Clean & Safe
Since its inception, two of the DAA's top priorities have been keeping Downtown Austin cleaner and safer. The DAA recognizes these two priorities as being essential to a successful downtown area, and continues to dedicate significant resources to support these key program areas.
Litter Removal, Graffiti Removal and Sidewalk Washing
Through community partnerships with the City of Austin Youth Development Program, the Austin/Travis County Reentry Roundtable, the Travis County Justice and Public Safety Department and other agencies, the DAA strives to employ people with barriers to employment to implement its maintenance programs.
Maintenance
Litter Removal
DAA staff hit the streets, seven days a week, long before the weekday morning rush, and early weekend mornings,, providing detailed litter removal service to assure that Downtown looks its best for businesses, tourists, residents and Sunday worship.
Sidewalk Washing
DAA maintenance staff provide regularly scheduled sidewalk washing service early weekday mornings and on weekends in order to help keep Downtown sidewalks and streetscapes in top condition. The DAA focuses much of its sidewalk washing resources on erasing evidence left behind by our "feathered friends" keeping Downtown sidewalks free of bird droppings.
Graffiti Removal
The DAA staff works in cooperation with the City of Austin's graffiti abatement program and utilizes the services of professional graffiti removal contractors to assure that graffiti is removed quickly and efficiently from private property and public right-of-way. Recognizing that quick removal is an effective deterrent to graffiti vandalism, the DAA strives to remove graffiti as quickly as possible, which is usually within 24 hours. To report graffiti on private property, contact the DAA by calling 469-1766. To report graffiti on public right-of-way, call the City of Austin Call Center at 311.
Downtown Area Command (DTAC)
In September 2000 the Austin Police Department, with the support of the Downtown Austin Alliance, went through an internal reorganization creating what then became a seventh area command, the "Downtown Area Command" or DTAC. The boundaries of this command are Town Lake to the south, IH35 to the east, Mopac/Lamar Blvd. to the west and 29th Street to the north. Assigned to this command are 80 patrol officers, three district representatives, street response officers, detectives, and mounted patrol units. Officers patrol DTAC on foot, on bicycle and in patrol vehicles. Having this special command area improves police response time and effectiveness providing a higher level of community policing in the downtown area. DTAC was created to better address the special needs of Downtown - the city's primary center of business, entertainment and tourism, as well as a growing residential population. This command structure has proven effective in managing and balancing the policing needs that vary between daytime and nighttime, weekends and during special events.
Downtown Community Court
The Downtown Austin Community Court was established in 1999 as a problem-solving alternative to Municipal Court. The purpose of Community Court is to provide creative and individualized sentencing for Class C misdemeanor offenders to reduce recidivism and modify offending behavior.
Community Court provides the means and the encouragement to help discontinue criminal behavior, either through community service restitution, through enrollment into treatment programs or, when necessary, through incarceration. Community Court is able to expedite the processing of misdemeanor cases, by taking these cases out of the congested Municipal Court system, and helps return the community to its pre-offense condition. By focusing on the need for treatment, which is often a necessary but unavailable resource to Class C misdemeanants, the of repeat offenses are reduced.
The Downtown Community Court works closely with the Municipal Court system, the Austin Police Department, City Marshals, Parks Police, the Austin Downtown Rangers and the Travis County District Attorney's office to effectively manage Class C misdemeanor cases and monitor public order violators.
Parks Patrol
The DAA and the Austin Parks Police Department established a partnership in 2004 creating the Downtown Parks Patrol. The Parks Police Department established a special patrol district concentrating law enforcement resources on parks located within the Downtown PID. The DAA and the City of Austin provide fuding necessary to dedicate the equivalent of three full-time Parks Police officers to patrol this district seven days a week. The Downtown Parks Patrol helps assure safety in the downtown parks.
Downtown Assistant District Attorney
In cooperation with the DAA and the City of Austin, the Travis County District Attorney's office created a Downtown Neighborhood Assistant District Attorney (DA) position to move effectively address crime issues impacting downtown. The Downtown Assistant DA office works directly with the APD Downtown Area Command officers, detectives, and street response teams to prosecute all felony crimes committed in downtown. This position also manages a re-entry program at the Travis State Jail at Del Valle that prepares offenders for re-entry into the community. Before offenders leave the State Jail, the re-entry program provides connections to housing, jobs, and job training, substance abuse treatment and other resources that enhance their chances for successful reintegration, thereby reducing recidivism rates.
Panhandling: What to do When Someone Asks for Money
When someone on the street asks for "spare change," it is difficult to know if the money you give will really help the individual or if it will be misused. Money given to panhandlers is often used to buy alcohol or drugs, not food, clothing or shelter.
It is important to know that through Austin's social service network a person can get three meals every day, nighttime shelter, clothing, treatment and other services.
While panhandling is not an illegal activity, the place, manner, and time of day this activity may be conducted is regulated by City Ordinance 9-4-13, as paraphrased below:
A person commits an offense if the person solicits:
1) in an aggressive manner by blocking a person's passage, touching or making physical contact, repeatedly soliciting despite refusals, following, using abusive or profane language or approaching in any manner likely to cause fear;
2) in a bus, at a bus station or stop or within 25 feet of an automated teller facility, the entrance or exit of a bank, or the entrance of a check cashing business, at a marked crosswalk at a sidewalk cafe' or the patio area of a bar or restaurant;
3) between the hours of 7:00p.m. and 7:00a.m. anywhere in the downtown area.
* If you are panhandled in an aggressive manner, call 911 to report the incident to the Austin Police Department.
Here are a few suggestions that may help if you are asked for spare change:
- Acknowledge the person, then politely say "No thank you."
- If the person is selling an Austin Advocate, consider buying one. This is a legitimate publication written by individuals who are homeless.
GIVE RESPONSIBLY! Make a contribution, or volunteer your time, to one of the organizations listed below that help create "Real Change" for the homeless.
Austin Area Human Services Association
Community Partnership for the Homeless
For more information on the Clean and Safe Programs contact Bill Brice