BG Reads | News You Need to Know (December 21, 2021)
Congress Avenue, Downtown Austin
[BINGHAM GROUP]
The BG Podcast is back! EP. 148 features Jose "Chito" Vela III a candidate for Austin's Council District 4.
The immigration and defense attorney declared in early November, following Council Member Greg Casar announcing his candidacy for Congress (triggering an automatic resignation).
Bingham Group CEO A.J. and Associate Wendy Rodriguez discuss Chito's campaign and what he hopes to achieve if elected.
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Natasha Harper-Madison’s focus in 2022? ‘Housing, housing, housing’ (Austin Monitor)
Mayor Pro Tem Natasha Harper-Madison’s tenure on City Council has been marked by crisis. Elected in November 2018 as the District 1 representative, Harper-Madison barely had a year in office before Covid-19 struck.
“What a time to have your first term in public office!” she noted.
Though the pandemic has persisted into the last year of her first term, it hasn’t stopped Harper-Madison from pursuing other policies to improve the lives of District 1 residents and all other Austinites. In 2021, her work included bolstering the African American Cultural Heritage District, getting the Colony Park Clinic off the ground, approving tax credits for the Rosewood Courts affordable housing project, and passing Carver Museum expansion plans. She also pointed out that District 1 led in affordable housing production.
Harper-Madison is particularly proud of her ETOD resolution, a first step toward updating land use plans to allow more people to live near transit. She said it ties together her three policy “hymns” – housing, economic opportunity and mobility. It also aligns with Project Connect’s $300 million anti-displacement fund and will help guide how that money is spent. “No one else has done that,” Harper-Madison said of the anti-displacement dollars. “Watching our city become the template for the rest of the nation is a pretty cool feeling.”
Harper-Madison also notched a personal achievement this year: In January, she was voted mayor pro tem. “That was a proud moment,” she said. When Council returns this January, Harper-Madison will pass the title to Council Member Alison Alter.
Harper-Madison’s main focus going into 2022 will be addressing the deepening housing crisis: “Housing, housing, housing. We have to just keep that laser focus on housing.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Vanessa Fuentes: Putting health and equity first (Austin Monitor)
City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes stepped into a rather busy first term in office – this year, an unprecedented winter storm took Travis County by surprise and the pandemic continued to surge despite hopes for Covid-19’s retreat. But Fuentes, who now represents Southeast Austin’s District 2, took the challenge head-on.
“No amount of preparation can prepare you once you take office,” Fuentes said. “But what I learned really quickly is that I have a great team … they understand the needs of our community and they lead with service in mind. I’ve always had the motto, you’re only as good as your team.”
The focus of Fuentes’ first year on Council was wide, including ensuring an equitable vaccine response, fighting for economic justice and enhancing childhood education. She said every day she feels like she’s making a difference.
“Having the ability to make an actual, tangible impact in someone’s day-to-day life is what it’s all about,” Fuentes said. “That’s what makes me so proud to have this honor to serve as a councilwoman.”
Her background in health advocacy and community organizing has influenced the role she has taken on in Council. “We want to make sure that the local government is open, accessible and transparent to all, and … hold the system accountable if needed.”
This philosophy came into play with Fuentes’ pandemic response. The Del Valle area has struggled with the virus, so she worked hard to ensure the city’s Covid-19 response was serving all community members equally… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Pio Renteria: Seven years in office and 71 years in District 3 (Austin Monitor)
City Council Member Pio Renteria recalls the time when he was able to purchase his East Austin home for just over $20,000. Now he’s received an offer to sell it for nearly a million.
As a lifelong resident of East Austin, Renteria has experienced the whirlwind of change undergone by District 3 firsthand. Though it has been an uphill battle, Renteria says he continues to work toward alleviating Austin’s cost-of-living crisis and making affordable housing more accessible to his constituents.
Last year saw the expansion of the Chalmers Courts housing developments, which Renteria expects to be completed by next year. The complex, originally built as affordable housing during the Great Depression, has been completely renovated, and has tripled in size since the beginning of the project in 2018. The new Pathways at Chalmers Court carries forward its long legacy, working with the Housing Authority of the City of Austin to provide homes to those living at under 60 percent of the area family median income.
Renteria is also proud of the development at Plaza Saltillo, which continues to bring people to live, eat and shop along East Austin’s main public transportation corridor. It is a major transformation for the parcel of land spanning Third and Fourth streets just east of Interstate 35, which is owned by the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority and was once an abandoned rail yard. A long history of investment and displacement accelerated in 2017 with a deal between the city, Capital Metro and Endeavor Real Estate to rent out the space for mixed-use development.
Renteria says the involvement of other stakeholders has capped the affordable unit requirement at 18 percent (Mueller, which is owned by the city, is Renteria’s gold standard at 25 percent). Under these conditions, high-rise apartment complexes and major shopping destinations such as Whole Foods and Target have shot up in the surrounding area… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Amid Texas GOP’s effort to question electoral integrity, attorney general tried to indict Travis County elections chief (Texas Tribune)
In the latest Republican effort to surface scrutinizing the 2020 presidential election, Travis County’s elections chief revealed that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton pursued criminal charges against her over how she performed her duties last year.
Austin American-Statesman opinion writer Bridget Grumet first reported Monday that Paxton attempted to indict Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir early this year. DeBeauvoir said she felt Paxton was trying to intimidate her to score political points.
