Austin Homeless Free for All Ordinance

[drt 637]

I've disagreed with some of your opinions in this thread Bozo but that is not one.  IMO the city shot themselves in the foot by going off half cocked on this and pushing through the first facility so quickly.  If they would have had some comprehensive plan that had facilities scattered throughout the city like you've advocated for from the beginning they might have been able to sidestep some of the future push back from NIMBY, and actually address other issues like zoning, funding, etc.  But ducks in a row is not how Austin gov't operates.

[Wally Pryor 5244]

It's almost all about how the facility was shoved down the throat of the stakeholders.  There was literally almost no time to react, discuss and dialogue.  In early June the news outlets began reporting on the existence of a new shelter but the location was being kept under wraps.  On / around the 10th the location was divulged.   On the 20th (that's June) the location was approved by the city.   There may be a day or two +/- in either of those timeframes but they're about right.

It's absolutely comical, and at the same time pathetic, that such a big decision was acted upon so quickly.  No one is contesting that the homelessness issue has to be addressed.  But the manner in which this particular piece was handled was and is a first-ballot induction into the city council's hall of lunacy.  

[Bozo_Casanova 26279]

Yeah, because usually the people who go to those meetings are supportive of new housing  (and change in general!) and use dialogue as an opportunity for constructive work towards a common objective and not paranoid, hysterical obstruction. 

Community First is where it is because of the howls of protest that erupted when attempts were made to put it anywhere near anything. Why would this be different?

Edited August 21, 2019 by Bozo_Casanova

[Guest Lobo]

1 minute ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

Yeah, because usually the people who go to those meetings are supportive of new housing  (and change in general!) and use dialogue as an opportunity for constructive work towards a common objective and not paranoid, hysterical obstruction. 

There's more to transparency and diligent underwriting of real estate acquisitions than just a token open hearing or two.  I don't think folks on here are saying we needed more screaming people at City Hall at 1:00am.  There are several other steps Council chose to either gloss over, or avoid completely.  They have literally re-written the playbook for Municipal Government acquisition of real estate for homeless needs.  And not in the good way they think.  

[Bozo_Casanova 26279]

The issue of the acquisition is a different matter entirely and I don't disagree. But we shouldn't make the most vulnerable people in our city the target of anger about mismanagement. These are human beings and their lives have value and dignity. They aren't dangerous predators. They just need a quiet place where they can rest in safety. 

[ChickenSandwich 9798]

And that could have been done much cheaper in a much better location. 

See Home Depot they already own on I35

[ChickenSandwich 9798]

Or the chemical dump they gave away for a soccer stadium. 

$100k pet bed is a laughable attempt at a “solution”, it’s simply a political play. 

Edited August 21, 2019 by ChickenSandwich

[atomheartbevo 89430]

2 hours ago, Wally Pryor said:

It's almost all about how the facility was shoved down the throat of the stakeholders.  There was literally almost no time to react, discuss and dialogue.  In early June the news outlets began reporting on the existence of a new shelter but the location was being kept under wraps.  On / around the 10th the location was divulged.   On the 20th (that's June) the location was approved by the city.   There may be a day or two +/- in either of those timeframes but they're about right.

It's absolutely comical, and at the same time pathetic, that such a big decision was acted upon so quickly.  No one is contesting that the homelessness issue has to be addressed.  But the manner in which this particular piece was handled was and is a first-ballot induction into the city council's hall of lunacy.  

Hold on to your butts, it's going to be interesting if they've decided they have to do something in the next 90 days, or at least extremely fast.  I still don't get where they came up with the "WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING QUICKLY" crap, but there you have it.

 

 

[InkaUtexas 25517]

24 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Hold on to your butts, it's going to be interesting if they've decided they have to do something in the next 90 days, or at least extremely fast.  I still don't get where they came up with the "WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING QUICKLY" crap, but there you have it.

 

 

hahaha, if you create it, they will come, and then you can ask for state and federal assistance. 

[Guest Lobo]

Ah, Molly Oak.  The poor man's Ellen Troxclair.  

