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- BG Reads 9.20.2024
BG Reads 9.20.2024
🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - September 20, 2024
Bingham Group Reads
Presented by:
www.binghamgp.com
September 20, 2024
Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 ‘A huge win’: Austin mayor, council members praise DPD chief as city’s latest hire (Dallas Morning News)
🟪 Major upzoning in Zilker neighborhood draws opposition (Austin Monitor)
🟪 Social media company X cites Bastrop address as its official headquarters (Austin Business Journal)
🟪 Dallas judge denies AG Ken Paxton’s attempt to block State Fair of Texas gun policy (Dallas Morning News)
🟪 In a major shift, the U.S. government explores giving renters cash, not vouchers (NPR)
Read On!
[BINGHAM GROUP]
🟪 We are proud to represent and have represented a wide range of clients in the Austin Metro and Texas Capitol at the intersection of government and business.
🟪 Learn more about Bingham Group’s experience here, and review client testimonials here.
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
🟪 The Austin Council has seven (6) regular meetings left in 2024.
District 2 - September 25th
Dove Springs Recreation Center, 5801 Ainez Drive, Austin 78744
District 10 - September 30th
Dell Jewish Community Campus, Epstein Family Community Hall, 7300 Hart Lane, Austin 78731
Mayor - October 3rd
Austin City Hall Council Chambers, 301 W. 2nd St. Austin 78701
District 6 - October 7th
Hope Presbyterian Church, 11512 Olson Drive, Austin 78750
📺 City Council Candidate Forum: District 4 - Video (9.19.2024)
📺 City Council Candidate Forum: District 7 - Video (9.5.2024)
✅ All candidate forums will are scheduled from 6:30pm to 8pm.
✅ All forums will be streamed live and archived on ATXN.
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
‘A huge win’: Austin mayor, council members praise DPD chief as city’s latest hire (Dallas Morning News)
Austin city leaders on Thursday celebrated the hiring of Dallas police Chief Eddie García to oversee the city’s public safety operations, the fourth high-ranking official Austin has hired from Dallas since the spring.
In a memo to Austin city council members, City Manager T.C. Broadnax, who left the same role in Dallas earlier this year, said García’s “hands-on leadership style” and posture toward policing has “taken criminal elements off the streets in an unbiased way” and reduced crime.
“Please join me in welcoming Eddie to the city,” Broadnax wrote in the memoobtained by The Dallas Morning News. The memo states García starts in Austin on Nov. 4.
The position García is assuming is currently vacant. He will oversee the operations of seven departments: Austin Fire, Austin Police, Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services, Downtown Austin Community Court, Forensic Science, and Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
The seven departments are currently reporting to Austin Deputy City Manager Jon Fortune, a former Dallas deputy city manager who left within weeks of Broadnax’s departure for Austin. Broadnax’s chief of staff when he was in Dallas, Genesis D. Gavino, also joined the city of Austin.
The departments previously reported to Bruce Mills, a former Austin Police Department assistant chief who served as an assistant city manager in an interim capacity from March 2023 to last month.
García will oversee a police force in flux. Austin police Chief Lisa Davis started in Austin earlier this month. The city hired her from the Cincinnati Police Department. An interim had held the position since September 2023.
In a statement to The News, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said the hire was a “huge win” for the city, describing García as a “seasoned, successful leader” who brings 30 years of public safety experience... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Major upzoning in Zilker neighborhood draws opposition (Austin Monitor)
On Sept. 12, City Council approved a zoning change for a 0.42-acre property in the Zilker neighborhood that will allow the developer to build to 90 feet, falling under the Density Bonus 90 category. The property at 2130 Goodrich Ave., currently the site of a one-story office building, is about 100 feet from South Lamar Boulevard. While the rest of her colleagues voted in favor of the change, Council Member Alison Alter abstained.
Staff and the Planning Commission recommended the change, but representatives of the Zilker neighborhood opposed it. Council had approved a zoning change for the property under VMU 2 but they had to go back to the drawing board after a judge invalidated that ordinance.
Now, after the passage of a modified density bonus program, staff and Council are approving zoning changes under DB90 that proponents hope will bring about the development of more affordable housing. However, the changes have come as a shock to many neighborhoods… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
New coworking firm makes Texas debut in East Austin (Austin Business Journal)
There’s a new name on Austin’s coworking scene.
The Malin, East Austin’s latest coworking space, more resembles an upscale hotel lobby than an office. While the space is filled with desks, conference rooms and private pods for members to use, The Malin’s atmosphere conjures feelings of a social club more than it does a cubicle-filled office.
“I feel that our members really appreciate all those little touch points and details that we aspire to interject within our environment,” said Ciarán McGuigan, founder and CEO of The Malin.
“From a work standpoint, I just love rocking up and grabbing a communal table. That’s how I work, but the good thing and the beautiful thing with The Malin is there’s so many different ways to work.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Social media company X cites Bastrop address as its official headquarters (Austin Business Journal)
The world's richest man is trading high-rise offices in San Francisco for a more modest Texas building with views of an empty field.
Elon Musk's X has named Bastrop as its headquarters — at least temporarily. It cited a location near the small city southeast of Austin as its official address in a recent California court filing.
