BG Reads | News You Need to Know (June 24, 2022)
Legal fight raging as Austin wants to raze airport's South Terminal to make way for expansion (Austin American-Statesman)
The airport's South Terminal, which opened in 2017, is separate from the main Barbara Jordan Terminal. Low-cost carriers Allegiant Airlines and Frontier Airlines operate from the South Terminal.
Tearing down the South Terminal is part of the city’s long-term expansion plan for the Austin airport, which calls for 20 new gates in the main terminal, additional ticketing and baggage space and 2 million square feet of new terminal and concourse space to be added between 2019 and 2029.
The city owns the land the South Terminal sits on, but Zev Kusin, a partner at Marrs, Ellis and Hodge in Austin and an expert on eminent domain law, said the “property” in this case isn’t the land but rather is the contract the city signed with LoneStar.
“Property rights are a very broad term in law. Ninety-nine times out of 100 what gets condemned is land but it doesn’t have to be,” Kusin said. “Anything that technically be considered property rights can be condemned and that includes contracts.”
However, Kusin said he has never seen a case where a city has petitioned for eminent domain to get out of a contract the city itself signed — though he said that situation might be more common at the federal level.
“It’s pretty unusual,” he said. “I can’t recall another time I've seen that particular scenario play out in Texas.”
Mayor Steve Adler, an attorney who has expertise in eminent domain law, said before he was an elected official he represented a leaseholder in a similar case about 15 years ago, when the city used eminent domain to condemn a lease at the airport.
"Eminent domain is the tool that government uses to acquire property for public use when the owner the property interests and the government can't agree on what appropriate compensation should be," Adler said. "In this case, airport and the city have determined that it's in the best interest of the public property be acquired and this is the process to value it."
The city’s petition names LoneStar, which entered into a private-public partnership to help build and then operate the South Terminal, and Texas Capital Bank as the two entities with financial interest in the leasehold… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Plans for The District in Round Rock see overhaul following new market demands (Community Impact)
As the U.S. Supreme Court nears a decision on whether to overturn federal abortion protections, a rookie Austin City Council member says he wants to impede criminal consequences for women who decide to terminate a pregnancy. A resolution making the rounds at City Hall would direct the Austin Police Department to make abortion-related investigations its lowest priority, and would also prohibit police from cooperating with outside agencies in any abortion investigations. The nonbinding initiative is more of a recommendation than a directive, as the council cannot dictate policy to the Police Department. Authored by Council Member Chito Vela, the proposal will proceed to a council vote next month if the high court strikes down federal abortion protections as expected. "It's an area that my constituents and, broadly, residents of Austin really want to take action on," Vela said.
Vela calls it the GRACE Act — Guarding the Right to Abortion Care for Everyone. The policy almost surely would trigger a response from Republican state leaders, who have long chided Austin and cities led by liberal Democrats whose ideals run counter to those of the state's more conservative leaders. Last year in the Republican-controlled Legislature, Texas lawmakers created a statewide homeless camping ban and approved withholding tax revenue from cities that cut money from police departments — both measures in response to local decisions in Austin. In January, Vela won a special election on the council to represent District 4 in North Austin. Vela said he does not want to butt heads with the state, but he said, "I don't think there's any way around that." "They have to know the state is going to push back on this," said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas. "The political problem the city has is state level officials like having these fights. They have very little incentive to negotiate or compromise." A spokeswoman for Gov. Greg Abbott declined to comment… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin leads the nation in homebuilding (AXIOS)
Austin leads the nation in building new homes, per the latest analysis by real estate company Redfin.
What they found: Austin had 31.1 single-family building permits per 10,000 people in the first quarter of this year, the most per capita among major U.S. metros.
Why it matters: As the number of homes for sale remains near all-time lows and monthly mortgage payments are near record highs, building more homes is one way to ease the affordability crisis.
Zoom out: Single-family and multifamily building permits are up from pre-pandemic times in most U.S. metros., Redfin found.
Of note: Redfin defines "single-family" as buildings with one to four housing units and “multifamily” as buildings with five or more housing units.