[Deej 76566]

Hoping for a cold winter.

 

[Bozo_Casanova 26279]

And that could have been done much cheaper in a much better location. 
See Home Depot they already own on I35

Interesting. Leaving your speculation about cost aside, what makes that site better according to you, other than being further from you?

[demos 2992]

Honest question---there are dozens of her voters on this board.  Can one of y'all please weigh in?  We all dislike Trump, I get it.  But what's your infatuation with her?  Why her?  What am I not seeing about her?  Everything she says and does makes my fucking teeth itch.  What did/do you all see in her that was not there with Dave Floyd?  

We live in her district but we’re the dozen or so that didn’t vote for her, and I don’t care about my neighbors enough to ask why they voted for her.

[Deej 76566]

12 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

Interesting. Leaving your speculation about cost aside, what makes that site better according to you, other than being further from you?

I live down the road from that location. Have no problem with it being there. It can't make the neighborhood any worse. We have people living in the creek beds.

[Armybrat 40739]

Sure he will,  even after he moves on the legislature or congress.

 

[Wally Pryor 5244]

4 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

And that could have been done much cheaper in a much better location. 

See Home Depot they already own on I35

The Banister location may well end up being the optimal site, who knows?  Kitchen said at the council meeting on the 20th that upwards of 100 different sites, 30 owned by the city, were reviewed as possible locations for the first shelter.  Assuming Kitchen's #s were accurate, I would love to see what those sites were and how they were evaluated, at least the majority of them. 

But that was another piece of this process that was just glossed over and wasn't going to happen, primarily because almost zero time was allocated to dialogue and discuss all the important issues at hand.   

[BradInATX 9208]

2 hours ago, demos said:

We live in her district but we’re the dozen or so that didn’t vote for her, and I don’t care about my neighbors enough to ask why they voted for her.

I'm in 5 too. She ran unopposed last time. Only race I didn't vote in.

[atomheartbevo 89430]

Quote

Austin police have arrested a man suspected of pulling a butcher knife on a jogger on the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail on Wednesday.

Police were called to the trail near the 1200 block of W. Cesar Chavez Street around 8:46 a.m. after reports of a man with a long beard and no shirt chasing another man while holding a knife, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed Wednesday.

When officers arrived, the man who was being chased flagged them down and told them the attacker was down by the water.

Police found the man, later identified as Marcos Villalobos, 40, in a gazebo adjacent to the trail, the affidavit said.

“It appeared as if Marcos was camping out of the gazebo,” the document said. “Marcos was handcuffed and detained.”

The jogger told police he was running along the trail and decided to head toward the water around the gazebo area.

When he got there, he found Villalobos there. The affidavit said Villalobos held the knife in his hand, pointing the blade downward, and told the jogger to get out of the area.

The jogger told police he was afraid Villalobos was going to stab him, so he left the gazebo and walked to the opposite side of the trail to keep his distance, the affidavit said. Villalobos then left the gazebo and began chasing the jogger with the knife, according to the report.

After police detained Villalobos, they found a knife matching the description the jogger gave in a Tupperware bin with cooking spices.

A witness told police the jogger ran north across Cesar Chavez Street in heavy traffic to get away, the affidavit said. The witness said had he not done that, he thought Villalobos may have caught him.

The document said police have previously identified Villalobos as someone with mental health issues. The report said Villalobos said he chased the jogger to defend himself, but could not list any threatening actions the jogger took.

Villalobos has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was still being held at the Travis County Jail on Thursday on a $30,000 bail, jail records show.

Don't we all love that term, "both sides", and in this instance, it's applicable - both sides could use this as an example to bolster their argument - even though it's illegal to camp in the parks, opening up camping in more areas was always going to lead to disconnected people thinking they can camp places where they can't (homeless people aren't caring copies of COA rules/regulations around with them).  The flip side - the guy has mental health issues and should have been in a facility somewhere.

