🟪 A 36-month plan to compete faster. ACM Johnson details Austin’s economic roadmap.

🟪 Austin ended its license plate reader program. Then the police department found a loophole. (KUT)

🟪 Austin rejected controversial license plate readers. Texas put them up anyway. (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 After hours of public debate, Round Rock council approves data center zoning (Community Impact)

🟪 Austin United PAC appeals convention center decision to Texas Supreme Court (KUT)

🟪 Austin ISD says repeated anti-ICE walkouts are causing "a real disruption" to school days (CBS Austin)

🟪 Houston Mayor Whitmire criticizes Dallas, Austin leaders in city address (FOX 4 Houston)

🟪 Texans are demanding their local governments push pause on data centers. Can they? (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Gallup will no longer measure presidential approval after 88 years (The Hill)

READ ON!

🟪 [Events]: At last night’s Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce State of the Chamber event, Austin Assistant City Manager Dr. Eric A. Johnson outlined the City’s forthcoming 36-month Economic Development Roadmap.

Designed to sharpen Austin’s competitive edge during a period of slower growth and fiscal constraint, the Roadmap will be formally introduced at the March Economic Opportunity Committee meeting. The framework emphasizes disciplined execution, increased speed in development processes, and clearly defined performance metrics to guide implementation.

Key priorities include:

Dr. Johnson emphasized that the Roadmap is not about short-term optics or singular recruitment wins. It is about connecting partnerships, moving with agility, and ensuring Austin competes intentionally, with small businesses and community participation at the center of its growth strategy.

🟪 [Team]: Bingham Group is pleased to welcome Annick Beaudet, MPA, FAICP as a Senior Consultant focused on Mobility and Public Infrastructure.

Based in Austin, Annick brings nearly 30 years of experience working at the intersection of transportation systems, land use, and public-sector capital programs, with a reputation for helping public agencies turn ambitious visions into executable, results-driven initiatives.

Before entering consulting, Annick spent 18 years in senior leadership roles with the City of Austin, including Assistant Director of the Austin Transportation Department and Mobility Officer for Project Connect, where she helped coordinate and advance Central Texas’s landmark transit expansion efforts.

For organizations exploring strategic partners to advance mobility or public infrastructure priorities, Annick’s addition further expands Bingham Group’s ability to support complex, high-impact initiatives. Contact us here.

🟪 [Podcast] Also, check out my recent feature on the Austin Eras Podcast. Host Adam Flagg and I discuss my path into community leadership and the lobbying profession, growing up in Austin, and what’s shaping the future of Central Texas.

🟪 Book Review - The Austin–San Antonio Megaregion: Opportunity and Experience

🏛️ Memos:

✅ Austin ended its license plate reader program. Then the police department found a loophole. (KUT)

Austin police are still using license plate reader technology months after the Austin City Council ended the city's program over privacy concerns.

A KUT investigation found the Austin Police Department accessed data from Flock Safety license plate readers maintained by neighboring law enforcement agencies within the last month. The access skirts the city's push to end the firm’s presence in Austin — and highlights a gap in Austin’s policies on surveillance technology.

The cameras scan license plates at intersections and allow police to search a database for certain criminal activity, like stolen cars or arrest warrants tied to certain vehicles.

Austin ended its contract with Flock last June after pushback from residents who said the surveillance can be shared with immigration enforcement and that the system can be used as a dragnet that leads to wrongful arrests.

While APD no longer has the license plate reading cameras on city roads, it does have access to cameras maintained by at least two neighboring agencies: Round Rock and Sunset Valley police. Both agencies listed APD under the departments they had shared data with in the last 30 days. APD confirmed to KUT that it has access to Flock data from other departments, but said it only requests it in emergencies… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin rejected controversial license plate readers. Texas put them up anyway. (Austin American-Statesman)

As Austin has retreated from using surveillance technology in policing, the Texas Department of Public Safety has installed several license plate reader cameras along at least one major roadway in the city — and the agency may share the collected data with local law enforcement.

DPS spokeswoman Sheridan Nolen confirmed to the American-Statesman that DPS installed automated license plate readers on Feb. 2 along “several state rights of way.” She declined to disclose specific locations or cite the total number of cameras installed. Photos surfaced online last week of cameras on North Lamar Boulevard near Koenig Lane with social media posters wondering who had installed them. DPS cameras also have been installed on South Lamar Boulevard at West Riverside Drive — and right outside Austin City Hall.

The license plate readers are manufactured by Atlanta-based Flock Safety, a surveillance technology company that has made headlines in Austin and other locales as it seeks contracts with law enforcement agencies that say the cameras greatly aid policing work.

