BG Reads | News You Need to Know (February 11, 2021)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
NEW // BG Podcast EP. 128: Talking Tech Flight and Austin with Kleiner Perkins Investor Haomiao Huang, PhD.
Today’s episode features Kleiner Perkins Investor Haomiao Huang, PhD. With all the recent and continued media hype around tech flight to Austin (and Miami), we wanted to get on the ground perspective from Sand Hill Road. As a bonus, Haomiao grew up in Austin (he and Bingham Group CEO A.J. attended the same high school - Go Jags!). Haomiao also discusses his path into the venture capital world, and thoughts on being a good investor.
You can listen to this episode and previous ones on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.. Please like, link, comment and subscribe!
CITY OF AUSTIN
THE 87TH TEXAS LEGISLATURE
LINK TO FILED HOUSE BILLS (2,048)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Council to consider proposition fix at Friday night meeting (Austin Monitor)
City Council is scheduled to meet once again this Friday night to consider one more possible ordinance to place on the May 1 ballot.
On Tuesday night, after a long day of making decisions about how to word eight proposed charter amendments and ordinances, Council called it a day and Mayor Steve Adler canceled meetings scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. But Council Member Vanessa Fuentes started worrying about what might happen if voters approved either Proposition F (strong-mayor proposal) or Proposition G (adding a Council district), but not both.
Fuentes wrote on the City Council Message Board: “Upon reflection of today’s votes on ballot items, I would like to gauge interest in convening a special called meeting to discuss a new ballot proposal that would address a potential scenario of 6-6 votes on Council should the ballot item creating the 11th Council district (Prop G) pass and the strong-mayor (Prop F) proposal fail, or vice versa. As an effort to avoid the unintended consequence of gridlock on policy issues moving forward, I ultimately think it’s worth the conversation of adding an additional Council district to maintain the majority vote on Council. This would also serve well for increased representation in our city.”
In response to Fuentes and to Mayor Pro Tem Natasha Harper-Madison, Adler posted an announcement of a special called meeting, set for 9:45 p.m. Friday in order to comply with the 72-hour posting requirement for public meetings. Adler told the Austin Monitor that Council could not wait until Saturday, for example, or they would miss the deadline for providing ballot language for the May 1 election. If any charter amendments on the May 1 ballot win voter approval, the city will not be able to hold another charter election for two years, until May 2023.
If approved by voters, the strong-mayor form of government would take effect after the November 2024 election. The city has already appointed a committee to work on redrawing Council district maps this summer. It is not a quick and easy process.
Adler made it clear that Council would not be reconsidering language already approved for the other eight items… (LINK TO STORY)
How's the Austin office market looking? Subleases way up but rebound expected in second half of 2021 (Austin Business Journal)
Austin’s office market has lost considerable steam since March 2020, with subleasing activity increasing by 210% since the start of the pandemic. That was the bottom line of a “Boots on the Ground” fourth-quarter report recently released by Colliers International.
A separate Q4 report published by Aquila Commercial, meanwhile, pointed out new office leases dipped significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the rebound of Austin's jobs market — the metro ranks No. 3 in the U.S. for fewest jobs lost in the country — and the possible injection of new jobs through corporate relocations and expansions could mean good things for the area's office market in the months to come… (LINK TO STORY)
Planning commissioners: We’re not building enough affordable housing (Austin Monitor)
Planning commissioners expressed concern this week about the lack of progress made toward the city’s affordable housing production goals. The discussion followed a presentation of the recently released Strategic Housing Blueprint Scorecard, which shows how much affordable housing has been created in relation to the blueprint‘s annual targets.
“Yes, we’re building more affordable housing,” said Commissioner Jeffrey Thompson, “but if we’re not hitting that number at 100 percent of the target, there are going to be even more people who are struggling to find affordable housing in Austin, or worse, they’re not going to be in Austin.”
Multiple categories fell short of the annual targets. Only 118 new income-restricted units for families making less than 30 percent MFI were created last year out of a goal of 2,000. Units at 80 percent MFI fell similarly short. Affordable housing production was well under the target in all but two Council districts.
The program, which began in 2017, aims to help create 135,000 new homes by 2028, including 60,000 units affordable to those making 80 percent or less of area MFI.
