BG Reads 7.23.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - July 23, 2024

July 23, 2024

Bingham Group Reads

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July 23, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟣 How Austin can get to know APD’s chief of police finalists (KXAN)

🟣 Eyeing successes in Austin, San Antonio councilwoman proposes policies to spur affordable housing (San Antonio Express-News)

🟣 Texas’ DNC delegates vote 260-6 to back Kamala Harris (Texas Tribune)

🟣 Democrats plan to push ahead with virtual roll call ahead of their convention, with Harris favored (Associated Press)

🟣 Secret Service director infuriates lawmakers with vague answers on Trump shooting (Politico)

Read On!

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🟣 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.

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

How Austin can get to know APD’s chief of police finalists (KXAN)

The Austin Police Department will host a meet-and-greet event with the two chief of police finalists [tonight] at the Palmer Event Center and will have media availability with both ahead of time. (NOTE: Link to Finalist Bios)

The two finalists for chief of police are Lisa Davis, who was the Assistant Police Chief of the Cincinnati Police Department, and Jefferey B. Norman, who was the chief of police for the Milwaukee Police Department.

The meet-and-greet will follow media availability where the two finalists will take questions from the media during the day before meeting with the community in the evening.

The media availability for Davis is scheduled for 9-9:30 a.m., and Norman’s is scheduled for 3:30-4 p.m. KXAN plans to live stream those two events at the top of this story and on Facebook.

The meet-and-greet event will be held at Palmer Event Center at 900 Barton Springs Rd. It will begin at 6 p.m., and doors will open to the public at 5:30 p.m. Police said free parking will be provided in the adjacent parking garage, which can be accessed from Barton Springs Road or Riverside Drive… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Three ‘no’ votes end try for historic zoning in East Austin (Austin Monitor)

Despite efforts from Preservation Austin and approval from two city commissions, the small historic house at 1100 East Second St. failed to get support from the nine City Council members needed for it to be designated historic and avoid demolition. Both the Historic Landmark Commission and the Planning Commission recommended historic designation for the Sinnigson house, which is in District 3.

The home, identified as using folk Victorian architecture, was built between 1888 and 1897. According to documents related to the case, “Sinnigson had worked as stage manager and carpenter for both the Millett Opera House and the Hyde Park Pavilion before moving to East Austin. … Over the course of his career, he became a prominent Austin builder.”

At Thursday’s Council meeting, representatives from Preservation Austin and the city’s Historic Preservation Officer Kalan Contreras, argued that the front part of the Sinnigson house could be preserved while the back part could be demolished… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Texas’ DNC delegates vote 260-6 to back Kamala Harris (Texas Tribune)

President Joe Biden’s decision to drop his reelection bid Sunday quickly focused attention on the little-known group of delegates who will decide his replacement at next month’s Democratic convention.

On Monday, they made their preferences clear: Meeting by phone in the evening, the 273 delegates Texas is sending to Chicago for the August convention voted in large numbers to support Vice President Kamala Harris for the party's presidential nomination. Around the country other delegations were making similar moves.

The group, a mix of rank-and-file activists and elected party leaders, has traditionally served as a rubber stamp for the person Democratic primary voters choose to be their nominee. But Biden's exit from the race gave the group unusual power as questions emerged about how the party would pick a nominee.

In the end, the novel process moved quickly. Multiple news outlets reported Monday that Harris had won the support of a majority of delegates nationwide. And no credible challengers to her bid have emerged… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

What would a second Trump presidency mean for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's political future? (Austin American-Statesman)

If Gov. Greg Abbott is angling for a Cabinet post or a key job in the White House should Donald Trump's comeback bid succeed, the three-term Texas Republican is campaigning with the same public vigor he brought to the vice presidential sweepstakes between the GOP primaries and the national convention. Which is to say, none at all. Abbott, who runs the nation's largest Republican state, won a prime-time speaking slot on day three of the four-day gathering in Milwaukee that nominated Trump for the third straight time as the party's choice for president.

While the high-profile assignment might have fueled some speculation that Trump is considering a role for Abbott in a second stint as president, the governor's seven minutes in the spotlight most likely did not. "If Governor Abbott was a stock, you'd hold," quipped University of Houston political science professor and author Brandon Rottinghaus the morning after the governor's appearance. "I don't think it's a 'buy now.’ ”

Just as they did during the speculative period before Trump formally selected U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio for the No. 2 spot on the ticket, associates close to Abbott have privately cautioned reporters and others not to get caught up in the "what if" game regarding the governor being tapped for U.S. attorney general or as the point person on the border security front. Abbott himself has said the same thing, telling a Dallas Morning News reporter after giving his convention speech, “My interest is focused solely on the state of Texas.”

