Austin, Texas slashed its police budget in August 2020. The city council lowered the budget from $434.5 million to $292.2 million as part of the “defund the police” movement.
Local governance slashed the budget by about a third… all with little input from voters.
Now, voters want a say — and it looks like they want to “re-fund” their police.
A nonprofit called Save Austin Now has gathered enough signatures for a referendum on whether to restore the police budget.
Save Austin Now is spearheaded by Democratic operative Cleo Petricek and county-level Republican Party chair Matt Mackowiak.
“We didn’t agree on national politics,” Mackowiak told City Journal on Monday. “But we had to turn out city around.”
Save Austin Now has achieved electoral success in the past. Earlier this year, they campaigned to ban vagrant encampments, and they helped to organize a referendum in May.
In the referendum, Austin residents voted to ban encampments… much to the chagrin of both the liberal mayor and nine of the ten city councilmembers.
Now, Mackowiak and Petricek are organizing again to re-staff the police.
The city council claims that a higher police budget would siphon money toward the police, away from parks, libraries, and tourist attractions. Save Austin Now says otherwise.
Save Austin Now only wants to restore the police staff to levels from two years ago, and the city was operating its parks well enough two years ago.
“At the end of the day, it is all about quality of life and standard of living,” Mackowiak told City Journal.
Austin will vote on Proposition A — the measure about the police budget — this November.
So far, this issue has remained local, but similar issues are gaining national attention.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D–Minn., spent the last year chanting, “Defund the police.” Now she’s asking the police in her district to do more work.
Take a look —
Woman who wanted to dismantle the Minneapolis PD, now says crime is due to Minneapolis PD not doing enough police work. https://t.co/Hii5e7hbJE https://t.co/6MKbmqVPtx
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) October 26, 2021
The "defund the police" movement, is one of reimagining the current police system to build an entity that does not violate us, while relocating funds to invest in community services.
Let’s be clear, the people who now oppose this, have always opposed calls for systematic change. https://t.co/SEh97GS9hg
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) June 9, 2020
The Horn editorial team