BG Reads | News You Need to Know (October 3, 2022)
[AUSTIN METRO]
As affordability concerns linger, Planning Commission postpones enviro code changes (Austin Monitor)
The Planning Commission postponed a vote Tuesday on a complex package of environmental and water quality code amendments. Commissioners say much work remains to understand the full impact of the changes, especially as they relate to housing affordability.?
While?many code changes are proposed, the biggest include requiring enhanced “functional green” landscaping in most new developments, as well as upgraded stormwater infrastructure like rain gardens or biofiltration ponds instead of concrete detention ponds.?
The code changes were originally part of the failed Land Development Code rewrite. City Council put the changes back on the table in June via a resolution sponsored by Council Member Kathie Tovo. Additional amendments are slated for a second phase, which will take at least six to eight more months.?
The commission was set to vote on the changes Tuesday, but instead voted 8-0-1 to postpone further discussion in large part because a working group was unable to meet. Commissioner Carmen Llanes Pulido abstained, and several members were absent. The item had already been postponed by a month…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin ISD school board approves protections for construction workers ahead of bond election (KUT)
The Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees has signed off on a?resolution?to improve labor standards for any construction projects on district property. The board approved the measure at a meeting Thursday…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Utility plan to double developer fees threatens to throw cold water on New Braunfels growth (Austin Business Journal)
New Braunfels Utilities is proposing to more than double a fee on new building projects in an effort to better manage the area's population growth, a plan that would equate to hundreds of millions of dollars in new costs for local property developers with thousands of planned housing units in the pipeline…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin police oversight chief resigns after long family leave, disagreement with cops (Austin American-Statesman)
Austin's police oversight director Farah Muscadin, whose office has been at the center of a citywide debate on police accountability, has resigned, according to an internal city memo obtained by the American-Statesman.
Muscadin has not worked this year, taking a nine-month leave after having a baby in January. She was set to return to work Monday, to coincide with the start of the new fiscal year, but has instead tendered her resignation…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
New ERCOT CEO's first priority is restoring trust. Fixing the grid is more complicated. (Houston Chronicle)
Pablo Vegas, the recently named CEO of the state's grid manager, said his focus will be restoring trust and confidence in a power system that failed in the winter of 2021, struggled through record-breaking demand in the summer of 2022, and faces more challenges as electricity consumption grows with the state's population, further stretching generation. "The best thing that we can do to rebuild trust is to continue to operate and execute reliably and to be transparent about it," Vegas said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle. "We have to let people know what we're doing and why we're doing it. We've taken some steps to help kind of open up the curtain a little bit as to what's happening with the operations of the grid." Vegas assumes the leadership of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas on Sunday…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Cryptocurrency miners line up to come to Texas, and rural counties are welcoming them (Texas Tribune)
Jacob Rodriguez was driving a John Deere tractor in a West Texas cotton field when he received a phone call that would change his life.
“I was pulling a 59-foot air seeder … and at the same time I was on the phone having my interview,” Rodriguez, 29, said.
On the other end of the phone early this year were representatives from a new business that was coming to Dickens County, a community of around 2,000 people an hour east of Lubbock.
By March, Rodriguez had quit farming cotton — something he called “just another job” — and began training to work in a cryptocurrency mine.
领英推荐
The county had exactly what London-based Argo Blockchain was looking for: plenty of open land and easy access to affordable power, thanks to a large wind farm built there more than a decade ago…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Dallas judge blocks impeachment hearing for Texas-based LULAC president García (Dallas Morning News)
A Dallas judge blocked a hearing in which the League of United Latin American Citizens board was set to vote on a proposed impeachment for its President Domingo García. On Friday, Dallas County District Judge Maricela Moore issued the temporary restraining order, blocking the impeachment hearing from proceeding. Still, some LULAC board members attended a Saturday meeting to decide the next steps, arguing the organization’s democratic process was at risk. Members said the use of a temporary restraining order in this instance is rare in the history of the organization. Around 20 members attended the meeting in the downtown Hamilton Hotel. “What is happening in D.C. is completely illegal and unconstitutional,” said García, who didn’t attend the meeting and presided over the monthly Chorizo and Menudo event in Dallas, a gathering of community leaders and elected officials…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[HEARINGS AND MEETINGS]
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[BG PODCAST]
Today's episode (167)is an introduction to the Austin Monitor.
The Austin Monitor is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization covering important issues and key decisions at the intersection between the local government and the community.
Joel and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss its history, present, and future.
NOTE: A.J. serves on the Austin Monitor board as Vice-Chair.
->?EPISODE LINK?<-
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