On paper, either role under Trump would appear to be a good fit. Before being elected governor in 2014, Abbott spent 12 years as Texas' attorney general. During the four years leading up to that, he was an associate justice on the state Supreme Court. But his response to Biden rolling back many of the hard-line border and immigration policies of Trump's presidency has cemented Abbott's status as the nation’s most aggressive state chief executive when it comes to the southern border. He took the unusual step of militarizing the Texas-Mexico border by deploying thousands of National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to the Rio Grande. And he defied the Biden administration by installing a floating barrier of buoys in the river to discourage migrants from swimming across from Mexico to Texas and by unspooling miles of razor wire along the shore to greet anyone who tried.

Abbott boasted mightily about those initiatives, and the GOP delegates inside Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum missed few opportunities to cheer him on. But because of time constraints imposed by convention planners on Abbott and the most of the other nonheadliner speakers, his speech lacked the personal narrative and the kind of breakout moment on which Barack Obama capitalized as a little-known state senator from Illinois, electrifying the 2004 Democratic National Convention as the keynote speaker... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Eyeing successes in Austin, San Antonio councilwoman proposes policies to spur affordable housing (San Antonio Express-News)

A city of Austin program that eases regulations for developers that rent or sell half of what they build to low- and moderate-income families has spurred construction of affordable housing in that increasingly pricey city — and San Antonio officials are interested in following their neighbor’s lead. 

Council member Teri Castillo recently filed policy proposals asking city staff to explore creation of a similar initiative to generate more affordable housing downtown, near schools and universities and along VIA Metropolitan Transit’s future rapid transit lines.

“If we want to get ahold of our local housing crisis, our city must act boldly in preserving our current affordable housing stock while also creating more accessible and affordable housing that our families can rely on for generations,” Castillo said at a July 17 news conference. “If our city wants to revitalize downtown, build new infrastructure and invest in transit … our city must also invest in keeping our working families housed in their neighborhoods.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Texas football coaches worry about NIL at high school level, but it might be inevitable (Dallas Morning News)

Baylor football coach Dave Aranda has seen NIL be “life-changing” for families at the college level. But he thinks it could hurt Texas high school athletics if the state adopts rules that are now prevalent around the country. Other coaches and the Texas High School Coaches Association agree with Aranda, but they think Texas will eventually allow high school athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness.

“NIL in the college level has benefited families that are saying, ‘How are we going to make this payment, how are we going to keep the air conditioning on, how are we going to make it to next month,’ " Aranda said Monday at the THSCA’s 92nd annual convention and coaching school. “For me, the issue in not embracing NIL early on had nothing to do with players getting money, but it was with coaches having power and the ego game — ‘I bought and sold this person,’ and the transactional nature of it.”

“When you look into high school, I just worry about the lower it goes, we have grown-ups that struggle with power and struggle with ego,” Aranda said. “I’m concerned that the lower it goes, the more residual problems will show up.” Texas is among 12 states that don’t allow high school athletes to participate in some form of NIL, according to On3. Several elite athletes have transferred out of state to be able to earn NIL benefits. Last month, Florida amended rules to allow high school students to participate in NIL without losing their eligibility. South Dakota did the same thing starting July 1, On3 reported. “

We feel like it is probably going to get here at some point. We are closer with the next session for sure,” THSCA executive director Joe Martin said. “That will be a big topic in the next session. It was a big topic this last session. We were very actively involved in that conversation and glad that NIL didn’t come.” In January 2023, Texas Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, a Southlake Republican, filed a bill that would allow high school athletes 18 years and older to receive compensation for NIL and that would allow eligible UIL athletes to obtain professional representation for NIL matters. The legislative session ended before it could be heard… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

Democrats plan to push ahead with virtual roll call ahead of their convention, with Harris favored (Associated Press)

The Democratic Party plans to push forward with a virtual roll call in which delegates to its convention can choose a presidential nominee before they gather next month in Chicago — despite Vice President Kamala Harris being overwhelmingly favored to replace President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket.

The convention rules committee will meet Wednesday to approve how the virtual roll call will work, but a draft of the plan was obtained by The Associated Press on Monday night. It does not list a date for when virtual voting would begin, but Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said the process will be completed by Aug. 7 — or 12 days before the party’s convention begins.

“We are living through an unprecedented moment in history and, as a party, we are tackling it with the seriousness that it deserves,” Harrison said on a conference call with reporters. “We are prepared to undertake a transparent, swift and orderly process to move forward as a united Democratic Party with a nominee who represents our values.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Secret Service director infuriates lawmakers with vague answers on Trump shooting (Politico)

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle utterly failed Monday to reassure lawmakers that she was still the best person for the job after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, instead prompting members from both parties to call for her resignation in real time.

During the nearly five-hour long hearing in front of the Oversight Committee, members of the typically polarized committee united in questioning how Cheatle could remain on the job and lambasted her for evading inquiries — on everything from the failures that preceded the Trump rally shooting to general questions about the impact of gun violence. It was a particularly rare note of agreement for a panel that has openly and bitterly fought over a broad impeachment investigation into President Joe Biden, and a bad sign for Cheatle’s hopes of hanging on.

“This committee is not known for ... its model of bipartisanship, but I think today we came together unanimously in our disappointment in your lack of answers,” Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) told Cheatle… (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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