BG Reads | News You Need to Know (April 20, 2021)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
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BG Podcast EP. 138: Q1 2021 Review with Veronica Briseño, Chief Economic Recovery Officer, City of Austin
On today’s episode we speak with return guest Veronica Briseño, Chief Economic Recovery Officer for the City of Austin.
Veronica and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss developments in Q1, including recent efforts by the city and Austin Council including the Economic Recovery and Resiliency Framework (bit.ly/3sbsJ6d), released last month.
You can listen to all episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud. New content every Wednesday. Please like, link, comment and subscribe!
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
[THE 87TH TEXAS LEGISLATURE]
LINK TO FILED HOUSE BILLS (5,630)
LINK TO FILED SENATE BILLS (2,596)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
City pulls plug on westward expansion for Austin Convention Center (Austin American-Statesman)
Austin Convention Center officials will no longer seek to expand the facility westward after negotiations to buy adjacent property reached an impasse.
The asking price for the property west of the center was too steep for the city to stomach, and developers began questioning whether they would be able to meet expansion expectations by acquiring that property.
"We're certainly disappointed that we couldn't make it work, but we are in the process of regrouping," said Katy Zamesnik, acting chief administrative officer of the Austin Convention Center Department. "We're going to be looking at our options and in hopes to have an update really soon."
The decision to end negotiations calls into question the future of the Austin Convention Center, which had been set for a $1.2 billion expansion after getting City Council approval in 2019.
Austin Convention Center officials will no longer seek to expand the facility westward after negotiations to buy adjacent property reached an impasse.
The asking price for the property west of the center was too steep for the city to stomach, and developers began questioning whether they would be able to meet expansion expectations by acquiring that property.
"We're certainly disappointed that we couldn't make it work, but we are in the process of regrouping," said Katy Zamesnik, acting chief administrative officer of the Austin Convention Center Department. "We're going to be looking at our options and in hopes to have an update really soon."
The decision to end negotiations calls into question the future of the Austin Convention Center, which had been set for a $1.2 billion expansion after getting City Council approval in 2019.
Those plans are now on hold as staff members begin looking at other options, Zamesnik said. Those include the possibility of expanding the convention center vertically in its current footprint.
A larger convention center is a key piece of Mayor Steve Adler's 2017 "downtown puzzle" plan that would connect hotel taxes to improving services for people experiencing homelessness.
“It’s disappointing to have this proposal not work out," Adler said in an emailed statement. "There’s now more work and analysis to do, and we need to hear what other options exist for a Convention Center expansion."… (LINK TO STORY)
Cap Metro details early TOD planning for areas near Project Connect stations (Austin Monitor)
At last Thursday’s Mobility Committee meeting, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials previewed a key part of Project Connect – creating land-use plans for areas near stations.
By guiding the development of affordable and market-rate housing, the plans aim to ensure robust ridership on the new mass transit lines while also allowing people of all means to live nearby.
“This is an opportunity to direct growth and market forces in a way that is going to help us get to a more equitable and sustainable future for Austin,” Executive Vice President Sharmila Mukherjee said.
To kick-start its transit-oriented development planning, Capital Metro received a $900,000 Equitable Transit-Oriented Development grant from the Federal Transit Administration last year.
Capital Metro will use the money, plus $250,000 of its own, to create guidelines for development within a half-mile of 13 Orange and Blue line stations on the 12-mile North Lamar/Guadalupe/Riverside corridor.
Areas for the study were chosen for their potential to accommodate new, mixed-income development. Stations in downtown, near UT and at the airport were not included. Planning for areas near the rest of the stations will be supported by Capital Metro’s soon-to-be-updated Transit-Oriented Development Toolkit, in addition to any plans resulting from future FTA ETOD grants.
The grant, Mukherjee said, “is only one way to have a transit-oriented development plan for part of the corridor. This is not a solution for the entire Project Connect.”
The work from the grant is expected to finish by spring 2022.
A primary outcome of the plans includes recommendations for generating new affordable housing and maintaining existing affordable housing near stations. The recommendations will help inform how the city spends Project Connect’s $300 million anti-displacement fund.
An “equity framework” will guide the planning, Mukherjee said, through “meaningful public engagement and how we frame the study and its processes, goals and objectives – especially keeping in mind communities that are at higher risk for displacement.”
