Monday, December 1, 2025, 2 p.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall
Committee: Public Safety Committee
0:05 We'll call the public safety committee to order.
0:08 It is December 1st, 2025 at 2:03 pm uh, and this, um, we are meeting at City Hall, located at 3 0 1
0:16 west second street in Austin, texas.
0:18 We have a quorum present, um, vice chair, lane Council Member uchin and myself.
0:23 Uh, and we will begin with commi public communication.
0:25 I will turn it over to daniel.
0:27 Love to, um, to call any speakers that are signed up.
0:30 Yes, if we can have scott johnson.
0:42 Good afternoon, council members.
0:43 My name is scott johnson.
0:44 I'm here to speak on distracted driving some background information.
0:50 I'll try to get through this as quickly as I can.
0:52 2006, There was a bicycle safety task force.
0:55 I advanced two separate ordinance ideas for texting while driving and hands free while driving.
1:01 In 2009, the City Council approved, uh, ordinance against texting while driving.
1:06 Unfortunately, with that ordinance in affirmative defense is that I was calling someone.
1:12 So it's, those are not effective.
1:14 In 2012, I started working towards having the city councils, uh, board and commission system consider these urban
1:23 transportation, public safety commission and community technology that, that has a different name.
1:29 As you can read along with me, I recruited bianca benson, who's still with the city.
1:33 That was a very good decision to help go out to these boards and commissions to let them
1:39 know what's happening now.
1:41 And in 2014, the City Council approved the distracted driving ordinance.
1:46 The effective date was early 2015.
1:49 A pd was doing an excellent job of, uh, second page please, uh, was doing an excellent job
1:56 of writing citations. The, the peak was in 2017 with 10,142.
2:02 As you can see, there's a minimum of $200 fine for it.
2:05 There is a diversion program that was put together by the, uh, chief prosecutor bianca benson and her
2:11 group 2019. The, the state tried to lower texting, uh, <laugh>, hands free down to texting only.
2:20 We fought it and we won, along with support from a pd and sapd.
2:25 And other cities have used our ordinance as a model.
2:29 Looking down further, you can see the ordinance effectiveness in terms of writing citations 2015 through 2019.
2:38 Third page, please. And now, and I'm certainly not here to criticize a pdi understand the staffing situation.
2:46 I'm actually the coordinator of neighborhood watch for my neighborhood for 17 years, and we just need a
2:52 working group to reinvigorate this process.
2:54 So we raised the awareness for people that have moved here since the late 20 teens, and those
2:59 people that are already here who don't know about the ordinance.
3:02 And we need to find creative ways to enforce the ordinance.
3:05 And there May be some options beyond just a pd, having more staff for patrol.
3:11 There's some other things on there that May be of interest to you.
3:13 Obviously, the fatality issues from the last decade and early this decade, you can see those numbers.
3:19 And from a, a comprehensive report by cambridge telematics study, you can see the top 10 reasons why
3:26 people are looking at their phone while they're driving.
3:29 And some of those are surprising.
3:31 Some of them are not surprising.
3:34 There are two videos that were developed, one in the 2015 timeframe to warn people about distracted driving
3:41 and the consequences. And then there was one done more recently by the vision zero program, and those
3:46 are available. You can see the link there and I can send that to you.
3:50 Questions. Council Member dechen.
3:54 Scott, thanks for putting this together.
3:56 Can you make sure you can send this, send your data to us when you have a chance?
4:00 Uh, I'm just curious, what do you think is a, the next best step?
4:04 And the other question I have is just based on your data, it looks like, you know, by
4:08 2019, there's a star's, a sharp drop off.
4:11 That's even before I think that we, um, channeled our motors unit into a different purpose at a
4:18 pd. So what do you think is going on there?
4:20 Have we solved a problem?
4:21 Was there a sense that we needed to write less citations by then?
4:24 Well, the discretion, obviously, is there with the officers on patrol.