The Housing and Planning Department’s Mandy De Mayo, who presented the scorecard, gave two reasons why affordable housing creation lagged in some areas: the program’s goals are “extremely ambitious and aggressive,” she said, and the annual numbers don’t show projects in the early stages of development.
De Mayo expects much better results in the next two years, with many more affordable units in the works. “I’m forever the optimist,” she said. “And I do recognize that a lot of our investments take time to come to fruition.”
Commissioner James Shieh worried that Austin’s growth renders the blueprint’s goals inadequate. “At what point are we gonna have to look at our housing blueprint and say, all these goals that we had were based upon a different trajectory.”
De Mayo said that the goals set in 2017 took into account Austin’s expected growth, with an eye toward helping not just people already living in Austin, but those who would like to move to the city.
Commissioner Joao Paulo Connolly pointed out that most of the affordable housing built so far has been east of Interstate 35. “The districts that really are doing their part, or going above and beyond doing their part in terms of taking on the affordable housing stock for our city, continue to be the districts that are historically the people-of-color districts, the working-class districts with the lowest incomes in the city.”
The commissioners wondered how to incentivize more affordable housing without a comprehensive Land Development Code rewrite, since that effort remains stuck in litigation. They mentioned expanding the density bonus program to areas beyond downtown, creating more Imagine Austin corridors in West Austin, as well as interim LDC fixes while the lawsuit moves through the courts… (LINK TO STORY)
Texas AG wades into Williamson County fight with Austin’s hotel purchase to house homeless (KXAN)
The Texas attorney general’s office added its support to the fight brewing in Williamson County over the Austin City Council’s purchase of a hotel to eventually house people experiencing homelessness.
Aaron Reitz, the deputy attorney general for legal strategy, joined local leaders and business owners during a news conference Wednesday afternoon. He shared that Attorney General Ken Paxton is looking to “see what legal avenues there may be” to challenge Austin’s decision.
“At the last minute, without consulting anybody, without conducting an economic analysis, a safety and security analysis or a health analysis of its decisions, [the City Council] entered into a major contract and just sort of kicked the problem up to Williamson County,” Reitz said. “It’s not fair. It’s not just. It stinks.”
In a 10-1 vote, the Austin City Council approved the proposal to buy a hotel in northwest Austin on Feb. 4, a week later than the vote was originally planned. Plans call for the Candlewood Suites on Pecan Park Boulevard to provide 80 housing units for people experiencing homelessness.
Ahead of that vote, the Williamson County commissioners asked the council on Feb. 2 to hold off voting, citing there needed to be more discussion between the county and city council and more community engagement.
Additionally, Texas Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, said he filed Senate Bill 646 Wednesday that would “require notification and coordination between a county and a city when it comes to addressing the homeless population would require.” According to the brief description posted online, the legislation would specifically require a county’s approval of a “proposed purchase or conversion by a municipality of a property to house homeless individuals.”
Williamson County Commissioner Cynthia Long said she supports Schwertner’s proposal.
“In a 10-1 vote, the city basically told Williamson County, ‘Take a hike,'” Long said during the Wednesday news conference.
During their meeting Tuesday, the county commissioners approved having their general counsel propose an engagement agreement with a law firm to represent Williamson County in potential legal action against the City of Austin.
Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell threatened Wednesday that a lawsuit would be filed.
“I want to say this unequivocally clear to the City of Austin: don’t mess with Williamson County,” Gravell said. “I want you to know that Williamson County will use any and all resources to protect our citizenry. You have stepped over the line without coming to the table and having a conversation. I’m willing to have that conversation, but if you are not, we will take you to a conversation in the local courthouse, and you will not be pleased with the outcome.”
When asked later what specific legal action the attorney general could take to prevent Austin from taking this type of action, Reitz would only speak generally.
“Attorney General Paxton has devoted the resources, the attorneys, the time, the bandwidth in our office to explore all options,” Reitz said… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas senators grill embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton over election lawsuit, Google case (Dallas Morning News)
Facing tough questions from state senators, embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defended his office’s failed effort to overturn presidential election results in key battleground states and its decision to spend millions of dollars on a lawsuit against Google. The Senate finance hearing Wednesday marks the first time Paxton has had to answer publicly to state legislators about his controversial, high-profile actions over the last several months.
