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October 25, 2023

In today's BG Reads:

✅ Council’s plans to change housing rules upset some neighborhood advocates

✅ Texans could change their state constitution with these 14 propositions

✅ Texas sues to stop Border Patrol agents from cutting state’s razor wire at the border

Read on!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

Council to consider city manager search firm this week 🎙️ BG Podcast Ep. 222:

• On this episode the Bingham Group CEO A.J. Bingham and Associate Hannah Garcia wrap up the week of October 9th in Austin politics.

• 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]

Council’s plans to change housing rules upset some neighborhood advocates (Austin Monitor)

Austin’s “single-family neighborhoods are in jeopardy of losing big” with the proposed changes to the city’s zoning regulations, according to Ana Aguirre, president of the Austin Neighborhoods Council. While housing advocates have praised City Council Member Leslie Pool’s HOME initiative, the Austin Neighborhoods Council and Go Austin/Vamos Austin are among those decrying the proposals.

Aguirre lined up with other neighborhood advocates holding a press conference Tuesday to highlight the dangers they perceive in City Council’s push to revise rules that currently restrict most single-family lots to just one house and prevent duplexes from being built in areas zoned as Single Family-Large Lot (SF-1) and Single Family-Standard Lot (SF-2). The category SF-1 denotes a 10,000-square-foot lot, while SF-2 refers to the standard-size lot that is a minimum of 5,750 square feet.

The new rules would allow up to three housing units, including tiny homes on a single-family-zoned property, but not recreational vehicles. Rules for having two homes on a lot would be relaxed, and regulations related to the number of unrelated adults who may live in one home would be eliminated.

Under this initiative, duplexes and two-family residential buildings would be permitted in SF-1, SF-2 and SF-3 zoned areas. A total of three units per lot could be built on standard lots that currently have just one house… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

City of Austin to consider buying downtown Salvation Army property for $15.05M (Austin American-Statesman)

The Austin City Council will consider purchasing the Salvation Army's downtown property for $15,050,000 in order to continue operating the homeless shelter on a long-term basis, the American-Statesman has confirmed.

The nonprofit closed the shelter in April. The City Council then approved a lease agreement with the Salvation Army to allow the city to reopen the shelter downtown for one year starting July 1.

The property includes two buildings and a parking lot — the Salvation Army shelter at 501 E. 8th St., along with a 1,500 square-foot retail building at 718 Red River St. and a nearly half-acre surface parking lot at 700 Red River St.

An item on the Nov. 9 city council agenda will be to "authorize the negotiation and execution of the documents and instruments necessary to purchase The Salvation Army's real estate holdings located in Block 88 in downtown Austin," according to an internal memo sent to the mayor and City Council from Michael Gates, the city's real estate officer, through Ed Van Eenoo, the city's chief financial officer… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Presidium’s $4B mixed-use redevelopment underway in East Austin (Real Deal)

Demolition is clearing the way for a massive mixed-use project in East Austin, where gentrification has run rampant in recent years amid new development.

A venture between two Dallas-based firms, Presidium and Partners Group, has started construction on River Park, a 109-acre development at the northeast corner of East Riverside Drive and Wickersham Lane, the Austin American-Statesman reported. The $4 billion project is slated for 10 million square feet of office, retail, residential, hotel and entertainment uses.

The 252-unit Tempo apartment complex, at 4700 East Riverside Drive, is the first building being demolished, with more apartments set to be razed in subsequent phases. River Park’s location lies east of Oracle’s Austin headquarters, overlooking Lady Bird Lake. Critics have previously referred to the project as the “Domain on Riverside,” drawing parallels with the upscale Domain mixed-use development in North Austin... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Texans could change their state constitution with these 14 propositions (KUT)

Texans won’t be voting for president, senator or governor on Election Day, but this year’s ballot is still important.

Voters across Texas will weigh in on 14 propositions that could ultimately change the Texas Constitution.

Voting on constitutional amendments is the closest the Texas public can get to voting directly on policy changes in the state, said Brandon Rottinghaus, political science professor at the University of Houston.

“Normally we vote indirectly. We vote for representatives who then go to Austin to make these laws,” he said. “This is one of the few times where Texans can [vote] directly on policy changes at the state level.”

Early voting starts Monday and Election Day is Nov. 7. For more info on how to vote and what local propositions are on your ballot, read our Travis County, Hays County or Williamson County voter guides… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Swiss ambassador says Texas is new 'El Dorado' for foreign investment (Austin Business Journal)

When Jacques Pitteloud visits Austin, one of his favorite things to do is to take in the beauty of Texas' capital city. That's high praise coming from the ambassador of Switzerland to the United States, who hails from a country known for its scenery that includes rolling hills, lakes and castles.

Starting earlier this month and extending into next month, Pitteloud and other representatives from the country are traversing Texas as part of a marketing campaign called "X Marks The Spot" to promote Switzerland for business. The first stop was Austin, where Swiss leadership passed out coffee, gave away branded merchandise and lauded partnership opportunities between the region and country. The last two stops are in Dallas and Houston.

The Swiss join a wave of foreign governments keying in on Austin for growth. Czech Trade, an extension of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency — essentially the South Korean equivalent to the U.S. Department of Commerce — have opened offices here. The President of the Republic of Hungary last month visited Gov. Greg Abbott to promote economic opportunities. Opportunity Austin has also targeted international companies as a key area of growth over the next five years... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Texas sues to stop Border Patrol agents from cutting state’s razor wire at the border (Texas Tribune)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration on Tuesday, claiming that the Border Patrol illegally destroyed state property when its agents cut through concertina wire on the banks of the Rio Grande to “assist” migrants to “illegally cross” the border.

Within the past three years, the Texas Military Department has spent $11 million to place 70,000 rolls of concertina wire in different parts of the Texas-Mexico border, most notably in Eagle Pass, where migrants have been seriously injured trying to get through the wire.

The concertina wire is part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s efforts to stem illegal immigration at the 1,200-mile border.

According to the lawsuit, filed in the Western District of Texas, Border Patrol agents “not only cut Texas’ concertina wire, but also attach ropes or cables from the back of pickup trucks to ease” migrants’ ability to get onto the U.S. side of the river… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

The US is sharing hard lessons from urban combat in Iraq and Syria as Israel prepares to invade Gaza (Associated Press)

 The prospect of Israeli forces launching an assault into Gaza’s dense urban neighborhoods, where militants use civilians as human shields, brings back searing memories of the deadly battles the U.S.-led coalition fought against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

For U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his military leaders, that intense combat and the thousands of civilians killed in airstrikes and neighborhood gunfights in Mosul and Raqqa are lessons to be shared as Israel prepares for a possible ground invasionagainst Hamas. 

“In our conversations with the Israelis, and as we’ve made very clear, we’re continuing to highlight, the importance of mitigating civilian casualties and ensuring that ... things like safety corridors are thought through,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Senate votes 98-0 to confirm Biden's nominee to run the FAA (NPR)

The Senate voted 98-0 to approve President Joe Biden's nominee to lead the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday, ending a span of nearly 19 months in which the agency was without a Senate-confirmed chief.

Michael Whitaker is a former deputy FAA administrator and most recently served as chief operating officer of a Hyundai affiliate that is developing an air taxi.

Whitaker will take over an agency that faces many challenges, including a surge in close calls between planes at major airports, a shortage of air traffic controllers, and aging technology that resulted in a brief nationwide halt in flights in January… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

_________________________

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