Austin City Council Votes Unanimously to Defund Local Police by One-Third

[Elderberry]

Texas Scorecard by Jacob Asmussen August 13, 2020

“Why do [Democrats] value radical politics more than your family’s safety?”

After recent nationwide riots and lawlessness have left a trail of burned cities, destroyed livelihoods, and murdered citizens, Democrat local officials in Texas’ capital city are pushing further by slashing a third of the local police budget.

On Thursday, the all-Democrat Austin City Council voted unanimously to take away $150 million from the Austin Police Department in next year’s city budget. The council decided to strip roughly $20 million immediately and spend it on other city projects, and the rest will be defunded and reallocated over the coming year.

Among their cuts, the council removed 150 vacant police officer positions from the already understaffed department, canceled three upcoming cadet classes, and diminished APD’s overtime budget. Council members also proposed closing the police academy for a year and even demolishing the police headquarters building downtown.

Ironically and tragically, the council is taking some of the police money and will instead spend it on killing children. Councilmember Greg Casar, a self-proclaimed socialist, said doing so will make Austin a “safer and better place to live.”

More: https://texasscorecard.com/local/austin-city-council-votes-unanimously-to-defund-local-police-by-one-third/

[Elderberry]

Austin cuts police budget, makes Internal Affairs and 911 independent, launches re-imagining

Grits for Breakfast 8/13/2020

https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2020/08/austin-cuts-police-budget-makes.html

The City of Austin just approved a budget cutting more than $20 million from police, shifting functions totaling ~$80 million (including Internal Affairs, the 911 call center, and the forensics lab) out of the department, and committed to "re-imagining" how they spend another $50 million. (See this reporter's Twitter thread for details.) The council declined to cut another ~$20 million advocates had identified for immediate reductions.

As sort of a symbolic cherry on top, Councilmember Jimmy Flannigan added an amendment calling for demolition of the Austin PD headquarters, freeing up valuable downtown real estate and using the land to create a new "gateway to East Austin." This I can promise you: The day that building falls, Austin's going to have a BIG party!

Elsewhere in Texas, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio have all increased police budgets in the wake of the George-Floyd protests, and few other cities except Seattle have enacted IRL budget reductions. So this is a big deal. In a quarter century tracking Austin' police budget, not only have I never seen it go down, it's the first time in ages we haven't seen year-over-year increases.

Some advocates have expressed disappointment that cuts weren't deeper. But for anyone who's ever been involved in the city budget process, what just happened was nothing short of momentous.

Though the city budget on paper tops a billion dollars, typically, it comes to the city council pre-baked, with at most a few million dollars available for discretionary spending on anything, public-safety-related or otherwise. So actually cutting more than $20 million and spending it on other government functions represents a remarkable turn of events. The Austin Justice Coalition's Chas Moore opined in an email after the vote:

    The $20-plus million in immediate divestment is of course less than we hoped Council could cut. But it was enough to fund a big expansion of EMS services, fully fund alternative first responders for mental health related calls, provide a much needed shelter for victims of family violence, increase homeless services, offer programs to support people trying to reintegrate after incarceration, add new violence prevention services and give harm reduction a chance to help people struggling with addiction

Not a bad day's work!

More at link.

[libertybele]

So much for not messing with TX anymore.

[Idiot]

They were probably all high when they voted.

[XenaLee]

Every single one of those idiots on the city council need to have their progressive, stupid @sses kicked.

I know several people right offhand that will volunteer.   

[Ghost Bear]

Austin radio legend Bob Cole of KOKE-FM interviewed Austin mayor Steve Adler this morning, live on the air. Hear the podcast of the interview here: https://soundcloud.com/kokefm/talk-with-the-mayor.

The interview was all about the budget cuts voted on yesterday, and it got quite testy.

[XenaLee]

Austin radio legend Bob Cole of KOKE-FM interviewed Austin mayor Steve Adler this morning, live on the air. Hear the podcast of the interview here: https://soundcloud.com/kokefm/talk-with-the-mayor.

The interview was all about the budget cuts voted on yesterday, and it got quite testy.

The Mayor is LYING.   The approval for defunding the police was for $150 million.... not $20 million.

[Ghost Bear]

The Mayor is LYING.   The approval for defunding the police was for $150 million.... not $20 million.

Yup. Even Cole, who is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, realized that Adler was lying.

[sneakypete]

They were probably all high when they voted.

@mrpotatohead

Why would that day be different than any other day?

It's people like that who give drugs such a bad reputation.

[roamer_1]

Austin better get ready for the housing boom... Because every criminal in Texas is making plans.

[sneakypete]

Every single one of those idiots on the city council need to have their progressive, stupid @sses kicked.

I know several people right offhand that will volunteer.

@XenaLee

The idiots on the city council are NOT to blame for this. After all,they are just being who they are. Do you blame a duck for being a duck? Especially when all it does is quack and leave bleep everywhere it goes?

Nope,the people who need to be blamed are the dumbass voters who really ARE so stupid they think there is such a thing as a "Free Lunch".