#NEWS // BG Reads | April 14, 2023
[AUSTIN METRO]
Planning Commission moves to create new zoning category to allow more housing (Austin Monitor)
The Planning Commission took a step on Tuesday to create a new zoning category that commissioners say would allow more housing to be built across the city.
“We’re not building enough housing, and whatever we can do to change that and get transit-supportive density on the ground, we’ve gotta do. And this is a great tool to help get us there,” said Commissioner Greg Anderson, the proposal’s sponsor.?
The?new zoning category, called Town Zoning (TZ), would let developers choose regulations like building height, compatibility setbacks and parking requirements for a property, and then ask for city approval.?
In projects with housing, 10 percent of the additional units – that is, units that developers could not build under existing zoning –?would have to be affordable for those making 60 percent of the median family income. TZ would also prohibit suburban, car-oriented uses to encourage?urban, pedestrian-oriented development.
City staffers, commissioners and City Council members will work out other details in the coming months, including to which current zoning types TZ could be added…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Council asks for more Rainey Street safety upgrades after recent deaths (Community Impact)
City Council backed a proposal to consider rolling out several new safety measures around the Rainey Street Historic District and Lady Bird Lake after a series of late-night drownings there over recent years that police have identified as accidents…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
May 2023 Austin election ballot propositions: Voter resource (Austin Monitor)
Austin voters will soon decide the fates of two warring police oversight propositions on the May 6 ballot.?
The election arrives after more than a year of police labor contract negotiations with the Austin Police Association, which?City Council scuttled, citing disapproval of former City Manager Spencer Cronk’s handling of the process and a desire to let the voters weigh in on police oversight before locking the city into a four-year agreement.?
“We need to … under our charter when there’s a petition that makes it to the ballot, allow people to have their say and allow them to vote,” Mayor Kirk Watson said during a?March 27 press conference?announcing a new partnership between the Austin Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety to address long-standing staffing shortages…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Llano County library supporters declare victory as officials decide not to close all branches (Texas Tribune)
Thursday’s meeting comes two weeks after a federal judge?ordered county officials?to return to the library system books they’d removed.
County officials appealed U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman’s order reinstating the banned books, according to court filings. Authorities claimed that the books were removed as part of a “weeding” process in which outdated and irrelevant books are removed from shelves to make room for new ones.
The books that were removed included a title for teens that calls the Ku Klux Klan a terrorist group, Isabel Wilkerson’s “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” and a comedic children’s book with three stories from Dawn McMillan’s “I Need a New Butt!” series.
According to a statement from county officials, it was the individuals suing the library who were responsible for endangering the community resource.
“But as we wait for a ruling from the appeals court, a public library simply cannot function if its librarians, county judge, commissioners, and even the volunteers who serve out the goodness of their heart, can be sued every time a library patron disagrees with a librarian’s ‘weeding’ decision,” read a statement from the Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham released after the decision was handed down…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Pros, cons of replacement for Chapter 313 incentives vigorously debated at Texas Capitol (Austin Business Journal)
With less than two months remaining in the 88th Texas Legislature, one of the session's policy priorities for economic development leaders is taking shape: an effort to replace the state's property tax-based corporate incentives program that expired at the end of 2022.
House Bill 5, also known as the Texas Jobs and Security Act, was considered April 10 by the House Committee on Ways and Means. It is a proposed successor to Chapter 313, a program that provided breaks on school property taxes and over roughly two decades secured major projects for the state like Tesla’s?$1 billion gigafactory?east of Austin, Samsung’s $17 billion?semiconductor manufacturing plant?in Taylor and Toyota's car plant in San Antonio.
Chapter 313 gave Texas school districts the ability to cap the taxable value of a property for a portion of school taxes for up to 10 years.
The new act would generally continue that process, though it also calls for a percentage of the tax savings to be sent to the state comptroller, which could then be put into the state's general revenue fund.
