BG Reads // May 19, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
May 19, 2025

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✅ Today's BG Reads include:

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

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[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Q&A: Austin police Chief Lisa Davis on first 100 days, public safety, staffing plans (Community Impact)

Police Chief Lisa Davis has completed an action plan for the Austin Police Department's staffing, public safety and innovation efforts informed by her first months on the job. Davis was tapped to serve as APD chief last summer following a national search and officially started on the job in September.

Late last year, Davis announced a 100-day action plan centered on APD's strategic goals. After completing that process including surveys with residents, police officers and their families, Davis spoke with Community Impact about her approach and next steps. The results of Davis' 100-day initiative can be viewed here.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Two Years after the Austin Police Oversight Act passed, Community Police Review Commission finally meets (Austin Monitor)

The first meeting of Austin’s long-awaited Community Police Review Commission (CPRC) was marked by urgency and undergirded by a strong sense of duty to a community that has been expecting this meeting for years. The formation of a civilian body to oversee and hold the Austin Police Department accountable should have happened in 2023, after voters approved the Austin Police Oversight Act that mandated it. Because of the measure’s robust accountability mechanisms, the Texas Legislature has made many attempts to preempt its implementation. 

But just as many attempts have been made to speed things up: In September 2023, City Council passed a resolution urging the city to fully implement the ordinance, and justice advocates Equity Action filed a lawsuit in October 2024 toward the same goal. Finally, two years later, the OPO’s 2023 annual report was just released this April, and last Friday, May 16, the CPRC had its first meeting. 

Commissioners seemed painfully aware of the delay, eager to begin work before the board had even been established. The purpose of the commission is to oversee APD’s investigations into critical incidents and officer misconduct and put a civilian check on the Office of Police Oversight, which is a city department that oversees internal investigations. The commission has access to body-worn camera footage, incident reports and 911 calls relating to all critical incidents, and can recommend disciplinary measures to the chief of police (though those recommendations don’t have to be followed.)… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ City opens $5 million grant round for anti-displacement work (Austin Monitor)

At its meeting last week, the Community Development Commission learned about a newly-launched $5 million grant opportunity aimed at combating displacement and promoting economic mobility near Austin’s Project Connect transit corridors.

Housing Department staff explained that the current $5 million solicitation is the final portion of a $15.9 million allocation for fiscal years three through five of the Community Initiated Solutions (CIS) program. Of that total, $10.9 million has already been awarded to eight community organizations that had received funding in earlier rounds and applied to continue their programs. The remaining funds are now open to competitive proposals from nonprofit organizations operating within one mile of Project Connect lines.

Questions during the meeting focused on how the funding amount was determined and how it fits into the broader $300 million anti-displacement strategy tied to the transit expansion. Commissioners also had questions about eligibility, whether previously funded organizations could reapply and how new groups would be supported. Staff confirmed both new and existing 501(c)(3) organizations are encouraged to apply. Mission Capital, a nonprofit partner for the program, is providing free technical assistance to help applicants align their proposals with program goals and develop work plans and deliverables.

Three technical assistance sessions remain available for interested applicants, with information and reservations available online… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Thorny dispute over former Statesman site redevelopment goes to court (Austin American-Statesman)

A judge on Thursday heard nearly three hours of arguments in an ongoing case that could impact the future — or at least the timing — of a planned redevelopment at a prime site formerly home to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper offices and printing plant along Lady Bird Lake.

At issue is a lawsuit over the process of how, back in late 2022, the Austin City Council approved a special zoning ordinance called a planned unit development, or PUD, for the Statesman's former waterfront property just south of downtown.

The Statesman moved several years ago to a new location near the airport. Opponents contend the PUD zoning was granted in violation of two mandates of the Texas Open Meetings Act: proper public notice, and a reasonable opportunity for the public to speak before the vote was cast.

Both provisions are central to the Texas Open Meetings Act, which serves as the foundation of a lawsuit filed against the City of Austin by the Save Our Springs Alliance, an environmental watchdog group. Attorneys Bobby Levinski and Bill Bunch represented the Save Our Springs Alliance in Thursday's hearing before District Judge Jan Soifer.

The lawsuit seeks to void the council's Dec. 2, 2022 vote to approve the PUD. Attorneys Casey Dobson and Sara Wilder Clark represented the landowner, the Cox family of Atlanta, as well as Austin-based Endeavor Real Estate Group, which the Cox family hired to assist with the site's redevelopment. A high-profile mixed-use project is planned for the site, with multiple high rises and more than 3.5 million square feet of new buildings. Cox sold the Statesman but retained ownership of its 18.9-acre site, a property many developers had long coveted and said was ripe for new development… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS NEWS]

✅ Could a $6 billion plan solve some of Texas' water supply problems? (San Antonio Express-News)

As fast-growing cities, utilities and businesses clamor for more water in drought-stricken Central Texas, an ambitious $6 billion plan is emerging to meet some of their demand. The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority wants to build a new reservoir to hold water from the river, and construct more than 250 miles of pipeline to move that water throughout the river basin, which runs from Kerr County to the Gulf Coast. Dubbed the “WaterSecure Project,” officials say the plan would primarily rely on existing water rights that the authority already has for surface water from Guadalupe River, but it could potentially incorporate aquifer storage and brackish water desalination.

