Travis County Commissioners Court
October 27, 2009,
Item 2
2.
approve resolution recognizing the late pauline brown for her lifelong outstanding contributions to the betterment and preservation of clarksville and her enrichment of the lives of all Travis County residents.
>> would you all come up?
all interested in this resolution, please come up to the table.
i'm so honored, the court is honored by your presence.
we've got a couple of extra chair, too -- extra chairs, too.
it's an incredible turnout.
>> good morning.
>> I just misspoke, I said it was an incredible turnout.
i shouldn't have.
it's totally expected so many people would come out for this resolution.
i want to thank morris priest for reminding me to do what I should have known to do without his prompting.
i will read the resolution and then hope to open it up to you all for comments.
whereas until her death on August 23rd, 2009 at the age of 81, pauline brown devoted her life to the preservation of clarksville.
an historic african-american community located in west Austin on one of the first freed man's communities west of the mississippi.
whereas in 1974, pauline brown, led the movement to stop the city of Austin's plan to cross town expressway that would have destroyed the clarksville community.
whereas in 1978, pauline brown helped start the clarksville community development corporation.
to provide housing for low and moderate income residents who had been displaced by the gentrification threatening to decimate clarksville and became its first president.
at the time of her death, pauline brown was a board officer of the vibrant corporation she had founded more than 30 years earlier.
whereas pauline brown testified regularly before the Austin city council and in front of various city boards and commissions, eloquently voicing her concerns whenever the well-being of clarksville was threatened.
whereas pauline brown's knowledge of the history of clarksville and its residents became so extensive and her battles to preserve that history so legendary that she became known as the mother of clarksville.
whereas every Sunday the streets of clarksville were filled with the joyous sounds of pauline brown's heavenly solos emanated from her beloved sweet home missionary baptist church.
therefore be it resolved that we the Travis County Commissioners court would like to recognize pauline brown for her life long outstanding contributions to the betterment and preservation of clarksville, the only remaining historic african-american community in Travis County and has there by enhanced and enriched the lives of all Travis County residents.
my thanks to malcolm greenstein also for aiding in writing this resolution and those in the community who contributed to it, including her lovely lawyers.
>> I would like to -- her lovely daughters.
>> I would like to second that motion for approval.
>> she does move approval.
>> yes, I do.
>> good morning.
>> good morning.
>> comments?
>> you first -- you have a sibling --
>> I just want to say thank you.
>> my mother would have loved this very much.
and she stood for a lot of things that were just unbelievable.
i mean, to get our streets paved, to have 22 low income housing units for people.
she would give her shirt off her back to help someone.
but if you were wrong, she would get in your face and tell you about it.
>> [laughter] my mamma was not weak, she was very strong.
she believed in the man up above.
i just want to thank you all.
>> thank y'all.
>> your full name?
name, please.
>> my name is ruth anne brown, I'm her baby.
this is my oldest sister, her name is paulette eugene brown, born on halloween, her nickname is pumpkin, this is my brother archie and his girlfriend.
>> welcome, all of you.
>> any additional comments?
>> my name is malcolm greenstein.
pauline was a long-time friend of mine and everybody who lived and was active in clarksville.
pauline had three loves in her life.
her children, her church and her community.
the public love came out for clarksville when she repeatedly talked about the history of clarksville.
it doesn't take much for pauline to start off and tell anybody who was listening what clarksville was about, how it was founded, what its importance was, what the -- what the corporation that she helped found stood for.
we would have to stay pauline, he's only asking for directions.
he doesn't need to know all of this
>> [laughter] in the '60's, people came from the north, the freedom riders, they rode buses into the south to fight for humanity, to help people in their struggles.
they were both physically and verbally attacked as being outside agitators.
pauline fought just as hard, she was an inside agitator.
she fought for her community and her community is what distinguished her.
and in April we will be honoring pauline in the spring by naming the neighborhood center on property she donated in her honor, we invite you all to that.
we'll let you know and hope that you would read that proclamation again to honor us and to honor pauline's memory.
>> gladly.
>> great.
>> anybody else?
that will --
>> representative.
