The Austin City Limits festival flags have taken their rightful place in Zilker Park heading into what would have been one of the festival's weekends before the coronavirus brought coordinators to cancel the festival for a virtual one.
The flags, put up on Wednesday, will decorate the park until Sunday, when the virtual festival is scheduled to end, according to Fresh and Clean Media director of publicity Sandee Fenton.
Current view. 👀 To celebrate #ACLFest 2020, the flags are now up in Zilker Park through Sunday! Tune in starting Fr… https://t.co/LbtwiTWxGx— ACL Festival (@ACL Festival)1602172068.0
In an email to Austonia, Fenton said the beloved ACL fest flags were installed with help from the Austin Parks Foundation in Zilker Park as public art and a reminder that ACL is continuing to entertain, as well as advocate for and improve parks around Austin. Fenton said the flags were put up in consultation with the Public Health Department with hand sanitizing stations nearby.
Michael Oliva, who was enjoying the flags with his son, said even though he will miss the festival this year, he knows the cancelation is better for the community.
"It's safer for the community right now, just given our current circumstance with the population that usually comes into town (and the) close contact," Oliva said. "I think it's just the best way to do things right now."
For Joe Perricone and Mirezha Guevara, who attended the festival last year, the flags represent a sense of positivity and normalcy in the community.
"It feels like they're still trying to have that feeling, getting us outside; and trying to get us ready for next year," Perricone said. "(The flags) kind of help put Austin on the map and reinforce the positivity of the community."
Virtual ACL will begin 7 p.m. Friday and continue in the evenings through Sunday via YouTube.
More on virtual ACL:
ACL announces virtual lineup
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Homeless residents gather an at a camp under an overpass in South Austin. (Jordan Vonderhaar)
Editor's note: These submissions are the unedited views of their authors. Claims made have not been fact-checked to give the proponent and opponent a chance to speak their minds freely.
Pro: Voting yes on Prop B sends a message to council that voters' voices and real solutions are paramount
In June 2019, the Austin City Council rescinded regulations on camping in public spaces. They did so without any serious public discussion and in fact appeared to actively avoid serious scrutiny. The resulting chaos is clear for all to see. Parks and playgrounds impacted by illicit behavior, lewd activities in public, trash strewn in waterways and public spaces, and most critically, assaults on the public and on other homeless individuals.
It is obvious that the homeless are not helped by this misadventure. Vulnerable women and youth in these camps are abused, mentally ill individuals are not served and there is no incentive for substance abusers to seek help.
Proponents of this mess have put forward no credible plan for any short term housing that restores safety—instead they talk about abstract housing concepts that even they acknowledge will take years to develop. This is the mark of narrowly focused activism, not what citizens should expect from elected leaders who promise to serve their communities. At every turn, the proponents of this chaos have demonstrated that they are not capable of fully considering the needs of diverse communities and proposing workable solutions. Instead they simply double down on trying to tell Austin that anything other than their chaos is heartless and inhumane. This is intellectually lazy, and Austin should demand better.
The chaos created by the City Council has resulted in a public outcry culminating in the citizens demanding to be heard by direct ballot. This demand is across the political and economic spectrum. As a co-founder of the Save Austin Now PAC and a lifelong Democrat, I have seen the diversity of people raising their voices in concern for our city.
It's time we turn this situation around and vote yes on Prop B. It sends a clear message to the council that the citizens of Austin must be heard as we work toward real solutions. There are successful models to learn from and some in our own state. But it all starts with voting yes on Prop B starting April 19.
Con: Prop B blames homeless individuals rather than providing solutions to societal problems
Austin's homeless population needs help, but Prop B doesn't do anything to solve our city's problems. It simply tells people who are experiencing homelessness that they cannot exist, visibly, in public space. I, too, am worried about the encampments. They are evidence that our strategies to help people return to housing aren't sufficient. But telling people "You can't stay here" without giving them alternatives isn't a solution.
The reason so many people are experiencing homelessness is that it takes a long time to get into housing, even when you do everything right. Shelters are at capacity, we lack deeply affordable housing, landlords can refuse housing vouchers, and housing programs are full.
As a case study, I want to tell you about "Bill," whom I met two years ago. Bill was a veteran, father, former truck driver and person of faith. He was also homeless and unsheltered. Bill had recently suffered a series of strokes and was desperate for both disability income and housing.
Bill and I worked together every single week for 17 months. He eventually was awarded disability and moved into his own apartment.
Bill's situation is typical of hundreds of people who are stymied by our complicated processes and lack of housing. Prop B would not add resources for people like Bill. Read the ballot language. Because Prop B bans "camping," people would have to move around constantly to avoid being cited. All that moving around takes time and energy. People like Bill would have a harder time keeping their appointments with case managers. Unpaid fines from citations build a criminal record—and landlords can choose not to rent to someone with a record. So punishing people for not having housing makes it even harder to get housing. Prop B hurts, not helps.
In this election, Austinites have a choice to criminalize people like Bill or to work toward solutions. Prop B places the blame on individuals rather than recognizing homelessness as a failure of society.
Prop B is an inhumane and wrong response. Oppose Prop B, and let's focus on solutions. Learn more here.- Austin Mayor Steve Adler says camping ban 'is not working' - austonia ›
- Calls, counts and camps: Homelessness in Austin by the numbers ... ›
- Austonia's guide to the May 1 local election - austonia ›
