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BG Reads 4.19.2024

BG Reads 4.19.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - April 19, 2024

April 19, 2024

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Bingham Group Reads

Presented by:

4.17.24 // Bingham Group celebrates 7 years in business!

April 19, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟣 Austin Council approves guaranteed income for families

🟣 Austin Council outlaws the construction of windowless bedrooms

🟣 City Council OKs new utility plant at Austin airport; more steps in expansion to come

Read On!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

✅ (NEW) BG Podcast Ep. 247: Austin Politics Weekly Recap and What's Ahead

✅ (NEW) BG Podcast Ep. 246: 2024 Elections - Austin Mayoral Round Up

On this episode we welcome back Jack Craver, independent reporter and founder of The Austin Politics Newsletter. Jack and Bingham Group CEO A.J. Bingham discuss the candidate field for the 2024 Austin Mayoral elections, including incumbent Mayor Kirk Watson.

✅ BG Blog: Land Development Code Amendments (4) Overview

✅ BG Blog - City of Austin org chart red line (as of 2/9/2024)

[AUSTIN CITY HALL]

✅ Actions taken by the City Council during its April 18th meeting

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Austin approves guaranteed income for families as Houston battles lawsuit for same thing (KVUE)

The city of Austin is bringing back a "guaranteed income" program to give 100 families an extra financial boost every month.

But a similar program in Harris County has faced opposition from the state's top lawyer.

The city of Austin enacted the program in 2022 to help 135 families, and staff said it was a success, finding that people actually used the money they got for necessities.

Harris County implemented a similar program, but Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to put a stop to it.

"These are discretionary funds that the powers that be in the local communities have an opportunity to disperse those funds as they see fit to, to the general benefit and welfare of the community," said Charlie Baird, an Attorney & Former Travis County District Court Judge.

"Yes, this is going to help me tremendously with housing, groceries, bills," said Austinite Robert Holley.

Those are some of the needs income guaranteed program members say they're getting help with.

On Thursday, the Austin City Council approved setting aside $1.3 million to disperse to lower income Austinites… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin outlaws the construction of windowless bedrooms (KUT)

Developers in Austin will have to provide some form of natural light in bedrooms after Austin City Council members voted Thursday to amend the city’s building code.

For the most part, Austin will accomplish this change by simply replacing one word in the International Building Code that many cities adopt. The rules, which dictate safety standards for commercial buildings including apartments, require developers to provide natural “or” artificial light in rooms where people sleep. Austin will change that “or” to an “and.” The change goes into effect on May 20.

For at least two decades, developers have built thousands of windowless bedrooms. Most of these are in apartments serving students in West Campus, the neighborhood directly west of UT Austin.

By not needing to have a window, developers could build more bedrooms, housing more students and pocketing more rent. But professors and students have spent years advocating to prohibit the construction of windowless bedrooms out of concern for students’ mental health. Studies show having access to natural light increases alertness and decreases depressive symptoms… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

City Council OKs new utility plant at Austin airport; more steps in expansion to come (Austin American-Statesman)

The Austin City Council on Thursday passed the first of many steps to address the "deficient" elements of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport this year, kicking off a spate of votes in the coming months to increase capacity at the overcrowded airport.

The unanimous decision, the first of at least nine expansion-related votes planned this year, approves a $162 million construction contract to build a new utility plant for the city-run airport. Built in 1997, the existing plant powers the airport's heating and cooling and has reached its peak cooling capacity, meaning it could not accommodate further growth, according to airport officials.

