Homeless campsites
Austin’s public camping ban is now a little bit more than 24 hours old and people are still not being forced out of their campsites. But for those that do decide to move, Austin’s Homeless Strategy Officer Dianna Grey says the homeless outreach service teams will be there to help.
“Support them in cases where they need to vacate a campsite and connect them to existing shelter housing and service resources,” says Grey.
Grey says there is not enough existing housing and shelter space for everyone. So designated encampments will be needed. She says they will have a preliminary report about possible sites ready for council Friday.
The Downtown Austin Alliance meantime, is not at all happy with Austin search for designated campsites. Bill Brice with the DAA says Austin’s parks should not be the immediate go to for camps, noting that park space really was the only option that city staff has talked about in the press conference.
“The fact that we would only talk about using parks, which for this past year have been used by the community probably to a greater extent than ever before and taking public use assets and utilizing them for homeless services, we think is irresponsible,” says Brice.
He says the city has plenty of publicly owned land and buildings to work with within its portfolio.
New APD Chief
The search is on for the next official head of the Austin Police Department. The city has begun a national search for a new chief, but will also be opening up some forums to the public to weigh in as well. Five online public input sessions will be hosted. The first of two will be held on Monday from noon to 1 pm. And then again from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.
COVID-19 update
Travis County’s total COVID hospitalizations have fallen back to within inches of double digit territory. This morning that number stands at 101 as hospitalizations have dropped, so has the number of people in the ICU and the same trajectory is being seen in active cases which have fallen to 703 across all of the county. About 81,500 people have recovered from the 83,062 confirmed cases overall.
As COVID numbers continue to be driven down in Austin, health officials are urging parents to get kids vaccinated. Now that the FDA has cleared the Pfizer shot for ages 12 and up, Health Authority Mark Escott says they may be among the least at risk, but they’re still at risk.
“Even though the overall threat is decreasing in the community, the children are still vulnerable and they’re going to be vulnerable until they’re vaccinated,” says Escott.
He says most age groups are seeing their transmission rates plummet, but that’s still not happening with the younger groups. Parental consent is required for a child to get that vaccine.
Pandemic response bills
There is a question in the legislature as to whether or not churches or other places of worship should remain open during the pandemic. That will now be up to Texas voters to decide in November. It’s Senate Joint Resolution 27. It was sponsored in the house by State Rep Jeff Leach.
“A constitutional amendment, making it explicitly clear that the state or any political subdivision of the state cannot close down or limit our houses of worship or religious services,” says Leach.
Some opposed the resolution, arguing that there was no need to codify it in the Texas Constitution.
“Our existing law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act already protects religious liberty even beyond what the courts have held The First Amendment to protect,” says State Rep John Turner.
The Texas House has passed legislation that would take power away from the governor during a pandemic. House Bill 3, the Pandemic Disaster Response Bill, would create an oversight committee that could overturn the governor’s executive orders or waivers after 30 days. It was authored by State Rep Dustin Burrows.
“If this bill does not become law, we have no ability to have any committee to stop anything from happening. We have no ability to stop businesses from being closed for us to come back in, no ability to deal with all the things. We had no ability to come back in for a special session if needed,” says Burrows.
And that bill now heads to the Senate.
Alcohol 7 days a week
A legislative committee today will hear more about House Bill 2232 which seeks to let voters decide whether or not alcohol should be sold in liquor stores all seven days of the week. Recent polling has found a strong majority support for that. Supporters call the current law outdated and unnecessary. Critics say this would just lead to more dangerous consumption of alcohol.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-5-12-21
