BG Reads | News You Need to Know (February 25, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
NEW -> Episode 75 - Austin Real Estate Talk with Development Legend Perry Lorenz (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Petition would recriminalize homeless camping (Austin Monitor)
Travis County Republican Party Chair Matt Mackowiak began the week taking a shot at local Democrats on the Austin City Council, announcing a petition that seeks to recriminalize camping in public places by the homeless.
According to local Republican Party spokesman Andy Hogue, however, Mackowiak’s organization, Save Austin Now, is a “nonpartisan, freestanding nonprofit.”
Democrat Cleo Petricek, co-founder of the organization, said in a press release, “This is a standard of living issue for every neighborhood in Austin. Our city leaders have not listened, so we must take action ourselves. There is no partisan angle to wanting a safe neighborhood.”
She characterized the city’s leadership as “tone-deaf and arrogant” and predicted that the group would have the signatures necessary to put the petition on the November ballot. As of Monday afternoon, more than 88,000 people had indicated on the Save Austin Now website that they would be willing to sign the petition.
In order to get the measure on the November ballot, the sponsors must collect the signatures of 20,000 registered Austin voters by mid-July, according to the group’s website… (LINK TO STORY)
City looks to hike fees on downtown developers opting out of affordability requirements (Austin Monitor)
The city has proposed increasing the fees paid by downtown developers looking to add density to their construction projects but opting not to include affordable units in the buildings.
At last week’s Downtown Commission meeting, a presentation on the plan to recalibrate the city’s downtown density bonus program revealed that consultants have recommended increasing the “fee in lieu” charges residential developers pay to up to $12 per square foot of their project. Currently those fees run from $3-10 per square foot.
The EcoNorthwest consulting firm also recommended that commercial developments, which currently pay no fees for building beyond their property’s base zoning while avoiding affordability requirements, would be charged between $12 and $18 per square foot of their project. City Council is expected to consider an ordinance to institute the new fees at roughly the same time it gives a third reading to the new Land Development Code in late March or early April.
Erica Leak, policy and planning manager for the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department, said the new fees are intended to strike a balance between generating appropriate revenue for creating affordable housing and not discouraging building activity in downtown Austin… (LINK TO STORY)
Travis County judge unimpressed with Austin’s initial bid to buy historic Palm School (Community Impact)
Austin’s $10 million offer to buy the Palm School, a historic former elementary school at the center of city-county tensions, is being reviewed by county officials but leaves out much of what the county has long been asking for in a trade.
Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt said in a statement that the proposal marks progress but does not match the value of the downtown property.
“After months of communicating with the City of Austin, I consider it progress to finally get a response,” Eckhardt said. “That said, previous appraisals have estimated the value of Palm School to be significantly higher.”
The Palm School building, which sits off East Cesar Chavez Street, operated as an elementary school between 1892-1976, serving predominantly Latino students. The building has been the county’s Health and Human Services Department headquarters for years, but the county is planning to move out by 2021. The city has long expressed a keen interest in purchasing and preserving the building but has not been able to reach an agreement with the county.
The city’s offer of $10 million falls well short of the most recent property appraisal of $53 million. That appraisal came before the county placed restrictions over what could be done with the property, which one commissioner said would hurt the appraised value. Eckhardt said even with the restrictions, the city’s bid for $10 million falls well short… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
Mayor Sylvester Turner taps Bay Area planner to become Houston's first chief transportation planner (Houston Chronicle)
Monday marks the first time traffic-clogged Houston has a transportation planner, a position officials said will coordinate mobility issues around the city. David Fields, former principal of Nelson\Nygaard Associates in San Francisco, started work this week as chief transportation planner, Mayor Sylvester Turner announced in a new release. Turner said the role is intended to “break down the silos and fully integrate the city’s mobility solutions with all our partners.”
“He will also be instrumental in making Vision Zero a reality, allowing the city to eliminate — or significantly reduce — deaths and serious injuries caused by automobile crashes by the year 2030,” Turner said. The mayor’s office refused to provide Fields’ salary, saying the information only would be released in response to a public records request to the city’s personnel department. Despite many planners on the city payroll and various departments involved in transportation issues, this is the first time the city has had a position with its title specific to transportation planning… (LINK TO STORY)
Texas justice is weak, Chief Acevedo says, slamming judges (WFAA)
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo has concerns about “Texas justice.” Chief Acevedo has made his frustrations known on social media lately, calling out national and state lawmakers, as well as judges. He came on this week's episode of Inside Texas Politics to speak about the problems he sees with the current status of Texas' criminal justice system.
The chief claims 25% of suspects charged with murder in Houston last year were released on probation or parole. Texas has gone from being a state known for “locking them up and throwing away the key” to a state that can’t get criminals out of jail fast enough, according to Acevedo. “We’ve taken criminal justice reform to an extent where we’re putting suspects above the victim and where common sense has really been thrown away,” he said… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Trump says RBG and Sotomayor should recuse themselves from his cases (AXIOS)
President Trump tweeted during his India visit late Monday that Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg should "recuse themselves" from cases involving him or his administration.
Why it matters: The president's criticism of the liberal justices comes after he attacked the judge overseeing the case of his longtime advisor Roger Stone, who was sentenced last Thursday to 4o months in prison for crimes including lying to Congress and witness tampering.
Attorney General Bill Barr told ABC News in an interview this month that Trump's "constant background commentary" about the Justice Department and its cases make it "impossible" for him to do his job."
What they're saying: Trump posted the tweet in an apparent reference to Sotomayor's dissenting opinion Friday in a case enabling his administration's "public charge" immigration rule to go into effect in which she said the court "has been all too quick" to grant the government’s requests, but "make no mistake: Such a shift in the Court’s own behavior comes at a cost."… (LINK TO STORY)
How National 5G Policy Became Chaotic (Politico)
President Donald Trump says he wants America to win the race to the fast new wireless future. He took it seriously enough to sign a presidential memorandum setting a deadline of July 2019 for a new national strategy on allocating the airwaves. That deadline came and went with no strategy in sight.
In September, a Commerce Department undersecretary promised that the strategy was still on the way, telling a gathering of government officials that it would be released in the fall. A Commerce official assured POLITICO that the department did indeed deliver a draft to the White House. As of this writing, no strategy has been released.
In the void, Trump administration officials have been lobbying their own ideas for how America can win the race to build superfast 5G service — seemingly with no coordination at all. Economic adviser Larry Kudlow talked up a new “virtualized” network to counter Chinese hardware dominance. Attorney General William Barr suggested that instead the U.S. should buy a controlling stake in one of Huawei’s European competitors. The idea was unprecedented — and apparently unsupported: A day later, Vice President Mike Pence seemed to walk it back… (LINK TO STORY)
See also:
BG Podcast Episode 24: Bob Digneo, Assistant Vice President- External and Regulatory Affairs at AT&T
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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