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November 16, 2023

In today's BG Reads:

✅ SXSW’s $380M economic impact returns to prepandemic heights

✅ Austin’s $1.6B convention center plan driving new SA business

✅ Mexico ‘strongly rejects’ Texas border security bill

✅ Texas secessionists feel more emboldened than ever

More stories below. Read on!

[BG PODCAST]

On this episode (223) Bingham Group CEO A.J. Bingham and Associate Hannah Garcia wrap up the week of November 6th in Austin politics.

TOPICS INCLUDE:

✅ Travis County judge signaling 3 Austin land code ordinances will be voided; and

✅ 2024 City Council Race Watch (Districts 2, 7, and 10)

LISTEN HERE

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

SXSW’s $380M economic impact shows return to prepandemic heights (Austin Monitor)

This year’s South by Southwest appears to have had a local economic impact on par with the years prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, which nearly wiped out the popular music, tech and film confab in 2020.

An analysis from Greyhill Advisors found this year’s event generated $380.9 million in economic activity, a jump of $100 million from the 2022 edition and nearly $25 million more than the impact registered in 2019. Festival organizers note than price increases for festival badges and other inflationary forces likely played a substantial role in the increase, but they also said Austin office space vacancies are high, and repurposing is the new conversation (KVUE)the strong return to business travel for many sectors helped the event continue its return to form.

“2022 was a scaled-back, in-person conference. I think a lot of the institutions, corporations and individuals weren’t necessarily ready to jump back into full-scale travel and being in big convention center spaces with a lot of people around, and South by Southwest gauged that in their programming and scaled back the conference and festival,” said Ben Loftsgaarden, a partner with Greyhill Advisors. “It wasn’t a shock to see that the economic impact was going to be smaller in 2022 as kind of a transition year. But now in 2023, with the total economic impact of $380 million, it’s kind of resuming the trend line from 2019.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin’s $1.6B convention center plan driving new SA business (Austin Business Journal)

Austin is advancing a plan expected to boost its ability to compete for more convention bookings as cities scramble to build back business disrupted by the pandemic.

That plan is already driving some events to San Antonio and has prompted leaders here to contemplate longer-term infrastructure needs in the Alamo City. 

The Capital City has earmarked $1.6 billion in hotel occupancy tax and other funding to replace its 30-year-old convention center with a new structure nearly double its size spanning more than 700,000 square feet. It would include 360,000 square feet of exhibition space.

At least one Alamo City company is getting a piece of the action. On Nov. 9, Austin’s City Council approved a $30 million contract with San Antonio-based Project Control of Texas Inc. to oversee planning and construction of the new convention center. 

Work on the project is slated to begin in 2025 and won’t be completed until 2029, leaving a big infrastructure void in Austin that’s already driving some business south… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin office space vacancies are high, and repurposing is the new conversation (KVUE)

Downtown Austin is filled with cranes, but experts said a sizeable number of

buildings do not have people working in them.

Since the pandemic, more people are working from home or have a hybrid schedule, which has greatly impacted office space vacancies.

Right now, the data isn't showing much improvement; in fact, it's getting slightly worse. Data from Angelou Economics shows office space vacancies in Austin increased by just over 1% this year.

• 2023 Q1 – 14.4%

• 2023 Q2 – 15.5%

• 2023 Q3 – 16.0% 

Looking at the big picture, office space vacancies were at 16% in October. In 2022, vacancies were lower, at 13.1%.

Prior to the pandemic in 2019, just 7.5% of office spaces in the city were vacant.

According to the data, vacancies have not been this high since 2003.

Keep in mind, there are a lot of office spaces under construction or that were just completed.

Angelou Economics Executive Vice President Matt Patton said many companies are currently pausing and reevaluating how to reuse office spaces. 

"Whether that's being converted to flex spaces or reimagining some of the industrial spaces – flex office, industrial hybrids or even converting some of these into residential spaces," said Patton, "I think there are a lot of questions being asked and a lot of analysis being done behind the scenes about what's the best advice use for each of these spaces."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Mexico ‘strongly rejects’ border security bill Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he will sign (Dallas Morning News)

Mexican government officials said the country “strongly rejects” a sweeping border security bill that allows for Texas authorities to arrest and deport undocumented migrants back to the foreign nation. But Wednesday’s statement from Mexico Secretary of Foreign Relations Alicia Bárcena does not clarify if officials there would accept or reject migrants Texas attempts to send back under the proposal known as Senate Bill 4. Mexico does currently accept migrants returned by the U.S. federal government. Mexican officials criticized the state’s proposal, saying it will result in family separations and racial profiling. “In addition, the Government of Mexico reiterates its rejection of any measure that involves the involuntary return of migrants without respect for due process,” the statement read.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that he would sign the bill, writing in a post on social media that the bill is a “historic progress for border security.” Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to an email Wednesday afternoon seeking comment on Mexico’s statement. The legislation creates a new state crime of illegal entry from a foreign nation, making it a Class B misdemeanor. It authorizes state and local police to arrest migrants who are in Texas illegally. It also allows state judges to order migrants back to the foreign nation from which they entered the state — which would presumably be Mexico. Legal experts, including former federal immigration judges, along with Democrats in the Texas Capitol have said the bill is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has ruled that Congress and the federal government control immigration policy. State Rep. Victoria Neave Criado, D-Dallas, the chairwoman of the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus, said Wednesday that Democrats warned Republicans as the bill progressed that Mexico would not react favorably to the proposal… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Texas secessionists feel more emboldened than ever (Texas Tribune)

Supporters of the movement said they are more energized and optimistic than ever about the prospect of an independent Texas, and pointed to appearances or support from current and former lawmakers — including state Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, who spoke at the event — as evidence that their movement is far from fringe.

