BG Reads 10.8.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - October 8, 2024

October 08, 2024

Bingham Group Reads

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www.binghamgp.com

October 8, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Austin Council and public to discuss the Austin Police contract at today’s Council Work Session.

🟪 Report looks at Austin Water leaks, losses that could fill 12,000 Olympic pools (Austin Monitor)

🟪 Community-based public safety program reaches out to overlooked and underserved Austinites (Austin Monitor)

🟪 Texas abortion bans causing 1 in 5 OB-GYNs to consider leaving (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Hurricane Milton poses an 'extremely serious threat' as it barrels toward Florida (NPR)

Read On!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

🟪  Last week’s three-day trip to Williamson County, Tennessee—specifically the city of Franklin—for the Round Rock Chamber’s Inaugural InterCity Visit was a fantastic experience. Bingham Group was proud to participate as a sponsor and attendee.

Shout out to Chamber President & CEO Jordan Robinson and the entire team for their efforts.

In 2024, Bingham Group embraced a regional focus and is dedicated to fostering proactive relationships and strategic investments within the Austin Metro for 2025 and beyond.

🟪 Bingham Group represents and has represented a wide range of clients in the Austin Metro and Texas Capitol at the intersection of government and business.

🟪 Learn more about Bingham Group’s experience here, and review client testimonials here.

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

  • ✅ There will be a briefing and public testimony on: Discussion regarding a proposed five-year Meet and Confer Agreement with the Austin Police Association relating to wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for police officers of the Austin Police Department.

  • ✅ Watch live on ATXN

🟪 The Austin Council has five (5) regular meetings left in 2024

📺 City Council Candidate Forum: District 2 - Video (9.26.2024)

📺 City Council Candidate Forum: District 4 - Video (9.19.2024)

📺 City Council Candidate Forum: Mayor - Video (10.3.2024)

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Report looks at Austin Water leaks, losses that could fill 12,000 Olympic pools (Austin Monitor)

Leaks and inefficiencies throughout the local water system cause Austin Water to lose more than 8 billion gallons per year – enough to fill 12,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The loss totals were some of the findings from a recent outside analysis by Black & Veatch that looked at Austin Water’s existing programs to track losses and the steps the utility can take to detect problems and fix the system. The report will be discussed today at the Integrated Water Resource Planning Community Task Force and at Wednesday’s Water and Wastewater Commission meeting.

Austin Water’s system loses approximately 6.9 billion gallons per year in real losses, plus another 1.5 billion gallons of “apparent losses,” described as loss due to unauthorized consumption and metering inaccuracies. The lost water means about $12 million in losses each year for Austin Water through a combination of costs for treating water that is lost, and not charging consumers and businesses properly for their actual water usage... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Community-based public safety program reaches out to overlooked and underserved Austinites (Austin Monitor)

Urban Alchemy, a national nonprofit, has been awarded a $2 million federal grant to grow Austin’s Homelessness Engagement Assistance Response Team, or HEART ATX. The grant comes from the Bureau of Justice Assistance and will expand an initiative to send trained, trauma-informed practitioners to respond to nonviolent public safety needs in Central East Austin.

The HEART program, which has been running since June, currently focuses on the 78702, 78721 and 78723 ZIP codes. Urban Alchemy practitioners, connected via 911 dispatchers so that they can arrive quickly on-scene, can be dispatched in nonemergencies as an alternative to police officers to de-escalate conflicts or help connect vulnerable residents to services. 

Project director Michael Duque told the Austin Monitor that the practitioners provide an additional benefit – reducing crime and homelessness while rebuilding community trust in public safety… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Popular Austin business owner sues after report accuses her of running criminal enterprise (KVUE)

 The owner of several popular Austin businesses has filed a new lawsuit after being accused of running a criminal enterprise.

A report released in June highlighted allegations of drugs, violence and illegal activity in Austin's Sixth Street Entertainment District.

Now, court documents show Gabriela Bucio is suing the Pecan Street Owners Association, the association's president, and a private investigator for defamation.

In 2023, the association hired a private investigator to look into concerns about illegal activity on Sixth Street. Marcus Stokke, a former supervisor with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, went undercover at several bars before publishing a report of his findings.

According to the report, Stokke and his team allegedly saw people bring drugs and their own alcohol into bars while also witnessing some bars illegally stay open after hours and continue to sell alcohol.

It's illegal for bars in Texas with a "late hours" permit to serve alcohol in public after 2 a.m., but Stokke said he observed several of these “after-hours" unlicensed clubs opened and continued to serve alcohol. Another major finding was alleged drug deals taking place on the street and a major drug presence inside the bars… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

More homes, commercial development on tap for Williamson County after MUD wins approval (Austin Business Journal)

Hundreds of homes could soon rise in a new municipal utility district in Williamson County between Georgetown and Liberty Hill.

