Save Austin Now

AUSTIN EXTERNAL AUDIT PETITON MEET UPS TODAY:

WEST AUSTIN: Barton Creek Farmers Market (Barton Creek Mall, 2901 S. Capital of Texas Hwy.) 9am-1pm

DOWNTOWN AUSTIN: SFC Farmers Market (Republic Square, 422 Guadalupe) 9am-1pm

NORTH AUSTIN: Domain Farmers Market (Domain, 3220 Amy Donovan Plaza) 9am-1pm

Come sign the petition in person or drop off signed petitions!

More info: SaveAustinNow.com

Our latest update on the Save Austin Now petition effort to place a charter amendment requiring REGULAR, EXTERNAL, PERFORMANCE audits of the ENTIRE City of Austin budget is here -- https://saveaustinnow.substack.com/p/save-austin-now-900-more-signed-petitions.

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SAVE AUSTIN NOW: 900 More Signed Petitions Needed // Five Meet Ups Across Town Tonight, Sat & Sun // Ways to Drop Off Before We End Collection Sunday Night We must submit 20,000 Valid, Signed Petitions (plus a buffer of about 1,000) to Make the November 2026 Ballot.

AUDIT THE AUSTIN BUDGET PETITION UPDATE

We need ~1,200 more valid, signed petitions to be able to submit them to the City of Austin. We are so close to being done.

We have FOUR meet up events today where you can drop off signed petitions or sign in person:

1. NORTH AUSTIN: Starbucks (9617 Anderson Mill Blvd.) 8-10am
2. SOUTH AUSTIN: Starbucks (1509 S. Lamar Blvd.) 8-10am
3. DOWNTOWN AUSTIN: Aussie’s (306 Barton Springs Rd.) 4-6pm
4. NORTH AUSTIN: Reale’s (13405 Research Blvd) with Mackenzie Kelly 4-6pm

ADDITIONAL WAYS TO DROP OFF SIGNED PETITIONS

1. All Planet K locations are accepting drop offs (open 10am-12am).

-----> NORTH AUSTIN: 10938 Research Blvd (183 just West of MoPac) Directions
-----> NORTH AUSTIN: 9407 N. IH 35 (I-35 just north of 183) Directions
-----> SOUTH AUSTIN: 1516 S. Lamar Blvd (S. Lamar just south of the river)
-----> EAST AUSTIN: 3111 E. Cesar Chavez (E. 1st about a half mile east of I-35)
-----> SOUTH AUSTIN: 727 W. Stassney Ln (I-35/Stassney just south of 290)

2. You can drop off at Save Austin Now office any time (807 Brazos St., Ste. 306). YOU MUST GAIN ACCESS TO THE BUILDING BY CALLING LELAND (812-343-2981). If no one is in our office (Suite 306), place in mail slot on our door.

3. CENTRAL/WEST AUSTIN: I live in Northwest Hills and you can leave in my mailbox (on the street). Email [email protected] or text me 512-423-6116 for my address.

Let's finish strong!

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AN UPDATE ON OUR OUTSIDE AUDIT PETITION EFFORT FOR AUSTIN

For 82 consecutive days, including weekends and holidays, we have urgently worked to collect petitions for a charter amendment to require REGULAR, EXTERNAL, PERFORMANCE audits of the entire City of Austin budget.

And the job is nearly done.

But not yet.

The City of Austin requires 20,000 signed petitions from City of Austin residents for certification of a petition.

The process they use is to engage a statistics professor from UT-Austin, who creates a random sample, validates that sample, then issues a report to the City Clerk on their level of confidence that there are 20,000 valid signed petitions.

This process can sometimes lead to a petition effort being denied. It happened recently on the effort to halt the Convention Center expansion. We also fell victim to it in 2020.

After we experienced that setback, we committed to self validate every single petition we collect BEFORE we turn them in. After we first did that in 2021, the City said we had 96% validity.

So in addition to the immense effort to develop the charter amendment petition, to physically produce them, to disseminate them, and to collect them, we also undertake an incredibly time consuming internal validation effort.

Internal validation requires a volunteer to individually review each signed petition, ensure it is completely filled out, compare the information to the voter database, ensure they are a registered voter in the City of Austin, and if not, scratch them out.

On top of that, we have now individually numbered each petition page to help the City expeditiously conduct their validation effort once we turn in.

We completed our initial validation and page numbering effort last night after working all weekend.

Here’s what we have:

> Total Number of Pages: 8,339
> Total Number of Valid Signatures: 19,617

So, the good news is we are VERY CLOSE to being done.

But we are not done.

Once you turn in, you cannot supplement. You must be CERTAIN you are going to be certified, or you risk losing all the work you have done.

The City’s deadline for the May 2026 election is THIS FRIDAY, FEB. 13. We will do everything we can to turn in that day.

So that requires three more intense days of petition collection.

We cannot just turn in 20,000 signatures. We need to have a buffer of at least 5% and ideally 10% if we can.

So we must keep going.

