#NEWS // BG Reads | May 19, 2023
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Austin's neighbors lead the country in population growth (again) (KUT)
Four of the top five fastest-growing cities in the U.S. are in Texas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Georgetown tops the list, as it did last year, with Kyle and Leander in the No. 3 and 4 spots, respectively. Little Elm, north of Dallas, placed fifth on the annual list.
Five other Texas cities were in the bureau's top 15.
Central Texas cities, in particular, have led the country in growth over the past few years. Georgetown experienced the largest growth in population — 14.4% since last year.
Kyle and Leander both grew by nearly 11%. New Braunfels saw a 5.7% bump in population. That growth put the city's population above 100,000 residents, the data showed.
Austin also saw a population increase. According to the data, it's now the 10th most populous city, moving up from the No. 11 spot last year. Four of the top 10 most populous cities in the U.S. are in Texas… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin dropped to 40th best metro area over affordability issues (KUT)
Once holding the top spot, Austin has dropped to the 40th best metro area to live in, according to the latest rankings by U.S. News & World Report.
The report, which has come out every year since 2016, ranks the country's most populous metro areas. Austin was No. 1 from 2017 to 2019, but has been sliding ever since. Last year Austin ranked 13th… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Demolition permits filed for old Z'Tejas, Swedish Hill Bakery and more (Austin Business Journal)
Austin-based developer Riverside Resources' plan to rebuild a part of West Sixth Street, previously dubbed "Clarksvillage," appears to be moving along after first coming to light nearly a year ago.
The proposal envisions a five-floor, mixed-use structure rising along two acres on the north shoulder of West Sixth. It would comprise eight properties on the 1100 and 1200 blocks near Blanco Street and bring a dramatic facelift to a site that is currently a mix of vacant buildings and high-traffic businesses.
All eight properties that comprise the site, valued at $21.8 million by the Travis Central Appraisal District, are owned by Clarks Village LP, a company tied to developer Riverside Resources Corp. Riverside has compiled the parcels over the past few years from property owners including Austin-based restaurant and hotel group McGuire Moorman Lambert Hospitality, which appears to be a partner on the development… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
ATP reports offer community insights ahead of selecting light rail option next week (Austin Monitor)
A trio of reports from Austin Transit Partnership offer some insights into the shape of Project Connect as the local government corporation in charge of the transit initiative prepares to announce its selection next week of the preferred light rail plan that will service downtown and selected areas to the north, south or east.
A report compiling feedback from six weeks of community input sessions and online outreach showed a preference for a route that would attract the most riders, integrate with other transportation options, and manage congestion while interacting safely with street-level traffic.
Two other shorter reports addressing expandability and the on-street configuration called for in three of the five routes notes that the route along Guadalupe Street would need to be lowered up to six feet below grade between Seventh and Ninth streets because of a hill that may be too steep for some light rail vehicles. That lowering would prevent through traffic on Guadalupe at Eighth Street, requiring travelers to turn and take an alternate route to cross the street… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Legislators gave a Dallas millionaire his own government. Not everyone likes how he’s using it. (San Antonio Express-News)
In 2019, the city of Dripping Springs was finalizing plans for a new pipeline to move wastewater from its busy north end to a regional treatment plant on the south. Half a decade in the making, planners said the line was essential to control development in the rapidly growing Austin suburb. One of the dozen or so properties they identified for the pipeline to cross belonged to Bruce Bolbock, an anesthesiologist. Valued at more than $9 million, the bucolic Hill Country ranch rolls across 225 acres in Hays County, and he didn’t want a buried raw wastewater pipeline on even the narrow strip it required. In addition to having a delicate natural spring on the property, he raised bison and exotic toucans that “require a very consistent environment that’s free of noise [and] disturbance.” With the looming threat of the city taking his land through eminent domain, Bolbock placed a phone call to a Dallas hotel magnate and generous supporter of conservative political causes named Monty Bennett. Bennett didn’t have a magic wand. But he did have a sort of superpower: his own government.
