From Vermont, Ben & Jerry’s Screams Against Texas Bill Targeting Homeless

Ben & Jerry’s, the leftist ice cream company that is headquartered far away in Vermont, weighed in on a Texas bill that would create a criminal offense for people who sat or lay down on a public sidewalk, slept outdoors in or near downtown Austin, or asked for money or valuables in a public area in an aggressive way. Ben & Jerry’s screamed on Twitter, “We’ll never police our way out of the homelessness crisis, and Prop B would take Austin backwards. Vote NO!”

We’ll never police our way out of the homelessness crisis, and Prop B would take Austin backwards. Vote NO! https://t.co/UcYZiuR8S7

— Ben & Jerry’s (@benandjerrys) April 26, 2021

Proposition B states:

Shall an ordinance be adopted that would create a criminal offense and a penalty for sitting or lying down on a public sidewalk or sleeping outdoors in and near the downtown area around the University of Texas campus; create a criminal offense and penalty for solicitation, defined as requesting money or another thing of value, at specific hours and locations or for solicitation in a public area that is deemed aggressive in manner; create a criminal offense and penalty for camping in any public area not designated by the Parks and Recreation Department?

Easy to say from the comfort of Vermont.

I live in Austin, and the city has spiraled into a trash pit since #ATXCouncil rescinded the public camping ban. All we want is a return to that status quo – where the public was safer and people in need got better help. https://t.co/c2btWbw5SK

— Dan Isett (@DanIsett) April 27, 2021

In 2019, Austin’s mayor and city council removed laws banned “camping” in parks and on  sidewalks, highways, and trails, thus deregulating “camping” and panhandling. Then-Austin Mayor Greg Casar stated, “I know that changing these ordinances will be unpopular with some people. I’m not trying to downplay the challenges that we’re going to face, but we can take on those challenges in a better way. We can house people. We can serve people. We can address the core issues. We can improve all of our safety, rather than perpetuating instability and insecurity.”

Save Austin Now states on its website, “Every day, Austinites are suffering from the free-for-all associated with the City’s deregulation of all public camping and aggressive panhandling. Crime has skyrocketed 43%. We’re on track for more murders this year than in the last 3 years combined. Lawlessness is not helping the homeless and it’s not helping Austin.”

Matt Mackowiak, one of the co-founders of Save Austin Now, said in January, “The camping ordinance has been a disaster for the city and it’s been bad for the homeless. We just fundamentally reject the idea that camping is good for the homeless. Telling a homeless person you can go live on the side of the highway and fend for yourself and try to survive hour to hour and day to day with no help is not compassionate.”

Current Austin Mayor Steve Adler said the 2019 reversal of the city’s camping ban “is not working. … Going back to where we were we know doesn’t work – and what we’re doing now we also know doesn’t work.”

In mid-April, in the wake of the shooting of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, Ben & Jerry’s tweeted that America’s police system “can’t be reformed” and “must be dismantled.”

Ben & Jerry’s wrote, “The murder of #DaunteWright is rooted in white supremacy and results from the international criminalization of Black and Brown communities. This system can’t be reformed. It must be dismantled and a real system of public safety rebuilt from the ground up. #DefundThePolice.”

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