Save Austin Now, Four Small Business Owners Sue City of Austin for Failure to Fully Enforce Prop B

Small Business Owner Plaintiffs Allege Significant Injury Due to Lack of Enforcement

August 25, 2021
AUSTIN, TX — Nonpartisan Save Austin Now PAC, joined by four small business owners as plaintiffs, today filed a lawsuit in Travis County District Court challenging the City of Austin for its failure to fully enforce Prop B, reinstatement of the public camping ban which passed on May 1 by a 58-42% margin.

For Save Austin Now, the plaintiffs are Matt Mackowiak and Cleo Petricek, the organization’s co-founders and their lead counsel is Russ Horton of George Brothers Kincaid and Horton, LLP.

The four named plaintiffs are Laura North, owner of Headspace Salon and Co-op in south Austin, Stuart Dupuy, owner of Balance Dance Studios in south Austin, Robert Mayfield, owner of Dairy Queen franchises on Lamar Boulevard in north Austin and on Manor Road in northeast Austin, and Bob Woody, owner of Buckshot Bar on East 6th Street downtown. On behalf of the four plaintiffs, the lead counsel is Michael Lovins.

Save Austin Now and Save Austin Now PAC co-founder Matt Mackowiak said: “We have been immensely patient with the City of Austin on full enforcement of Prop B. Their four-phase, 90-day enforcement plan entered the final phase on August 8 and it is undeniable that Prop B is not being fully enforced. The city is choosing not to respect the will of the voters when nearly 100,000 of them clearly expressed their desire to see the city reinstate the public camping ban and advance actual, effective solutions for our homeless. Their regulated camping site effort has manifestly failed. The HEAL initiative has only helped around 100 people, while at least 2,000 await any workable plan from the city after more than two years and at least $161 million spent. Austin business owners, families, children, commuters, and visitors remain threatened by this failed policy. Unregulated public camping has been illegal in Austin since Prop B passed. It is time for the City of Austin to respect the will of the voters and put public safety first. We will take this fight as far as it needs to go to make our city safe again – for both the residents and the homeless.”

“From our first press conference in February 2020, I have been raising the issue of noncompliance,” said Save Austin Now and Save Austin Now PAC co-founder Cleo Petricek. “The city has no plan for the noncompliant. Recently, in a video released by Save Austin Now, Mayor Steve Adler admitted he ‘doesn’t know the answer’ for noncompliant homeless individuals. I asked him the same question in the fall of 2019 privately in his conference room at City Hall. This is not a new issue. In fact, the camping ban and the issue of noncompliant homeless individuals in our city is the pivotal issue for us. With the HEAL initiative encampments being cleared, some of the homeless continue to show that they will refuse shelter when beds were available. Many cleared areas return to be illegal unregulated encampments in a matter of days. Why are noncompliant individuals not being arrested? Why are they allowed to continue public camping which is illegal throughout the City of Austin?”

“The plaintiffs have standing and can prove injury from the lack of adequate enforcement,” said Save Austin Now lead counsel Russ Horton. “We are confident this lawsuit will prevail and we will lead a vigorous legal effort.”

“Before I signed the lease in 2019 on my salon and took out a significant construction loan to create my business, I was repeatedly lied to by city council and management on their intentions and plans for managing the increasing homeless population in the area,” said Laura North, owner of Headspace Salon and Co-op in south Austin. “What took place after the camping ban was lifted was wildly dangerous, irresponsible, and reckless on City Council’s part. They did nothing to protect the welfare and safety of the small businesses, children, homes, or people experiencing homelessness in the areas they allowed large encampments to form. After years of break-ins, vandalism, hostile encounters, countless 911 calls, keeping our doors locked during business hours, and thousands and thousands of dollars worth of damage I thought we were finally going to see some relief in the stress this situation has created. Instead, months after Prop B was passed, we are still facing the same daily atrocities and it’s time to hold those responsible for creating this environment accountable.”

"I am tired of playing defense and spending tens of thousands of dollars on repairs and security upgrades to protect children at my dance studio from drug dealers and junkies who are ‘camping’ on City of Austin Water Quality land adjacent to my property,” said Stuart Dupuy, owner of Balance Dance Studios on South Lamar Boulevard. “I am extremely disappointed that the City of Austin is refusing to enforce the public camping ban and allows this terrible situation to continue, to the detriment of everyone involved including the homeless."

“At two Dairy Queen locations that I own and operate in Austin, we have had many problems with the homeless population,” said Robert Mayfield, owner of two Dairy Queen locations, one on Lamar Boulevard and the other on Manor Road. “We hired a security company, but the homeless did not respect them, so we had to hire off-duty police officers, which was more expensive and costs us $72,000 per restaurant each year. The problem is worse with the homeless coming in only to use the restroom, hanging in our parking lots bothering customers, asking for money, and making our locations not a desirable place to visit. Without off-duty police, I firmly believe we would have difficulty staying in business. These security costs cut into manager bonuses and profitability. We were thrilled to see the camping ban passed on May 1, but since then nothing has changed. We thought the city was supposed to clean up. The police also tell us that they no longer have the resources to properly police this problem, which is why we pray that Prop A passes on Nov. 2.”

