Travis County Commissioners Court
October 5, 2004
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next, gives citizens an opportunity to address
the court for up to three minutes on any matter not on the agenda. Gy have
citizens signed in. We do have citizens signed in. Nettie brown is first.
>> good morning, judge Biscoe, I’m here to let you know that
the families in north ridge acres really appreciate all of the efforts that
the county has made in helping north ridge acres. If I could read this letter.
To Travis County judge Sam Biscoe and all of the Travis County Commissioners,
Ron Davis, Gerald daughterty, Karen Sonleitner, Margaret Gomez and dan smith
assistant to judge Sam Biscoe, water for north ridge acres. Dear judge Biscoe
and all Travis County Commissioners, the families of north ridge acres would
like to thank you for the humanitarian efforts by judge Sam Biscoe and his
assistant mr. Dan smith in helping to obtain a million dollar grant and the
$334,000 loan from the Texas water development board. These funds will provide
for the first time clean drinking water for the colonial residents of north
ridge acres and an entire new water system with 8-inch water mains can now
be constructed with these funds. The city of Austin has agreed to take over
billing and maintenance once this new system is in place. The north ridge
wc will be dissolved and every water customer in north ridge acres will become
retail customers of the city of Austin. This project will not only free the
families of north ridge acres of the health hazards that have plagued them,
but will free them from the outrageous water bills they currently have to
pay. We are very thankful for all of the Commissioners. For all of your help.
Both Commissioner Daugherty and Davis and offered help in trying to find grants
for our colonial neighborhood. If it had not been for all of the hard work
by judge Biscoe, all of the Commissioners and especially mr. Dan smith, the
residents of north ridge acres would not have these grant funds. The water
rights in north ridge acres will be affordable, comparable to the city of
Austin, most of all the water will be safe and clean. This project is to be
administered and managed by a grant coordinator for Travis County. Travis
County will have financial oversight for these funds, grants from other agencies
will be used to pay off the loan portion of the project. This project has
been a major part of the comprehensive solution in north ridge acres, we are
thankful to all of you for all of the hard work that you have put into this
project. A special thanks to mr. Dan smith. He has put in many hours of work
and to this project over the past year, we would not be where we are today
if it were not for all of his hard work. We thank you for your kindness and
your caring attitude. We thank you for your determination in facing the obstacles
that have seemed impossible. The families of north ridge acres are fortunate
to have judge Sam Biscoe and the Travis County Commissioners. Thank you and
we hope the future holds an end to the health hazards in north ridge acres.
>> thank you.
>> thank you, ms. Brown. Let me just for the record indicate,
too, that the -- that there was historic collaboration between the state of
Texas, Travis County, and the city of Austin.
>> yes, sir.
>> after the construction is done, the city of Austin basically
will accept the system and operate it as though it were constructed by the
city of Austin, really, which is very, very good. As a result of that, we
expect the monthly water bills to be substantially less than they have been,
I guess for the last few years.
>> yes.
>> but you're right, mr. Smith did kind of take the lead
on this and --
>> that's real good news, judge.
>> we will make sure dan doesn't miss any paychecks in the
future, also, ms. Brown.
>> we really appreciate everything that you've done, also.
>> that's good news.
>> also -- [indiscernible]
>> quite helpful, understanding patient. This has been an
uphill battle for a long, long time but I see the light at the end of the
tunnel now.
>> ms. Brown, again, thank you for coming forward. Mr. Schnieder,
is he still participating in helping --
>> he's not in good health.
>> well, we wish him well. And everybody in the -- the residents
at kennedy ridge, [sic] good news. Thank you all.
>> thank you all.
>> three other residents signed in. Do you want to give comments
now? Or when we take the item up? I’m sure this is about ferguson, tuscany.
Okay. Let's call fort joyce thorenson, john hutchinson, christina kubek.
>> with a q.
>> okay.
>> good morning. Thank you for allowing us to come and talk
about your item no. 30. We wanted you to -- we wanted to appear in person
to let -- to personally thank you for the offer of the traffic calming devices.
And I have a -- I have a flier that we -- that appeared on the doorstep of
every home in walnut place. It has on the back opportunity to comment. For
each person. We received quite a few comments, overwhelming in favor of doing
whatever you can do to slow down the traffic on spipg detail and ferguson.
Springdale and ferguson. We wanted to be here to let you know personally that
that's the case. We would like you, you know, whatever help you can give us.
I’m going to give you each a copy of this flier.
>> good, that would be good to have.
>> we would also need two for the Commissioners who are not
here.
>> any additional comments?
