FOX 7 Discussion: Austin City Council homeless proposals
AUSTIN, Texas - Austin City Council is planning on reviewing different proposals relating to the city's homeless ordinances on Thursday, September 19.
One draft was released by council members Kathie Tovo and Ann Kitchen, another from council member Greg Casar and Austin Mayor Steve Adler.
"There's not a lot of difference between them," says Austin Mayor Steve Adler.
They both detail what "camp" means and what defines a "public area", and both are proposing to ban camping in high flood areas. But the most detailed are locations.
In Tovo and Kitchen's draft, sitting, lying down and sleeping would be banned in "high pedestrian and vehicular traffic areas". This would be on west campus between MLK and 29th street. Guadalupe, Rio Grande, San Antonio Ave., San Gabriel, Nueces and West 24th. Downtown on 2nd, 5th, west of Guadalupe, 6th St., Congress Avenue, and Red River St. And in Central East Austin on east 11th, east 12th and Manor Road. This also goes for traffic islands, medians, sloped areas under a highway, freeway, ramps and underpasses.
Adler and Casar's draft says a person is banned from these areas if the person is endangering health or safety, or impeding the use of a public area if they camp here.
More than a dozen street names are mapped out on the last page of the draft.
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