[Guest Lobo]

Anybody walk past 9th & Congress in the last two months?  At the SE corner, where the utility/infrastructure is well underway for the new Hyatt Centric at that intersection, there's been a homeless camp for a handful of folks setup against the building.  Nothing terribly interesting except for the fact that it's INSIDE the construction barricades.  Before you lecture me again on much more you care about the homeless situation than I do, just go walk by that intersection and look at the mini-camp setup there up against the building (that's about to demo'd any day now) with massive holes in the ground, ripped up sidewalk, huge equipment pieces, and enough debris and dirt flying around to choke a Rhino.  And there it is, this 4-5 person camp setup inside the orange barricades.  Fucking amazing.  I were to take two steps into that thing, I'd have the construction crew and police two seconds away from beating me.  But these folks get to stay there?  Why, because here's the kicker...they knocked out the glass and put a tent up in front of the whole so they can come and go into that building next to the State/Paramount Theaters because that's what Ann Kitchen would have wanted. A 30-story crane is moving in there in a few weeks, anybody gonna challenge Steve "I Care More than You" Adler to move this mini-encampment?  I doubt it.  

Fun fact, after not listening to anyone at yesterday's town Hall which he held earlier this week so that parents entrenched in first day of school of logistics couldn't make the event (55% of Austin started on Tuesday, 45% started on Wednesday).  Admittedly, council had meetings today, but it's like the ire of the city just started on homelessness issues this week.  They could have done it earlier this month or in the coming weeks as back-to-school schedules settled into a groove and working parents (which most of us have to do to afford this city nowadays) could have made plans to attend.  ANyway, what does Adler to do this morning? Speaks to a real estate development group.  I get that he's busy, so he had about 20-25 minutes (he was asked to discuss 5 points, he skipped 3, talked about 1 of them for 2 minutes and spent 23 minutes lecturing us about homelessness issues and how all of our assumptions are wrong and he and council know best.  In 23 minutes, he mentioned "Mental Illness" once and "Addiction" once or twice (maybe I was projecting my own shit with red wine and MILF porn).  To him, this is just a moneygrab play.  You can't grift social and health services the same way you can scam real estate, and he knows that.  Completely hollow leadership.  He could have had his townhall today BTW, people could have gone by before work instead of appearing at our SFA hotel event.  But oh yeah, he collecting at least $5,000 for speaking this morning, something you don't get at town halls and we were all told beforehand to shut up and take it.    /csb

[atomheartbevo 89430]

Hey Lobo, somebody said that people attending were told not to ask Adler about certain issues - was that true?

[Guest Lobo]

you being serious?  Wait, are you talking about the BisNow breakfast thing today or the town hall yesterday?  I wasn't there yesterday, so not sure what happened beforehand before the cameras rolled.  

[Armybrat 40739]

Adler doesn’t give a shit what anybody thinks or says to him (if they get a chance). He was reelected with 80% of the vote, and if ya’ll try to recall him his sycophant operatives will infiltrate & sabotage the petition effort.

 

Edited August 22, 2019 by Armybrat

[atomheartbevo 89430]

The photography framed the photo to include it.  The editors left it in.  Interesting.

[El Diablo 4232]

Flat Stanley lives in Austin?

[Armybrat 40739]

Maybe he was the newest member of the running club who just didn’t finish?

[Guest Lobo]

Looking at the photo, all I can think of is the Kyle Kinane bit about chefs.  

[Gardner Barnes 1562]

I’m just posting here so this thread appears in my raps participates feed. Good read.

[EuroHorn 3204]

13 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

The photography framed the photo to include it.  The editors left it in.  Interesting.

Looks like California was just that close to making it to Austin 

[Murfdogg21 4412]

Casar: “So what we need to do in the next 90 days is come together and do the right thing.”

Translation: We will do what we want and if you disagree STFU.

[Murfdogg21 4412]

On 8/21/2019 at 7:17 PM, Bozo_Casanova said:

Interesting. Leaving your speculation about cost aside, what makes that site better according to you, other than being further from you?

