austonia newsletter
Get connected with our daily update
Most viewed
Karen Brooks Harper/Austonia.com
Will, 35, shows off his Medusa stenciled T-shirt on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020 at Dark Side of the Street Collective, an art workshop for the homeless every Wednesday at 6th Street and Brazos.
The clay-and-wire sculpture emerging on the folding table depicts a tree, pregnant with pollution, with oil spills, airborne toxins and a trash island floating in the ocean.
The hands making it are dark and stained, a bit scarred, but fast-moving and certain of their purpose.
<p>They belong to an anxious and soft-spoken 33-year-old known on the streets as "Denver," who has been homeless in Austin since he was released from jail on a felony marijuana conviction eight years ago. </p><p>Each week, Denver finds some peace at an informal art workshop for the homeless that has emerged near a bus bench at the corner of 6th and Brazos. </p>
<p><br/></p><p>Across the street from the iconic Driskill Hotel, in front of a mural that says "Spread Kindness," the workshop is a world away from the hardscrabble life Denver leads under Austin's urban bridges.</p><p>He began sculpting, drawing, painting and writing about three years ago when he "built up too much anxiety and started to go manic."</p><p>The workshop has been dubbed the Dark Side of the Street Collective by founder <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jburrd_art/" target="_blank">Justine Decker, a 25-year-old street artist</a> who arrived in Austin in April and who, until recently, lived in a room above a Sixth Street bar before moving to an apartment.</p><p><br/></p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9f37b173b8eb41a0ec637c9b12276f66" id="389bc"><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0;
border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);
margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px);
width:calc(100% - 2px);">
<div style="padding:8px;">
<div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50% 0; text-align:center;
width:100%;">
<div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC);
display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;">
</div></div><p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;">
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CCUx8M2A4S-/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif;
font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;
word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">Login • Instagram</a></p>
</div></blockquote></div><p><br/></p><p>Decker, 25, is a prolific artist whose work includes <a href="https://www.jbirdart.com/murals" target="_blank">colorful murals on the plywood boards covering Sixth Street bars.</a></p><p>Decker recently escaped the streets after spending 10 years with a heroin addiction that began in her adolescence in Florida. Now clean, she earns commissions for her mural art and drives for delivery companies to make ends meet. </p><p>She has an associate's degree from a college in Florida, which she attended on a scholarship and work-study program as a teen. Now she studies at an Austin art school, with funding from a student loan. Decker uses art supplies she buys with her own money and a few occasional donations for the group, operating for about seven weeks now.</p><p>"This helps me as much as it would help anybody else," she said. "Collaborating with people and other artists, and just remembering there's so much more to life than (using)."</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b976f950f4670066c69e89b32e35a5bb" id="b74bb"><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0;
border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);
margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px);
width:calc(100% - 2px);">
<div style="padding:8px;">
<div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50% 0; text-align:center;
width:100%;">
<div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC);
display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;">
</div></div><p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;">
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CB8t6KZAVGr/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif;
font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;
word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">Login • Instagram</a></p>
</div></blockquote></div><p><br/></p><p>On a recent Wednesday evening, the project that week was stenciling T-shirts. Will, a 35-year-old who spends much of his time on the streets, suggests a Medusa design.</p><p>"Sometimes a person can look at you, and the way they look at you, it turns you to stone, and you're just stuck for a minute," he said. "You know what that look means, and you're asking yourself why."</p><p>Decker sketches the pattern and shows Will how to trace it. Then they cut it out with an Exacto knife, put it on top of the T-shirt, and Will spray paints it black and gold.</p><p>He holds it up proudly."That's dope," he says with a grin. </p><p>He replicates it on a canvas. The design catches on, and two more people make Medusa shirts, too.</p><p>Decker's dream is to create a website with artist profiles to help sell their art, create P.O. boxes and bank accounts for them, and give them a way for their art to get them off the streets.</p><p>Denver is one of the group's most prolific and talented artists, Decker said. He has no birth certificate—he was born in Mexico with no birth certificate and taken in by a Rio Grande Valley family—so it's hard to find a job to pay for housing and a safe place to keep his art.</p><p>"That's one of the hugest problems I have right now, is protecting my intellectual property," he said. "I thought I wanted to live on the street the rest of my life, and now? No, I don't." </p>
Homeless artists' group brightens up 'Dark Side' of Austin's Sixth Street
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU5NTQzMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1Nzc0MjUzN30.NXFwIr_aR3H8XccmfKWiFQBf2dCku7FI0UUUWpFhwJk/img.jpg?width=980" id="a4516" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c9901243c324dd0098aff37468ddf2fd" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Karen Brooks Harper/Austonia
<p>Denver, 33, sculpts a pregnant tree at the Dark Side of the Street Collective on Aug. 26, 2020 in Austin, Texas.</p>
From Your Site Articles
- Video shows 'massive problems' with homeless camp in Austin ... ›
- Austin Mayor Adler gives speech on COVID, homelessness policing ... ›
- Report urges "more humane" approaches to Austin homeless ... ›
- Homelessness blows the top off of Zandan's 2020 Austin poll ... ›
- Austin musician rallies support to save iconic murals from 'upgrades' - austonia ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep Reading
Show less
(Kevin Ludlow/YouTube)
Followup to the Problems in Windsor Park Creek (2 weeks after cleanup)
A homeless encampment in Austin's Windsor Park neighborhood is accumulating trash after a cleanup effort earlier this month.
