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BG Reads 8.8.2024

BG Reads 8.8.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - August 8, 2024

August 08, 2024

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Bingham Group Reads

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www.binghamgp.com

August 8, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟣 Planning Commission calls for reorganization at City Hall (Austin Monitor)

🟣 Austin's CrowdStrike facing class action lawsuit over outage that snarled global travel (Austin American-Statesman)

🟣 Could Texas State University be building a new campus in Mexico? (KVUE)

Read On!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

🟣 [New] BG Podcast Ep. 263: Austin Politics Weekly Recap And What's Ahead

🟣 Updated City of Austin Org Chart (as of 7.2.2024)

🟣 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.

LINK TO THIS WEEK’s CITY OF AUSTIN HEARINGS + AGENDA

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🟣 [New] Council Member Pool Budget Priorities

🟣 [New] Council Member Qadri Budget Priorities

🟣 [New] Council Member Fuentes Budget Amendments

🟣 [New] Mayor Watson Budget Amendments

🟣 [New] Council Member Ellis Budget Amendments

🟣 [New] Council Member Kelly Budget Amendments

🟣 Joint budget priorities for Council Members Fuentes, Velásquez, Vela, Ryan Alter, and Qadri (Council Message Board)

🟣 Memo -> Imagine Austin Update: Engagement Activities and Launch of the Imagine Austin Working Group Application

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Planning Commission calls for reorganization at City Hall (Austin Monitor)

Planning Commission members have unanimously approved a series of budget requests aimed at reforming and streamlining the way their commission is run.

Most significantly, the recommendations would establish an Office of the Land Use Commissions that would work with the Board of Adjustment, Planning Commission, and Zoning and Platting Commission. The office would also include a legal representative “tasked with attending commission meetings in person, exclusively representing the best interests of the commissions,” which has long been requested by the city’s planning commissions.

The new office, according to the approved recommendations, would ensure “the ongoing sovereignty of Planning Commission and similar independent commissions and ensures clear separation of oversight/influence for assigned City Staff” and also bring “more clarity to decision-making related to legal questions that arise at Planning Commission,” in addition to bringing more efficiency to meetings… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin's CrowdStrike facing class action lawsuit over outage that snarled global travel (Austin American-Statesman)

Austin-based CrowdStrike’s worldwide outage last month now has the company staring down a barrage of escalating legal issues. On Monday, the cybersecurity company was sued by airline passengers whose flights were delayed or canceled. In a proposed class action lawsuit filed in federal court in Austin, Texas, three travelers accused CrowdStrike of negligence in testing and deploying its software, which they claim caused the outage.

The disruption also affected banks, hospitals, and emergency services worldwide. The plaintiffs state in the suit that travelers were sent into a frenzy and in response were forced to spend hundreds of dollars on lodging, meals and alternative travel. The suit goes on to add that others missed work or suffered health problems from having to sleep on the airport floor. The lawsuit concludes that CrowdStrike should pay compensatory and punitive damages to all fliers whose flights were disrupted.

CrowdStrike said in a statement: "We believe this case lacks merit and we will vigorously defend the company." The Statesman previously reported that Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said there is "no choice" but to initiate a lawsuit against CrowdStrike after it caused widespread software outages in July that cost the airline $500 million.

Beyond public apologies from its CEO, CrowdStrike released a blog post detailing how it will change operations to avoid a similar event. Changes include adjusting its update verification system to better filter faulty code. Additionally, the company said it was no longer going to release mass updates to avoid the possibility of mass outages.

Not long after the crash, CrowdStrike sent Uber Eats gift cards worth $10 to its partners who worked long hours to restore systems for customers. According to TechCrunch, a tech news website, the Uber Eats voucher was accompanied by an email that read: “And for that, we send our heartfelt thanks and apologies for the inconvenience,” and the email continued, "To express our gratitude, your next cup of coffee or late night snack is on us!” The response to the voucher was a mix of confusion and frustration, and, due to high usage rates, Uber flagged some of the vouchers as fraudulent making them unusable. CrowdStrike is adamant that it sent the voucher as a thank you and not as an apology... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Could Texas State University be building a new campus in Mexico? (KVUE)

Texas State University wants to go international.

