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✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Austin to withdraw from longtime Chinese sister city partnership under new state law (Community Impact)

🟪 SXSW unveils plans for the 2026 festival (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Developer behind Hays Commons project urges swift action by city of Austin (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Abbott vetoes summer food aid program, forgoing $450M in federal funds (Houston Chronicle)

🟪 Progressive Rep. Greg Casar has a playbook he wants Democrats to use in 2026 (Texas Tribune)

🟪 What the Texas food label law means for the rest of America (Washington Post)

🟪 Zohran Mamdani set to defeat Cuomo in stunning NYC mayoral primary upset (NPR)

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ City of Austin Org Chart (as of June 2025)

💰 2026 City of Austin Bond - Public Input

🏛️ City of Austin Seeks Proposals for Colony Park Displacement Mitigation Strategy RFP

ℹ️ 2025 Essential Resources for Navigating the City of Austin

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Austin to withdraw from longtime Chinese sister city partnership under new state law (Community Impact)

Austin will be forced to exit its nearly three-decade-long cultural and economic partnership with a southern Chinese prefecture under a new state law passed this spring.

Austin keeps up several international relationships through its Sister and Friendship Cities Program, meant to support the city's presence on the global stage. Today, Austin's Sister Cities span North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.

Under the Sister Cities program, local and foreign representatives participate in exchanges centered around economic development. Each Sister City relationship is supported by a committee of mainly local residents who coordinate exchanges, keep up communications and report on civic activities.

The program is managed by Austin's Economic Development Department and nonprofit Austin Sister Cities International. Austin entered into its first partnership with Saltillo, Mexico, in 1968 and finalized its most recent addition in December when Mayor Kirk Watson signed an agreement with Limerick, Ireland… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Developer behind Hays Commons project urges swift action by city of Austin (Austin Business Journal)

The company behind the controversial Hays Commons project is attempting to pressure the city of Austin to engage with it after modifying a request to move the 498-acre mixed-use development into the city limits.

That's according to a May 21 letter from Austin-based MileStone Community Builders LLC representatives to Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax that notes the company is no longer seeking a variance request, which — in its view — should quell the concerns of city officials and environmental groups regarding the project that straddles the Travis and Hays county line southwest of Austin.

"We really need the city of Austin to engage," MileStone CEO Garrett Martin told the Austin Business Journal. "They have the opportunity right now to do the project as they wanted to. But they have to start taking action to move it through the process, and frankly we're still struggling with that."

The proposal calls for the site to have 557 single-family homes, 75,000-square-feet of commercial space, 215 acres of conservation space and 315 acres of parks and open space… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ SXSW unveils plans for the 2026 festival (Austin Business Journal)

Some of the changes to next year's South by Southwest festival are coming to light as planners determine how to host one of Austin's most prominent events without the Austin Convention Center.

SXSW will run from March 12 to 18 next year, shorter than this year's nine-day run, festival organizers announced June 24. Organizers also plan to create themed, badge-specific neighborhoods throughout the city that will highlight specific creative industries.

“With the Austin Convention Center under construction, we’ve embraced the chance to reimagine the event and explore new, exciting possibilities,” said Jenny Connelly, the director in charge of SXSW, in a statement. “Our creative community is eager for impactful, immersive experiences, and we’re thrilled to bring them to life across Austin this March.”

Connelly took over the lead for SXSW after Hugh Forrest was fired in April. 

The Austin Convention Center closed in April as part of a four-year effort to tear down the current center and build a larger one in time for SXSW’s 2029 festival… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin homeowners face risk, with 48% of post-July 2022 purchases potentially selling at a loss (KVUE)

A new report shows nearly half of for-sale homes in Austin bought after July 2022 (48%) are at risk of selling at a loss – the highest share among major U.S. metros and nearly three times the national average of 16%.

The data from real estate company Redfin also shows that 32% of homes in Austin purchased during the pandemic (July 2020-July 2022) are at risk of selling at a loss – the second highest share among major metros and more than triple the national average of 9%.

Overall, for all homes on the market, 13% of for-sale single-family homes in Austin are at risk of selling at a loss – also the highest share among major metros, followed by San Antonio at 10%.

Meanwhile, for homes bought before the pandemic, just under 1% in Austin are at risk, compared to 2% nationally.

During the pandemic, home prices surged in Austin amid record low rates, intense competition and more remote work opportunities. But since then, elevated mortgage rates and cooling demand has softened prices in Sun Belt markets, meaning recent buyers looking to sell in today’s market could be left in the red.

“It’s important to note that Redfin’s analysis identifies the share of sellers at risk of selling at a loss if they go through with a sale in today’s market,” a spokesperson for Redfin said. “It does not predict the share of sellers who will actually sell their home at a loss.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Progressive Rep. Greg Casar has a playbook he wants Democrats to use in 2026 (Texas Tribune)

As he traveled across deep-red Texas last weekend, U.S. Rep. Greg Casar centered his rallies on a simple theme he believes Democrats can use to win back working-class voters: money.

Casar — a prominent voice shaping the future of the Democratic Party as chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus — has joined U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders at several Texas stops on the Vermont independent’s anti-billionaire “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. On the stump, Casar has shunned social issues and focused on progressive economic goals like raising the minimum wage and hiking taxes on the wealthiest Americans — all part of the populist playbook the Austin Democrat wants his party to use to pull disaffected voters back into the Democratic fold.

