BG Reads | News You Need to Know (August 8, 2023)
[BG PODCAST]
EPISODE 210 // Welcome to Episode 210! Bingham Group Associate Hannah Garcia CEO A.J. Bingham review the week (of 7.31.2023) in Austin politics and more.
>>> SHOW LINK <<<
Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
[city of austin]
Austin City Council FY24 Budget Priorities:
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin City Council puts controversial plan for Zilker Park on hold (KUT)
Austin City Council will not move forward this month with a controversial plan to revamp Zilker Park, Mayor Kirk Watson said Monday.
The announcement comes after Council Members Paige Ellis, Ryan Alter and Zo Qadri released a joint statement saying that while there's some consensus around the plan, there are other elements that have divided the community too much.
“We know the challenges Zilker Park is facing will not go away on their own, but we do not see a path forward for the Zilker Vision Plan and therefore cannot support it,” they stated… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Link to Zilker Park Master Plan (City of Austin)
See also, Austin city manager ends Zilker Park Vision Plan process amid controversy (Community Impact)
New state law to allow ETJ residents to leave city's jurisdiction (CommunitY Impact)
A new state law going into effect in September could largely impact the ability of cities to expand and regulate the land neighboring their city limits.
Senate Bill 2038, which passed in May during the 88th legislative session, will allow residents of an extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, to leave the city’s authority through a petition or election. The law also revokes previous state law that allowed a city’s ETJ to naturally expand as the city annexed new territories.
Advocates of the bill said it allows ETJ residents to be freed from city regulations where they do not have representation; however, local leaders have expressed concerns that a lack of city control might negatively impact development and place additional weight on county government.
“I don't think that our legislators understand what the impact could be in a lot of these communities,” Hays County Precinct 4 Commissioner Walt Smith said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Live music proponents express optimism, caution at potential expansion of venues (AUstin monitor)
Boosters in the local music and creative communities are optimistic, if cautious, about the potential for new music venues and art spaces to open throughout Austin, now that the land use code is set to include formal definitions for both building types.
After years of discussion and debate on the issue behind the scenes, the Planning Commission last month approved the definitions for both uses, which City Council had requested a year ago. The approval means the language is headed to Council next month for final consideration, which would give city staff the task of setting up the application and approval process for opening a music club or arts space in areas where they previously faced a high regulatory and planning burden… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo takes leave of absence to treat depression (texas Tribune)
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, considered a rising star among Texas Democrats, will temporarily leave her post leading the state’s most populous county to receive treatment for clinical depression, she announced Monday.
Hidalgo said she was diagnosed with the condition in July and checked into an out-of-state facility to undergo treatment late last month. She aims to return to work in early September.
“From the beginning of my tenure as County Judge, I have stressed the importance of mental health services,” Hidalgo wrote in a letter Monday afternoon to Harris County residents. “Depression and other mental health illnesses are part of the human condition, and mental health illnesses should be treated just like any other health condition. I feel so strongly that we should be open and forthright about mental health issues, which historically have been tarred with stigma that have prevented people from seeking the treatment they need.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Ken Paxton legal team works to invalidate every article of impeachment before triaL (Texas Tribune)
Attorneys for suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a flurry of motions over the weekend that seek to dismiss additional articles of impeachment, arguing that the allegations are baseless or fall under the legitimate duties of the attorney general’s office.
In the documents, filed before Saturday’s deadline for pretrial motions and made public Monday, Paxton’s attorneys routinely accused House impeachment managers of using “any means necessary” to “overturn the will of voters” who elected Paxton last year… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Ex-Minneapolis officer unrepentant as he gets nearly 5 years in George Floyd killing (Associated Press)
Tou Thao, the last former Minneapolis police officer convicted in state court for his role in the killing of George Floyd, did not show any repentance or admit any wrongdoing as he was sentenced Monday to 4 years and 9 months.
Thao had previously testified that he merely served as a “human traffic cone” when he held back concerned bystanders who gathered as former Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes while the Black man pleaded for his life on May 25, 2020… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Are G.O.P. Voters Tiring of the War on ‘Wokeness’? (New York Times)
When it comes to the Republican primaries, attacks on “wokeness” may be losing their punch.
For Republican candidates, no word has hijacked political discourse quite like “woke,” a term few can define but many have used to capture what they see as left-wing views on race, gender and sexuality that have strayed far beyond the norms of American society.
Gov. Ron DeSantis last year used the word five times in 19 seconds, substituting “woke” for Nazis as he cribbed from Winston Churchill’s famous vow to battle a threatened German invasion in 1940. Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, speaks of a “woke self-loathing” that has swept the nation. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina found himself backpedaling furiously after declaring that “‘woke supremacy’ is as bad as white supremacy.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)