AUDIT PETITION MEET UPs: Four Opportunities Today, Four More Tomorrow Where Austin Residents Can Sign the Audit Petition On Site or Drop off Signed Petitions

Come meet us today:
> 8-10am CENTRAL AUSTIN: Epoch Coffee (3900 Far West Blvd.)
> 8-10am WEST AUSTIN: Starbucks (2727 Exposition Blvd.)
> 4-6pm SOUTH AUSTIN: Bouldin Acres (2027 S. Lamar Blvd.)
> 4-6pm NORTH AUSTIN: Bouldin Acres (1806 W. Braker Ln.)

WAYS TO DROP OFF SIGNED PETITIONS

1. All Planet K locations are accepting drop offs (open 10am-12am).

> NORTH AUSTIN: 10938 Research Blvd (183 just West of MoPac)
> NORTH AUSTIN: 9407 N. IH 35 (I-35 just north of 183)
> SOUTH AUSTIN: 1516 S. Lamar Blvd (S. Lamar just south of the river)
> EAST AUSTIN: 3111 E. Cesar Chavez (E. 1st about a half mile east of I-35)
> SOUTH AUSTIN: 727 W. Stassney Ln (I-35/Stassney just south of 290)

2. You can drop off at Save Austin Now office any time (807 Brazos St., Ste. 306)

YOU MUST GAIN ACCESS TO THE BUILDING BY CALLING LELAND (812-343-2981). If no one is in our office (Suite 306), place in mail slot on our door.

3. CENTRAL/WEST AUSTIN: I live in Northwest Hills and you can leave in my mailbox (on the street). Email [email protected] or text me 512-423-6116 for my address.

OTHER WAYS TO HELP:

1. DOWNLOAD THE PETITION: We now have an EASY download link which downloads the petition into an 8.5x11 format for easy printing at home or work.

» Download link here (https://www.saveaustinnow.com/s/PETITION-112125-Independent-Affordability-and-Efficiency-Audit-w5kg.pdf).

Important: How to Print the Petition Correctly:
• In your printer settings, select “Actual Size” or “100% scale”.
• Do NOT choose “Fit to Page,” “Shrink,” etc.
• Print single-sided, black & white is fine.

If you haven’t signed yet, please download, fill out, sign, and drop off per above. There is space for five Austinites to sign.

If you have signed, can you please collect more signatures from family, friends, colleagues and neighbors THIS WEEK?

2. DONATE TO OUR EFFORT

We absolutely need your financial support.

We have ongoing costs associated with mailing 145,000 petitions to Austin households, texting about meet ups, paid canvassers and validation.

1. You can securely contribute online here (https://secure.anedot.com/save-austin-now-pac/externalauditnow?exitIntent=true).

2. You can make a check to “Save Austin Now PAC” and mail it to:

Save Austin Now
807 Brazos Street
Suite 306
Austin, TX 78701

3. You can give on Venmo:

As we have said before, WE HAVE ONLY BEGUN TO FIGHT!

THANK YOU.

-Matt & Steven

SIX AUSTIN EXTERNAL AUDIT MEETUPs TODAY:

8-10am CENTRAL AUSTIN: Epoch Coffee (3900 Far West Blvd)
8-10am TARRYTOWN: Starbucks (2727 Exposition Blvd)
4-6pm DOWNTOWN / S. AUSTIN: Aussie's (306 Barton Springs Rd)
4-6pm WEST AUSTIN: Jack Allen Kitchen (3600 N. Capital of Tx Hwy)
4-6pm SOUTHWEST AUSTIN: Jack Allen Kitchen (7720 Hwy 71 W)
4-6pm CENTRAL AUSTIN: Jack Allen Kitchen (3010 W. Anderson Ln)

We will have petitions to sign ON SITE. You can also turn in signed petitions.

We are collecting THROUGH THIS SUNDAY.

More info here: SaveAustinNow.com

You can support our efforts financially here: https://secure.anedot.com/save-austin-now-pac/audit-petition.

WAYS TO DROP OFF SIGNED PETITIONS TODAY:

> Matt will be at The Tavern (922 W. 12th St) at 12th and Lamar watching the UT-OU men’s basketball game in the bar from 1-3pm. You can meet my wife Amy and our precious 2 month old son Jack too!

> All Planet K locations are accepting drop offs (open 10am-12am).
-- NORTH AUSTIN: 10938 Research Blvd (183 just West of MoPac) Directions
-- NORTH AUSTIN: 9407 N. IH 35 (I-35 just north of 183) Directions
-- SOUTH AUSTIN: 1516 S. Lamar Blvd (S. Lamar just south of the river) Directions
-- EAST AUSTIN: 3111 E. Cesar Chavez (E. 1st about a half mile east of I-35) Directions
-- SOUTH AUSTIN: 727 W. Stassney Ln (I-35/Stassney just south of 290) Directions

> You can drop off at Save Austin Now office any time (807 Brazos St., Ste. 306) -- YOU MUST GAIN ACCESS TO THE BUILDING BY CALLING LELAND (812-343-2981). If no one is in our office (Suite 306), place in mail slot on our door.

> WEST AUSTIN: I live in Northwest Hills and you can leave in my mailbox (on the street). Email [email protected] or text me 512-423-6116 for my address.