January-April 2004 SLNA Scoop Archive

 

04/30--Get Out and Vote!
It's that time again. Early voting is now through May 11. Election day is May 15. Some of these questions may seem obscure, but important nonetheless. Unfortunately turnout will likely be very low. Polling places (including mobile ones) at http://www.co.travis.tx.us/ . HEB on S. Congress at Oltorf is one.

Here are some resources:

The League of Women Voters publishes a non-partisan voter guide with coverage of all ballot questions from various perspectives. You can get it online at http://www.leaguewv.austin.tx.us/ , go by 1011 W. 31st Street, Austin TX 78705 or call  (512) 451-6710.

Austin Chronicle endorsements http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-04-30/pols_feature7.html

On hospital district issue, pro position at http://www.healthytraviscounty.com or 473-8926.

Con position at http://www.saveourtaxpayers.com or 512-250-0856.

There are also elections for AISD Board of Trustees, Austin Community College board.

On question of collective bargaining process for Austin firefighters, here's the Austin Association of Professional Firefighters site

http://www.aapff.org/collective_bargaining_links_page.htm They're pro (surprise). Don't know of a con site.

Please do remind others about this forlorn election.

Cheers,
Kevin
 

04/05--SLNA Cleanup Continues on 4/8!
A GIGANTIC THANKS to the dozen or so SLNA'ers who picked up 29 bagfuls of litter and all kinds of other junk along Del Curto on Saturday -- including a HUGE jug of used motor oil!!

And to Bryan King for mowing along both sides of "Dead Man's Curve" so pedestrians now have half a chance of survival, and much of our "wanna-be park" at Cinnamon Path & Del Curto!

Chad Hymel (Kinney Ave.) & I cut down most of the ivy growing up the trees today.

Chad and Jeff Steinberg (Kinney Oaks Ct) and I will be out there again THIS THURSDAY evening to make that sidewalk actually WALKABLE, and to collect the brush we've piled up there.

EVERYONE is invited to join us. We will begin by 6pm Thursday April 8th and go till it's done or dark, whichever comes first.

WEAR:

Work Gloves
Long Pants
& Long Sleeves (poison ivy may still still lurking)

BRING:
Yard Trimming Bags if you have a few (those huge brown paper sacks)
FLAT-head Shovels for clearing the grunge off the sidewalk
GAS-powered edger or weed eater
Trash Bags (litter is already showing up again!!)

Hope to see you Thursday! I will have some of the Poison Ivy repellant for anyone who needs some.

Carol Gibbs
SLNA Vice Pres.
442-8060
 

3/29/03--Del Curto Cleanup Saturday 4/3
Come Talk Trash With Your Neighbors... while picking up some, too!

8:00 to 11:00 am Saturday, April 3rd

Sign in at the parking lot of Unity Church (2806 Del Curto) and then get after the litter. (parking provided by Unity Church)

Two main areas to be picked up:
1. from the "dip" on Lightsey Rd. just east of Clawson, up around the bend where it becomes Del Curto, down to Unity Church's Youth Annex (3000 Del Curto).

2. from Unity Church's main parking lots, across the creek, and down Cinnamon Path (the overgrown vacant lot and sidewalk).
APD Officer Dawn Leonard and one of her Sergeants will control traffic from Cinnamon Path to Lightsey @ Clawson.

BRING WORK GLOVES & WEAR LONG PANTS -- there is poison ivy in some places!  Keep Austin Beautiful  will provide Poison Ivy Repellant and other necessary supplies.

This project is for LITTER ONLY. Brush & bulky items will not be collected by the City at this time.

This is part of Keep Austin Beautiful's Clean Sweep Across Austin 2004, so there's a PARTY afterwards at Fiesta Gardens. Details available at Sign-In and at http://www.keepaustinbeautiful.org .

For more information, call Rona at 326-3338.

See you Saturday!!!
 

2/23/03--News 8 Austin story on Taco Xpress
As you may know, today, Monday, News 8 Austin is airing, once an hour, a story about the Walgreens/Taco Xpress plan. There's a comment from me in there. Interestingly, the main focus of the story is Taco Xpress, not Walgreens. Guess Walgreens is not a very charismatic protagonist. -Kevin

You can read, or if you have a high-speed connection, view, the story at http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=98812

www.news8austin.com

Beloved taqueria's struggle to remain open
Updated: 2/23/2004 5:00:00 AM
By: Doug Shupe
A popular South Austin restaurant is fighting to stay in the South Lamar neighborhood.

