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- BG Reads 12.27.2024
BG Reads 12.27.2024
🟪 BG Reads - December 27, 2024
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December 27, 2024
➡️ Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 Vela reflects on his first term and looks to the future (Austin Monitor)
🟪 Ryan Alter looks back on accomplishments of 2024 (Austin Monitor)
🟪 Council Member José Velásquez seeks to reframe local representation (Austin Monitor)
🟪 From Round Rock’s school board to City Hall, District 6 newcomer Krista Laine gives conservatives a run for their money (Austin Monitor)
🟪 Texas House Interim Reports & Recommendations for the 89th Texas Legislature (Texas House)
🟪 A reflective Biden harbors some regrets as his term winds down (New York Times)
Read On!
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
🟪 Review: The 2025 Austin Council Meeting Calendar
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
➡️ Vela reflects on his first term and looks to the future (Austin Monitor)
Chito Vela is about to complete his first term as District 4’s City Council member. Vela was re-elected in November for a second term, running on the issues of housing, transit and public safety.
While reflecting on his first term, the first item on Vela’s mind was HOME Phase I and II. The “Home Options for Mobility and Equity” code amendments are phased changes to the city’s Land Development Code, with the goal of increasing single-family housing supply and offering more types of housing. “Additional supply will help moderate prices and that’s exactly what happened,” Vela said.
“Passing those, seeing them launch and, more importantly, seeing housing prices go down,” was a highlight for Vela.
The Austin housing market has been booming in recent years. In 2021, Zillow predicted that Austin would “outperform the nation in home value growth.” In 2023, SmartAsset ranked the Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown metro area as number one for growth and stability… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Ryan Alter looks back on accomplishments of 2024 (Austin Monitor)
District 5 Council Member Ryan Alter is proud of City Council’s many accomplishments in 2024, starting with what is obviously one of his favorite topics: housing.
“I think first and foremost, we as a Council made some really important strides when it comes to affordability, especially around housing. A key priority of mine has always been making life in Austin more affordable not only for the residents of District 5 but for everyone who lives here and wants to live here,” he told the Austin Monitor.
Alter noted some of the major housing initiatives, such as HOME and HOME 2, that Council passed are already having an impact and will continue to do so. As evidence, he pointed to the widely publicized drop in Austin rents. That is not true in Dallas and Houston, he said… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Council Member José Velásquez seeks to reframe local representation (Austin Monitor)
As Council Member José Velásquez tackled a wide array of issues in 2024, he has remained focused on the three tenets that guide his work and decision-making: “affordability, accessibility and action.” Pursuing these principles has pushed him to redefine the boundaries of local representation.
“We really wanted to change the narrative around what representative government can look like,” Velásquez said about building direct community engagement. “I do 15 to 20 one-on-one coffee chats per month with anyone who wants to sign up for them, I do block walking, I do constituent call-back time which means that once every couple weeks I take a couple hours and call folks back who have shared their cases with our office, and we host a community service group. … This is all in an effort to remain as close to the community as possible.”
The Council member stressed that “communication is paramount,” highlighting it as the cornerstone of his approach to representation. He is focused on a proactive strategy, aiming to engage with constituents and address issues before they escalate, rather than reacting to problems after they arise… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ From Round Rock’s school board to City Hall, District 6 newcomer Krista Laine gives conservatives a run for their money (Austin Monitor)
If, in the days leading up to 2020, you had asked Krista Laine where she saw herself halfway through the decade, she likely would have told you she’d be back in the world of commercial real estate, where she’d made a name for herself as an appraiser handling land development projects across Central Texas.
But the universe had other plans for Laine, who is now gearing up to take Mackenzie Kelly’s seat on the dais as District 6’s newest City Council member.
Laine’s venture into politics began inadvertently. On sabbatical from a demanding career, she had been planning her next moves when the Covid-19 pandemic threw her a curveball. Stuck at home and wanting answers, Laine found herself among the many concerned parents glued to Round Rock ISD Board meetings.
Laine watched as debates over mask policies and social distancing escalated into a partisan bloodbath of harassment, litigation and even arrests. Come election season, when a slate of five candidates bankrolled by public school reformists and evangelicals threatened to oust dissenting trustees, Laine channeled her outrage into a campaign of her own, forming the advocacy group and political action committee Access Education RRISD… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
➡️ Texas House Interim Reports & Recommendations for the 89th Texas Legislature (Texas House)
➡️ Proposed Texas bill would create comprehensive regulation, oversight to AI development (Austin American-Statesman)
After months of ongoing discussions and questions regarding how the state will approach artificial intelligence, a state representative finally filed House Bill 1709 — the proposed Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act — on Monday.
