South Lamar Neighborhood Association--September-October 2002 Scoop Archive

10/30--Update on Mr. Natural Grocery
Hello all,
I stopped in Mr. Natural (at Lamar & Bluebonnet) today to see if I could get an update as to what is going on. I visited with one of the contractors working on the HVAC system. He told me the target opening date is right before Thanksgiving. He said that there had been some problems with the former contractor...as in they didn't get the building permits! Oops!

A new crew was hired (who got permits) and things are back on track. They have a lot of new equipment in place but still have some finish out work to go.

FYI
Bryan

10/26--Invitation to APD Commander's Forums
Issues of crime and safety will always be present in every neighborhood, including SLNA. Sometime, personally attend one of the quarterly public Commander's Forums. No RSVP, just show up. Go with a neighbor, enjoy some snacks, take a seat and just listen. If you wish, bring up an issue meaningful to you and provide feedback.

These forums only take place quarterly. The next opportunity is Dec.10 at 7PM. It is held at the APD South Sub-station at 404 Ralph Ablanedo Dr., between South 1st St. and the south end of Congress Ave. ( Off Congress, turn west onto Ralph Ablanedo (by Beverly's motorcycle bar) - Slaughter is 1/4 mile south of this).

BK

10/19--SLNA Officers For 2003
For those of you that did not make the SLNA meeting last Thursday...Congratulate these guys! They will be the new SLNA officers in 2003!
Bravo!

A great slate and I look forward to a great SLNA 2003!

Bryan

PS Full meeting minutes are up on the SLNA web site
http://www.southlamar.org/SLNA101702.htm
Read the minutes and you can check to see where the selective enforcement (radar speed traps) are going to be in the coming weeks!

10/8--Pedestrian Safety (Sidewalk) Committee Report
Folks,
Somehow Patricia's article for the newsletter was omitted. We had to wrestle a lot with the layout this time because there was so much copy. We may have to go to a much smaller font to get everything on four pages... (and the back page is ads and maps and such). Jodee had to even pull the SLNA membership form for the same reason. Not until today did I realize the sidewalk article was not included. This is a very important project and a lot of folks have been working very hard on this. My apology to Patricia and committee for this not being printed up. Here is the article:

PEDESTRIAN SAFETY (SIDEWALK) COMMITTEE REPORT

The name of the Sidewalk Committee should probably be changed to Pedestrian Safety Committee, because we are addressing many issues other than sidewalks as we work on an application for funding from the Texas Department of Transportation (hereafter referred to as TXDOT). Their SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL program has made three million dollars available to improve safety for children going to school. Since this is a state-wide program, we are planning a realistic approach, asking for the most pressing needs this year and planning ahead for future projects as this promises to be an annual event.

Due to time constraints, we decided to limit our project request to improving the block of Bluebonnet on our side of Lamar, making “deadman's curve” at Lightsey and Clawson safer and striping Clawson so as to add a bicycle-pedestrian lane. Since a bicycle safety plan that is already in place calls for guttering, we will include that as well.

This bicycle safety plan will give our application extra weight as it overlaps ours and has been approved.

Our neighborhood Association lies in three school districts, Zilker, Joslin, and Galindo, but surveying all three schools would take more time and resources than we have at this time, so we are concentrating on the largest, Zilker, which impacts the areas we are focusing on the most. Next year will have a new priority.

Our Committee has met several times and we are preparing three surveys that must be completed before we complete our application. The first is a Parent Survey, which will be distributed by Zilker students who live on our side of Lamar. The Second is done by each teacher to determine how each child arrived at school.

The third survey, conducted by members of this committee with the help of Zilker parents was a visual count of how many children arrive by car, bus, bicycle or by foot. Jennifer Marine organized that survey. Eight sleepy people gathered at Zilker School to take part in this count. It was determined that 76% of the students arrive by car, which indicates a need for safer routes and sidewalks.

Steve or Ann Lacker have attended every meeting and their energy and expertise have inspired us all. Krista Umscheid-Mt.Joy has added her writing and survey skills. Oscar Lipchak has contributed his survey skills and gathered statistical data. Our President, Bryan King is a constant source of energy and resources, from excellent maps and graphics to getting the straight poop on what is really going on in the political arena.

9/27--SLNA October Election
Hi gang....
Reading Kevin's email regarding voter registration reminded me that our own SLNA elections are on Oct. 17th. In order to vote, you'll need to join SLNA by the 7th. Suggested dues are $10 per year, $20 to be a "Big Bubba". Remember, with the latest revision to the bylaws, you may join for $0.00 if you request a hardship waiver, which will be granted to any that request...but you have to join to be a voting member!