<p>Kevin Ludlow, a resident and former Libertarian candidate for the Texas House, first <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-homeless-problem-camp" target="_self">posted a video of the encampment</a>, which abuts his backyard in Windsor Park, on Aug. 2. The footage showed a large amount of trash as well as homeless residents engaged in substance use. It has since been viewed more than 72,000 times and shared widely on social media sites.</p><p>After the video was posted, the city's watershed protection department contracted a local nonprofit, The Other Ones Foundations, to <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-homelessness-windsor-park" target="_self">clean up the site</a>, which is along Little Tannehill Branch Creek between Broadmoor Drive and 52nd Street. Work crews removed tons of trash.</p><p>"The area was spotless on Aug. 9," Ludlow said in an updated video posted on Tuesday, showing what has happened at the site since the clean-up effort.</p><p>New campers began arriving Aug. 12, Ludlow said in voiceover. Last week, clothes and garbage began piling up, and he recorded what appears to be substance use and nudity.<br/></p><p>"I don't believe the campers should be arrested nor do I believe that we should criminalize homelessness in any way," Ludlow said in the video, adding that given the increase in property taxes in recent years the city should have adequate funding to address the issue. "There is simply no way that a solution to this problem cannot be found with that bump in revenue to the City of Austin." </p><p>Windsor Park Neighborhood Association President Dan Strub previously told Austonia that the encampment has been around for years and many residents are reluctant to call the police "about much of anything that isn't directly crime-related these days." </p>
A fight over public camping
<p>Austin residents facing issues related to homeless encampments are encouraged to call the emergency 311 line. But there is little that city officials or police can do to <a href="https://austonia.com/new-report-urges-more-humane-approaches-to-austin-homeless-struggles" target="_self">force campers elsewhere</a>. Last year, Austin City Council abolished the city's ban on public camping. </p><p>A local nonprofit, Save Austin Now, tried to overturn this ban via a citizen-led petition. However, Austin City Clerk Jannette Goodall <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-texas-homeless-petition" target="_self">recently ruled</a> that the petition is not valid due to duplicate signatures and other issues. </p><p>The group, led by Travis County GOP Chairperson Matt Mackowiak, is <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-homelessness-petition-election" target="_self">considering legal action</a> but is up against a deadline; the Nov. 3 election is just over nine weeks away. </p><p>"We do not believe there is ANY CHANCE WHATSOEVER that 5,000+ signed petitions of the 24,000+ that we submitted were invalid," Mackowiak wrote in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SaveAustinNow/posts/167946008140177?__tn__=K-R" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">an Aug. 20 Facebook post</a>. "We are not going to accept what has happened here."</p><p>The group is waiting for the city to respond to a public information request before deciding on its next steps. </p><p>If the court orders the city to place an item on the November ballot, it will, a spokesperson wrote to Austonia in an email last week. </p><p>Goodall, however, is confident in her decision. "The probability that checking all 24,201 submitted signatures would find a total of at least 20,000 valid signatures in less than 3 in one billion," she wrote in the ruling.</p>From Your Site Articles
- Austin city clerk invalidates homelessness petition - austonia ›
- No homeless public camping vote on November ballot for Austin ... ›
- Austin Mayor Adler gives speech on COVID, homelessness policing ... ›
- Crews clean up trash, needles and human waste at Austin homeless ... ›
- Video shows 'massive problems' with homeless camp in Austin ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep Reading
Show less
(City of Austin)
The homeless community will now have a place to store their belongings with the City of Austin's newly launched Violet KeepSafe Storage program, that provides 96-gallon bins and locks to unsheltered individuals so they can store their possessions without fear for their safety.