The cameras, which can be mounted to fixed locations or on law enforcement vehicles, snap photos of license plates that are stored in a database with the date, time and location of the photo — all of which is accessible to the law enforcement agency contracting with Flock. Nolen said in a written statement that the cameras “enhance law enforcement’s ability to keep communities safe” by helping to locate suspects, find missing persons and recover stolen property.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ After hours of public debate, Round Rock council approves data center zoning (Community Impact)

Round Rock City Council unanimously approved a rezoning request that will allow a Skybox data center to be built near East Old Settlers Boulevard and North A.W. Grimes Boulevard.

The ordinance passed on second reading, rezoning approximately 29.69 acres from a light industrial designation to a planned unit development and establishing project-specific development standards for the site.

The property has been zoned light industrial since 2023, but has remained undeveloped.

Because “data center” is not a defined use in Round Rock’s zoning code, the developer was required to seek approval through a planned unit development, or PUD, to allow the use and establish customized requirements... 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin United PAC appeals convention center decision to Texas Supreme Court (KUT)

An effort to stop the Austin Convention Center project from moving forward is not over. The group hoping to stop the construction appealed to the Texas Supreme Court days after a Travis County district judge sided with the city.

The Austin United Political Action Committee — the group behind the petition that would let voters decide whether the expansion should move forward — filed the emergency appeal on Tuesday, Bill Bunch, an attorney representing the PAC, said.

But the Texas Supreme Court faces a tight deadline. The last day to call for an election in May is Friday.

“The court does have some leeway for ordering an election after the deadline,” Bunch said. “They have complete discretion to not consider this at all, or not consider it on an expedited basis, in which case the appellate process would be addressing whether we are entitled to an election in November."

Last October, the Austin United PAC filed a petition with more than 20,000 signatures — the amount needed to trigger an election — to force a ballot measure on if the convention center expansion was something voters wanted.

But after reviewing the documents, Austin City Clerk Erika Brady said her office determined there were not enough valid signatures, and the petition was denied… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin ISD says repeated anti-ICE walkouts are causing "a real disruption" to school days (CBS Austin)

Austin Independent School District officials are asking students to return their focus to the classroom as repeated demonstrations against ICE begin to "cause a real disruption to [the] school day."

In a video posted to the district's Instagram Wednesday, AISD acknowledged students' civic engagement while emphasizing the importance of education.

"We've seen some historical events happen across our country recently, and more so in our own community. We've seen many of you find your own voices," district officials said in the video. "Seeing our students engage with the world makes us incredibly proud."

However, officials said the frequency of demonstrations is interfering with instruction…🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Houston Mayor Whitmire criticizes Dallas, Austin leaders in city address (FOX 4 Houston)

Houston Mayor John Whitmire delivered the State of the City Address Thursday afternoon. In praising his and the city's efforts to improve key areas of public interest, the former state legislator added a few critical remarks about other major Texas cities. According to Whitmire, Houston excels in addressing taxes and homelessness; two areas in which Dallas and Austin are, in the mayor's eyes, falling behind.

Whitmire, a Democrat, served 10 years in the Texas House and 40 in the state Senate before taking his position as mayor in 2024. He drew on this experience in the legislature, in which he noted that he served alongside the Austin and Dallas mayors, when questioning those leaders' tactics.

To start, Whitmire said that Austin Mayor Kirk Watson pursued a property tax increase without first conducting an efficiency audit. He said Houston's method of auditing, avoiding a tax bump and cutting waste ultimately saved $100 million… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texans are demanding their local governments push pause on data centers. Can they? (Texas Tribune)

From Amarillo to Waco, College Station to Harlingen, Texans are raising concerns over the proliferation of data centers — and the tremendous amounts of water and energy they are poised to suck up.

Seemingly overnight, these sprawling campuses of computer servers meant to store information from websites and power artificial intelligence are popping up all over the state.

Just this month, the largest proposed data center in the U.S. was approved in Pecos County. That follows the start of construction of a $500 billion data center on the outskirts of Abilene and a planned 5,800-acre project in the Texas Panhandle that will include the world’s “largest energy campus,” according to its backers… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Hood County’s proposed moratorium on data centers squashed by Texas senator (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

A proposal in Hood County for a moratorium on data centers and other large-scale industrial developments was stymied at the last minute Tuesday when a Houston lawmaker warned the county commission that it had no authority to even consider such a thing.

The county was considering a six-month pause on any new projects to allow time to study regulations over air and water quality and pollution. Developers have multiple projects in the pipeline in Hood County, including a 2,600-acre data center complex called Comanche Circle that has triggered a tsunami of opposition from ranchers, landowners and conservationists near Glen Rose. The standing-room only Commissioners Court was hours into a public hearing on the issue Tuesday when a letter from Texas Sen. Paul Bettencourt arrived.