If it becomes a reality, the first water from the project would be delivered in 2033, with more available by the 2040s as the project is expanded, the river authority said. It expects utilities throughout the region to participate, purchasing water and paying back bonds issued for the project. The project could involve a new reservoir in Calhoun County, a new treatment plant, new desalination plant and underground storage wells in Gonzales County, and pipelines running all the way from the new reservoir to Kendall, Comal and Hays counties, according to regional water planning documents.

It would be the latest large infrastructure project aiming to move water around the region, and likely the most expensive to date, with an estimated price tag more than double the cost of San Antonio’s Vista Ridge pipeline. In recent years, the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and other utilities have also spent hundreds of millions of dollars building their own pipelines to bring in groundwater from the Carrizo Aquifer east of Interstate 35 to shore up their supplies, but the WaterSecure project would be the first large-scale system aimed at transporting surface water throughout Central Texas… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Without public input, Texas House committee advances bill to end State Fair’s gun ban (Dallas Morning News)

A proposal that takes aim at the State Fair of Texas’ gun ban advanced out of a House committee Friday without a public hearing that typically precedes such votes. Only elected, appointed or employed peace officers are permitted to bring firearms to the State Fair following a 2023 shooting that injured three fairgoers. The Senate passed the bill in April. It would prevent contractors from banning guns in government-owned public spaces.

The State Fair contracts with Dallas annually to use Fair Park. Residents or licensed gun owners could file complaints with the attorney general if they suspect a contractor is violating the law, according to the proposal. Violators would face a potential civil penalty of $1,000 to $1,500 for the first violation and up to $10,500 for subsequent violations.

The Texas Supreme Court last year denied Attorney General Ken Paxton’s effort to stop the ban. Paxton petitioned the court to block the ban after unfavorable rulings from a Democratic Dallas County district judge and an appeals court with three GOP justices. The House received the bill from the Senate on May 1 and referred it to the State Affairs Committee. Traditionally, legislation is laid out at a public hearing, where lawmakers discuss the proposal and Texas citizens can weigh in. But the panel skipped that crucial part of the process and voted 9-5 to advance it.

The rushed meeting came as the House faces a May 27 deadline to vote on Senate bills. While technically open to the public, the vote — which was not streamed online — occurred behind closed doors in a noon meeting that was noticed at 11 a.m. without a detailed agenda. Democratic Reps.

Chris Turner of Grand Prairie and Richard Peña Raymond of Laredo proposed two amendments that were voted down. Turner’s amendment would have excluded properties where alcohol is served from allowing guns. Raymond’s amendment would have excluded any event held at a professional sports venue or practice facility… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Effort to defund DART stalls in House, but chances remain in Senate (KERA News)

A controversial bill that would cut funding for Dallas Area Rapid Transit has a slim chance of becoming law after it missed an important deadline this week.

House Bill 3187 – what the agency called a “DART killer” bill – failed to get a second hearing before last week’s deadline.

Advocates with the Dallas Area Transit Alliance (DATA) celebrated the bill’s likely demise.

“We've been fighting very hard against HB 3187, and from what we can tell, it's pretty much dead,” said DATA member David Yaqubian. “The state has other priorities. It's not a good hill for them to die on.”

The legislation, authored by Rep. Matt Shaheen (R-Plano), proposes to cut DART’s funding by at least 25%, although some agency leaders say the cuts would be much deeper. Yaqubian said his group has been in contact with House staff about where the bill stands… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[US and World News]

✅ Biden has been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer (Associated Press)

Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, his office said Sunday.

The finding came after the 82-year-old reported urinary symptoms, which led doctors to discover a nodule on his prostate. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer on Friday, with the cancer cells having spread to the bone.

“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” his office said. “The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”

Prostate cancers are graded for aggressiveness using what’s known as a Gleason score. The scores range from 6 to 10, with 8, 9 and 10 prostate cancers behaving more aggressively. Biden’s office said his score was 9, suggesting his cancer is among the most aggressive… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Verizon ends DEI policies to get FCC's blessing for its $20 billion Frontier deal (NPR)

Verizon has become the latest big company to end policies around diversity, equity and inclusion, or "DEI," in order to keep the U.S. government happy.

It seems to have worked: on Friday, the Federal Communications Commission approved Verizon's $20 billion deal to buy broadband provider Frontier Communications. The FCC said that the deal will allow Verizon to upgrade the technology providing internet access to 25 states, including rural communities, and to deploy fiber-optic access to at least 1 million homes per year.

The FCC also touted the changes this deal will make to Verizon's internal policies. In its announcement approving the deal, the FCC specifically cited Verizon's commitment "to ending DEI-related practices."

The approval came a day after Verizon sent a letter to the FCC, outlining how it is ending many efforts related to diversity, equity and inclusion. The telecommunications giant is removing references to DEI from its training materials and external websites; ending bonuses and goals tied to increasing the percentage of workers who are women or minorities; and dissolving its internal human resources department devoted to diversity-related policies, while reassigning those employees to general "HR talent objectives."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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