BG Reads | News You Need to Know (March 7, 2023)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin homeowners ask judge to void city policies that allow developers to build more housing (KUT)
A group of property owners who successfully halted Austin’s rewrite of its land code has filed a motion to block more zoning changes — this time over steps City Council has taken to loosen limits on how much developers can build, often in the pursuit of increasing affordable housing.
The filing takes aim at several revisions council made to building regulations, including one program called Affordability Unlocked. Passed by council members in 2019, the program allows developers to build more housing per project than what's typically permitted as long as they set aside some of these homes for families earning low incomes… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Facing staffing shortages, is APD ready for SXSW? (KXAN)
Every city department is gearing up for a busy spring festival season with many events scheduled over the next few weeks and months.
“As we welcome all these visitors and we plan for these events that add to the vibrancy of the city and bolster our economy, we recognize it puts an added strain on city resources,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said.
Watson said these events offer an economic boost for the city, but planning and preparations are fundamental to make sure things run smoothly.
“Anytime we have a large event, where there is a lot of people, we are going to have a lot of officers there to keep it safe,” APD Assistant Chief Jeff Greenwalt said.
APD said during these events they will be properly staffed and ready to respond when needed.
“This is not uncharted territory, with or without the staffing problem,” Greenwalt said. “The same number of positions that we need to keep SXSW safe is the same this year as last year and we have those positions filled.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Transit-oriented development plan prompts parking discussions (Texas Tribune)
Parking has been at the center of discussions around the equitable transit-oriented development policy plan, a document City Council plans to vote on this week that will guide future housing and land use policies around Project Connect stations.
Elected officials and community leaders who spoke last Thursday at a special joint meeting on eTODs at the Mobility Committee and Housing and Planning Committee put particular emphasis on changing parking requirements around transit stations.
“There was a lot of really strong, passionate discourse about how we can’t have (transit-oriented developments) with just tons of parking everywhere,” said João Paulo Connolly, a member of the Project Connect Community Advisory Committee.
Connolly said that eliminating parking minimums is “an absolute baseline must.” He urged Council to go a step further by adopting maximum parking requirements near stations.
“We know based on experiments in the city and everywhere in the country that a site with no parking minimums is still a site with way too much parking” for any kind of transit-oriented development, he said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Hotels already booked ahead of SXSW, on track to their most successful festival season yet (KVUE)
While many cities prepare for a busy tourist season during the summer, Austin's comes a little early.
South by Southwest (SXSW) is back in town this week. The festival pumps millions of dollars into Austin's local economy.
The hospitality industry was hit especially hard during the COVID-19 pandemic, so this festival couldn't come at a better time.
Last year, the festival brought around $280.7 million in economic impact, according to SXSW's economic impact report. Compared to 2019, with the economic impact being closer to the tune of $355.9 million, 2022 looked like a drop in the bucket to Austin's economy.
Some say that this year is on track to exceed pre-pandemic levels of economic impact. Farrar said that for last year, occupancy rate during the festival was around 75%. This year, the Fairmont Austin has already surpassed that and are on track to beat 2019… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
These towers could raise the bar for North Austin's skyline (Austin business journal)
While The Domain and its surroundings are often referred to as Austin’s second downtown, buildings there have never reached the heights of the Central Business District. But that may be starting to change.
In February, Austin City Council approved revised building regulations for the region known as North Burnet/Gateway that allow for denser and taller construction up to 491 feet, or about 45 stories. The previous limit was 360 feet.
While some towers were already planned to reach 300 feet in this area, more recent projects are stretching toward the new upper limit of construction,
"They are responsive to energetic growth in this area of my district," said Council Member Leslie Pool, who represents District 7, which includes North Burnet/Gateway. She said the new rules represent a step toward comprehensive changes that reflect the area’s transformation into the city's second major urban node… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas’ next ESG target will be insurers: ‘We’re gonna teach them some manners’ (Dallas Morning news)
Texas’ fight against environmental, social and corporate governance policies may soon expand to another front: insurance companies. The state’s anti-ESG push has focused on financial firms so far, requiring state pensions to divest from asset managers that “boycott” fossil fuels and excluding banks from underwriting bond sales over their gun safety rules. The Texas laws took effect in 2021, and the targeted companies include BlackRock, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, UBS and more. Just last week, the Texas comptroller sent letters to five state pension funds and the permanent school fund, urging their leaders to divest holdings and cut fees to the financial firms. Soon, the Texas Senate will introduce a bill to penalize insurers whose ESG policies threaten the oil and gas business, just as lawmakers have done with banks, state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, said on Wednesday. “Obviously, if you can’t get money for your project and you can’t get insurance for your project, that shuts it down,” Hughes said at an event held by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank in Austin. “We’re gonna make sure that everywhere we see them on attack, we’re pushing back. We’re pushing back hard.
