BG Reads 7.18.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - July 18, 2024

July 18, 2024

Bingham Group Reads

Presented by:

www.binghamgp.com

July 18, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟣 The Downtown Austin Alliance has doubled its safety team | Here's how they’re helping with APD’s staffing shortage (KVUE)

🟣 Some Austin City Council members want to explore creation of a public bank. Here's why (Austin American-Statesman)

🟣 Why Texas’ mass power outages continue to happen (Texas Tribune)

🟣 D.N.C. slows Biden’s nomination as party discontent persists (New York Times)

Read On!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

🟣 Bingham Group has renewed its MBE and DBE certifications with the city of Austin. We are currently seeking sub-consultant services to support projects in the Austin Metro. Learn more here.

🟣 BG Podcast Episode 260 // Our wrap up the week of July 8, 2024 in Austin politics, and discussion of the week ahead.

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🟣 The Austin City Council meets today at 10AM for its Regular Meeting. View here live at ATXN.

🟣 Last Friday Friday, City Manager T.C. Broadnax presented the city’s proposed $5.9 billion FY 24/25 to the Austin Council:

✅ FY 2024-25 Proposed Budget (1163 pages)

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Some Austin City Council members want to explore creation of a public bank. Here's why (Austin American-Statesman)

At least four members of the Austin City Council want to look into creating a public bank for the city of Austin — a bank that would be owned by the city and would provide non-predatory banking services, including loans, to residents.

The push by Council Member Zohaib "Zo" Qadri to potentially create such a bank aims to better provide financial investment and loan opportunities for the city's economically disadvantaged residents who may not otherwise have access to such banking services.

On Thursday, the City Council will vote on a resolution that would direct city staff to assess the creation of a public bank, eyeing potential legal challenges, requirements and the "benefits of a public bank compared to currently available banking and finance options," the draft resolution states.

If the measure is approved, city staff would come back to the City Council with their findings by Nov. 1, according to the draft resolution.

"Local governments pay oversized fees to private banks to manage their deposits and payments, and a public bank can provide services and credit 'at cost,' returning any profits to the public purse to be used for local development and services," the draft resolution states.

In addition to Qadri, who is the lead sponsor on the item, co-sponsors as of Wednesday afternoon were Council Members Ryan Alter, Vanessa Fuentes and José "Chito" Vela… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

🟣 Links to the feasibility studies and reports for public banks in several U.S. cities:

The Downtown Austin Alliance has doubled its safety team | Here's how they’re helping with APD’s staffing shortage (KVUE)

For just over two months, the Downtown Austin Alliance's (DAA) safety team has been patrolling the Public Improvement District (PID) in Downtown Austin. This month, the group decided to bump its efforts up, more than doubling the size of the team.

The DAA created the team in May in response to the Austin Police Department's (APD) staffing shortage.

“This really helps allow APD to focus on the bigger crimes than Class C misdemeanors downtown,” Brandon Fahy, the director of Public Space Experience for the DAA, said.

According to the latest data from APD, as of July 1, the city was still short about 330 sworn police officers.

Although these safety team members are not law enforcement officers, they have something unique to offer by patrolling the same areas of downtown each day… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Darden Restaurants buys Tex-Mex chain Chuy’s for $605 million (Associated Press)

Darden Restaurants is adding Tex-Mex to the menu.

The parent company of Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Yard House and other chains, said Wednesday it’s buying Chuy’s for approximately $605 million.

Darden said it will acquire all outstanding shares of Chuy’s for $37.50 per share. Those shares closed at $25.27 apiece on Wednesday, then soared past $37 in after-hours trading once the deal was announced. Darden shares fell 1% in after-hours trading.

Darden said the boards of Darden and Chuy’s have unanimously approved the acquisition. The deal is expected to close later this year, if it’s approved by Chuy’s shareholders.

Chuy’s Holdings Inc. was founded in Austin, Texas, in 1982. It now operates 101 restaurants in 15 states and has 7,400 employees. It’s known for its eclectic decor and fresh food, including handmade tortillas and sauces… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Why Texas’ mass power outages continue to happen (Texas Tribiune)

Texas had 210 weather-related power outages — more than any other state — from 2000 to 2023, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Climate Central that used power outage data from the U.S. Department of Energy.

As emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gasses continue to increase temperatures, severe weather disasters will worsen. Fire seasons are getting longer and more intense, according to Climate Central. Warmer oceans fuel storms, causing hurricanes to likely be stronger. Days before Hurricane Beryl made landfall on the Texas coast July 8, it set records for its strength so early in the hurricane season.

Beryl made its way inland toward Houston as a Category 1 hurricane and knocked out power to more than 2.6 million customers — showing how vulnerable the grid’s infrastructure in Southeast Texas was to high winds. Hundreds of thousands of power customers still didn’t have the lights on more than a week after the storm as linemen worked to replace poles and broken equipment.

