Good Wednesday afternoon --
We are sending a short message today with a few important updates:
1) CHAOS AT AUSTIN AIRPORT: Years of neglect and bureaucratic mismanagement have left our airport woefully unprepared for increasing travel demand and this past Monday was perhaps the most embarrassing fiasco in city airport history, disrupting the travel plans of 8,000 travelers. You can read about it here. TSA security lines were as much as two hours long and dozens (hundreds?) of travelers abandoned rental cars in and around the airport to ensure they did not miss their flights. If that wasn't enough, commercial aircraft carried extra fuel as they were inbound because our airport has insufficient fuel capacity and desperately needs to expand fuel storage facilities.
2) AUSTIN WATER PROBE RESULTS RELEASED: KXAN's Billy Gates reported this week that Austin Water released its 'final report' on why the city suffered its third boil water notice in four years in early February. It won't surprise you to learn that the internal probe confirmed what Austin Water said was the reason all along: human error. It is clear that three employees on duty that night made substantial errors. The head of Austin Water, Greg Meszaros, remains on the job and will be leaving next month. In a 35 page memo, he wrote that the three employees 'didn't act fast enough when they realized there was a problem' and that they 'did not notify their supervisors'. Specifically, the memo said, "Investigations of staff actions during the event found that members did not appropriately respond to deteriorating plant conditions despite logs and multiple alarms that communicated the basin was seeding throughout the shift,” the memo said. “Additionally, members failed to reach out to their chain of command to communicate worsening water quality conditions and seek assistance." It remains clear that Austin Water has lost credibility with consumers and is in desperate need of reform. Save Austin Now renews its call for ending City Hall's annual $45-50 million raid on Austin Water's budget so those funds can be directed to improve city water infrastructure and reduce water rates for consumers. Austin Water needs a thorough independent audit, not an internal one, so we can learn what failures have been occurring and correct them for the future.
3) ILLEGAL HOMELESS CAMPING CONTINUES: As we shared last week, news reports prove that illegal, unregulated camping has returned to Austin as city officials continue to ignore the will of the voters, current city ordinance, and existing state law. On August 25, 2021, after waiting patiently for three months to give the city time to show they were serious about enforcement, we filed a serious and substantive lawsuit against the City of Austin. That lawsuit was filed by Save Austin Now PAC's two co-founders, Cleo Petricek and me, and we were joined by four small business owners in Austin who could prove direct injury due to the lack of the camping ban being enforced. If you have specific examples of illegal public camping inside the City of Austin, you can email us photos, video and explanations. Please provide as full an explanation as possible, including when/where and what happened. Please also include your contact information. If you are interested in becoming a plaintiff to our lawsuit, please email Matt. Our lawsuit will take some time and while we have excellent, committed lawyers, this battle will require resources. You can donate to our legal effort here. If you wish to send a check to ("Save Austin Now PAC" and mail to 807 Brazos Street Suite 202, Austin, TX 78701).
** DONATE TO OUR LEGAL FUND HERE **
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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.
> Learn more: http://www.SaveAustinNowPAC.com
Will you please support our efforts now?
You may donate to our legal effort here: https://secure.anedot.com/save-austin-now-pac/save-austin-now-pac-legal-fund-c4cfa533f8ab98c9da232.