BG Note | News - What We're Reading (November 1, 2017)
[Austin Metro]
BoA denies digital billboard end run (Austin Monitor) LINK TO STORY
Another attempt to legalize digital billboards in Austin was shot down last week. This time, the Board of Adjustment was the arena for a battle that has been going on in Austin for years.
Under current city regulations, billboards are not allowed, though existing billboards can remain in place as nonconforming signs. Over the years, attempts to upgrade the static vinyl billboards to digital displays have come before City Council on several occasions and there is currently a petition to allow digital billboards in circulation.
Statesman sues city of Austin over city manager secrecy (Austin American-Statesman) LINK TO STORY
The American-Statesman has sued the city of Austin after officials denied requests under the Texas Public Information Act to disclose the identities of finalists for city manager.
The Statesman filed the suit Tuesday in a Travis County district court as the Austin City Council began the first of two days of interviewing finalists. The lawsuit seeks disclosure of the city manager candidates’ names. The Statesman has independently confirmed the identities of four of the candidates
New apartments could be coming to Northwest Austin shopping center(Austin Monitor) LINK TO STORY
A popular shopping center in Northwest Austin could be redeveloped to include hundreds of apartments.
The 17-acre site at 9828 Great Hills Trail, owned by Great Hills Retail Inc., currently includes a shopping center, restaurants, a movie theater and a bank. It will be up to City Council to decide whether to allow for new types of development there.
[STATE]
Analysis: For Texas speakers, power doesn’t equal fame (Texas Tribune) LINK TO STORY
House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, has been one of the top figures in Texas government since 2009, but you wouldn’t know it from his poll numbers. Like the speakers before him, he’s a cipher to many Texas voters.
When asked to grade the job Straus has been doing as one of the most important officials in state government, a large number of Texans have either a neutral reaction or no reaction at all.
U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, a Dallas Republican, says he won't run for re-election (Texas Tribune) LINK TO STORY
The powerful chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, a Dallas Republican, announced his retirement from Congress on Tuesday afternoon. He is currently serving his eighth term in the House.
"Today I am announcing that I will not seek reelection to the US Congress in 2018," Hensarling wrote in an email to supporters. "Although service in Congress remains the greatest privilege of my life, I never intended to make it a lifetime commitment, and I have already stayed far longer than I had originally planned."