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BG Reads 4.30.2024

BG Reads 4.30.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - April 30, 2024

April 30, 2024

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Bingham Group Reads

Presented by:

4.17.24 // Bingham Group celebrates 7 years in business!

April 30, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟣 Leadership and Budget Profiles of New Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax

🟣 Central Texas child care providers struggle to hire staff

🟣 Tesla electrifying Austin economy far and wide

🟣 University of Texas at Austin statement regarding yesterday’s protest events

🟣 Trump, GOP seize on campus protests to depict chaos under Biden

Read On!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

✅ (NEW) BG Memos - Leadership and Budget Profiles of New Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax

With the upcoming (May 6th) start of Austin's new City Manager T.C. Broadnax, we've put together three memos intended to provide background for organizations with City Hall interests.
The first and second memos are reviews of Mr. Broadnax's time as city manager of Dallas and Tacoma, respectively. The information was pulled from news articles from the time. We've provided links where appropriate.
The last is a review of the seven city of Dallas budget's Mr. Broadnax spearheaded. This was compiled through review of publicly available budget documents.
BG Memo Link - Contact me for general questions or comments. If there are specific business/policy concerns, we’re happy to schedule time to consult -> [email protected].

✅ 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)

CLICK HERE TO REVIEW CITY OF AUSTIN PUBLIC MEETINGS / AGENDAS FOR THE WEEK OF APRIL 29, 2024

[AUSTIN CITY HALL]

The Austin City Council convenes for Work Session today at 9AM.

✅ Work Session Agenda

✅ View Work Session at ATXN LIve

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Central Texas child care providers struggle to hire staff (KVUE)

Many child care providers are having a hard time filling positions, putting extra pressure on the workers they already have. Local advocates and government leaders are working to help places hire qualified workers. The struggle for many families to find affordable child care is not unique to Central Texas – it's a problem statewide.

One of the issues is staffing shortages. Providers say there aren't enough spots for new kids because many centers have a hard time hiring qualified workers. "These caregivers are giving 100% of their attention to children all day, every day. And so, when there are less of them, that means that they're stretched even even thinner," said Madison Mattise, the senior director of Early Childhood Center Services at United Way for Greater Austin.

Some child care centers can't compete with the salaries big companies and franchise chains can offer. "Since the pandemic, that has been super hard. Now that everybody – I feel like everyone just kind of, you know, raised salaries and just everybody's trying to get workers," said Alejandra Gardner, director of House of Little Angels Learning Center.

"We try to also remain affordable so that our parents can feel like you're getting good quality care. Because you are getting really good quality care here, but you're also able to live a life outside of just paying for child care." The cycle of the staffing shortage is that providers can't pay their employees more without charging more. If they charge more, the care wouldn't be affordable for parents. So they can only help a limited number of families. "The average cost of infant care is already on par or more than a semester at UT. And you haven't had 18 years to save for that, right?" said Alison Bentley, the vice president of Impact over Data and Evaluation at United Way for Greater Austin… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

University of Texas at Austin statement regarding today’s protest events (UT News, 4.29.2024)

Earlier today, a number of protestors, many believed to be non-UT affiliated individuals, erected a tent encampment on the South Lawn, with a barricade enclosure of tables secured by metal chains, and strategically placed tools, tents, and rocks. When approached, protestors escalated by becoming physically and verbally combative with Dean of Students’ staff. In response, the University of Texas took swift action to preserve a safe, conducive learning environment for our 53,000 students as they prepare for final exams.

UT Austin requested backup assistance from the Texas Department of Public Safety to protect the safety of the campus community and enforce our Institutional Rules, such as the rule that prohibits encampments on campus. Because of the encampments and other violations of the University’s Institutional Rules related to protests, protestors were told repeatedly to disperse. When they refused to disperse, some arrests were made for trespassing. Others were arrested for disorderly conduct... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Tesla electrifying Austin economy far and wide (Austin Business Journal)

The impacts of the Tesla Inc. gigafactory in eastern Travis County can be felt all the way out to an inconspicuous warehouse in Hutto, a vast greenfield at the north end of Georgetown, a train rail line in Taylor and a sprawling industrial complex in Kyle and even a bus station in Killeen, where gigafactory workers are picked up for work each morning for a 150-mile round trip.

Those sites — and just about everywhere in between — are among the locales where the "Tesla effect" is coming to fruition, referring to how the company's headquarters relocation to Austin has spurred additional economic development in the region. That's either through direct investment by the company itself, Tesla suppliers moving here, or others in the electric vehicle industry locating here to get in on a growing industry hub.

Tesla and its suppliers operate under a veil of nondisclosure agreements, but the Austin Business Journal has identified at least a dozen examples of the "Tesla effect" since the company announced its gigafactory in 2020. That has resulted in thousands of high-tech manufacturing or research-and-development jobs, hundreds of millions of dollars of capital investment and hundreds of thousands of square feet of industrial space devoted to Elon Musk's most recognizable brand… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Last week’s State of the County speech points to a brighter future after historic challenges (Austin Monitor)

Travis County Judge Andy Brown’s past three years of service have been a lesson in navigating disaster. In his State of the County speech last week, he recalled his term being host to a time when the Austin-Travis County area was hit with “a once-in-a-century pandemic, two historic winter storms, destructive wildfires and an increasingly restrictive and authoritarian state Legislature.”

“It is an understatement to say that the last three years tested us,” Brown said.

Brown categorized these challenges as “survived.”