The get-together also came as TEXIT supporters celebrated what they believe is crucial momentum: Days before the meeting, the Texas Nationalist Movement announced that it was more than halfway to the roughly 100,000 signatures needed to put a non-binding secession referendum on the Texas Republican primary ballot.

Though they might not cross that threshold by the Dec. 1 deadline, TEXIT supporters nonetheless hailed it as a clear sign of progress… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Texas Board of Education opposes depiction of climate change, evolution in new science textbooks (Houston Chronicle)

The Republican-led State Board of Education preliminarily rejected several new science textbooks on Tuesday over their presentation of climate change and evolution, a sign the books may be watered down before a final vote later this week. Publishers were allowed until Wednesday to make changes that address criticism from board members, such as altering the depiction of the oil and gas industry.

“(The book) emphasizes the negative effect of fossil fuels. If that's what's presented to our children, that would have a negative effect on our state’s GDP,” board member Julie Pickren, R-Pearland, said about one of the textbooks. “It is factually inaccurate to the way that the negative effects of fossil fuels are presented because it is stated as fact and it is theory.”

Pickren said the book should include information about the harms of Chinese lithium mines, which are part of the supply chain for electric vehicles, to balance out the information highlighting fossil fuels' impact on global warming. In discussions over another book by the publisher Edusmart, Member Aaron Kinsey, R-Midland, said he felt its photos “are encouraging a negative view” of the oil and gas industry.

“The selection of certain images can make things appear worse than they are and I believe there was bias,” said Kinsey, whose district encompasses the state’s most active oil and gas fields. He declined to answer when asked several times by another member what changes he would suggest to address his concerns. “You want to see children smiling in oil fields?,” said Aicha Davis, D-Dallas. “I don’t know what you want.” The board removed two Edusmart books from its list of endorsed materials on a party-line vote. The publisher’s website says versions of its books are used in a quarter of Texas schools and cover 100 percent of the state’s science standards… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

Pandas, fentanyl and Taiwan — takeaways from Biden’s long-awaited meeting with Xi (Associated Press)

It was a meeting a year in the making.

President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping sat down together on Wednesday just outside of San Francisco, where Asian leaders gathered for an annual summit. It was almost exactly one year since their last encounter in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of another global gathering.

In addition to a formal bilateral meeting, Biden and Xi shared a lunch with top advisers and strolled the verdant grounds of the luxury estate where their meeting took place… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Americans are split over Israel's response in its war with Hamas (NPR)

Americans are split over whether Israel's response has been too much or about right in response to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack — with a majority of Democrats now saying it's been too much, according to the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.

The results were driven by people of color and younger respondents, who were far more likely than others to say Israel has gone too far, and said their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians than Israelis.

There are also clear divides on whether to fund both the Israel and Ukraine wars or to fund neither, and whether the U.S. should take a leadership role in the world at all. Again, younger Americans and nonwhites — as well as majorities of independents and Republicans — say the U.S. should focus more on problems at home… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

FDIC Chair, known for temper, ignored bad behavior in workplace (Wall Street Journal)

In 2019, the FDIC’s No. 2 legal official left a ranting, cursing voicemail for an employee criticizing her work. The federal bank regulator paid that employee a $100,000 settlement because of it, former officials said.

The legal official kept his job. Last year, Chairman Martin Gruenberg promoted him to become the federal agency’s general counsel.

Now, Gruenberg is under fire for his leadership at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. after a Wall Street Journal investigation found a longtime toxic atmosphere with few consequences for bad behavior prompted women to quit the agency. 

He faced grilling from Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday in response to the investigation. “What the hell is going on at the FDIC?” asked Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy.

Gruenberg said harassment and discrimination are “completely unacceptable” and said the agency doesn’t tolerate it. He announced that an independent firm would conduct a “top-to-bottom assessment” of the agency. He said he had been unaware of the allegations of workplace problems at the agency prior to the Journal’s reporting. 

Yet Gruenberg and his top deputies have been involved in decisions over high-level examples of alleged sexism, harassment and racial discrimination in which the agency didn’t take a hard line with individuals accused of misconduct, according to current and former FDIC officials. 

Gruenberg himself has built a reputation for bullying and for having an explosive temper, the officials said. Over nearly two decades at the FDIC—including leading the agency from 2011 to 2018 and becoming chairman a second time last year—Gruenberg has berated and cross-examined staffers, questioned their loyalty and accused them of keeping information from him, they said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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