To get the thread back on track, they made a ton of arrests related to the OP:

https://mailchi.mp/austintexas.gov/austin-police-department-announces-arrests-of-multiple-suspects-involved-in-citywide-reckless-driving-street-takeover-incidents

I live in Austin and work downtown, feel perfectly safe. However, it is still sad to see the amount of homeless everywhere.

Iraq2xVeteran said:

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Travis County District Attorney Jos Garza said that his office expects to receive criminal cases related to the 17 new suspects over the next week. He noted that because of the early communication between agencies, his office is in "a strong position to ensure these individuals are held accountable."

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Yeah, right.

The people on this board who are for some reason obsessed with pointing out how scared of downtown Austin they are have either:
-never actually lived in any big city
-never lived in another city besides Austin before they scurried away to the suburbs/country
-can't figure out that the news / social media skews your perception or confirms your bias if you pay too much attention to them

This is my 4th large city where I've lived downtown, and Austin doesn't register as worse than any of them when it comes to safety, crime, etc. In many ways it feels a lot more stable.

And for the record, I have no issue with anyone who chooses to retreat away from urban life for whatever reason they want. I have some pretty secluded land an hour from Austin that I love getting away to. I just hope you realize how pathetic you sound constantly jumping on every thread to complain about something that isn't even relevant to you. We get it, you're scared.

Yes, what an intelligent, well thought out response! Always enjoy a good dialogue.

I get you. Seriously I do. I guess for me as someone who loved Austin and now really can't stand it is the mere fact that it was a big little city. You could get anything you needed within 5 minutes without worrying about the crazy crime that you have now. Stuff like people parking in a hotel parking lot in NW Austin for 5 minutes and having their bags stolen, or for me, the whole homeless folk out in the open really did me in. I just got tired of it.

If I were in my 30's, it may not be that big of a deal for me. But I'm not.

It's not just the change from small city to big city, it's the change from a reasonably sane city to one run by absolute lunatics whose every move seems designed to destroy the city even more.

Can't speak to Cincy, but can to Dallas and Chicago. Both have had the element starting to rear its ugly head in Austin entrenched in their cities for many years. So the comparison isn't apples to apples. If Austin keeps going in the direction it is, say hello to the next Dallas, Chicago, NYC, Philly, Nola, Houston, Seattle, San Fran, LA, so on and so forth. Sorry, but it's as simple as this.

cityagboy said:

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KT 90 said:

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cityagboy said:

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Martin Cash said:

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cityagboy said:

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Martin Cash said:

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cityagboy said:

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Ok. I will be more clear. The video you posted was a bunch of idiots, but on Twitter many people were using it as an example for why Austin sucks. That's dumb, it was a bunch of young numbnuts doing dumb crap, it wasn't a riot or political.

Do you live in Austin? If not I'd love to meet with you in Austin to drive around and discuss the issues in the community.

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It does. It is a city with one sane council member. The rest are absolute idiots.

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What does this event have to do with council members? It is simply dumb car people doing dumb crap. It wasn't political

Do you live in the austin city limits? Just curious.

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No, I don't, and I never would. I live 25 miles and only go to Austin if I absolutely have to. The problem is no police response because of the stupid city council's 'defund the police' policies. It dang sure is political.

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Nothing you are talking about has anything to do with this thread. Also, everything you said is over exaggerated.

If you don't live here don't worry about it. You just want to hate. Go post about your town

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The police response to the incident was delayed due to, as usual, understaffing. A city council member (Atler) called the incident in to 911 and was on hold due to.... understaffing. The first police officer who arrived had to drive his car in reverse due the to crowd converging upon his car. Several people were set on fire, from the fireworks apparently. Police vehicles were damaged and at least one officer was injured.

I live here and pay taxes here and here and personally am getting sick of the mismanagement of our police and safety in general.

"The event has now sparked outrage from citizens, with local Council Member Alison Alter telling the Austin American-Statesman that she ended up on hold for 28 minutes after stumbling upon the takeover."

link from quick google search for the Atler part

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Listen, I am not defending and have not defended these street racers/ drifters/ whatever they are. I have called them dumb, numbnuts, etc. I have no problem with any who were arrested.

My point is that it wasn't a riot or a political act.

To the austin police… two years in a row their budget has been increased to higher levels than it ever has. I support that. I don't believe that anyone was on hold for 20 something minutes with a 911 call. I have called 911 twice in the last 6 months and never had a wait, at all. There are police in that area 24/7 anyway, especially at that time/ day of week. It didn't even need to be reported…. Austin Police have problems and many come from within their own department. They have the money they need, or are at least not far off. People act like they were defunded of all resources. 3 years ago they had 30 million dollars (out of over 400 million) that was taken from their budget which has since been given back plus a lot more.

Austin does have problems, I won't deny that, but for a city that has increased in population as quickly as it has we are doing pretty well.

What large city should we look at as an example to follow? Most hate on Austin is simply cause it's the cool thing to do despite it still being the safest large city in Texas.

I live in austin. I work in austin. My kid goes to AISD. I have never seen a violent crime. None of my neighbors, friends, family or co-workers have personally been the victim of violent crimes. People act like it's just some lawless free-for-all and it just isn't but I understand it is the political whipping boy for some.

http://www.usa.com/rank/texas-state--crime-index--city-rank.htm?hl=&hlst=&wist=&yr=&dis=&sb=DESC&plow=&phigh=&ps=

https://www.kxxv.com/story/31935851/new-report-ranks-two-central-texas-cities-among-most-dangerous

https://propertyclub.nyc/article/most-dangerous-cities-in-texas

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Do you work for the APD or know someone that does?

Your increased budget 2 years in a row comment - they're trying to correct their mistakes but are still behind.

I work with the spouse of an APD officer that is responsible for training officers. During BLM riots, defund police, whatever you want to call it... the police force was on an immediate freeze and APD was not appreciated for their efforts or time served. Many transferred out and retired early. Late 2021 they tried to correct their mistake and the standards were lowered. Before candidates went through background checks, interviews and other vetting methods. All of that was thrown out of the window. The guy I know followed the normal process and academy enrollees were lower than normal and many didn't make the vetting process. Well, he gets a call from higher ups and was told that they need to push additional candidates through even though they did not meet the requirements. This is real. I've heard the same is happening with the fire dept and it's obvious. It's laughable when you see some of our firefighters... I know some personally.

My business was broken into last month and no police ever showed up. Our alarm system is what scared them off. Our block shares camera footage and we work together because we understand that help isn't a call away. Our block has been hit 3 times this month that I know of with no police presence. It's not on them, they're just grossly understaffed.

AN old friend of mine, class of '98 currently works for APD. I ran into him at the REK concert downtown last year. We caught up and got on the APD subject. He disagrees with you. He specifically said that if you call for assistance, they cannot get to you in time. He has the same story... they're understaffed. Officers retired early due to their treatment, and many transferred out.

Ragnar Danneskjoldd said:

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6 murders reported in Austin in the past 10 days
2 people stabbed on Rainey Street
a kidnapping at gunpoint and rape
a violent attack and rape under I-35

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You left out the head-on collision car accident last weekend where it took APD 2.5 hours to respond to the 911 call. Apparently the guy was drunk/drinking, but by the time the cops arrived he passed his field sobriety test and was allowed to leave. Yikes.

Can't blame APD, they were likely all assigned to downtown to take care of the SXSW out of towners. Not many left to take care of the regular ole peoples that live here.