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October 30, 2025

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Navigating Central Texas Land Use: A New Practice at Bingham Group

🟪 AISD will sell naming rights to stadiums, performing arts center to raise tens of millions of dollars (KUT)

🟪 In final stretch, opponents of Austin’s Prop Q fundraised, spent more than its supporters (KXAN)

🟪 New Texas law could spur more apartment projects in Austin, experts say (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 TPPF sues Dallas over dozens of city rules suspected of violating state law (Dallas Morning News)

🟪 Trump says he is prepared to send ‘more than the National Guard’ into U.S. cities (New York Times)

🟪 Ahead of SNAP funding halt, Trump officials in charge of food stamps leave their posts (New York Times)

🟪 Tens of thousands of white-collar jobs are disappearing as AI starts to bite (Wall Street Journal)

READ ON!

[FIRM NEWS]

Bingham Group is proud to announce the launch of our Land Use & Entitlements Practice, expanding our ability to support clients navigating policy, development and permitting challenges across Central Texas.

The practice is anchored by Senior Consultant Anaiah Johnson, who brings two decades of land development and urban planning experience, including senior leadership at the City of Austin’s Development Services Department and private-sector entitlement management for one of the nation’s largest homebuilders.

For nearly nine years, Bingham Group has represented clients ranging from Central Texas–based firms to national and international companies before municipal governments in the region.

With this new practice, we now provide integrated support across both the political and technical aspects of moving land use policy and development projects forward.

Learn more about Bingham Group’s new practice — and review all of our services here: binghamgp.com/services

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ City Manager Executives and Advisors Staff Visual Chart

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

💰 2026 City of Austin Bond - Public Input

ℹ️ 2025 Essential Resources for Navigating the City of Austin

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ AISD will sell naming rights to stadiums, performing arts center to raise tens of millions of dollars (KUT)

In an effort to address some of its nearly $20 million budget deficit, the Austin Independent School District is selling naming rights to some shared facilities, including stadiums and its performing arts center.

AISD is partnering with the nonprofit Austin Ed Fund to work with businesses and organizations to name six facilities. Those include the AISD Performing Arts Center, House Park Athletics Facility, Nelson Field, Toney Burger Athletic Center, Delco Center and Noack Sports Complex.

Austin Ed Fund officials said the initiative will bring in tens of millions of dollars in the next few years, but the exact amount won’t be known until the naming rights are sold.

“We’re very open to anyone that’s interested in having this conversation and partnering in this way,” Austin Ed Fund Executive Director Michelle Wallis said. "Typically that would be corporations and or foundations, but it could be community organizations, it could be families that are interested in making an intentional investment in our students in this way.’

Wallis said the price tag will be unique to each property and partnership. To start, each contract is expected to last eight to 10 years. Organizations with small budgets that are interested in partnerships can also apply to name individual spaces, including press boxes, theaters or studios… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ In final stretch, opponents of Austin’s Prop Q fundraised, spent more than its supporters (KXAN)

In less than a week, Austinites will decide whether to approve an increase in their property tax bill to fund city services like homelessness response and public health.

If voters approve Proposition Q, the average homeowner’s (roughly $500,000 home) property tax bill will go up by a little more than $300 annually. That does not include the increase Austinites will see in city rates, which will go up regardless.

What is Proposition Q? Austin’s tax rate election explained

The roughly $110 million the proposition passing would generate for the city would go toward services like homelessness services, parks, public safety programs and public health.

After Austin City Council voted to put Proposition Q on the ballot, political action committees (PACs) starting organizing for and against the measure… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ City of Austin memo lays out street art that may have to be removed under Abbott order (CBS Austin)

The City of Austin has identified 16 crosswalks and street murals throughout the city that may need to be removed under Gov. Abbott's order on pavement markings.

Earlier this month, the governor directed TxDOT to "strictly enforce roadway safety guidelines" by ordering the department to ensure cities across the state to "remove political ideologies from our streets," a move in line with the U.S. Department of Transportation's SAFE ROADS Initiative announced in July.

