BG Reads // April 4, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
April 04, 2025

Presented By

Serving Central Texas.

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🚨⏳ Staffing isn't the only thing to blame for Austin's slow 911 response times (KUT)

🏙️📊 City Memo: City of Austin Year in Review 2024 // T.C. Broadnax, City Manager

🏗️🤝 Stantec to acquire Page, a big player in Austin's architecture scene (Austin Business Journal)

🏛️⚔️ A Senate blockbuster looms in Texas, as Paxton prepares to challenge Cornyn (New York Times)

📉🤠 Tariffs creating uncertainty in Texas as report shows slower revenue growth since late 2024 (Texas Tribune)

🏫📜 Private school voucher bill clears first test in Texas House (Texas Tribune)

🇺🇸 ⚔️ US officials object to European push to buy weapons locally (Reuters)

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ Appointments: Council Member Mike Siegel (District 7) has appointed Adam Powell to the City Austin Planning Commission. Adam, who ran for the open District 7 seat in 2024, also serves as the Executive Director of the Austin History Center Association.

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[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Staffing isn't the only thing to blame for Austin's slow 911 response times (KUT)

When someone calls 911 for help in Austin, about 93% of those calls are answered within 15 seconds. But once those calls are answered, police, fire or EMS must then respond.

And those public safety agencies are not responding as quickly as they should.

Data revealed this week show it's taking longer than national standards recommend for help to arrive in Austin. Public safety officials blame staffing shortages, but also said growth and traffic are contributing factors.

As the city hires more first responders, officials expect those response times to go down – but it could be a while before that happens. Growth means a need for even more staff and equipment, which could be challenging on a tight budget.

Austin police aim to respond to a call within 10 minutes and 44 seconds. But the department has been struggling to meet that goal for the last several years.

In 2022, the city’s average response time for urgent and emergency calls was around 10 minutes and 50 seconds. Two years later, response times had increased by about two minutes… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ City Council expected to implement requirements for residential air conditioning (Austin Monitor)

The city is revising its technical building codes. As part of this process, City Council is slated to adopt changes to Austin’s version of the International Property Maintenance Code on April 10. Most notably, these changes will include a requirement that all Austinites can access air conditioning in their homes.

Surprisingly, current statewide housing standards do not include residential cooling requirements. An attempt in the Texas Legislature to force landlords across the state to provide air conditioning for tenants was halted in 2023. More recently, a federal judge recently found the lack of AC in some Texas prisons to be unconstitutional (but did not order the state to immediately install AC in its prisons).

If the changes are adopted, Austin will join other Texas cities like Houston and Dallas in codifying citywide residential access to AC.

This process began during summer 2023, as Austin was experiencing a record-breaking heat wave. Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes authored a resolution initiating city code amendments that would require residential property owners to provide and maintain adequate cooling equipment. Fuentes’ resolution directed the city manager to consider stakeholder feedback and industry practices, and to return to Council with a draft ordinance in 2024… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Stantec to acquire Page, a big player in Austin's architecture scene (Austin Business Journal)

Global design and engineering giant Stantec Inc. has signed a deal to acquire Washington, D.C.-based Page, which was founded in Austin and remains the city's largest architecture firm by local design revenue.

The acquisition positions Stantec to become an even larger player in the architecture industry. Terms of the sale, subject to regulatory approvals, weren't disclosed.

Page, formerly Page Southerland Page Inc., a firm born in Austin in the late 19th century, generated $503 million in total revenue last year, according to Business Journal research. It employs nearly 1,400 people nationwide, including 257 employees in Austin. Page's Austin office generated $65 million from its architecture work in 2024 — ranking it No. 1 among such firms — and is known for major projects like downtown Austin's Indeed Tower and the Austin Convention Center redevelopment.

The acquisition will grow Stantec’s U.S. buildings practice by roughly 35% and its U.S. workforce to roughly 13,500, according to an announcement. It will have $5.81 billion in combined revenue, making it the nation's second-largest architecture firm. San Francisco-based Gensler, which had $1.88 billion in total revenue last year, is the largest… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Austin partners with nonprofit, Zillow to get people experiencing homelessness into housing (Austin Business Journal)

The city of Austin is partnering with a nonprofit that helps connect people with significant housing barriers to vacant rental units, according to a release.

Housing Connector uses “Zillow-powered technology to remove barriers to housing and match people with vacant units,” the release said. So far, roughly 2,000 units are already on that platform, according to Austin’s Homeless Strategy Officer, David Gray.

“These are clients who are moving in with some form of income to pay their rent or they’re tied to an organization that has income to help pay their rent. The city also has money that we’ve given Housing Connector to stabilize folks once they get housed as well to pay for things like repairs to units that might get damaged,” Gray explained.

