BG Reads 6.28.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - June 28, 2024

June 28, 2024

Bingham Group Reads

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June 28, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟣 4 takeaways from the first presidential debate (NPR)

🟣 Questions on short-term rental rules linger as city moves toward new regulations (Austin Monitor)

🟣 Expanding Hispanic community propels U.S. population growth (Wall Street Journal)

Read On!

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[CITY OF AUSTIN]

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Questions on short-term rental rules linger as city moves toward new regulations (Austin Monitor)

A city memo published earlier this month suggests that, more than a decade after Austin became a leading destination in the market for short-term rentals, City Council could have code language later this year to comprehensively regulate the industry.

The memo, from Assistant City Manager Veronica Briseño, offers little insight into how the city will go about monitoring STRs throughout the city and penalizing those operating without a license. But it does give the first clear timeline on the matter since a federal court case last summer served as the latest strike against the city’s efforts to limit STRs operated by business conglomerates as de facto hotels and collect Hotel Occupancy Tax revenues that stakeholders say are needed for cultural arts and preservation purposes.

The issue has received waves of attention from different configurations of City Council since the advent of the industry that has been enabled by tech companies Airbnb and VRBO. A series of court cases over the years have gradually reduced the city’s ability to limit or geographically restrict the number of nonowner-occupied “Type 2” STRs. The issue’s other main sticking point has been the city’s stance that it needs STR platforms to hand over information on all properties with active listings so they can enforce licensing and monitor noise and other quality-of-life complaints… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Before budget vote, ACC workers advocate for greater raise (Austin American-Statesman)

Austin Community College employees are asking for an 8.5% across-the-board raise ― almost double the ACC proposed 4.5% ― to account for inflation and cost of living before the board could potentially vote on the budget July 1.

“We faculty are here for our students. We’re not here for the money, but we do need that to survive,” Juan Molina, Faculty Senate president, told the board June 3. “We need that to live.”

Last month, after hearing testimony from employees about the need for greater investment in their pay, trustees asked Chief Financial Officer Neil Vickers if he could present on how ACC would meet the proposed 8.5% raise. Both he and Molina will have presentations July 1. The board is required to approve the budget before Sept. 1… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Planning Commission checks in on new density bonus program (Austin Monitor)

At their most recent meeting, members of the Planning Commission took the temperature of the city’s newest density bonus program, which is designed to allow developers to build more in exchange for community benefits like affordable housing.

The program, dubbed DB90, replaces the short-lived, now-scrapped VMU2 program that had the same purpose.

In June 2022, Council changed its vertical mixed use (VMU) bonus program to allow for an additional 30 feet in height in return for including things like affordable housing and pedestrian-oriented businesses. The program was known as “VMU2” and was invalidated by the court the following year.

This year, City Council implemented a new set of standards, known as the DB90 Combining District to replace that incentive program. In order to participate in the new program, property owners must go through the rezoning process and get approval from City Council, and property owners within 200 feet can protest the rezoning. They must also comply with various development requirements like including a compatibility buffer that includes vegetation when next to certain properties… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Ken Paxton tried to shield allies from testifying. Now they may have no choice. (KUT)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fought for years to protect his allies from questions about his alleged corruption. Now, they may have to testify under oath about the accusations, according to a new federal court ruling. A state agency recently asked the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to halt grand jury testimony in a case involving “alleged criminal wrongdoing by senior Agency personnel.”

On June 20, the court filed its decision. Agency employees could not avoid testifying if a crime was potentially committed, the decision read. The court was careful not to name the state agency or any specific individuals. But several clues in the decision point to the Paxton case. The FBI launched an investigation into Paxton in 2020 for allegedly abusing his power to help a campaign donor named Nate Paul. Among the accusations were bribery, obstruction of justice and more.

In its decision, the appeals court noted that two senior agency employees have been ordered to appear in front of a federal grand jury on July 2. The employees are also unnamed. Jeff Ansley, a former federal prosecutor, says this is a strong indication the feds intend to file charges — and soon. If so, they will present their case to a federal grand jury, which will decide whether to indict. “You present these types of witnesses, these apex witnesses, at the end of your [investigation] or certainly near the end,” said Ansley. Paxton has weathered multiple scandals since taking statewide office in 2015. But the corruption allegations involving Nate Paul have been the most serious.

