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- BG Reads 11.18.2024
BG Reads 11.18.2024
BG Reads - November 18, 2024
Bingham Group Reads
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November 18, 2024
➡️ Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 Austin City Council Regular Meeting Agenda, 11.21.2024
🟪 Travis County renews public health crisis declaration amid rising local opioid overdoses (Community Impact)
🟪 Equity overlay study prompts request for Council to further delay HOME2 implementation (Austin Monitor)
🟪 Trump names fossil fuel executive Chris Wright as energy secretary (Associated Press)
Read On!
From Sunday to Tuesday, Bingham Group will be in Orlando, FL, for the Austin Chamber’s 2024 InterCity Visit. Around 100 leaders from Austin and Travis County’s business, civic, and government sectors will engage in discussions with Orlando counterparts on economic and workforce development, transit, and more.
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
🟪 MEMO: City of Austin Executive Leadership Team and Organizational Announced (Effective November 4, 2024)
In an October 30 memo, City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced several key additions to the city leadership team, effective November 4.
You can view the memo here: CITY OF AUSTIN MEMO: Executive Leadership Team and Organizational Announcements. An org chart is included on page 3.
We particularly wanted to flag the creation of a Grants Division within the Intergovernmental Relations Office to focus on creating a centralized grant funding strategy and governance for the City that advances City Council’s strategic priorities, leverages local resources, and targets investments for Austin.
The memo notes “the City lacks a centralized grants function causing us to potentially leave federal and state funding on the table. Staff from across the organization are currently being identified for potential reassignment to the Grants Division.”
🟪 The Austin Council has three (2) regular meetings left in 2024:
November 21
December 12
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
➡️ Travis County renews public health crisis declaration amid rising local opioid overdoses (Community Impact)
On Nov. 12, Travis County commissioners renewed the 2022 declaration of a public health crisis, allocating $100,000 for naloxone—medicine that treats a narcotic overdose in an emergency—purchases in the new year and an additional $300,000 for future overdose prevention programs.
County staff told commissioners the area continues to see overdose surges, like the most recent surge in April, with 79 overdoses and nine suspected overdose deaths. The opioid overdose trends have not "plateaued” yet, said Laura Peveto, a division director at Travis County Health and Human Services… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Equity overlay study prompts request for Council to further delay HOME2 implementation (Austin Monitor)
The Community Development Commission wants City Council to further delay implementation of the second round of HOME initiative changes to the land use code, out of concern that more time is needed to properly design an equity overlay to address displacement concerns.
At last week’s meeting, the commission unanimously approved a recommendation to delay HOME Initiative Phase II by an additional six months, to allow for a comprehensive evaluation of the overlay’s feasibility, including hosting housing forums with service providers and organizations in areas most at risk of displacement. The commission also recommended providing city staff with additional resources to city staff to ensure the overlay will bring the needed zoning changes and other mechanisms to preserve affordable housing in vulnerable communities, primarily located in the city’s Eastern Crescent.
Prior to the vote, city staff provided the commission with a presentation on the forthcoming studies related to the equity overlay, which are being coordinated by an interdepartmental work group involving the Equity Office, Planning Department and Housing Department. Atlanta-based APD-Urban Planning Management has been selected to carry out the primary study that will conduct policy and program analysis, look at risk of displacement and offer final recommendations for how to best structure and implement the overlay... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ CapMetro to shelve 46 new electric buses for a year after manufacturer bankruptcy (KUT)
Capital Metro will put 46 brand-new electric buses in storage for at least a year, the latest fallout from an ambitious electrification goal the transit agency now admits was overly ambitious.
Mothballing the battery-powered buses from the now bankrupt supplier Proterra will slow the planned expansion of transit services for thousands of Austin commuters, who are using CapMetro at some of the highest levels since the pandemic. The transit agency averaged nearly 80,000 trips a day in September, the most recent month for which data is available.
As the million-dollar buses gather dust, Phoenix Motor Inc. — the Anaheim, California, company that acquired Proterra's bus business in a bankruptcy auction — is struggling to service warranties and address technical issues that have plagued CapMetro's Proterra buses.
Phoenix Motor did not respond to a request seeking comment before this story was published… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
➡️ Major improvements could be coming to an airport near you (WFAA)
Big changes are coming to many Texas airports. And travelers will notice them.
The Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, awarded nearly 1 billion dollars from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to 125 U.S. airports across 46 states.
Here in Texas, that includes Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Edinburg, Harlingen, and Midland.
“This is the first time we have had dollars to invest in exactly, as you say, those terminal, front of house improvements that will do so much to improve the passenger experience,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg told us on Inside Texas Politics.
“But also, particularly, I’ll emphasize for DFW and Austin, adding those new gates will also mean potentially bringing in new competition, lowering airline prices and really enhancing the travel experience in two cities where we know you’ve kind of outgrown your airports.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ New Braunfels moves on tax deal for $100M Continental manufacturing expansion (San Antonio Business Journal)
New Braunfels is moving ahead with plans for a potential $100 million expansion of the Continental Automotive Systems manufacturing facility.
Earlier this week, New Braunfels City Council unanimously voted in favor of the establishment of a tax increment reinvestment zone on a 47.5-acre area around Continental's Kohlenberg Road facility, which spans approximately 250,000 square feet and primarily produces components and hardware for self-driving and driver-assisted vehicles. The facility currently employs over 400 workers, with the aim of increasing that number to 576 by 2027.'
The vote lays the groundwork for negotiations with the global automotive parts manufacturer for a potential tax abatement deal as part of a 65,000 square feet expansion of its manufacturing space, and the employment of 100 additional jobs to facilitate Continental's new ventures into manufacturing parts for self-driving freight trucks that necessitate additional production and storage capacity.
Those expansions include an additional investment of more than $100 million in New Braunfels if the city is selected for the expansion. It would also help solidify Continental's operations in New Braunfels, marking it as a major manufacturing hub in the region… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US and World News]
➡️ Trump taps FCC's Brendan Carr to lead the agency (NPR)
President-elect Donald Trump has picked Brendan Carr, a veteran Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, to lead the agency that regulates broadcasting, telecommunications, broadband and other related industries.
For much of his career, Carr was seen as a relatively conventional Republican with a pro-corporate outlook. More recently, however, Carr has embraced Trumpian themes about social media, tech and television companies.
"Commissioner Carr is a warrior for Free Speech, and has fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans' Freedoms, and held back our Economy," Trump said in a statement on Sunday. "He will end the regulatory onslaught that has been crippling America's Job Creators and Innovators, and ensure that the FCC delivers for rural America."… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Trump names fossil fuel executive Chris Wright as energy secretary (Associated Press)
President-elect Donald Trump has selected Chris Wright, a campaign donor and fossil fuel executive, to serve as energy secretary in his upcoming, second administration.
CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.
Wright has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change, and could give fossil fuels a boost, including quick action to end a year-long pause on natural gas export approvals by the Biden administration.
Frequently criticizing what he calls a “top-down” approach to climate by liberal and left-wing groups, Wright has argued that the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” He has never served in government, but has written that more fossil fuel production is needed around the globe to lift people out of poverty… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
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