City Council vote delayed on Downtown Austin community court
AUSTIN, Texas - A statue of a lone rider stands in front of Austin's old municipal building.
A plan to convert part of the building into a new Downtown Austin Community Court was on the Thursday council agenda. A contingent of residents and business owners showed up to take a stand against it.
"If you approve this, you're going to be slamming the brakes on all of the economic growth you've created downtown," said downtown resident Suzie Gallehugh.
The Brown Building across the street is home to more than 80 families. Residents, like Jeff Kahle, believe a court for misdemeanor criminal cases is not right for their neighborhood.
"Why drop a bomb in the middle of that epicenter," said Jeff Kahle.
The fear is about what has happened on the east side of downtown. Large groups of people, who are part of the transient community, continue to gather around the ARCH.
"You can see, its kind of like looking into the future. As for myself, and other residents of the Brown Building, we bought into that building with the knowledge there wasn't anything like that in our neighborhood," said downtown resident Chris Hashbarger.
The old municipal building was selected by city staff over more than 20 sites. Some of the people who spoke during the council meeting noted how several councilmembers have objected to having the court in their districts.
"Would you vote yes, to bring this DACC to your own neighborhood?" asked Jeff Steinle.
Thursday councilmember Sabino "Pio" Renteria restated his objection to one site that was considered along Cesar Chavez.
"It's not downtown, my neighborhood is not downtown, it's east of 35. We've always been dumped on, every time," said Renteria.
In agreeing to postpone a vote, Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo requested information on two other sites: The Waller Center, which is the administration office for Austin Water, and the old HealthSouth building, near the new medical center.
"We are going to get that side by side comparison, so that everybody on this dais can decide on the issue that will be before council in March, which is whether or not to expend the funds to renovate the building, that's really the question," said Tovo.
The renovation cost, according to city documents, is estimated at almost $30 million.
There's serious doubt this issue will be resolved in just 2 weeks. From the perspective of the Downtown Austin Alliance, an old cliché remains in play, that is- the city continues to put the cart before the horse.
"And it may not be a singular building, we may need a new court model, to say this goes out to all parts of the city," said Bill Brice with the Alliance.
Brice believes the answer requires a lot more study.
"The questions that have not yet been answered and need to be addressed first are, what do we want this court to be? What do we want the jurisdiction to be? What kind of cases we want the court to be hearing? Who we want the court to serve, and how do we best deliver those services? Only then can it be asked, where the court would best be located," said Brice.
Tovo agreed those issues are worth discussing; but indicated it's one for another time.
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