In 2011, then-state Sen. Lance Gooden — now a U.S. Congressman — whose candidacies Bennett supported financially and with whom he reportedly co-owned land, sponsored a new law forming the Lazy W District No. 1 municipal utility district. Such special-purpose governments typically are created so developers can sell bonds to pay for water and sewer lines in new subdivisions. New residents then pay the MUD assessments to retire the loans. But court records show the Lazy W was created at Bennett’s request and primarily for him; it is almost exclusively made up of his sprawling private family ranch in Henderson County, an hour-and-a-half drive southeast of Dallas. Although he has said he wanted to form the district to conserve its natural beauty, Bennett also was clear he wanted his own government to wage a personal battle against the Tarrant Regional Water District, which had proposed routing a pipeline across the ranch. Broadly, Lazy W argued that one government can’t sue another for eminent domain. So once Bennett’s ranch became District No. 1, TRWD could not legally take its property. The water district ended up routing its line around Bennett’s ranch. Now the Bolbocks wondered if Bennett might be able to use his government — even though it was located 200 miles from their property — to protect their land, too. They hit on a solution: Despite the distance, Bennett’s special district “purchased” a thin strip of land encircling the Bolbock’s spread… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Recommended by LinkedIn
[TEXAS NEWS]
Is it law yet? See how far some of the most consequential bills have made it in the 2023 Texas Legislature (Texas tribune)
Texas lawmakers filed thousands of bills during the 2023 legislative session. However, most of those bills won’t become law. Lawmakers will spend the final weeks before the session ends on May 29 trying to push through their priorities. They will also try to stop certain bills from going through by delaying votes and letting them miss key deadlines. If a bill fails, it might still be revived as an amendment to other legislation. Most new laws take effect Sept. 1… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Spurs' newest owner: Atlanta investment firm CEO Paul Viera acquires stake in San Antonio's NBA team (San Antonio Express-News)
Paul Viera, founder and CEO of Atlanta-based investment firm Earnest Partners, is the latest out-of-town addition to the list of San Antonio Spurs shareholders as the organization continues revamping its ownership group — a process that’s sparked fears among fans and local officials that the team could leave the city. Spurs Sports & Entertainment said Tuesday that Viera has joined the NBA team’s investor group as a strategic partner and member of its board of managers, and acquired an undisclosed equity stake in the franchise.
The news comes a week after Philadelphia-based food, facilities and uniform services company Aramark said it had sold roughly half of its ownership in the Spurs to an unidentified buyer for about $100 million. Aramark declined to disclose the current size of its stake, but it had owned 10.6 percent as of 2016. Viera’s investment comes after other chunks of the team have been sold to out-of-town owners over the past two years. San Francisco-based global investment firm Sixth Street Partners bought a 20 percent stake, and Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell bought a 10 percent stake in 2021. In 2022, Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia bought an unspecified interest. “The San Antonio Spurs are a revered organization and I am honored to join Peter J. Holt and the other strategic partners as part of their investor group,” Viera said in a statement. “From the outset, I was drawn to the organization’s unique commitment to impact and building a more equitable community for everyone. The team’s leadership is elite, from their managing partner to the front office to the coaches, and I am thrilled to be joining such a winning organization.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
$5 billion for broadband advances in Texas Legislature after Senate OKs bill (Texas Tribune)
Texas lawmakers took another step Thursday toward expanding internet availability in the state by passing a bill that invests $5 billion for broadband development.
House Bill 9, filed by Republican state Rep. Trent Ashby of Lufkin, would create the Texas Broadband Infrastructure Fund. The money would be administered by the Texas comptroller’s office and would be the biggest state investment in broadband development to date. The bill is accompanied by House Joint Resolution 125, which proposes a constitutional amendment that would ask Texas voters to approve the historic amount and create the fund.
The legislation has cleared both chambers, and two amendments adopted Thursday will send it back to the House for final approval before going to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk. One amendment, proposed by Sen. Joan Huffman of Houston, said it was a recommendation from the Texas Comptroller's office as a way to "remove legal burdens allowing for moneys to be allocated without the need for burdensome legal filings for each individual asset."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Philadelphia's likely next mayor could offer model for how Democrats talk about crime (Associated Press)
The Democrat who will almost certainly become Philadelphia's next mayor wants to hire hundreds of additional police officers to walk their beats and get to know residents. She wants to devote resources to recruiting more police and says officers should be able to stop and search pedestrians if they have a legitimate reason to do so. Those positions, particularly the search policies that have been criticized for wrongly targeting people of color, would seem out of step in a progressive bastion like Philadelphia. But Cherelle Parker trounced her rivals in this week's mayoral primary with a message that centered on tougher law enforcement to combat rising crime and violence.