Associated with cost, but for every $ committed to homeless facilities and services, that dollar will go farther with cheaper real estate. Using already constructed and vacant buildings would save even more money that could be reallocated for better/more services. Using the Home Depot at 35 and St John’s isn’t exactly sending the homeless to Round Rock or Kyle. There are similar vacant buildings around town. The homeless (or every person) being “entitled” to a “home” like Casar said is debatable and a matter of opinion, but nobody should be entitled to most expensive real estate in the city with river front views or the epicenter of downtown.

[drt 637]

Not sure if I should put this here or on the Nextdoor thread considering that’s where I ran across it, but apparently someone used a Uhual to move into their new spot across from Strait music on south Lamar. 

 

[Guest Lobo]

Say what you will about Casar and Kitchen.  While most of the rest of Council, and Mayor Adler, are tip-toeing around the citizenry still...trying to appease and assauge nerves with their typical cliche political rhetoric...Casar and Kitchen are just moving full speed ahead, guns blazing, fuck anybody who gets in their way.  Not a single solitary fuck is given by either of those two, it's  'Their Way or the Chardonnay.'   This is what happens when the entire makeup of our Council doesn't truly represent Austin and the four craziest ones  and the Mayor are all terming out 16 months from now, and are going out like drunken sailors on shore leave.  The shit they are gonna try to pull on their way out the door will leave you breathless.  

[Armybrat 40739]

1 hour ago, drt said:

Not sure if I should put this here or on the Nextdoor thread considering that’s where I ran across it, but apparently someone used a Uhual to move into their new spot across from Strait music on south Lamar. 

 

City rented it for the bums?

[HRSchenker 2259]

 

[Armybrat 40739]

On 8/21/2019 at 5:36 PM, InkaUtexas said:

hahaha, if you create it, they will come, and then you can ask for state and federal assistance. 

Just like aggy, created their huge student population increase in CS, then Sharpless has to go to the State to beg $50,000,000 more to keep up with UT’s expenditures per student.

Never mind the agroids recently blew $73,000,000 on buying a 4th rate law school they did not need.

Edited August 26, 2019 by Armybrat

[Deej 76566]

Fuck all you people with jobs, barely able to get by.

Edited August 26, 2019 by Deej

[ChickenSandwich 9798]

Austin's homeless problem could force some downtown businesses to close early

Some Austin business owners say the homeless problem is now a homeless crisis. One downtown business owner says he may start closing early to keep employees and customers safe.

 

Everyday around lunch "Crow" stakes out a shady spot on Congress Avenue. The homeless man says he likes the heavy foot traffic in front of Royal Blue Groceryand he's not the only one.

 

“We're seeing a lot more homeless people in front of our store,” said Craig Staley, co-owner of Royal Blue Grocery which has six locations in the downtown area. 

Staley says the increase in the number of homeless people is one recent change he's seen. But he's worried about another one. “We're seeing them stay permanently,” said Staley.

In June, the Austin City Council changed the homeless ordinances to allow sitting, lying and camping in more public spaces, including sidewalks. Staley says that's when one homeless man moved in. “All his belongings are right here up against our patio and we can't do anything about it. We can't. The police can't,” said Staley.

The patio on Congress Avenue was designed as a shady spot for tourists and locals to grab a quick meal. “Can you camp right next to a patio?” asked Staley.

He knows that right now the city's answer is yes. “They call Congress the Main Street of Texas and this is how we're treating it,” said Staley. “We've got to have some rules for these streets that are so important to our city.”

If the rules don't change the Congress Avenue store might start closing at 6 p.m. instead of midnight. Staley says the safety of employees and customers is the reason why.

https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/austin-business-owner-says-homeless-problem-is-now-a-homeless-crisis

[demos 2992]

The cops do spend a lot of time there around lunch time, presumably to at least keep the panhandling etc to a minimum.

[BrazilHorn 6576]

Only thing that will cause reversal will be if tourists raise hell.

Next big event is LSU game followed by ACL.

The council could care less what locals think.

Tourists start getting attacked/injured/quit coming due to camps etc then things might change.

