7/21/20
Here is the link to sign up to speak at the City Council APD budget hearing on July 23rd: https://cityofaustin.formstack.com/forms/austin_city_council_speaker_signup
Thank you for signing our District 5 petition telling Council Member Kitchen You Care! Right now, the council is debating the City Manager Cronk’s budget proposal for next year. Council Member Kitchen has not responded to numerous calls from Communities of Color United for Racial Justice, the Austin Justice Coalition, and Grassroots Leadership to re-allocate some of APD’s over $430,000,000 budget to community-centered solutions. We are calling on Kitchen to reallocate $105 million dollars from APD into affordable housing, employment opportunities, and public health.
This week (Thursday, July 23rd) and next (Thursday, July 30th), the Austin City Council will hear public testimony on the city budget. Make your voice heard! Join other members of District 5 for Black Lives in telling Ann Kitchen and other city leaders that the time for change is now.
You must sign up by tomorrow, Wednesday, July 22nd if you want to testify this week.
Here is the link to sign up to speak at the City Council APD budget hearing on July 23rd: https://cityofaustin.formstack.com/forms/austin_city_council_speaker_signup
When signing up, choose “item 2” and you can select “against” or “neutral”. Under “topic”, you can leave it blank, write ‘budget’, or a sentence or two about how the budget is unacceptable and you want to see resources invested in people, not police.
If this is your first time testifying, we can support you! You will only have one minute to speak, so you don’t have to write up a big lengthy statement. We will be compiling some resources on testifying in this document, check it out later this week!
Please note that speaking at City Council can be a time consuming and onerous process. The telephone system that was put in place for City Council meetings during the COVID pandemic made the process even more challenging than usual. Please do not let this deter you. We ask that you show up for essential workers, childcare providers and others who are unable to participate in this process. If you are white, we ask that you use your time and resources to participate in these hearings to support communities of color who have been disproportionately impacted by this virus.
Finally, since testifying is only one part of this work, we hope you will 1) share the petition widely, 2) sign up for a “District 5 for Black Lives” yard sign, and 3) email Ann Kitchen each week to make your voice heard!
Sincerely,
the District 5 for Black Lives Organizing Team