In addition to expanding the ceiling for the airport's growth, current plans for the new plant aim to cut down on the carbon footprint… Thursday's vote is the first of many planned for the year. Next month, airport officials will ask the City Council to consider contracts relating to utilities, such as water main extensions and storm drainage, across the airport — which Badawi said are currently "maxed out" — and a new parking garage with at least 7,700 spaces… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Candidates clash in race to succeed Whitmire in Texas Senate (Houston Chronicle)

If Houstonians found recent political debates to be largely uneventful events, then they were in for a big surprise Wednesday night, when state Rep. Jarvis Johnson and emergency room nurse Molly Cook took to the stage. The two candidates, running to succeed Mayor John Whitmire in the Texas Senate, repeatedly clashed over their backgrounds and records ahead of back-to-back elections. The District 15 seat became vacant for the first time since 1983 when Whitmire left the Legislature to serve as Houston's mayor. During the Democratic primary in March, Johnson and Cook received 36% and 21% of the ballots cast, respectively, eliminating four other candidates from the race. Since neither candidate received a majority of the vote, they are now set to compete against each other in a primary runoff on May 28.

Due to Whitmire’s early resignation, the two will also face off in a special election on May 4 to decide who will complete the remainder of Whitmire’s term this year. Early voting for the special election starts Monday. During a debate Wednesday evening, organized by the Bayou Blue Democrats, Johnson took aim at Cook for her lack of experience serving in elected office. Cook, striving to close a 15-percentage-point gap behind her opponent, in turn leveled sharp attacks against Johnson for the state representative’s voting and donation records.

The district has traditionally been a Democratic stronghold, encompassing several of Houston's most prominent neighborhoods, such as Montrose and the Heights. The winning Democrat in the runoff will face local businessman Joseph Trahan, the sole Republican to enter the race for the seat, in November. Johnson’s attendance rate was not the only issue Cook raised on Wednesday. She cited several legislative actions that she argued demonstrate Johnson’s records are out of step with Democratic values. She criticized Johnson for supporting a Republican-backed bill that she said made it more difficult for individuals with pre-existing conditions to secure equitable health insurance coverage.

The vote was particularly disturbing to her as a health care professional who “see(s) people day in and day out with fear in their eyes, disease in their bodies,” she said. Johnson said he supported the bill only after the Democrats had successfully added a favorable amendment to improve transparency in the process. Voting against the bill after securing the amendment, he said, would have jeopardized relationships with the Republican majority… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[NATION/WORLD NEWS]

Many baby boomers own homes that are too big. Can they be enticed to sell them? (NPR)

Among the many hard truths for those trying to enter America's brutal housing market, here's one: Baby boomers continue to own many of the country's large houses, even after their households have shrunk to one or two people.

Baby boomer empty nesters own twice as many of the country's three-bedroom-or-larger homes, compared with millennials with kids, according to a recent analysis from Redfin. That means those larger homes aren't hitting the market, one factor limiting the supply for the younger generations who could use those extra bedrooms.

Some baby boomers, the generation now between the ages of 60 and 78, are happy in their large homes, using the extra bedrooms for hobbies and visiting family. Others say they want to downsize, but it just doesn't make sense financially… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Influencers love Ozempic—but they aren’t telling you about the risks (Wall Street Journal)

The friends and influencers on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube talking up drugs for weight loss aren’t always giving the full story.

Social media is displacing physicians as the trusted authorities on whether patients should take one of the medicines. People are not only deciding to take a weight-loss drug—called GLP-1s— based on posts by friends and influencers but sometimes also skipping their doctor to go with one mentioned online.

The virtual word-of-mouth can come across as authentic and accessible. People say they appreciate the tips and support they get from other online users. But many influencers and friends on social media play up all the pounds a person lost while playing down side effects that can be nasty, such as painful headaches and bouts of vomiting. Some omit the risks altogether.

Unlike company drug advertisements, social-media posts don’t have to describe a drug’s side effects, suggest other resources or tell people to speak with their doctors.

Karen Evans posted a video on YouTube that gave tips for taking Ozempic, including for managing the nausea. Since the video went online in May 2022, it has 454,000 views and more than 1,700 comments. Evans hasn’t followed up with a new video disclosing that the vomiting became so bad that she stopped using the drug... (LINK TO FULL STORY)