This morning, The Austin American-Statesman reported crime statistics for 2019 that end all doubt about the effect of the disastrous homeless camping ordinance:
> Violent crimes with suspects who were experiencing homelessness rose 10% last year, the largest increase in the past five years, according to data from Austin police.
> Overall, violent crimes in Austin saw a small rise in 2019. Austin police arrested 3,902 people for violent crimes, an increase of less than 1% from the year before, police data show.
> Of those arrests, 392 suspects, or 10%, were experiencing homelessness. And of those suspects, 282, or 72%, were accused of a violent crime against another homeless person.
And consider this. The homeless camping ordinance did not even take effect until July 1, with half the year already gone.
City leaders have been trying to fool the public with claims that public safety has not been made worse by the camping ordinance. But now the truth is clear for all to see.
And the tragedy of this situation is that homeless attackers are targeting homeless victims, making it doubly worse.
This entire mess was avoidable.
But the Mayor and City Council REFUSE to listen to Austin residents and reverse their mistake.
I wish this was the only update I had.
But it gets worse.
This video shows Council Member Alison Alter suggesting that used needles found at a homeless encampment could have been used for insulin. She actually said that.
This discussion centered around a fire that recently occurred at a homeless camp that the city did not know existed. KVUE reported that the fire was made worse by 'overwhelming piles of trash and needles'.
Additionally, KVUE reported that the city has identified illegal homeless camps in and around city parks, which they claim they are now cleaning up.
Our petition to restore the ban on homeless camping in Austin is nearing 85,000 signatures. Every day our army of concerned residents grows by hundreds of people.
We are currently working on ballot language for November to restore the ban. This would require paper signatures to be collected from March-August and we would need to secure 20,000 signatures of verified Austin residents. We appreciate your patience as we near the end of preparing this work.
In the meantime, you can help us in the following ways:
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 email me (matt@saveaustinnow.com) and let me know.
Sincerely,
Matt Mackowiak
Save Austin Now co-founder
(email: matt.mackowiak@gmail.com)