The nominating committee has been working up a proposed slate of officers for 2003. If anyone is is interested in serving and be considered by the nominating committee, now is the time to speak up. Contact Kathryn Stern, Patricia Fiske, Marci Roberts, Michael Greenberg, or Carol Gibbs. Also, anyone can be nominated from the floor the night of the meeting as well.

We are working on getting the newsletters to press this week (by Friday) so we can distribute the weekend before the 7th. If you are writing something for the newsletter... it needs to be in by mid week to allow layout time.

Thanks,
BK

October 7 (a week from Monday) is the deadline to register to vote in November. As always, the more folks who vote in our area, the more attention we'll get when we want attention on things like parks, sidewalks, etc.

It's a great favor to remind a friend about this deadline. Just in case you know anyone who would like to register or who needs to re-register due to moving, here's the link to the Travis Co. voter registration info:

You can register online, or you/they can get a form mailed by calling or pick one up at:

The Tax Assessor-Collector Office, 1010 Lavaca St., 7:30 - 5:30, M-F, or by calling (512) 854-9473 twenty-four hours per day.

If you're curious, here's a link to info on the "eSlate TM" electronic voting system that will be used for early voting this election:

9/23--At What Price Growth?
Hi Gang,
I recently participated, along with about 300 community an business folks, in the Envision Central Texas Project Workshop: http://www.envisioncentraltexas.org/ We went through a exercise in finding a place for an extra 1.25 million people (double our present size) that are predicted to be coming to the Austin area in the next 20+ years. That population assumption was a fixed item in the workshop. We
had to find a place on the map for these folks in the metro area.

Austin has had an Extra Large welcome mat at the front door for a good number of years by way of marketing and incentives to get businesses to move here. The projection of the additional 1.25M people is naturally based on the trends that this XL welcome mat created. I found it quite interesting that there was never a question raised about the desirability of more rapid growth! The other thing I have observed is that this courted growth has not supported itself. If it did we would not be having such huge tax increases. We certainly have not been getting huge increases in city services, eh? If we pay more but don't get anymore, where is our money going... somebody has to pay for those incentives, fee waivers, and infrastructure buildout!

The effects of this tremendous growth has and will continue to have an effect on our neighborhood.... so far, not so good in my opinion. I've attached something that Jeff Jack, president of our next door Zilker Neighborhood Association, gave me at lunch today, his thoughts on the project. It has some good points about the visioning project and most important, there are going to more opportunities for public input (see the dates and places).

OK... off my soapbox now...

I pass this along "For Your Information"... your chance to weigh in on when and how Austin grows. Today's Paper reminded me that Austin grew about 45+% over just the last 10 years. Ouch!

Bryan

Jeff wrote:

Envision Central Texas

What do the metropolitan areas of Baltimore MD., Oakland CA., Miami FL., Seattle WA., Cleveland OH., Portland OR., and Denver CO. have in common? They are all big cities with populations of about 2.5 million people. Interestingly, a population projection of 2.5 million (that's 2,500,000
people) is the estimated population that the leaders of the Envision Central Texas process believe the Austin area should be planning for today. The Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) of Austin is currently about 1.25 million, and based on the explosive growth pattern of the last ten years, we could double in population in the next 20 to 40 years, reaching the size of the cities noted above.

Envision Central Texas is a non-profit group that aims to help plan for growth in the five counties surrounding Austin. The cost of this regional planning effort is $2 million and will be funded by taxpayers through the various local governments in the MSA. In ECT's initial workshop held on September 13, some 300 citizens participated in an exercise to see where folks wanted this growth to occur. The ideas ranged from whole new communities popping up in farmland to the creation of dense urban nodes along transit corridors, either along more highways or some form of rapid rail transit. The suggestions were as varied as the participants, who represented business, developer, neighborhood, environmental, and suburban interests. Of particular concern to our neighborhood was the often-repeated suggestion that we have to add "density" to Austin's core neighborhoods. Some plans presented even
suggested the wholesale redevelopment of inner-city neighborhoods, removing single-family residences and replacing them with downtown densities in order to accommodate the increased population. While this workshop encouraged many "off the wall" ideas at this early stage of the
process, it is clear that the final ECT recommendations will be
considered by our City Council when it looks at future zoning and development in our neighborhoods.

It should be noted that this is only the first workshop in what is
expected to be an almost two-year process, so ECT is far from making a final recommendation. And while this first workshop did generate a lot of interest in the impact of accommodating another 1.25 million folks in the area, many attendees questioned its basic premise of using the 2.5 million population projections as a "given".

