BG Reads | News You Need to Know (March 18, 2022)
[BG Podcast]
Episode 151: 2022 Public Safety Update with Selena Xie, President, Austin EMS Association
Today’s episode features Selena Xie, President of the Austin EMS Association.
Selena and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss the anniversary of Winter Storm Uri, in addition to Selena updating on EMS's needs going into 2022.
(The Austin EMS Association is a Bingham Group client)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Resolutions push city to look toward future use of crypto, blockchain tech (Austin Monitor)
Payments for city services via cryptocurrency could become a reality in the near future, as could storage and processing of paperwork using blockchain ledger technology. Those are two of the possible outcomes from a pair of resolutions set for consideration at next week’s City Council meeting, following a South by Southwest festival heavily focused on increasingly prevalent technologies.
A resolution from Council Member Mackenzie Kelly would direct the city manager to examine ways the city could adopt the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for financial transactions, as well as the benefits and risks of using strictly digital currency.
Mayor Steve Adler’s resolution is focused on the more foundational blockchain tech that helps those currencies to exist by producing digital records of transactions between users and organizations. In touting blockchain as potentially revolutionary advancement, the resolution would direct the city manager to pursue events and initiatives that promote the technology and businesses in the city involved in its advancement.
The resolution identifies 20 components of municipal services that could be improved using blockchain platforms, such as processing of applications and transactions, handling of asset titles, identity verification and payment processing.
Adler participated in a press conference last week with local tech leaders promoting blockchain. Via email, Adler said he sees great potential in using it to improve delivery of city services.
“Possibilities for blockchain applications are endless. I’ve heard of several innovators combining NFTs with ownership interest in art pieces to be later sold, allowing artists and investors to meet one another without the middlemen and giving each greater control over their assets,” he said.
Adler said blockchain was a topic of much discussion among the 25 mayors who attended SXSW, noting that his list of 20 municipal service uses could have grown to 100, since “everyone is looking for innovative solutions to tackle municipal challenges.”
“I’ve not seen, yet, a city use of a blockchain application that meets the potential of the technology, though several seem to be pursuing use cases,” he wrote… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Appeals court sides with property owners in Austin land code revision case (Community Impact)
A March 17 judgment from the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston dealt another blow to Austin officials' yearslong push to revise the city's land development code.
The 1980s land code governs what can be built in Austin and where. Over the past decade, the city moved multiple versions of a code rewrite through often contentious and tense public forums centered on the scope of any potential updates, its effects on the city housing stock and market, and property owners' rights amid the process.
That issue proved to be a final sticking point for the latest code revision, which in early 2020 had eventually made it through two of a required three City Council votes needed to make the change official. However, a resident lawsuit against the process ended up halting the effort that March after Travis County Judge Jan Soifer ruled the city skirted state law by not giving property owners proper notice of the impending changes or the ability to formally protest the rewrite.
The city appealed that ruling in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the case did not appear in court until last November. The March 17 opinion against the city from 14th Court Chief Justice Tracy Christopher comes just shy of two years after Soifer's judgment first stalled the revision… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
City of Austin looking to address ‘child care deserts’ (KXAN)
It’s become harder over the years for parents to find child care providers, but the city is hoping to change that.
According to the Texas Tribune, 8% of child care providers closed permanently since the start of the pandemic and 57% of Texas counties still qualify as child care deserts — that means there aren’t child care options nearby.
In August, the city council approved a resolution that would require on-site child care services in any future city facilities, but there are exceptions.
If there are “other high-quality child care facilities” nearby to new projects, they won’t need to include them. It’s the City Manager’s job to determine that and tell the city council in writing, according to the resolution… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Texas CPS department’s culture kept worries about now-shuttered foster care facility from being addressed, official says (Texas Tribune)
Texas officials were kept in the dark about a foster care facility employee who allegedly sold nude pictures of two girls in their care due to the team culture created by a Child Protective Services manager, a top official told state lawmakers Thursday.
Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Commissioner Jaime Masters told state senators that DFPS employees had determined The Refuge, a now-shuttered Bastrop facility contracted by the state to care for sex trafficking victims, was at a high risk of harming its youth.
But, she said, two managers failed to escalate the issue, violating policy. One of those managers created an “unbelievable” culture in which their employees hesitated to bring the issue back up for fear of repercussions, she said.
“I do not think this was a failure of process. … None of us can be everywhere at all times,” she said. “Everyone depends on everyone up the chain to do what they are tasked with doing, and this is what did not happen here. Policy was not followed. Naked pictures of children in our care should have rung every bell.”
