BG Reads | News You Need to Know (February 28, 2020)
[BG Blog]
Bingham Group Recognizes Black Austin Business, Community, and Policy Leaders (LINK TO POST)
[BG PODCAST]
Episode 76 - Culture Talk with Kahron Spearman, Austin Chronicle Writer and Critic (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
With State Approval, ATX Helps Will Take Over The Homeless Campsite At U.S. 183 (KUT)
State officials agreed Thursday to lease state-owned land to an Austin nonprofit for $1 a month to house homeless Austinites, with the goal of ultimately building a shelter on the 6.7-acre tract.
The approval from the Texas Transportation Commission will allow ATX Helps, a coalition of business groups and nonprofits, to take over the site — owned by the Texas Department of Transportation — off U.S. Highway 183 near the airport.
The site currently hosts 140 people, and nonprofit ATX Helps says it hopes to raise $5 million to build a 150-bed temporary structure as soon as possible. Ultimately, it aims to raise $14 million for a more permanent structure that could house as many as 300 people… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Travis County seeks a ‘Marshall Plan’ for east side (Austin Monitor)
Travis County Commissioner Jeff Travillion and Joe Straub, president of Rodeo Austin, started a conversation with members of the City Council Audit & Finance Committee Wednesday. “Let me just say for the record, I did not come to pick a fight,” Travillion said. Instead, he hoped that Travis County and the city of Austin could unite around “an idea that is important to the entire community.”
His idea is to create something like a Marshall Plan for eastern Travis County, specifically in the ZIP codes 78724 and 78725.
Under the Marshall Plan, the United States provided billions of dollars to help Europe recover from the devastation of World War II.
While other parts of Austin have become too expensive for many families, eastern Travis County’s Precinct 1 has experienced 34 percent growth, he said. People who cannot afford to live in the pricier parts of Austin are moving to the neighborhoods of Colony Park and Austin’s Colony. Those two neighborhoods, he said, would benefit greatly from an enhanced Travis County Exposition Center.
Travillion said families are moving there with kids who grew up close to transportation, health care and recreation, but none of those things are available in those neighborhoods. The park surrounding Walter E. Long Lake has no amenities, and would-be visitors are prevented from coming in by the barbed wire surrounding the property, he said.
Travillion expressed the fear that leaving those kids out there with little to do will only feed the “school-to-prison pipeline.” He asked committee members to remember the gentrification of 78702, saying the city should earmark city land close to the expo center for affordable housing before prices go up.
He gave Council members a list of 10 questions he said need to be answered before all the parties could discuss what money might be available to enhance prosperity in eastern Travis County. Most of the questions revolve around the financing of the Austin Convention Center, both its 1999 expansion and a projected expansion this year. Other questions related to the Hotel Occupancy Tax, which Travis County wants to use to enhance the expo center, but the city has said must be dedicated to renovating the convention center and enhancing the downtown area… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Regents OK $8 million to boost security around UT Austin (Austin American-Statesman)
The University of Texas System Board of Regents on Thursday approved spending $8 million on the UT Austin campus to beef up security, adding more police officers and new security technology in the areas students live, congregate and walk.
The funding was among several big-ticket items approved by the regents this week, including a $60 million basketball and rowing practice facility in Austin and a medical school in Tyler.
The funding request for security from President Gregory L. Fenves comes almost a month after two UT students were injured in a stabbing spree in downtown Austin. At that time, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called on Fenves and UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin P. Eltife to take action.
“We are taking these actions because there has been an uptick in violent crime in Austin during recent months,” Fenves said in a statement. “Thousands of UT students live and congregate in West Campus, and many students and employees travel through the area to get to class and work. I am grateful for Chairman Kevin Eltife and the Board of Regents’ support for enhancing UT’s safety and security in this neighborhood next to our campus.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Gov. Abbott Says Texas Is Preparing For Possible Spread Of Coronavirus (KUT)
The Texas Department of Public Safety is almost ready to roll out its long-awaited lab test to tell if cannabis is newly legal hemp or illegal marijuana. But DPS Director Steve McCraw notified Texas law enforcement agencies this month of a crucial caveat: The state labs won’t do testing in misdemeanor marijuana possession cases.
That will likely entrench what has become a patchwork system of marijuana enforcement across the state. Possession of a small amount of pot could mean no criminal charges in one county and jail time in a neighboring one. In Texas, misdemeanor marijuana offenses include possession of up to 4 ounces and the sale or delivery of up to 7 grams.
The situation comes after the Texas Legislature changed the definition of marijuana last year in order to legalize hemp, drawing a new distinction between two substances that can look and smell the same. The illegal drug changed from the cannabis plant to cannabis containing more than 0.3% THC, the compound in the plant that produces a high… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Democratic presidential candidates begin to crowd Texas for final pre-primary sprint (Texas Tribune)
The Democratic presidential candidates have begun flooding Texas for the final sprint before the state’s delegate-rich primary Tuesday.
Billionaire Michael Bloomberg kicked off the packed homestretch schedule here Thursday morning, branding Super Tuesday as “our chance to nominate a candidate who will liberate us from the insanity of Donald Trump.” Addressing a crowd at a downtown concert venue, the former New York City mayor continued to pitch himself as uniquely able to take on Trump while dropping several reminders of the outsize attention he has paid to Texas while skipping the first few early voting states.
“It’s getting like this is my home away from home,” he said of Houston, later invoking the city nickname inspired by its NBA team. “We need Clutch City to come through.”
Early voting for the Texas primary ends Friday. It began Feb. 18… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Legislators Face Tech-Heavy Agenda as They Confront the Future: Digital Issues to Watch (Governing)
It’s a common refrain: technology moves at warp speed; policy not so fast. But never before has so much new technology been adopted and put to use by the economy in a relatively short period of time, while raising a litany of concerns about its impact. In just a few years, technologies once considered niche have become mainstream. Just look at how fast artificial intelligence, drones, e-scooters and cryptocurrencies have emerged as major and disruptive players. Compounding this growth is the insatiable need for data. To feed the demand, telcom companies are building bigger and faster networks. Computing power needs to keep pace or stay ahead of the demand from these and other innovations, fueling new generations of automation, robotics and high-performance processing. In government, it has meant multiple hybrids of on-premises and cloud infrastructure even as industry players make competing claims about quantum breakthroughs.
Once again, policymakers are playing catch-up, trying to constrain the worst elements of these new technologies without strangling their innovative and economic impact. Problems with data privacy have taken center stage and tied to it are some key tech elements, such as AI. Exacerbating these issues are the inconsistent, often weak efforts by government to protect everyone’s personal information from hackers and data thieves. And what to do about all those drones in the air and e-scooters on the streets?… (LINK TO THE FULL 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.
PLEASE RESHARE and FOLLOW:
Twitter #binghamgp
Instagram #binghamgp