The Republican has drawn national criticism for challenging the election results in four other states and attending the pro-Trump rally in Washington, D.C. before a mob attacked the Capitol. The state’s top attorney is also being sued for retaliation by several former senior staff, after they accused Paxton of abusing the office to help a friend and campaign donor. The FBI is investigating the accusations, which Paxton has denied, according to The Associated Press.
Senators of both parties were uncharacteristically critical of the state’s top lawyer. Several questioned his office’s request for $43 million to cover outside legal services to support antitrust litigation against Google. Roughly $20 million is needed to pay for subject experts, agency officials said Wednesday. Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, questioned why the office needed to hire outside lawyers when lawmakers have funded pay raises in the past to help the agency retain top legal talent.
“I continue to have big concerns about some of the outside counsel that is being hired,” she said during the committee hearing in Austin. Several Republican senators raised concern over a settlement agreement reached with opioid manufacturers they said could cut the Legislature out of decisions over how the money is spent. At one point, finance committee Chairwoman Jane Nelson told Paxton she was “very, very unhappy” the agency allocated tens of millions of dollars to raise salaries without legislative approval, at a time when money is tight. “We have an appropriations process for a reason and if every agency did what yours did, General Paxton, we wouldn’t have a budget,” said Nelson, R-Flower Mound. “We wouldn’t even need a budget.” Paxton said he wished the agency “had done that one differently.” Otherwise, the second-term attorney general largely stood his ground. He defended the agency’s decision to bring on two outside firms to lead the antitrust case against Google, a tech company he called a “significant force.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Jenna Ryan, a Texas real-estate agent charged in the Capitol insurrection, says she 'bought into a lie' and regrets 'everything' (Business Insider)
Jenna Ryan, a Texas real-estate agent who infamously took a private jet to Washington, DC, to attend what turned into the riot at the US Capitol and who has since been criminally charged over the insurrection, now says she is embarrassed by her actions and regrets "everything."
On January 15, Ryan was arrested and charged with two federal misdemeanor counts of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted government building without lawful authority and disorderly conduct.
Ryan told The Washington Post she felt abandoned by the group of "patriots" who she said she came to the nation's capital to support.
"I bought into a lie, and the lie is the lie, and it's embarrassing," she said. "I regret everything."
As the FBI outlined in an affidavit, Ryan's participation in the riot was well documented on social media. Video footage from the event showed Ryan in the crowd that breached the Capitol wearing a "Trump" beanie hat. She also promoted her real-estate business, with her full name, to one of the many cameras rolling at the event.
Ryan also posed for a photo next to a broken window at the Capitol with a peace hand signal, according to the affidavit, captioning the photo on Twitter: "window at The capital. And if the news doesn't stop lying about us we're going to come after their studios next."
After the attack, she also bragged on Twitter: "We just stormed the Capital. It was one of the best days of my life."… (LINK TO STORY)
NYSE head says exchange isn’t moving ‘yet’ as Texas Gov. Abbott woos with favorable tax proposal (Dallas Morning News)
New York Stock Exchange president Stacey Cunningham says she doesn’t want to move the storied exchange away from Wall Street but could be forced to do so if New York lawmakers push forward with a financial transactions tax. Cunningham, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “The NYSE isn’t moving – yet,” offered a blunt assessment of what she described as “the folly of this tax.” Her commentary came only days after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott proposed a ban on financial transaction taxes that would be favorable for stock exchanges. Abbott has been wooing NYSE, Nasdaq and other financial services firms for months to move the data networks to Texas that process millions of daily trades.
The NYSE chief points to the trend of white-collar Wall Street workers relocating to states like Texas, Florida and others “with hospitable tax policies.” She wrote that her exchange could be forced to “find a new home” if a stock transfer tax being considered in New York’s state capital becomes law.
“Some of our customers are already asking about our willingness to relocate,” Cunningham wrote. Dallas-Fort Worth has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of financial firms looking to reduce costs by expanding in other cities. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs both have beefed up operations in North Texas in recent years, in some cases moving jobs here from New York. Stock exchanges have been threatening to move their digital operations out of the New York and New Jersey metro areas since last year when a proposed tax on financial transactions in New Jersey spurred several, including Nasdaq Inc., to explore new potential homes… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
With new video footage, managers show how close rioters got to Pence and lawmakers (NPR)
House impeachment managers showed chilling new footage to senators during Day 2 of Donald Trump's Senate impeachment trial, highlighting just how close the violent mob got to then-Vice President Mike Pence and congressional lawmakers on Jan. 6.
