A resolution sponsored by Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole and co-sponsored by Council Members Laura Morrison and Bill Spelman seeks to explore the feasibility of a municipally issued identification card for Austin. Council will consider initiating a stakeholder process at today’s Council meeting. Cole said there are critical barriers to housing, banking and other basic services that can be addressed with proper access to identification. “We believe that a program like this would also help address the under-reporting of crimes of public safety and personal injury, such as domestic violence, by those without state-issued documentation,” she said. Austin would join cities like New Haven, Connecticut, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and New York that are exploring or have implemented a Municipal ID program. Cards in other cities have also consolidated additional services such as library cards, bus passes or pre-paid debit cards. The sponsors, along with community supporters of the plan, will outline the program in a news conference at 9 a.m. at the County Commissioners chambers.
Mike Kanin is the Publisher of the Austin Monitor. As such, he doesn't report on much--aside from the workings of the Monitor--any more. In his previous life as a freelance journalist, Kanin has written... More by Michael Kanin