BG Reads | News You Need to Know (December 8, 2022)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin Energy rate case moving slowly at Council (Austin monitor)
During Tuesday’s work session, most members of City Council seemed poised to agree that Austin Energy should have an additional $31.3 million in revenue and that the customer service charge should be around $12 or $13 a month instead of the originally proposed $25 per month. They also seemed to agree that there should be four residential rate tiers and that the utility should strive to add more low-income customers to the Customer Assistance Program. That was the case at noon on Tuesday when Mayor Steve Adler turned over the meeting to Mayor Pro Tem Alison Alter… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin residents weigh in on the future of Zilker Park (CBS AUSTIN)
Austin residents are getting a chance to weigh in on the future of Zilker Park. City leaders are building a Zilker Park Vision Plan to direct the park’s future development, preservation, and care.
A draft plan lays out the changes being evaluated. One would replace the Park Ranger Station with a Welcome Center. That would give the park an official entrance with restrooms and concessions and serve as a central meeting place for park users to get information and buy tickets. That proposal is part of an overall rethinking of the park’s future… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin Will Elect a New Mayor Next Week. Will It Matter? (GOVERNING)
With its weak-mayor form of government, the capital city’s top job only has so much power. But the issue of housing affordability has consumed the race, which will end in a runoff between two Democrats next week… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Council members irked at low appraisal of parkland for Oracle expansion (Austin MONITOR)
City Council members pushed back against some of the steps taken by staff over the past year to work out a complex swap of city parkland approved by voters last year.
During Tuesday’s work session, Mayor Pro Tem Alison Alter used discussion of Item 60 on today’s agenda to question the appraisal process used to determine the value of a 9-acre parcel on South Lakeshore Boulevard near South Pleasant Valley Road, currently the site of the city’s central maintenance complex. That parcel is the key piece in last fall’s Proposition B, which called for it to be exchanged for 48 acres of waterfront parkland elsewhere along with enough money to rebuild the existing maintenance complex and remove a similar facility at Fiesta Gardens.
Tech giant Oracle came forward with the proposal to acquire the parkland it hopes to integrate into its campus that sites immediately to the west of the property… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Travis County judges can’t hear appeals from migrants arrested under Texas border security push, court rules (TExas TRIBUNE)
Texas’ highest criminal court has shut the door on the hopes of hundreds of migrants swept up in the state’s “arrest-and-jail” border security crackdown who tried to have their border-area trespassing charges thrown out by Austin judges.
In a significant win for Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled unanimously Wednesday that Travis County courts can’t weigh claims of wrongful detention caused by misdemeanor arrests 200 miles away… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Thermal power trade group pushes incentive plan to boost production (San ANtonio express news)
Texas Competitive Power Advocates, the state's largest trade group for thermal generation, said late Monday its members could build as much as 4,600 megawatts of power -- enough to cool nearly 1 million homes on a summer day -- if their preferred plan for the ERCOT power market redesign is enacted as proposed. Michele Richmond, the group's executive director, told the Texas House State Affairs Committee at a hearing that the ERCOT market does not incentivize investors or companies to build new natural gas generation, especially with rising fuel and operating costs. But she said one of the market redesign proposals introduced last month by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, known as the Performance Credit Mechanism or PCM, would create enough certainty and opportunities for growth for companies to begin building more… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Gov. Greg Abbott says he will nominate retiring state Sen. Jane Nelson to be secretary of state (TExas Tribune)
Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday he will nominate retiring state Sen. Jane Nelson to be secretary of state. The announcement comes one day after John Scott said he would step down from the role at the end of the year.
Nelson, R-Flower Mound, is retiring from the Senate this year after 30 years in the Legislature. Her nomination to be the state’s top elections official will give Abbott a strong candidate for Senate approval after his last three nominees dating to 2018 have failed to be confirmed.
“I look forward to this new chapter of public service and appreciate the confidence Governor Abbott has placed in me to serve as Secretary of State,” Nelson said in a statement. “Voters expect fair elections with accurate, timely results, and I am committed to making that happen. Texans with all political views should have faith in our election system.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[BG PODCAST]
Bingham Group Week in Review (12.5.2022)
Bingham Group Associate Hannah Garcia and CEO A.J. recap the week (and the week ahead) in City of Austin Politics. (Episode 172)
Happy Thanksgiving!
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