January-February 2002 SLNA Scoop Archive
2/27/02--Update On Oak Wilt Treatment System For SLNA
Hi gang,
Jay Culver, City of Austin Forester and Oak Wilt Specialist, called me
with some great news. He has arranged for Jon Long of Oak Wilt
Specialists of Texas to donate an Alamo injection system to the South
Lamar Neighborhood Association. Check out Jon's web site at
http://www.stopoakwilt.com/. He does both treatment and
trenching. At our last meeting we decided that it was a great idea
for the SLNA to own a system and be able to loan it out to our members,
making the treatment much more affordable. We'll now have one!
Kathryn Stern (416-0954,
stern_kathryn@hotmail.com) on Morgan Lane, right in the center of
the cell, has volunteered to chair our Oak Wilt Task force. We now
need someone who is the path of the Oak Wilt spread, who is ready to
treat their tree(s). Jay has agreed to come do a workshop and
demonstrate how to do our own trees. So let Kathryn know if you are
interested and we'll use your tree for the workshop... and you'll get
the treatment done and supervised by the pro!
As I recall, Jay said the Alamo chemical costs about $3 per diameter
inch... so you do the math.
Contact Kathryn soon and let's get this show on the road.
Thanks,
Bryan
2/18/02--South Austin Campus Advisory Committee Forum
I received this announcement in my inbox today:
On January 2002, the Austin Community
College Board of Trustees appointed a small group of people to serve in
the South Austin Campus Advisory Committee (SACAC). The SACAC was
charged with the responsibility to assist
the administration, faculty, and staff in developing recommendations
regarding courses, programs, activities, site development, and future
resources necessary to make the campus a reality. The SACAC will also
assist in community outreach activities and in promoting awareness of
ACC
as a community resource.
In order to better assess the educational and training needs of the
community, the SACAC has scheduled a community forum for March 6, 2002,
at Crockett High School, from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.
We need your help. The SACAC is asking Austin neighborhood associations
to help make the forum a very successful event by announcing the forum
in their newsletters, and by encouraging their members to participate.
For more information, please call Guadalupe Sosa at 443-7110, or e-mail
gqsosa@cs.com.
For information about SACAC meetings and agendas, please log on to
http://www2.austin.cc.tx.us/sacac/ Thanks!
2/15/02--Update on Ogden Restaurant Supply
Hi gang,
Some good news on Odgen Restaurant Supply / Dump Grounds. I spoke
with Enrico Lopez with Neighborhood Planning code enforcement today. He
told me that this case has now been scheduled of court on March 20th.
(It had been scheduled back in January but the court wound up closed
that day due to a police funeral). This will be the "docket hearing"
where they will make a plea guilty/not guilty. Enrico said that this was
such a no brainer it should go pretty quickly. I will check back with
him after the hearing and see if there was room for any more wiggle.
After there is a court order, he will have to post a bond, and start
paying some kind of daily fine until it is abated.
Basically the city has (finally) determined that he is running a salvage
operation and that use is not permitted in CS zoning, Salvage yards
require LI (light industrial) zoning ...hence a zoning violation (never
mind the health issues!) Reminds me of watching "The Untouchables" and
they get him on tax evasion! Ha!
Later,
BK.
2/4/02--Free VIN Etching
Hey Guys,
APD is doing another VIN etching, Thursday Feb. 7th...FREE!
Putting the VIN numbers etched into your car windows makes it tougher
for a car thief to dispose of your car... it means every window would
need to be replaced!
Some insurance companies give discounts for this also.
I went over last time and did three cars. It was really fast.
Check out the info here.
Bryan
1/27/02--Smoke In the Hole!
Noticed the guys pumping smoke into the ground along Lamar? I did
and went and asked them "waz up". They are looking for places that
rainwater is getting into the sewer system (not the storm drainage). Any
rainwater adds to the volume in the sewer and all of that goes to the
sewer treatment plant. Net result: heavy rains have been causing the
sewage treatment plant to overflow and go places you don't want it
to...like Town Lake.
