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September 25, 2023

In today's BG Reads:

⚖️  Austin’s Affordability Unlocked program back in court this week

➡️ Texan Congressmen describe GOP in chaos ahead of likely government shutdown

🗳️ As Haley and Ramaswamy rise, some Indian Americans have mixed feelings

Read on!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

🆕   BG Podcast Ep. 219:

• On this episode the Bingham Group (CEO A.J. Bingham, Associate Hannah Garcia, and firm Economic Development Consultant Larry Holt) wrap up the week of September 18th in Austin politics.

• The BG Podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

➡️ Check out our red lined City of Austin org chart.  The changes reflect the many changes in city leadership since February 2023.

➡️ You can view those here: BG Blog: Tracking City of Austin Leadership Changes (Updated September 1, 2023).

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Austin policy lets builders forgo red tape. The result? More affordable housing, less public input. (Austin Monitor)

Affordability Unlocked lets developers bypass certain building rules as long as they promise to rent or sell at least half of what they build to people earning low incomes. When it was adopted by City Council members in 2019, the program was seen as a way to increase the building of low-income housing as a salve to Austin’s ever-rising housing costs.

And it appears to be working. According to a recent report by the Urban Institute, Affordability Unlocked has helped developers build affordable housing at a faster pace than any other city program. Builders and affordable housing advocates have called it a “game-changer” in a city that is hard to afford for teachers, first responders and service workers.

But what makes Affordability Unlocked popular among some is precisely what makes others question its validity: the ability to bypass steps in the process, particularly those that open these developments to public debate… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

And in other Austin Metro News:

➡️ DPS troopers accrued $3.7 million in OT in first 3 months of Austin special enforcement (Austin American-Statesman) -> LINK TO FULL STORY

➡️ Austin slowly expands police oversight powers voters passed in the spring (KUT) -> LINK TO FULL STORY

[TEXAS NEWS]

Texans in U.S. House describe GOP in chaos ahead of likely government shutdown (Texas Tribune)

With a possible shutdown of the federal government on the horizon, various members of the Texas Congressional delegation at The Texas Tribune Festival Saturday described a House in crisis, voicing their concerns and frustrations with Republican infighting that has brought attempts to approve annual spending bills to a standstill.

“It is a really challenging time to get anything done in this Congress,” said U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Houston.

Fletcher spoke on a panel with three other House Democrats from Texas — Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett of Austin and Sylvia Garcia of Houston — about what it’s like working under Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Lawmakers need to approve 12 spending measures to fund the federal government. The GOP has a single-digit majority in the House, so if all Democrats oppose a Republican proposal, almost all Republicans must be in alignment. McCarthy started advancing his spending plan with a typically popular defense bill. But a small group of House Republicans broke ranks earlier this week and blocked it — twice. And hardliners signaled they would oppose any temporary measures to keep the

government running after Sept. 30 while lawmakers iron out their differences… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

OTHER NEWS:

➡️ Paxton critics pile on, calling impeachment trial rigged (Texas Tribune) -> LINK TO FULL STORY

[NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS]

As Haley and Ramaswamy rise, some Indian Americans have mixed feelings (New York Times)

Indian Americans now make up about 2.1 million, or roughly 16 percent, of the estimated 13.4 million Asian Americans who are eligible to vote, the third largest population of Asian origin behind Chinese and Filipino Americans, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of the 2021 American Community Survey. Indian Americans also have tended to lean more Democratic than any other Asian American subgroups, according to Pew.

Though a small slice of the overall electorate, the demographic has become one of the fastest-growing constituencies, and is large enough to make a difference at the margins in swing states and in purple suburbs, including in Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Nevada.

Debate over the prominence of Ms. Haley and Mr. Ramaswamy is playing out in Indian American homes and places of worship in Des Moines and beyond. In interviews, many described their rise as a political triumph at a time when Indian Americans have become more visible in fields beyond medicine, tech and engineering.

Venu Rao, a Democrat and retired engineer and program manager in Hollis, N.H., said Ms. Haley and Mr. Ramaswamy captured the ideological diversity among South Asian Americans, even if he doesn’t agree with their positions.

“I am glad that we have a choice,” Mr. Rao said.

But many of those interviewed also expressed frustration and dismay over the candidates’ hard-line positions on issues like race, identity and immigration. Some worried Mr. Ramaswamy’s pledges to dismantle agencies like the Education Department would destroy the same institutions that had been crucial to Indian American success and upward mobility... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

OTHER NEWS:

➡️ Senate Democrats put McCarthy in shutdown squeeze (The Hill)-> LINK TO FULL STORY

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