Mueller Lake Park Outdoor Amphitheater
Being Homeless Is Not a Crime
RECEIVED Fri., Sept. 28, 2007
Dear Editor,
Re: The no-solicitation ordinance [“Beside the Point,” News, Sept. 28]: No sooner have the city of Austin and Travis County commissioners approved expansive budgets for public safety (primarily for law enforcement) while simultaneously “starving out” human services then does CoA turn around and attack a human-services issue and do so under the pretense of an alleged “public safety” concern.
Sadly it appears the “concern” is not for the safety of the homeless (who contend with such realities on a daily basis).
CoA’s no-solicitation ordinance has turned a matter of homelessness on its head. In fact, CoA’s logic is turned on its head.
Rather than truly expressing concern for the safety of the homeless, CoA has taken a vulnerable group and painted them as the cause/threat to public safety.
A human-condition issue that could and should be resolved with human services has just been handed over to law enforcement instead.
What happens if questions about affordable housing continue to go unaddressed and unanswered? Will even more hardworking citizens and families become homeless and also endure the “hospitality” that CoA is proposing?
I find the timing impeccably interesting: City and Travis County budgets for increased law enforcement, then this “no-solicitation” ordinance, and ironically, on the same council’s agenda – they speak of a memorial for the homeless. As an afterthought, does CoA feel more compelled to only honor the homeless once they’ve already died, rather than while they’re still living?
In her Sept. 23 newsletter Council Member Jennifer Kim states, “We can work towards keeping everyone, including drivers, pedestrians and students walking to school, safe.” CM Kim mentions “everyone” yet failed to include safety for the homeless in her statement.
Presumably, the homeless won't be welcomed in Travis County, either – so where are they to go?
Intent of these new budgets seems to becoming clearer: more law enforcement to remove people from sight and mind!
Re: The no-solicitation ordinance [“Beside the Point,” News, Sept. 28]: No sooner have the city of Austin and Travis County commissioners approved expansive budgets for public safety (primarily for law enforcement) while simultaneously “starving out” human services then does CoA turn around and attack a human-services issue and do so under the pretense of an alleged “public safety” concern.
Sadly it appears the “concern” is not for the safety of the homeless (who contend with such realities on a daily basis).
CoA’s no-solicitation ordinance has turned a matter of homelessness on its head. In fact, CoA’s logic is turned on its head.
Rather than truly expressing concern for the safety of the homeless, CoA has taken a vulnerable group and painted them as the cause/threat to public safety.
A human-condition issue that could and should be resolved with human services has just been handed over to law enforcement instead.
What happens if questions about affordable housing continue to go unaddressed and unanswered? Will even more hardworking citizens and families become homeless and also endure the “hospitality” that CoA is proposing?
I find the timing impeccably interesting: City and Travis County budgets for increased law enforcement, then this “no-solicitation” ordinance, and ironically, on the same council’s agenda – they speak of a memorial for the homeless. As an afterthought, does CoA feel more compelled to only honor the homeless once they’ve already died, rather than while they’re still living?
In her Sept. 23 newsletter Council Member Jennifer Kim states, “We can work towards keeping everyone, including drivers, pedestrians and students walking to school, safe.” CM Kim mentions “everyone” yet failed to include safety for the homeless in her statement.
Presumably, the homeless won't be welcomed in Travis County, either – so where are they to go?
Intent of these new budgets seems to becoming clearer: more law enforcement to remove people from sight and mind!
Cordially,
Allissa Chambers
Austinites Lobbying for Municipal Accountability
Allissa Chambers
Austinites Lobbying for Municipal Accountability
