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BG Reads 12.13.2023

BG Reads 12.13.2023

🗞️ BG Reads | News - December 13, 2023

December 13, 2023

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December 13, 2023

Today's BG Reads include:

✅ Austin Manufacturing Labor Market Overview

✅ Major changes coming to West Sixth Street

✅ Texas Monthly’s 2024 Bum Steer of the Year

✅ Why it took 17 years to build 49 housing units in Los Angeles

More stories below. Read on!

[BG Podcast]

Welcome to BG Podcast Episode 226.

On this episode the Bingham Group CEO A.J. Bingham and Associate Hannah Garcia wrap up the week of December 4 in Austin politics.

TOPIC: ✅ The Austin Council's passage (9-2) of the Home Options for Middle-income Empowerment (HOME) Initiative.

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[AUSTIN COUNCIL NEWS]

Yesterday, the Austin Council’s work session featured a presentation from City Demographer Lila Valencia, Ph.D. on our city’s population growth and demographic trends. Links below:

The Austin Council meets for its final regular meeting of 2023 this Thursday, agenda here.

2024 City Council Meeting Calendar

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Austin Manufacturing Labor Market Overview - Nov 2023 (Workforce Solutions Capital Area)

The manufacturing sector is experiencing significant shortages in technician-level roles, such as manufacturing technician, process technician, and equipment technician. Technical-level roles are generally considered middle-skill jobs, requiring more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year degree, such as an industry certification. Entry-level semiconductor roles also experiencing significant demand include assemblers and operators… (LINK TO FULL REPORT)

Austin Police say conflicting suspect descriptions hampered communication during shootings (KUT)

Austin Police say a glut of suspect descriptions hurt their ability to alert Austinites to the potential threat of an active shooter last week.

At a news conference Tuesday, interim Police Chief Robin Henderson said APD received several descriptions — and even video — of a man accused of being responsible for a string of fatal shootings that started outside San Antonio and ended in Austin. Henderson said it wasn’t until late in the day that investigators were able to determine any connection between the shootings… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

You can watch the news conference video here.

City Hall to consider contract method for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport expansion (Austin Business Journal)

City Hall is set to consider the project delivery method that will be used to bring portions of the highly anticipated Austin-Bergstrom International Airport expansion to fruition.

On Dec. 15, the City Council will consider the use of the Construction-Manager-at-Risk, or CMAR, method of contracting for the development of a new concourse and corresponding tunnel system — one of the most substantial projects of the city’s Airport Expansion and Development Program.

The estimated construction budget for this portion of the airport expansion is $1.6 billion and work is anticipated to begin in spring of 2026 with the help of an army of contractors and industry professionals.

The tunnel system will include the design and construction of new pedestrian, utility and baggage-handling and utility-system connection tunnels to the existing Barbara Jordan Terminal.

Council is also set to approve the construction method for an approximately 6,500-space parking garage that will replace existing parking facilities that will be removed as part of the broader redevelopment. The construction budget for the project is $310 million. It is anticipated that construction will begin in the fall of 2026… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Project planned for West Sixth Street will add new housing, restaurants, retail, hotel (Austin American-Statesman)

Work is due to kick off early next year on the second phase of Sixth&Blanco, a mixed-use project taking shape along West Sixth Street in the Old West Austin neighborhood just west of downtown.

The demolition of Swedish Hill in the first quarter will mark the beginning of the second phase, which will bring a new location for the beloved cafe and bakery, on the ground floor of a new five-story building that will have a hotel, private residences, restaurants and retail space.

The new building will face West Sixth Street and be bounded on the west by 1122 W. Sixth St., where a pop-up shop is currently located, and on the east by the now-closed Z Tejas restaurant. Z Tejas, a staple on West Sixth that served Southwestern cuisine, will not reopen within the new project... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin’s Barton Springs Road Bridge could be replaced amid dilapidating conditions (KXAN)

For more than 20 years, City of Austin officials have flagged the Barton Springs Road Bridge as one of the highest priority bridges in need of rehabilitation or replacement.

Now, staff are asking Austin City Council to greenlight design work on a total replacement for the nearly 100-year-old bridge as its conditions continue to wane.

The Barton Springs Road Bridge was first built in 1926 as a two-lane bridge before it was expanded in 1946. Today, approximately 20,000 vehicles cross the bridge each day, which is a key access point into and out of Zilker Park.

Over the years, officials have worked to maintain the bridge and expand its lifespan. However, with the amount of time it takes to design and engineer any sort of improvements on the structure, city leaders said Tuesday time is of the essence…(LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Mark Welsh III officially named president of Texas A&M University (Texas Tribune)

The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents has unanimously approved Gen. Mark Welsh III as the 27th president of Texas A&M University, a little more than four months after he was named interim president of the flagship university following the former president’s resignation over a hiring scandal.

The board met for nearly two hours in executive session Tuesday morning before giving Chancellor John Sharp permission to negotiate a contract with Welsh, who will have a starting annual salary of $1.1 million, according to the system.

Board Chair Bill Mahomes said regents feel strongly that Welsh will make a “Texas-sized impact” as president.

“His remarkable career embodies Aggie core values,” he said in a press release. “Now his mission is to raise Texas A&M's national stature in research, education and student experience.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

2024 Bum Steer of the Year: Dan Patrick (Texas Monthly)

At the conclusion of the impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton, members of the Texas Senate, acting as jury, retired to “deliberate” on a verdict. Meanwhile, the trial’s judge, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, left the Capitol with his staff to watch Oppenheimer, the blockbuster movie about a man whose brilliance and ego lead him to create a weapon that makes him a hero to those around him—but also threatens to destroy everything he claims to value. We go to the movies, at least in part, to see ourselves on-screen. Patrick is arguably the most powerful politician the state has produced in a quarter century: an adroit strategist, tactician, and punisher who makes Governor Greg Abbott look like the president of a small religious college. But in reshaping the state in his image, Patrick is cheapening and demeaning it.