The city of Austin and Housing Connector are asking property owners/landlords, or local outreach groups working with people facing housing instability, to reach out to them to learn more about the process. You can find property benefits here and frequently asked questions here… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

✅ A Senate blockbuster looms in Texas, as Paxton prepares to challenge Cornyn (New York Times)

Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, is getting ready to challenge Senator John Cornyn in what could be the nastiest and most expensive Republican Party showdown of the 2026 election.

In an interview on Tuesday in Dallas, Mr. Paxton tiptoed close to declaring himself a candidate, offering up the kind of legislation he would first propose if elected to the Senate — tax cuts — and describing why he felt he could do more in Washington, D.C., than in Texas. “I just think there’s a lot of things that you could do at the federal level,” Mr. Paxton said.

“Trump can use the help and have a senator that actually is supportive and not critical.” Asked how he made his decision to run, Mr. Paxton began answering the question. Then he was reminded by a campaign consultant that he had not yet officially decided to run. “Right,” Mr. Paxton said. The likelihood of a primary between Mr. Paxton and Mr. Cornyn has been growing in recent months. It would be perhaps the biggest electoral face-off yet in the ongoing war between the Texas Republican Party’s old guard and an ascendant wing of hard-right social conservatives aligned with Mr. Paxton and President Trump.

The looming clash has been among the worst kept secrets in Texas politics. “Good luck with your primary, John,” posted Colin Allred, a former Democratic representative in Dallas who unsuccessfully challenged Senator Ted Cruz last year and has said he is considering entering the 2026 Senate race. Mr. Paxton, now in his third term, has been increasingly vocal in his criticism of Mr. Cornyn, mocking him on social media and during a recent interview with Tucker Carlson.

The attorney general and legal firebrand has been buoyed in his thinking about a Senate run by internal Republican polling that shows him with a considerable advantage among the party’s primary voters. A poll by Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, a firm used by the Trump campaign, found Mr. Paxton leading by a margin of more than 20 percentage points over Mr. Cornyn, and it grew with messages painting Mr. Cornyn as the more moderate candidate… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Tariffs creating uncertainty in Texas as report shows slower revenue growth since late 2024 (Texas Tribune)

Texas local businesses reported slower revenue growth since late last year, sparking uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s policies on tariffs and concerns of a possible recession, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas on Thursday.

As the nation’s leading trade state, Texas has been significantly impacted by the higher tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada, and China imposed earlier this year by Trump’s administration.

“The uncertainty index for both manufacturers and service sector companies jumped in March to levels not seen since late 2022, during the height of the pandemic,” the ​​Dallas Fed Texas Business Outlook Surveys (TBOS) report stated.

Nearly half of Texas businesses surveyed expressed concerns that rising costs could reduce consumer demand and push the state into a recession. Among those hit hardest are manufacturers, many of whom reported difficulties maintaining production levels. The Texas service-sector was also affected: its revenue growth has been declining since late 2024, reaching zero by March, according to TBOS respondents… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Inside the expensive, 27-candidate race for San Antonio mayor (San Antonio Report)

San Antonio is barreling toward the most bizarre mayoral election in recent memory. A massive field of 27 candidates has no clear frontrunners. State and national PAC money is flowing into the race while local groups remain on the sidelines. Meanwhile, the rare opportunity to lead a blue city in a red state has both Republicans and Democrats salivating over the traditionally nonpartisan office. Weeks from the start of early voting in the May 3 election, it’s the exact scenario some local political strategists say they’ve long worried about leading up to a pivotal race. San Antonio hasn’t elected a new mayor since 2017 and whoever replaces term-limited Mayor Ron Nirenberg will immediately inherit a city at a crossroads. They’ll be responsible for the city’s approach to major economic development projects, as well as an increasingly precarious social safety net and fraying relationships with state and federal leaders.

This year Rolando Pablos, who served as Texas Secretary of State under GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, became the face of the a multi-million dollar effort to build a bench of conservative allies in the state’s historically blue urban centers. And Gina Ortiz Jones, who was Democrats’ nominee for two high-profile congressional races, has the backing of national Democrats who’ve become desperate to keep Texas from falling further from their party’s reach. The long list of candidates also includes a number of local elected officials, business leaders and activists with pockets of supporters behind them — meaning it’s unlikely any of the candidates will take the 50% support required to avoid a June 7 runoff. With few opportunities left to differentiate themselves through message alone, candidates are running out of time to make their cases. “I think there’s seven candidates that have a shot,” said former mayor and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, one of the few local officials who has offered up an endorsement in the race, in reference to four sitting councilmembers, Pablos and Ortiz Jones, plus political newcomer Beto Altamirano, his pick… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Private school voucher bill clears first test in Texas House (Texas Tribune)

The Texas House Public Education Committee on Thursday voted in favor of a $1 billion spending cap for the first two years of a potential school voucher program and increasing by $395 the base amount of money public school districts receive for each student.

