Austin E. Sanders

3 weeks ago | austinchronicle.com | Austin E. Sanders

Looking into the causes of a predicament that somehow snuck up on the city City Council is entering budget adoption season with the city facing a structural deficit that cannot be easily closed by borrowing money from the city’s emergency reserves or by making minor cuts to services. It’s hard to pinpoint the last time Council had to deal with a fiscal problem this severe, but it’s certainly unprecedented in 21st century Austin.

3 weeks ago | austinchronicle.com | Austin E. Sanders

20% of scans were done without clear justification Criminal justice advocates see ALPRs and other forms of surveillance as tools to be exploited by federal law enforcement officials to help with immigration enforcement or other investigations that conflict with Austin values At multiple points during the pilot period of the Austin Police Department’s Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) program, one out of five searches conducted by officers of the vast license plate database were done...

1 month ago | austinchronicle.com | Austin E. Sanders

City to fund columns that could support highway parks A rendering of the bridge at Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. with a cap The first round in the City Hall fight over the future of I-35 has ended, and it was an ugly one. The bout, which culminated at City Council’s May 22 meeting, centered over whether or not the city should pay for structural support columns along the highway through Central Austin, which will soon undergo a massive, state-mandated transformation.

1 month ago | austinchronicle.com | Austin E. Sanders

Two years after the election, the board begins its work Austin voters approved the Oversight Act in 2023, but several measures including the forming of a new oversight board have taken years now to implement Two years after the voter-approved Austin Police Oversight Act became law, one of its central components has finally been enacted.

1 month ago | austinchronicle.com | Austin E. Sanders

License plate readers scan cars at all times Activists and the Austin Police Department argued over the automated license plate reader program for years. Advocates called it “mass surveillance,” and feared that data from the readers might be used to arrest undocumented immigrants or Austinites seeking abortions. Now, with a one-year pilot program coming to a close, Council will soon have to decide if they want to renew it.