Camping in public spaces remains one of the biggest complaints among critics of the Austin City Council’s decision this summer to revise the homeless ordinances.
“I do know that the calls to 3-1-1 on homeless and transient issues have increased over 300-percent since they’ve done the changes,” Austin Police Association President Ken Casaday tells KLBJ.
Amid the ongoing criticism, Mayor Steve Adler and city council members have remained staunchly opposed to the reinstatement of the old ordinances, but in an effort to reach a compromise, Adler has now proposed a limited reinstatement of bans for camping, sitting, and lying in public.
Under the mayor’s proposal, some of areas that would be off-limits to campers would include:
- sidewalks;
- within 15-feet of the doorway of any home or business;
- around creeks and streams;
- areas at risk for wildfire;
- medians;
- the vicinity of a homeless shelter, including the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless.
A camping ban would also be applied to certain streets, including:
- Congress Avenue between Oltorf and 11th Street;
- Second Street between Trinity Street and West Avenue;
- Fifth Street between I-35 and Lamar;
- Sixth Street between I-35 and Lamar;
- 24th Street between North Lamar and Guadalupe.
- Guadalupe between MLK and 26th Street.
While calling the proposals a step in the right direction, Ken Casaday remains critical of the city’s unwillingness to follow the recommendations of Chief of Police Brian Manley, who recently called on the council to reinstate the old ordinances until a more viable solution can be found.
“15-feet away from the front doors, first of all, that’s not acceptable to me as a citizen,” he says.
Adler is hoping to make it clear that he is not in support of a full reinstatement of old ordinances, adding that this is not an effort by the city to “re-criminalize” homelessness.
“You know, a sidewalk has moving people. There are lots of other places that people can be, and by saying you can’t camp on the sidewalk, we’re not saying you can’t be in our city,” Adler says.
