City in spat with group over petitions

IndyAustin, the specific purpose political action committee led by Linda Curtis that is gathering petitions to force a public vote on CodeNEXT, has a complaint about its treatment at city libraries. It seems the library’s managers believe that petitioners like Bill Bunch, Jeff Jack, Debbie Russell and other, lesser-known Austinites are violating a previously unknown city policy that prevents petitioning on library property. In one instance “a petitioner was threatened with criminal trespass and issued a warning notice by police,” according to attorney Bill Aleshire’s letter to Mayor Steve Adler and City Council. Aleshire and his client contend that the threats and the warning citation are a violation of the city charter. Aleshire said Tuesday night that he had not heard anything back from the city about his cease-and-desist letter. Tuesday was a rainy day and it’s likely that not a lot of petitioners were standing in the rain outside libraries. Rain is also forecast for today and tomorrow, so there may not be a test of the city’s resolve on this issue until the rain stops.