BG Reads | News You Need to Know (February 12, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
NEW -> Episode 74: Episode 74 : Austin Public-Private-Partnerships with John Rosato, Southwest Strategies Group (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Public speaks on land use code second draft (Austin Monitor)
City Council opened the floor to public comment Tuesday, leading up to its second reading on the revised draft of the Land Development Code.
In total, there were 65 speakers, most of whom voiced objections of some sort to the proposed code rewrite.
Articulating a well-represented view on the new code, resident Bill Fowler said the new code will degrade Austin neighborhoods into “typical large city sameness” with expensive new homes while clogging streets with trash cans and cars. He urged Council to stop this by using its power to “not sell out to the newcomers.”
Alicia Weigel, a member of the Human Rights Commission and three-year Austin resident, rejected this dismissal of newcomers. She said she has spent her time here fighting for justice and sees the code as an opportunity to continue that fight by adopting tools to get better results out of new development while bracing for the future of climate change.
“If where we are now isn’t working for us, and hasn’t been working for us, then I’m not sure why we wouldn’t try to protect ourselves,” she said. “As a homeowner in Bouldin Creek who hears the fear of my neighbors in our neighborhood association meetings, I also fear my property taxes spiking by the condos coming in next door, but more pressingly, as someone who’s terrified for my future because of climate change, we don’t have the luxury anymore of the status quo.”
Awais Azhar, representing the housing advocacy group Planning Our Communities, said his organization is encouraged by the second draft’s opportunities for equitable development and affordable housing, specifically through adoption of Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza’s equity overlay district in East Austin. He said further improvements could be made by mapping existing multifamily housing equivalent to their current use citywide… (LINK TO STORY)
Travis County announces new intergovernmental relations officer (Community Impact)
Julie Wheeler will be Travis County’s new intergovernmental relations officer, Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt announced at a Feb. 11 meeting.
Since 2013, Wheeler served as intergovernmental relations specialist and assisted with the creation and execution of Travis County’s state and federal legislative agendas. Previously, she worked as the constituent relations director for former Commissioner Karen Huber.Wheeler replaces Deece Eckstein, who retired in November after 12 years in the role. Eckstein was the county’s first intergovernmental relations officer.
The intergovernmental relations officer is responsible for developing the county’s state and federal legislative agendas and coordinating across a variety of governmental and intergovernmental organizations with which the county conducts business. He or she also manages the county’s participation in the U.S. census and redistricting processes, among other tasks… (LINK TO STORY)
Powerful regional group AARO names new executive director (Austin Business Journal)
Sandy Guzman will be the Austin Area Research Organization's next executive director.
The Austin Area Research Organization is a regional network of nonprofit, civic and business leaders that has worked with public officials on big initiatives ranging from the creation of the MoPac Expressway to the founding of Dell Medical School.
Guzman has served for 11 years as legislative director for state Sen. Kirk Watson, the former Austin mayor. Before that, she was senior vice president for the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.
Guzman starts her new role on March 23. She will become the organization's second executive director, replacing Barbara Johnson, who is retiring after 27 years at the helm.
Johnson received $184,350 in compensation from the organization in 2017, according to the latest available filing with the Internal Revenue Service, obtained through Guidestar.
"AARO is an incubator of thoughtful, innovative solutions to long-term, regional challenges," Guzman said in a statement. "I'm excited for the opportunity to work with AARO's amazing membership to advance those solutions to shape the long-term economic and social well-being of Central Texas."… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas updates election reporting system to allow for tally of Super Tuesday delegates (Texas Tribune)
Texas counties have started seeing updates to the state’s election reporting system that will allow them to break out the vote totals needed to determine how many delegates are won by presidential contenders on Super Tuesday. The refinements to the portal used by the state's 254 counties to report results come after Texas Democrats raised the prospect of a delay in calculating delegates.
A majority of the Democratic Party's 228 pledged delegates will be apportioned based on how the candidates do in each state Senate district. The election system update will allow local officials to report returns broken out at the district level on election night, so party officials can calculate delegate totals for the myriad Democratic hopefuls. Election day is March 3; early voting begins Feb. 18.
Last week, Texas Democrats said the Texas secretary of state’s office told them that data at that level would not be available on election night because that function was not yet "built out" in the state’s new reporting system. Any delay would have complicated the party’s ability to apply the complex formula it uses to distribute 149 Democratic delegates based on votes in each of 31 state Senate districts… (LINK TO STORY)
Bernie Sanders campaign opening new offices in Houston, San Antonio (Houston Chronicle)
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is coming back to Texas for a rally and ramping up his campaign operations here. On Thursday his campaign will open new field offices in Houston and Austin before opening two more over the weekend, in San Antonio and McAllen.
And on Friday, Sanders will hold a free rally in the Dallas area. Those events come just days after his campaign announced it is expanding overall staffing in Texas and increasing its television and digital ads. “Bernie’s multiracial, multigenerational, people-driven movement is fueling our campaign across the Lone Star State,” said Bernie 2020 Texas Field Director Chris Chu de León… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Top 10 things to know about Trump’s budget proposal (Roll Call)
Despite his own reelection battle in November, President Donald Trump isn’t holding back when it comes to proposing budget cuts that are easy to pillory in 30-second campaign ads, especially when juxtaposed against a bid to renew his 2017 tax cuts, much of which helped the wealthiest Americans.
Even some conservative Republicans aren’t especially happy that for all the pain that would hit domestic services and safety-net programs, the budget wouldn’t balance for 15 years while U.S. debt would continue its sharp rise.
Here are the top ten things to know about Trump’s $4.8 trillion budget request for the coming fiscal year:.. (LINK TO STORY)
‘The intelligence coup of the century’: For decades, the CIA read the encrypted communications of allies and adversaries (Washington Post)
For more than half a century, governments all over the world trusted a single company to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and diplomats secret. The company, Crypto AG, got its first break with a contract to build code-making machines for U.S. troops during World War II. Flush with cash, it became a dominant maker of encryption devices for decades, navigating waves of technology from mechanical gears to electronic circuits and, finally, silicon chips and software. The Swiss firm made millions of dollars selling equipment to more than 120 countries well into the 21st century. Its clients included Iran, military juntas in Latin America, nuclear rivals India and Pakistan, and even the Vatican.
But what none of its customers ever knew was that Crypto AG was secretly owned by the CIA in a highly classified partnership with West German intelligence. These spy agencies rigged the company’s devices so they could easily break the codes that countries used to send encrypted messages. The decades-long arrangement, among the most closely guarded secrets of the Cold War, is laid bare in a classified, comprehensive CIA history of the operation obtained by The Washington Post and ZDF, a German public broadcaster, in a joint reporting project. The account identifies the CIA officers who ran the program and the company executives entrusted to execute it. It traces the origin of the venture as well as the internal conflicts that nearly derailed it. It describes how the United States and its allies exploited other nations’ gullibility for years, taking their money and stealing their secrets. The operation, known first by the code name “Thesaurus” and later “Rubicon,” ranks among the most audacious in CIA history. “It was the intelligence coup of the century,” the CIA report concludes. “Foreign governments were paying good money to the U.S. and West Germany for the privilege of having their most secret communications read by at least two (and possibly as many as five or six) foreign countries.”… (LINK TO STORY)
The Bingham Group, LLC is an Austin-based full service lobbying firm representing and advising clients on municipal, legislative, and regulatory matters throughout Texas.
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