Good afternoon --
It has been a dangerous few days in Austin and the news reports tell the story:
NORTH AUSTIN: A two year old was shot and a woman remains critically injured.
DOWNTOWN: Two ladies were shot on Sunday night in the same part of downtown.
KXAN asks: What more can be done to make 6th Street safe?
I-35 / ST. JOHNS: Last night there was a shooting at a Motel 6 and three people were rushed to the hospital.
Meanwhile, KXAN did a detailed report on why 911 response times are skyrocketing. You guessed it, the city council's police staffing crisis is the cause.
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Our city now sits at 45 homicides this year. For context, last year we set an all-time record of 48 homicides.
Violent crime in our city is rising at the fastest rate in five years and the police staffing crisis gets worse everyday.
But we can fix this mess created by Greg Casar and the City Council, which voted 11-0 in September 2020 to cut the police budget by up to $150 million.
We have just 13 days left to collect petitions to #MakeAustinSafe by qualifying for the November ballot.
We have collected 12,000+ petitions (48% of the 25,000 we need). Submission must occur no later than July 20.
THE 'MAKE AUSTIN SAFE' PETITION
Our ordinance does several things:
1. ENSURES ADEQUATE POLICE STAFFING: Requires a minimum of 2.0 police officers per 1,000 population, a nationally recognized standard for safe cities, combined with a minimum of 35% community response time (or uncommitted time)
2. DOUBLES POLICE TRAINING: Requires an additional 40 hours of post-cadet class training hours per year, making Austin the national model for police training
3. ENACTS POLICE REFORMS: Includes provisions to boost minority hiring (through foreign language proficiency), ensure racially diverse community policing, and provides retention bonuses for officers without police complaints (“Good Conduct Medal” eligible officers)
CITY OF AUSTIN RESIDENTS
>> Sign the petition here: SaveAustinNowPAC.com.
>> Print the petition and DROP IT OFF at one of our drop off locations -- www.saveaustinnow.com/return-my-petition.
HOW WE WILL GET TO 25,000 SIGNED PETITIONS
We recently mailed 81,000 households a copy of the petition. Last Thursday mailed another 100,000. This week we want to mail another 100,000 households. And collect signatures with paid canvassers and volunteers.
These things will cost us significant resources.
We need to raise AT LEAST $250,000 by July 12.
Can you help by donating RIGHT NOW?
You can securely donate here -- https://secure.anedot.com/save-austin-now-pac/donate.
ADDITIONAL WAYS TO HELP:
1. Digitally fill out the petition, receive it emailed to you filled out, print and mail in -- http://www.SaveAustinNowPAC.com.
2. Share our social content on Facebook and Twitter.
3. Donate to our efforts today -- https://secure.anedot.com/save-austin-now-pac/donate.
4. Sign up to volunteer -- https://www.saveaustinnowpac.com/volunteer.
5. Allow your business to be used as a signature collection location -- email logan@potomacstrategygroup.com.
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As I have said before, we have only begun to fight!
Thank you!
-Matt Mackowiak
Co-founder, Save Austin Now PAC
> Questions? Email Matt -- matt@saveaustinnowpac.com.
> Learn more: http://www.SaveAustinNowPAC.com
Will you please support our efforts now?
You may donate here: https://secure.anedot.com/save-austin-now-pac/donate.