Ep. 110 - Texas Governor Wants to Ban Sitting in Public

Oct 18, 2019

In today's world, we hear terms like "War on Poverty" used often, but we don't always dig into what that means. The War on Poverty is constructed out of tens of thousands of laws and ordinances. On today's episode, we examine the policies that criminalize homelessness. There are certain cities and states that are making an effort to roll-back those policies, but many politicians, businesses, and police unions are opposing these reforms. To break down exactly what that looks like, Shaun focuses in on a specific ordinance in Austin, TX and lays out what we can do to support one mayor's efforts to decriminalize homelessness.

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right now all over the country and I see this unfolding from coast to coast north south east and west there is a new battle raging to criminalize poverty and homelessness we see it happening all over the country Donald Trump is weighing in with the epicenter of this battle is actually in Austin Texas where the city started to undo all of their laws

is that basically criminalize poverty and criminalized homelessness and the Republican Governor remember who is supposed to love local rights is now trying to wage a war to force Austin to criminalize homelessness let me unpack and explain it and give us some action steps this is Shaun King and you were listening to the breakdown

the breakdown the breakdown

what I'm about to say I have said here on the break down many many times but for most of American History conservatives have always said that they believe in the local control of government they even go back and say hey the Civil War it wasn't really about slavery it was it was really just about our deep desire to be able to control our local governments

they said that in the 1860s they set it in the 1960s they said it a decade ago but now that progressives and Democrats and Liberals are controlling almost all of America's cities all of a sudden they no longer really care about local control particularly in states where Republicans and conservatives are the governor's they now want to enforce their own conservative standards on cities in a way that they've never done

in the entire history of this country and Austin Texas is one of the wealthiest most prosperous cities in Texas I love Austin many of our listeners are from there it's a beautiful Rich place it's not only one of the most prosperous cities in Texas they took the Bold step of decriminalizing homelessness and what that means is there are not one or two but sometimes it doesn't sometimes even

hundreds of laws that basically criminalized the small behaviors of homeless men and women and children and families and others and they have taken the step which is so important for every city to do to say hey we don't love homelessness but it's not a crime poverty should never be a crime and as much as people may find homelessness and homeless people to be a nuisance

it's not a crime and the real public policy issue is how do we solve the issue itself not how do we criminalize it but how do we solve it and Austin Texas took many different steps to say hey we're going to decriminalize this only now to be threatened by the governor and by police unions

to say hey if you don't begin arresting

homeless people who are sitting down in public I mean that literally sitting down in public laying down in public

walking in certain places in public if you don't begin arresting them we're going to send state troopers into your city into Austin and we're going to arrest them yourself

the governor is now saying hey if you don't roll back the decriminalization of people too poor to put a roof over their heads we're going to send in state troopers and we're just going to do it ourselves will create state laws that override your local laws and we'll just send state troopers in there to arrest homeless people wherever they see them

in June of 2019 the Austin city council passed an ordinance to change the city's ban on sitting lying or camping in public spaces the ordinance also changed the city's ban on panhandling in the ordinance was proposed as a means of addressing the problem of people being arrested and charged with crimes simply for being homeless doing what home

Alice people do what they homeless people have to have a seat okay like there is there is no option they have to sit down just as all of us who have ohms also need to have a seat the homeless also need to have a seat the the homeless also need somewhere to lay down

and just because it's a nuisance does not make it a crime it being a nuisance is more an indictment on us than it is on them they need our help the ordinance also aims to help the city refocus and reduce the unnecessary and aggressive contact between police and and homeless people yesterday Austin's major departments reported that there is no increase in crime because

of this zero no increase in communicable diseases no increase in feces or needles in the Parks these are the things that conservatives say that if scuse my language conservative say these cities are covered in shit and piss no they're not actually actually Austin is a beautiful wonderful place and if there were restrooms that people could use that would never be a problem but what an analysis of Austin found is there was no increase in crime

no increase in any kind of disease no increase in feces or needles in the park no additional human waste under the underpass nothing changed in other words there is no Public Safety no public health or no public order crisis it is completely manufactured by conservatives homelessness is a crisis and the answer is not its criminalization

and what we have to do for this Republican manufactured crisis what we have to do is find a way to fight back in smart ways it is actually and and maybe you haven't been paying attention but it is actually a part of a new National strategy to re-elect Trump where conservatives particularly on Fox News and on talk radio are regularly talking about

the waste all over America's cities in America's cities are falling apart at the seams basically it is a way that they are trying to make people who don't live in America's cities feel great about themselves by saying if you ever traveled Austin if you ever travel to New York if you ever traveled a Brooklyn or Detroit or Chicago if you ever travel there you're going to see needles everywhere you're going to see big piles of human

feces everywhere it's just not true it is a complete fabrication and of course homelessness is a problem but again the response is not to criminalize it but here's what they're not even so interested in criminalizing it they're not even interested in how our cities look feel smell they're not interested in that they're just using it as a political football and it's just a part of a larger National strategy to get Donald Trump

did and and Democrats must not fall for the hype because the stakes are so high let me break down for you let me break down just what's going on in Austin because it is really at the center of this battle let me break it down break it break it down part of what I need us to understand is that when we see problematic stuff going on in our country there are responsible people

people people cause America's problems so when we see this problem of poverty and homelessness being criminalized like it's not a problem without a responsible person it comes from somewhere it comes from people it's the chairman of the Travis County that's in Austin the Travis County Republican party that is the leading voice calling for a rollback of Austin's decriminalization of sitting

lying and camping now the leading social media voice is the Republican candidate for District 47 and Donald Trump has announced plans to quote-unquote clean up the homeless by rounding them up and putting them in these are his words government back facilities