Another important part of the plans includes land-use policy recommendations for City Council to implement, such as upzoning near stations… (LINK TO STORY)
Kirkland & Ellis opens in Austin, its third office in Texas (Bloomberg Law)
Kirkland & Ellis is opening an Austin, Texas office with more than 20 lawyers, most of whom will relocate from the firm’s other outposts to staff what will be its third office in Texas.
The office will help the firm take advantage of the technology, renewables, and alternative energy industries that have prospered in Austin in recent years, Kirkland leaders said in a statement.
For the world’s largest firm by revenue, Kirkland has been relatively judicious about where it opens offices with only 16 worldwide. But it has been building in Texas since opening in Houston in 2014 and expanding into Dallas in 2018, focusing on deal work in the energy industry and advising on more major oil and gas industry bankruptcies than any other firm. The firm has nearly 300 lawyers in the state.
The firm will look to recruit lawyers from existing Big Law firms in Austin, Andy Calder, a partner and member of Kirkland’s Executive Committee , said in an interview. But Kirkland also hopes to tap into a pool of lawyers who would be open to relocating to Austin, which has attracted transplants from coastal cities during the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s an obvious extension of our Texas platform and if it adds that benefit of being a compelling city to live and work in, then we are happy to provide that platform,” said Calder, who opened the firm’s Houston office after Kirkland hired him from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
Last year Kirkland’s partners earned, on average, more than $6 million in profits per equity partner, The American Lawyer reported. The firm’s revenue in 2020 reached $4.8 billion, up 16% from 2019.
Many prestigious law firms had record financial years in 2020, and that has driven a competitive market for associates and partners in premium practice areas such as big-ticket corporate transactions and financings.
Kirkland’s Austin office will initially be staffed by partners Marc Browning, Stephen Butler, Kim Hicks, and Doug Tedeschi, who have relocated from other offices. Browning and Hicks are corporate partners who will move from the firm’s Houston office. Butler is a tax partner formerly in the firm’s Houston office, and Tedeschi is a debt finance partner moving from the firm’s Chicago office… (LINK TO STORY)
ATCEMS Chief Ernesto Rodriguez to retire after 40 years, Interim EMS Chief appointed (CBS Austin)
The Austin-Travis County EMS announced the retirement of Chief Ernesto Rodriguez Friday.
ATCEMS said Rodriguez announced his retirement, effective on May 31st, to medics and staff Friday afternoon.
After the announcement was made, Assistant City Manager Rey Arellano started the search for the next EMS Chief and appointed Assistant EMS Chief Jasper Brown as the Interim EMS Chief.
ATCEMS shares that Interim Chief Brown has been a part of the department for 23 years, where he began his career as a Communications Medic.
Interim Chief Brown has served the department previously as Chief of Staff for a little over 5 years, also the ranks of Commander, Division Chief, and Chief of Operations… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says Senate currently lacks the votes to pass permitless carry of handguns (Texas Tribune)
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Monday that the state Senate does not currently have the votes to pass permitless carry of handguns but that he will try to see if there is a "path" to change that.
The news from the Republican presiding officer of the Senate came days after the House approved a permitless carry bill, commonly referred to as "constitutional carry" by supporters.
“If we have the votes to pass a permitless carry bill off the Senate floor, I will move it," Patrick said in a statement. "At this point we don’t have the votes on the floor to pass it. I plan to meet with law enforcement who oppose permitless carry and with the [National Rifle Association] and [Gun Owners of America] who support it to see if we can find a path that a majority of senators will vote to pass.”
In most cases, Senate bills require 18 votes from the 31-member chamber to be considered on the floor. There are only 18 GOP senators, so a permitless-carry bill would need the support of every Republican in the chamber to reach the floor — or at least one Democratic vote if any Republicans defect... (LINK TO STORY)
Texas business leaders say Legislature’s anti-LGBTQ bills could hurt the state’s economy (Texas Tribune)
Texas business leaders Monday condemned a slate of anti-LGBTQ bills winding through the Texas Legislature as harmful to Texans and as a threat to the state’s economy, which is still reeling from the recession that accompanied the coronavirus pandemic.
Tech companies in particular may be discouraged from doing business in Texas if the bills pass, according to Servando Esparza, executive director for the Texas and the southeast region of TechNet, a network of technology CEOs and executives.
“Any barriers to opportunity in Texas will make it harder for tech companies and other employers to convince other people to call this wonderful place home,” Esparza said. “We respectfully ask lawmakers not to do anything that will make it more challenging for talented, highly educated workers that companies need to hire.”