The changes to House Bill 2, the public school funding bill, and Senate Bill 2, the voucher proposal, will now go to the full House for further consideration. All Democrats on the committee voted against the voucher legislation.

Lawmakers revealed updated versions of both bills Monday, after days of public testimony last month. The committee was slated to discuss them Tuesday, but the panel rescheduled the meeting to Thursday, hours after the release of the new versions. Rep. Brad Buckley, the Republican chair of the committee, said he postponed it to give members additional time to review how the proposed school funding changes would affect their local districts.

While several TV stations broadcast the meeting, the committee did not stream it, drawing criticism from House Democrats. House rules this session require the streaming of public hearings but not formal meetings, which generally do not include public testimony… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Here's how Texas Catholic schools could get a big boost under Greg Abbott’s $1B voucher plan (Houston Chronicle)

The Holy Spirit had blessed St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church, businessman Clarence Kahlig declared last fall at the groundbreaking of the church’s new $24 million school in Boerne, north of San Antonio. The blessing was all the donations that had poured in from the congregation, including a plot of land and $5 million from Kahlig, a parishioner who runs a local auto sales empire. He vowed the school would pass it on, in keeping with the Catholic tradition to serve the poor by educating even those who struggle to afford its tuition bill.

“If they want a Christ-centered education, we're going to give it to them,” Kahlig said. Soon, Catholic schools around the state could receive a much larger blessing from the Legislature: a $1 billion school voucher program, possibly growing by billions more in the years to come. Of all the private schools that could soon enroll students paying tuition with taxpayer dollars, Catholic schools are among those that stand to gain the most.

The 250 some Catholic schools in Texas enroll 64,000 students — more than 20% of all private school enrollment in the state. Catholic schools typically charge less than other private, religious schools, with an average $8,000 tuition on elementary schools and $12,000 for high schools.

That’s in line with the approximately $10,000 savings accounts that lawmakers are considering creating for students across the state. Under a voucher program, schools run by the church would be poised to quickly begin receiving hundreds of millions from the state — money that could be a lifeline for some, as several Catholic schools have shuttered in recent years under financial strain. “From a Catholic school standpoint, this is one of those things where they’re either going to have something like this, that will give low-income parents access and pay tuition, or those schools will close,” said Leo Linbeck III, a Houston businessman and Catholic school booster. “That’s the harsh reality.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

✅ HHS layoffs hit Meals on Wheels and other services for seniors and disabled (NPR)

The layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services slashed the staffs of major federal aging, disability and anti-poverty programs, leaving the future of those programs uncertain.

At least 40% of staff got layoff notices and many were turned away at the front door Tuesday when they showed up for work at the Administration for Community Living, or ACL, which coordinates federal policy on aging and disability. That's according to the agency's former director under the Biden Administration, Alison Barkoff, who says she talked to multiple members of her former staff.

The agency funds programs that run senior centers and distribute 216 million meals a year to older and disabled people through the Meals on Wheels program.

"The programs that ACL implements improve the lives of literally tens of millions of older adults, people with disabilities and their families and caregivers," says Barkoff, now director of a health law program at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health. "There's no way to have these RIFs and not impact the programs and the people who rely on them."… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ US officials object to European push to buy weapons locally (Reuters)

U.S. officials have told European allies they want them to keep buying American-made arms, amid recent moves by the European Union to limit U.S. manufacturers' participation in weapons tenders, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The messages delivered by Washington in recent weeks come as the EU takes steps to boost Europe's weapons industry, while potentially limiting purchases of certain types of U.S. arms.

The messages delivered by Washington in recent weeks come as the EU takes steps to boost Europe's weapons industry, while potentially limiting purchases of certain types of U.S. arms. 

The Trump administration's early foreign policy steps, including briefly cutting military aid for Ukraine and easing pressure on Moscow, have deeply unnerved European allies, prompting many to ask if the United States is a reliable partner. 

In mid-March, the European Commission, the EU's executive body, proposed boosting military spending and pooling resources on joint defense projects, as Europe girds for decreased U.S. military engagement under President Donald Trump. 

Some of the proposed measures could mean a smaller role for non-EU companies, including those based in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, experts say.

In a March 25 meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia that the United States wants to continue participating in EU countries' defense procurements, the sources told Reuters… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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