The City of Austin has now listed 16 pieces of street art that may see removal under the directive, and not all of them are Pride crosswalks.

The directive came under fire from those in the LGBTQ community, who said that the move targeted rainbow Pride crosswalks and that members of their community will suffer negative impacts…. 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ TxDOT spends $748M to burrow bus-size tunnels under Central Austin (Community Impact)

The Texas Department of Transportation is set to launch one of Austin’s largest underground construction projects in 2026, digging 6.5 miles of 22-foot-wide tunnels beneath the city’s busiest highway.

As part of the I-35 overhaul in Central Austin, which will lower sections of the highway below ground level, the transportation agency will build underground drainage tunnels to help prevent flooding along the corridor.

Plans show the tunnels—large enough to fit a standard Capital Metro bus—would extend along I-35 from 45th Street down to Cesar Chavez Street, then veer east on Cesar Chavez and end near US 183 by Lady Bird Lake… 🟪 In final stretch, opponents of Austin’s Prop Q fundraised, spent more than its supporters (KXAN)

✅ New Texas law could spur more apartment projects in Austin, experts say (Austin Business Journal)

A new state law that opens more land for residential development should make it easier for multifamily housing to get built in Austin, experts say.

The Texas Legislature approved Senate Bill 840 earlier this year, which allows mixed-use residential housing on any land zoned for office, commercial, retail, warehouse or existing mixed uses without requiring zoning changes from cities.

In Austin, city officials have said SB 840 will increase base zoning entitlements, potentially disrupting the city's existing density bonus programs. That's because developers that participate in the density bonus programs obtain additional entitlements — such as the ability to build denser residential housing — in exchange for inclusion of affordable housing or payment of fees for affordable housing efforts.

“SB 840 will significantly impact the viability of many of the city’s density bonus programs,” Lauren Middleton-Pratt, director of Austin's planning department, wrote in a July Memo. 

The city has been aiming to update its density bonus programs to provide a wider suite of options to developers and community organizations looking to shape what gets built in Austin… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ TPPF sues Dallas over dozens of city rules suspected of violating state law (Dallas Morning News)

An Austin-based conservative think tank nonprofit filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Dallas, seeking to cancel out more than 80 local ordinances it claims conflict with state law. The Texas Public Policy Foundation filed the lawsuit in Denton County Court on behalf of three city residents who argue dozens of Dallas regulations are harming them.

The suit comes after the nonprofit threatened legal action in the summer. The group argues that 83 Dallas ordinances violate the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act, a 2023 state law also known as the “Death Star” law that limits local regulations from going beyond what is allowed by state law. The Texas Regulatory Consistency Act is separate from Dallas’ Proposition S, which voters added to the city’s charter last November. Proposition S allows Dallas residents to sue the city for alleged violations of the city charter, ordinances or state law.

The lawsuit targets a sweeping range of Dallas ordinances, such as rules on local labor protections, recycling mandates, restrictions on gas drilling and production, minimum wage requirements for city contractors, equal employment opportunity clauses in city contracts, antidiscrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity and regulations on the removal of weeds and vegetation on private property. The lawsuit argues they all violate state law and should be struck down.

“Cities don’t get to pick and choose which state laws they follow,” Matthew Chiarizio, a senior attorney for the foundation, said in a statement Wednesday.

“For too long, Dallas has piled unnecessary and duplicative regulations on its citizens. Rick Ericson, a Dallas spokesman, declined to comment on the lawsuit Wednesday. An appeals court overruled a lower court decision in July that held the 2023 “Death Star” law was unconstitutional.