I don't feel good about that whatsoever Trump's economic advisers fed the frenzy with a report blaming homelessness on over-regulation on too many homeless shelters and on decriminalization now here's the thing the nation's democratically-controlled cities especially Austin are in fact some of the most popular places to live and visit all over the country and no Fox News Republican slander campaign

going to change people's actual experiences people love Austin this past week in a ridiculous K Vu e story a local news story there in Austin a reporter tried to find a Downtown tourism problem and report it was going on the report it was going all over Austin I saw the report trying to find tourist to say yeah this City's falling apart and they couldn't find anybody here's a quote from

from them it says while tourists that we spoke to don't seem to mind and say they are fewer homeless people here than their own hometowns business owners are still worried let me interpret what the local Reports say and if you didn't know this more and more and more all the local television stations are being bought up by conservatives and they're using them as tools for propaganda they said hey we actually came here all to downtown Austin

find some tourist who would complain and they actually loved it but we hear that there are some business owners who are worried and then they went and talked to business owners who also said they couldn't find the problem they were just worried about it why are they worried about a problem they cannot find because Donald Trump party chairs Party leaders local local conservatives are creating it is it is a figment of their imagination

here's the thing homelessness in Austin is a function of the high-value people place in this city the rapidly increasing home values and rents make it hard for people who want to be there to be housed and this is a huge part of the nation's struggle to address the gap between rich and poor people want to be in Austin as they should I live in New York

people want to be here but it is it is at the point where even with a minimum wage full-time job it is almost impossible to keep your head above water in this city and here's what we know when politicians talk about criminalizing homeless and homelessness

they're talking disproportionately about people of color while the City of Austin is now less than seven percent black homeless Austin is somewhere between a third to 40% black on any day did you catch that the city is less than ten percent black but is homeless population is nearly 40% black so again we're talking about criminalizing poverty and homelessness instead of treating it and coming up with actual

stainable solutions they criminalize it and it's easy to criminalize something particularly when it's primarily people of color that are experiencing it human decency recognizes that sitting and lying down are necessary activities for human life and that non-aggressive solicitation is actually constitutionally protected no matter what you say it is legal for someone to ask for your help

listen I get it all of the time and instead of being angry by it I have compassion even if I'm not able to help him that moment instead of thinking lock them up clear them out and send them away somewhere I I see that in my heart breaks and here's the thing at the point in which

bees men women and children are criminalize if you have not seen the studies

some studies show that as many as 75 percent of America's homeless are struggling with mental illness they do not need to be sent to America's jails and prisons jails and prisons are already chewing up people and spitting them out they are horrible they do not have the capacity to treat and care for people with mental health problems particularly not the chronically homeless who have unique issues that need to be addressed in sin places that were built

and designed just for them and our cities all over the country are developing some of the smartest most compassionate homeless shelters to help people wherever they can transition from out of homelessness into a sustainable way of life many people that are homeless and if you had ever just had a conversation or two with someone struggling with homelessness many of them just can't get

get out of it they want to desperately but our systems were really not designed to get them out now here in just a second I want to break down this issue just a little bit more and give us a few quick action steps on how we are able and how we're going to be able to back people in Austin but first I want to tell you about who today's episode is sponsored by this is just our second sponsor and we're proud to have them on board

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in Austin not only do we have a disproportionate number of homeless people that are black the cycle of giving someone a ticket to come to court to pay a fine for camping or sitting or lying down that cycle puts people in a very vicious place for person doesn't have the money if the person doesn't have the money to live

to feed themselves how in the hell are they going to pay the ticket so here's what we see in Austin from 2014 to 2016 18 thousand tickets were given for violations of the three primary ordinances where they give people primarily homeless people tickets for sitting down

trying to lay down and get some rest or camping out with just means sleeping Outdoors 18 thousand tickets were issued guess what 90% of people that were given those tickets failed to respond to them did not pay them and then consequently were given court orders to appear in court 90% of people did not show up

of course they didn't where are they getting their notices where they getting information where they going to get the money like giving a homeless person a ticket

maybe the dumbest thing I've ever heard it it is illogical giving a homeless person a citation for their homelessness then expecting them to pay it is not just ignorant it is a waste of paper it's a waste of administrative activity it's a waste of the time of law enforcement who could actually

really be working to solve real crimes ticketing homeless people or families is preposterous but we see over and over and over again it continues to happen not just in Austin but all over the country and here's what I know in this is where it gets complicated and here's where our action steps come in police unions are fighting back on the roll back Austin rolled back the laws that they had and said Hey listen