But they aren't fighting alone. A developer for a large corporation proposes working with the small business owner to serve up a future together.

And there is a third party involved -- a neighborhood with its own vision for the future.

South Austin's taco queen is trying to save her palace.

"This is the way I pay my bills, this is the way I live, this is my business," Taco XPress owner Maria Corbalan said.

She worries the end of her lease will mean the end of Taco Xpress. The site is valuable and the owner wants to sell.

"I've been very insecure. I don't know what's going to happen," Corbalan said.

Now she has an opportunity to stay in South Austin for good. A San Antonio developer wants to build a Walgreens where Taco Xpress sits near South Lamar Boulevard and Bluebonnet Lane.

To get neighborhood and city council support, the developer proposes building a new Taco Xpress right next to the existing one and selling the new building to Corbalan.

"It can be a really unique opportunity to fit new development, but yet preserve what we believe is important to so many people in Austin," Walgreens developer David Darr said.

Corbalan's new Taco Xpress would be bigger, but the flavor won't change.

“It has my personality in it, everybody is used to it," Corbalan said.

This isn't the developer’s first attempt to build a Walgreens in the area. Last summer, the South Lamar Neighborhood Association voiced complaints about plans for the drugstore nearby.

The city council did not approve the developer's plans, and so they were changed to move the store further from the neighborhood.

Some homeowners still worry.

"There remain some concerns about aspects of the new plan, including access to a small residential street as well as impervious cover as well as the fact that it’s a single use building and doesn't provide additional amenities or housing stock to replace some of the housing stock that's being taken away," Kevin Lewis, with the North Lamar Neighborhood Association, said.

Loyal Taco Xpress customers say growth in their part of South Austin is inevitable. Corbalan just wants to stay in South Austin making tacos, serving new customers and keeping the many friends she's come to know.

"Whichever way this goes I hope that as neighborhood we can all adapt to changes, be happy and keep on being a happy family," Corbalan said.

The neighborhood association is expected to vote on whether to support the plan. The Austin City Council will make the final decision.

 

2/18/03--Clarifications on Walgreens flyer and SLNA
At this Thursday's meeting we'll hear a presentation from the Walgreens developers about their plans for Lamar and Bluebonnet. Folks in the neighborhood have in emails already brought up some good questions and points, both pro and con, on the new plans. I believe the discussion will be very enlightening and I look forward to it.

As a preface to the discussion Thursday, I did want to address the flyer that people from Taco Xpress have handed out in the neighborhood. The flyer has some mistaken statements regarding the SLNA that I would like to clarify. I met and discussed it with Maria Corbalan, the owner of Taco Xpress. Maria assured me that the confusing statements on the flyer arose from a misunderstanding of SLNA rules and positions, and that she did not intend to misrepresent the SLNA. She appreciates the support and advice the SLNA has shared with Taco Xpress. The SLNA has been a big friend and supporter of Taco Xpress, and Maria has been a kind host to SLNAers. We consider it a local treasure, one of only two (I think) locally owned restaurants in our boundaries. I hope everyone understands how valuable such local businesses are, to both the economy and the culture of our neighborhood. Sadly they are an endangered species, and deserve whatever support we can reasonably give them. Even if we eventually disagree on a particular question, we owe it to our neighbors to be friendly, thoughtful and sincere in our approach.

To the clarifications:
The SLNA has not yet taken a position on the new Walgreens plans. Some members of SLNA may have formed opinions, but as with everything we do, the wish of the majority of the members prevails. Those volunteers who are most active in SLNA do influence our direction--showing up tends to make one's voice easier to hear. But the flyer gives the impression that we may have tried to limit input or to emphasize the opinions of an exclusive few. As should be clear from the requests (ad nauseum, I worry) for residents to attend our meetings, email thoughts, speak at official city board and Council meetings, write newsletter articles and generally give their opinions, we actually do our level best to encourage *more* participation from everyone. Many volunteers generously give an hour or three putting newsletters on doors. Our webmaster donates endless hours to maintaining our excellent site, so that folks with computer access can read up at any time. Pretty dumb moves if one is seeking to limit input.

