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No Way on Prop A outreach director David Chincanchan addresses the crowd and press at Barton Springs. (Abe Asher/Austonia)
At a gathering at the entrance to Barton Springs, speakers included two members of City Council, Vanessa Fuentes and Alison Alter, and Carol Guthrie, business manager of the American Federation of State, County, Municipal Employees, Local 1624, a union representing the city of Austin and Travis County employees.
Proposition A, put on the ballot after gaining petition signatures, seeks to:
- Require minimum staffing of two officers per 1,000 residents
- Require a minimum standard of 35% community response time
- Add 40 hours of training
- Require city council members, Mayor Steve Adler and other city staff to enroll in the Citizens Police Academy
- Facilitate minority officer hiring through foreign language proficiency metrics
The proposition comes just more than a year after Austin City Council voted to cut its police budget by a third in the wake of protests against police brutality after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and killing of Michael Ramos in Austin.
"Prop A is a total reversal of the shift that Austin went through during and after the protests of the summer of 2020," said Chas Moore, founder of the Austin Justice Coalition. "We need every Austinite who posted a black square last summer, every Austinite who marched with us down Congress Avenue, every resident who called into council… to vote no way on Prop A."
Members of the coalition to defeat Prop A raise their fists. (Abe Asher/Austonia)
They are facing a strong political organization. Save Austin Now launched the proposition following their successful spring campaign to criminalize houseless camping in the city, which overwhelmingly. This proposition would install minimum police staffing levels for APD and add training requirements for officers among other initiatives.
"Our city can afford the same number of police officers that the city authorized just two years ago. City Hall may not support law enforcement, but city residents do," Save Austin Now co-founders Matt Mackowiak and Cleo Petricek said in a statement.
If passed, the city's budget office has estimated that it could cost as much as $120 million each year for the next five years.
Barring a tax increase, that money might come out of other areas of the city's budget, mentioned by attendees. The Barton Springs setting was no coincidence. Some held signs that read "PROTECT AUSTIN PARKS & LIBRARIES!"
"If Prop A passes, all of these services will be on the chopping block," City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, who represents southeast Austin, said. "We're talking about neighborhood public libraries, neighborhood swimming pools, mental health services, and many other services that would no longer be accessible."
Anti-Prop A signs were distributed at the event. (Abe Asher/Austonia)
Democrats in the area are overwhelmingly opposed to the plan. Katie Naranjo, chair of the Travis County Democratic Party, painted Save Austin Now as deceptive in a message similar to one propagated by Adler last month.
"They call themselves by another name," Naranjo said of Save Austin Now. "They're a wolf in sheep's clothing. If you signed the Republican Party's petition and you're a Democrat, you're not a bad person. You were lied to."
Save Austin Now has bipartisan leadership, though members of its board are affiliated with the Travis County Republican Party and Austin Police Association.
Attendees listen to AFSCME Local 1624's Carol Guthrie address the event. (Abe Asher/Austonia)
Prop A backers argue that increased crime in Austin since the outbreak of the pandemic means that the city needs to employ more police officers. Austin has seen a spike in murders in 2021 in line with a national increase, even as the rate of violent crime nationally has remained steady.
"This is a straight attack on Black, Brown and Indigenous folks that have been saying for years that we need to change the way we do things," Moore said. "The way we do policing now does not make us feel safe. We don't need more cops, we need more resources."
Early voting begins on Oct. 19.
Popular
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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