“Suspicious backpack prompts street closures, evacuations”

Some downtown Austin offices were evacuated Tuesday afternoon as police investigated a “suspicious” abandoned backpack, an Austin spokeswoman said.

Colorado Street between 6th and 7th streets and 6th between Congress and Colorado were closed as police checked out the backpack. The backpack was found in an alcove in the 100 black of west 6th. The police received a 911 call about the backpack at 12:15pm. As a precaution, parts of the surrounding building were evacuated, and occupants of other building were asked to move to offices away from where the backpack was found. The street closures were causing traffic tieups at 6th and Congress, one of the busiest intersections in the Central Business District. Also, some city buses were being rerouted.

That is EXACTLY where my office is. Do you think we were evacuated, or asked to move to another building away from the backpack? Oh hell no, we had to sit there and watch the robot sweeper go pick up the “suspicious” package, hoping the building wasn’t about to fall to the ground; and then told to get back to work. At least they have our safety at the forefront of their minds, NOT!