BG Reads // June 12, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
June 12, 2025

Presented By

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Recruitment of Austin Energy's next GM advances with $110K search firm contract (Community Impact)

🟪 Austin's airport reports decline in passenger numbers for 2025 (KVUE)

🟪 Jobs and redevelopment take center stage in annual economic development report (Austin Monitor)

🟪 Texas National Guard ready to respond to protests in Austin this weekend (KUT)

🟪 Proposed tax-credit expansions, HUD cuts could spell big changes for affordable-housing industry (Austin Business Journal)

Read on!

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[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ City Memos:

🏛️ City Leadership

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Recruitment of Austin Energy's next GM advances with $110K search firm contract (Community Impact)

The recruitment process for the next general manager of Austin Energy is getting underway ahead of the formal retirement of current GM Bob Kahn later this month.

Kahn, a longtime power industry member and previous AE executive, notified city officials of his intent to step down as head of the city-owned utility in late March. His retirement will be effective June 30, just over two years after he was appointed to the role. He was earning a $494,000 salary this fiscal year.

For now, former deputy General Manager Stuart Reilly is serving as interim GM overseeing AE's nearly 2,000 employees, $1.78 billion budget and service to more than 550,000 customers.

The selection of the utility's next head is still months away and will take place through a national search set to ramp up this year. On June 5, City Council voted to move forward with a $110,000 recruitment contract with utility industry search firm Mycoff Fry Partners LLC… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Jobs and redevelopment take center stage in annual economic development report (Austin Monitor)

The Economic Development Department says it supported more than 27,000 jobs and distributed over $54 million in community investments during fiscal year 2024, according to its recently released annual report. The report outlines the department’s evolving priorities, including the transfer of its cultural programs to a new Office of Arts, Culture, Music, and Entertainment and a sharpened focus on workforce development, business support and place-based redevelopment.

City manager T.C. Broadnax described the department’s 2024 efforts as a foundation for “inclusive economic growth.” Interim EDD director Anthony Segura called the year transformative, citing the launch of the Austin Infrastructure Academy as a model for local economic mobility.

The academy received $5 million in city funding and launched in partnership with Austin Community College, Travis County, and Workforce Solutions Capital Area. It is designed to prepare Austinites for jobs tied to large public infrastructure projects, including Project Connect and the airport terminal expansion. According to the report, 286 residents received job training and 153 secured self-sustaining wages upon completion… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas National Guard ready to respond to protests in Austin this weekend (KUT)

The city of Austin has been notified that the Texas National Guard will be "prepared to assist" with protests against the Trump administration this weekend, Mayor Kirk Watson said.

"No Kings" demonstrations are scheduled to take place across the country Saturday to coincide with the president's birthday and a military parade in Washington, D.C., to mark the Army's 250th birthday. A protest at the state Capitol is planned for 5 to 8 p.m.

National Guard troops have already been deployed to Los Angeles in response to protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Gov. Greg Abbott has deployed the Texas National Guard to San Antonio in anticipation of protests Wednesday night.

In a post on X, Abbott said the "Texas National Guard will be deployed to locations across the state to ensure peace and order ... The Texas National Guard will use every tool and strategy to help law enforcement maintain order."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ ‘No Kings’ protest organizer calls Texas National Guard deployment an overreaction by Governor (KXAN)

A protest planned to occur at the Texas Capitol Saturday comes after Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s deployment of the state’s National Guard to Austin and other Texas cities following a Monday night protest in the state’s capital city.

Andrew Mahaleris, press secretary for the Governor’s office, said in a statement that “peaceful protests are part of the fabric of our nation,” but that Texas cities need soldiers to “uphold law and order.”

“Soldiers are on standby in areas where mass demonstrations are planned in case they are needed,” reads part of Mahaleris’s statement. “Texas will not tolerate the lawlessness we have seen in Los Angeles. Anyone engaging in acts of violence or damaging property will be swiftly held accountable to the full extent of the law.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin's airport reports decline in passenger numbers for 2025 (KVUE)

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport reported a notable dip in passenger traffic for April 2025, even as some individual airlines and cargo carriers reported growth.

