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- BG Reads 5.13.2024
BG Reads 5.13.2024
🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - May 13, 2024
Bingham Group Reads
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4.17.24 // Bingham Group celebrates 7 years in business!
May 13, 2024
Today's BG Reads include:
🟣 Austin to begin nationwide search for new police chief under city manager Broadnax
🟣 ‘Unprecedented’: Police associations voice support for Chief García staying in Dallas
🟣 Who will be the next Houston Police Department Chief? Here are names that have been raised
🟣 UT pledges $13.5 million to cover I-35 from Dean Keeton to 15th Street
🟣 Trump suggests Chinese migrants are in the US to build an ‘army.’ The migrants tell another story
Read On!
[BINGHAM GROUP]
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].
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.
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Austin to begin nationwide search for new police chief under city manager Broadnax (CBS Austin)
In a statement to CBS Austin, Henderson said she’s aware the city manager has plans to search for a permanent chief of police.
“One of the things that was always planned was that when the new city manager came into place that that person would begin this process,” said Watson. “He has hit the ground running, and I am pleased he is moving that process forward.”
Henderson says she has enjoyed serving as interim chief and has made great strides within the department and in the community. She also says she looks forward to the process and evaluating her next steps.
Watson weighed in on some of the things he and city council would like to see in an ideal candidate.
“Of course, what we want is somebody that has big-city experience, we want somebody that has equity top of mind, and we want somebody who is in a position of doing a good job with both the citizens but also with the police force.”
As Austin’s law enforcement leader, the new police chief would have their hands full. They’d be responsible for dealing with the current staffing issues APD is facing and filling hundreds of positions within the department.
Austin Police Association president Michael Bullock told CBS Austin in a statement:
“This is an opportunity to show Austinites and their police officers that they’re valued. Now is the time to work together towards getting our city back on track, and we’re here to help make that happen.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
UT pledges $13.5 million to cover I-35 from Dean Keeton to 15th Street (KUT)
The University of Texas is making a $13.5 million down payment to cover I-35 from 15th Street to Dean Keeton, a feat that will be made possible by a state project to widen and lower the highway through Central Austin.
UT System Regents voted Thursday to approve a funding agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The initial payment will produce early designs for the so-called "caps" to cover the highway and fund the preparation of federal environmental clearance documentation.
The caps would cover more than 17 acres of main lanes between 15th Street and Dean Keeton Street, bridging the highway that separates UT facilities on either side. The valuable new land could be used for parks, water fountains, trees or buildings, concealing a gaping highway trench… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
EDC seeks financial consultants to kickstart deal-making using city assets (Austin Monitor)
With the Austin Economic Development Corporation still lacking control over substantial revenue-producing city assets, the organization has issued a request for proposals for consultants to advise on how to start putting its bonding authority and other financial tools to use.
The RFP, which was issued May 1 and has a May 31 deadline for responses, calls for a seven-phase scope of work to be completed by next February, with major components including analyzing the EDC’s financial and program objectives, analyzing the market for potential investors, creating a five- to 10-year financial pro forma and helping the board of directors select the best course of action.
Created in 2020 after years of consideration, the EDC was intended to be a nimble entity that could conduct deals using city assets and generated revenue in service of achieving goals such as affordable housing, creation and preservation of creative spaces, and creating resources related to child care access… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
‘Unprecedented’: Police associations voice support for Chief García staying in Dallas (Dallas Morning News)
Five years ago, Dallas police Sgt. George Aranda stood at a podium and called for the resignation of former Chief U. Reneé Hall, drawing heated disagreement from some city officials and officer associations. He stood at that same podium on Friday as he drew a contrast between that day and this moment — when multiple police associations came together to advocate for retaining Dallas police Chief Eddie García. “I don’t think in the history of the Dallas Police Department you had an association or associations who have come together to ask for the retention of a chief,” Aranda told reporters at a news conference in West Dallas. Aranda, president of the Dallas National Latino Law Enforcement Organization, vocalized his support for the city’s top cop while flanked by the presidents of the Dallas Police Association and Asian Peace Officer Association of North Texas.
The news conference came amid widespread reports that García is being courted by city officials in Houston and Austin, both of which have interim chiefs. Aranda said the reports are true, but added the city of Dallas has now offered the chief a proposal, and he’s heard positive feedback about it. Dallas interim city manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has offered “as much as she could” to keep García, according to Aranda. “The city made its case to the chief at this point,” he said. García declined to comment. Tolbert did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Although not in attendance, presidents of the Dallas Police Women’s Association and Dallas’ National Black Police Association also told The Dallas Morning News they support García. The Black Police Association of Greater Dallas — one of the three largest associations — was not at the news conference and its president, Lt. Andre Taylor, told The News they didn’t have a comment… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Who will be the next Houston Police Department Chief? Here are names that have been raised (Houston Chronicle)
Mayor John Whitmire hasn't yet outlined his plans to hire a new, permanent police chief to take the place of former Chief Troy Finner. But that hasn't stopped some names from being floated as potential replacements to lead the state's largest police force. Whitmire on Wednesday said he wasn't ruling out an "internal or external chief," and that he plans to use his personal network to find candidates and lead the search himself. Here are some of the names that have been floated to be the next Houston chief.