[Deej 76566]

City will still make them magically disappear during big events.

[Guest Lobo]

Is it illegal to camp overnight with no permit/payment in Travis County Parks that are within the city limits of Austin?  

[Bigpoppapump 529]

Austin's homeless problem could force some downtown businesses to close early
Some Austin business owners say the homeless problem is now a homeless crisis. One downtown business owner says he may start closing early to keep employees and customers safe.  

Everyday around lunch "Crow" stakes out a shady spot on Congress Avenue. The homeless man says he likes the heavy foot traffic in front of Royal Blue Groceryand he's not the only one.

 

“We're seeing a lot more homeless people in front of our store,” said Craig Staley, co-owner of Royal Blue Grocery which has six locations in the downtown area. 

Staley says the increase in the number of homeless people is one recent change he's seen. But he's worried about another one. “We're seeing them stay permanently,” said Staley.

In June, the Austin City Council changed the homeless ordinances to allow sitting, lying and camping in more public spaces, including sidewalks. Staley says that's when one homeless man moved in. “All his belongings are right here up against our patio and we can't do anything about it. We can't. The police can't,” said Staley.

The patio on Congress Avenue was designed as a shady spot for tourists and locals to grab a quick meal. “Can you camp right next to a patio?” asked Staley.

He knows that right now the city's answer is yes. “They call Congress the Main Street of Texas and this is how we're treating it,” said Staley. “We've got to have some rules for these streets that are so important to our city.”

If the rules don't change the Congress Avenue store might start closing at 6 p.m. instead of midnight. Staley says the safety of employees and customers is the reason why.

https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/austin-business-owner-says-homeless-problem-is-now-a-homeless-crisis

The past few times I’ve walked by RBG on my way to lunch somewhere else downtown, I saw a homeless being asked to move along from sitting at their tables or yelling out profanities/insanities. I don’t think RBG is attracting anyone, it’s just unfortunate that 7/11 is next door.

[atomheartbevo 89430]

On 8/26/2019 at 7:46 PM, Lobo said:

Is it illegal to camp overnight with no permit/payment in Travis County Parks that are within the city limits of Austin?  

Is Gillis Park a TC park?  Because apparently it’s okay to camp there.  

[texasdago 7553]

Reminds me of the tent cities near EaDo in Houston and near the homeless shelters

[SwanderedTalent 5761]

So what we do in the next 90 days, is that we come together to finally do the right thing.

man that's brave

[Abogado Peligroso 89]

I was just grabbing lunch at Royal Blue on Congress.  Susan Reddick (she is in the mugshot hall of fame, but I can’t access the 2019 thread) walked across the sidewalk, pulled her pants completely down and openly pissed on the sidewalk.   Jesus fucking Christ fuck you Adler and Casar.    

[ChickenSandwich 9798]

15 minutes ago, Abogado Peligroso said:

I was just grabbing lunch at Royal Blue on Congress.  Susan Reddick (she is in the mugshot hall of fame, but I can’t access the 2019 thread) walked across the sidewalk, pulled her pants completely down and openly pissed on the sidewalk.   Jesus fucking Christ fuck you Adler and Casar.    

On the plus side, you no longer need to walk or wait in line for the bathroom during tailgates. 

*Will be selling Orange T-Shirts with “It’s cool, I’m homeless” to help the police sort it out. 

“He was not exposing himself Officer, he’s simply homeless and those women walked into his bathroom. “

Edited August 28, 2019 by ChickenSandwich

[immortal13 4059]

https://texas.arrests.org/Arrests/Susan_Reddick_40725380/

 

[crash_davis 23084]

14 minutes ago, immortal13 said:

https://texas.arrests.org/Arrests/Susan_Reddick_40725380/

 

yep, it looks like all she needs is a nice place to sleep to cure what ails her.

[SwanderedTalent 5761]

15 minutes ago, immortal13 said:

https://texas.arrests.org/Arrests/Susan_Reddick_40725380/

 

those fingers in my hair

that sly come hither stare