City Council approves additional cameras, park rangers in Rainey Street district

The city will direct more public safety resources toward the Rainey Street neighborhood to prevent additional drowning deaths suffered by patrons of the bars and restaurants frequenting the popular nightlife district.

City Council unanimously passed a resolution Thursday that directs city staff to create an interim pedestrian safety plan for the district, which should include having park rangers on patrol in the area with emergency medical services staff stationed at the Rainey Street trailhead. The resolution also calls for exploring how to install more high activity location observation (HALO) cameras, as well as stepping up safety planning for bars operating on Rainey Street.

Interim City Manager Jesús Garza is expected to give an update on the plan next week, with an additional report on costs and possible funding sources due June 13.

The work to improve safety along Rainey Street comes in the wake of a pair of recent late-night drownings, which has caused rampant speculation online that there is foul play afoot in the area.

Two drownings since February have been ruled accidental with no indications of foul play, according to autopsies conducted on the bodies of Jason John, 30, and Jonathan Honey, 33. John and Honey are part of a cluster of drowning deaths in the area, with five total since 2018.

The public comment portion of Thursday’s meeting featured testimony from family members of the drowning victims, urging the city to take action to prevent any more deaths in the district and asking for cameras that could have provided more information about their loved ones’ deaths.

In addition to extra public safety personnel on hand beginning last weekend, the city has installed fencing between the trail and the shoreline of Lady Bird Lake. It has also installed solar lighting in four areas to make the contours of the trail and waterway area more visible to visitors.

Council Member Zo Qadri, whose district includes the Rainey neighborhood, said the steps prescribed in the resolution are overdue.

“I can’t imagine what so many families in the city go through and have been going through that we have heard from … who lost loved ones. All they’re looking for is answers and clarity and closure,” he said. “In my first month or so we had to deal with Jason John’s disappearance and tragic death, and hearing more stories of folks who have passed away since Jason, I want to clarify that there is no reason to believe there is any foul play going on. But there is something going on.”

Prior to passage, Council Member Mackenzie Kelly made a motion to amend the resolution to include wording directing Garza to launch a public awareness campaign to encourage residents and visitors to be more “vigilant and aware of their surroundings when visiting Rainey Street.”

Kelly’s amendment failed to receive a second, and afterward she released the following statement: “As a lifetime public safety advocate, I’m always looking for ways to keep our community safe. The objective of my amendment was to inform the target audience through a public awareness campaign to prevent future tragedies from happening.”

Also on Thursday, Council passed a resolution sponsored by Kelly to prioritize funding and providing for naloxone (also known as Narcan) kits to be used in emergency situations to combat the effects of opioid-related drug overdoses. That resolution calls for the city to provide EMS and other relevant departments with the kits and associated protective equipment, as well as training on how to administer the medication to those experiencing an overdose. A progress report on the effort is due no later than July 28.

Photo by Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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Posted In: Public Safety, District 9