They were the basis for Paxton’s impeachment last year, which he beat, and a whistleblower lawsuit that is still pending against his agency. Paul, an Austin-based developer, was charged last year with federal financial crimes unrelated to Paxton’s case. His trial is scheduled for 2025. In the whistleblower lawsuit, the attorney general’s office has argued its employees should not be forced to speak to the corruption allegations against Paxton because doing so would reveal private discussions… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Former Uvalde schools police chief indicted for role in Robb Elementary shooting response (Texas Tribune)

A Uvalde County grand jury has indicted former school district police Chief Pete Arredondo and another former district officer on charges of child endangerment, the first criminal charges brought against law enforcement for the botched response to the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, the San Antonio Express-News first reported.

Arredondo and Adrian Gonzales face felony charges of abandoning or endangering a child, the newspaper reported.

The charges come more than two years after the May 24, 2022 shooting, in which a lone gunman killed 19 fourth graders and two teachers.

Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell convened a grand jury in January to investigate law enforcement’s delayed response and to determine whether to bring criminal charges against any of the nearly 400 federal, state and local officers involved in the response. Law enforcement officers waited 77 minutes to confront the gunman, who was ultimately shot and killed by Border Patrol officers... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

4 takeaways from the first presidential debate (NPR)

Not much has changed the dynamics of this race; will anything that happened Thursday night make a difference either?

Here are four takeaways from the first Biden-Trump debate of this campaign:

1. First and foremost, let’s talk about the elephant in the room – Democrats have to be wondering if they’d be better off with someone else as their nominee.

Neither candidate is the official nominee yet. The national political conventions haven’t happened — but it’s next to impossible that Democrats would replace Biden.

Still, given he delivered the kind of performance Democrats feared, party leaders, strategists and many voters, frankly, had to be wondering during this debate what it would be like if any of a handful of other Democrats were standing on that stage.

Biden got a bit stronger as the debate went on, especially on foreign policy. He had some one-liners, like calling Trump a “whiner” when Trump wouldn’t definitively say that he would accept the results of the 2024 election. But Biden often wasn’t able to show vigor or consistently convey what he wanted to say. He simply couldn’t deliver the kinds of happy-warrior blows with that toothy smile audiences have seen from Biden in years past… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Expanding Hispanic community propels U.S. population growth (Wall Street Journal)

The Hispanic population in the U.S. continues to climb, according to the latest census estimates, propelling a slight increase in the overall population while also buttressing metro areas where growth would have otherwise stalled. At the same time, the U.S. continues to grow older as the baby-boomer population ages and the number of children declines, according to the Census Bureau.

The latest estimates from the year ended July 1, 2023, underscore a demographic shift spanning the U.S. that was fueled by the growing number of Hispanic people. The U.S. Hispanic population grew by 1.16 million to more than 65 million in the recently estimated year, accounting for roughly 70% of overall population growth in that period. The overall population grew less than 1% to nearly 335 million. About one-third of the Hispanic gain—more than 437,000 people—was due to migrants entering the U.S., the Census Bureau estimated. The rest came from Hispanic births outnumbering deaths.

This growth was a difference-maker in many urban areas, including metro Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Salt Lake City and Louisville, Ky. While the non-Hispanic population shrank in all of these places in the most recent year, the Hispanic population grew enough to more than offset those declines. A growing Hispanic population also more than offset shrinking among other groups in several major counties, including Miami-Dade and Broward in Florida. The Hispanic population is young—accounting for more than one in four people under age 18—setting it up to have a rising political impact in the coming years and decades.

Latinos who have shifted support to former President Donald Trump and away from President Biden make up a closely watched election-year trend. The 2020 census showed the Mexican population, including people from Mexico or with Mexican roots, remained the largest U.S. Hispanic group, accounting for nearly 58%. The Venezuelan population was growing the fastest, though, in part owing to Venezuela’s instability, which has contributed to a surge in migration to the U.S. Meanwhile, the counts of people with Colombian and Honduran roots each topped one million for the first time in the decennial census… (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

District 6

District 7 (Open seat)

District 10 (Open seat)

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