Williamson County Commissioners Court approved a development agreement for the MUD, called Hudson Park, on Oct. 1. The roughly 122-acre project from Sugar Land-based Ashton Gray Development will be built along Ronald Reagan Boulevard and feature single- and multifamily residences as well as commercial lots, Ashton Gray President Shaun Vembutty said.

It's another in Ashton Gray’s long project pipeline aimed at some of the more rural areas of the metro. The developer works on retail centers, master-planned subdivisions, multifamily projects, senior living communities and mixed-use projects, most of which are split evenly between the Austin and Houston areas.

Hudson Park will be home to 292 single-family lots on about 53 acres, according to the site plan. Of those lots, 199 will have 40-foot frontages and 93 will have 50-foot frontages… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Texas abortion bans causing 1 in 5 OB-GYNs to consider leaving (Austin American-Statesman)

A vast majority of Texas OB-GYNs feel they cannot provide the highest-quality care to their pregnant patients under the state's near-total abortion ban — and one in five has considered leaving the state as a result, a new survey of physicians and medical residents found.

Released Tuesday morning, the report by Manatt Health provides one of the most comprehensive reviews yet at how Texas' abortion restrictions — among the strictest in the nation — are affecting the state's medical workforce. Texas laws ban abortion except when a pregnant person is facing a "life-threatening condition."

The results indicate that OB-GYNs, of whom a shortage already exists in Texas, are experiencing significant professional stresses due to the ban, with fear of legal repercussions affecting nearly two in three of the doctors.

They also provide evidence that resident physicians, or doctors in training, are less likely to remain in the state... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

U.S. Supreme Court lets stand a decision barring emergency abortions that violate Texas ban (Texas Tribune)

The Supreme Court on Monday let stand a decision barring emergency abortions that violate the law in Texas, which has one of the country’s strictest abortion bans.

Without detailing their reasoning, the justices kept in place a lower court order that said hospitals cannot be required to provide pregnancy terminations that would violate Texas law.

The Biden administration had asked the justices to throw out the lower court order, arguing that hospitals have to perform abortions in emergency situations under federal law. The administration pointed to the Supreme Court’s action in a similar case from Idaho earlier this year in which the justices narrowly allowed emergency abortions to resume while a lawsuit continues.

The administration also cited a Texas Supreme Court ruling that said doctors do not have to wait until a woman’s life is in immediate danger to provide an abortion legally. The administration said it brings Texas in line with federal law and means the lower court ruling is not necessary… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

Hurricane Milton poses an 'extremely serious threat' as it barrels toward Florida (NPR)

Communities in Florida are bracing for the impact of Hurricane Milton, which quickly intensified from a tropical storm to a powerful, life-threatening hurricane much faster than predicted.

By early Tuesday morning, the National Hurricane Center had slightly downgraded Milton to a Category 4 storm, but officials at the agency warned of the storm's power. "Milton poses an extremely serious threat to Florida and residents are urged to follow the order of local officials," the NHC said.

As of 5 a.m. ET Tuesday, Milton was about 560 miles southwest of Tampa, Fla., inching along at 12 miles per hour and carrying maximum sustained wind speeds of 155 miles per hour. A slew of advisories went into effect across large stretches of the western Florida coastline, where storm surges could get as high as 15 feet… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

How Erdogan’s monument to Turkish power landed New York’s mayor in legal trouble (Wall Street Journal)

The Turkish government was already years behind schedule erecting a 35-story tower in Manhattan when it hit a roadblock at the New York City Fire Department. Turkish officials learned in 2018 that fire department requirements had changed and they would need to update building plans, costing them more time and more money. 

“Likely the folks in the [Turkish] ministry are amazed that you can’t just hand the NYC FD guys a few lira and make this problem go away,” Phillip Infelise, a project manager, emailed a colleague. The email surfaced in a 2021 lawsuit Turkey filed against the tower’s architect.

But the rules in Turkey are not the same in America, Infelise explained, according to a deposition he gave last year. “And we had to inform them that that’s not the way business is done in New York City to our knowledge,” he said.

Not exactly. Federal prosecutors now say Turkish officials eventually found someone else to make its problems with the Fire Department go away: the incoming mayor.

Late last month, a grand jury indicted Mayor Eric Adams on an array of corruption charges related to gifts he allegedly accepted from a Turkish official and businessmen, including free flights on a Turkish airline and luxury hotel stays. Partly in exchange for the goodies, prosecutors allege, Adams pressured fire department officials to sign off on the building’s safety despite their concerns.

Now, the nearly $300 million Turkish House that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intended to be a monument to his nation’s global influence is likely to loom even larger in a legal drama that might cost the New York mayor his job and perhaps his political career… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

_________________________

We are proud to represent and have represented a wide range of clients in the Austin Metro and Texas Capitol at the intersection of government and business.

Learn more about Bingham Group’s experience here, and review client testimonials here.

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