It was yet another period in recent years where massive outages left Texans without electricity… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Houston restaurants sue CenterPoint Energy after Hurricane Beryl power outages (Houston Public Media)

A lawsuit against CenterPoint Energy aims to relieve Houston-region restaurants of the revenue lost during Hurricane Beryl.

Houston attorney Tony Buzbee filed the class action lawsuit on Monday, claiming CenterPoint failed to properly invest in infrastructure, maintain equipment and prepare for Hurricane Beryl. He said it was the hurricane that initially took the power out, but it was CenterPoint's lack of planning that kept the power out for so long.

"The bigger picture is another.. arrow in the quiver to try to not only pressure CenterPoint to do what it should be — should have been — doing for years, but also to keep the pressure on for our leadership, from the governor or lieutenant governor to even the mayor," Buzbee said.

Buzbee said the lawsuit started with only five restaurants, but it expanded to approximately 100 restaurants in the Houston and Galveston area after he received multiple calls from owners explaining their losses.

"All (plaintiffs) lost power, which was not restored within 48 hours, and which, for some, still has not been restored," the lawsuit states. "All suffered damages as a result of CenterPoint's incompetence, negligence, and gross negligence. All are fed up and demand better."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Texas insurers hike rates as extreme storms like Beryl proliferate — and fatter profits are forecast (San Antonio Express-News)

Destructive storms like Hurricane Beryl, which knocked out power to 3 million homes and businesses in Texas, are growing more frequent and intense — and insurers are jacking up rates in response.

That could mean more big profits for property and casualty insurers like Allstate, State Farm and USAA in the coming year. Investors have bid up shares in the sector about 19% so far this year, outpacing the S&P 500’s 17% gain. It also means more struggle for homeowners who already are facing higher costs of housing. Rate increases have been a way for property insurers to offset the cost of catastrophic events.

In Texas, rates jumped an average 21.1% last year, by far the biggest increase in a decade. That was nearly twice the U.S. average, according to S&P Global.

Progressive’s rates rose 10.4% in 2023, compared with just a 2.9% rise in 2022, and Allstate’s rates jumped 10.2%, up from 4.3% in 2022. Storm-driven rate increases at San Antonio-based USAA last year got credit for helping the company return to profitability. Across the U.S., hurricanes account for most insured catastrophe losses, according to investment research company CFRA. Hurricane Ian in 2022 is a reminder of the risks facing insurers. It was among the costliest storms in U.S. history at just over $118 billion, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was the costliest at about $200 billion. The U.S. experienced 28 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2023 — the most ever — according to NOAA.

That surpassed 22 such events in 2020. The current hurricane season is already one for the record books. Hurricane Beryl, just the second named storm of the season, became the earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic. NOAA is forecasting an above-normal season with as many as 25 named storms, up from 20 named storms and seven hurricanes in 2023. “If this grim forecast comes to fruition, it will likely buoy pricing for many lines of property-casualty insurance and reinsurance, providing certain underwriters’ shares with a catalyst,” according to a research report from CFRA.

Global insurance giant Swiss RE expects the broader sector’s return on equity, a key measure of profit, to grow 9.5% in 2024, well above last year’s 3.4% growth... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

D.N.C. slows Biden’s nomination as party discontent persists (New York Times)

The Democratic National Committee is pushing back by a week its plans to nominate President Biden for re-election in a virtual roll call as the party’s voters and many of its top officials continue to express discontent about heading into the general election with him atop their ticket.

Top party officials announced on Wednesday that the virtual roll call for Mr. Biden would take place during the first week of August, an accommodation to Democrats who had protested about plans that would have started the voting as soon as next week. Mr. Biden’s weak debate showing, his uneven public appearances and his struggles in the polls have raised deep worries within his party.

Nearly two-thirds of Democrats want him to quit the race, according to a survey released on Wednesday by The Associated Press and NORC. Congressional Democrats have also warned that Mr. Biden’s sagging political standing will make it far harder for them to win down-ballot races in November.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic majority leader, was among those who pushed the party to hold off the start to its nominating process, according to a person familiar with Mr. Schumer’s involvement. And on Wednesday, Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, a candidate for Senate in the state and a top ally of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, called on Mr. Biden to drop out of the race.

“Our nation is at a crossroads,” he told The Los Angeles Times. “A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the president can defeat Donald Trump in November.”

Representative Jared Huffman of California, who in recent days has organized fellow Democrats to pressure the D.N.C. to delay its process, called the party’s new timeline “a positive step” but said it was not likely to alleviate concerns about Mr. Biden’s viability.

“It’s a heck of a lot better than a jammed process that will tear us apart next week,” Mr. Huffman said. “This whole idea of jamming it through in mid-July crumbled under pressure, and that’s, I think, a good thing.”

Mr. Huffman said he had helped persuade dozens of congressional Democrats to sign a letter protesting a nominating process that could have started as soon as Monday. Given the timeline the party announced on Wednesday, Mr. Huffman said, he will not be sending the letter… (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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