Throughout the speech, which was generally uplifting and forward-looking, he advocated a thematic “recommitment” to Travis County. Ultimately, he declared, “Travis County is stronger and more resilient and more equitable and more focused on delivering the promise and the potential of our community than ever before.”

This promise came to the fore, Brown said, as the county fought against the Texas Legislature to defend reproductive rights, preserve protected status for immigrants, protect LGBTQIA+ families and safeguard access to voting… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin Water sends conservation plan to City Council without support of key task force (KUT)

Proposals to overhaul Austin’s drought response rules and update long-term conservation goals will go to the Austin City Council for a vote this week without the support of a city advisory panel charged with vetting water policy.

When Austin Water released its new plans earlier this month, members of the city’s Integrated Water Resource Planning Community Task Force were not enthusiastic.

The utility’s goals were not ambitious enough for many on the city advisory panel. Task force members also complained at a mid-April meeting that they were only given hours to read the proposals before being asked to support them.

Austin Water held a second specially-called meeting on April 25. Utility representatives hoped to smooth things over with the task force ahead of the planned council vote.

But the utility presented the same conservation plans at the meeting. And the task force gave the same response... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

State’s premature release of bid proposal info touches off new battle over $116 billion in Medicaid contracts (Texas Tribune)

Aetna, which is set to win a multibillion Texas Medicaid contract, got a peek at sensitive information submitted by 17 rival health plans during the bidding process after the state Health and Human Services agency erred and sent competitors’ proposals to the health insurance giant too early, according to emails and documents obtained by The Texas Tribune.

The agency confirmed the error in emails it sent to Aetna and others earlier this year, according to a court filing in Travis County [last] week.

Officials with Aetna’s Medicaid division – Aetna Better Health Texas – would not discuss the matter with Tribune. HHS officials initially declined to comment on the procurement or the release of the records.

On Monday, three days after this story originally published, the agency sent a statement to the Tribune saying that no laws were broken and that the release did not affect the outcome of the procurement — which has been heavily criticized by some for proposing to shuffle the health plans of some 1.8 million low-income Texans…(LINK TO FULL STORY)

No 'time for games': Houston mayor addresses Lina Hidalgo snub (Houston Chronicle)

Facing mounting pressure from Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo's office, Houston Mayor John Whitmire finally responded to inquiries as to why the top two city officials have not yet formally met: He doesn't have time for games. Rumors regarding the apparent iciness between Hidalgo's and Whitmire's offices have circulated for months, ever since both parties confirmed to Chron that over 100 days into Whitmire's administration, neither has officially met. Earlier this week, Hidalgo addressed the breakdown in communication in an interview with Houston Matters, claiming her office had reached out multiple times and even asked Whitmire in person for a meeting, getting rejected each time. On Thursday, Whitmire released a statement at long last explaining why he and Hidalgo have not even been photographed together since the two met with President Joe Biden on Air Force One. (Hidalgo has met President Biden twice.)

"Mayor Whitmire says he doesn’t have time for games or meet and greets," the statement began. "He is busy running the city of Houston, which includes preparing for Hurricane Season with the assistance of the City's Office of Emergency Management." Whitmire went on to say that he has hired employees to coordinate with the county on hurricane planning, and the two teams have met at least ten times to discuss emergency management. "Mayor Whitmire has met with Harris County Commissioners Garcia, Briones, and Ramsey, and he is confident he and Judge Hidalgo will meet when it's time." Whitmire's list leaves out Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who filled in for Hidalgo presiding over Commissioner's Court while the County Judge sought treatment for clinical depression last August. Ellis was recently investigated for transporting and storing art pieces in a warehouse at no charge to the collector. The artwork at the center of the controversy went up for sale earlier this month… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[NATION/WORLD NEWS]

Trump, GOP seize on campus protests to depict chaos under Biden (Washington Post)

Former president Donald Trump and other prominent Republicans are seizing on the eruption of campus protests across the country to depict the United States as out of control under President Biden, seeking to use the mostly peaceful demonstrations as a political cudgel against the Democrats. The pro-Palestinian protests at numerous colleges — including Columbia, Yale, Emory, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin and others — include encampments and barricades intended to highlight protesters’ denunciation of Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza, as well as to push universities to divest from companies with ties to Israel. Beyond the disruption to campus life, top Republicans have highlighted the antisemitic chants that have occurred at some of the protests. The issue is complicated by a debate over what constitutes antisemitism — and when criticism of Israel crosses that line — while some student organizers have denounced the chants or said they are coming from outside activists.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has cited the protests to accuse Biden and Democrats of being unable to maintain order or quash lawlessness, an accusation he has leveled at the president on other hot-button political issues. He has also highlighted the protests as a way to air his own political grievances, including the lack of similar demonstrations around his current criminal trial. As the protests have mushroomed in recent days, numerous Republicans have sought ways to highlight them as an example of the country’s slide into chaos.

Several Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), have visited the campus of Columbia University, the site of some of the most sweeping protests, to call for its president to resign for purportedly failing to contain the demonstrations. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, dispatched more than 100 state troopers to the University of Texas at Austin to clear out pro-Palestinian protesters, resulting in dozens of arrests. Most of the charges against the protesters were later dropped. The campus protests present conservatives with some of their favorite targets: elite universities, progressive activists, “woke” culture and civil rights leaders. In addition, attacking the protests allows Republicans to change the subject from less friendly political terrain, such as abortion rights and the war in Ukraine…(LINK TO FULL STORY)