City of Austin prepared to staff-up spring festival season
“SXSW – the festival that made Austin famous across the globe – is right around the corner and will again draw thousands to our city from the fields of education, technology, film, television and – of course – music,” Mayor Pro Tem Leslie Pool said.
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- South by Southwest is the reason Edgar Ramirez moved to Austin.
"I mean, SXSW has been such an integral part of Austin as a whole," he said. He visited the city to attend the event about 10 years ago, then decided he wanted to call Austin home.
"I'm pretty stoked for the next month, honestly," he said.
The City wants to make sure people like him feel safe while having the best time possible.
“SXSW – the festival that made Austin famous across the globe – is right around the corner and will again draw thousands to our city from the fields of education, technology, film, television and – of course – music,” Mayor Pro Tem Leslie Pool said.
City staff encourage everyone to walk or use public transportation or ride share apps to get downtown over the course of the next couple of weeks. CapMetro trains and buses will run later to accommodate crowds.
The Austin Police Department (APD) will have additional officers stationed downtown. The department's no-refusal initiative will be in place beginning March 7 to crack down on drunk driving.
City staff want to remind the public about the parking ticket waiver program. If you drive downtown and end up wanting to drink alcohol, you can leave your car overnight and potentially get any parking tickets waived by filling out a form and providing proof of a receipt for a bus ticket or ride share ride.
This year, the highly anticipated eclipse - expected to bring hundreds of thousands into Central Texas - comes right on the heels of SXSW.
"We're planning just as we would for the SXSW event," said Ken Snipes, director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management here in Austin. "The main differences sheer volume of people driving to and thru Austin so we're looking at traffic and general congestion and how that may impact first responders."
During Monday's press conference about spring festival season, both Snipes and APD Asst. Chief Gizette Gaslin said public safety is the number one priority, and all city departments are prepared to staff the upcoming events.