Total passenger traffic was down 6.43% compared to the same period last year, while plane boardings were down 6.51%, according to city of Austin data.

Southwest Airlines had an 8.6% drop in passengers, while American Airlines saw a steep 19.3% decline. Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines had passenger traffic increase by 9% and Frontier Airlines jumped a whopping 212.9%.

Some international carriers also saw gains in April, including British Airways, with passengers up 28.9%, and Aeromexico, up by 57.2%.

The data is similar from a year-to-date standpoint: The airport had more than 6.3 million passengers between January and April 2025, a decrease of 5.36% compared with last year. But over that four-month period, Frontier Airlines again saw a surge, with a 315.2% increase in passengers.

Cargo operations were also down for April, at 23.9 million pounds, a drop of 9.64% from April of last year. Federal Express saw a sharp 41.6% decrease. But both Air Transport International and USPS saw increases, at 13.4% and 19.4% respectively… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ New Dallas police chief again blocked from answering questions about immigration policy (WFAA)

For the second time since taking office six weeks ago, a staff member prevented new Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux from responding to questions about his department's immigration policy.

A representative of the City Attorney's office interrupted questions from the City's Community Police Oversight Board on Tuesday, saying the board did not properly notify the public that it intended to ask Comeaux any questions beyond introductory remarks.

Asking the chief questions beyond his resume and background could violate open meetings rules, attorney Daniel Moore argued.

Comeaux sat silently through the ensuing discussion between board members and Moore. 

"He might as well have not even shown up," said board member Jonathan Maples of the chief. "This is very, very disappointing, and to be honest with you. I’m pissed off."

Multiple board members said they felt "set up," because the board held a special-called meeting on Friday for the purpose of sending the chief a letter asking for more clarity on his immigration policy, with the intention of hearing his response on Tuesday.

"This was a setup so we could not do what we’ve been talking about for weeks," said board member Chauncy Lander. "I’m very disappointed with the actions of the city attorney."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Mayor-elect Gina Ortiz Jones taps campaign manager as chief of staff (San Antonio Express-News)

Mayor-elect Gina Ortiz Jones has tapped a fellow City Hall outsider — her campaign manager, Jordan Abelson — to serve as her chief of staff. It’s an unconventional hire for Jones, who will be the first mayor in two decades who has ascended to the city’s top seat without first serving on City Council. Previous mayors usually picked chiefs who had some experience navigating City Hall and its personalities, and were familiar with the city’s business and civic leaders.

A chief of staff is a new mayor’s most important hire because that person usually takes a strong hand in hiring staffers and helps set the tone for the incoming administration. The chief also works closely with City Council members and top city staff to achieve the mayor’s policy goals. Abelson, 27, confirmed her hiring via text message. She moved to San Antonio earlier this year to work on Jones’ mayoral campaign, which ended Saturday with the one-time Air Force undersecretary winning 54% of the vote over former Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos.

Jones will take office June 18. Abelson previously worked as communications director for Democratic Montana congressional candidate Monica Tranel, according to her LinkedIn profile. Tranel lost the race for that state’s 1st Congressional District in November 2024. Before that, Abelson was communication director for the successful November 2023 reelection campaigns for two Democratic county commissioners in her native Bucks County, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Proposed tax-credit expansions, HUD cuts could spell big changes for affordable-housing industry (Austin Business Journal)

Proposed changes to one of the biggest federal programs used in affordable-housing development have some in the industry hopeful — but sweeping cuts proposed for a major federal agency have those same industry groups alarmed.

The current federal budget bill includes several proposed changes to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), including restoring the 12.5% increase for 9% LIHTC allocations that expired in 2021 for allocations between 2026 and 2029, lowering the 50% Private Activity Bond (PAB) financing threshold test to 25%, and providing a 30% basis boost to affordable housing in rural and Native American communities.

Since its inception in the 1980s, the LIHTC has been a key funding source to build and preserve affordable housing in the United States. Credits are awarded to developers in exchange for a certain share of their units in a given development having rents affordable, for a set period of time, to lower-income households… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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