"Austin City Council Officially Calls For Blowing Up Police Station As Symbol Of Ending Police Hate"

A radical new budget proposal by the Austin, Texas, City Council calls for a controlled demolition of the police department’s current headquarters in a symbolic gesture towards Black Lives Matter and defund police protesters. “We should expedite the demolition of the APD Headquarters by directing the City Manager to move all remaining APD staff out of the existing headquarters building and into other underutilized city facilities,” reads the proposal submitted Monday by Council Member Jimmy Flannigan. The existing APD property, prime real estate situated in the heart of Austin, would then be used to highlight black inequity and support the black community, the proposal states. “That property… should be dedicated to addressing historic economic inequities in the black community and supporting future black community economic success,” states Flannigan’s proposal. “A community-led effort should be initiated to determine the specifics on how such a valuable property could be leveraged, and possibly serve as a gateway to East Austin.” According to the proposal, the demolition would be accompanied by a restructuring which would turn over control of patrol and all other divisions to civilians chosen by the mayor and city council.