You may be wondering, where do we go from here?

In less than one month, with zero paid advertising, we have collected more than 25,000 signatures on our online petition to rescind the disastrous Homeless Camping Ordinance in Austin.

Last Thursday, I was able to present our petition to the full City Council and the Mayor directly (to watch, click here, then click on Item 77 near the bottom). That same day, my guest column in The Austin American-Statesman was published.

Our work is gaining national attention. One of the largest newspapers in the country has a reporter in Austin today to report on what we are doing.

This is all building toward the Aug. 22 council meeting where homeless issues are expected to be more fully reviewed and considered.

The hope is that the citywide public camping policy will be limited to a few specific areas in the city where camping will be allowed. I will sign up to testify again on Aug. 22 to represent our views on this issue.

In the meantime, it is crucially important that we keep up the pressure.

The most effective ways to grow our movement are:

1) Post about our petition on social media -- Use the URL SaveAustinNow.com on NextDoor, Facebook and Twitter.

2) Send an email to Mayor Steve Adler -- We set up an easy form for you to transmit an email in less than 30 seconds. Click here. We've already sent over 500 emails!

3) Contribute to our effort -- We are accepting donations here. We are trying to collect $5,000 to send 60,000 text messages to Austin residents. We need another $3,000 to get there.

Thank you for your support.

I promise we will keep fighting until we win.

Sincerely,

Matt Mackowiak

Save Austin Now, Founder

(matt.mackowiak@gmail.com)