BG Reads // July 18, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
July 18, 2025

Presented By

www.binghamgp.com

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Study finds Austin police response times continue to lag (KUT)

🟪 Austin named a top 'city on the rise' on new booming job markets list (CultureMap Austin)

🟪 Waymo expands coverage in Austin, Texas, as robotaxi competition heats up (Reuters)

🟪 How ‘Weird Austin’ went from pot-smoking slackers to right-leaning provocateurs (Austin Monthly)

🟪 Sellers coming to terms with reality — the pandemic-era heyday is gone (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 A guide to Texas’ special legislative session (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Why a walkout on GOP redistricting could be very risky for Texas Democrats (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Air traffic controllers say a push to modernize equipment won't fix deeper problems (NPR)

🟪 House passes Trump's request to rescind foreign aid, public media funding after Epstein fallout delays vote (CBS News)

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Study finds Austin police response times continue to lag (KUT)

Austin police officers took on average just over 45 minutes to respond to 911 calls last year, a new study found.

The analysis from national crime data expert Jeff Asher found the department's average response times consistently increased over five years, going from 29 minutes in 2019 to nearly 47 minutes last year.

Austin's worsening response times isn't out of the norm from a national perspective though, Asher said. Departments across the country saw increases in that same timeframe.

The biggest obstacle? Staffing, Asher said.

"It's ... definitely a challenge," he said. "It's not a unique challenge to Austin, but it's certainly one that I think is quite a hurdle to be overcome."

For years, APD has consistently missed its goal of having an average response time of 10 minutes and 44 seconds for high-priority calls.

Part of that is due to the department's staffing shortage. APD is currently 230 officers short of a full patrol staff, and that gap dogged the department during the five-year timeframe in Asher's analysis.

There's also the issue of staffing the department's 911 call center over that five-year window, though the department has made strides in recent months. In 2023, 40% of call-taker positions were vacant at APD, but as of June, the department had just 10 vacancies in those positions.

In a statement, a spokesperson said the department had made progress on its high-priority calls, noting that the officers responded to those calls in 12 minutes and 45 seconds on average in 2024… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin named a top 'city on the rise' on new booming job markets list (CultureMap Austin)

When it comes to jobs and workforce talent, Austin is a city on the rise, according to a new ranking from professional networking and career development platform LinkedIn. The Austin metro area ranks 18th on LinkedIn’s first-ever Cities on the Rise list.

San Antonio was the only other Texas city to make the list, coming in a few places behind Austin, at No. 23.

“We analyzed LinkedIn’s exclusive labor market data to identify 25 emerging metro areas where hiring is accelerating, job postings are surging, and talent migration is reshaping local economies,” the platform says.

The list features midsize metros with fewer than 2.5 million LinkedIn members. The full report includes insights on the average income and home listing prices in the metro, as well as top destinations for residents (compiled using Lyft data), "providing a window into the places shaping each city’s culture."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Waymo expands coverage in Austin, Texas, as robotaxi competition heats up (Reuters)

Alphabet's Waymo is expanding its service in Austin, Texas, to 90 square miles from 37 square miles earlier, the software giant's self-driving unit said on Thursday, seeking to protect its top position in the city from rivals such as Tesla. Waymo, which has over 100 vehicles on the Uber (UBER.N), opens new tab platform in Austin, will now cover new neighborhoods such as Crestview, Windsor Park, Sunset Valley and Franklin Park, the company said.

After cautiously expanding its self-driving taxi services across the U.S. for years, Waymo is now largely seen as the frontrunner in the space. It has about 1,500 vehicles across San Francisco and other Bay Area cities, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Atlanta and others.

Rival Tesla is looking to catch up, having conducted a small trial last month of about a dozen of its Model Y SUVs in a limited area of Austin.

But Tesla still faces a steep challenge to commercialize this technology on a large scale and clear regulatory hurdles.

The automaker also does not use sensors such as radar and lidar like Waymo and most rivals; instead, it depends solely on cameras and artificial intelligence… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Sellers coming to terms with reality — the pandemic-era heyday is gone (Austin Business Journal)

Homebuyers in the Austin area are gaining the advantage as competition heats up among sellers.

The metro's housing inventory continues to hover around the six-month mark and new listings have increased 43.6% year-over-year to 17,662 active home listings, according to Unlock MLS’s latest market report. However, the median sale price of a home in Austin in June was flat at $450,000 compared to the same time last year.

“We’re not 100% in a buyer’s market, but we’re pretty close,” said Brandy Wuensch, 2025 Unlock MLS and Austin Board of Realtors president. “Buyers definitely have more power to negotiate and get a lot more favorable terms from sellers in terms of closing costs.”

