HOMELESS CAMPING ORDINANCE UPDATE
We have a huge announcement.
We've hit 10,000 signatures collected!
We are halfway to the necessary 20,000 signatures from Austin residents that we must submit by July 18.
This is an incredible accomplishment, given the challenges that coronavirus and shelter-at-home have presented to us.
We now have 5 1/2 weeks to collect 10,000 more hand-signed petitions from Austin residents.
Here's our plan to get there:
We need to mail 50,000 more households a copy of the mailer. This will cost $25,000 and yield at least 5,000 signatures quickly.
We need to collect signatures at the polls June 29 - July 14, during the Republican and Democratic primary runoffs. We will recruit volunteers for this, but we will also need paid canvassers to ensure we have all the locations covered. This will cost $10,000 and yield at least 5,000 signatures.
We need $35,000 new dollars in the next week to get the job done.
Our proposed ordinance will reinstate the ban on camping citywide, restore the sit/lie ordinance to downtown and extend it to the UT campus, and ban panhandling at night citywide from 7pm-7am.
We want the homeless to be sheltered, not in tents. Violent crime rose at the fastest rate in five years in 2019 and we just learned that our unhoused homeless population grew 45% (!) from Jan. 2019-Jan. 2020.
Once the camping ban is reinstated, our homeless community can move to the state campground which has police on site, electricity and toilets, or take advantage of new housing coming online from the city and our nonprofits.
This is an issue of public safety and public health.
We must win this battle!
The support we have seen for this effort has been extraordinary.
We've received over 500 donations, mailed over 85,000 households, sent over 100,000 text messages and over 500,000 emails, done entirely with volunteers.
Will you contribute to our efforts?
There are two ways to give.
1) You may securely contribute here -- https://secure.anedot.com/matt-mackowiak-save-austin-now/donate.
2) You can also make out a check to "Save Austin Now" and mail it to:
Save Austin Now
815A Brazos Street
Box 455
Austin, TX 78701
Thank you!
-Matt Mackowiak
Co-founder, Save Austin Now
> Questions? Email matt@saveaustinnow.com
> Learn more: http://www.SaveAustinNow.com