>> yes, sir. As you know, we have been fighting this traffic
problem for years. You are witness to some of the problems that we have with
the guide at hour meeting that decided to run the stop sign and smash into
the other vehicle that was leaving the street. That was about 8 years ago.
That's how long that -- as a neighborhood we have been fighting this problem.
Currently, we have a situation with the Travis County sheriff's department
where unfortunately the deputies have determined that they are lawyers now
and have decided that interpreting your law that you put into effect forbidding
trucks to be on that road is not their -- it's not in their best interests
to write the tickets. Some reason that I don't understand, nobody at Travis
County sheriff's department is in any way, shape or form attempting to enforce
the laws that you all put on the books. The deputies sit there and tell us
that they are not responsible for enforcing the law that's unenforceable.
So they are not writing tickets to any trucks coming through our neighborhood.
This came directly from the mouth of a deputy. We have a company called accurate
disposal who is blatantly flaunting the fact that they aren't getting tickets
on that road. Their trucks are driving through anywhere from 35 to 50 miles
per hour. I've had personal conversations with the owner of the company and
he says oh, we'll do something about it. This has been going on for three
weeks now, driving through our neighborhood. Last night at about 5:00, one
of their drivers went through and just smirked at me because he knew there
was nothing that I could do about it. I think somebody needs to talk to those
people and say, you know, these are the rules, to Margaret's people, enforce
them. People that are blailtantly -- blatantly going through day in, day out,
over and over again need to be held accountable. If I speed, I get a ticket.
I don't understand why a deputy gets to interpret the law that you all set
forth. Right now i've been working on my house, so i've been in the front
yard an awful lot. I have been watching 18 wheelers blowing through our neighborhood
in speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour. That's a 30 mile per hour residential
street. Unfortunately people use it as a cut through, we have all been dealing
with this for years. So these traffic calming devices, I think, will give
us -- if nothing else, they can't get up as much speed. It will maybe make
them realize that this is not a racetrack. And hopefully with -- with the
traffic calming devices will it, you know, bring the point home. Right now
if you leave the street, pull on to springdale road, you had better look right
and left or you are going to get slapped and it's not going to be fun. That's
my comment. Thank you.
>> thanks.
>> ms. Qubeck.
>> thank for you this opportunity to speak to you today.
I would like to also thank joe gieselman who -- I don't see him today but
for him presenting us with the -- with the idea of the traffic calming devices
and traffic circles. It is desperately needed, something that is going to
work to slow them down, flying down our road. There were some cars that I
think they were racing one evening, and one of them lost control and -- and
ended up in a ditch and hit a -- a power pole. Knocked the power out in half
of neighborhood. And my friend's son was pulling out on to springdale and
got smacked by someone flying over the hill. You know, we are getting hit
trying to leave our homes, trying to -- just trying to get out of the neighborhood.
We don't even make it out of the neighborhood. Springdale road cuts us in
half. And that's our only way out. Is to get on to springdale road. Quite
literally. And -- and it's just desperately needed and I -- I thank you for
-- for giving us -- for giving us you know this opportunity.
>> thank you all.
>> thank you.
>> thank you all very much.
>> we do expect action today. If you all are not here, we
will send you an e-mail.
>> mr. Hutchinson, could I suggest that -- I don't mind passing
the message on, you know, from you to margo, but citizens should be able to
reach their elected officials directly as well. So --
>> I will make this comments, too. I have left phone messages
--
>> get you on the mic here.
>> go ahead and talk in the mic there.
>> I have left messages with margo frasier's office, her
assistant, and lieutenant sanson. I have left messages and talked to the officer
in charge, whatever his rank, at the northeast substation. A deputy sitting
in front of my house at 4:00 a.m. In the morning or 5:00 a.m. In the morning
is not catching the guys that are actually just blowing through the neighborhood.
The young men that she was discussing that got hit were pulling on to springdale
road. There's a little creek that the road comes down to the creek, crosses
over, comes up. The guy was travelling so fast that when the kids pulled out,
the guy was not visibly within their line of sight and he skidded 70 feet
and still managed to total their car. Now, the point that I’m making is if
we don't get deputies that will enforce the rules and -- and upper echelon
that will return phone calls -- I don't -- I even told accurate towing disposal
last night, I said you are going to get mentioned in Commissioners court tomorrow,
be prepared because this is crazy. It's just a neighborhood. Thank you very
much.
>> I will pass that along.
>> thank you very much, thank you.
>> anybody else for citizens communication? Whether you signed
in or not?
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.
Last Modified: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 3:40 PM