“That’s a message that resonates with all different kinds of voters, from Democrats to independents and even former Trump voters who are looking for a political home right now,” Casar said in an interview with The Texas Tribune.

Casar, along with Sanders and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, has rallied crowds of thousands in pockets of Texas that saw marked rightward swings in the 2024 election. That included a Friday stop along the border in McAllen, the biggest city in heavily Latino Hidalgo County, where Trump surpassed his 2020 election performance by 20 points last year… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Abbott vetoes summer food aid program, forgoing $450M in federal funds (Houston Chronicle)

Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a budget line item late Sunday that would have brought in an estimated $450 million in federal dollars to fund a summer food aid program for low-income children. In a veto statement, the third-term Republican said there’s too much uncertainty at the federal level as Congress looks to slash spending. Summer EBT, a Biden-era U.S. Department of Agriculture program, provides families with $120 per child over the three summer months to help cover the time when students aren’t getting free meals at school. It was created by Congress in 2022, and Texas is one of a dozen states that don’t participate.

The program is fully federally funded, but states have to put up half the administration costs. For Texas, it would have been about $60 million over the next two fiscal years. The Republican-led Legislature agreed to spend the money in the next state budget, which takes effect in September and was passed with near-unanimous support.

Celia Cole, the CEO of Feeding Texas, a network of 21 food banks that serves all 254 Texas counties, said in a statement Monday that the organization is “deeply disappointed” by Abbott’s veto.

Roughly 3.8 million children in Texas would qualify for the extra meals. “This decision comes at a time when nearly 1 in 4 children in Texas already face food insecurity,” Cole said. “Families across our state are struggling to put food on the table, and Summer EBT is a proven tool to help bridge that gap.” The House Democratic Caucus in a statement said members were similarly disappointed. Abbott attributed the decision to uncertainty about federal matching rates, alluding to the Trump-backed budget reconciliation bill under consideration by Congress that would dramatically slash funding for similar food assistance programs… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Robert Nichols, the most senior Texas Senate Republican, won’t run for reelection (Texas Tribune)

Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, announced Tuesday he would not seek reelection to his East Texas seat — news that was followed minutes later by Rep. Trent Ashby, R-Lufkin, launching his campaign to succeed him in the upper chamber.

“It had always been my goal to make things better, to stop bad things, to do it in a way I thought was right, never forgetting who I represented and to work at it long enough, but not too long,” said Nichols, who intends to serve out his term through Jan. 12, 2027, in a statement. “It has been one of the greatest honors of my life to have represented the people of East Texas in the Texas Senate.”

Nichols, the most senior Republican in the Senate, bucked his party on several key issues over his six terms, establishing himself in recent years as a rare Republican willing to occasionally break with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who tightly controls the Senate… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ What the Texas food label law means for the rest of America (Washington Post)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed sweeping legislation Sunday to slap warning labels on potentially tens of thousands of food and beverage packages — a move that could have ripple effects across the country. The first-of-its-kind legislation requires labels on foods containing 44 dyes or additives commonly found in the country’s food supply, such as in baked goods, candy and drinks.

The new mandate will set off a scramble within the food industry, which must decide whether to reformulate its products to avoid warning labels, add the newly mandated language, stop selling certain products in Texas or file lawsuits against the measure. “When a state as big as Texas requires a warning, that will have an impact on the entire marketplace. No question,” said Scott Faber, a senior vice president at the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit advocating stronger food safety policies. The move comes as Republican-leaning states have been racing to embrace Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda aimed at addressing chronic disease and childhood illness.

But the effort from Texas — a deep-red state — is particularly striking, food safety experts said. Policies cracking down on the nation’s food supply have often come from big blue states, such as California, and have led food companies to rapidly alter their products. The food industry was once accustomed to viewing the Republican Party as an ally, as GOP lawmakers and the first Trump administration decried measures such as stricter school lunch standards as overregulation by the nanny state.

But across statehouses this year, red states such as Texas and West Virginia have taken up the charge. “I think that is almost entirely a function of the MAHA movement,” said Stuart Pape, a lawyer representing food companies who worked at the Food and Drug Administration in the 1970s. The bill passed the Texas legislature this year with bipartisan support. Abbott signed the legislation despite strong pushback from the food industry, which argued the warning labels would create a patchwork system that would put Texas-based companies at a disadvantage.

The legislation also includes other MAHA priorities such as establishing a nutrition advisory committee for the state, updating nutrition training requirements for Texas medical schools and requiring certain physical activity during the school day… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Zohran Mamdani set to defeat Cuomo in stunning NYC mayoral primary upset (NPR)

Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist who ran a grassroots campaign that inspired younger voters through a relentless focus on making New York City more affordable, was set to win the Democratic primary for mayor Tuesday, toppling former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other candidates in a political earthquake that will reverberate throughout the country.

With 93% of scanners reporting, Mamdani, a state assemblymember from Queens, garnered 44% of ballots to Cuomo’s 36% in the first round of counting in the ranked-choice vote, all but guaranteeing a major upset of the Democratic Party establishment in the nation’s most populous city.

Without a majority of votes, the contest will technically be decided by the ranked-choice tally on July 1. But Cuomo, apparently anticipating the outcome, conceded the primary race, telling his supporters at a somber rally that he’d called Mamdani to congratulate him on his victory.

Mamdani declared victory just after midnight, taking to the stage at his Long Island City watch party as a raucous crowd of supporters chanted his name… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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