<p>Bins are provided to those referred by the Homeless Outreach Street Team or the Downtown Austin Community Court. The city will provide 85 bins but hopes to expand its capacity up to 200 more bins in addition to opening new facilities in decentralized locations. The facility is located in the HealthSouth parking garage in downtown Austin. </p><p>The program is designed so people who live unsheltered can untether themselves from their belongings and safely attend doctor's appointments, pursue employment opportunities or rest without worry.</p><p>Assistant City Manager Chris Shorter said this is an important step, as it is often hard to travel with large items, such as blankets, and people often do not want to show up to an important appointment carrying everything they own with them.</p><p>"This is a major step forward for our support system in response to our homeless population and it's just a first step," Shorter said in a press release. "We are expanding citywide and will be able to serve hundreds more." </p><p>Violet KeepSafe Storage builds on existing programs by FrontSteps, which provides storage, showers, laundry, computers and other resources to the Austin homeless community through the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless.</p><p>The program aims to preserve dignity within the homeless and unsheltered community and was inspired by similar programs across the country. You can find more information on Violet KeepSafe Storage <a href="http://www.austintexas.gov/department/violet-keepsafe-storage" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
From Your Site Articles
- No homeless public camping vote on November ballot for Austin ... ›
- Crews clean up trash, needles and human waste at Austin homeless ... ›
- Group says petition to end Austin homeless camps drew 24k ... ›
- Video shows 'massive problems' with homeless camp in Austin ... ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep Reading
Show less
Since Windsor Park resident Kevin Ludlow posted a video showing trash, human waste and drug use in a growing encampment behind his home last weekend, more than 60,000 people have viewed it on YouTube, hundreds have reached out to him directly and the site has been cleaned up.
Now, the area looks "really great," Ludlow said, adding that a long-term solution is still needed.
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b69c0a63ee2544c92977169ee77b3c22" style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="auto" type="lazy-iframe" scrolling="no" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xbsXgU6PO6U?rel=0" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" width="100%"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Massive problems in the Windsor Park creek video released Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020.</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbsXgU6PO6U" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p><br/></p><p>The camp is along Little Tannehill Branch Creek between Broadmoor Drive and 52nd Street.<br/></p><p>The cleanup, the result of a city contract with local nonprofit The Other Ones Foundation, began on Tuesday and wrapped up on Friday.</p><p>A TOOF spokesman said the group regularly cleans up similar camps around the city. The city called them about Windsor Park last Monday - the day after the video was posted and drew 25,000 views in 24 hours.</p><p>"There's so much to do, that it wasn't in our rotation until the people living around there (Windsor Park) called the city," said Max Moscoe, community engagement coordinator with TOOF.</p><p>TOOF, which employs people who are homeless at $15 an hour, has worked on similar cleanup efforts around the city since beginning a <a href="https://www.statesman.com/news/20191003/austin-pumps-720000-into-homeless-work-program" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow" target="_blank"><u>$720,000 year-long contract</u></a> with the city last October. The group was established in 2018 with a pilot program through the city.</p><p>Encampment clean-ups <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-homeless-problem-camp" target="_self">had been paused since March</a> because of pandemic-related health concerns.</p><p><span></span>Attempts to speak with Council Member Greg Casar, whose district includes the camp, were unsuccessful, but a spokesperson said Ludlow contacted his office three weeks ago about the camp.</p><p>Since then, Casar's office has been organizing efforts to get the area cleaned up and help those who live there access support and mental-health services, spokesman Braden Latham-Jones said.</p><p>"They've been able to get a few people into housing," Latham-Jones said. "The video came out, which brought a lot more scrutiny, [but] the process, regardless of the video, is the same."</p><p>Ludlow said he believes the video was a catalyst.</p><p><span></span>"There's no doubt about it that the video has had a massive impact on the response from the city," Ludlow told Austonia. "I don't think they want to dismiss it, but putting it out there to the public definitely garnered the type of reaction where they could not ignore it."