North Austin Civic Association

Neighborhood Beautification for February and March

koverholt — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:27:43 +0000

Hello Garden Enthusiasts!

It’s been a while since I contacted you about park or neighborhood beautification projects. If you want to get out and garden with your neighbors, I have 2 projects coming up right away:

Saturday, Feb 25 11:00 am
Heron Hollow (Payton Gin at Lamar) – we will prepare the small garden, edge it with rocks, plant seeds and plants – I’ll bring both

Saturday, March 3 11:00 am It’s My Park Day!
2 gardens at Hunters Trace and Payton Gin – one garden needs weeding, both need new plantings – I’ll bring the plants

We could use some volunteers to help for these 2 projects.

My phone number if any one needs to call and inquire is 835-0943 or email me at cdubois1@austin.rr.com

Caro Dubois

Reminder – Community Meeting Tonight – 6:30 (Feb. 16th)

koverholt — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:11:45 +0000

A couple things, I have been asked to attend this NACN/Sustainable Neighborhoods meeting tonight so that were all on the same page. North Burnet area is experiencing the same problems with regard to lack of a “Center” designation for the area on the concept growth map. They are going to discuss this with some folks from the City and what it means for likelihood of bond money being allocated for improvements to these corridors.

Eleanor, I wrote up this resolution just concerning North Lamar improvements as you requested . There is no pride of authorship here so please edit as you see fit. I’m not sure if you’d like to put this to a whole neighborhood vote, but I put today’s date at the top just in case.

Online public comment is open for bond development process too. (for web and maybe announcement tonight)

www.speakupaustin.org

Thanks!

Gabe

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Newsletter follows

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North Austin Coalition of Neighborhoods

Jan 16th, 2012

What: Community Meeting to discuss the Lamar and Burnet Transportation Studies

Why: Because the City has a bad track record of burying these studies. We want the study to be taken seriously, we want the City to actually read the recommendations, and we want bond money to support the needed improvements. These roads are the hearts of our communities – we need to come together and insist these roads work for our community – now and in the future.

Where:The meeting is 6:30 to 8:30 PM at the Village Christian Apartments Activity Room, 7925 Rockwood Ln just north of Anderson. Directions here at http://www.snaustin.org/meeting-directions.

Something to Think About: The City’s inability to see past downtown’s needs has already created an Austin where gridlock, long commutes, and wasted gas are accepted as part of our daily lives. Now the City has been handed five studies of critical roads systems and recommendations on how to logistically think about the future.

The North Lamar/Burnet study shows there are numerous and serious problems with the transporation corridors at the north end of the City:

* North Austin/North Central Austin is Austin’s biggest, most diverse community, and includes Austin’s 2nd and 4th biggest zipcodes.

*North and North Central Austin is the area where several major transportation corridors run together, including 3 highways. It has several Metro Rails, and two of the busiest Capital Metro lines.

*North and North Central Austin is also an area that includes several of Austin’s rare and precious West/East corridors.

Can you do the math? We believe the the City’s myopic vision for ‘solving’ Austin’s transportations issues has ceased to just be our community’s problem. North Austin/North Central Austin holds the potential for much needed tax revenue and growth – but our City leaders apparently never learned math in school. Currently 60% of the City’s revenue comes from downtown – and the City consistantly struggles to meet budget each year and has to constantly juggle budget cuts across multiple departments.

Spending 100% of your budget for a 60% return makes no sense – and its costing the rest of us a better future.

Please come and if you can, please bring a neighbor!

-Mary Rudig
Editor, North Austin Community Newsletter

Information relevant to NACA and the entire city

koverholt — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:54:43 +0000

Here is some interesting information that would be good for the citizens to have. It appears that the city council is trying to keep this hush hush and possibly implement it without a lot of public knowledge. Not having individual Officers to address individual community problems would be very harmful to the community. Patrol Officers do not have the time to deal with long term problem and follow up on issues. They often arrive, slap a band aid on the problem and leave. This leaves the community unsure on the resources that are available to them and how to take the next step. Please pass this information along to the member of NACA and encourage them to be active in contacting the City Council. Less Officers and no DR’s is not the answer.

