BG Note | News - What We're Reading (February 23, 2018)
[Austin Metro]
Austin launches Anti-Displacement Task Force to combat gentrification (Austin American-Statesman) LINK TO STORY
The city of Austin is kicking off its latest task force to tackle gentrification with a public forum Saturday, which proponents hope will offer more substantial action to combat the displacement of minorities than previous efforts.
The latest effort is the city’s new Anti-Displacement Task Force, a 17-member group of appointees who will have until October to deliver action items to the City Council.
The city has a long history of creating task forces and resolutions to address the systematic racism that has plagued the city and which many believe is now contributing to gentrification in East Austin...
Catellus on shortlist to develop Colony Park (Austin Monitor) LINK TO STORY
The city has taken a big step toward selecting Catellus Development Corp. as the master developer for the Colony Park development in East Austin.
Catellus, the company chosen in late 2004 to be the master developer for the Mueller community, is the only developer on the city’s shortlist to develop the 208 acres on Decker Lane near Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park...
Council tries ‘outcome-based’ budgeting (Austin Monitor) LINK TO STORY
Last year, City Council talked about the idea of doing “outcome-based” budgeting. 2018 is the first year that it is giving it a try.
The idea is based on six strategic outcomes that Council developed last year:
Having economic opportunities and resources that enable us to thrive in our community.
Getting us where we want to go, when we want to get there, safely and cost-effectively.
Being safe in our home, at work, and in our community.
Enjoying a sustainable environment and a healthy life, physically and mentally.
Being enriched by Austin’s unique civic, cultural, ethnic, and learning opportunities.
Believing that city government works effectively and collaboratively for all of us – that it is equitable, ethical and innovative...
[STATE]
Amid privacy concerns, ‘virtual’ wall brings powerful spy tech to Texas border (Austin American-Statesman) LINK TO STORY
In the future imagined by the Department of Homeland Security, an army of small drones will hover over the southwestern border, outfitted with facial recognition technology that can cull criminal histories of people on the ground. Advanced cameras will instantly identify drivers and passengers as they cross international bridges into Mexico. Artificial intelligence software will comb through the social media accounts of immigrants seeking to enter the country...
Senate Democrats urge Uresti to resign his position (Houston Chronicle) LINK TO STORY
The state Senate's Democratic Caucus late Monday demanded the resignation of Sen. Carlos Uresti, a fellow Democrat who just hours earlier was convicted of criminal fraud charges in a San Antonio federal court.
The San Antonio lawmaker had been indicted by a federal grand jury last year on 11 felony charges in connection with his role at now-defunct oilfield company FourWinds Logistics.
He became the first state senator to be convicted of a crime in many years, a judgment that drew immediate private calls for his resignation from other senators and House members...
Baylor University says "incendiary" allegations that it destroyed evidence are unfounded (Texas Tribune) LINK TO STORY
Lawyers for Baylor University said a suggestion that school officials destroyed records was “incendiary” and false, and that documents used to make the claim were unrelated to a wide-ranging sexual assault scandal that has dogged the private Waco university for years.
The response was made in documents filed in federal court Wednesday evening, the latest exchange in one of several ongoing lawsuits against the school. Claims that Baylor officials destroyed evidence, made last week in a different court filing, are “serious accusations that lack any reasonable basis in fact,” Baylor’s filing says. Lawyers for the school attached internal emails to back their response...