</p><p><strong>Raising awareness</strong><br/></p><p>While the city was aware of the encampment, many people who live in the area around it were not. It is nearly invisible from the streets that line it, blocked from view by homes and apartment buildings. </p><p>Dan Strub, president of the Windsor Park Neighborhood Association, said it has been there for 18 years but had grown recently.</p><p>"Truth be told, I don't think many people were aware of the size of the encampment before the video," Strub said. "I live here, and I wasn't aware of what was going on back there." </p><p>Hundreds of Austinites reached out to Ludlow after he posted and many offered to volunteer at future clean-ups, he said.</p><p>His footage also resonated with Austinites in other areas that are facing similar issues. </p><p>Lisa Novack owns a condo in the Riverside neighborhood east of I-35. Since the city repealed its ban on public camping last summer, she has noticed that the homeless encampment along the Riverside Drive median has grown.</p><p>Novack feels compassion for the people who live there, but she also worries about safety and the lack of regulations and would like to see the ban <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-homelessness-petition-election" target="_blank">reinstated.</a> </p><p>"I watched that YouTube video of the people with them in their backyard just camping along the river," she said, "and just said, 'Oh my god, I feel guilty for ever complaining,' because they aren't necessarily in mine."</p>
<p><strong><em>Want to read more stories like this one? Start every day with a quick look at what's happening in Austin. Sign up for Austonia.com's free daily morning email.</em></strong></p><!-- Begin Mailchimp Signup Form -->
<link href="//cdn-images.mailchimp.com/embedcode/classic-10_7.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
<style type="text/css">
#mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; }<br />
/* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.<br />
We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */<br />
</style>
<div id="mc_embed_signup">
<form action="https://austonia.us19.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=4d0e7a7bb7e797f1d00b45a6b&id=ad2a1dda78" method="post" id="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" name="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" class="validate" target="_blank" novalidate="">
<div id="mc_embed_signup_scroll">
<div class="mc-field-group">
<label for="mce-EMAIL">Email Address </label>
<input type="email" value="" name="EMAIL" placeholder="️✉️ Enter your email address" class="required email" id="mce-EMAIL"></div>
<div class="mc-field-group input-group" style="display:none"> <strong>Austonia </strong>
<ul>
<li><input checked="checked" value="1" name="group[11998][1]" id="mce-group[11998]-11998-0"></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div id="mce-responses" class="clear">
<div class="response" id="mce-error-response" style="display:none"></div>
<div class="response" id="mce-success-response" style="display:none"></div>
</div>
<!-- real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups-->
<div style="position: absolute; left: -5000px;" aria-hidden="true"><input type="text" name="b_4d0e7a7bb7e797f1d00b45a6b_ad2a1dda78" tabindex="-1" value=""></div>
<div class="clear"><input type="submit" value="Sign up now" name="subscribe" id="mc-embedded-subscribe" class="button"></div>
</div>
</form></div>
<!--End mc_embed_signup-->
From Your Site Articles
- Poll results: Majority would vote for ban on homeless camps - austonia ›
- Homelessness blows the top off of Zandan's 2020 Austin poll ... ›
- Video shows 'massive problems' with homeless camp in Austin ... ›
- Poll results: Majority would vote for ban on homeless camps - austonia ›
- No homeless public camping vote on November ballot for Austin ... ›
- Video shows 'massive problems' with homeless camp in Austin ... ›
- Report urges "more humane" approaches to Austin homeless ... ›
- Group says petition to end Austin homeless camps drew 24k ... ›
- Homeless community now has a place to store their belongings with new city program - austonia ›
- Austin’s Windsor Park sees homeless encampment return after clean-up effort - austonia ›
Related Articles Around the Web
- Homelessness rises by 11% in Austin-Travis County, 2020 Point in ... ›
- North Austin homeless population changing amid COVID-19 | kvue ... ›
- Some Texans blame California for homelessness in Austin - Los ... ›
- Inside Austin's Bitter Brawl Over the City's Homeless Population ... ›
- Homelessness 2.0: How COVID-19 has changed Austin's homeless ... ›
- Texas opening five acres to house Austin homeless | The Texas ... ›
Keep Reading
Show less
'We have only begun to fight': Save Austin Now seeks legal help in battle over no-camping petition
06 August
(Kevin Ludlow)
The petition, if validated and approved by voters this November, would have reinstated a city ban on public camping.
The group behind a petition to put a citywide public-camping ban on the November ballot in Austin said Thursday that they were "engaging a highly respected local Democratic litigator" in their efforts to fight a city ruling earlier in the week that their petition did not enough valid signatures.
