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November 9, 2023

In today's BG Reads:

✅ The University of Austin is ready to start accepting applicants

✅ APD's reserve officer unit showing successful results

✅ Southwest Airlines says it's ready for the holidays

✅ Chase CEO Jamie Dimon worries about the future of Texas' business climate

More stories below. Read on!

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

New law means parkland funds will drop drastically (Austin Monitor)

The amount of parkland dedication fees City Council can collect starting on Jan. 1 will be severely limited, two principal planners for the Parks and Recreation Department told Council at Tuesday’s work session. Robynne Heymans and Scott Grantham explained that PARD is working on changes to the city ordinance as required by a new state law, House Bill 1526.

Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palestine, and Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, sponsored the bill. The law applies to cities with 800,000 residents or more, which includes Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston.

Under the city’s current ordinance, multifamily and hotel/motel developers are required to provide 9.4 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. The new ordinance will require only 0.075 acres to 3 acres per 1,000 residents, as prescribed by the law. Council must adopt the changes by Dec. 1. They were set to hold a public hearing on the ordinance today, but because the Planning Commission postponed consideration of the item, staff is recommending that the hearing be postponed to Nov. 30. That’s the last meeting Council can take action before the state’s deadline... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Voters show strong support for largest bond package in Travis County history (KUT)

Travis County voters appear to overwhelmingly support the county’s largest bond package in history. The funds will pay for roads and parks throughout the county.

As of 11 p.m., unofficial results showed 76.23% of voters were in favor of Proposition A, which would fund road projects, and 77.4% of voters supported Proposition B, which would fund parks. The bond package totals more than $509 million. The average homeowner with a home valued at $475,289 will pay $4.78 more a month or $57 more a year to cover it. County Judge Andy Brown said this was a testament to voters wanting to make investments in county roads and parks for years to come.

"Its a great day for Travis County, for people who live here today, but it's an even better day for our kids and grandkids, who will live here in the future because of these investments we are making," Brown said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

With $200 million and state approval, University of Austin is ready to start accepting applicants (Texas Tribune)

A new university in Austin that was launched two years ago to combat a perceived waning dedication to free speech and civil discourse at traditional universities is now accepting its first group of applicants to enroll in the fall of 2024.

Founders of the University of Austin announced Wednesday that the state has granted them the authority to award degrees, clearing a major hurdle to opening.

School leaders also said they will offer the inaugural 100-student class full scholarships for the entirety of their four-year undergraduate program, using $200 million the school has raised in private donations since leaders announced plans to create the new liberal arts university in the Texas capital… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

APD's reserve officer unit showing successful results, permanent solutions still needed to solve staffing challenges (CBS Austin)

For the first time in almost eight years, Austin Police say they were able to staff this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival at 100% capacity.

This was made possible by APD’s first ever Reserve Officer Unit. It was created to help active officers during special events amid APD’s ongoing staffing shortages.

Lieutenant Kenneth Murphy is the director of emergency management and special events within APD. He’s touting the success of APD’s historic reserve officer unit.

“Reserves actually took about 12% of the shifts. It’s been just as we planned if not, a little better than what we planned,” he said.

The reserve unit’s first major test run was during October’s Austin City Limits music festival as thousands of people poured into the city. The unit is made up of retired police officers who had to meet certain criteria before they could be re-sworn in.

CBS Austin is told although this initiative has been successful so far, more long-term solutions are still needed to help attract and retain APD officers… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

$270M plan emerges to bring more housing, restaurants and bars to South Austin (Austin Business Journal)

A group of bar and property owners in South Austin plan to invest $270 million to elevate a somewhat rural strip of bars into a mixed-use district that could emulate the nightlife charm that downtown's Rainey Street has lost in recent years.

South of Slaughter Lane on Menchaca Road — about a 30-minute drive from downtown, depending on traffic — three apartment complexes are planned to rise alongside more restaurant, retail and bar development where popular bars such as Moontower Saloon and Armadillo Den already draw in crowds. The project, dubbed the South Austin Entertainment District, would be connected by an approximately one-mile hike and bike trail.

