#NEWS // BG Reads | December 5, 2022
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin mayor, council runoffs may dictate future of city's housing policies (Austin American-Statesman)
Housing affordability has been a key campaign issue in Austin City Council races this fall, as debates continue about how to address Austin’s skyrocketing cost of living.
Voters will have another opportunity to cast ballots this month as the mayor’s race, and City Council races in District 3, District 5 and District 9 also are in runoffs after no candidate secured over half the votes in the Nov. 8 general election.?
The pro-density crowd is hopeful that Celia Israel will win the mayor’s seat and Zohaib Qadri will prevail in District 9, and the two will help push the city to incentivize more development and affordable housing. On the other side of the table, preservationists and neighborhood groups support Kirk Watson for mayor and Linda Guerrero in District 9, with the goal of electing leaders with a more measured approach to addressing affordability…? (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Deadlocked on oversight, city and police union pause contract negotiations (Austin Monitor)
After nearly nine months of negotiation sessions, the city of Austin halted bargaining with the Austin Police Association?Thursday , citing disagreement about civilian oversight of police and raising questions about whether the two sides will agree to a new labor contract before the current one expires at the end of March.?
Sarah Griffin, the city’s deputy labor relations officer, canceled two upcoming negotiation sessions scheduled for later this month and said the city would return to the bargaining table when APA is ready to consider removing the Office of Police Oversight from the contract…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Endeavor wins rezoning for huge redevelopment at old Statesman HQ (Austin Business Journal)
After months of negotiations, Endeavor Real Estate Group LLC's plan to redevelop the old Austin American-Statesman headquarters on the southern banks of Lady Bird Lake has received the zoning necessary to proceed.
Austin City Council on Dec. 2 approved for the third and final time the establishment of a planned unit development, or PUD, that clears the way for Endeavor to develop multiple high-rises on the 19-acre site at 305 S. Congress Ave.
The project, called 305 South Congress, is expected to have 1,478 residential units, 1.5 million square feet of office space, a 275-room hotel and 150,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space across six towers. The tallest of these high-rises could reach a height of 524 feet, or about 47 stories.
It represents arguably the biggest real estate development in Central Austin, with the promise of extending downtown's density — and skyline — south of the Colorado River…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Four sworn in to Austin ISD board of trustees (Community Impact)
Austin ISD inaugurated?four new trustees ?to the board Dec. 1. At the board's information meeting, Candace Hunter, Kathryn Whitley Chu, Andrew Gonzales and David Kauffman were sworn in. Incumbent Arati Singh was re-sworn in as the District 9 trustee at large.
Hunter will replace LaTish Anderson as the District 1 representative. Anderson did not seek re-election for the seat. Hunter received 64.37% of the vote against her opponent, Roxanne Evans.
Whitley Chu will replace Kristin Ashy in District 4. Ashy did not seek re-election. Whitley Chu received 71% of the vote against Clint Small.
Gonzales will replace Geronimo Rodriguez for Place 6. Rodriguez was the board president and ran in the Nov. 8 election. Gonzales won with 66% of the vote…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Council relaxes compatibility requirements along selected corridors (Austin Monitor)
City Council has approved changes to building compatibility standards that will allow for some increases in housing density along a handful of transit corridors. The ordinance amending City Code Title 25 was approved Friday, modifying parking requirements and allowing for increased building heights closer to single-family homes located on the targeted corridors, with some entitlements for greater height given to projects that include affordable housing…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
In Central Austin, a City Council race where the candidates diverge on housing (KUT)
In many ways then, District 9 is at the center of Austin's debate over how to make housing more affordable. Yet, the two candidates running to lead this part of Austin differ on how to solve the skyrocketing cost of housing — and what is to blame…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Travis County celebrates opening of $333M civil court complex (Community Impact)
On Dec. 2, Travis County held a ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony for its new?Civil and Family Courts Facility .
"The last time that we held [a civil court] opening like this was back in 1931 ... And I think Austin has changed a little bit since then," Travis County Judge Andy Brown said. "You can see that we need a little bit more room to do what we do, and to serve the people in our community better."
