BG Reads 11.25.2024

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Bingham Group Reads

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November 25, 2024  

➡️ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Austin to explore new ways to fund its parks. One option: A user fee. (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Ballet Austin announces 15 local celebrities to play Mother Ginger in ‘The Nutcracker’ (Austin Monthly)

🟪 Texas bill proposes bullet train connecting Austin, San Antonio and Dallas (KUT)

🟪 Trump's deportation vow alarms Texas construction industry (NPR)

🟪 Trump chooses Bessent to be treasury secretary, Vought as budget chief, Chavez-DeRemer for Labor (Associated Press)

Read On!

🟪 LINK TO THIS WEEK’S CITY OF AUSTIN HEARINGS + AGENDA

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🟪 The Austin Council has one (1) regular meeting left in 2024:

• December 12

🟪 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.”

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

➡️ Austin to explore new ways to fund its parks. One option: A user fee. (Austin American-Statesman)

Facing a tight budget, the Austin City Council has asked staff to look into new ways to pay to maintain the city's 350-plus parks – including a user fee that would appear on utility bills. At a meeting Thursday, the 11-member body approved a resolution proposed by Council Member Leslie Pool that directs City Manager T.C. Broadnax to consider user fees, tax increment finance zones, public-private partnerships and “resources from other (city) departments.”

To carry out the job, the resolution recommends hiring outside consultants “with expertise in park system funding.” Pool said during the meeting that she proposed the resolution because parks are often an afterthought in the city’s budgeting process.

“Our parks tend to be heavily loved, but underfunded,” Pool said. “I'm hoping this resolution will help find a steady source of funding so we're not having to choose between critical needs and maintaining parks.” Austin finds itself in a precarious financial position thanks largely to state legislation that placed limits on local property tax increases – and the expiration of millions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funding that had offset the drop in tax revenue.

Property taxes are the largest revenue generator for the city’s general fund, which pays for parks but also critical services like police and fire. The resolution also directs Broandax and his staff to work with Travis and other surrounding counties as well as “other regional partners to explore the feasibility of creating a regional park management, acquisition, and maintenance strategy” and an annual progress report. Unlike an ordinance, a resolution does not change city code but provides direction and guidance from the council. Any of the proposed changes would need to come back to the city council for final approval… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Texas bill proposes bullet train connecting Austin, San Antonio and Dallas (KUT)

As plans for a Dallas to Houston bullet train move forward, one state legislator is hoping to kick-start another high speed rail line from North Texas to San Antonio.

State Rep. John Bucy, a Democrat who represents parts of Austin and Williamson County, told KERA that his legislation, if passed, would allow the Texas Department of Transportation to start planning a line along the I-35 corridor, one of the most traveled in the state.

“Having high speed rail between connecting these major hubs of Texas, of Dallas and Austin and San Antonio, it should be a great option for Texans and for visitors and everyone alike,” Bucy said.

House Bill 483 would require TxDOT to enter into a comprehensive development agreement with a private partner to create the new line. Another bill, HB 542, would allow for the use of state highway funds for transit-oriented projects as well as public roads... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Kyle seeks development partner for city-owned hotel, convention center (Community Impact)

The city of Kyle is looking to partner with a developer or hotelier to design, construct and operate a premier hotel and convention facility, located between Kyle Parkway and Kohlers Crossing, according to a news release.

The project is envisioned as part of a larger development that includes a St. David’s Hospital, retail and restaurant space. The development is also slated to have a waterfront park, according to the news release.The city also said they were prepared to offer the land through a long-term lease for a nominal fee or transfer it as part of an economic partnership, according to the news release…  🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Ballet Austin announces 15 local celebrities to play Mother Ginger in ‘The Nutcracker’ (Austin Monthly)

An essential part of the local holiday experience, Ballet Austin’s 62nd annual production of The Nutcracker returns to the Long Center this year from Dec. 6 to 23. In a long-established tradition, each performance will include a guest appearance of a notable Austinite as the role of Mother Ginger.

The larger-than-life character appears during the second act, The Court of the Sugar Plum Fairy… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

➡️ Trump's deportation vow alarms Texas construction industry (NPR)

Clear signals President-elect Donald Trump plans to make good on his campaign pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants in his second term has sparked concerns among some in Texas' business and economic sectors who say mass deportations could upend some of the state's major industries that rely on undocumented labor, chief among them the booming construction industry. "It would devastate our industry, we wouldn't finish our highways, we wouldn't finish our schools," said Stan Marek, CEO of Marek, a Houston-based commercial and residential construction giant.

"Housing would disappear. I think they'd lose half their labor." Talk of a mass round up comes as Texas is booming. Texas cities regularly appear on lists of the country's fastest growing communities, and construction cranes and workers donning safety vests are common sites in most major cities.