The past year was one of crowning achievements for the lieutenant governor. Having taken almost complete control of the 31-member state Senate, over which he presides, he’s accomplished nearly everything he set out to do a decade ago, and the Republican Party of Texas has more or less rebuilt around him. His remodeling of the Senate culminated this year with the acquittal of his longtime ally Paxton, after an impeachment trial that made public overwhelming evidence that the attorney general had used the power of his office to benefit a campaign donor and personal crony. Patrick maintained the pretense of impartiality throughout the trial and then, at the end, dispelled any notion of it with a fiery speech in which he condemned the prosecution and argued that his Senate had saved the state.

“We are the envy of the world,” Patrick said. “We are the America that all America used to be.” With his political talents, Patrick could be one of the great statesmen in the history of the Legislature. Instead, he haunts Texas, unwilling to countenance any dissenting voice while remaining cartoonishly bound to an imagined past. That’s why Patrick—in the face of robust competition from Paxton and Elon Musk—is our Bum Steer of the Year… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

US Asians and Pacific Islanders view democracy with concern, AP-NORC/AAPI Data poll shows (Associated Press)

About 7 in 10 Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the United States believe the country is headed in the wrong direction and only about 1 in 10 believe democracy is working “extremely” or “very” well, according to a new poll from AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

About half say they disapprove of President Joe Biden, though more lean toward the Democratic Party than toward the Republicans. The poll shows Asian Americans are more likely to trust Democrats over Republicans to handle issues like the spread of misinformation, election administration, student debt and climate change, but slightly more likely to trust Republicans than Democrats on handling the economy and split on which is better suited to handle immigration. Many in the community trust neither party to handle major issues, especially election integrity and misinformation.

The poll is part of a series of surveys designed to reflect the views of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, whose attitudes and opinions can often not be analyzed in other surveys due to small sample sizes. It finds that the dour views among Asian Americans are broadly in line with the perspectives of the general public... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Democrats are badly divided on Israel, and GOP isn’t making it easier (The Hill)

House Democrats are scrambling to overcome the deep divisions on Israel policy that have splintered the caucus and strained relations between even chummy veteran lawmakers.

Republicans aren’t making it easy.

In the last week alone, GOP leaders have staged hearings on antisemitism, pushed pro-Israel votes to the floor and hosted media events on Capitol Hill with the families of victims taken hostage during the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, all of which have only highlighted the Democratic discord when it comes to U.S. support for Israel… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Why it took 17 years to build 49 housing units in Los Angeles (Wall Street Journal)

A Los Angeles nonprofit was given government land in January 2007 to build a few dozen units of affordable housing. They’re finally hoping to open the building next year.

Lorena Plaza, a 49-unit development rising in the predominantly Latino neighborhood of Boyle Heights in eastern Los Angeles, is taking longer to complete, a city official said, than practically any other residential building this size in the history of Los Angeles.

The 17 years of false starts and delays are an extreme instance of how difficult it has long been to build affordable housing in California—for both the homeless as well as lower and middle-income workers—and in other states with complex regulations and high costs.

The development has faced nearly every hurdle that California laws allow opponents to place in the way of affordable housing. Approvals by politicians and commissions took years, often held up by a single determined opponent on the city council. It took the developers more time to win over skeptical neighbors who were particularly opposed to nearby housing for the mentally ill and homeless. Financing hurdles and other costs piled up along the way. Construction finally began about a year ago.

In California, affordable housing developers typically abide by a host of requirements when they take public subsidies, such as tougher energy-efficiency standards and higher wages for construction workers. They often need to build amenities such as offices for social workers and transit-boosting features such as bike storage… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Shohei Ohtani’s Dodgers contract features Jerome Powell as MVP (Wall Street Journal)

At first glance, it seems like financial magic: The Los Angeles Dodgers have somehow figured out a way to pay the two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani $700 million, while also kind of only paying him $460 million, at least as far as Major League Baseball’s luxury tax rules are concerned.

But what the team is doing actually relies on some pretty familiar financial math. Many readers who will never be in the conversation for best baseball player of all time employ a similar maneuver in their own lives—albeit at far lower dollar levels—if they have a retirement plan. It might even become more common, thanks in part to Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate policies.

Here are the basics: The Dodgers are benefiting from the fact that a dollar today isn’t worth the same as one tomorrow, or what is known as the time value of money. Yes, the team will over time write checks to Ohtani totaling $700 million: $2 million will be paid annually over the 10 seasons of his playing contract, then $680 million between 2034 and 2043. But $700 million dribbled out all the way until 2043 is the financial equivalent of earning $460 million over 10 years, then putting that money into a 10-year fixed-rate investment.

The so-called discount rate assumption being used to get from $700 million back to $460 million is 4.43%, according to The Athletic. This is how baseball’s rules can treat the Ohtani deal like a $46 million a year package for 10 years, for purposes of calculating how much the Dodgers might owe under MLB’s luxury tax rules. The rules make teams pay more to the league if they exceed certain payroll thresholds... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[2024 Austin City Council Race Watch]

Next fall will see elections for the following Council positions, District 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, and Mayor. Candidates can’t file for a place on the ballot until July 22, 2024.

Declared candidates so far are:

District 2