Musk's Hyperloop Plaza at 865 FM 1209 already houses manufacturing and office spaces for a number of his companies. Local facilities of The Boring Co. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., both of which he founded and leads, are there, and last month X also began setting up its new safety support center at the rural Texas location… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Dallas judge denies AG Ken Paxton’s attempt to block State Fair of Texas gun policy (Dallas Morning News)
A Dallas County District judge on Thursday denied Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attempt to block a new State Fair of Texas policy restricting who can bring guns to the 24-day event.
The ban will go into effect when the fair kicks off next week. Judge Emily Tobolowsky, at the end of a temporary injunction hearing on Thursday, said she didn’t believe there was enough evidence showing any laws were broken by the new restriction, which limits firearm carriers at the fair to elected, appointed or employed peace officers.
“I deny the injunction in its entirety,” Tobolowsky said. Fair organizers announced Aug. 8 they would increase security and limit who would be allowed to carry guns into Fair Park. The fair previously allowed any attendee with a valid handgun license to bring a gun as long as it was concealed, but state law doesn’t require Texans to have a permit to carry a firearm in a public place.
The policy change comes after a man shot three people at the fair last year. The nonprofit group leases Fair Park from the city for the event, one of the state’s largest annual celebrations and the most attended fair in the country. Dallas officials have maintained city officials weren’t involved in the fair’s decision to enact the new policy.
Fair officials say they believe it’s their right to take measures they deem fit to protect patrons. Paxton sought a temporary injunction to prevent the new policy from being enforced. Paxton sued the fair, Dallas and interim city manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert last month, arguing the restriction is illegal and infringes on gun owners’ rights. The lawsuit was filed two weeks after Paxton sent a letter to Tolbert threatening legal action unless the city forced the fair to drop its new policy.
Ernest Garcia, an assistant attorney general, argued in court Thursday that since Dallas owns the 277-acre Fair Park and leases the grounds to the State Fair of Texas, the city was denying lawful licensed firearm holders access to government property by allowing the fair’s policy to stand. “This case is about public policy and its application to public property,” Garcia said. “This is not a case about private property rights or interest.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Houston ISD considering prohibiting student cell phone use during school emergencies (Houston Chronicle)
Houston ISD is working toward a new policy prohibiting students from using cellphones during certain campus emergencies because they could be “counterproductive," top school safety officials said Thursday. HISD Police Chief Shamara Garner and Craig Straw, the district's safety and emergency management director, held a media conference Thursday to address HISD's safety and security measures following a rise in reported threats against schools statewide.
They both held a virtual public webinar afterwards where they answered submitted questions from families. HISD already prohibits student phone use during the school day, but Straw said under a potential new policy, students will be expected to leave their cellphones in their backpacks during emergencies if they are moved to a pre-identified safe location. They will only be allowed to access their cellphones and contact their families after police have cleared the area, he said.
Straw said the district is pursuing the policy because phones can make sounds and give away a student's position if there is an intruder. He said phones also "create an environment" that makes it harder for a first responder to narrow down the location of a threat. “I understand the need for communication, and parents want to make sure that their children are safe, so there's a time and a place for cellphones, but again, as it pertains to a lockdown situation, the best practice is to remain silent, and so the use of cellphones, as natural as it may be, may be counterproductive,” Garner said.
The address from Straw and Garner occurred after HISD increased police visibility on campuses last week following social media posts that suggested multiple Texas public schools would be targets of violence. The district said it enhanced security out of an abundance of caution, but it had not confirmed any direct threats to any of its schools. HISD later had to lock down Sharpstown International School Friday after an unsubstantiated allegation of a possible weapon on campus. The district also faced at least two additional security incidents Wednesday, including a reported bomb threat at Bellaire High School and a stabbing at Sterling High School, although it was unclear if they were connected to the online threats…
Texas Attorney General’s office sues Harris County over revised basic income program (Houston Public Media)
Harris County is again at the center of a legal challenge filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who Thursday deemed a revised guaranteed income program unconstitutional.
“What we are looking at now is just ensuring those dollars go towards adjusting poverty in Harris County,” County Judge Lina Hidalgo said during a Thursday press conference.
“There are always other strategies and we are just going to keep the commitment,” Hidalgo said.
Paxton earlier this year struck down the county’s efforts to provide monthly stipends to lower-income families. He requested the state prohibit payments under the county’s pilot guaranteed income program.
The Texas Supreme Court in June granted the state’s request, deeming Uplift Harris unconstitutional… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US and World News]
In a major shift, the U.S. government explores giving renters cash, not vouchers (NPR)
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is exploring the idea of giving struggling Americans cash aid instead of vouchers. That might seem like an unlikely, bold new move for the federal housing agency — except it turns out that back in the 1970s, HUD was already testing the idea.
Before the cash-aid results were even in, however, HUD launched its voucher program that now serves millions of people. A few years ago, a HUD employee came across the reports from its 1970s tests and wondered whether the idea was worth a new look.
“It’s taken us 50 years to come back to it and really experiment with it once again,” says Solomon Greene, who helps develop policy at HUD.
The housing voucher program has been a lifeline for millions of people, but there are real problems. There aren't nearly enough federal housing vouchers for everyone who qualifies, and many people wait years for them. What happens next can be even more frustrating... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
_________________________
We are proud to represent and have represented a wide range of clients in the Austin Metro and Texas Capitol at the intersection of government and business.
Learn more about Bingham Group’s experience here, and review client testimonials here.
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