Members of the university's board of regents will vote this week on whether to approve a contract for "Texas State University Mexico."

If approved, the private third-party contract would allow for an education facility in Querétaro, Mexico.

The campus would aim to create a collaboration of American-style education and teaching methodologies to Querétaro while teaching Texas State University-approved curriculum and awarding Texas State University degrees... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin’s artful Blanton Museum says: Come On In (New York Times)

When Simone Wicha took over as director of the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin in 2011, she inherited a complex of two buildings — completed just three years earlier — that, by her own description, was “nestled perfectly into campus.”

Its Mediterranean-inspired architecture fit with U.T.’s historic palette, and its tree-filled plaza, designed by the landscape architects Peter Walker and Partners, tied into the campus’s thick green canopies and long pedestrian walkways.

But while it worked as a campus museum, it didn’t match Wicha’s vision for a world-class one. It fit too well.

The Blanton literally looked inward (its two front doors faced each other across the plaza), and the plaza’s trees blocked views of the entrances. “It was really just a couple of banners announcing here was an art museum, ” Wicha said. As a result, people often walked right by… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Data shows Rio Grande water shortage is not just due to Mexico’s lack of water deliveries (Texas Tribune)

Drought conditions in South Texas have brought increased pressure on Mexico to make good on its commitment to deliver water to the U.S. under a 1944 treaty. But an analysis by the agency that enforces that treaty shows that water from U.S. sources has significantly diminished over the years.

Research that will be shared publicly this week from the International Boundary and Water Commission, the federal agency tasked with overseeing the treaty with Mexico, shows that even without accounting for water deliveries owed by Mexico, the two international reservoirs that supply water to the Rio Grande, were receiving less water than they did during the 1980s.

During the decade from 2011 to 2020, total U.S. inflow into the Amistad International Reservoir was 33% less than the decade between 1981 and 1990, an overall decrease of 4.6 million acre feet, the IBWC research shows. Meanwhile, Falcon International Reservoir received 21.5% less than it did in the 1980s… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Houston mayor seeks legislative reform on gun laws to address police department staffing shortage (Houston Public Media)

In an effort to address the Houston Police Department’s lingering staffing shortages, Mayor John Whitmire said he believes state lawmakers will overwhelmingly support legislation to lower the age requirement for younger police recruits to bear firearms.

The discussions come on the heels of the mayor appointing a new top officer to lead the nearly 6,000-person police department. During a press conference on Aug. 2, Chief Noe Diaz and Whitmire, who previously chaired the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee, indicated support for a plan to make changes to the police department’s guidelines and pursue legislative action to allow younger people to enlist in the department.

Recruits must be 21 to be hired by the police department, the legal age to carry a firearm in the state of Texas. But during the press conference, Diaz urged parents of 19 and 20-year-olds who are looking for a job to contact the police department... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

Democratic, GOP strategists analyze Harris-Walz ticket and Trump’s tactics against them (PBS)

With only 90 days until Election Day, the candidates are focusing on the swing states that will decide this year's race. To discuss the latest developments, including Kamala Harris picking Tim Walz as her running mate, Amna Nawaz spoke with Democratic strategist Faiz Shakir and Republican strategist Doug Heye… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Battle begins over Vance and Walz military records (The Hill)

Both Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) tout distinguished military records. But clashes over the specifics of their years in the armed forces were quickly ignited between their camps this week after the vice presidential match-up was set.

Vance, who served in the Marines, took the opening shot Wednesday at Walz, who served 24 years in the National Guard. The Republican presidential nominee accused his Democratic rival of “stolen valor” for leaving service before a deployment to Iraq and claiming he served in a war... (LINK TO FULL STORY)