As I have been warning from the very beginning, my worst fears have been realized.

The lawlessness that has been promoted by our Mayor and City Council through their absurd homeless camping ordinance has resulted in two homeless people stabbing individuals in Austin in six days.

Last Friday, a homeless person was being verbally threatening at a coffee shop on South Congress when police were called. He apparently escaped police custody and ran to a nearby Freebirds when he stabbed a manager to death before climbing on their roof and jumping. He later died from his injuries. You can read a story about this here.

Just last night, it appears a homeless person stabbed another homeless person to death. You can read a short story about the incident here.

Now it is fair to admit that not every crime committed by a homeless person in Austin is directly attributable to recent actions taken the Mayor and City Council.

But this question is this: Are we safer now than we were before the Homeless Camping Ordinance?

According to the Associated Press:

In October, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said there had been 18% increase in violent crime (https://www.statesman.com/news/20191016/crime-rising-in-downtown-austin-police-chief-says in downtown Austin the previous 10 months, but stressed that he did not know whether people who are homeless played a role.

The simple fact is that the majority of our homeless community are suffering from drug and alcohol abuse or mental health challenges or both.

Increasing interactions between this community and the rest of Austin's population makes us all less safe.

Thankfully, Governor Greg Abbott sees this problem clearly. After these recent stabbings, he is asking the Department of Public Safety to increase patrols in downtown Austin.

But the state cannot entirely fix the problem the city has created.

After listening to the overwhelmingly negative feedback they were getting, in September the City Council voted to change the homeless camping ordinance, adding restrictions on camping on sidewalks and within 15 feet of the entrance of a home or business. While these were improvements, the ordinance remains in effect and our city is less safe.

I have concluded that the Mayor and the City Council will not listen and correct their mistake and re-institute the camping ban.

Therefore, it falls on us to change the city policy through a ballot initiative.

We are in the final stages of formulating our plan to do this. I appreciate your patience these past few weeks.

These two stabbing incidents, less than one week apart, should increase our resolve to win this fight. For our families. For our neighborhoods. For our community. For Austin.

We must stop this insanity.

We recently surpassed 55,000 signatures on our petition to reinstate the ban on homeless camping. There has never been a grassroots effort like this in the history of Austin.

TO HELP US:

1. Please share our petition on your social media networks (Facebook, NextDoor, Twitter, LinkedIn). Just ask people to visit SaveAustinNowPetition.com.

2. Contribute to our effort to re-institute the ban on homeless camping. You can give online here (http://www.PayPal.me/saveaustinnow or send a check to "Save Austin Now" and mail to 807 Brazos Street, Suite 408, Austin, TX 78731.

If you are part of an organization that would like to support and help pass a ballot initiative to reinstate the homeless camping ban, please reply to this email and let me know.

Sincerely,

Matt Mackowiak

Save Austin Now co-founder