>> I'm elliott naishtat, thank you for letting us be here.
and speak.
there was a wonderful memorial service for pauline brown on September 5th.
and I was asked to make a few remarks, which I would like to share with you today.
not that long ago, I lived in clarksville for about 16 years.
i met two remarkable women there.
mary baylor and pauline brown.
pauline brown was an iron-jawed angel.
like the women who fought for a woman's right to vote, the sufferage tests of the early 19 hundreds.
pauline brown was a fighter when the city of Austin fought to build a cross town expressway, after mopac had already displaced 29 families, including her own.
pauline brown helped organize the community to stop it.
with her leadership, we got clarksville, the whole community listed on the national register of historic places.
we got the historical marker for the sweet home missionary baptist church.
we lobbied and fought and we won.
pauline brown led the way in stopping the cross-town expressway.
when the city of Austin proposed to pave the streets in clarksville, many residents objected.
saying that it would literally pave the way for developers.
pauline brown argued that we've waited too many years, we want our streets paved, just like all of the neighborhoods around us.
when the developers come, we'll stop them.
the streets were paved, the developers came and the early clarksville residents are still there.
thanks to pauline brown.
she was instrumental in creating the clarksville community development corporation.
the corporation owns and operates rental units throughout clarksville so that low income families can still live there.
others have moved in, but clarksville is still clarksville.
thanks to pauline brown.
pauline fought to the end for her family, for her friends, for her church, for her beloved clarksville.
she was a fighter.
an advocate, a strategist, a community organizer.
she was an optimist.
and a believer.
she was a visionary.
a great neighbor, a loving friend.
pauline brown was truly an iron-jawed angel.
>> [ applause ]
>> thank you.
>> anybody else?
where is ms.
furtado?
>> number 4.
>> it's coming up.
>> sorry.
>> I just wanted to make a new comments about pauline, I don't think that I can speak as eloquently as the people that came before me.
i'm the president of the clarksville community development corporation.
when pauline died she was the vice-president.
i met her about 12 years ago, I guess.
when I was just getting involved in neighborhood politics and was told make sure that you meet pauline brown, kind of get her on your side.
which I did.
and luckily we saw eye-to-eye and worked together as a team for -- well, until she died.
and not only was pauline totally dedicated to her neighborhood and just an unending fountain of knowledge about the history of clarksville, which she shared with me, but she was also just a wonderful friend and a really, really funny person.
we spent a lot of time talking on the telephone, kind of gossipping about neighborhood people or, you know, things that were happening in the neighborhood or she would call me up and say, mary, what's going on down in your part of the neighborhood?
because she lives -- she lived a couple of blocks away from me, so she felt like she needed to keep up with what was going on in all areas of the neighborhood.
i would give a report nothing much, there was a break in or car window got broken or whatever.
and she was just, you know, a wonderful, wonderful person.
just beyond her dedication to the neighborhood.
and to her family and to the history of clarksville.
she's an irreplaceable person.
to me she personifies clarksville.
it's going to be -- we'll carry on, you know, with her spirit.
but it's going to be a difficult challenge, we're not going to have her eloquent voice to speak on behalf of the neighborhood at public hearings anymore.
that's going to be a big loss.
thank you for this proclamation, I appreciate it a lot.
>> great.
>> thanks.
>> anybody else?
>> may I provide the proclamation to the family?
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
she'll be sorely missed.
>> thank you so much.
>> thank you.
>> thank you all very much.
>> and we'll see in the springtime.
>> oh, thank you all.
>> thank you so much, representative.
it's so good to see my neighbors.
Earlier this morning we passed item number 2, a resolution recognizing the late pauline brown, we have a resident who arrived after that action, and unless there is objection, we will give her an opportunity to give comments at this time.
>> okay.
>> if you give us your full name, we will be happy to get your comments.
>> thank you so much for coming and I am sorry that logistics, the parking was so difficult.
>> we want to thank y'all, our names are shirley and edward collins, we are deacons, and deacons at sweet home master baptist church where sister brown was one of our major choir members and we are also the ministers of music there and we want to thank you for honoring a great songster and what she has done for our community and our church and we appreciate the proclamation.
>> I am sorry we are late we couldn't find parking.
i have known pauline brown all of my life.
she was a warrior and excellent role model.
she stood up for what she believed in this.
in show flew all the way to washington dc to make she we could set up an organization that residents who loved a community who might have grown up in the community or want to live in the community would have a displace to stay.
she left a legacy.
she taught me that no matter what, it's not about money.
it's not about what you have, it's what you believe in and standing firm what you believe in and she set up a corporation across the community, a development corporation which has 11 properties and the purpose of it is to provide affordable housing for those people who
>> [indiscernible] and I am happy to say she left a legacy and then she passed the torch to me.
i can never redisplace pauline.
i cannot redisplace here but she taught me to continue on -- fight for what you belief in.
at the time in clarksville, when I lived there, we didn't have paved roads.
when it rained, it always flooded and I never knew why and as I got older, I learned the reasons why certain thinged happened and she fought to improve the community, and it is a great community.
one of the communities in Austin, we feel that
>> [indiscernible] clarksville is if only one still in its entirety and it is due in part to to the struggle of people like pauline brown and I am honored that we read the proclamation and I have taken on the position of vice president and I hope I can keep the dream alive and I thank you so much for allowing us an opportunity to come and speak today.
>> thank you.
>> it has been gratifying to see all of the people come out for this resolution, thank you so much.
>> thank you.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 1:40 PM