<p>Matt Mackowiak, a cofounder of <a href="http://saveaustinnow.org/" target="_blank">Save Austin Now</a>, <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-homeless-camps" target="_self">the group behind the petition</a>, stopped short of saying the group was planning to file a legal contest—but he did put out a call for donations in a post on Facebook. </p><p>Mackowiak, who is also chairman of the Travis County Republican Party, said <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SaveAustinNow/posts/164372638497514" target="_blank">in a Facebook post</a> that the group has called "a highly respected local Democratic litigator to review the facts, help us determine what additional information is needed, and consider our legal options." </p><p>"Put simply: This is expensive and we need your support right now," he wrote. "We have only begun to fight."</p><p><span></span>Austin City Clerk Jannette Goodall's <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-texas-homeless-petition" target="_self">ruling yesterday</a> was the first time since 2002 that the city invalidated a petition because of lack of signatures, she told Austonia on Thursday.<br/></p><p>The struggle has intensified <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-homeless-problem-camp" target="_blank">as residents report growing camps near neighborhoods</a> while a consultant hired by the city is advising that moving the encampments won't solve the city's homelessness issue.</p><p>Goodall used a random sampling method that the city adopted in 2002 in her review, according to a city spokesperson. State law allows cities to use any reasonable sampling method in determining whether citizen-led petitions contain the required number of signatures.</p><p>While Mackowiak was not specific about plans to file, local attorney and activist Fred Lewis—who has spearheaded other citizen-initiated petitions, including one last year that opposed an expansion of the Austin Convention Center— said he would expect the group to file very soon, likely with the state district court.</p><p>This is because the last day for the city to order a referendum in the November election is Aug. 17, according to the state election schedule. </p><p>"You're talking two or three weeks this has got to be decided - at most," Lewis said. "The court may not be able to decide it in that time." </p><p>Save Austin Now filed the petition on July 20, with 24,598 signatures—well over the 20,000 required to put their initiative on the ballot. If validated, it would have allowed voters to decide whether to roll back a year-old city ordinance allowing camping, panhandling, sitting and lying in public spaces. </p><p>But in her review, Goodall discovered several issues: some signers asked to be removed; there were duplicate names; and a second version of the petition was detected, which invalidated others. </p><p>Ultimately, the clerk estimated that there are 19,122 valid signatures on the petition.</p><p>"The probability that checking all 24,201 submitted signatures would find a total of at least 20,000 valid signatures is less than 3 in one billion," Goodall wrote in her ruling. </p><p>Some welcomed the news.</p><p>Chris Harris, director of criminal justice programs at <a href="https://www.texasappleseed.org/" target="_blank">Texas Appleseed</a> and who was involved in a local effort to decriminalize homelessness, called the clerk's ruling "phenomenal" in a tweet on Wednesday. </p><p>"Republican efforts to re-criminalize homelessness & use homelessness as a wedge to turn out conservative voters in November has failed," he wrote.</p><p>Save Austin Now co-founder Cleo Petricek is a self-proclaimed local Democrat. </p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c4f919f489f18a61a73cb2732faf74c5" id="dec2d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1291114147581747201"><div style="margin:1em 0">PHENOMENAL news #ATX!!!
Republican efforts to re-criminalize homelessness & use homelessness as a wedge to turn ou… https://t.co/Nouy3uT91r</div> — Chris Harris (@Chris Harris)<a href="https://twitter.com/chrisharris101/statuses/1291114147581747201">1596660575.0</a></blockquote></div>
From Your Site Articles
- Report urges "more humane" approaches to Austin homeless ... ›
- Group says petition to end Austin homeless camps drew 24k ... ›
- Video shows 'massive problems' with homeless camp in Austin ... ›
- No homeless public camping vote on November ballot for Austin ... ›
- Austin Mayor Adler gives speech on COVID, homelessness policing ... ›
- Austin’s Windsor Park sees homeless encampment return after clean-up effort - austonia ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep Reading
Show less
(by Charlie L. Harper III)
No public camping referendum on November ballot for Austin, city rules.
A petition to reinstate Austin's ban on public camping—abolished a year ago in a widely-debated move by Austin City Council to address homelessness—does not have enough signatures to make it on the November ballot, Austin City Clerk Jannette Goodall ruled Wednesday.