Sellers are having to become more competitive in terms of closing costs, increasing incentives and ensuring homes are turnkey ready with more options for buyers to chose from, Wuensch said. She added that sellers are grasping that the current market isn’t like the market of 2021, when you could put a for-sale sign in a yard and sell the home immediately… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Riverside's tallest residential tower to rise at future Austin rail stop; Oracle plans HQ expansion (Community Impact)

Plans for the Riverside area's tallest building yet are advancing, while technology company Oracle looks to expand its lakeshore headquarters with new mixed-use development blocks away.

This spring, City Council cleared the way for a new residential high-rise at the intersection of East Riverside Drive and South Lakeshore Boulevard. The site on the edge of Riverside's South Shore district is currently home to a Baby Acapulco restaurant and 7-Eleven convenience store.

Council approved a zoning update in June that will allow the new tower to rise taller than most surrounding property. The planned high-rise will include almost 360 residential units and no commercial space.

Under a resolution from Mayor Kirk Watson, three properties covering less than 1.5 acres were removed from the East Riverside Corridor regulating plan—a local development policy generally capping buildings at 60-90 feet. The land can now be added to the adjacent South Shore planned unit development, or PUD, that's been built out with housing and retail. The move will allow construction up to 180 feet tall… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ How ‘Weird Austin’ went from pot-smoking slackers to right-leaning provocateurs (Austin Monthly)

Ask any Austinite, and they’ll tell you with certitude that the city has transformed at a dizzying pace. But identifying the exact moment we crossed the Rubicon is a murkier endeavor—everyone seems to have a personal answer. Beyond the visible changes of new skyscrapers and urban sprawl, a subtler shift has transpired with the cast of characters that shape the city’s identity. 

It’s fair to wonder: How the hell did we get here?

A thread connecting Willie Nelson to Elon Musk may seem initially preposterous, but perhaps it’s not. The influx of money has made Austin an unmistakably different place, but it has always been a cultural outpost, a haven for nonconformists.

Maybe its identity hasn’t shifted so much as everything else around it. In recent years, fringe thinking has become more mainstream, and Austin’s growth (especially in the tech sector) gave it a louder voice in the national conversation. In retrospect, it seems clear that the city’s ethos stemmed more from being iconoclastic than politically liberal. In other words, the type of strange might change, but Austin remains unequivocally weird… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ Kyle Mayor to step down in November, one year before term ends (Community Impact)

Kyle Mayor Travis Mitchell announced on social media the evening of July 15 that he will resign from office in November, one year before the end of his final term.

The overview

Mitchell said his decision followed “deep reflection” and was driven by three main factors:

  • Confidence in the city’s current position

  • A desire to return to the private sector

  • A belief in the importance of making room for new leadership

Mitchell said serving as mayor has been a meaningful experience, but it requires him to set aside personal goals and career opportunities.

“This next chapter will allow me to focus on those areas again and apply what I’ve learned in public life to new challenges and ventures,” he said… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ A guide to Texas’ special legislative session (Texas Tribune)

Texas lawmakers will return to the Capitol on July 21 for a second attempt at regulating THC, the psychoactive compound found in the cannabis plants of hemp and marijuana. This comes after Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a planned ban on most hemp products, which contain THC at lower levels than marijuana, as well as more than two dozen other bills that lawmakers had approved.

Abbott has also called on lawmakers to tackle emergency preparedness in the wake of catastrophic flooding in Central Texas, as well as redrawing the state’s congressional districts and passing conservative priorities such as banning abortion pills. Here’s what you need to know… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Why a walkout on GOP redistricting could be very risky for Texas Democrats (Austin American-Statesman)

Facing pressure from national Democrats to fight new GOP redistricting, Texas Democrats have yet to outline a strategy with just days to go before the Legislature gets down to business. 

But state House and Senate leaders said they are keeping all options on the table, including a walkout like the one they staged in 2021 that briefly ground legislative work to a halt. 

"I am ready, willing, and able to get into good trouble by breaking quorum when justice is on the line," state Rep. Ron Reynolds of Houston, vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said in a statement on Thursday.

"I see the writing on the wall. We don't have a lot of options," he added in a separate interview.

Lawmakers are scheduled to return to the Capitol on Monday for a far-reaching 30-day special session that includes redrawing the boundaries some or all of the state's 38 congressional districts… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Mayors petition Abbott to revive DART funding, governance bills in Texas’ special session (Dallas Morning News)

Five North Texas mayors are asking Gov. Greg Abbott to revive two bills aimed at reshaping Dallas Area Rapid Transit during the upcoming special legislative session. The bills — House Bill 3187 and Senate Bill 2118 — would change how DART is funded and governed, respectively. HB 3187 would have required the transit agency to create a permanent general mobility program, funded by 25% of DART’s annual sales tax revenue, while SB 2118 would change the makeup of DART’s governing board.

