Under Governor Abbott’s direction TxDOT will start cleaning under state owned roadways in Austin every week.
Travis County GOP Chair and Co-founder of Save Austin Now (a non-profit aiming to see Austin City Council’s eased homeless ordinances rescinded), Matt Makoviak said pushing the cleanings to weekly is a good thing, “this is one of the challenges, when you clean and clear an area…a homeless encampment, if you don’t stay on top of it, they’ll just comeback.” Makoviak explained this is a sign Governor Abbott is going to take state property seriously and that he’s willing to show leadership on Austin’s homeless ordinance controversy. “If this were just about optics, he would do it one time, at minimum cost to the state and be done with it. The fact that he is going to maintain that commitment to a weekly basis shows…he doesn’t want these encampments to return.”
Makoviak also believes this won’t be the last move Austin sees from the governor’s office since Austin City Council has made its final changes to the camping ordinance by banning camping on sidewalks and within 15 ft of an entrance. While some Austinites say the council’s recent changes are good, Makoviak said they aren’t enough to wash the disaster of the ordinances easing, so the Governor is going to need to take additional action.
(Photo:Shutterstock/Photographee.eu)