<p>On July 21, the local nonprofit group <a href="http://saveaustinnow.com/" target="_blank">"Save Austin Now"</a> said they had collected 24,598 signatures—well over the 20,000 required to put their initiative on the ballot in November.<br/></p><p>In reviewing the petition, however, the city clerk said she discovered a number of issues.</p><p>Nearly a hundred signatures were removed because of requests from signers. The clerk's office also discovered that the petition contained two versions of the language being proposed in the ordinance, which led to 397 signatures being removed.</p><p>Of the remaining 24,201 signatures, the clerk's office used a random sample to verify the petition.</p><p>"Of the 6,051 submitted sample lines checked under the sampling method, 1,147 of the sample lines were disqualified on account of being duplicate signatures of registered voters who signed more than once (41), or for other reasons (1,106)," Goodall wrote.</p><p>Ultimately, the clerk estimates that there are 19,122 valid signatures on the petition, which is not enough to make the ballot.</p><p>"The probability that checking all 24,201 submitted signatures would find a total of at least 20,000 valid signatures is less than 3 in one billion," Goodall wrote.</p><p>The petition—and what would have been a November ballot vote had it been validated—called on the city to roll back the <a href="https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2019-10-18/austin-city-council-reinstates-partial-camping-ban/" target="_blank">year-old city ordinance</a> allowing camping in public spaces. The goal was to reinstate previous ordinances in place before the ban was lifted in June 2019—no panhandling at night, no public camping, no sitting or lying in public places.</p><p>Save Austin Now co-founders Cleo Petricek and Matt Mackowiak believe the clerk's office inappropriately threw out thousands of signed petitions.</p><p>"We are exploring several options available to us, including possible legal action," they said in a joint statement shared with Austonia. "This fight is not over."</p><p>Last summer, the Austin City Council abolished the city's ban on public sitting, panhandling, lying and camping after <a href="https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2019/06/council-postpones-vote-on-camping-panhandling-ordinance/" target="_blank">homeless advocates</a> said such bans criminalize people who live on the street, and trap them there by making them targets for police action and creating criminal records.</p><p>In October, the council revisited the issue and limited where camping was allowed, banning it from sidewalks, near houses, near the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless and other shelters, and outside businesses during operating hours, among other limits.</p><p>In <a href="https://austonia.com/poll-results-homeless-camping" target="_self">an Austonia poll</a> taken shortly after the group turned in their petition, the majority of respondents—nearly 80 percent—said they would vote to ban public camping.</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3a58ff624bf188fa3986fb9e09bd968a" id="c6512"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1283762901128536069"><div style="margin:1em 0">While the people that serve the unhoused praise the decriminalization of homelessness, the local Republican party &… https://t.co/skyhygVUsq</div> — Chris Harris (@Chris Harris)<a href="https://twitter.com/chrisharris101/statuses/1283762901128536069">1594907901.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><em>This story has been updated to include a statement from Save Austin Now. </em></p>
<p><strong>Want to read more stories like this one? Start every day with a quick look at what's happening in Austin. Sign up for Austonia.com's free daily morning email.</strong></p><!-- Begin Mailchimp Signup Form -->
<link href="//cdn-images.mailchimp.com/embedcode/classic-10_7.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
<style type="text/css">
#mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; }<br />
/* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.<br />
We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */<br />
</style>
<div id="mc_embed_signup">
<form action="https://austonia.us19.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=4d0e7a7bb7e797f1d00b45a6b&id=ad2a1dda78" method="post" id="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" name="mc-embedded-subscribe-form" class="validate" target="_blank" novalidate="">
<div id="mc_embed_signup_scroll">
<div class="mc-field-group">
<label for="mce-EMAIL">Email Address </label>
<input type="email" value="" name="EMAIL" placeholder="️✉️ Enter your email address" class="required email" id="mce-EMAIL"></div>
<div class="mc-field-group input-group" style="display:none"> <strong>Austonia </strong>
<ul>
<li><input checked="checked" value="1" name="group[11998][1]" id="mce-group[11998]-11998-0"></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div id="mce-responses" class="clear">
<div class="response" id="mce-error-response" style="display:none"></div>
<div class="response" id="mce-success-response" style="display:none"></div>
</div>
<!-- real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups-->
<div style="position: absolute; left: -5000px;" aria-hidden="true"><input type="text" name="b_4d0e7a7bb7e797f1d00b45a6b_ad2a1dda78" tabindex="-1" value=""></div>
<div class="clear"><input type="submit" value="Sign up now" name="subscribe" id="mc-embedded-subscribe" class="button"></div>
</div>
</form></div>
<!--End mc_embed_signup-->
From Your Site Articles
- Poll results: Majority would vote for ban on homeless camps - austonia ›
- Homelessness blows the top off of Zandan's 2020 Austin poll ... ›
- Video shows 'massive problems' with homeless camp in Austin ... ›
- Group says petition to end Austin homeless camps drew 24k ... ›
- Report urges "more humane" approaches to Austin homeless ... ›
- Austin city clerk invalidates homelessness petition - austonia ›
- Crews clean up trash, needles and human waste at Austin homeless camp in viral video - austonia ›
- Homeless community now has a place to store their belongings with new city program - austonia ›
- Austin’s Windsor Park sees homeless encampment return after clean-up effort - austonia ›
- Austin City Council to move ahead on convention center expansion - austonia ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep Reading
Show less
Austin Mayor Adler talks COVID, inequity, homelessness and policing in 'State of the City' address
05 August
(City of Austin)
Austin Mayor Steve Adler delivered his annual "State of the City" address Wednesday—virtually.