The bills failed to reach the floor for a vote in either chamber before the session ended. In a June 25 letter to the governor’s office, the mayors of Carrollton, Highland Park, Irving, Farmers Branch and Plano said the legislation should be revived as DART’s performance “continues to fall short.”

“Many routes run with low ridership, transit stations are underutilized, and service remains in limited demand. These outcomes have raised serious concerns about accountability and responsible use of taxpayer funds,” the letter reads. DART is facing the biggest cuts in its 40-year history thanks to a voluntary 5% general mobility program that will refund seven cities a collective $42 million. That program is an attempt to negotiate with cities who’ve pushed for state-mandated reform at the agency. But officials say the voluntary changes at DART aren’t a long-term solution.

“The current model is not sustainable. It’s not going to meet the needs of the future,” Carrollton Mayor Steve Babick said. Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the plea. In a public hearing last week, hundreds of riders decried the $60 million in proposed cuts to the agency’s buses, trains and on-demand services. DART argues the voluntary 5% program would necessitate steep reductions in existing service. DART has said a 25% reduction in available sales tax revenues would amount to a loss of more than $230 million in 2026. That would steepen cuts which riders say will limit their ability to get to work, school and obtain medical treatments… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ House passes Trump's request to rescind foreign aid, public media funding after Epstein fallout delays vote (CBS News)

House Republicans approved a package after midnight Friday to claw back $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funding, sending it to President Trump's desk.

Congress beat a Friday end-of-day deadline to pass the bill, which is known as a rescissions request, after which the money would have had to be spent as originally intended. 

Efforts to release files related to child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein stalled movement on the bill for hours.

The House combined the vote on final passage with a procedural vote, allowing members to pass the package quickly. It passed in a mostly party-line vote, with 216 voting in favor and 213 against. Two Republicans opposed it: Reps. Mike Turner of Ohio and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.

The bill targets roughly $8 billion for foreign assistance programs, including the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID. The package also includes about $1 billion in funding cuts for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports public radio and television stations, including NPR and PBS… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ In American life, a growing and forbidding visual rises: The law-enforcement officer in a mask (Associated Press)

In a matter of months, it has become a regular sight around the country — immigration enforcement agents detaining people and taking them into custody, often as public anger and outcry unfold around them. But in the process, something has disappeared: the agents’ faces, covered by caps, sunglasses, pulled-up neck gaiters or balaclavas, effectively rendering them unidentifiable.

With the year only half over, the covered face — as deployed by law enforcement in a wave of immigration crackdowns directed by President Donald Trump’s White House — has become one of the most potent and contentious visuals of 2025.

The increase in high-profile immigration enforcement was already contentious between those opposed to the actions of Trump’s administration and those in support of them. The sight of masked agents carrying it out is creating a whole new level of conflict, in a way that has no real comparison in the U.S. history of policing.

Trump administration officials have consistently defended the practice, saying that immigration agents have faced strident and increasing harassment in public and online as they have gone about their enforcement in service of Trump’s drive toward mass deportation, and hiding their identities is for their and their families’ safety to avoid things like death threats and doxing, where someone’s personal information is released without their permission on the internet… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Air traffic controllers say a push to modernize equipment won't fix deeper problems (NPR)

When a midair collision and a series of radar outages captured attention in the United States this year, some air traffic controllers thought it might finally lead to solutions for a nationwide staffing shortage and other longstanding problems at the country's air traffic facilities.

"Everybody's talking about us," said one controller who works at a facility in the Midwest that handles high-altitude traffic. "You have that one moment of like, 'oh, some hope. Hey, they see us out here.'"

But that controller watched with growing dismay as the response from federal officials and union leaders coalesced around an effort to upgrade equipment and ramp up hiring. The plan failed to address some other long-held concerns of many air traffic controllers, such as grueling schedules, stagnating pay and an onerous process for taking paid time off, the controller said… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Britain will lower its voting age to 16 in a bid to strengthen democracy (Associated Press)

Britain will lower the voting age from 18 to 16 by the next national election as part of measures to increase democratic participation, the government announced Thursday.

The center-left Labour Party pledged before it was elected in July 2024 to lower the voting age for elections to Britain’s Parliament. Scotland and Wales already let 16- and 17-year-olds vote in local and regional elections.

Britain will join the short list of countries where the voting age is 16, alongside the likes of Austria, Brazil and Ecuador. A handful of European Union countries, including Belgium, Germany and Malta, allow 16-year-olds to vote in elections to the European Parliament.

The move comes alongside wider reforms that include tightening campaign financing rules to stop shell companies with murky ownership from donating to political parties. Democracy Minister Rushanara Ali said the change would strengthen safeguards against foreign interference in British politics… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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