“I employ more than 450 staff members across my small businesses in Austin,” said Bob Woody, owner of Buckshot Bar on E. 6th Street. “I bought my first business in 1982, the old Pecan St. Café, which stayed in business for more than 40 years but closed recently due to aggressive behavior by many homeless individuals. The homeless problem downtown has gotten much worse, probably ten times worse since the camping ban was lifted. Our city is putting our residents, our tourists, our convention attendees, and our police officers at risk. This homeless disaster is ruining property values and it is making it nearly impossible for hotels and downtown businesses to operate. My bar on East 6th Street, Buckshot, has been burglarized 12 times, and we are less than one block from the ARCH. We are calling the police multiple times every single day now for three years. Drug deals go unnoticed. This image is what we portray to anyone visiting Austin Texas. It is idiotic, does not help the homeless, and allows people to think that being unlawful is acceptable. The people of Austin if spoken, and again council and mayor are not listening, they have lost the recent election, and they think because they hold these political positions if they are not required to follow through. Full enforcement and going back to where we used to be is the only acceptable solution.”

“I am pleased to be representing these four local business owners in Austin,” said Michael Lovins, of Lovins Trosclair, PLLC, lead counsel for the four plaintiffs. “These plaintiffs have each been significantly injured by the city’s failure to enforce Prop B after it passed 58%-42% on May 1. We will vigorously seek full enforcement as the only remedy to this injury. Business owners should be able to operate in safety across our city.”

The Mandamus Action was filed with the 3rd Court of Appeals on Wednesday morning. The 3rd Court filing is cause #: D-1-GN-20-007085 and envelope #: 56629365.

To learn more about Save Austin Now PAC, please visit http://www.SaveAustinNowPAC.com.
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As I have said before, we have only begun to fight!

The City of Austin Certifies Save Austin Now PAC Petition to Ensure Adequate Police Staffing for Nov. 2021 Ballot

AUSTIN, TX — Today the City Clerk certified the Save Austin Now PAC petition to ensure adequate police staffing for the November 2, 2021 ballot. After reviewing the signed petitions and analyzing them, the office found that of the 27,778 that were submitted, 25,786 were valid for a 93% validity rate. 

The petition drive began May 26, 2021 and was completed just 55 days later on July 19, 2021.

Save Austin Now co-founders Matt Mackowiak and Cleo Petricek released the following statement after certification:

“We are pleased that the city certified our signed petitions and that we will now be placed directly on the November 2nd ballot. The upcoming election poses a stark choice for Austin voters: If you vote for our proposition, Austin will have adequate police staffing, the best-trained police force in the nation, and enact important police reforms. If you vote against our effort, we will continue to see the police staffing crisis worsen, violent crime skyrocket, and our city become measurably less safe for every neighborhood. The City Council has proven they do not support law enforcement and public safety. On November 2nd, we will prove the residents do.

The ordinance does several things:

• ENSURES ADEQUATE POLICE STAFFING: Requires a minimum of 2.0 police officers per 1,000 population, a nationally recognized standard for safe cities, combined with a minimum of 35% community response time (or uncommitted time)

• DOUBLES POLICE TRAINING: Requires an additional 40 hours of post-cadet class training hours per year, making Austin the national model for police training

• ENACTS POLICE REFORMS: Includes provisions to boost minority hiring (through foreign language proficiency), ensure racially diverse community policing, and provides retention bonuses for officers without police complaints (‘Good Conduct Medal eligible officers)

“Steve Adler, Greg Casar, Equity PAC and associated extreme groups will attempt to smear this effort for the next three months,” said Mackowiak. “They do not care about public safety and want to watch Austin burn. We will not let them. We will educate citizens about how our police budget was defunded, how police staffing has become a crisis, and about how a violent crime wave has resulted. We can fix this mess created by a unanimous vote of the City Council in August 2020. Austin must rise up and demand a safe city for every neighborhood.”

“Save Austin Now PAC would not be successful without our passion for families and minorities, who have taken the brunt of the council's poor decision making recently,” said Petricek. “Our most passionate supporters and advocates, myself included, have demonstrated a willingness to show up when others won’t or can’t, to motivate other concerned moms and confront hypocrisy on these standard of living issues. Public safety is not partisan and the Prop B success demonstrated that Austin has many fair-minded citizens that were not on board with the city council’s careless approach to the homeless issue. Similarly, the issue of Austin having a serious staffing problem at APD and the rise in violent crime are concerns to all citizens regardless of political leaning. Austin voters must ignore the childish smears and join our efforts to focus on the issues impacting the town we all love.”

Organizations supporting Save Austin Now PAC’s #MakeAustinSafe initiative include: SafeHorns, Austin Police Association (APA), Texas Police Association (TPA), Texas Municipal Police Association (TMPA), Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas (CLEAT), Austin Police Retired Officers Association (APROA), the United Hispanic Contractors Association and Amigos en Azul. 

BACKGROUND ON SAVE AUSTIN NOW PAC

Co-founder Matt Mackowiak

 Matt Mackowiak is a native Austinite who has lived in Austin since 1984, with ten years after college spent working in Washington, DC. He runs a consulting firm in Austin that specializes in corporate public relations and campaign management.

Co-founder Cleo Petricek

Cleo Petricek is a wife, mom, and neighborhood activist who has worked as a social worker and a probation officer. She describes herself as “fortunate enough to be able to devote time to the critical issues of homelessness and policing” and works entirely as a volunteer, declining all compensation for her efforts.

To learn more about Save Austin Now PAC, please visit http://www.SaveAustinNowPAC.com.