Austin councilwoman Krista Laine yesterday says she is proud to support funding art workshops that she says prevent violence and reduce costly later police interventions There is really no data that art classes reduce violence. In fact, this has been studied pretty heavily, a survey of the data in 2024 (Campbell Systematic Review) found that: "There is no clear evidence for the effectiveness of arts interventions for CYP who are at-risk of or who have offended, for behavioural (actions), psychosocial (emotional and cultural), cognitive (logic/thought) and offending outcomes."

Woman on e-bike dies after collision with vehicle towing trailer in the southbound lanes of the 1700 block of South Lamar Boulevard cbsaustin.com/news/local/wom…

Austin used to fix the worst flooding first to avoid deadly situations. Now it apparently depends who's drowning. A Watershed Protection official told a city committee this week that the department's old motto, "worst problems first," now "depends on how you define 'worst,' and how you define 'problem,' and how you define 'first.'" The 2001 plan ranked neighborhoods by how badly they flood. That, she said, was grounded in "technical risk." The city doesn't want engineers to just measure water anymore. The new plan brings in "lived experience" and "social risk."

This is the legacy that Council Member Paige Ellis will leave for Southwest Austin. A district coordinating with developers and misleading residents.

DEI is being put into every Austin city department The watershed department (the guys who work on projects to prevent flooding) presented yesterday. Instead of prioritizing work by 'worst problem first', they now use equity, community health, and 'lived experiences' of neighborhoods to decide what projects to do 👀

Austin caught 26 taxpayer-funded nonprofits overbilling, missing deadlines, and failing their targets -- and recommended cutting exactly none of them. Some of these orgs billed the city for items they weren't allowed to charge, some turned in late or incomplete work, some missed the targets they said they would hit. Yet amazingly, city staff recommends these orgs continue to get paid, and council will vote tomorrow on extending these contracts. Austin spends $101 million a year on social services, and $54 million goes to homelessness nonprofits.

I am determined to stand up for taxpayers and to make government more transparent and accountable. Austin taxpayers have paid $1 billion in the Project Connect property tax approved in 2020, but no court has yet ruled whether the tax is legal or when ATP can use it to issue bonds. Considering the "Bait-and-Switch" that has occurred with the little light rail plan being worked on, voters should be furious they are still paying that tax.

This is happening in every Red state. @DOGEFla found that Orlando was spending 150,000 on lawyer fees for illegals as well. Every Red state needs to audit their city governments for this type of abuse.

In Austin, nonprofits get funding even when they admit total failure. For example, Austin paid a nonprofit to improve the mental health of 362 people. It said it helped 73, yet the city paid the full contract anyway. When the city auditor checked just 25 nonprofit contracts, 19 had missed at least one of their own performance targets. Back in 2019, the city auditor found these contracts skip the normal competitive bidding process, and Austin's anti-lobbying rules don't apply to them for some reason. That means nonprofits seeking city money can lobby council members and city staff directly while their contracts are being decided. This is a practice that is totally banned for companies bidding on ordinary city contracts. Why do nonprofits get special privileges that promote corruption? The auditor told the city to fix all of this. Seven years later, neither fix has happened, the contracts keep getting extended, and the new target date for any potential fix is October 2027. Tomorrow, council votes on another $19 million for these nonprofits.

Austin caught 26 taxpayer-funded nonprofits overbilling, missing deadlines, and failing their targets -- and recommended cutting exactly none of them. Some of these orgs billed the city for items they weren't allowed to charge, some turned in late or incomplete work, some missed the targets they said they would hit. Yet amazingly, city staff recommends these orgs continue to get paid, and council will vote tomorrow on extending these contracts. Austin spends $101 million a year on social services, and $54 million goes to homelessness nonprofits.