BG Reads 12.12.2024

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Bingham Group Reads

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December 12, 2024  

➡️ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 The Austin Council agenda for today’s 10AM Regular (and final) meeting of 2024

🟪 Austin could soon add ‘digital kiosks’ for wayfinding, revenue streams downtown (KXAN)

🟪 Austin's airport has a critical shortage of air traffic controllers approaching the holidays (KUT)

🟪 Planned 'new town' near Jarrell moving 'full speed ahead' — albeit behind the scenes(Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Gov. Greg Abbott signals support for David Cook over Dustin Burrows in GOP fight for House speaker (Texas Tribune)

🟪  Trump plans to scrap policy restricting ICE arrests at churches, schools and hospitals (NBC News)

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:

• The Austin Council meets today at 10AM - Austin Council Agenda Link + Livestream Link

  • 💡 Item 2: Approve adoption of Austin Energy’s Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan to 2035.

  • 💡 Item 38: Approve a resolution adopting the City’s State Legislative Agenda for the 89th Texas Legislative Session.

  • 💡 Item 39: Approve a resolution adopting the City’s Federal Legislative Agenda for the 119th Congress.

  • 💡 Item 138: Approve a resolution directing the City Manager to propose options and make recommendations to create programs for and allow digital transit-oriented and bikeshare signage along transit lines and corridors; to modify relocation requirements for nonconforming signs, including non-conforming off-premise commercial advertising signs; and to allow for off-premise commercial advertising in the City’s public right-of-way.

    • City Memo outlining digital signage program and solicitation process

🟪 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]

➡️ Reflections and celebrations with outgoing City Council members (Austin Monitor)

The city honored outgoing City Council members Mackenzie Kelly, Leslie Pool and Alison Alter with a special event in advance of their final Council meeting this Thursday. City staff, former Council members, local elected officials, plus family and friends gathered in Council chambers on Tuesday after the work session to celebrate and share remarks.

Kelly, who was elected in 2020, is transitioning out of office after a close race for reelection against Krista Laine. To date, no Council member has been able to secure a second term in far North/Northwest Austin’s politically divided District 6.

Mayor Pro Tem Pool, the longest-serving member of the current dais, has been on Council since 2014. Because her first term was a two-year term as Austin was transitioning to its current district representation system in 2014, Pool was eligible to serve for two subsequent four-year terms. Candidates Gary Bledsoe and Mike Siegel will face off this week in a runoff to serve as the district’s next representative.

Alison Alter, who was elected in 2016 and served as mayor pro tem in 2022, is completing her second term representing Central Northwest Austin’s District 10. Council Member-elect Marc Duchen will be sworn in as the next District 10 representative in January…  🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Austin could soon add ‘digital kiosks’ for wayfinding, revenue streams downtown (KXAN)

Digital kiosks could soon be a focal point in downtown Austin, as city leaders are looking into new ways to help with emergency messaging, wayfinding and sharing public information.

The Austin City Manager’s Office is looking into the potential pilot program downtown as well as in other “high pedestrian activity areas,” according to a Dec. 6 memo. If pursued, Austin would join other Texas cities like Dallas that are pursuing these installations.

The kiosks would operate as Wi-Fi hotspots as well as provide the following information under the envisioned pilot… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Austin's airport has a critical shortage of air traffic controllers approaching the holidays (KUT)

The FAA says ABIA currently has 33 fully certified controllers, which is down from 35 controllers last year. The airport should have a total of 60 fully trained controllers under the FAA reauthorization that passed Congress in May.

But staffing at ABIA's air traffic control might be even worse than that.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, told KUT News that two of the 33 fully trained controllers are medically unable to perform their duties. Another two have already left or are on their way out.

That would put the total number of controllers at 29, less than half the recommendation of 60 developed jointly by the FAA and air traffic controllers union.

"The FAA numbers are not accurate," Doggett insisted, "Whatever it is, we were in a worse position even by the FAA's faulty analysis than we were over a year ago."

"We're among the top four or five airports in the entire country in terms of air traffic control shortages. This just should not be happening," Doggett said. "I talked with the FAA administrator [Monday] and to the assistant that he has who's providing those numbers. We differ on the numbers, but we more importantly differ on whether the FAA is providing margin of safety that we need in Austin."… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Planned 'new town' near Jarrell moving 'full speed ahead' — albeit behind the scenes(Austin Business Journal)

About 18 months ago, representatives of Arizona-based DMB Development LLC unveiled initial plans for its long-anticipated Solana Ranch project near Jarrell. The effort called for billions of dollars of investment and construction of 14,000 homes and mixed-use buildings on more than 7,000 acres.

Elements of the project aren't yet visible on the sprawling site at the northern end of the Austin metro, but DMB President and CEO Brent Herrington said the company "is making tremendous progress and our current status is full speed ahead."

Split between Williamson and Bell counties, the planned development is among the most anticipated in the region. In early 2023, the Austin Business Journal first revealed plans for the project — located on the site of a 9,000-acre cattle and wildlife ranch owned by the Michaux family along the I-35 corridor between Georgetown and Temple.