My sister, over in west Austin, got a flyer on her door announcing the
smoke and sewer survey. I didn't hear of any of these making it
over here. Click
here for a full explanation of the Smoke!
Bryan
1/19/02--Oak Wilt Rampant In Our Hood!
Hi gang,
Bill Stoughton and I went out this afternoon to shoot some video of Oak
Wilt in the SLNA area for the next meeting. It is much worse than I had
thought. We saw yards on Bannister, Morgan, Valleywiew, all over the Oak
Run apartments. We ran out of time and will be going back to check out
more areas.
We even came across one house on Morgan that was in the process of
having a 300 year old Oak cut down, costing the owner almost $1900!
It was about a 40" tree! WE really have a serious problem and we
need to mobilize the neighborhood or there are not going to be any oak
trees left. This stuff spreads pretty fast. There is a treatment
but you have to do it before the tree gets infected.
Please spread the word and let's get the information out and attendance
up at our Feb 21st meeting. We'll be circulating a one sheet
flyer/newsletter in about two weeks. Carol Gibbs has taken charge
of newsletter distribution, and she'll need folks on every block to
distribute a few flyers to neighbors. Please contact her if you will
help with the hand outs. Carol's email is
Carol.Gibbs@unisys.com.
Let's make sure folks get the word!
Thanks,
Bryan
1/10/02--City info & numbers to call
Here is some information regarding some recent questions and
requests:
Q: Who do I call to replace a burned out streetlight?
To report burned out or defective streetlights or Nightwatchman lights,
call the Electric Utility Department at 505-7617. Repairs normally take
three working days; however storm repairs may take a week.
Q: How can I get speed humps on my street?
The City's speed hump program has been suspended and replaced by a pilot
project called the "Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program." The
Department of Public Works and Transportation will be working closely
with pre-selected neighborhoods to determine what the traffic problems
are specifically for that neighborhood and what traffic calming measures
can be used to remedy the problems. The traffic
calming process includes: a comprehensive analysis of the neighborhood;
identification of problems and solutions; presentation of a proposed
traffic calming plan to the community; and a ballot vote of all
residents for approval to proceed with implementation of the plan. For
more information, contact the Department of Public Works and
Transportation at 499-7129.
The exec committee will be meeting in the next few days and will be
working on a sub committee to attack our raceway problems.
Q: Who do I call to report flooding or drainage problems in my
neighborhood?
To report flooding or drainage problems in your neighborhood, contact
the Watershed Protection Department at 499-3366.
...and the last one:
Q: Can I operate a business from my home?
Residents of the City of Austin are permitted to operate a business from
their home as an accessory use. This means that the building's primary
use must be residential. Home occupations are subject to the following
limitations:
1. The home occupation must be conducted entirely within a dwelling unit
that is the true residence of the practitioner(s) or entirely within
only one accessory garage building (not to include a carport).
2. No person other than a family member who resides in the dwelling unit
may participate in the home occupation on the premises, unless the home
occupation is a medical, professional, administrative or business
office. If the home occupation is an office, one non-family member can
participate in the home occupation.
3. The residential character of the lot and dwelling must be maintained.
The interior and the exterior of the dwelling cannot be altered to
accommodate the home occupation unless the alteration is necessary to
comply with the accessibility law. No additional buildings shall be
added on the property to accommodate the home occupation.
4. The home occupation must not generate customer-related vehicular
traffic in excess of three vehicles per 24-hour day in the residential
neighborhood.
5. No direct selling of merchandise on the premises.
6. Equipment or materials associated with the home occupation can not be
displayed or stored where visible from anywhere off the premises.
7. The occupation must not produce external noise, vibration, smoke,
dust, odor, heat, glare, fumes, electrical interference or waste runoff
outside the dwelling unit or on the property surrounding the dwelling
unit.
8. Vehicles used for the home occupation that require a commercial
driver's license to operate can not be parked on the premises or on any
street adjacent to the residentially zoned property.
9. The home occupation can not be advertised by any signs on the
premises. The street address of the home occupation can not be
advertised through signs, billboards, television, radio or
newspapers.
