Lake Travis Neighborhoods Awash In Political Tension

AUSTIN, TX — Carl Jones has seen heated political contests in the Lone Star State firsthand as a state field coordinator for the Texas Democratic Party rural caucus. But he said he's never seen anything quite as bad as what's been happening in the Lake Travis neighborhoods — an uptick in stolen political signs, property vandalism, road rage and cryptic threats.

"I've seen a lot of battle zones and casualties," he told Patch of his four-year stint in local Democratic politics. "I've worked four elections, and by far it's the worst I've ever seen. It's gargantuan."

Democratic-leaning community members have complained of having multiple yard signs supporting the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket stolen from their property. More often than not, Jones added, especially emboldened supporters replace the Biden-Harris signs with Donald Trump-Mike Pence placards — and use the posts that had held Democratic signs, Jones said.

Members of a private Facebook page called Lake Travis Patriots celebrated the tactic last month, when several Biden-Harris signs were replaced with Trump-Pence placards. "The corner of Bee Cave Pkwy and 620 was made right!" a Lake Travis Patriots supporter wrote in a screenshot provided to Patch by a Lake Travis Progressives member. "Using the same t-posts that supported the Biden sign that was removed is a classic!"

"It's ugly," Jones said. "It's very prevalent; by far the worst we've ever seen from the standpoint of Democratic signs being stolen and property being vandalized."

Jones, 67, also told Patch that other drivers have tried to run him off the road or flip a middle finger at him on their way to cut him off — actions Jones believes are triggered by the Biden stickers on his vehicle bumper.

Six-year Lake Travis resident Jane McFarland also has had to replace stolen signs, she told Patch by telephone Tuesday. "It's definitely been on the rise this cycle," she said. "Last night it happened again. Every time they steal them from me, I replace it with two."

Despite the thefts, she said she considers herself lucky — viewing the continual threat of her signs as mere "annoyance" compared to what others have endured. A house at the entrance of the community was vandalized with graffiti along with a car — the former with "Trump 2020" and the latter with a pejorative play on words for liberal. "What happened to those neighbors whose car and garage were damaged is in a different category," she said. "That kind of vandalism is something not something I've every seen. Right at the entrance of our neighborhood."

McFarland snapped a photo of her neighbors' vandalized garage as evidence (see top photo), sharing the image with Patch. A photo of the vandalized car has been widely shared on social media, but Patch was unable to locate the person who took it in attempts to secure permission to publish it.

A member of Lake Travis Progressives — a group of liberal-leaning residents with some 1,150 members representing some 2,500 voters — also noted the level of tension in the days leading to the general election. Three signs on his street have been damaged nine times in recent days, the person said. On Friday, Biden-Harris signs along RM 620 next to the Grove restaurant were removed three times, the Lake Travis Progressives member added.

A parent to young children, the member requested anonymity for fear of reprisal or intimidation. Patch honored the request.

All told, the Lake Travis Progressives member said group members have had between 35 and 40 political signs stolen in the past three to four weeks alone. Thefts are most common along RM 620 — the enclave's main artery acting as both thoroughfare and commuter highway, and in many cases the sole access to subdivisions, the source said. The road stretch is reserved for the biggest political placards (4 feet by 6 feet, Jones estimates) that are increasingly hard to place there.

Invariably, the Lake Travis Progressives member said, Trump supporters replace the signs with theirs across various neighborhoods just as they do along RM 620 and well into the road stretch where it turns into RM 630. And inevitably, they don't bother bringing stakes, the source added, preferring to use the readily available ones that had served as makeshift scaffolding for Biden-Harris messaging before their removal.

Changing demographics seen as motive

Lake Travis neighborhoods — encompassing the communities of Lakeway, Bee Cave, Spicewood, Briarcliff and extraterritorial Austin jurisdiction — are among the region's most coveted, with their proximity to the community's namesake lake amid an area bordering the Colorado River. Views of the Texas Hill Country and unspoiled, natural landscape are a big draw.

Homes in Lake Travis range in value between $350,000 to $650,000, save for what McFarland calls "millionaire's row" — her nickname for the corridor of luxurious mansions on the lake's shorelines largely assessed in the nine-figure range. Housing ranges from such luxury estates to master-planned communities to small neighborhoods bordering the namesake reservoir as it flows from Spicewood to some 20 miles of downtown Austin.

"It used to be quite conservative, but the demographics are changing," the Lake Travis Progressives member said. "It's purplish now — Lakeway is red turning purple — and because the demographics are changing, it's engineered a reaction among some Republicans."

Jones agreed, saying he's noticed similar tension at other rural areas where he helps promote the Democratic Party as population grow more nuanced. In his role as state field coordinator for the Texas Democratic Party rural caucus, he travels far and wide across the Lone Star State advocating for the rural electorate to bring out the Democratic vote.

"We work with rural counties, helping with fundraising, getting out the vote, digital projects, recruiting members and party chairs," Jones said. He added that he is a member of nine or 10 Democratic clubs and is especially active in the western portion of Travis County where he lives.

He also attributed the rise in vandalism and other acts of rage to a response to bolstered Democratic ranks in parts of Texas that have historically been Republican strongholds amid an influx of new residents moving from elsewhere.