While there hasn't been much public discussion about it since then, work behind the scenes apparently has continued full throttle. Herrington said in mid-November that the company has been working through technical studies, such as design and engineering of infrastructure for things like wastewater treatment, electric power, potable water and high-speed internet. DMB plans to begin outreach to homebuilders and other land users in early 2026, he said… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

➡️ Gov. Greg Abbott signals support for David Cook over Dustin Burrows in GOP fight for House speaker (Texas Tribune)

Gov. Greg Abbott signaled support for state Rep. David Cook of Mansfield for speaker of the Texas House in a cryptic social media post on Wednesday.

The post didn’t mention Cook or his challenger, state Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, by name but said the next speaker needs to be chosen by a “majority of Republicans in accordance with the Republican Caucus Rules.”

This low-key endorsement could dash Burrows' campaign to be the next speaker. Shortly after Cook won the GOP caucus vote over the weekend, Burrows declared he had the necessary votes — from Republicans and Democrats — to win the gavel, but has since been losing supporters.

Any speaker hopeful would need to assemble a coalition of at least 76 House members to win control of the 150-member House… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ City breaks ground on $1.7 billion terminal at San Antonio International Airport (San Antonio Express-News)

Construction on San Antonio International Airport's massive new $1.7 billion terminal, the cornerstone of a planned 20-year expansion of the airport, is officially under way. The 850,000 square-foot Terminal C will be larger than the airport's two existing terminals combined. It will connect to Terminal B and is set to open in the second quarter of 2028.

"This is the largest and most important capital improvement project that our city has ever taken on to date," Airport Director Jesus Saenz said at a ceremonial groundbreaking on Tuesday.

The new terminal will include up to 17 gates, bringing the total at the airport to 40. It will have eight security lanes, and the city plans to bump that up to a dozen eventually. There also will be more room for restaurants, shops and other concessions and larger waiting areas for passengers... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

➡️ Trump plans to scrap policy restricting ICE arrests at churches, schools and hospitals (NBC News)

The incoming Trump administration intends to rescind a long-standing policy that has prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from arresting undocumented people at or near so-called sensitive locations, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals or events such as funerals, weddings and public demonstrations without approval from supervisors, according to three sources familiar with the plan.

President-elect Donald Trump plans to rescind the policy as soon as the first day he is in office, according to the sources — who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the change publicly. The move would be intended to boost ICE’s authority to arrest migrants across the country, and its speed in doing so, as part of Trump’s plan to carry out what he has said he wants to be the “largest deportation operation in American history.”

The policy preventing agents from making arrests in sensitive locations without approval started in 2011 with a memo sent by then-ICE Director John Morton, and continued through the first Trump and Biden administrations. It was meant to allow undocumented people to operate freely in certain public areas with the idea that doing so will ultimately benefit not just them, but also the larger community. In 2021, the Biden administration issued its own guidance expanding the areas that “require special protection.”

“Immigration enforcement has always required a balance. In the past, Presidents of both parties have recognized that merely because it may be lawful to make arrests at hospitals and schools doesn’t mean it’s humane or wise public policy,” said Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. “We don’t want people with contagious diseases too scared to go to the hospital or children going uneducated because of poorly considered deportation policies.”

Under the policy, ICE agents have been allowed to go into the sensitive locations to make arrests under certain conditions including a national security or terror issue, the arrest of a felon considered dangerous, or if there was imminent risk of death or physical harm to a person or property or concern that evidence in a criminal investigation would be destroyed.

Even when those circumstances existed, agents had to get approval from superiors in order to plan an arrest in a sensitive location. They could also go in to make an arrest in exigent circumstances when they felt immediate action was required, but needed to consult with superiors after the fact… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Trump taps diplomat Ronald Johnson for ambassador to Mexico (Politico)

President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that he is selecting former U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Ronald Johnson to be the next U.S. ambassador to Mexico.

Johnson, a Green Beret who spent more than 20 years at the Central Intelligence Agency before a diplomatic posting in San Salvador, would bring significant foreign policy expertise to one of the most important bilateral diplomatic portfolios in the U.S. government.

Mexico is the United States’ largest trading partner, and thorny discussions around bilateral trade, drug trafficking, migration and border security are expected to dominate the agenda between Washington and Mexico City under the Trump administration.

In a post on Truth Social announcing Johnson as his pick, Trump said: “Together, we will put an end to migrant crime, stop the illegal flow of Fentanyl and other dangerous drugs into our Country and, MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!”

Johnson will face a Senate confirmation process but is unlikely to encounter resistance from senators as a former diplomat with extensive foreign policy credentials.

U.S. envoys to Mexico City have had mixed success in the past. Some, like current U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar, have been faulted for deferring too much to the Mexican government, while others like the Reagan administration’s envoy, John Gavin, have ruffled feathers by pressing too hard on issues of crime and drug trafficking… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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