Eddie Garcia, the chief of the Dallas Police Department, emerged as a rumored candidate for the Houston job less than a day after Finner's departure. Dallas TV station WFAA reported that Houston and Austin were "showing interest in potentially hiring" Garcia, who's been in his position since 2021.
Garcia is an at-will employee and can leave at any time, the station reported. Art Acevedo was Houston's police chief from 2016 until 2021. Previously the leader of the Austin Police Department from 2007 until 2016, he left Houston to become the chief in Miami. His time in Florida lasted just 7 months. Larry Satterwhite was made the acting chief of police the night of Finner's retirement.
A 34-year veteran of the department, Satterwhite came up as a patrol officer, SWAT team member and special operations commander, before being appointed as executive assistant chief of field operations in 2021 by Finner. In that position, Satterwhite supervised some 3,000 HPD employees who work in the department's patrol divisions… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US/WORLD NEWS]
Trump suggests Chinese migrants are in the US to build an ‘army.’ The migrants tell another story (Associated Press)
Since the start of the year, as the Chinese newcomers have been trying to find their footing in the U.S., Trump has alluded to “fighting-age” or “military-age” Chinese men at least six times and suggested at least twice that they were forming a migrant “army.” It’s a talking point that is being amplified in conservative media and on social platforms.
“Trump’s dehumanizing rhetoric and blatant attacks against immigrant communities will, without question, only fuel more hate against not only Chinese immigrants but all Asian Americans in the U.S.,” Cynthia Choi, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, said in a statement to The Associated Press. “In the midst of an already inflamed political climate and election year, we know all too well how harmful such rhetoric can be.”
Gregg Orton, national director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, said many Asian American communities remain “gripped by fear” and that some Asians still feel uncomfortable about taking public transportation.
“To know that we might be staring down another round of that, it’s pretty sobering,” he said.
Many said they continue to struggle to get by. Life in the U.S. is not what they had imagined.
Since late 2022 — when China’s three-year COVID-19 lockdown began to lift — the U.S. has seen a sharp rise in the number of Chinese migrants. In 2023, U.S. authorities arrested more than 37,000 Chinese nationals at the U.S.-Mexico border, more than 10 times the previous year’s number. In December alone, border officials arrested 5,951 Chinese nationals on the southern border, a record monthly high, before the number trended down during the first three months of this year… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
In top races, Republicans try to stay quiet on Trump’s false 2020 claims (Washington Post)
In his run for the Republican nomination for senator in Ohio, businessman Bernie Moreno baselessly alleged that political insiders, big tech companies and the media rigged the 2020 election. But after he won the primary in March, Moreno declined to say whether he believed Joe Biden had defeated Donald Trump, insisting voters wanted to talk about other issues.
A mirror-image shift has been underway in neighboring Michigan, where former congressman Mike Rogers is also avoiding discussion about the 2020 vote. Rogers had previously declared the election “free and fair” and compared Trump to a “gangster” for pressing Georgia election officials to find more votes for him. Now running for Senate with Trump’s endorsement, Rogers has tried to quickly move on when asked about those views in media interviews.
Two years ago, many of the highest-profile GOP candidates for top offices in swing states eagerly amplified Trump’s false election claims, telling voters the last election had been stolen and warning them the next one could be, too.
That position turned out to be a turnoff to many swing-state voters, contributing to Republican defeats in important races for governor and other statewide offices in Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Undeterred, Trump has followed the same election-denying approach as he runs for president this year, while also declining to say whether he will accept the results in 2024. He routinely makes false claims about elections in interviews and on social media and this month baselessly told supporters at a rally in suburban Milwaukee that “radical left Democrats rigged the presidential election in 2020.” But this time, many of the Republicans running alongside Trump in swing races are being far more ambiguous about their stance on 2020. Whether they have previously dismissed or embraced his claims, GOP nominees in some of the year’s most critical races are now evading the question and changing the topic… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[2024 Austin City Council Race Watch]
This fall will see elections for the following Council Districts 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, and Mayor.
Declared candidates so far are:
Mayor
District 2
District 4
Jade Lovera
District 6
District 7 (Open seat)
District 10 (Open seat)
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