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November 3, 2023

In today's BG Reads:

✅ Austin becomes largest U.S. city to drop parking-spot requirements

✅ Austin Transit Partnership names procurement head

✅ Fighting between legislative leaders imperils Texas border security bills

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]

To fight climate change and housing shortage, Austin becomes largest U.S. city to drop parking-spot requirements (Texas Tribune)

Austin on Thursday became the largest city in the country to stop requiring new developments to have a set amount of parking — a move aimed at both fighting climate change and spurring more housing construction amid the city’s affordability crisis.

The Austin City Council voted 8-2 Thursday to wipe out minimum parking requirements for virtually every kind of property citywide. That includes single-family homes, apartment buildings, offices and shopping malls.

Housing advocates, developers and climate activists across the country have increasingly targeted such rules. They say parking requirements — often referred to as “parking minimums” — drive up housing costs while enabling dependency on cars, a major source of carbon emissions... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Nonprofit CEO needed to oversee Austin's iconic hike and bike trail (Austin Business Journal)

The Trail Conservancy, the nonprofit that oversees Austin's Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail around Lady Bird Lake, is searching for a new leader.

Heidi Anderson, the organization's CEO, plans to step down at the end of December, the nonprofit announced Nov. 2. She's been at the helm of the organization since 2017.

Hanna Cofer, chief operating officer, will serve as interim CEO as the conservancy's board of directors begins the search for a permanent replacement. The position will be officially posted in the coming months, according to the announcement... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin Transit Partnership names procurement head, federal programs lead (Austin Business Journal)

The Austin Transit Partnership has made key hires as the organization moves forward with a $5 billion plan to bring more commuter trains to the city.

Brad Cummings has been named as the agency’s new senior vice president of procurement and contract management, according to an Oct. 31 announcement from the ATP, the independent, local government corporation created to execute the plan. Haley Garcia will also serve as the new senior vice president of program controls in the planning, community and federal programs department.

Cummings takes on the new forward-facing role for the agency, which is welcome news for members of the business community hoping to contribute to the project that's expected to create thousands of new jobs for the region. He will manage the business relationships needed for the decade-long build out of the 9.8-mile stretch of light rail planned for the core of Austin, including the construction of 15 planned stations.

The first wave of designers and contractors are set to be hired in the coming year…  (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin wants to make relocating a home easier to reduce waste and create affordable housing (KUT)

In a move to create more options for affordable housing while also reducing waste, the City of Austin is trying to make it easier to relocate homes.

When a builder comes in to redevelop a lot, the existing home is often demolished because it's easier and cheaper than relocating it. Those materials then end up in the landfill.

Developers say it's difficult and expensive to relocate a home in Austin; there's a complicated permitting process and fees, limited land, and money and land rules. Many of the homes that do get moved end up outside the city.

On Thursday, Austin City Council approved a resolution directing the city manager to look at how to remove some of those barriers so more homes can be reused for affordable housing, while building materials can be kept out of landfills… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Fighting between legislative leaders imperils Texas border security bills (Texas Tribune)

Discord between the Republicans who control Texas government threatened to inflict another casualty Thursday — border security bills that conservative lawmakers agree on in principle.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in an afternoon statement that House Bill 4, which would create a state crime to enter the state illegally from Mexico, was nothing more than a “Texas-sized catch-and-release bill.”

“HB 4 does not require proper identification of suspects, fingerprints, or a background check and allows illegal border crossers to return whenever they want, time and time again,” Patrick said.

An hour later, House Speaker Dade Phelan shot back. He defended the bill, which he said was drafted with Gov. Greg Abbott, as the strongest border measure ever passed by the lower chamber. And he accused the Senate, under Patrick’s leadership, of promoting its own “pro-illegal immigration” version of the bill… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Trump returns to Houston Thursday as Haley rises in polling from early-voting states (Houston Chronicle)

Former President Donald Trump is set to return to Houston Thursday with a dominant grip on the GOP primary race, but with a new top rival ascending in the polls and drawing more of his attention. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, while still far behind Trump, has risen to second place in early-voting states like New Hampshire and Iowa. And she has brandished some surprising Republican fundraising chops in Texas. Haley has outraised Trump in Houston, Dallas, Austin and Midland, though Trump has outraised her in Texas overall. The former president has begun to take notice. On Wednesday his presidential campaign sent statements to the press calling Haley names, and just last weekend he called her “a highly overrated person” at a rally in Sioux City, Iowa. It is all a potential preview of what he will say at a campaign stop this afternoon in Houston and later at a private evening fundraiser.