Texas’ unemployment rate in March was 6.9%, which was flat compared to the month before and is more than double the record low of 3.4% in May 2019. March data shows the loss of around 400,000 Texas jobs in the last year. But there are continued signs of improvement — and from February to March, 99,000 jobs were added… (LINK TO STORY)
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson endorses 2nd City Council challenger over incumbent in South Dallas (Dallas Morning News)
For the second time in as many weeks, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson has endorsed another challenger instead of the incumbent in a City Council race. The campaign of Donald Parish, who is seeking to represent District 7 in South Dallas, announced Monday that the mayor backs him in the eight-person race that includes incumbent Adam Bazaldua. Parish called the mayor’s endorsement “a true blessing” and said he appreciated the support.
The endorsement follows a pattern of apparent approval the first-term mayor has given to three candidates seeking to unseat incumbents representing districts in the eastern part of the city, including where Johnson lives. Johnson last week publicly backed Yolanda Faye Williams to represent Southeast Dallas’ District 5.
His support for the two challengers so far comes after the mayor repeatedly has drawn a distinction between himself and the majority of council members who voted to cut $7 million last fall from the police department’s overtime budget. All of the funding was reallocated to initiatives designed to put more officers on patrol duty, increased street lighting in parts of the city as a crime deterrent and other public safety-related plans. Johnson was one of four votes against the cut. He and others have equated the overtime budget reduction as defunding the police department and being a hinderance to how the law enforcement agency tackles the city’s most violent crimes. Bazaldua, District 5 incumbent Jaime Resendez and District 9 incumbent Paula Blackmon were among the 11 votes in favor of the budget reallocation after Bazaldua introduced the idea… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Looming Chauvin verdict will test Biden's leadership on race (NPR)
When Joe Biden offered his condolences to the loved ones of George Floyd in a video address that played at Floyd's funeral service last year, he posed a question.
"Why, in this nation, do too many Black Americans wake up knowing they could lose their life in the course of living their life?" Biden asked.
Biden, then his party's presumptive presidential nominee, urged the country in that speech to use Floyd's death as a call for action to address systemic racism.
"Now is the time for racial justice. That's the answer we must give to our children when they ask why," Biden said in the video. "Because when there is justice for George Floyd, we will truly be on our way to racial justice in America."
As the jury deliberates in the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin, who has been charged in Floyd's death, the looming verdict could be the first significant flashpoint over race and policing in Biden's presidency.
The conclusion of the trial could also compound a moment of intense pain over police killings in the United States. Biden is expected to speak after the verdict, and the president may try to heal the soul of a divided nation. But he also appears caught in a double bind… (LINK TO STORY)
GOP struggles to rein in nativism (The Hill)
House GOP leaders are struggling to rein in the increasingly open nativism within their conference and attempting to deflect from the controversy by training their ire against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tweeted over the weekend that the GOP is not the party of “nativist dog whistles” without directly referencing the draft policy platform for a proposed caucus that called for promoting “Anglo-Saxon political traditions” and infrastructure that reflects “European architecture.”
Days later, McCarthy is backing an effort to take action against Waters, the House Financial Services Committee chairwoman, for saying that “we’ve got to get more confrontational” and “we’ve got to stay on the street, and we’ve got to get more active” about addressing police brutality against Black people.
McCarthy said Monday that he will introduce a resolution to censure Waters over what he called "dangerous comments."
"This weekend in Minnesota, Maxine Waters broke the law by violating curfew and then incited violence," McCarthy wrote on Twitter.
The Waters remarks were also criticized Monday by the judge in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who faces murder charges for the killing of George Floyd, whose death set off nationwide demonstrations last summer.
Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill ruled that the remarks were not prejudicial, however, ruling against a defense motion for a mistrial. The jury began deliberations in Chauvin’s trial on Monday.
McCarthy first announced Sunday night that he would "bring action" this week against Waters hours after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), one of the leaders of the planned “America First” caucus, said that she will introduce a resolution to expel Waters from Congress “for her continual incitement of violence.”
McCarthy's indirect distancing from the America First caucus platform followed by his joining the push against Waters shows how he is trying to maintain a delicate balancing act to try to avoid outright open warfare in the GOP while attempting to keep the extremist fringe in check… (LINK TO STORY)