That Texas relies on undocumented labor is one of the state's open secrets, despite Republicans' tough-on-immigration stances. In 2022, more than a half million immigrants worked in the construction industry, according to a report by the American Immigration Council and Texans for Economic Growth. Nearly 60% of that workforce was undocumented.

"The state needs to leverage both U.S.-born and immigrant talent to fill construction jobs that power the Texas economy," the report notes.

"It's not remotely practical to round up and deport everybody," said economist Ray Perryman, the president and CEO of the Waco-based Perryman Group.

He said the reason Texans need so many immigrant laborers is simple: The Texas workforce isn't large enough to keep pace with its growth. Like Marek, he worries that a massive roundup could have a chilling effect on the Texas economy.

"And, we simply don't have an economic structure that can sustain that. There are more undocumented people working in Texas right now than there are unemployed people in Texas," Perryman said… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Eliminated parking minimums in Dallas gets closer to city council (KERA)

A proposal to eliminate parking minimums — potentially leaving the amount of parking space up to developers — is getting closer to reaching the Dallas City Council. The City Planning Commission was briefed on the proposal during its meeting on Thursday.

The potential changes to the city's parking options have been in the works since 2019 at the encouragement of District 1 City Council Member Chad West and other members. Current city parking minimums were passed in the 1960s and slightly updated in the 1980s. The standard is based on what critics call “arbitrary numbers” dictating the amount of spaces required per square foot.

Earlier this year, the issue went before the Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee. The Planning Commission was the next step. Interim Chief Planner Michael Wade said parking minimums get in the way of city goals by hindering housing production redevelopment of existing buildings and creating a cumbersome permitting process. "It disproportionately burdens small businesses, and this has an equity impact," Wade said. "It perpetuates really an unsafe, unwalkable, totally unpleasant environment very often."

If the city eliminates parking minimums, developers would still be required to provide ADA compliant, accessible parking, Wade said. Dallas is far from the first city to consider revising its parking requirements… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

➡️ Trump chooses Bessent to be treasury secretary, Vought as budget chief, Chavez-DeRemer for Labor (Associated Press)

President-elect Donald Trump announced Friday that he’ll nominate billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, an advocate for deficit reduction, to serve as his next treasury secretary, one of several personnel decisions that he unveiled as he closed out the workweek. Trump also said he would nominate Russell Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget, the same position he held during Trump’s first presidency.

Vought was closely involved with Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term that the GOP nominee tried to distance himself from during the campaign. The announcements showed how Trump was trying to balance competing perspectives as he pursues an aggressive and sometimes contradictory economic agenda that includes cutting taxes, reducing government spending, putting tariffs on foreign imports and lowering prices for American consumers. Although Bessent is closely aligned with Wall Street and could earn bipartisan support, Vought is known as a Republican hardliner on budget and cultural issues.

Trump said Bessent would “help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States,” while Vought “knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State and end Weaponized Government.”

After announcing his choices for key financial posts, Trump kept up the pace of what has been a breakneck transition process. Trump picked Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon, a rare Republican who is considered a stalwart union ally, as his labor secretary. He also said he would nominate Scott Turner, a former football player who worked in Trump’s first administration, to serve as his housing secretary.

More choices were named for health and national security positions. In less than three weeks since the election, Trump has announced decisions for almost his entire Cabinet.

Bessent, 62, is the founder of hedge fund Key Square Capital Management, after having worked on-and-off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. He told Bloomberg in August that attacking the U.S. national debt should be a priority, which includes slashing government programs and other spending. “This election cycle is the last chance for the U.S. to grow our way out of this mountain of debt without becoming a sort of European-style socialist democracy,” he said then… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Voters rejected historic election reforms across the US, despite more than $100M push (ABC News)

Two weeks before Election Day, activists from across the country gathered for an online rally heralding the historic number of state ballot initiatives seeking to change the way people vote. Hopes were high that voters would ditch traditional partisan primaries and embrace ballots with more candidate choices. Instead, the election reform movement lost almost everywhere it appeared on a statewide ballot.

“It turns out, in retrospect, we weren’t yet ready for prime time,” said John Opdycke, president of the advocacy group Open Primaries, which organized the rally. In Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and South Dakota — a mixture of red, blue and purple states — voters rejected either ranked choice voting, open primaries or a combination of both.

The open primary proposals sought to place candidates of all parties on the same ballot, with a certain number of top finishers advancing to the general election. Under ranked choice voting, people can vote for multiple candidates in order of preference. If no one receives a majority of first place votes, then candidates who receive the fewest votes are eliminated and their votes redistributed to people’s next choices.

Election reform advocates raised about $110 million for the statewide ballot measures, vastly outpacing their opponents, according to an Associated Press analysis of campaign finance figures that could grow even larger as post-election reports are filed. Still, their promotional push wasn’t enough to persuade most voters. “While Americans are frustrated with politics, I think most Americans are just fine with the traditional way of voting,” said Trent England, executive director of Save Our States, which opposes ranked choice voting... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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