Austin city council unanimously voted last week to buy a hotel with funds take from the defunding of the police.
Last week, the council voted to buy the Texas Bungalow Hotel & Suites for $6.7 million.
“The city will use some money from a recurring $6.5 million fund taken from the police department's budget to cover operating costs for the hotel, which are expected to be about $1.6 million per year, according to the Appeal.
The council decided in August to restructure the police department's budget by cutting $21 million right away, primarily by cancelling three cadet classes. The decision also left room to cut an additional $129 million by the end of the fiscal year.
“In the wake of Black Lives Matter protests this summer, we made a significant cut to policing dollars and reinvested that in things like this,” council member Gregorio Casar told the Appeal. “That’s how we’re paying for this. That’s the only reason we’re able to do this.””
The most fascinate part of this story is that city council considered purchasing a 2nd hotel however, that voted was stopped because council member Mackenzie Kelly expressed concern about it being in her home district.
Ah yes, NIMBY...NOT IN MY BACKYARD.
Resident and businesses owners in the area are protesting the potential of having a hotel for homeless in their neighborhood.
According to the USA Today, Councilmember Kelly told those protesting the shelter:
"There are ways that we can deter crime. We can put an ordinance in place that would not allow camping within so many feet of the property; we can put up privacy fencing; we can request additional security, but those are discussions that need to be had.And we have not had time to have those discussions."
The truth: