Homeless issue in Austin
Texas Governor Greg Abbott is among those who have voted early in the upcoming May election, making a stop at a polling site in Northwest Austin to cast his ballot. He says if Proposition B doesn’t pass, homeless campsites will continue to grow across the city.
“The homeless situation that the city of Austin has created is not good for the health and safety of the homeless,” says Abbott.
If enough people vote yes on Prop B homeless camping would be banned in public spaces. Not long after Abbott cast that vote, another homeless camp caught fire in South Austin, just the latest in a string of campfires the city has seen this year.
Austin’s various homeless service groups and city officials want to house 3,000 more people over the next three years. Homeless Strategy Officer Diana Gray says that’s on top of the 1,800 that they currently house per year as is.
“In order to do this, we’re going to have to pay a lot of attention to our system’s capacity because we’re really coming to scale here,” says Gray.
And she says that means the city will need help from area service providers, staff upbringing, more organizations with a big focus on equity.
Austin Convention Center
Expansion plans for the Austin Convention Center hit a big snag. According to the Statesman, negotiations over the purchase of two city blocks west of the convention center have fallen through. The city says that land is too expensive. Two years ago, council approved a $1.2 billion expansion in part to be used to address homeless housing.
Poll on law enforcement
A new poll out from the Texas Municipal Police Association shows most Texans do think favorably of law enforcement. The TMPA’s Kevin Lawrence says they hired an outside firm to conduct a study about Texans’ feelings towards police and police reforms. The results show more than 72% have a favorable opinion of cops.
“We found that more than half of Texans actually think their local police for our budget should be increased. Certainly not decreased,” says Lawrence.
Around 1/5 of poll respondents say police budgets shouldn’t be changed at all, while 15% say there should be cuts.
COVID-19 update
The ebb and flow of Travis County’s COVID numbers continues for another day after climbing 244 hospitalizations yesterday. Austin Public Health says that number has come back down to 237. 1,087 cases are active. That’s about 20 less. 81,470 cases confirmed with just under 80,000 recoveries.
Austin Public Health will be opening up two walk up vaccine clinics this week where no appointment will be needed. Both will be held at the Delco Center tomorrow and Friday from noon to 7:30 p.m. And vaccines will be available to anyone age 18 or older.
Meantime, the number of people signing up to get a COVID vaccine in Williamson County has fallen significantly. County Judge Bill Gravell says their supply has now far exceeded demand.
“Last week on our list we had 5,570 sign up for first time vaccine shots and we had 30,000 doses,” says Gravell.
And just yesterday at Dell Diamond there were more than 2,260 unfilled appointment slots. Because of all this, all mass vaccination sites will officially close in Williamson County on May 21. The bulk of the county’s weekly allocations will then begin going to private providers.
Round Rock schools payraise
Round Rock School District employees will be seeing a bit of an uptick on the paychecks. The school board has voted to add $4.5 million to the district employee compensation plan. That allows for a 1% across the board pay raise for employees. Starting salary for a teacher is now up to $50,250.
Job growth and employment have been on the rebound for Austin. The chamber of commerce says 86% of jobs lost due to last year’s pandemic shutdowns have been regained. That includes 64% in the leisure and hospitality sector. The unemployment rate has also fallen slightly to 5.1%.
Medical Marijuana in San Marcos
A medical marijuana company is planting its roots in San Marcos. Good Blend Texas is getting $25 million San Marcos. The company says that the plant’s 63,000 square foot facility is expected to bring hundreds of jobs into the area.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-4-21-21
