas' third-largest city will lead the group, which includes Austin, Houston and San Antonio, the Department of Health and Human Services explained in its announcement. Worse for Houston, its independent bid was eliminated this summer in a development that surprised many observers, given that the city is home to the world's largest medical complex. "By most metrics, Dallas was the underdog in the battle over the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health," the Dallas Morning News reported last week. Among the reasons the city saw itself that way, the report explained, was that it doesn't rank among the nation's top life sciences markets; Houston does.

Houston civic and business leaders had thought that the city, home to several research universities and the world-renowned Texas Medical Center, had a shot at landing the hub on its own. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, for one, described himself as “disappointed” in the Biden Administration's decision. When the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health was officially established in March 2022, stakeholders at the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute in Texas and elsewhere had already started discussing strategies for being involved with the Biden administration's stated plans for a new agency focused on “transformative high-risk, high-reward research." They believed an ecosystem that includes institutions such as CPRIT, the Texas Medical Center, MD Anderson, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the San Antonio Military Medical Center could carry the day. "Our approach was always, 'Take a look at everything the state of Texas has to offer,'" said Thomas Graham, who served as spokesman for the Texas consortium, the Coalition for Health Advancement and Research in Texas.

"It meets every need. We have everything that any researcher would want to access." Leadership at MD Anderson, he added, helped boost the state effort early on by working with the Biden administration, including having a briefing with the deputy White House chief of staff. Although Houston had initially been part of the Texas consortium, it decided to go in its own direction and submit a separate proposal for the hub in April 2023… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

Progressives face backlash over response to Israel attacks (The Hill)

Progressives are facing backlash over their initial responses to the attacks on Israel by Hamas militants, revealing the degree to which they’re at odds with others in the Democratic caucus over the issue.

Members of the Squad such as Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) took heat from fellow Democrats this week over statements criticized for being too tepid in the wake of the violent attacks against Israeli civilians.

Meanwhile, after mounting pressure, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) condemned the “bigotry and callousness” at a pro-Palestinian rally aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in New York City.

The condemnation directed at certain segments of the left underscores the fissures within the Democratic Party when it comes to Israel. It also suggests progressives will have to navigate an increasingly difficult political environment in which they will be expected to unequivocally support Israel’s right to exist while also advocating for Palestinian rights… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

The US is moving quickly to boost Israel’s military. A look at what assistance it’s providing (Associated Press)

Within hours of the horrific attack by Hamas, the U.S. began moving warships and aircraft to the region to be ready to provide Israel with whatever it needs to respond.

A second U.S. carrier strike group departs from Norfolk, Virginia, on Friday. Scores of aircraft are heading to U.S. military bases around the Middle East. And special operations forces are now assisting Israel’s military in planning and intelligence.

The buildup reflects U.S. concern that the deadly fighting between Hamas and Israel could escalate into a more dangerous regional conflict.

So the primary mission for those ships and warplanes for now is to establish a force presence that deters Hezbollah, Iran or others from taking advantage of the situation. But the forces the U.S. sent are capable of more than that… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

_________________________

🔎 Have questions or in need of lobbying services? Fill out Bingham Group’s Service Interest Questionnaire and let us see how we can help.

SHARE BG READS FEEDBACK HERE

⬇️

Was this email forwarded to you? Click Here to Sign Up!

Copyright (C) " target="_blank">unsubscribe