Good Tuesday morning --
Save Austin Now launched as a nonpartisan organization more than three years ago with the sole mission of fighting to improve standard of living for all Austinites.
With your support, we have built the largest grassroots organization in Austin and it's not even close.
Our first project was to end the disastrous homeless camping ordinance, which was passed by City Council by a 9-2 vote in July 2019 and championed by then-Mayor Steve Adler and then-Council Member Greg Casar.
After nearly two full years of work, in May 2021 we passed Prop B, which reinstated the homeless camping ban by a 58%-42% margin over the opposition of nine of ten council members, the Mayor and every single Democratic elected official and Democratic organization.
We followed that by helping pass a statewide ban on open camping, which passed the House and Senate in bipartisan fashion and was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Since then, we have witnessed only lip service from the City of Austin on enforcement.
While some council members run their mouths about 'respecting the will of the voters' on the police labor contract and the upcoming May election, they have ignored the PROVEN will of the voters from that May 2021 vote.
New Mayor Kirk Watson repeatedly pledged to enforce Prop B when he ran for Mayor, citing both the passage of Prop B and the new state law.
While City Hall has been dealing with issues like the ice storm, the change in City Manager, and the police labor dispute, Austinites remain eager to see Prop B enforced.
After watching the phony four phase enforcement effort the last council implemented, Save Austin Now recruited four small business owners and sued the city for the lack of enforcement.
Our lawsuit is now before the 3rd Court of Appeals and will likely be decided by the Texas Supreme Court, hopefully by the end of this year.
Save Austin Now has been encouraged by Mayor Watson's consistent statements about the necessity of enforcing Prop B. We hope those statements will very soon be followed with real action.
While law enforcement leaders in Austin have told us that they believe the homeless population rose from around 3,000 before the camping ordinance to more than 10,000 in less than two years, current rough estimates place the population in the 5,000-7,000 range.
We are currently awaiting ECHO's 'Point in Time' count, which is limited by volunteers and does not go deep into the woods where many encampments remain.
A recent poll from Notley, conducted by Change research, found that:
> A Majority (55%) of Austinites want to see MORE ENFORCEMENT of the camping ban.
> A majority (53%) believe homelessness has grown either because of a lack of mental health and substance abuse treatment (31%) and Austin's reputation as a haven for homeless individuals (22%).
The lack of Prop B enforcement has real consequences for our city.
Here are a few recent examples:
> Homeowners in the Park at Quail Creek neighborhood fear increased fire risk due to encampments in their neighborhood.
> Salvation Army recently announced it would close their downtown shelter, although that closure date has been temporarily extended.
> A recent massive encampment under a highway (Pack Saddle Pass and Hwy. 71) has temporarily improved life for businesses and residents in the surrounding area, after months of misery. But many area businesses believe the encampment will return.
> The city council is expected to approve $500,000 in taxpayer dollars to repair damage to vacant hotels owned by the city and slated to be used as homeless hotels. These facilities were supposed to be secured by the city after they were purchased.
Austinites want open camping to end. They clearly expressed that view when 90,000+ voted for Prop B in May 2021.
Austinites want homeless dollars spent efficiently.
Austinites want our homeless to be safe and secure, receiving services, being case-managed, and moving toward work and housing.
It is time to enforce Prop B.
TAKE ACTION:
> PLEASE EMAIL THE ENTIRE COUNCIL: Demand that they fully enforce Prop B and move the homeless into transitional shelters where they can receive services and be case-managed. You can email the entire city council and mayor here.
> PLEASE SUPPORT OUR EFFORTS TO HOLD THE CITY ACCOUNTABLE: You can support Save Austin Now here.
> PLEASE SUPPORT OUR LEGAL EFFORTS: You can support our legal efforts here.
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SUPPORT OUR WORK
You can support our efforts to hold city leaders accountable for their decisions here. If you wish to send a check to ("Save Austin Now PAC" and mail to 807 Brazos Street Suite 701, Austin, TX 78701).
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As we have said before, we have only begun to fight!
Thank you!
-Matt Mackowiak & Cleo Petricek
Co-founders, 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 to force full enforcement of Prop B here: https://secure.anedot.com/save-austin-now-pac/save-austin-now-pac-legal-fund-c4cfa533f8ab98c9da232.