East Austin Windows Shattered In Possible Anti-Gentrification Cry

EAST AUSTIN, TX — Since March 2017, some residents in East Austin have had their windows shattered by unknown assailants in what could be a misdirected protest against gentrification, according to a report.

Stephanie Stowell told Fox 7 her home has had rocks launched at it for more than a year now, usually in the wee hours of the morning. After months of no incidents, the rock-throwing began again on May 7 at 2:30 a.m.

Because of tempered glass at her family's home, Stowell said the windows have failed to shatter — unlike those of neighbors — but the attacks are nonetheless frightening, she told the news station. “We have two other neighbors on Navasota that are part of the same 12 Waller project of homes that had the exact same incident," she told Fox 7.

Anti-gentrification activists decrying the developer-induced changes overtaking East Austin in recent years often take aggressive tactics in voicing their disapproval at various events or outside businesses perceived to be gentrifiers. In voicing their disapproval of quickly gentrified East Austin in particular, activists often arrive en masse to community meetings organized by developers seeking to assuage concerns, shouting down speakers while hurling insults in disrupting the gatherings.

But Stowell told he news station the ten homes along 12 Waller Street had been vacant since the 1980s before being bought from the city, and nobody was displaced upon their move-in.

Austin police currently are investigating the incidents. Anyone with information about the vandalism is urged to notify local law enforcement officials.

>>> Read the full story at Fox 7

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