Travis County Commssioners Court
June 17, 2003
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Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next. Why don't you have a seat there, if you would give us your --
>> your honor, we are not going to take much of your time. Just wanted to introduce ourselves to the distinguished Commissioners court. I'm mayor terry cowan city of Sunset Valley, Texas. This is mayor pro tem kathy danilla. We wanted to thank the Commissioners court for their action this morning on postponement of item no. 8. It's a very complex issue. Highly litigious, a lot of emotions involved. Appreciate the time allowed to look into this further. Commissioner Daugherty, I don't know if a week will do it. But hope springs eternal. And we want to cooperate in the process, we want to thank you for your action this morning.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> I guess if somebody can let us know by Friday how it's going, whether it will be next week or not.
>> hopefully. As mayor cowan said, my name is kathy danilla, I always like to share a little background when I talk to folks, particularly those who are also public servants because you know that's a special slice of pie that we live within. My background is that I'm a native Austinite. And I was born and spent the first 19 years of my life on the rainey street, if anybody knows where that is.
>> yes.
>> ergo my birth in politics. I found myself landing in Sunset Valley, a small and very proud city in '86 and we built our home there, my husband and i, have -- have enjoyed living there and developing the community. That -- that gave me a call to step up and participate. As you have all participated in -- in contributing to the society at large. You know that you have a calling to protect the place that you call home and your ituency. It gets all complicated when we have items that are to be discussed on item 8. I would like to tell you that my stance and the education that I participated in to make myself a better public servant go toward the direction of regionalism and I know that's a buzz word politically. But when I was a young child, the city of Austin was here, the county was always referred to as way out in the county. It wasn't the way it is now where the city of Austin and the other little cities just about fill up the county. So it's more important, I think than ever, that any issue that impacts this place that we all call home be looked at from all sides. From a regional approach. Not just -- not even just Austin and Travis County area. But things that impact our whole quality of life, which would be the aquifer issues. Now, there has been a slow but steady alignment of all of the different jurisdictions, the city of Austin, the aquifer district, even on the state levels to look at getting laws that protect the land which protect the communities which protect the constituents. And I just wanted to let you know that that's where we are coming from in Sunset Valley. We look at trying to create an ideal, as close to an ideal community for people to live within an urban setting as possible. We have made great efforts to set aside nearly a third of our land space is set aside as balance. Most people just see the businesses on brodie, but we are more than that. We are a lot of community programs and we mirror a lot of our programs after the city of Austin and other communities. So just letting you know where we come from. We want to join hands with the county, with the city of Austin and with the state to have more than overview of everything rather than getting caught in the in the minutia. Rather than -- we want to otect this place that we live. I think we all learned the nursery rhyme and we certainly want to protect the goose from getting cooked. I appreciate you postponing this. It's a complicated issue, something that's being looked at on multiple fronts and just I thank you again for postponing it.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> good to have you both here.
>> thank you.
>> your honor, if I just might recognize jamie foley, assistant deputy director of the city of Sunset Valley.
>> thank you all.
>> thank you.
>> thank you, mayor.
>> anybody else for citizens communication? That is to add the court on any matter not on the agenda.
Last Modified: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 9:52 AM