BG Reads 8.6.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - August 6, 2024

August 06, 2024

Bingham Group Reads

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August 6, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟣 Hackers attacked the Austin area's 911 call system on Sunday. Here's what that means. (KUT)

🟣 City seeking answers from suppliers in move toward low-carbon concrete, landscaping (Austin Monitor)

🟣 City emergency and development staff still opposed to single-stairwell apartment buildings (Austin Monitor)

🟣 Austin, other Texas cities paying hundreds of thousands for Michelin Guide inclusion (Austin Business Journal)

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.

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🟣 [Today @1PM] The Austin City Council meets for a Special Called Meeting to confirm the City Manager's appointment of Lisa Davis as Chief of the Austin Police Department. -> View Live here (ATXN)

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Hackers attacked the Austin area's 911 call system on Sunday. Here's what that means. (KUT)

A cyberattack threatened to shut down Central Texas' 911 call system Sunday.

The Capital Area Council of Governments, which operates the system, confirmed to KUT that intermittent 911 outages were the result of a denial-of-service attack in which hackers flooded call centers with robocalls. The attack caused technical difficulties in Austin, Cedar Park, Hays County and Lakeway.

CAPCOG said it was notified about the hack around 1 p.m. by Round Rock's 911 call center. It said it determined the robocalls came from AT&T numbers, so it worked with the provider to identify and disconnect them. Normal operations were restored around 8 p.m… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

City seeking answers from suppliers in move toward low-carbon concrete, landscaping (Austin Monitor)

A handful of city departments are in the research and market studying phase for two environmental initiatives passed by City Council earlier this year, which could lead to substantial changes in how construction projects are planned and budgeted.

A memo released last week from chief sustainability officer Zach Baumer provides an update to Council’s direction to require landscaping contractors working on city property use zero-emissions equipment.

The memo also details some of the research and lines of inquiry that staff in the Capital Delivery Services and other departments are exploring in pursuit of using low-carbon concrete for the city’s construction projects.

The Office of Sustainability is working to establish a pilot program that would adjust new contract offers for landscaping services, with a preference given to vendors using electrified equipment, with other environmental considerations possible... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin ISD interim chief financial officer named, predecessor arrested (Community Impact)

Eduardo Ramos, Austin ISD’s chief financial officer, was placed on paid leave July 31, district officials announced Aug. 2. This happened eight days after Ramos resigned from his position and the same day he was arrested by Austin ISD police.Ramos was booked in Travis County on July 31 and released on a surety bond Aug. 1, according to officials with the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. He was charged with an out-of-county felony."We're aware of the charge regarding Ramos's personal affairs," AISD officials said in an emailed statement. "The arrest does not involve any alleged criminal activity related to his work on behalf of [AISD], or with any [AISD] staff, faculty or students."Round Rock police issued a warrant for his arrest, officials with the department confirmed, and AISD police executed the arrest… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin, other Texas cities paying hundreds of thousands for Michelin Guide inclusion (Austin Business Journal)

Establishing a Michelin Guide for Texas is a big undertaking in more ways than one.

The Texas cities being evaluated for the restaurant guide, including Austin, and the state tourism agency are marshaling millions of dollars to help bring it to the Lone Star State. Austin is paying $90,000 a year for three years for its inclusion, Visit Austin confirmed. The tourism group is using hotel occupancy taxes to fund the venture.

San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth are paying the same amount, according to Visit San Antonio. Travel Texas is matching those funds, meaning $2.7 million is being spent overall.

Michelin chose Texas for its next guide, but in order to seal the deal, the state tourism agency and local tourism groups had to agree to the financial component, according to Wesley Lucas, Visit Austin's director of communications.

Visit Austin's annual budget for fiscal year 2023-24 is $25.7 million, with $7.2 million of the budget directed toward advertising. The $90,000 will come out of Visit Austin's next fiscal advertising budget… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

City emergency and development staff still opposed to single-stairwell apartment buildings (Austin Monitor)

First responders and development services staff remain opposed to the single-staircase resolution that City Council approved in May, Assistant Fire Chief Tom Vocke told the Public Safety Commission at its meeting Monday afternoon.

Council members supported the change to make construction costs of mid-sized multifamily units more affordable for both developers and tenants.

Vocke said the change would pose several potential safety risks, including difficult evacuations in emergencies, insufficient and aging water infrastructure in residential areas that would impact water flow in the event of a fire, and obstructed emergency medical services… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

$180M expansions, incubator planned for Round Rock colleges (Community Impact)

Texas State University at Round Rock, Austin Community College at Round Rock and Texas State Technical College in Hutto are spending over $180 million to expand programs in health care, technology, manufacturing and skilled trades… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Jackson Lee's children endorse former Mayor Turner in crowded battle to succeed her in Congress (Houston Chronicle)

The late U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s family endorsed former Mayor Sylvester Turner in the race to replace the congresswoman on the November ballot. A week ahead of the nomination meeting where Jackson Lee’s replacement will be selected, Jackson Lee’s children, Jason Lee and Erica Lee Carter, announced they are supporting Turner, a longtime friend and ally of their mother, in his bid to succeed her.

“We have no doubt Mayor Turner will carry on our mother’s legacy of service because we’ve witnessed it almost our entire lives,” Lee and Lee Carter wrote in a Monday statement. “Our mother had no greater partner than Mayor Turner and he honors her with his willingness to dutifully and humbly serve as a sturdy bridge to the next generation of leadership for the historic 18th Congressional District of Texas.”

Turner, a native of Acres Homes, served as a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1989 until he was elected Houston mayor in 2015.

