Page Two: Bye Bye Social Safety Net

Tearing down the social safety net will be a lot easier than building it back again when it is realized how necessary it is

"...it never occurred to him that, dependent on his Social Security disability payments, he was living off government aid...."

Dec. 23, 2016 Column by Louis Black

Security Guard Nearly Killed in Machete Attack Urges Stronger Social Safety Net

Police union blames prosecutors

"...it just seems that there's not much of a safety net for people who are on the edge. What..."

Oct. 27, 2023 News Feature by Maggie Quinlan

Not Enough Attention Paid to the Social Safety Net

"...on deficit spending, complaining bitterly about entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Agreed, these programs desperately need..."

March 10, 2008 Postmarks

Council Recap: A Big Bucket of BidenBucks to Stitch Up the Safety Net

Homelessness response anchors $263.5 million spending plan

"...that Council wants to spur creation of a stronger social safety net which can endure past the Dec. 31,..."

June 11, 2021 News Post by Austin Sanders

Safety Net or Dead End?

The politics of Austin animal welfare

"...are exacerbated when opportunities for coping (e.g., hiding, seeking social companionship, mental stimulation or aerobic exercise) are lacking. Behavior..."

Feb. 18, 2011 News Feature by Josh Rosenblatt

Safety Net

Chillin' with a trio of Austin's hippest emergency-services personnel

"...the night's headliner is 311, the Nebraska group whose mid-Nineties fusion of hip-hop, reggae, and metal helped open the..."

Nov. 2, 2001 Music Feature by Christopher Gray

COVID-19 Emergency Center Takes On Social Service Needs

Task forces tackle food access, behavioral health, homelessness

"...A new “social services” branch of the Austin-Travis County Emergency Operations Center..."

April 4, 2020 News Post by Austin Sanders

Rethinking Social Services: Five Priorities

City moves to reconsider social services funding standards

"...The five areas council chose to prioritize in future social service funding were culled from the Health and Human..."

Oct. 15, 2010 News Feature by Wells Dunbar

Sorting the Categories: Current Social Services Contracts

The city attempts to define its basic social service priorities

"...Services Department has prepared a breakdown of how current social service contracts would fit into the five priority areas..."

Oct. 15, 2010 News Feature by Wells Dunbar

The Opportunity to Reimagine Public Safety Is Here Right Now. Will Austin Take It?

“We want everything that can be done outside of the police, to be done outside of the police.”

"...sounded thankful for the recommendations the City-Community Reimagining Public Safety Task Force had just laid at their feet. Vanessa..."

April 30, 2021 News Feature by Brant Bingamon

As Transit Cops Near, Cap Metro’s Other Public Safety Personnel Thrive

Safe on the bus

"...that Cap Metro envisioned when it launched the public safety ambassador program in October 2021. A nearby ambassador phoned..."

Feb. 23, 2024 News Feature by Benton Graham

Point Austin: Hard Choices

City Hall embarks on the bumpy road to social services

"...at City Hall is the annual March of the Social Service Organizations. It's not a rigidly disciplined or even..."

May 20, 2011 News Column by Michael King

Follow the Money

City attempts to keep up with growing need for services

"...began a concerted effort to convince them to increase social services funding. Two of the most prominent were coalitions..."

Oct. 23, 2015 News Feature by Amy Kamp

Page Two

Paying taxes adequate to meet social needs is a necessary hedge against a frightening future

"...be cut back or eliminated. Citizens in favor of social outreach cite the ridiculous amounts spent on the Pentagon..."

April 30, 2004 Column by Louis Black

Scaling the Pyramid

City moves to reprioritize social service programs in the new year

"...requirements (e.g., food and water) must be met before safety necessities (shelter, employment, and the like) can be realized...."

Oct. 15, 2010 News Feature by Wells Dunbar

Page Two

The Planned Parenthood boycott is about moral bullying, not a commitment to preserving life.

"...unborn. Again and again, he cites the family and social standards. He is happy to threaten the livelihoods of..."

Dec. 5, 2003 Column by Louis Black

Page Two: The Ways Sisyphus Had It Easy

Consequences of perception

"...often just hating one another, but even a hostile social environment was better than going to an empty house..."

Oct. 8, 2010 Column by Louis Black

Page Two

Seton's sabotage, unintentional or not, of the ongoing planning for a hospital district is barely a street sign on the road of potential social deterioration. The problem is that, though it's a tiny step, it's another one in the wrong direction, and those steps have become strides.

"...It is frustrating and disturbing that the social safety net, never really completed, is being so aggressively..."

Dec. 6, 2002 Column by Louis Black

Page Two: Righting Wrongs

A position checklist of pragmatic politics

"...I've read that I'm a communist and/or a socialist and that I'm an enemy of the free market..."

April 11, 2008 Column by Louis Black

Page Two

The touchy, touch Republicans have become the party of make-believe

"...and more realistic they are about the world, economics, social realities, and the American dream – not to mention..."

Dec. 3, 2004 Column by Louis Black

Page Two

The price of Republican domination and the pleasures of repeated listening

"...making really stupid decisions than about any real economic, social, security, labor, safety, constitutional, or international problems. At best,..."

May 20, 2005 Column by Louis Black

Page Two

On the right wing's ideological sleight-of-hand, unenlightened self-interest, and the humanitarian legacy of Cousin Eli

"...immorally corrupt (conservative/Republican the former, liberal/Democrat the latter). Contemporary political/social disagreements are not between patriotic, well-intentioned people of differing..."

Jan. 9, 2004 Column by Louis Black

Page Two

The House Democrats' walkout was their best option in light of Republicans' vicious and highly partisan day in the sun; ending The Chronicle Hour quiets the right-wing voices in our head.

"...Liberals, progressives, leftists, and/or middle-of-the-road supporters of the social safety net tend to be more critical of currently..."

May 16, 2003 Column by Louis Black

Page Two

Expect the next decade to be dominated by a weak economy and precarious international politics -- the consequences of Bush's successes.

"...makes it economically inefficient. Money is unnecessarily wasted. Cutting social programs will better serve us all. This is garbage,..."

Feb. 7, 2003 Column by Louis Black

Page Two

"...mind paying taxes, and I passionately believe in the social safety net, but I don't think the last few..."

Dec. 13, 2002 Column by Louis Black

Page Two

The overwhelming need for a Travis County hospital district should be obvious

"...last week's theme, supporting taxes and the need for socially responsible government is not a blanket endorsement of all..."

May 7, 2004 Column by Louis Black

Page Two

Reducing the subject of this community's racial problems to a number of overreacting and/or racist police is a convenient way of denying our shared responsibility

"...deeper and deeper budget cuts that mostly affect domestic social spending, leaving precious few tools for addressing social problems...."

Feb. 13, 2004 Column by Louis Black

Page Two

A functioning democracy is a very hard thing to love, and even harder to trust

"...example, 61 percent believe that there has been a net loss of jobs in 2004, 58 percent believe that..."

Oct. 22, 2004 Column by Louis Black

Page Two

Left-leaning criticism is not the same as political extremism

"...tax cuts for the rich, the destruction of the social safety net, assaults on women's rights, and pro-industry, anti-environment..."

July 9, 2004 Column by Louis Black

Page Two: Bond on Bond

All seven propositions on the current ballot represent a triumph of thought, vision, and planning

"...for too little. Even liberals who believe in the social safety net and in government's social, economic, and educational..."

Oct. 27, 2006 Column by Louis Black

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