Addressed to Attorney General Ken Paxton, with a subject line “Proposed Illegal County Moratorium on Development,” the letter said counties are merely political subdivisions of the state without any powers other than those specified by the constitution or state statutes. And a moratorium isn’t among those powers. The commissioners ended up voting 3-2 against the six-month moratorium . County attorney Matt Mills read Bettencourt’s letter following an impassioned public hearing where most speakers told commissioners that their quality of life, and livelihoods, were at stake.

Bettencourt’s letter cited a law adopted last year that attempts to limit the ability of Texas cities to implement moratoria. He said the Senate Committee on Local Government “will be closely monitoring these situations” like with Hood County’s proposal. “I encourage your office,” Bettencourt told Paxton, “to investigate counties that implement such a moratorium and explore any necessary legal actions.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Dallas votes to give up DART majority in bid to keep suburbs in system (Dallas Morning News)

Dallas decided Wednesday to sacrifice some of its power to keep the region’s transit service alive. The high-stakes move is aimed at stopping a half-dozen suburbs from bolting from the Dallas Area Rapid Transit. The City Council, in a 13-2 vote, approved a proposed governance framework that would shrink the city’s voting power on the DART board to at least 45%, marking the first time in the agency’s more than 40-year history that Dallas would no longer hold majority control. The plan also would guarantee each of DART’s 13 member cities at least one board seat, replacing a structure that now gives only Dallas, Irving, Garland and Plano dedicated single-city representation, and would likely expand the current 15-member board.

“I’m in support of the resolution, not because it’s going to solve the whole thing today, but because it’s necessary,” said Mayor Eric Johnson. “Not sufficient, but necessary.” The changes aren’t final yet. The proposal still needs the Texas Legislature next year to amend state law before any changes take effect. But the goal is to try to persuade six cities – Addison, Farmers Branch, Highland Park, Irving, Plano and University Park – to scrap May elections that could let voters decide whether to withdraw from DART. The six cities have until late February to finalize their special ballots and until March 18 to rescind their election plans altogether.

Most council members framed the move as a rescue effort for the transit agency and for bus and rail service in Dallas. But the vote exposed sharp divisions. Council members Cara Mendelsohn and Chad West voted against the deal, saying it lacked tangible concessions from other cities or structural reforms within DART. Mendelsohn said Dallas, as DART’s largest financial contributor and ridership base, should not surrender majority control without concrete improvements in service, safety or accountability. West questioned whether other cities are truly committed to building the strongest possible system for Dallas… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Gallup will no longer measure presidential approval after 88 years (The Hill)

Gallup will no longer track presidential approval ratings after more than eight decades doing so, the public opinion polling agency confirmed to The Hill on Wednesday. The company said starting this year it would stop publishing approval and favorability ratings of individual political figures, saying in a statement it “reflects an evolution in how Gallup focuses its public research and thought leadership.”

“Our commitment is to long-term, methodologically sound research on issues and conditions that shape people’s lives,” a spokesperson for the agency said. “That work will continue through the Gallup Poll Social Series, the Gallup Quarterly Business Review, the World Poll, and our portfolio of U.S. and global research.”

The Gallup Presidential Approval Rating has for decades been the among the top barometers cited by media outlets measuring public opinion of the president’s performance. President Trump has seen his rating by the agency slip in recent months, peaking at 47 percent last February and dipping to less than 37 percent in its last poll taken in December.

“This change is part of a broader, ongoing effort to align all of Gallup’s public work with its mission,” a spokesperson for Gallup said. “We look forward to continuing to offer independent research that adheres to the highest standards of social science.” When asked by The Hill if Gallup had received any feedback from the White House or anyone in the current administration before making the decision, the spokesperson said, “this is a strategic shift solely based on Gallup’s research goals and priorities.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Pam Bondi clashes with House Democrats over Epstein files at DOJ oversight hearing (NPR)

Attorney General Pam Bondi sparred with Democrats about her tenure at the Department of Justice, in a combative, hours-long hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. 

While Republicans on the panel largely defended Bondi and avoided tough lines of questioning, Democrats zeroed in on the agency's targeting of President Trump's political foes and its oversight surrounding files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In a blistering opening statement, ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., criticized the DOJ's handling of the Epstein files and the agency's treatment of survivors, highlighting that several were present in the hearing room. Raskin and Democrats on the panel have called for increased transparency, highlighting examples where they say redacted information in the documents benefits powerful individuals who may be implicated in Epstein's crimes, instead of omitting information that protects survivors… 🟪 (READ MORE)