10. A person may not engage in the following businesses as a home
occupation: Animal hospitals; animal breeding; clinics; hospitals;
hospital services; contractors' yards; dancing studios; scrap or salvage
yards; lodging house residential uses; massage parlors; restaurants;
cocktail lounges; rental outlets; equipment sales; adult-oriented
businesses; recycling centers or collection facilities; or vehicle
repair shops.
I'll mention in closing that most of the city's 499-xxxx numbers have
been changed, although the city has not yet updated their web site to
reflect these new numbers... you may get routed to another number, as I
just did when calling about street sweeping of some broken glass on
neighborhood streets. Hope this is helpful to those of you that were
asking and anyone one else interested.
Bryan
1/9/02--Proposal for SLNA Newsletter
Hi gang,
I am doing preliminary fact finding for an SLNA Newsletter. Checking
with Bouldin and SRCC neighborhoods, I find they are doing one every
quarter or every other month... I think Zilker does one every quarter
also. They publish about two weeks before their next meeting. Most do
distribution via volunteer door to door carriers...(postage would be out
of sight and you need a database to do that anyway). The costs are
averaging about $350 per issue for about 2000 copies... (two 11x17's
folded to yield eight pages...approximately).
If there is anyone out there with some newsletter/ layout/ writing
/graphic skills please tell me. I know you might not volunteer
yourself, so tell on your friends that have the skills we need and I'll go brow beat them
into helping out! HA HA. I think if we can get somebody that can put in
a little layout time we can get it going pretty easy. We have plenty of
good and interesting writers here in the hood. I plan on talking with
Office Depot and see if they might do some or part of the printing in
exchange for some advertising space..... maybe?
Let me know what you think and any ideas to further the process. We'll
need a plan and the present it for a vote by the membership. I believe
this will be a great way to expand our membership and dramatically
increase our communications.
Thanks,
BK
1/8/02--2001 SLNA Crime Stats Available
For those that are counting,
the APD crime stats for all of 2001 for the SLNA area are now up on the
city site:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/police/neighbor_crime.htm
Just look by neighborhood associations and select South Lamar to see a
real slice of life! It shows the street, block number, and type of
offense.... some you won't want to believe!
FYI,
Bryan
1/5/02--Get Excited About Traffic Calming
--- In SouthLamarNA@y...,
Darden311@a... wrote:
So, we've had a drunk driver (mid-afternoon) land in our yard several
weeks back and then a friend's car was hit on New Year's eve in
front of the house. There are more kids on bikes on Thornton now
and the traffic is getting heavier and faster.
I know I asked about this before, but lost the info. Who do I call
at the city to ask about speed bumps?
Thanks --
Darden S.
Darden, et al,
I attended the South Central Coalition of NA's meeting this morning and
asked others about the speed bumps. South River City NA just did a
comprehensive study of the entire neighborhood.... big time traffic
measurement...etc. The city allocated them $400K for "traffic
calming"... Now that the budget is in a crunch... they took that money
away! Zilker NA also did a big NA traffic survey. They are in the
process of adding what are now called "speed cushions" in their
neighborhood. You may have noticed the funny orange traffic posts on
Bluebonnet. That is where "traffic islands" will be located at the
entrance to that NA on streets off Lamar...etc. I don't know if that
will get funded to completion either.
I agree that we do have some pretty dangerous spots in the hood and some real nuisance spots also. The Exec committee is going to be meeting in the next week or so and I will put that on the agenda. To cut to the chase, we need a "Traffic Calming Committee" to study, survey, and recommend a plan, and then as a NA, go make a presentation to the city. The squeaky wheel always gets the grease... but we need a plan. I think that we are more likely to get a response from the city if we make a unified approach rather than going back time and again to try to fix things piecemeal.
Who wants to step forward and volunteer and let's get this show on the road? If you are interested in working on, or chairing , this committee, contact me ASAP. We can't keep having this problem in the hood!
I did find out that the contact person at the city is Peter Marsh, FYI. I'll try to call him on Monday and get some more specifics on what our committee might need to do.
Thanks,
Bryan