Aside from population shifts, Jones said he also believes Trump has given supporters tacit endorsement of such behavior, emboldening them to act accordingly. Around midway through his interview with Patch, Jones pivots from the tactics of diplomacy: "Let's be very candid about this," Jones said. "These people doing the destruction and vandalism are Trump supporters. They're very vicious and vindictive and uncaring. They are basically taking the characteristics that we've seen in the president himself in his own vindictiveness and promotion of violence. I'm not trying to be preachy, but this is what we've seen. This kind of behavior wouldn't be as widespread if it hadn't been for the wink and the nod of the president himself. It's that type of behavior and mindset that gets a lot of these Trump supporters all riled up. It's a dog whistle, and they're not bashful."

Intimidation extends into virtual world too

As if having to deal with the anxiety of stolen signs, road rage and vandalism weren't enough, some members of the private Facebook page Lake Travis Patriots — with a decidely different political ideology than members of the Lake Travis Progressives — have taken to posting increasingly menacing memes in the runup to the election.

"The day is coming when good people will be forced to do bad things to bad people," reads one cryptically, a screenshot of which was shared by a resident. Another recent meme blasts the civil rights group Black Lives Matter whose members seek police reform and accountability, telling its members: "The entire country is sick of your s**t. Sick of the lawlessness, sick of the riots, sick of the threats and demands. The only thing you've managed to accomplish in all of this is to live up to the ghetto stereotypes."

There are other, profane words included in the meme along with representations of the middle finger at its edges. The person who posted it prefaced with a personal message: "I never would have imagined that I would post something like this but they push and keep on pushing until I can't take it anymore."

Travis County GOP responds

Patch reached out to Brian Ruddle, the executive director of the Travis County GOP, for a response. He condemned vandalism and sign theft, but noted his party members endure similar attacks from the other side of the political spectrum.

"Political vandalism of any kind is unacceptable," he said in a telephone interview. "We call on both Republicans and Democrats to cease efforts whereby they destroy others people's signs, and any vandalism conducted. We hope voters across the community can express their passions but do so in a respectful manner, and not silence anybody with vandalism or any inappropriate action."

But in the next breath, he noted theft and destruction of pro-Trump signs also are prevalent across the region. Ruddle said he had posted signs at the allowable distance from polling places as allowed by law on Friday, only to see them immediately removed in the process.

"I put up Trump signs at polling locations and, literally, as I was putting them up people would take them down and throw them in the road — in a 30-second time span. The people who do it are detestable on both sides, absolutely. I fault those people individually, but far more damage is done to Republican signs than Democratic signs by an incredible magnitude. Not to justify damage to Democratic signs, because that's reprehensible, but if you think Democratic signs are being damaged at the same rate as Republican signs, that is a laughable concept."

To a person, Democratic-leaning Lake Travis constituents acknowledged sporadic reports of removal or damage to Republican signs as well. But such incidents are rare, they claimed, and not indicative of an organized effort as the type targeting them. The Lake Travis Progressives member interviewed theorized school kids might be at the source of the occasional damage or removal of Trump signs.

Patrolling the neighborhood proves challenging

Resident Jo Ann Richmond thought she saw the apex of divisiveness during the 2018 U.S. Senate election pitting Ted Cruz against Beto O'Rourke. Tensions rose then as the race heated up in a political contest Cruz won by a margin of 50.9 percent t0 48.3 percent — the closest U.S. Senate race in Texas since 1978.

"We had that heated Senate race with Beto against Ted, but not to this degree," she said. "I've never seen such vile anger. It's just awful. It's beyond ugly."

But safeguarding the community is challenging. At one point, the community had the Briarcliff Police Department before the departure of its chief, Lou DeLira. Despite the wealthy homeowners across the Lake Travis neighborhoods, Richmond said the community had long enjoyed a vibe akin to that in Mayberry — the fictional town that served as setting for the classic sitcom "The Andy Griffith Show."

So palpable was that Mayberry vibe that residents felt comfortable showing up unannounced to DeLira's home at all hours to air complaints. Richmond suspects such overly familiar tactics among some residents may have contributed to DeLira's retirement and pursuit of the senior deputy constable role in the county's Precinct 2 he now holds.

Today, residents count on a pair of part-time constables patrolling the area for about 20 hours a week, along with a full-time officer. Because the roads are privately owned by the homeowners association, police and sheriff's office deputies tended not to patrol the neighborhoods, Richmond said. They are private roads, after all, she reasoned in explaining the dearth of police save for the hired constable force tasked with patrolling the arteries.

Yet even if law enforcement were prevalent, to catch a thief or vandal in the act would require an intimate familiarity of the landscape in negotiating a labrynthine network of streets. "The roads all wind and twist," Richmond said of roads' serpentine nature. "None of the streets are perpendicular or run parallel to one another."

Increasingly, the road less taken in Lake Travis neighborhoods is one leading to tolerance and collegiality among neighbors amid an especially heated and divisive election cycle. To be sure, the path leading up to the Nov. 3 election in this otherwise bucolic part of the region is likely to be bumpy.