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Mayor Steve Adler criticized "misinformation" surrounding the pandemic and Austin's public safety at his annual State of the City address.
Adler credited members of the community, including musicians, teachers, small business owners and city council, for keeping Austin's core values alive after a hard year wracked with the pandemic, a historic winter storm and the recent addition of over 200 Afghan refugees migrating into the Texas capital.
"'Keeping Austin Weird' means welcoming, caring for and respecting one another for who they are—even when they are different, even when that means some pedal through downtown in a thong," Adler said.
Adler said the only thing tearing Austin apart is a slew of "alternative facts" regarding the third COVID surge, public safety and homelessness within the city. "Too many feel they are entitled to not only their own opinions but also to their own alternative facts," Adler said. "How do we make sound policy decisions as a community without a shared sense of reality?"
COVID
Adler said that there are "certain undeniable truths" regarding the Delta variant and COVID pandemic: masking can be effective in preventing the spread, and vaccines, which largely keep infected individuals out of hospitals, is one of the biggest solutions to alleviating the strain and death toll on overcrowded hospitals in the area.
"90% of people in the ICUs are unvaccinated," Adler said. "Our hospitals are now using the term 'dangerous' to describe the overcrowding situation they're now experiencing on account of unvaccinated individuals."
Adler doubled down on his plans to help school districts keep their mask mandates and require vaccines or negative tests for city employees.
Public safety
Adler also said that despite misconceptions pointed otherwise, Austin is one of the safest big cities in Texas and nationwide.
"There is a political advantage sought by those creating the false impression that Austin is unsafe," Adler said referring to the advocacy group Save Austin Now. The group is pushing for more police officers per every 1,000 residents that voters will be able to decide on in the November election thanks to over 20,000 certified signatures the group collected. Save Austin Now co-founder Matt Mackowiak responded via Twitter:
Adler said that while violent crime deaths are rising, the rate of homicides in Austin is among the lowest in big cities around the country. He discredited rumors that city council took $150 million from the police budget and said that both he and the council respect officers while hoping to create more equity for those that may be disadvantaged in the eyes of the law.
"Every individual officer that I have come to know personally is a credit to their profession," Adler said. "Nothing about what I believe is inconsistent with also believing that we expect too much of our officers, and this can cause harm to officers and community members alike... I can support and honor our police and still confront institutional racism and support changing a warrior culture to one that leads with a guardian mindset."
Adler said he admired the heroism of officers that responded to the Sixth Street shooting earlier this year and said that two more cadet classes were approved in next year's budget as the city works to properly train and hire more officers.
Homelessness
Finally, Adler addressed criticism on the city's handling of the homelessness crisis.
According to Adler, the city has closed homeless encampments at the library on Cesar Chavez, at the Menchaca intersection with Ben White Boulevard, from around City Hall and Cesar Chavez near Congress Avenue. Adler also said that many veterans and children have been helped off the streets while the city works to convert hotels into apartments for the homeless and house 3,000 in the next three years.
Adler hopes that the community will once more come together against their common enemies as they work toward the future.
"I don't know the answer to the great harm caused by the misinformation casting and shadow over Austin, but I know in the end it is up to you," Adler said. "We should each seek out and be guided by the truth. Each of us in the solitude of our own conscience will have the absolute power to make for ourselves and our families, those choices that best protect our neighbors and their families too."
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