He left City Hall at the end of last year after two terms as Houston’s top official. Jackson Lee died from pancreatic cancer last month after representing the 18th Congressional District for three decades. Since her passing, a number of candidates have confirmed their intentions to run. Besides Turner, former council member Amanda Edwards, council member Letitia Plummer and state Rep. Jarvis Johnson, among others, have also entered the race. Turner recently said the passing of his friend and the unique circumstances of this race were the only factors that could pull him out of retirement, adding district constituents needed “stability and continuity in leadership” at this critical juncture.

Jackson Lee secured a decisive primary victory in March against challenger Edwards. With no time to hold a new primary ahead of the November general election, the Harris County Democratic Party has tasked its 88 precinct chairs who live in the district to meet on August 13 to select a new nominee. Candidates are set to make their pitches to party leaders during a flurry of events in the coming days. Gov. Greg Abbott also called a separate special election for Nov. 5 to fill the rest of Jackson Lee’s current term, which ends in January... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Here are the Democrats seeking to replace U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas Tribune)

The person who is likely to take U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s seat in Congress will effectively be selected by 88 Harris County Democratic precinct chairs next week.

Jackson Lee died July 19 after having won in this year’s Democratic primary.

An executive committee of precinct chairs in the 18th Congressional District will select a new candidate who will appear on the November 5 ballot against Republican Lana Centonze. But because the district is solidly blue, it is likely that the Democratic candidate will win.

Since the candidate selection is internal within the party, there is no formal filing process for candidates and precinct chairs could theoretically choose anyone. Of the 15 Democrats who have been in touch with the county party, five run with extensive elected experience: former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards — who faced off against Jackson Lee in the primary, state Rep. Jarvis Johnson, state Rep. Christina Morales and Houston City Council member Letitia Plummer. Former Houston City Council Member Dwight Boykins, who put his name in the ring on Friday, said Monday that he dropped out of the race after Jackson Lee’s family endorsed Turner... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

Kamala Harris is now Democratic presidential nominee, will face off against Donald Trump this fall (Associated Press)

Vice President Kamala Harris, a daughter of immigrants who rose through the California political and law enforcement ranks to become the first female vice president in U.S. history, formally secured the Democratic presidential nomination on Monday — becoming the first woman of color to lead a major party ticket.

More than four years after her first attempt at the presidency collapsed, Harris’ coronation as her party’s standard-bearer caps a tumultuous and frenetic period for Democrats prompted by President Joe Biden’s disastrous June debate performance that shattered his own supporters’ confidence in his reelection prospects and spurred extraordinary intraparty warfare about whether he should stay in the race.

Just as soon as Biden abruptly ended his candidacy, Harris and her team worked rapidly to secure backing from the 1,976 party delegates needed to clinch the nomination in a formal roll call vote. She reached that marker at warp speed, with an Associated Press survey of delegates nationwide showing she locked down the necessary commitments a mere 32 hours after Biden’s announcement… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

How the U.S. and Mexico drove border crossings down in an election year (Wall Street Journal)

When illegal migration surged across the U.S.-Mexico border last fall, Phoenix’s largest migrant shelter was so busy that cots filled the cafeteria and lined the hallways. Today the shelter, housed in a converted elementary school, is empty.

The U.S. has experienced a stark decline in illegal border crossings in the past six months, thanks to a newly sprung security gantlet migrants encounter traveling to the U.S. border through Mexico. On the Mexican side, security checkpoints dot highways. Mexico’s National Guard patrols the southern banks of the Rio Grande, aiming to prevent mass concentrations of migrants. Thousands of asylum seekers caught heading north have been put on buses and sent back to southern Mexico near Guatemala. Aid organizations liken the busing strategy to the board game Chutes and Ladders, as migrants are moved around the country. The policy aims to discourage them from heading north. Many decide to return to South America, migrants say.

The Americans also have a new tool. An order issued by President Biden in June disqualifies migrants from winning asylum if they enter the U.S. illegally. As a result, many more of them can be deported quickly, and far fewer have been released into the U.S. The moves mark an unprecedented level of cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico, both motivated by presidential elections this year, to bring down illegal border crossings in hopes of diverting attention away from the issue.

The effort has worked beyond anything the U.S. could have predicted, at least so far. The progress gives Vice President Kamala Harris a potential counter to efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies, who are painting her as the face of failed U.S. policies on immigration. The U.S. recorded about 57,000 illegal crossings in July, according to a person familiar with unpublished government data, down from around 250,000 in December, when they reached an all-time high. That is the lowest monthly figure since 2020, when crossings were still relatively low because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This is just what the administration wanted,” said Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan Washington think tank. “Not that Democrats are going to win on this issue, but that chaos at the border won’t be on the front pages anymore.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Lousy jobs report forces Fed to reckon with hard landing (Wall Street Journal)

The script is being flipped for the U.S. economy.

For 2½ years, high inflation has drawn a nearly single-minded focus from the Federal Reserve and the White House as the nation’s foremost economic challenge.

But in the span of a week, punctuated by a surprisingly lackluster July hiring report on Friday that sent markets reeling, the labor market has become the locus of concern for economic policymakers in Washington.

Fed officials have spent the year trained on ensuring inflation moves down without causing unnecessary weakness, achieving a so-called soft landing.

Given recent declines in inflation, “Now the question is whether we are settling at full employment, or whether we are blowing through full employment. That’s a critical question,” said Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee in an interview Friday. 

A broader economic slowdown, if it materializes in coming months, could also upend an already volatile presidential race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris… (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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