The real point is that proponents of this process are ASSUMING and want us to assume that this growth is inevitable and "good" for us and our economy. But we need to be questioning WHETHER we want this amount of growth and WHETHER it would really be good for us and OUR economic
health or would it be detrimental in the long run, turning Austin into just another huge urban megaplex like Denver or Cleveland.

Instead of basing this whole planning effort on the population trend line of previous growth, shouldn't some even more fundamental andimportant questions be addressed first?

1. Do the folks in this region really want to become
another urban center on the scale of Miami or Oakland? Does Hutto want to become the size of Bastrop, Bastrop the size of Round Rock and Round Rock another downtown Austin?
2. What is the reasonable capacity of our water, land, and
air to accommodate growth? It was ironic that Austin had an Ozone alert the day that ECT's consultants indicated we would have another million cars on our roads if we doubled in size.
3. At what point will we have to build massive new utility
capacity to handle the excessive growth, and where would we put new power plants, water treatment facilities, and bigger roads?
4. How much can we grow without subsidizing new development and financially burdening our current property tax and utility ratepayers?
5. How do we protect our quality of life and what is special about Austin, our neighborhoods, economic and cultural
diversity, and our environment?

Hopefully in the next series of workshops there will be an opportunity to dig into these questions in more depth and truly begin to see how the community prefers to deal with growth. If you are interested in helping shape ECT's final recommendation, please get involved in this process. The next workshops are noted below, and you can register for them by
calling 916-6037 or e-mailing them at info@envisioncentraltexas.org. There is limited seating, so register as soon as you can and spread the word to your friends and neighbors who care about our neighborhoods and
Austin's future.

Jeff Jack
President, Zilker Neighborhood Association

Monday, October 14, 2002, 6 - 10 PM

Bastrop High School or Georgetown High School
1614 Chambers St.      2211 N. Austin Ave.
Bastrop TX. 78602       Georgetown,TX. 78626

Tuesday, October 15, 2002, 6 - 10 PM

Travis County Exposition Center
7311 Decker Lane
Austin, Tx 78724
or Dripping Springs High School
111 Tiger Lane at 290 West
Dripping Springs, TX. 78620

Thursday, October 17, 2002, 6 - 10 PM

Lockhart Junior High School or Toney Burger Center
1015 City Line Road                 3200 Jones Road
Lockhart, TX 78644                 Austin, TX 78745

9/14--Call for Newsletter Submissions
Newsletter submissions need to in by the end of the month so we don't have to rush like last time. We might need something on Sidewalks, Oak Wilt update, park, and other neighborhood issues. Please send my anything you would like to be considered for the newsletter ASAP.

The next meeting is Oct. 17th. The is no program/presenter book as of yet. Any suggestions are welcome there also.
It is right before Halloween.... maybe we could all test out our costumes on each other..haha... (don't even go there!)

Thanks
Bryan

9/12--Singin' the Auto Repair Shop Bluebonnet Blues
A number of folks have been concerned with the congestion on Bluebonnet caused by the new auto repair shop (shed) that is operating on the back of the used car lot. The servicing of cars has spilled out onto Bluebonnet and customers are not pulling onto the lot but instead parking in the ditch on both sides of the street.

I stopped by there yesterday and visited with the property owner (who operates the car lot closest to the corner... there appears to be several businesses (4) operating on that site). To make a long story short, the property owner told me he was also not happy with the repair shop for several reasons and was going to ask them to vacate. The parking issue was not one of his reasons, but none the less he promised to have the problem corrected by the end of the month.

FYI
Bryan

9/10--Del Curto Place/Radar Sign
Hi gang,
Couple of notes... Seeing the activity of cleaning up the 2607 Del Curto property and also seeing someone on site today, I stopped for a visit. The fellow from Hammond homes thought they were still a year away from building houses. The infrastructure (road, utilities, etc.) might begin in 8 months or so. (This is a little later that Howell told us originally.... he said last January!) He also indicated that they might build on the blank lot in Kinney Court at that time... get this... because it was hard to get trucks in and out. So they would access it from the back side. I asked him how they could build over that 15' easement... he didn't know it existed. Oh well. KC folks might want to keep an eye on that, or else they'll be selling a home with a storm sewer easement under it! The clean up is what caught my attention... he said the city made them clean it up... he thought because it may be a fire hazard with all the brush.

Also, APD SW District Rep Kenny Nash wrote today:
Good news! We got our own speed limit trailer in now. I am getting training on it this evening and I will be able to set it out there..

This is the radar speed sign we requested to be place on Kinney, Clawson, and Del Curto. SW command will now have their own unit. Before there was only one and it was stationed in North Austin.

FYI
Bryan

9/4--At Your Doorstep, September Edition
Below are the links for the September edition of the City of Austin's At Your Doorstep newsletter focusing on neighborhood issues.