State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R-Southlake) initially released a draft of the proposed act in October and officially filed the legislation on Monday and will likely introduce it in the upcoming legislative session, which is set to begin on Jan. 14. Capriglione co-chairs the state’s AI Advisory Council.
In contrast to traditional computer programs, which follow predetermined instructions, AI technologies have the potential to learn from new data and change over time, as humans do.
The 44-page act would establish regulations, guidelines and obligations for the development, use and distribution of “high-risk AI systems.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US and World News]
➡️ Trump’s top border adviser says he will bring back family detention (Washington Post)
U.S. immigration authorities will once more put families with children in detention centers when President-elect Donald Trump returns to office next month, according to incoming White House “border czar” Tom Homan. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will look to hold parents with children in “soft-sided” tent structures similar to those used by U.S. border officials to handle immigration surges, Homan said. The government will not hesitate to deport parents who are in the country illegally, even if they have young U.S.-born children, he added, leaving it to those families to decide whether to exit together or be split up.
“Here’s the issue,” Homan said in a wide-ranging interview that included some of his most extensive comments to date on Trump’s plans for mass deportations. “You knew you were in the country illegally and chose to have a child. So you put your family in that position.”
President Joe Biden ended family detention in 2021, closing three facilities ICE called “residential centers” that offered about 3,000 beds. The facilities had a dorm-like design with recreational and educational programming. They were criticized by immigration advocates and pediatricians who said detention was harmful for children.
The federal judge who oversees immigration detention programs involving minors has set 20 days as the maximum amount of time children can be held at the family facilities. The deportation process often requires more time, so ICE has generally preferred to prioritize easier-to-remove adults. But Homan said that may change once Trump takes office.
“We’re going to need to construct family facilities,” he said. “How many beds we’re going to need will depend on what the data says.” Homan will not be directing ICE operations as part of his White House role. But he will work closely on border and immigration issues with Kristi L. Noem, now governor of South Dakota and Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE…🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ A reflective Biden harbors some regrets as his term winds down (New York Times)
President Biden has less than a month to go until his one-term presidency ends, and he is feeling reflective. He is voicing regrets about his decision not to sign his name to Covid relief checks and about his longtime reputation — once considered a virtue — of being the poorest lawmaker in Congress. And now, with a planned visit to meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican next month, the president is signaling that he may have additional issues on his mind.
The visit, White House officials said as they issued a readout on Mr. Biden’s call with the pope last week, is officially to discuss world peace. But according to a person familiar with his plans for the trip, Mr. Biden is also going to the Holy See to seek solace and “relief” as he exits the world stage. Pope Francis, that person said, has become an ally and sounding board, trading occasional phone calls with Mr. Biden. Some of those conversations have been casual check-ins of the “Hey, how you doing?” variety.
Throughout his long career, Mr. Biden’s penchant for narrating his life experiences has shaped how the public understands him. We know the stories: Childhood struggles with a stutter created a scrappy, bully-fighting neighborhood crusader. Mistakes and bad timing upended earlier attempts at the nation’s highest office. And the devastating losses of his first wife and two children created a wellspring of resilience. But the regrets he has let slip in the lame-duck portion of his presidency are different from the traditional Biden lore he spun on his way up the ladder.
As he makes his way down, his recent comments and actions reveal more about Mr. Biden’s thoughts on the current political landscape, one that is drastically different from the one he entered after winning his first Senate election in 1972. Despite being described by his allies as in a pensive, sometimes angry, mood as the end of his term approaches, the president has not made himself available to answer many questions about his recent actions, including his decision to pardon his son Hunter. Still, in public appearances, he has offered a few glimpses into what has weighed on him.
Earlier this month, in remarks at the Brookings Institution in Washington, Mr. Biden spoke about his long-held belief that the key to strengthening the American economy is through bolstering the middle class. But he paused just long enough to touch on a story that he has shared countless times as a candidate and office holder. “For 36 years, I was listed as the poorest man in Congress,” he told the crowd with a laugh, before adding, “What a foolish man.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Trump says it could be worth keeping TikTok in US for a little while (Reuters)
President-elect Donald Trump indicated on Sunday that he favored allowing TikTok to keep operating in the United States for at least a little while, saying he had received billions of views on the social media platform during his presidential campaign.
Trump's comments before a crowd of conservative supporters in Phoenix, Arizona, were one of the strongest signals yet that he opposes a potential exit of TikTok from the U.S. market.
The U.S. Senate passed a law in April requiring TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest the app, citing national security concerns.
TikTok's owners have sought to have the law struck down, and the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case. But if the court does not rule in ByteDance's favor and no divestment occurs, the app could be effectively banned in the United States on Jan. 19, one day before Trump takes office… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
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