Chief Acevedo will be invited to the May 1 Forum. There is virtually no way to know how long he will speak so crafting an agenda will be a challenge. Let’s assume ½ hour for the chief. He will most likely be late and may not be able to show up at all because of last-minute issues that may arise. Plan on putting him on shortly after 7pm but be ready with alternate agenda items if he is late or unable to show. I will make the invitation through his admin this morning. May 1, 7pm, 12429 Scofield Farms Dr.
National average is 2.4 officers/ 1,000 population.
National average for major cities, those with 500,000-plus population, is 2.7/1,000.
Austin currently employees 2.0 officers/1,000.
For Austin to meet the national average for a major city, we would need to add 450 officers.
Council is discussing going below the current 2.0/1,000
If our authorized strength drops below 2.0/1,000, we will no longer be able to continue the DR program as those officers will have to be placed on Patrol.
APD overtime budget has been reduced from 11 million to 8 million over the last 5 yrs however Austin ’s population has grown. This has an impact on our ability to conduct initiatives and special projects to address crime issues citywide.

Officer Frank Wilson #5382
Austin Police Department
Region 2 Support
Edwd District Representative Unit
(512)974-8135

NACN – Update on Single Member Districting

koverholt — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:58:02 +0000

We wanted to let you know that the Charter Committee voted last Thursday to recommend a 10-1 Single Member district plan, along with a citizen’s panel to draw up the maps. (The Charter Committee is a citizens panel that was convened five months ago to look at things that need to clarified, changed or updated on the City of Austin’s Charter. )

The North Austin Coalition of Neighborhoods has been asked many times where we stand on this. We still have the same stance we’ve had since August – we believe that North Austinites deserve to make up their own minds on this debate. Our job is to provide information and encourage choices at the polls.

We have updated our website with links to articles about this debate, and put those links, the link for AGR’s petition, and our August editorial in one handy place:

http://www.lovenorthaustin.com/petition—single-member-district.html

If you have questions, or are unclear about this debate, please take a few minutes to click through the links!

-Mary Rudig
Editor, North Austin Community Newsletter

Region II Commander’s Forum (February 2012)

koverholt — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:36:41 +0000

Good Afternoon! You are cordially invited to attend our Austin Police Department, Region II Commander’s Forum tomorrow evening at 7pm. The Commander’s Forums are held at Parmer Woods which is located at 12429 Scofield Farms Drive .

Please download (PDF file) a copy of the Agenda for the meeting. Snacks and beverages will be provided and this year we will have door prizes!

Below is a listing of our 2012 Commander Forum dates.

Region 2 (Northwest, Northeast)

Parmer Woods 12429 Scofield Farms Dr (at Parmer Lane East of Metric)

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 – 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012 – 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012 – 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 – 7:00-8:30 p.m.

Public Service Announcement – NAO’s 60th Anniversary Celebration

koverholt — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:33:10 +0000

North Austin Optimist is celebrating their 60th anniversary! Everyone is invited to join the festivities, Saturday, March 24th at 9 a.m. There will be fun for the entire family including carnival activities and team baskets raffled.

The Optimist Club of North Austin is a 501(c)3 organization that is dedicated to “Bringing Out the Best in Kids.” NAO has been serving the youth of central and north Austin since 1952, with its primary focus on providing sports activities, educational programs, and self-esteem and skill enhancement. The programs are for all children ages 4 to 18 and their families.

Stop by and check out your local optimist club for a full day of youth baseball and softball. The ultimate goal is the betterment and welfare of our youth.

View flyer for more information (PDF file)

See below for more information on the North Austin Optimist Club and Optimist International.

http://www.naopt.com/

http://www.optimist.org/default.cfm

Board meeting – Thursday, Feb. 9 – 7 p.m

koverholt — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:24:45 +0000

The board meeting will be Thursday, Feb 9 at 7 p.m. at my Eleanor’s house. For more information or my address, write back or call.

Thanks.

Eleanor Langsdorf
elangsdo@yahoo.com

Your Neighborhood News for February 2012

koverholt — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

The February 2012 edition of the ”Your Neighborhood News” NACA newsletter is available for download.

Precinct 2 Pursuits Newsletter

koverholt — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:45:09 +0000

Download the latest edition (January 2012) of the Precinct 2 Pursuits newsletter (PDF format).

Lamar Blvd./Burnet Rd. Corridor Study Project January Open House

koverholt — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:34:46 +0000

From Beverly Silas, Lamar Blvd./Burnet Rd. Corridor Study Project Team:

Attached are flyers announcing the Lamar Blvd./Burnet Rd. Corridor Study Project Open House event, Thursday, January 19, 2012, 10:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m., Crestview United Methodist Church, Fellowship Hall, 1300 Morrow Street. Please feel free to reproduce, forward, and share the flyers as you deem appropriate.

Thank you for your previous input, and we look forward to seeing you there.