Yes, but: "There still aren't enough homes to meet the pace of household creation, and we need to be more prepared when demand inevitably picks back up," said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather in the report… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
QB Arch Manning, No. 1 recruit in 2023 class, commits to Texas (ESPN)
The recruitment of blue-chip quarterback Arch Manning, a rare collision of talent, pedigree and possibility, captivated college football for years.
Manning ended the intrigue Thursday afternoon, committing to Texas over suitors that included Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Clemson and Virginia.
Although Manning has long been considered the top player in the class of 2023, the family remained intent on attempting to keep his recruitment as low-key as possible. His Instagram is private, and he has not been an active participant in name, image and likeness opportunities. But keeping things low-key has still been difficult, considering the family's football history and the magnitude of how much his decision could sway a program's fortune.
Manning even used his first tweet to make the announcement, on a verified Twitter account with a bio that simply says "high school student."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Gov. Greg Abbott spending early and big on Spanish-language ads against Beto O’Rourke (Houston Chronicle)
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, is suing the Texas Department of Public Safety over records related to the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary last month.
“In the wake of the senseless tragedy, the people of Uvalde and Texas have demanded answers from their government. To date, they have been met with lies, misstatements, and shifts of blame,” Gutierrez said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
State and local Uvalde officials have fought the release of records that could provide clarity on the botched emergency response to the shooting that killed 19 children and two educators. Law enforcement responding to the shooting waited more than an hour on the scene before breaking into the classroom to kill the shooter… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
What’s behind Dallas Mayor Johnson’s truce with City Manager Broadnax? (Dallas Morning News)
June’s 12-day war, led by Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson against City Manager T.C. Broadnax, ended in the one scenario I hadn’t considered — a truce. By the time the City Council returns from its annual July break, this failed ouster will be mostly forgotten. But fellow taxpayers, don’t let that happen. Our quality of life — how safe we are, how lousy our streets are and how increasingly unaffordable this city is — depends on how well Broadnax accomplishes the work we pay him $410,000 plus perks to do. While I’m usually the glass-half-full city columnist, my serious bout of whiplash and skepticism hasn’t diminished since Johnson and Broadnax tried to tie a bow on this fiasco. I’d like to believe these two have taken a genuine first step to getting results in critical areas where the city is falling short. But today it’s hard to assess the last two weeks as anything other than a colossal waste of time. What began as a consequential decision on whether Broadnax is doing his job well enough devolved into dysfunctional absurdity as City Council members increasingly went wiggly in the heat of the battle.
Then came the mayor’s out-of-character about-face on Tuesday. The supposed day of reconciliation between Johnson and Broadnax resembled a theater production whose two lead characters remained off stage while pretty words of peace and cooperation were attributed to them. With Johnson at home after contracting his second case of COVID — which scrubbed plans for a side-by-side news conference with Broadnax — I tried to make sense of those long written remarks. When I reached out to the two with follow-up questions, both Johnson and Broadnax preferred to say no more than what was released. Johnson’s overarching written message was this: “It is now time to heal. And it is now time for real results and accountability.” He also vowed he is ready to work closely with Broadnax in those efforts. From Broadnax: “I know my team and I can be better. I understand that I am fully accountable to my 15 bosses. So today, I want to say to the mayor, to the members of the City Council and to all the residents of this dynamic city: I accept the challenge.” Broadnax’s mandates include fixing the broken permitting office, which was the match that lit this showdown; improving the 911 call center, and persevering in the effort to make Dallas the safest major city in the country… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[BG PODCAST]
Episode 159: Talking Austin Real Estate Development and Entrepreneurship w/ Ari Rastegar
Today’s episode (159) features Ari Rastegar, Founder and CEO of Austin-based Rastegar Property Company. He and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss real estate development in Austin, as well as Ari's entrepreneurial path.
Rastegar Property has a portfolio spanning more 13 states and over 3.5 million square feet. It recently announced its 809 Skyline office development project in Austin, as well as a 318-acre planned community in Kyle, TX. -> EPISODE LINK
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