We do ask for $10 dues, but there is a waiver option that we routinely grant. I repeat, you do NOT have to pay to join the SLNA. We require application at least ten days before a vote so we can verify residency, as developers have on occasion "stacked" meetings with non-resident persons to support their projects. (I'm not saying Walgreens folks have, or would do any such thing.) All of these rules were voted in by residents and are subject to revision. At the meeting Thursday we'll consider a revision that would make it easier for current members to renew.

The last page of the flyer is a "vote by proxy." SLNA has no provision for a membership vote by proxy, or absentee vote. There are several reasons for that, including wanting to encourage healthy, face-to-face discussion. Also, we want to make clear what we're voting on, and a motion is only defined as it is made during the meeting. Maria said her intent was not to have those "proxy" votes count toward SLNA's decision, but simply to gather opinions for later use. Anyone can of course gather signatures at any time, no problem. For SLNA, votes happen in meetings.

One final point: In my opinion the Walgreens plan is not about Taco Xpress. Taco Xpress was not affected by the first design. They chose to support the new deal because it would be good for their business, an opportunity they might not have had if not for SLNA's opposition to the first plan. While their support for the new plan is understandable, if the new plan is rejected they would maintain their current operation, with an intact business and the same opportunities as they originally had for the future.

Here's hoping that that future is bright for all of us.

Kevin
 

02/10/04-FREE Peoples Law School - Feb 28 2004
Neighbors, I received this too late to get it into our February newsletter. I've heard great things about these seminars.
--Carol Gibbs, VP

Mark your calendars:
The 2004 Peoples Law School is Saturday, February 28, at the UT Law School from 8:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Once again, its FREE!
This year promises to be better than ever. Take a free course and learn more about:
Identity Theft
Scams Against the Elderly
Job Discrimination
Personal Bankruptcy
Small Business Law
Divorce
Wills & Estate Planning
Immigration Law and Consumer Law (in Spanish!)
...and many more!

Please also help spread the word! Just forward this e-mail to people you think might like access to FREE legal information.
Share this great community service with a friend.

Visit www.travisbar.com for a full course schedule, registration info, and directions to the event.
If you need special accommodations for this event, please call 512-472-0279.
 

02/05/04--Statesman article on Walgreens/Taco Xpress
Today's Austin American-Statesman has a front page article on the proposed Walgreens development and the developer's offer to build a new Taco Xpress building for Maria Corbalan.  This article may be read online by clicking here.  (Registration on statesman.com is required to view the article.)

02/04/04--Update on Walgreens Proposal
Hi Neighbors,
Last night six other SLNA members and I met with developer David Darr, attorney Steve Drenner and their staff to discuss their latest Walgreen's proposal for the site at Bluebonnet and Lamar. Their presentation included updated plans, studies, and aerial views of the site. Changes from the last proposal include re-orienting the building, changing the rezoning areas, moving Maria's Taco Xpress to a new building to the south, and others. Their presentation was well-crafted and the ensuing discussion with us was extremely informative and included an exchange of ideas. We certainly do appreciate their time in coming to talk to us.  They gave us a copy of their preliminary site plan, which you may view by clicking here.  (Click here to view the original proposed site plan.)

This is an exciting time. We have all been interested and concerned about this site for a long while. As a matter of fact, look for a front-page article in tomorrow's Austin American-Statesman concerning the Walgreen's proposal. Our very own Kevin Lewis was interviewed for it, as well as Steve Drenner. While we're not sure what kind of spin AAS might put on the article, the fact is, this is the time where WE have direct input into our changing neighborhood.

I encourage everyone in SLNA to come to the next general meeting on Thursday February 19th, 7PM, at the Unity Church (south annex). The Walgreen's representatives will be there to present their proposal to the entire neighborhood. This is a great way for you to see and decide for yourself how you feel about this new plan. This is the forum for you to discuss with your neighbors the vision for this area.

See you there!
Hilary Dyer
Walgreens/Trailer Park Committee

P.S. Also look for the next neighborhood newsletter coming soon. If anyone is available to help distribute the newsletter, please contact Carol Gibbs .