Travis County Commssioners Court
January 21, 2003
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Citizens Communication
We will take citizens communication next. Then we will call up item no. 14. And I think 14 and 15 go together. Then -- then we will do the consent items and after consent, the contract regarding waste management and the county refuse. Okay? Now, on citizens communication sign-in form, we have 2, 5 and 6. We are missing 1, 3 and 4. Number 2 is joyce best.
>> citizens communication gives you an opportunity to address any members on the court not on the agenda. Suzanne campbell will be second. If you would come forward here. And -- [inaudible] is third. And if you would please come forward and take this chair on the right, here. Ms. Best?
>> thank you. Good morning, I'm joyce best, I live in northeast Austin. I have spoken before you several times regarding problems at the northeast landfills. As you know, Travis County has a closed landfill is that hydro logically connected to the waste management landfill. The county has spent quite a bit of money working to control the leachate at that waste site. Waste management has implied that the proposed county landfill may be in part responsible for the odor problems experienced over the last 18 months. We have been told by the natural resources department of Travis County over the last couple of years that our neighborhoods could be provided with test results from the county wells. We've asked for those records informally a couple of times, now we make another request to be given the results of the testing from the county wells and in addition to the results of the testing of the leachate that is being pumped into the city's wastewater system. I understand that a routine inspection was conducted out at the landfill a few days ago and we would certainly be interested in those results. I -- I happen to notice that item 28 on today's agenda relates to a contract with the s.c.s. For services, presumably relating to the testing that goes on at that closed landfill site and I am -- I have some concern and my neighbors have some concern about that company's efforts and I don't know if you were aware that they have also served waste management and there's one employee that I'm aware of that has worked at that company and is now employed at waste management. So we have just concerned about the independence of information that may be gathered by the company and I wanted to express that concern. Thank you for your time.
>> thank you.
>> ms. Campbell.
>> yes, thank you. I would like to speak in favor of the Austin liberty preservation resolution and one of the reasons why is because I represent some folks who have been under this tyranny already. It seems that those who would -- would dictate and control like to pick some people and use this on them, whether it's legal or not. Then these are the preservations of the patriot act. And the patriot act just makes it all legal. And the patriot act just enables us to be all funded. It's already going on. People's phones are already tapped by wire taps they will never find. Because they are tapped at the central office. In my opinion who has the proper code can sit in the comfort of their home and type in a code on the telephone and get into the central office computer of -- of the telephone company and then type in on the code pad the number that they wish to eavesdrop on and they can sit there all day long and listen to everything they know that your client's names, phone numbers, they know what kind of plans that you have for your clients, any bids that you may have, if you have a business they can -- they can wreck your business by this. There's also codes that -- that can be used to reroute any calls to you from a certain client. So that it's rerouted to a phone that rings continuously and is never picked up. Or they can do the -- the other thing, they can reverse that and route the calls from you to your client to a telephone that is never picked up. Therefore your business can go downhill and usually this is done to people who believe in the bill of rights and the constitution. The things that our forefathers fought so hard for, shed all their blood for and that we are sitting by and doing nothing as they are nullified a little bit at a time because this kind of tyranny is just like an attack from a bunch of fire ants. Like a stealth attack. Creeps up slowly, then on small it happens all at once. Before we know it, it going to happen to all of us. There's people sitting in this room right now whose phones are tapped more than likely. They don't even know it. They think they are having bad luck, a bad day, that being is going downhill, they think that people don't want to talk to them. They think that people may be sitting there with their -- looking at their caller i.d. Saying well, I don't want to talk to him I'm not going to answer the phone. They may have left a message that got erased by these folks, okay? So this is already happening. And to not try to stop it is to let your children inheritthis. Is to -- inherit this. Let the tyrants decide whose business is going to succeed, who you are going to talk, we feed to 7 so it now while we have a chance and not wait and let it go on and on and on. So that is what we basically can speak to today. And if -- there's a lot more going on, there's a website that addresses it. And that website is called stopcovertwar.com. What is happening is a covert war against american citizens who have done nothing except sometimes they are asking their government to be accountable. God forbid that we should ask accountability from our government, you know, we are terrorists, if we want our government to be accountable, we are becoming terrorists. We are being eavesdropped on, our lives are being interfered with in a thousand different ways. It's got to come to a stop somewhere, somehow. We have got to put our foot down and say, enough is enough. Because if we don't, the children and grandchildren are going to be turned into slaves and robots from whoever wants to control them.
>> thank you.
>> thank you again for having me here.
>> thank you.
>> next, we have miss -- miss macaffey signed in. Anybody else signed in? We are missing a couple of forms. Ms. Macaffey will be our last speaker on citizens communication. Yes?
>> good morning.
>> good morning?
>> my name is sylvia israeli, a resident in northeast Travis County. I will keep it short. I just wanted to reflect for the record that I live there, and i've dealt with the odors and it's -- it's becoming bothersome again. The odors that we experienced last winter are creeping in our windows again and revealing themselves at embarrassing time when we have guests over at our house. And we are looking to you for some help and if there's anything the neighbors can do, we are already riled up, as you all are very well aware. If there's any way that we can work with you members of the court now and in the future, we welcome that. I understand there's an item on the agenda today that -- that we may or may not be able to do anything about. But if there's some future solutions we want to be a part of that solution to put an end to the situation and we are willing to -- to work with you on a long-term resolution to that. So again my name is syrrea israeli, sitting here saying thank you for paying attention to us, we need your help in whatever way possible.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> ms. Macaffey.
>> good garbage were a state -- if garbage were a state, the northeast landfills would be the capitol sea. These waste heaps where 22 counties have dumped their trash for more than 30 years ranks as Texas' largest collection of dumps in one area. Get close on a bad day and the stench of decomposing matter rafts up out of what looks like a big ball mountain in flat east Austin. Wmi, bfi, the northeast cluster regional landfills are where every day a fantastic torrent of cast off riches flowed through their gates. Where do the bad, nasty toxins of our society go? The history of trash is not a pretty story and the story is exposing a never ending nightmare. The waste extreme of big business and -- stream of big business and industry continue to relentlessly destroy the health and well-being of communities and ecosystems where profits are the main objective. Toxic waste has been spewed into pits and covered up primarily in old landfills, but there was a time when anyplace was an okay setting. Austin is waking up the sleeping giant. But what inspired me to write this was what we faced this past weekend. And the concern over the barton waters. And the toxins that they are uncovering everywhere. I'm sure you closely read this article. I hope that -- that our situation came to your mind when you were reading this newspaper. In an informal memo dated June 17th, 1982, tom clark with the u.s. E.p.a. Referred to an industrial waste disposal site operated by jack arsenalt as Austin's love canal. He went on to state in 1971, in 1972 an estimated 4.8 million gallons of industrial hazardous waste had been dumped into this area. Approximately 75% of the waste was poured into open acid pits. This site formally known as industrial waste material management site, is currently a municipal solid waste landfill operated by waste management. Water runoff and ground water run into tributaries that end up in decker lake and into walnut creek that empties into the colorado river. There are state records, documenting leachate seeps from the industrial waste. Waste management in their own records found excess of contamination in the 90s. The wells get shut down, the giant goes back to sleep. There has never been an unbiased and thorough study of what has happened at this site so close to hundreds of houses. No one knows how much soil covers the area. How deep the clay liner side walls are around a portion of the site or even how deeply the pits were dug. Wmi just keeps crowding more and more garbage closer and closer hoping the problem will bury itself. We believe the big story has not even been told.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you. That does it for citizens communication.
Last Modified: Wednesday, April 2, 2003 10:25 AM