North Austin is stuck in a rather strange situation. The Precinct 2 Constable office is in our area. But thanks to the odd way the precincts are drawn, a lot of the area right next to the Constable’s office actually belongs to downtown Constable’s office!
The precinct 2 Constable has asked a judge to meet with him, look at the lines, and move them slightly so:
1) they can actually provide services to the people in the area they have offices in
2) people in our area don’t have to drive downtown any more to the other Constable’s office
The judge will listen – IF the Constable can show that the people in our area want this change in the district lines.
We need North Austinites to show up at the meeting and prove to this judge that we want this change. It means better and faster service for North Austin, AND it will save us gas and the time it takes to go downtown if we need to deal with a civil matter.
August 2nd, Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. in the Commissioners Courtroom on the first floor of the Travis County Administration Building (Ned Granger Building) at 314 W. 11th St. The public is welcome in the courtroom.
What exactly is a Constable? Well, these are the guys who drive around in the brown cars (they look like sheriff’s cars if you’re not paying attention) and handle civil cases, instead of criminal cases. They also do patrols to back up APD, and do community outreach and training.
The Precinct 2 guys take it a bit further – they run a great Explorer program to reach youth and get them involved and out of trouble. They also have been very helpful when the Coalition has needed assistance with Watch training, our neighborhoods have weird questions on civil matters, or when we need an few extra hands to volunteer at an event.
And I will repeat what I said earlier – the Constables will also do patrols in their area, as a way of helping out the neighborhoods and backing up APD. Now think about that for a minute. If your offices are downtown are you going to drive all the way up to North Austin to do an extra patrol? On the other hand, if your offices are in North Austin already, how easy is it to drive through one of our neighborhoods while you are doing your other duties?
So please tell a neighbor – and let’smake sure we have a strong showing!
Also, if you want a ride, send an email to [email protected] and we will try our best to match you up with somebody going!
You can download the map and see the changes here:
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