BG Reads | News You Need to Know (June 2, 2022)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
Please join us in welcoming Sophia Zhao and Auj Momin as our 2022 Summer Bingham Group interns!
Both are currently undergraduates at McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin. Their work will include market research and analysis for the firm.
We are excited to have them on the team!
[HEARINGS]
Thursday, 6/9
[AUSTIN METRO]
Downtown Austin surpasses pre-pandemic levels for development, growth (KXAN)
The Downtown Austin Alliance (DAA) has revealed findings from its 2022 State of Downtown economic impact report. According to the report, downtown housing and office markets have surpassed pre-pandemic levels with 22 current or planned major commercial construction projects.
“Given the recent influx of residents and businesses into our region, the State of Downtown report is essential to understanding the direction our downtown is headed. It also informs strategies for preserving our unique character and maintaining a welcoming, dynamic downtown for years to come,” Dewitt Peart, president and CEO of the Downtown Austin Alliance, said.
This is the first report that shows data on the economic indicators that impact downtown Austin since 2019… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
You can take a look at the 2022 State of Downtown report here.
Austin police officers who were indicted over actions during George Floyd protests sue the city (Texas Tribune)
Austin police officers facing indictments over their use of force during racial justice protests two years ago are suing the city, saying they didn’t receive training on how to use the “less than lethal” rounds employed during the demonstrations and that city officials knew the rounds were defective.
When protesters flooded the streets of Austin in May 2020 after the murder of George Floyd, Austin police officers used 12-gauge shotguns to fire beanbag rounds — small cloth baggies filled with #9 lead — on demonstrators. Several people were seriously wounded and sued the city, resulting in over $13 million in settlements.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, five officers — Joshua Jackson, Rolan Rast, Todd Gilbertson, Derrick Lehman and Alexander Lomovstev — said they received “limited or no training” about the beanbag rounds. Police officers across units were asked to respond to the protests, including patrolmen and detectives with little training on riot response, the lawsuit says… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
How Texas' booming population is felt around Austin (AXIOS)
The Lone Star State led the country in population growth last year, and Central Texas drove much of that increase.
The big picture: America's top 15 cities by percentage growth last year were clustered in Texas, Arizona and Florida, with a few in Idaho and one in Tennessee.
Why it matters: It's the latest sign that people in the U.S. are heading South and West to build new boomtowns, tech hubs and powerhouses.
Yes, but: Those population spikes can lead to affordability issues, soaring rents and mortgage rates, environmental challenges and more.
Zoom in: Census Bureau data released last week showed Georgetown was the fastest growing city from July 2020 to July 2021 — increasing by 10.5%.
If that rate continues, the population will double in less than seven years.
Next was Leander (10.1%) ... and New Braunfels (8.3%) took fifth… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Cultural Arts continues revisions for arts contracts funded by hotel tax (Austin Monitor)
The city is moving ahead with further revisions to its process for awarding contracts for Cultural Arts funding, with the rollout of the first phase of a three-tiered pilot program expected to take place in October.
Cultural Arts staff members gave an update last week to City Council’s Audit and Finance Committee on their progress in the multi-year process of restructuring the way contracts are awarded. The current round of changes began in 2019 to add emphasis on equity and improving the viability of new and niche arts groups that had traditionally not received much – if any – arts funding from the city’s share of Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue.
In her presentation, Cultural Arts Division Manager Meghan Wells said the equity focus is being balanced against increasing concerns from the city’s Law Department over how heavily race can be considered in evaluating applicants looking to receive city funds or other resources.
“We understand the importance of intersectionality and how we can address other historically marginalized communities such as LGBTQ and disability communities,” she said. “We are also mitigating the concerns by the Law Department and Council about the legal risk of leading with racial equity. It has been a difficult balance.”
The roughly $6.6 million in the next batch of Cultural Arts contracts will be broken up into three rounds of funding for recipients of different sizes and purposes… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Gov. Greg Abbott asks for legislative recommendations in response to Uvalde shooting (Texas Tribune)
Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday morning called on the Texas Legislature to form special committees to make legislative recommendations in response to the Uvalde school shooting.
In a letter to House Speaker Dade Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Senate's presiding officer, Abbott told his fellow Republicans that the state "must reassess the twin issues of school safety and mass violence." He said the committee process should start "immediately" and outlined five topics he would like the committees to take up.
Phelan said the House was already getting down to work, while Patrick named a committee Wednesday evening.
Notably, the topics that Abbott identified include "firearm safety." Abbott last week essentially ruled out gun restrictions as a response to the massacre, in which a gunman killed 19 students and two adults last week at Robb Elementary School. He focused his attention on mental health care and school security in his public comments… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas state senator says Abbott ‘has tried to bamboozle’ community after Uvalde shooting (The Hill)
A Texas state senator accused Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Wednesday of trying to “bamboozle” Texans “into thinking that we’re actually going to do something” following a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last month that left 21 people dead.
During an interview on CNN, anchor Wolf Blitzer asked Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez (D) to respond to Abbott’s announcement earlier in the day that he had requested the lieutenant governor and Texas House Speaker to convene special legislative committees focusing on school safety, mental health, social media, police training and firearm safety.
Gutierrez, whose district includes Uvalde, said the call for committees, like similar actions after previous mass shootings in the state, would not bring about meaningful reform, adding that there was no process to convene special committees unless the governor called a special session.
“He … has tried to bamboozle, I think, this community into thinking that we’re actually going to do something,” the state senator said of Abbott. “He did this — this is the same deal that he did after Santa Fe and El Paso and Sutherland Springs, roundtables, recommendations, and nothing led to any meaningful legislation.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[BG PODCAST]
Episode 158: Managing Growth in the City of Kyle - A Discussion with Council Member Dex Ellison
Today’s episode (158) features City of Kyle Council Member Dex Ellison. He and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss the growth and associated challenges with one the fastest growing cities in Texas.
According to the U.S. Census, the city grew from a populations of 5,000 in 2000, to just over 52,300 (and growing) in 2020.
First elected to Kyle City Council in November 2019, Council Member Ellison was re-elected in November 2019. -> EPISODE LINK