Austin is Out of Control

Every day there is a new reason to despair in the direction of our city.

We have an affordability crisis, woefully inadequate infrastructure, and a homeless camping ordinance that is ruining our city.

But this week things got immeasurably worse.

Peaceful protests began to rightly oppose the horrific death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and raise serious questions about the death of Mike Ramos here in Austin.

Unfortunately, those protests turned into violent riots and looting took place.

The city of Austin is totally out of control and our Mayor and City Council are complicit.

After several days of paralyzing riots and looting, their response was to call an immediate council meeting to discuss how the Austin police responded to the violent riots.

It is true that a few people were injured by police. This is regrettable. Austin Police Chief Brian Manley apologized and there is an investigation.

The Mayor and City Council ignored the violence, theft, and criminal destruction of private property over the weekend.

Here’s a partial list of Austin businesses that were looted or vandalized, compiled by KXAN.

I-35 was overrun with protesters on Friday and Saturday, backing up traffic for hours and creating serious public safety risks downtown.

Driving through downtown Austin on Monday, I was shocked how our city looked more like a war zone than a thriving urban area.

There was spray paint everywhere. Businesses like Krueger Jewelers were boarded up, choosing to close rather than risk massive theft and property damage. Over the weekend we saw that the Texas Capitol grounds were targeted as well.

And the damage is not limited to downtown.

Today we learned that storefronts in the Domain are boarded up.

This is not an entirely new development in Austin.

Our city leaders, egged on by left wing groups like DSA and the Workers Defense Project, and cop-haters like Public Safety Commissioner Chris Harris, have been targeting our police, aiming to weaken them and raise suspicions about their activities.

Currently Austin is well below authorized strength levels, cannot recruit new officers and is having trouble retaining current officers. Not having enough police officers is a problem when you have riots and looting.

When will Austin voters conclude that enough is enough?

It should not be too much to ask that we have a safe city, where private property is protected, where city officials care about public safety, where riots are shut down immediately.

Mayor Steve Adler has failed our city. The current City Council is a disgrace. Every single one of them should be defeated, either this November or in November 2022.

Enough is enough.

Matt Mackowiak is co-founder of the nonpartisan nonprofit Save Austin Now, which is currently working to reinstate the ban on public camping. Learn more at http://www.SaveAustinNow.com.