The commissioner also revealed that the employee under investigation for selling nude pictures of two girls there is also accused of dating a man who allegedly trafficked another child at the facility.
Masters disclosed those details when she testified before lawmakers at an all-day hearing focused on the state’s beleaguered foster care system… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
San Antonio, Bexar County get $14 million in federal funds to fight homelessness (San Antonio Express-News)
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded organizations in San Antonio and Bexar County that serve the homeless community $14,192,844. The funds will help cover the cost of 27 projects spearheaded by San Antonio Metropolitan Ministries (SAMM) and the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH), among other charities. “Our community funding is increasing by $1,299,962 year over year to $14 million total,” reads a news release from SARAH. “This increase is our community’s largest to date and is a credit to our strong performance, collaboration, and progress toward ending homelessness.”
SAMM, the National Veterans Outreach Project, the Thrive Youth Center, Family Violence Prevention Services and SARAH received money for more than one project. Other recipients included the Youth Resilient Project, Fairweather Family Lodge, Roy Maas Youth Alternatives, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the San Antonio AIDS Foundation’s Casa de Care and the Homeless Management Information System, a database operated by Haven for Hope. The funds represent a portion of the $2.6-plus billion the department announced it would distribute to cities nationwide March 14 in the form of Continuum of Care program grants, intended to encourage communities to work together to fight homelessness. “Access to stable housing is a basic necessity — the safety of a home is essential, especially as we continue to fight the COVID-19 virus,” said HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge in a news release. “These Continuum of Care program grants, coupled with the historic resources in the American Rescue Plan, will deliver communities the resources needed to ensure that every person in a respective community has the equitable opportunity to a safe and stable home.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas Republicans hammer Citi’s abortion policy, calling it a ‘woke’ company in a pro-life state (Dallas Morning News)
Citigroup Inc. may have found a way of doing business in Texas while addressing one of the state’s hottest cultural divides. Buried in a filing released Tuesday night, the bank disclosed it will now cover travel costs for employees seeking an abortion after several states including Texas implemented or proposed a near-total ban on the procedure. The New York-based bank will pay expenses, such as airfare and lodging, that employees may incur if forced to leave a state for an abortion. Under Jane Fraser, who rose to become the bank’s chief executive officer a year ago, Citi is wading into the conflict over abortion rights just as some of the largest banks and asset managers in the U.S. accelerate a flight from the coasts, drawn to Texas and elsewhere by lower taxes, lighter regulation and warmer weather. Reaction from Texas Republicans was swift.
“The ‘travel benefits’ offered by Citigroup is nothing more than a PR stunt by a ‘woke’ company to support a culture of death,” George P. Bush, the Texas land commissioner running for the Republican nomination for attorney general, said by email Wednesday. “Texas is a pro-life state, and if elected Attorney General, I will hold actors who attempt to find loopholes in our laws accountable.” Matt Rinaldi, chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, said “Citigroup’s decision to finance the murder of unborn children with a heartbeat is appalling, but not surprising, considering its past adoption of far-left causes.” He encouraged Republicans to “avoid entrusting their finances with Citibank and other companies that are hostile to them and their values.” Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed legislation last year that banned abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can occur as early as six weeks after conception. Under the law, individuals can sue doctors, clinic workers and others who help a woman end an unwanted pregnancy past the cutoff date. Abbott declined to comment on Citi’s move and the press office for state Attorney General Ken Paxton didn’t respond to a request for comment… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
U.S. calls Putin a ‘War Criminal,’ but consequences are unclear (New York Times)
A day after President Biden branded President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a “war criminal” over civilian deaths in Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Thursday echoed his assessment and said Mr. Putin would be held accountable.
“Yesterday, President Biden said that, in his opinion, war crimes have been committed in Ukraine. Personally, I agree,” Mr. Blinken said, citing a list of horrific Russian attacks that have killed unarmed Ukrainians, including children. “Intentionally targeting civilians is a war crime.”
But the practical obstacles to punishing Mr. Putin are huge, experts said, though his battlefield commanders in Ukraine could be more vulnerable. Complicating matters is the fact that the United States does not officially recognize the International Criminal Court, which is the main forum for prosecuting war crimes.
Some experts said that declaring the Russian leader a war criminal could make it more difficult to negotiate a peace agreement with him, but that it might also give Ukraine and the West some leverage if Mr. Putin sought to bargain for immunity from any prosecution… (LINK TO FULL STORY)