we're just not going to criminalize homelessness and poverty which is not going to do it well the police unions are fighting back and let me explain that why are they fighting back just think about it for a minute it's not a public safety issue even their own police departments released reports it's not a public safety issue

police unions they need these jobs and when we all of a sudden began to decriminalize Poverty decriminalize homelessness decriminalize marijuana decriminalize weed and other drugs and possession decriminalize addiction decriminalize sex work when we begin to decriminalize these things all of a sudden guess what you also need to do we probably need to let go half of America's police and they know that that's coming they

that the next thing coming is that as we roll back thousands and thousands and thousands of America's worst laws which are inhumane and outrageous that are a part of the War on Drugs the so-called war on poverty all this foolishness where they basically just criminalize all of it

please shooting is know that their wealth and livelihood depends on it and so every time we try to fight back against this that of the other being criminalized they are there to fight for it to be criminalized because that's how they make their money so let me tell you about our action steps what I need you to understand is that

Criminal Justice System We Now call it the legal system it is not one big system but if you heard my podcast where I broke this down all the way it's actually 30,000 Microsystems it functions City by city and county by county and so when we fight for reform we often have to fight for it on the city level and so you may not be in Texas you may have never been to Austin but I need this to matter for you because what happens in Austin impacts what happens in Texas

it impacts what happens in states with conservative Governors if they are able to fight back on the state level after the city council and the City of Austin said listen we're not going to criminalize poverty we're not going to criminalize homelessness if the state is able to force this on them we're going to see that all over the country what we see right now is police unions are fighting back against the mayor and the city council of Austin the governor governor Abbott is now fighting back

all types of fear-mongering saying he's going to send in State Police that he's going to find a way to get a state law to force them to criminalize homelessness to make it a mandatory State Crime to sit down in public are you serious how are you really going to measure that to lay down in public so are you going to who you going to give tickets for laying down if you have preppy white folk in a park that are laying down having a picnic

are you going to give them a ticket the people have to look a certain kind of way do you have to perceive them to be homeless to give them a ticket if they're just hanging around it's a problem you see the problem right and here's the thing put all of that energy and effort into ending homelessness provide affordable housing for people provide therapy in Mental Health Services provide job preparation Transitional services do the other things

we don't need poverty and homelessness to be criminalized and today I have a very very simple action step

I want you to call Austin's mayor I hear he's a great man his name is Steve Adler I've heard great things about him but let me tell you what Steve Adler's hearing right now he is hearing hard and heavy as loud as you could imagine from police unions from police officers from State officials from the Governor from Donald Trump from the Republican Party he's hearing loud and clear that he is being told

period Point Blank.com and he needs to roll back these laws and again make it a crime to be homeless in Austin he needs to hear from people who don't believe that

just this week the city council and the mayor are again being pushed to roll back this ordinance already a couple members of the city council are trying to roll back the ordinance as they begin to get pressure on them from the Republican Party here's all I want you to do today please call the mayor mayor Steve Adler and ask him not to roll back the ordinance tell him that Austin needs to protect its most vulnerable people from those that just want to

of them and for those who are somehow bothered just by seeing poor people

listen poverty is a problem let's Solve IT homelessness is a problem let's solve it but we cannot criminalize it I want you to make a friendly phone call to Steve Adler please do this do this for me call five one two nine seven eight 2105 one two nine seven eight 2100 asked to speak to Mayor Steve Adler or someone in his office

and if you've never made our calls before even if you have let me go over some things with you if you've never made the calls before we're always friendly and courteous kindness Works meanness doesn't if you say if you're if you are mean or angry and say something really really smart and powerful and I can hear you we are kind and compassionate on our calls no matter who's on the other end we are firm we are prepared but we are kind and how we do it call Mayor Steve Allen's office at five one two now

978 2100 and let the office know let them know that you want to speak to Mayor Steve Adler or someone in his office say that you'll hold if you have to and don't just allow them to hang up if you have to leave a message try to leave it with an actual person leave your real name leave your real number let them know that you care let them know that you love Austin whatever you have to do whatever you have to say but also want you to send a basic email a personal email to Steve Adler

see his email address all right it's Steve dot Adler ADL ER Steve Adler at Austin Texas DOT govt Steve Adler at Austin Texas DOT govt and just let him know hey mayor Adler I appreciate all of your hard work and service for the City of Austin I've heard great things about you I've heard you're a good mayor it's your compassion and kind mayor mayor Adler I've also heard that you're being pressured

assured to criminalize homelessness again even though your city is already rolled that back mayor Adler I just want you to hear from me stay the course stay encouraged don't give into that people are counting on you all over the country and all around the world can you say something like that to him Steve dot Adler at Austin Texas DOT govt let me know how it goes shoot me an e-mail send me a text DME somewhere wherever you are reach out to me and let me know how it goes

call him one more time mayor Steve Adler 5 1 2 9 7 8 20 100 email Steve Adler and Austin Texas DOT govt take care everybody break it down break break break break break thank you all for making it all the way through this episode of the breakdown and if you haven't already subscribe to our podcast we'll be right back here every single weekday breaking down important news stories and issues and we'd love for you to subscribe

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