This story has been updated to include quotes from the mayor's speech.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler delivered his annual "State of the City" address Wednesday evening, in which he discussed the coronavirus pandemic, police funding, the local economy, homelessness, transit and equity issues.
<p>Usually delivered to a crowd at City Hall, tonight's address was—as are all things Council these days—virtual.</p><p>"This could have been a speech only about COVID-19," Adler said. Instead, much of his 25-page address focused on the opportunities presented in this moment. </p><p>"Perhaps only at times such as these, where our routines and inertia are so utterly disrupted, can we be freed and forced to dream and act big," he said. "So let's do big things. Let's end homelessness. Let's bring real mobility to Austin. Let's reimagine how we keep one another safe. Let's address race and do something about correcting centuries of injustice because it is the fundamental injustice that fuels so many others." </p><p>Below are some quotes, excerpted from a transcript shared in advance. </p><p><strong>On the coronavirus</strong> </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"We all want the local economy—and our lives—back as we knew them. But the governor's decision to reopen before we had sufficient testing and tracing in place and before our numbers were low enough compounded the challenge. … Truth is, the virus was never gone. <a href="https://austonia.com/testing-asymptomatic-austin" target="_blank">It just hides</a>, waiting for us to invite it back into our lives." </p><p><strong>On the economy</strong></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Unemployment is at unimaginable levels. Businesses have shuttered - some temporarily and some lost forever. Many of our neighbors don't know how they're going to feed their families or whether they'll be evicted from their homes. Tenants struggle with rent; homeowners and landlords struggle with mortgage payments. Our hospitality and creative workers and industries, so great a part of our economy, are reeling. For many, it's already too late." </p><p><strong>On homelessness</strong> </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"To the people <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-texas-homeless-petition" target="_blank">that signed on to the petition</a> because they were desperate for a solution for people experiencing homelessness, I want to say that I share your impatience. Having chosen this more just path, though, and having rejected the false promise of cosmetic fixes, our work is incomplete unless we follow through with the commitment to house the homeless. This will require us to do a better job of inclusively managing shared public spaces." </p><p><strong>On transit</strong> </p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">"Project Connect is <a href="https://austonia.com/transportation/project-connect-austin" target="_blank">a bold transit plan</a> for the just and accessible city we aspire to be. It certainly addresses traffic, but it will do so much more. … Project Connect will connect our entire city, creating new opportunity for Austinites, reducing our dependence on expensive personal vehicles, and save lives." </p><p><strong>On police funding</strong> </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"I want to address police department leadership. … We need not only an openness to consider change but a keen desire to move past the status quo and to look at public safety more broadly than [ever,] mainly focusing on ensuring we're best equipped to deal with unsafe moments when they occur. We need more than just a willingness to accept change <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-city-council-police-policy" target="_blank">if it happens</a>; we need a champion for change at its best."</p><p><span></span>Want to read the whole speech? Here's the transcript. </p><p class="pdf-loader"><a class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bdab21c224a6f214f9ee5a4066743481" href="https://roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/documents/6988/SOTC 2020 FINAL.pdf">SOTC 2020 FINAL.pdf</a></p><p>Make it a game! Adler invited residents to use this bingo card to mark off every topic mentioned in the speech. Can you get to bingo? Share it on social media with #ATXSOTC.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6b0e4c3e305d794e5a8d90586202a727" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="99d54" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUzNzU2OC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1Njg4NTY1NH0.wzAmDm1N9F0NflybdxcR9O5shzZ_8EsH-H8Dhs40ywM/img.png?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(City of Austin)</small></p>
From Your Site Articles
- Transportation - austonia ›
- This was the year for Project Connect in Austin. Then came ... ›
- Video shows 'massive problems' with homeless camp in Austin ... ›
- Austin's high-rise dwellers say density is not a problem ... ›
- Divorced Austin parents: COVID amplifies child custody fight - austonia ›
- Without restaurants, bars or festivals, Austin's cottage industry of ... ›
- Austin mayor issues new orders amid COVID-19 surge - austonia ›
- Austin city clerk invalidates homelessness petition - austonia ›
- Austin launches $17.75M COVID rental assistance program - austonia ›
- Austin’s Windsor Park sees homeless encampment return after clean-up effort - austonia ›
- Weekly art group offers bright spot for homeless on Austin's Sixth Street - austonia ›
Related Articles Around the Web
Keep Reading
Show less
As Austin struggles to deal with the growing issue of homelessness, a new report by a national consulting firm released Thursday urges a "more humane, person-centered" approach that will bring "more efficient and effective outcomes than the more punitive policies" traditionally used by major cities to get homeless people off the streets.
