AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Just days ahead of the start of the annual South by Southwest conference and festival, city and county leaders say they city is prepared for the festival's in-person return after a two-year hiatus.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler, Travis County Judge Andy Brown, and other leaders from across local entities spoke Monday morning at Austin City Hall to address the preparations for the spring festival season, which gets underway this week.
"It was heartbreaking and perhaps the most difficult decision that I had as mayor, two years agao, to cancel SXSW," said Adler. "That prospect was unforeseen and unimaginable at the time. The impact on our community, on our small businesses, on our restaurants, on our hospitality industry, the impact we knew cancelling this event would have would be far reaching, and little did we know the full extent of the impact of this virus."
"It is only fitting that we really open back up this city in a grand way with SXSW," said Adler.
An increased law enforcement presence will be in the downtown area throughout SXSW, police chief Joseph Chacon said, with special focus on traffic enforcement along with human trafficking and gun violence prevention efforts. In addition to the Austin Police Department, the Travis County Sheriff's Office and the Texas Department of Public Safety will provide additional resources.
Chacon also said that every officer in the department is now carrying Narcan, which is a drug that can help reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. The news comes as first responders dealt with a series of overdoses last week, which sent several people to the hospital and killed at least two. Officials at first thought fentanyl might be involved, but Austin-Travis County's Chief Medical Officer now believes the veterinary drug xylazine is at least partially responsible for the overdoses.
“What we’re hopeful of is that we can get to, if we’re having a person experiencing a drug overdose, get to them quickly,” said Chacon.
A no-refusal initiative will also be in place from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily from March 11-20.
More details on the city's preparations are available on the City's website.