Up until now, Trump has largely focused his fire on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had appeared to be his top rival for most of the last six months. But as the DeSantis campaign has staggered, it’s Haley who has emerged and is getting more aggressive in challenging Trump directly. Last weekend, Haley had her sharpest criticism of Trump yet, blasting his past praise of authoritarian rulers and warning his style of "chaos, vendettas and drama" would be dangerous if he became president again.

"Eight years ago, it was good to have a leader who broke things," Haley said of Trump during a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual meeting in Las Vegas. "But right now, we need to have a leader who also knows how to put things back together." There’s no doubt Haley is picking up some momentum with just over 70 days until the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucuses get underway, said Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. But Sabato said she faces major hurdles if she’s going to actually dethrone Trump. “She’s so far behind that a lot of things would have to happen that we don’t see happening yet,” he said...

 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

Israeli military enters Gaza City to fight main Hamas forces (The Hill)

Israeli soldiers have entered Gaza City after completing an encirclement of the urban area home to the main force of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, but will now face an array of challenges fighting in the dense city.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said after encircling Gaza City, naval ships and aircraft are now assisting infantry and armor to strike command and control centers, rocket launch sites and other Hamas infrastructure.

Hagari said combat engineers are also working towards “demolishing and neutralizing” explosives and other hazards to allow troops to move more freely in the area.

“Our forces are killing terrorists in close combat, in any place in which fighting is required, even if it is difficult, the IDF and its soldiers have the upper hand,” he said at a press briefing on Thursday.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said earlier Thursday in a statement on television that Israeli forces were operating in the heart of Gaza City and were fighting “face-to-face battles.”

“These forces are fighting in an urban, tight area,” he said. “It requires professional fighting and lots of courage.”

The push into Gaza City comes hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posed with soldiers and said his forces were on the outskirts of Gaza City and were prepared to “advance and win.”

“Nothing will stop us,” Netanyahu wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried convicted of defrauding cryptocurrency customers (Associated Press)

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s spectacular rise and fall in the cryptocurrency industry — a journey that included his testimony before Congress, a Super Bowl advertisement and dreams of a future run for president — hit rock bottom Thursday when a New York jury convicted him of fraud for stealing at least $10 billion from customers and investors.

After the monthlong trial, jurors rejected Bankman-Fried’s claim during testimony in Manhattan federal court that he never committed fraud or meant to cheat customers before FTX, once the world’s second-largest crypto exchange, collapsed into bankruptcy a year ago.

“Mr. Bankman-Fried. Please rise and face the jury,” Judge Lewis A. Kaplan commanded just before a jury forewoman responded “guilty” seven times to two counts of wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud conspiracy and three other conspiracy charges, which carry potential penalties adding up to 110 years in prison. Bankman-Fried is likely to face far less than the maximum at a sentencing set for March 28... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

His job was to make Instagram safe for teens. His 14-year-old showed him what the app was really like. (Wall Street Journal)

In the fall of 2021 a consultant named Arturo Bejar sent Meta Platforms Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg an unusual note.

“I wanted to bring to your attention what l believe is a critical gap in how we as a company approach harm, and how the people we serve experience it,” he began. Though Meta regularly issued public reports suggesting that it was largely on top of safety issues on its platforms, he wrote, the company was deluding itself.

The experience of young users on Meta’s Instagram—where Bejar had spent the previous two years working as a consultant—was especially acute. In a subsequent email to Instagram head Adam Mosseri, one statistic stood out: One in eight users under the age of 16 said they experienced unwanted sexual advances on the platform over the previous seven days.

For Bejar, that finding was hardly a surprise. His daughter and her friends had been receiving unsolicited penis pictures and other forms of harassment on the platform since the age of 14, he wrote, and Meta’s systems generally ignored their reports—or responded by saying that the harassment didn’t violate platform rules… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

_________________________

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