“It was intended to be intimidating, and, try as I might, some of that was successful,” DeBeauvoir said in an interview with The Texas Tribune. “I certainly did not expect it.”
The case never reached trial and was thrown out by a grand jury in Williamson County in April. DeBeauvoir said she wasn’t notified until July.
Paxton’s office sought to indict DeBeauvoir on a charge of unlawfully obstructing a poll watcher, which under a new voting law that went into effect this month would be a Class A misdemeanor that’s punishable by up to a year in jail, a fine of up to $4,000 or both.
For DeBeauvoir, the uncertainty stretched over months — during which she racked up $75,000 in attorney fees, she said. The county later reimbursed those fees, though DeBeauvoir didn’t know if it would when she paid them, she said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Amazon plans major expansion in Austin, to hire 2,000 workers (Austin American-Statesman)
E-commerce giant Amazon is planning a major expansion in Austin.
Amazon says it will create more than 2,000 corporate and tech jobs in Austin over the next few years.
The new roles will support teams in operations technology, retail, business and web services. Positions will include senior data engineers, senior technical program managers, user experience designers and financial analysts.
To accommodate the growth, Amazon has leased 330,000 square feet of space at a new building being developed by Cousins Properties at the Domain in North Austin. The new office space is planned to open in early 2024.
Amazon currently has more than 3,000 tech and corporate employees at its Austin Tech Hub in three locations at the Domain… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
In Texas Supreme Court case, state argues that Dallas-Houston bullet train developer can’t use eminent domain (Texas Tribune)
The Texas attorney general’s office has put its weight behind a landowner’s case against the companies developing a controversial Dallas-Houston bullet train, arguing they can’t force people to sell parcels needed for the high-speed rail project.
Weighing in on the matter at the invitation of the Texas Supreme Court, the attorney general’s office offered the latest twist in the nearly decade-long fight over a 240-mile line that would connect Dallas and Houston. While the project has picked up support from leaders of urban areas, it’s encountered hard resistance from residents of the rural counties on its proposed path.
One of those residents, Leon County landowner James Miles, sued Texas Central after the private company sought permission to survey his 600-acre property in 2015 as part of its efforts to examine the land for the project. Miles asked the courts to declare that the company did not have the right to enter his property because it does not have the eminent domain authority granted to railroad companies… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
GOP challengers to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton work to overcome Trump endorsement (Dallas Morning News)
In the video, Ken Paxton and Donald Trump both wear red ties as they shake hands on the steps at Mar-a-Lago. “Ken, I’ll tell you what,” Trump says before a crowd of campaign donors, “I am with you so much, you have no idea.” The moment played out in private at a closed-door fundraiser this month. But Paxton quickly broadcast the exchange to thousands of his Twitter followers, along with a message: “Thank you Mr. President.” Staring down his most competitive race in years, the state’s embattled attorney general is playing the Trump card. Paxton is banking the former president’s support will help him fend off three serious GOP challengers and drown out criticism of his mounting legal troubles. Trump remains a popular figure in the Republican party, especially among the state’s most conservative voters who typically turn out in primaries.
But his endorsement, while coveted by the right, is not a panacea: a Trump-backed congressional candidate in North Texas lost to a fellow Republican earlier this year. Paxton’s challengers say Trump backed the wrong person. “I still remain a supporter of (Trump’s) ideas and his policies, but I think he made a mistake on this one,” said George P. Bush, who lobbied hard for Trump’s endorsement. It’s not clear how present Trump will be on the campaign trail. But he’s already helping Paxton boost what had been flagging fundraising numbers. The event at Mar-a-Lago, where guests could fork over $50,000 for a photo with Paxton and Trump, helped infuse a whopping $750,000 into the attorney general’s campaign coffers, according to the Texas Tribune. Recently, Paxton expressed optimism he could win the March 1 primary outright and avoid a run-off. “Definitely at this point I’ve got a really good chance,” he told conservative radio host Mark Davis on Dec. 10. “We continue to be successful in pushing back on the Biden administration and taking on these pro-life issues. The things that Texans want, we’re doing.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Democrats set to play hardball with Manchin (The Hill)
Senate Democrats are signaling they plan to take more of a hardball approach to pressuring Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to support their climate and social spending agenda after months of kid-glove treatment failed to deliver his vote.
Democrats are threatening to drive a wedge between Manchin and his many lower-income constituents who stand to reap billions of dollars in federal benefits if Build Back Better passes, including an enhanced child tax credit, lower Medicare-negotiated prescription drug prices and subsidies to cover the cost of childcare.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday said Manchin will have to repeatedly defend his opposition to these popular programs by voting on the floor and took a subtle shot at his colleague for trying to dictate national policy through an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” over the weekend.
Democratic aides say that Manchin can expect more tough treatment from Schumer and other Democratic lawmakers who are now under new pressure from the party’s base for failing to deliver on the “big, bold” agenda they promised earlier this year.
“He has had absolutely no pressure,” said one Democratic aide, citing Manchin’s friendly meetings with the at the White House and at Biden’s home in Delaware this fall that failed to produce results.
“Biden’s got to grab him by the lapels and say, ‘Listen, this ends now,’” the aide added, warning there’s little prospect of passing another piece of major legislation before the 2022 midterms if Build Back Better fails to pass… (LINK TO FULL STORY)