It's a lofty plan for what's already an enviable entertainment area. Already, 11 venues such as The Hive and South Austin Beer Garden rake in those seeking some nightlife south of the river. Project investors want to double venue count over the next two years to include more coffee shops, restaurants and bars… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Why the head of the largest US bank worries about the future of Texas' business climate (Corpus Christi Caller-Times)

While Gov. Greg Abbott was in Austin accepting congratulations, and doing more than a little bragging, for Texas being named the state with nation's best business climate, the head of the country's largest banks was sending the governor an indirect warning from 220 miles to the north. The banker's message: Recent laws enacted by the Legislature and signed by Abbott himself could have the unintended consequence of running businesses out of state. The messenger was Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase, who was in the Dallas suburb of Frisco for a small business summit sponsored by the banking giant. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Dimon was just as effusive over Texas' business climate as Abbott was outside the Governor's Mansion when he accepted the honor bestowed on the state by Site Selection magazine.

But Dimon added a catch. Laws passed in 2021 ostensibly to protect the firearms and oil and gas industries might do to Texas' blooming economic rosebushes what a spritz of Roundup does to a weed poking up from a crack in the sidewalk. He was talking about measures that prohibit government entities in Texas from doing business with organizations that boycott fossil fuel companies or discriminate against gunmakers. The problem is that banks, including the one Dimon runs, are major players in the municipal bond market and many of them have adopted so-called environmental social governance, or ESG, policies reflective of their corporate values.

Some might want to combat climate change, so they lean in the direction of renewable energy. Others might have misgivings about the ready availability of military-style rifles so they steer clear of doing business with the gun industry. And if those banks get out of the municipal bonds business in Texas, cities and schools grappling with the rapid growth spurred by the state's flourishing economy have fewer entities to choose from, which mean less competition, which means less than optimal terms on the bonds they need to pay for more roads, parks and schools… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Texas Legislature tries again with bills making illegal border crossings a state crime (Texas Tribune)

Texas lawmakers have already gotten to work on the fourth special session of the year where Republicans will once again attempt to pass a sweeping immigration law that would allow state and local law enforcement to more easily arrest and prosecute people who cross the border from Mexico.

Republican lawmakers who control both chambers have largely been in agreement about their desire to pass the border security legislation — but in the most recent special session that ended Tuesday, their efforts unraveled amid political bickering.

On Tuesday, the warring chambers signaled they’d come to an agreement.

Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, and Rep. David Spiller, R-Jacksboro, filed identical immigration bills — Senate Bill 4 and House Bill 4 — that would empower Texas peace officers to arrest undocumented immigrants and require that a state judge order the person to leave the U.S. to Mexico in lieu of prosecution... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

GOP candidates hit Trump and back Israel. Here are highlights from the Republican debate (Associated Press)

As they face an increasingly urgent task to emerge as a clear alternative to former President Donald Trump, five Republican presidential candidates gathered Wednesday for the party’s latest debate.

Trump, the overwhelming front-runner in the race, skipped the event, as he has the first two, citing his polling advantage. There was no shortage of noteworthy confrontations on stage, as the participants debated the Israel-Hamas war, the future of abortion rights and Trump himself.

But with the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses approaching, it seemed unlikely that the debate fundamentally changed the presidential nomination fight… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Southwest Airlines says it's ready for the holidays after its meltdown last December (NPR)

Nearly one year later, Southwest is hoping for a do-over from last year's holiday meltdown, when a combination of extreme winter weather and a cascading set of technical problems led the airline to cancel 16,700 flights over a 10-day period in December.

Many would-be fliers were unable to rebook their flights or rent a car. Baggage claims overflowed. Customer service hotlines clogged up. The debacle cost Southwest hundreds of millions in lost revenue, prompted scrutiny from congressional investigators and led once-loyal customers to swear off the airline once and for all.

But this year, the airline says it's invested in new weather equipment and upgraded its technology ahead of the holiday rush in a bid to reassure customers and avoid a repeat of last year's performance.

"The disruption we had last winter was really hard on our customers and our employees. It weighs heavily on all of us here at Southwest Airlines," the carrier's chief operating officer, Andrew Watterson, said during an October earnings call with investors… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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