4:30 One of the benefits of having a hands-free ordinance is that even if they're holding the phone and
4:34 not using it, they can be cited.
4:37 We tried to get it when they were at a stop, but it was pulled out by former
4:41 Mayor leffingwell and, uh, former Council Member now the late, uh, bill spelman.
4:47 And they didn't let us know the working group folks, which is un unfortunate.
4:51 And that, and that won't happen again if we configure another working group.
4:55 We're gonna try, try our best to be sure that our intent is translated into policy.
5:01 To answer your question, um, I can't say why it dropped off.
5:04 There's certainly opportunities to write more.
5:06 Again, I'm not here to criticize the police staff.
5:09 I respect them. I work with them because I'm the coordinator for my neighborhood.
5:13 As I said, I think what what happens is that people try different tactics to not be seen.
5:20 And that would include bringing the phone down below their, the center of their body, holding it down
5:26 in their lap, and then looking at it.
5:28 And I'm, I'm sure that happened a lot.
5:30 And therefore, you, you can't see if you're in a patrol car that's not higher than the other
5:36 car that then you can't see it.
5:37 A pd did do this, which is creative, where they, for a short time use, use buses.
5:42 And that was a limited time, limited scope.
5:45 There was some concern from the community.
5:47 I don't think that's necessarily what undid it, but I do think people use creative ways.
5:54 And one of the things that I find ironic is that many vehicles, newer vehicles, you don't need
6:01 to hold the phone, but it's just a habit.
6:04 You can talk through the bluetooth.
6:05 And that's part of this working group that I'm suggesting to this committee and also to the mobility
6:11 committee, is that we have that because we need people to know that they have options and to
6:16 use those options. Or they could be cited.
6:18 There is a diversion program, as you might have seen in there, and that's helpful because we don't
6:24 want to be punitive.
6:26 If we can educate our way out of it, we would, but it's really not possible to do
6:31 that. Recently through, at the mobility committee in November, they, they've cited about a 840 or 850 folks
6:41 this year, which is a marked increase from earlier in the 20 2020s.
6:46 So that's great news.
6:49 Thank you. I look for the data.
6:51 You're welcome. Thank you, mr. Scott.
6:56 Um, colleagues, uh, the first action will be to our, our first item will be to approve the
7:00 minutes of the public safety committee meeting for November 3rd, 2025.
7:04 I'll accept a motion to approve the, the, the minutes motion made by Council Member uchin, seconded by,
7:10 um, uh, vice chair lane.
7:12 Without objection, the, uh, meetings, uh, the minutes are approved.
7:17 Item number two, and colleagues, I'm very, very, very excited about this.
7:21 The community will now take up item number two.
7:23 Uh, and that is the boys and girls club community violence intervention work presentation.
7:28 Um, I got to meet with these young leaders a a while back, and they have gone on
7:34 to, uh, lobby members of congress, namely Council Member, uh, uh, congress member, uh, former Council Member, greg
7:41 casar. Um, and now they're here to testify before us.
7:44 But they have been actively working to improve safety, not only in their neighborhoods in the, um, uh,
7:51 meadowbrook apartments, but just in Austin overall.
7:54 And, uh, I just wanted to recognize, uh, mackenzie zepeda, har atal man, hassani blankenship, kelsey taylor, and
8:04 siah martin. Um, and with that, I will turn it over to marisela casals, director of character and
8:10 development, uh, leadership development at the boys and girls, bro.
8:13 Boys and girls club of Austin.
8:34 Hello, my name is sydney trevino, and I'm with the boys and girls club.
8:37 Thank you all for having us here today.
8:39 Behind me and to the side of me, I have some very prominent club members at meadowbrook.
8:44 Next to me is kelsey taylor, and this is a tall man doe.
8:47 Uh, back in March, we were tasked with creating a social justice program, uh, aiming at mental health
8:54 support, and they chose their topic of gun violence.
