#NEWS // BG Reads | June 2, 2023

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

$88M settlement approved for Austin Bergstrom-International Airport to acquire South Terminal (Community Impact)

Austin City Council approved an $88 million settlement with LoneStar Airport Holdings LLC, the operator of the Austin Bergstrom-International Airport’s?South Terminal , to acquire the terminal and move forward with an?airport expansion ?later this year.

The two lawsuits between the city and LoneStar will be settled by the $88 million paid for by the airport’s general fund.

“The acquisition of this leasehold estate is necessary for moving forward with improving and modernizing [ABIA] through the?Airport Expansion & Development Program ,” ABIA spokesperson Sam Haynes said in an email…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)

Mayor: Second vote not needed on Project Connect, new train (Austin Business Journal)

Project Connect, Austin’s public transit expansion that promises to bring a light rail network to the city's center, does not need to go up for another public vote.

The comprehensive public transportation expansion plan, and potentially others like it, have avoided a push from state leaders to upend how the undertaking is financed.?House Bill 3899 , carried by state Rep.?Ellen Troxclair , a former Austin City Council member, failed to advance in the final days of the Texas Legislature regular session, which ended May 29.

Austin Mayor?Kirk Watson , who previously said he was?prepared to hold another vote ?to put an end to criticism surrounding the project, confirmed May 31 that the bill’s death ensures that the generational project can move forward without the need for another vote.

"There will not be an election in November," Watson said in a May 31 email, a day before Austin City Council was set to vote on the?revised light rail plan …?(LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin city employees warn new in-office policy could drive people to quit (KUT)

City employees' remote work schedules have been up to each department since the beginning of the pandemic.

The city’s employee union, the local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the new rules were developed hastily and lacked data-driven policymaking.

"We've seen that there's a model in local government for establishing good policies, and it's looking at the data, doing a long, deliberative study," AFSCME president Ben Suddaby said. "That's not what interim City Manager Garza has laid out. This seems like a very capricious, at-a-whim decision, and it's not based on data."

Garza's office said the policy did not happen "overnight."

"For staff concerned about commuting and childcare, this summer will give them the time they need to make the necessary adjustments and accommodations," it said in a statement. "We encourage them to talk to their supervisors.”…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)

Travis County considers own ‘Marshall Plan’ (Austin Monitor)

Travis County is mulling its very own “Marshall Plan” – an all-encompassing system for revamping social programs in East Travis County, modeled after the post-World War II plan to rebuild Europe’s economy and infrastructure.

On Thursday, Economic Development & Strategic Investments Director Christy Moffett and Commissioner Jeffrey Travillion briefed the Commissioners Court and the public on the idea during a work session.

“We started talking about this idea of a Marshall Plan to develop an underdeveloped area by looking at the group of resources that are needed, rather than just talking about housing, health or about infrastructure,” Travillion said. “We started having this conversation around the whole affordable housing issue, expo center, etc. What tools do we have to look at the entire needs of a community rather than just one thing?”…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin voted for a record housing bond. Here’s where the first $20 million are going (KXAN)

Of the record?$350 million dollars you voted to put towards affordable housing ?in 2022, Austin City Council has signed off on $45 million of it to be used this fiscal year. Many of those projects are on council agendas already.

On Thursday, eight projects were taken up during the?Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) meeting ?that will be partially funded by 2022 bond dollars, including $1.5 million for improvements at the AHA! at Briarwood and more than $6 million for development of Cairn Point, which will be a 150 unit complex in north Austin…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

House impeachment team taps 2 top Texas lawyers, Dick DeGuerin and Rusty Hardin, to lead Ken Paxton case (Texas Tribune)

Legendary Texas lawyers Dick DeGuerin and Rusty Hardin will serve as lead prosecutors for the state House in the Senate impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General?Ken Paxton .

The two Houston-based defense attorneys, introduced at a Capitol news conference Thursday, are legal icons in their own right, having separately represented a litany of high-profile athletes, celebrities and politicians in criminal and civil investigations.