Video from the U.S. Capitol's security cameras shows members of Congress evacuating their chambers, including one clip in which Sen. Mitt Romney is warned of a nearby mob and darts the other way. In another video, a rioter is heard looking for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the rioter paces down a hallway.
Also shown was a police officer's body camera footage, from more than two hours after the Capitol was breached, of officers brutally assaulted by the mob. One officer screams in anguish as he is crushed in a doorway by the rioters.
Two impeachment managers — Del. Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands and then California Rep. Eric Swalwell, both Democrats — presented the footage Wednesday, pausing to share context on the timeline of the events as well as a model that tracked the progression of rioters as they entered and moved within the Capitol.
After the presentation, Romney told Capitol Hill reporters that viewing the footage was an emotional experience.
"It tears at your heart and brings tears to your eyes," the Utah Republican said. "That was overwhelmingly distressing and emotional."
He said he'd never seen the video of himself before and had no idea how close he was to the rioters. "I was very fortunate indeed," he said… (LINK TO STORY)
What Andrew Yang’s UBI proposal would mean for NYC (Bloomberg CityLab)
By traditional metrics, Andrew Yang’s 2020 presidential bid ended in defeat. But the political newcomer’s legacy endures, as his campaign centerpiece, universal basic income, slowly becomes more mainstream in cities across the country.
Now, as Yang embarks on a new campaign for mayor of New York City, he’s again made cash relief a pillar of his platform. It’s unclear yet how Yang will fare against an early slate of nearly three dozen candidates — thus far, he’s garnered criticism for wrongly identifying a bodega, and for comments viewed as out of touch with regular New Yorkers. But as during his national run, he’s bringing serious policy attention to the concept of giving residents recurring cash payments, no strings attached.
This time, he’s talking less about the threat of automation to America’s jobs, and more about the economic devastation wrought locally by the coronavirus. Yang’s New York City proposal is not nearly as expansive as the “Freedom Dividend” of $1,000 a month for all American adults he pitched as a presidential hopeful. And it would not be “universal,” instead targeting half a million of New York City’s lowest-income residents. Recipients would receive an average of $2,000 annually, depending on income, costing the city $1 billion a year, with the potential for expansion through private funding.
“Most everyone knows that if I had my way, we’d all be getting $1,000 a month from the federal government,” Yang told Bloomberg CityLab. “I’m thrilled to make it happen in the biggest, greatest city in the country.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Bitcoin to Come to America's Oldest Bank, BNY Mellon (Wall Street Journal)
Bank of New York Mellon Corp., the nation’s oldest bank, is making the leap into the market for cryptocurrencies.
The custody bank said Thursday it will hold, transfer and issue bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on behalf of its asset-management clients. In time, BNY Mellon will allow those digital assets to pass through the same plumbing used by managers’ other, more traditional holdings—from Treasurys to technology stocks—using a platform that is now in prototype. The bank is already discussing plans with clients to bring their digital currencies into the fold.
“Digital assets are becoming part of the mainstream,” said Roman Regelman, chief executive of BNY Mellon’s asset-servicing and digital businesses.
It’s a big step for Wall Street’s back-office banks, whose concerns over regulatory, legal and stability risks left them reluctant to come into direct contact with crypto markets. But as prices of bitcoin and other digital assets have continued to rise, they have become more popular with asset managers, hedge funds and other institutional investors.
And those firms’ top executives started asking BNY Mellon and their peers to treat digital assets as they would their other holdings, Mr. Regelman said.
BNY Mellon isn’t the first big-name financial firm to declare its interest in digital assets. Fidelity Investments announced plans in October 2018 to store and trade bitcoin and ether, another digital currency, and a year later won regulatory approval to operate its crypto business in New York.
But BNY Mellon’s announcement marks the first time one of the big custody banks has unveiled a road map for treating digital currencies as any other asset. And the bank hasn’t put limits on the kinds of digital assets it will allow clients to store there.
BNY Mellon intends to begin offering these capabilities later this year… (LINK TO STORY)