9:02 So they worked for several months, uh, creating ways to implement gun violence prevention programs.
9:09 They reached out to you all over here.
9:11 We reached out to our hawker bo h board members as well, uh, and came up with a
9:16 project that ultimately led some of them to go to washington dc.
9:21 So we're very proud of them for that.
9:23 Uh, if my president, mr.
9:26 Atal, would like to speak on some of the service projects that him and the other group did,
9:34 uh, hi. Um, some of the service projects we did was a cl community cleanup.
9:40 Um, meadowbrook members participated in a cleanup on a Saturday, um, with the city of Austin, um, cleanup
9:48 group. And we cleaned up a lot of trash together, improving living spaces.
9:54 We, the second one we did was thrive fest, which was a animal thrive fest to celebrate healthy
10:01 lifestyles with a focus on mental wellness.
10:04 This fair provided community with access to resources and community partners that support, uh, and promote wellbeing in
10:13 the community.
10:18 And now kelsey will go ahead and talk about our, our main focus, which was our gun violence
10:23 program. Metal prep club focused on gun violence prevention as their community has been ly impacted by it.
10:37 Navarro club focused on access to mental health sources, resources, and copying strategies for athletes in their campus.
10:45 Teens in their campuses are often, are often involved in multiple extracurricular, um, activities, and often hold, wait,
10:54 hold a job to support their family's work life balance and stress copying strategies are needed.
11:01 Otherwise, it can lead to poor athletic and poor academic performances and mental health struggles.
11:08 Home club, home club members focused on promoting wellness and women, mental and physical health, and women vital
11:15 order to have stronger and safer communities.
11:20 So, as you can see, we have a bunch of bright young people also behind us, uh, some
11:24 of the club members from navarro.
11:26 Correct. Uh, so we definitely, again, thank you all for inviting us here.
11:32 This is a great opportunity for them, not only to get out of school early, but to see
11:36 this beautiful building, which we have not been to yet.
11:38 So thank you. Perfect.
11:41 Uh, colleagues, do we have any questions?
11:45 I just wanna thank you for coming.
11:47 Um, and I also, I more have a comment than a question.
11:53 Okay. So I think that, and I have seen that the voices of our young people can be
11:59 very powerful to elected officials like us.
12:03 And I just want to encourage you to continue coming, exercising that civic participation muscle, and telling us
12:10 what you see and hear and feel, because that's what we need to know to make things better
12:15 for the future. So, thank you very much,
12:23 <laugh>. I, I also wanted to thank y'all.
12:24 I mean, since, I believe it was about March when we first met and we got to hang
12:28 out. And, and meadowbrook, uh, and our friends from, um, life innu brought us together to be able
12:33 to talk about cvi.
12:34 And I'd explained to y'all that I, that I lost a little brother to gun violence in, in
12:37 2009. It was a very personal issue to me.
12:40 And, and I appreciate your advocacy.
12:43 Um, I was, uh, I think it was, um, it was, uh, we were talking with, uh, atal,
12:50 and I was telling him there was no way when I was his age, that I was ever
12:54 gonna be advocating for anything.
12:55 But to see the energy and, and the inspiring stories that these, that, that these young leaders had
13:01 around wanting to better their community was it, it, it landed with me.
13:05 And I wanted to make sure that y'all always know you have a place here at City Hall,
13:09 anytime you want to come back and testify and come and inform us about the work that you're
13:13 doing around this issue.
13:14 So appreciate your service.
13:16 I appreciate y'all traveling to washington dc to represent Austin, texas, and let them know what we were
13:20 working on and what you're working on.
13:22 And anytime you want to come back, you're always welcome to come back before this committee, and thank
13:25 you for being here with us today.
13:29 Thank you. Thank you.
13:31 Thank you.
13:37 Um, colleagues next, uh, the committee will not now take up item number three, um, briefing on findings,