<p>The city commissioned the 75-page report by Barbara Poppe and Associates—titled<em> </em><a href="http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/pio/document.cfm?id=344008" target="_blank">Investing for Results: Priorities and Recommendations for a Systems Approach to End Homelessness</a>—in January. It details an extensive plan for aligning the goals of the city's 2018 Action Plan to End Homelessness.</p><p><a href="https://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/180723-Action-Plan-to-end-Homelessness.pdf" target="_blank">The Action plan</a> culminated more than a year of work by the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition group and other stakeholders in the issue. </p><p>The city also announced Thursday the creation of the new group, Austin's Public-Private Partnership Task Force to End Homelessness (P3 Homelessness Task Force), focused on reviewing and implementing recommendations in the report. The group includes <a href="https://austintexas.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1861810ce1dca1a4c1673747c&id=52367aad0f&e=e85eed572c" target="_blank">ECHO</a>; <a href="https://austintexas.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1861810ce1dca1a4c1673747c&id=ad6494c60d&e=e85eed572c" target="_blank">Caritas of Austin</a>; <a href="https://austintexas.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1861810ce1dca1a4c1673747c&id=21a3ecf0b8&e=e85eed572c" target="_blank">Downtown Austin Alliance</a>; <a href="https://austintexas.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1861810ce1dca1a4c1673747c&id=076e813c5a&e=e85eed572c" target="_blank">Front Steps</a>; <a href="https://austintexas.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1861810ce1dca1a4c1673747c&id=4348cf7a26&e=e85eed572c" target="_blank">Integral Care</a>; <a href="https://austintexas.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1861810ce1dca1a4c1673747c&id=d0a7e04dff&e=e85eed572c" target="_blank">LifeWorks</a>; and the <a href="https://austintexas.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1861810ce1dca1a4c1673747c&id=ac752bc62e&e=e85eed572c" target="_blank">Salvation Army</a>.</p><p>The issue is at the forefront as Austin city officials face <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-homeless-camps" target="_blank">a possible ballot measure </a>in November that would ban camping in public spaces in the city, reversing action taken by the Austin City Council less than a year ago. </p><p>The move was an attempt to address a burgeoning problem, which the new report says can partly be attributed to housing costs rising faster than wages, but it drew as much fire as it did praise. </p><p>Austonia asked its readers this week where they stand on a ban on public camping. The results? Nearly 80% said they would support it. <a href="https://austonia.com/poll-results-homeless-camping" target="_blank">See those full results here.</a></p>
From Your Site Articles
- Homelessness blows the top off of Zandan's 2020 Austin poll ... ›
- Group says petition to end Austin homeless camps drew 24k ... ›
- Video shows 'massive problems' with homeless camp in Austin neighborhood - austonia ›
- Video shows 'massive problems' with homeless camp in Austin neighborhood - austonia ›
- No homeless public camping vote on November ballot for Austin, city says - austonia ›
- Austin city clerk invalidates homelessness petition - austonia ›
- Weekly art group offers bright spot for homeless on Austin's Sixth Street - austonia ›
Related Articles Around the Web
- Coronavirus: Apparent increase in visibility of homeless camps ... ›
- Petition to reinstate camping ban in Austin receives 10,000 signatures ›
- Homelessness rises by 11% in Austin-Travis County, 2020 Point in ... ›
- Texas opening five acres to house Austin homeless | The Texas ... ›
- Some Texans blame California for homelessness in Austin - Los ... ›
- Inside Austin's Bitter Brawl Over the City's Homeless Population ... ›
- Austin's Homeless Strategy - COVID-19 Support | AustinTexas.gov ›
- Homelessness 2.0: How COVID-19 has changed Austin's homeless ... ›
Keep Reading
Show less