The foundation’s lawsuit follows a July notice to the Dallas City Attorney’s Office that it risked legal action if it did not repeal or amend all of the city ordinances believed to conflict with state law. The foundation filed the notice on behalf of three residents — Haley Kyles, Tamara Brown and Daniel Rodriguez — who claimed the ordinances had harmed them… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Nelson Wolff critical of 'clumsy' Project Marvel rollout, unconcerned if arena vote fails (San Antonio Current)

Former Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff told the Current there’s plenty of time for the city and county to reach a deal with the San Antonio Spurs, even if voters reject a proposal for a new publicly financed arena on Nov. 4. Wolff — whose decades-long political career also includes stints as a state representative, state senator and San Antonio mayor — was also critical of leaders’ “clumsy” handling of the arena proposal and their haste to get it on the November ballot, which he said may lead to its failure. Beyond that, Wolff said he’s concerned about how the city and county will pay for the myriad components that make up Project Marvel, the ambitious $4 billion downtown sports-and-entertainment complex for which the arena is to the crown jewel.

“I don’t know how they’re going to fund everything — the arena, Alamodome, SAWS plant, the convention center,” Wolff said. “Where’s all this money coming from? Can they do it? It’s confusing.” Bexar County voters have already begun casting ballots to decide whether to raise the county visitor tax to 2% to help pay for a new Spurs arena at Hemisfair. Property and sales taxes also will be used to fund the venue should voters approve the tax increase this election cycle. However, Wolff said Bexar County Commissioners Court shouldn’t have called the vote before looking at the term sheet laying out the deal between the city and Spurs Sports & Entertainment. Commissioners held their vote Aug. 5, but the term sheet didn’t become available until Aug. 17, nearly two weeks later.

“First of all, I would have waited until I understood what the hell I was calling an election for, and have some input on what the terms of the agreement would be,” Wolff said. “You’ve got to at least put out the terms of the agreement so people have some idea what they’re voting on.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Ahead of SNAP funding halt, Trump officials in charge of food stamps leave their posts (New York Times)

Two Trump administration officials in charge of food aid are leaving their posts amid the government shutdown as the program that funds food stamps is set to lapse. James Miller, the administrator of the Agriculture Department’s Food and Nutrition Service, and Babs Hough, a senior policy adviser there, are moving to the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a senior White House official. Politico reported earlier on the moves, which raised concern among aides on Capitol Hill, who are already bracing for the pain the government shutdown will inflict on their constituents. With Mr. Miller’s departure, the agency will be without a permanent leader at a chaotic time.

The Food and Nutrition Service oversees 16 nutrition assistance programs, including the food stamps program, that serve about one in four Americans over the course of a year. The Food and Nutrition Service oversees 16 nutrition assistance programs, including the food stamps program, that serve about one in four Americans over the course of a year.

Starting on Saturday, Nov. 1, roughly 42 million aid recipients risk going hungry when funding lapses for benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. More than two dozen states sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over its refusal to ensure continued access to food stamps during the government shutdown, despite a contingency fund.

The states, including Arizona, California and Massachusetts, described the impending cuts as unnecessary and illegal, and they asked a federal judge to force Washington to maintain SNAP benefits past Nov. 1. An Agriculture Department spokesperson said the departure of the two officials was not related to the government shutdown, and blamed Democrats for the frozen funding and any chaos it caused in the programs… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump says he is prepared to send ‘more than the National Guard’ into U.S. cities (New York Times)

President Trump told American troops assembled in Japan on Tuesday that he was prepared to send “more than the National Guard” into cities to enforce his crackdowns on crime and immigration, further escalating how he has talked about using the military at home and abroad. Speaking to thousands of military service members aboard an aircraft carrier at the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan on Tuesday, Mr. Trump delivered a partisan speech that resembled the raucous rallies that made him an ascendant force in U.S. politics.

But throughout his nearly hourlong speech, his usual ramblings about the physical appearances of audience members and steam-powered catapults were laced with dark warnings about how he might choose to deploy military forces. “We have cities that are troubled, we can’t have cities that are troubled,” Mr. Trump said. “And we’re sending in our National Guard, and if we need more than the National Guard, we’ll send more than the National Guard, because we’re going to have safe cities.”

Legal disputes over what troops under federal control may be used to do on domestic soil — like a bar on using them to enforce the law, except when there is an insurrection — treat National Guard troops under federal control and active-duty troops as the same. Mr. Trump also defended the U.S. military’s strikes against what the administration has said are suspected drug smugglers. The tactics have drawn widespread rebuke from experts who have said it is illegal to use the military to target civilians — including criminal suspects — who are not directly participating in hostilities.