In another departure from Chapter 313, HB 5 would also exclude renewable energy projects from the tax breaks…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Daniel Perry, convicted of murder and on track for a pardon from Abbott, wrote of wanting to kill protesters, Muslims, Black people, new court docs show (Houston Chronicle)
Daniel Perry, who was recently convicted of murdering a Black Lives Matter protester and is making national headlines in the wake of Gov. Greg Abbott saying he wants to pardon him, sent private messages for years containing racist memes and defending the killing of protesters and Muslims, a newly unsealed set of court documents shows. The 76 pages filed by Travis County prosecutors also reveal messages dating back years in which Perry, an Army sergeant, talked about killing people — several times referencing a desire to kill Muslims. In a 2019 message, for example, Perry wrote it was "to [sic] bad we can't get paid for hunting Muslims in Europe." The documents released Thursday were filed on March 27, when prosecutors announced their intent to introduce messages and posts they'd gathered from Perry's cellphone…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
TEA extends deadline for HISD board applications by a week as trustees question takeover process (Houston Chronicle)
Members of the Houston ISD board of trustees peppered a Texas Education Agency representative with questions about the upcoming takeover at a public meeting Thursday that lasted late into the night. More than four hours into the meeting, Steve Lecholop, the TEA's deputy commissioner of governance, gave a slideshow presentation about the board of managers applications and transition process, while standing before elected trustees in the Hattie Mae White Educational Center. The TEA has re-opened the window for board of manager applications until April 20 after receiving 374 applicants in the first round, Lecholop said. Preliminary screening of applicants is now underway and applicants have been invited to attend one of two required Lone Star Governance training sessions, he said…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
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[NATION]
Fed economists project recession this year, in potential blow to Biden (Politico)
Federal Reserve economists believe that recent banking turmoil will trigger a mild recession later this year, a potentially ominous sign for President Joe Biden as he heads into an election campaign. Staff members at the central bank, who brief policymakers before interest rate decisions, had long expected GDP growth to slow this year in the wake of the Fed’s fight against inflation. But last month they upped the odds of a downturn, according to the minutes of the Fed’s March 21-22 meeting. Just a couple of weeks before the meeting, two regional lenders — Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank — collapsed after depositors pulled out billions of dollars in cash, sending tremors throughout the industry. Their projection was for “a mild recession starting later this year, with a recovery over the subsequent two years,” according to the minutes, released Wednesday. That would spark a jump in unemployment. They estimated the economy would fully recover by 2025…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Air National Guardsman arrested as suspected leaker of Pentagon documents (NPR)
A 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, Jack Teixeira, was arrested as a suspect in the recent leak of classified U.S. intelligence documents, the Department of Justice said Thursday.
"FBI agents took Teixeira into custody earlier this afternoon without incident," Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters at a briefing in Washington, D.C. "He will have an initial appearance at the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts."…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[BG PODCASTS]
Bingham Group Associate Hannah Garcia and CEO A.J. review the week in Austin politics.
Today's discussion covers:
? The 3/31 retirement of Austin Energy General Manager Jackie Sargent (bit.ly/3MnA93X);
? Pushback on the Austin Police Department / Texas DPS agreement (bit.ly/400ro36); and
? The Texas House passing HB 1, the state budget bill (bit.ly/3nZz4VG).
The Austin Council convenes for Work Session Tuesday (4/11) and Regular Voting Thursday (4/13).
? Work Session Agenda ->?bit.ly/41eeVcL
? Regular Voting Agenda ->?bit.ly/43gBXSg
EPISODE 197
ABOUT THE BINGHAM GROUP, LLC
Bingham Group works to advance the interests of businesses, nonprofits, and associations at the municipal and state level.
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Connect with A.J. on LinkedIn at:?bit.ly/3DlFiUK
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BG Media Group (2023)
Bingham Group works to advance the interests of businesses, nonprofits, and associations at the municipal and state level.
CONTACT US FOR A FREE DISCUSSION ON YOUR MATTER AT:?[email protected]