The facility, located on 1700 Guadalupe St., Austin, will house 25 courtrooms and the county’s law library. It also has a cafeteria, dozens of conference rooms, secure victim waiting areas, public waiting spaces, an outdoor plaza and an underground garage…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
领英推荐
Republican Caucus backs Dade Phelan as Texas House speaker (Texas Tribune)
The Texas House Republican Caucus backed House Speaker?Dade Phelan , R- Beaumont, over Rep.?Tony Tinderholt , R-Arlington, in a 78-6 vote during a closed-door meeting at the Capitol. Phelan served as speaker for the first time in the 2021 session.
While the official vote is a month away, when all 150 members will select a speaker, Saturday’s vote signals that Phelan has strong support among the majority party…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas companies’ mass layoffs drop dramatically this year from even pre-pandemic 2019 (Dallas Morning News)
Texas employers have laid off close to 6,800 workers so far this year – fewer than half the number sent packing in pre-pandemic 2019, according to notices filed with the Texas Workforce Commission. The notices are required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, a 1988 law requiring companies with 100 or more employees to provide a 60-day warning of closings or mass layoffs. It’s intended to give employees time to potentially find new work or train for new positions. This year’s single biggest layoff came in August when Michigan-based Home Point Financial Corp. told 526 workers affiliated with its Farmers Branch office that they would be terminated beginning Nov. 1. Home Point added 49 more layoffs to the total this month. Mortgage companies have been particularly hard hit this year by a huge drop in demand for home loans caused by higher interest rates…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
The Texas group waging a national crusade against climate action (New York Times)
When a lawsuit was filed to block the nation’s first major offshore wind farm off the Massachusetts coast, it appeared to be a straightforward clash between those who earn their living from the sea and others who would install turbines and underwater cables that could interfere with the harvesting of squid, fluke and other fish. The fishing companies challenging federal permits for the Vineyard Wind project were from the Bay State as well as Rhode Island and New York, and a video made by the opponents featured a bearded fisherman with a distinct New England accent. But the financial muscle behind the fight originated thousands of miles from the Atlantic Ocean, in dusty oil country. The group bankrolling the lawsuit filed last year was the Texas Public Policy Foundation, an Austin-based nonprofit organization backed by oil and gas companies and Republican donors…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
‘Disarray:’ Texas senators might halt ERCOT power grid redesign (Dallas Morning News)
A bipartisan group of state senators wants Texas’ electric grid regulator to halt its redesign of the state’s electricity market just two weeks after first seeing the proposal. All nine members of the Senate Business and Commerce Committee sent a letter late Thursday to the Public Utility Commission, telling the power grid regulatory agency that its proposed redesign for the ERCOT electricity market should be placed on hold. The committee’s chairman, Georgetown Republican Sen. Charles Schwertner, signaled that legislators might take a leading role in the overhaul in next year’s legislative session, which begins Jan. 10. “Let’s work together this session to get it right for Texans,” he said in a tweet that included the letter…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Antisemitic celebrities stoke fears of normalizing hate (Associated Press)
A surge of anti-Jewish vitriol, spread by a world-famous rapper, an NBA star and other prominent people, is stoking fears that public figures are normalizing hate and ramping up the risk of violence in a country?already experiencing a sharp increase in antisemitism.
Leaders of the Jewish community in the U.S. and extremism experts have been alarmed to see celebrities with massive followings spew antisemitic tropes in a way that has been taboo for decades. Some said it harkens back to a darker time in America when powerful people routinely spread conspiracy theories about Jews with impunity…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Says He Can’t Account for Billions Sent to Alameda (Wall Street Journal)
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried said he couldn’t explain what happened to billions of dollars that customers of his?failed cryptocurrency exchange ?sent to the?bank accounts of his trading firm , Alameda Research.
And he said he couldn’t rule out the possibility that?money deposited by FTX customers ?who were told their money was theirs alone was in fact lent to Alameda.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Bankman-Fried distanced himself from Alameda, saying he had stepped back from running the firm and had little insight into its workings even though he owned 90% of it…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
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[BG PODCAST]
Bingham Group Associate Hannah Garcia and CEO A.J. recap the week (and the week ahead) in City of Austin Politics. (Episode 173)