Mr. Trump has increasingly used speeches to the military to air his grievances and bolster his accomplishments. Still, the scene was striking: an American president defending war and military deployments on U.S. soil, and employing partisan talking points on the global stage. The president delivered his speech on the U.S.S. George Washington, an aircraft carrier docked south of Tokyo, at an American military base in Japan that was set up in the aftermath of World War II. It was an unsubtle show of force as Mr. Trump prepares to meet China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, this week, for talks that hold great stakes for the global economy. Mr. Trump has long sought to make greater use of the military on domestic soil… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Citing Trump order on “biological truth,” VA makes it harder for male veterans with breast cancer to get coverage (ProPublica)

The Trump administration is making it more difficult for veterans with a rare but deadly cancer to get their health care needs covered by the government. The new policy, involving breast cancer in men, is laid out in a Department of Veterans Affairs memo obtained by ProPublica. The previously undisclosed document does not cite any evolving science. Rather, it relies on an order that President Donald Trump issued on his first day in office titled: “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

An agency spokesperson confirmed the change. “As of Sept. 30, the department no longer presumes service connection for male breast cancer,” press secretary Pete Kasperowicz wrote in a statement to ProPublica.

He noted that veterans who’ve previously qualified for coverage can keep it. But for the roughly 100 male veterans who are newly diagnosed each year, the path will now be significantly harder. They will have to show their cancer was connected to their military service, a burden that has often been hard to meet. Without VA coverage, experts say, veterans’ care could be delayed or even missed altogether — even as research has shown the rate of breast cancer among men has been increasing and the disease is deadlier than for women. One study also found that breast cancer for men is “notably higher among veterans.” “Cancer in male veterans should be covered,” said Dr. Anita Aggarwal, a VA oncologist who researched and treated breast cancer for years before retiring recently.

“These people have put their lives at risk for us.” As Aggarwal noted, breast tissue in men and women are similar. “Male breasts don’t produce milk,” Aggarwal said. “But the treatment is the same.” She added that research has linked breast cancer to toxic exposure. The administration’s new policy rolls back benefits that were created under the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics, or PACT, Act, a Biden-era law that ushered in one of the largest expansions of health care and benefits in VA history… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Tens of thousands of white-collar jobs are disappearing as AI starts to bite (Wall Street Journal)

The nation’s largest employers have a new message for office workers: help not wanted. Amazon.com said this week that it would cut 14,000 corporate jobs, with plans to eliminate as much as 10% of its white-collar workforce eventually. United Parcel Service said Tuesday that it had reduced its management workforce by about 14,000 positions over the past 22 months, days after the retailer Target said it would cut 1,800 corporate roles. Earlier in October, white-collar workers from companies including Rivian Automotive, Molson Coors, Booz Allen Hamilton and General Motors received pink slips—or learned that they would come soon. Added up, tens of thousands of newly laid off white-collar workers in America are entering a stagnant job market with seemingly no place for them.

At 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Kelly Williamson woke up to an alarming text from her employer, Amazon’s Whole Foods Market, urging her to check her email. “Review asap and stay home from work today,” the message said. Williamson’s role on the asset-protection team was being eliminated. The badge and laptop for the 55-year-old from Austin, Texas, were deactivated. She was given 90 days to look for another job at the company. She said her personal belongings are being mailed to her. A leaner new normal for employment in the U.S. is emerging. Large employers are retrenching, making deep cuts to white-collar positions and leaving fewer opportunities for experienced and new workers who had counted on well-paying office work to support families and fund retirements.

Nearly two million people in the U.S. have been without a job for 27 weeks or more, according to recent federal data. Behind the wave of white-collar layoffs, in part, is the embrace by companies of artificial intelligence, which executives hope can handle more of the work that well-compensated white-collar workers have been doing. Investors have pushed the C-suite to work more efficiently with fewer employees. Factors driving slower hiring include political uncertainty and higher costs… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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