BG Note | News - What We're Reading (October 23, 2017)
[Austin Metro]
As Austin Waits For Word On Amazon Bid, Austinites Wait For Word On What Was Offered (KUT) LINK TO STORY
While Amazon has been very public about its process of finding a location for a second headquarters, it has asked Austin and the other 100-plus bidders to keep quiet about their proposals.
The tech giant explicitly asked that submissions be "confidential.”
“We’re excited about it,” said Mike Berman, senior vice president for the Austin Chamber of Commerce, which submitted a bid Wednesday. “It’s a great opportunity and when you take a look at all of the factors in this region, it makes a very compelling case.”
AISD seeks environmental flexibility in redevelopment of Barton Springs schools (Austin Monitor) LINK TO STORY
The Austin Independent School District is one step closer to reaching an agreement with the city that would allow it to redevelop some of its overcrowded campuses in order to accommodate growth in student populations. At its meeting last Wednesday, the Environmental Commission voted unanimously to approve staff’s recommendation to permit the district to reorganize its water quality treatment obligations for four schools in the Barton Springs Zone.
Nicole Conley Johnson, AISD’s chief financial officer, said at the meeting that the district faced limitations in complying with non-degradation regulations at Zilker, Barton Hills, Baranoff and Patton elementary schools, and that the flexibility afforded by the proposed agreement would enable these schools to continue on their current facility rehabilitation tracks.
City could look to public land for soccer stadium (Austin Monitor) LINK TO STORY
Beginning next month the city could begin an inventory of available land that would be able to suit a new soccer stadium for a professional team’s proposed relocation to Austin.
Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo told the Austin Monitor on Sunday she is working with other City Council members to draft a resolution for the Nov. 9 meeting that would ask city staff to complete an inventory of available city-owned parcels, and conduct an analysis of the possible impacts of having a professional soccer team located in Austin. If that resolution passes, the reports would be due in December.
[TEXAS]
Patrick skeptical of need for new House committee on Texas economy (Texas Tribune) LINK TO STORY
Count Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick among those skeptical of House Speaker Joe Straus' new push to look into Texas' business climate after the "bathroom bill" fight. "First of all, we already have the most pro-business climate in the country, and it bothers me a little bit that someone feels they have to have a committee to focus on that," Patrick told The Texas Tribune in an interview Saturday.
"Rick Perry did a heck of a job on it. Greg Abbott’s done a heck of a job on it. The Texas Senate’s done a heck of a job on it. And the House has done good work." "I don't know what the point is," Patrick later said of the new House Select Committee on Economic Competitiveness.