“They are outstanding lawyers and lions of the Texas trial bar,” said David Coale, a Dallas-based appellate lawyer and legal commentator. “This is the legislature saying, ‘This isn’t just some case, this is an unusual, historic case.’ And if you want to make some history, you get some history book-level lawyers.”…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)

TEA names former Dallas ISD Superintendent Mike Miles next Houston ISD superintendent (Community Impact)

The Texas Education Agency appointed former Dallas ISD Superintendent Mike Miles as the new superintendent of Houston ISD on June 1, kickstarting the process of the state agency taking over the HISD board of trustees.

In a June 1?news release , the TEA also named the nine board managers who will take the place of the district's elected board.

“Over the past few months, we have been heartened to see so many Houstonians eagerly step up to serve their community and the students of Houston ISD,” TEA Commissioner Mike Morath said in a statement. “We were looking for people from a wide array of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives who believe all children can learn and achieve at high levels when properly supported and who can work together. I believe the governing team I am naming today will work as a unified team, dedicated to improving student outcomes and supporting educators.”…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)

Trish DeBerry to move from board chair to CEO of Centro de San Antonio (San Antonio Express-News)

Trish DeBerry will take the reins of Centro de San Antonio as CEO after returning to the organization as the board chair in April. The board vote was unanimous. Board member Ed Cross said they needed to take immediate action after the death of Rene Garcia, former board chair, in April and the announcement that current CEO Matt Brown would step down in July. “Trish has the perfect mix of private and public sector experience. Not to mention, she chose to office downtown for the better part of 20 years and has played key roles within Centro during that time. And, as a lifelong San Antonian, she brings amazing energy, passion and ideas that, no doubt, will reinvigorate downtown,” Cross said.

Brown, who has served since June 2019, plans to join his family in California and return to the private sector. Board member David Adelman credited Brown with embracing downtown San Antonio and leading the organization amid COVID. “While the center city still feels its effects, Matt and the team worked mightily to lessen the impact. Consequently, we are doing better than most downtowns across the country,” Adelman said. Centro acts as an advocate for the downtown community, including business owners and real estate developers. It has a multimillion-dollar contract with the city to manage the downtown public improvement district, or PID, which collects property taxes to provide services such as street sweeping and graffiti removal. DeBerry, a former Bexar County commissioner, left office to run for county judge last year. She’d been largely out of the public eye since losing to Peter Sakai in November. “There is a lot of work ahead as we engage with partners to execute the Downtown Tomorrow Strategy, while addressing pressing issues today like office vacancy and continuing to improve our core business of making downtown clean and safe,” DeBerry said…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)

[NATIONAL NEWS]

Senate approves bill to avert national default, sending it to Biden’s desk (The Hill)

The Senate on Thursday night capped four months of contentious debate and voted to send a compromise bill to?President Biden’s? desk that extends the government’s borrowing authority until January of 2025 and staves off a potential default next week.?

A large bipartisan majority of the Senate voted 63-36 to approve the bill, which?passed the House ?on Wednesday night.?

The approval came after the Senate clinched an agreement to conduct a series of amendment votes on Thursday night and move directly to final passage. The normally slow-moving chamber raced through a dozen votes in just over three hours…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)

California Spent $17 Billion on Homelessness. It’s Not Working. (Wall Street Journal)

The number of homeless people in California grew about 50% between 2014 and 2022. The state, which accounts for 12% of the U.S. population, has about half of the nation’s unsheltered homeless, an estimated 115,000 people, according to federal and state data last year. It also has among the highest average rent and median home prices in the U.S.?

California spent a record $17 billion combating homelessness in the past four fiscal years. For the state budget year starting in July, Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed another $3.7 billion.?

Voters in Los Angeles and San Francisco, which have some of the largest homeless populations in California, were unhappy enough about it to approve taxes costing them billions of dollars to fund anti-homelessness programs and housing in recent years. So far, cost overruns and delays have left little to show for the money.

State and local officials have bickered over responsibility. ?Mr. Newsom late last year threatened to withhold funding from local governments that he believed weren’t attacking the problem aggressively enough. That included programs to move squatters, willingly or not.

Local leaders said the Newsom administration hasn’t provided enough stable funding for programs to treat and house the homeless. “These systems are made effective when they are tethered to the resources necessary,” said LaTonda Simmons, Oakland’s acting homelessness administrator. “Oakland and many other cities are experiencing the same sort of bottleneck in terms of being able to move people through the system.”…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)

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