“If they’re gonna mess with money that belongs to Texas retirees and undermine the very Texas economy, we’re gonna teach them some manners,” Hughes said. The crowd in the hotel conference room burst into applause, as it did several times during the 70-minute panel discussion with three key players in the state’s anti-ESG movement. Hughes chairs the Senate’s state affairs committee and hosted a high-profile hearing in Marshall in December, summoning executives from BlackRock and other financial firms. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, who’s in charge of deciding which companies are “boycotting” energy, weighed in on his office’s progress. And Jason Isaac, a former state representative who moved to the Texas policy foundation four years ago, helped draft the anti-ESG proposal that became Texas law. Republicans believe ESG policies steer investors away from fossil fuels and that “denying capital” to energy businesses makes energy “less affordable and less secure.” The criticism is part of a broader Republican backlash against “woke” policies, and the title of Wednesday’s session reflected the attitude: “ESG: Everyone’s Suffering Guaranteed.” Isaac said aggressive environmental policies are being weaponized against responsible producers in America, often to the benefit of foreign energy producers such as the Chinese: “I refer to it as the China ESG agenda, because I believe that’s what it is,” he said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Ron DeSantis proclaims Texas, Florida partners against “woke” left in Houston speech (texas tribune)
Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor and likely presidential candidate, rallied Houston-area Republicans on Friday with a speech that proclaimed his state as Texas’ new partner on the front lines in the battle against the political left.
With Austin buzzing about an unspoken rivalry between the country’s two biggest Republican-controlled states, DeSantis paid homage to Texas’ boisterous self-image — and said Florida is gaining its own “big sense of pride” under his leadership. He said it is being noticed “all the way up to the fella in the White House,” referring to his potential opponent in 2024: President Joe Biden.
“They know you don’t mess with Texas — and you don’t tread on Florida,” DeSantis said. “I really believe if it hasn’t been for Texas and Florida playing the role we have in this country in recent history, our entire country would be one big woke, neo-Marxist Dumpster fire.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
McCarthy goes on offense, forcing Senate Democrats into tough votes (The hill)
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is showing he can play offense against vulnerable Senate Democrats by forcing them to take tough votes, driving a wedge between red state Democrats up for reelection and the party’s base.
McCarthy put them in a difficult position last week by forcing them to vote on a GOP-sponsored resolution blocking a Biden administration rule encouraging retirement managers to consider environmental, social and corporate governance — or ESG — factors when making investment decisions… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
The U.S. Is Not Yet Ready for the Era of ‘Great Power’ Conflict (The Wall Street Journal)
Five years ago, after decades fighting insurgencies in the Middle East and Central Asia, the U.S. started tackling a new era of great-power competition with China and Russia. It isn’t yet ready, and there are major obstacles in the way.
Despite an annual defense budget that has risen to more than $800 billion, the shift has been delayed by a preoccupation with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the pursuit of big-ticket weapons that didn’t pan out, internal U.S. government debates over budgets and disagreement over the urgency of the threat from Beijing, according to current and former U.S. defense officials and commanders. Continuing concerns in the Mideast, especially about Iran, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have absorbed attention and resources.
Corporate consolidation across the American defense industry has left the Pentagon with fewer arms manufacturers. Shipyards are struggling to produce the submarines the Navy says it needs to counter China’s larger naval fleet, and weapon designers are rushing to catch up with China and Russia in developing superfast hypersonic missiles.
When the Washington think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies ran a wargame last year that simulated a Chinese amphibious attack on Taiwan, the U.S. side ran out of long-range anti-ship cruise missiles within a week.
The military is struggling to meet recruitment goals, with Americans turned off by the long conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, potentially leaving the all-volunteer force short of manpower. Plans to position more forces within striking range of China are still a work in progress. The Central Intelligence Agency, after two decades of conducting paramilitary operations against insurgents and terrorists, is moving away from those areas to focus more on its core mission of espionage.
The U.S. military’s success in the Mideast and Afghanistan came in part from air superiority, a less well-equipped foe and the ability to control the initiation of the war. A conflict with China would be very different. The U.S. would be fighting with its Asian bases and ports under attack and would need to support its forces over long and potentially vulnerable supply routes… (LINK TO FULL STORY)