While local politics don't always align with the ideological divides that guide the national debate, Parker's victory offers a fresh case study for Democrats as they wrestle with how to approach the issue of violent crime, which increased in many U.S. cities during the pandemic and continues to be top of mind for voters across the country. The issue has divided Democrats from city halls to the White House, particularly over how much to rely on policing and incarceration to solve what many see as social problems, such as drug abuse and homelessness. Parker, a former state legislator and city council member, argued that it’s a false choice to decide between investing in policing and addressing broader societal problems. “It is not either/or,” the 50-year-old Parker said during the campaign. That approach helped her defeat progressive rival Helen Gym by more than 25,000 votes. Gym, who advocated for measures including stronger police training and faster 911 response times, was backed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and appeared with the lawmakers at a rally on the eve of the election. Gym and her supporters blamed her loss, in part, on late attacks funded by wealthy donors who opposed her progressive policies… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Supreme Court to rule on affirmative action, student debt and Internet companies’ liability (Wall Street Journal)
The Supreme Court is heading into the final stretch of its current session, the first with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on the bench. While no single case has elicited the political tension that swelled last session after the leak of the court’s historic decision eliminating a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion, a number of cases with major social implications will be decided between now and the end of June, with at least one opinion expected on Thursday. Here are the most important cases on the docket. In two parallel cases regarding selective universities, one public and one private, the justices are set to rule on whether colleges can consider race in admissions decisions. The court declared in 1978 that affirmative action is lawful, and has since reaffirmed that holding. But the court’s conservative majority appears ready to reconsider these historic precedents.
A long-brewing clash between two recent lines of Supreme Court precedent—one extending legal equality to LGBT individuals, the other elevating rights of conscience and expression above secular government interests—reaches a head in this case from Littleton, Colo. State law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, but 303 Creative, a web-design company, asserts a federal free-speech right to refuse commissions related to same-sex weddings. In the 1960s, the Supreme Court rejected religious belief in racial segregation as grounds for exemption from complying with civil rights laws. Today’s conservative justices have said the law should respect those who refuse complicity in same-sex marriage because they adhere to a traditional religious view that only heterosexuals may marry. The court heard arguments in February over two cases challenging President Biden’s plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student-loan debt for eligible U.S. borrowers. The Biden administration argues it has authority to forgive debt under the Heroes Act, a 9/11-era statute that allowed the federal government to provide student-debt relief to soldiers. Justice Department lawyers say that law gives the Department of Education broad power to forgive student loans in response to emergencies such as the coronavirus pandemic. A group of Republican-led states argue that the executive branch has exceeded its lawful authority, trampling on the separation of powers laid out in the Constitution. The cases could have significance even beyond the Biden administration’s $400 billion forgiveness plan, giving a Supreme Court skeptical of federal regulatory authority a forum to further restrain Washington’s power… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
DeSantis plans to officially enter presidential race next week (Washington Post)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to officially enter the 2024 presidential race next week, as the Republican gathers top fundraisers in Miami, according to two people familiar with the plans. The second-term governor, widely considered at present to be the most viable GOP challenger to former president Donald Trump, has been laying the groundwork for a campaign for months. In speeches around the country, he has touted his landslide reelection win last year and his sweeping legislative agenda in Florida — passed this spring by GOP supermajorities — and also implicitly pitched himself as a better bet than Trump in the general election. Representatives for DeSantis’s political team declined to comment. DeSantis is also expected to hold an event launching his candidacy in Dunedin, Fla., his hometown, according to one of the people familiar with the plans and another familiar with the kickoff gathering. That event is expected to take place after Memorial Day, according to the first person.
The people familiar with the plans spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe plans that had not been announced publicly. The Wall Street Journal first reported Wednesday evening that DeSantis plans to enter the race next week. Doubts about DeSantis’s presidential prospects have grown in recent months as Trump has surged in national polls of the GOP race and attacked DeSantis, and as some donors have voiced concerns about the governor’s policy moves. But the governor has rebuilt some momentum over the past week, rolling out large slates of endorsements from state lawmakers in Iowa, New Hampshire and Florida. DeSantis’s team is convening donors at a Four Seasons hotel in Miami from May 24 to 26 for a gathering expected to start raising money for a presidential campaign, people familiar with the event said. Fundraisers have already been meeting with the governor in small groups in Tallahassee in recent weeks and getting briefings from the DeSantis’s expected campaign team. A super PAC supporting DeSantis has been running ads and organizing in key states. And DeSantis has traveled to early nominating states including Iowa, the first-in-the-nation GOP caucus state, where he spoke at several events on Saturday. “Governing is not about building a brand or talking on social media and virtue signaling,” DeSantis said at a GOP picnic in a rural part of Iowa that went heavily for Trump in 2020. “It’s ultimately about winning and about producing results.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Bingham Group works to advance the interests of businesses, nonprofits, and associations at the municipal and state level.
CONTACT US FOR A FREE DISCUSSION ON YOUR MATTER AT: INFO@BINGHAMGP.COM