Travis County Commissioners Court
November 23, 2004
Citizens Communication
Citizen's communication first. And this item is to give residents an opportunity
to address the Commissioners court on any matter not on the agenda, any matter
not on the agenda. For up to three minutes. And we do have several persons
who have signed in. Bonnie floyd is first. And second will be kevin finney.
And if you would give us your full name, we would be happy to get your comments.
>> good morning, I知 bonnie floyd and I知 here to invite
all the Commissioners and all the county employees who might be listening
to come to the run on Sunday December fifth. It starts at 8:15 in the morning.
We have the kids k that starts at 10:00 o'clock and we have a short commercial,
a psa that media has done that we would like to show you. It's all of 30 seconds
long, but it's really cute. Media, we're ready.
>> what's santa doing running along town lake?
>> he's training for the brown santa five k and kids k.
>> when is it?
>> Sunday, December fifth at the Travis County exposition
and fair ground.
>> a wellness fair with exhibits promoting good health and
fitness is free and will be held at the expo hall.
>> for more information about how you can register, visit
our website or call 854-4173.
>> santa is getting in shape so he can look like this. Why
don't you.
>> be there!
>> that's very clever.
>> thank you. We're proud of that. [ laughter ] we had the
regular santa and then we had a fit and trim santa. We thought that was nice
for people who might come out because we may want to all look like that. This
is the 24th year that brown santa has operated in Travis County, and their
mission is to provide toys and food to the underprivileged people of Travis
County. We're trying to help them with that. There will also be a wellness
fair along with this. It runs from 8:00 to noon on the same date, Sunday December
fifth. We've got soften or 16 different companies that will be there, all
exhibiting things, promoting good health and fitness. Commissioner Daugherty
has already signed up. He told me yesterday that I could mention his name
and show the rest of y'all --
>> a walker?
>> I didn't ask. He can do either one. I知 a walker, so he
can walk with me if he chooses to.
>> i'll be out of the country.
>> that's no excuse. Out of the country is no excuse. We
would also like to ask people if they want to volunteer and please let me
know. We need lots of volunteers. So thank y'all. That's all I have to say.
I do want to thank media for the psa. They did a wonderful job and we're very
proud of it.
>> thank you very much. We will all be there in person or
spirit. Kevin fleming.
>> yes, sir. Actually, I知 here on an item that is on the
agenda. It's number 24. It's under executive session. But I知 going to be
here at that time, so I was wondering if I address it now, is that possible?
>> i'd take my three minutes now if I were you.
>> okay, i'll do that. I'll hand these out in just a moment.
My name is kevin fleming. I live at 14230 fits hugh road which was right adjacent
to where the fits huh bridge is going to be improved. My wife and I have owned
this property for about five years, and we're the only property affected by
the widening of the bridge. We're not all that excited about it, but you need
to do what you need to do for safety reasons. If you've been out there lately,
it has been washed very cleanly. It's probably being washed right now. We
understand the sequence of events to acquire that property, and I have talked
to your staff and we've made a proposal based upon what we thought was realistic
value of the property. And what needs to be replaced and some trees. And I
think the -- there is an appraisal done on that property. We think it's worth
about $12,000 and the appraisal, as I understand, the county probably spent,
I don't know, $5,000 or something, that's according to the staff that told
us that. The appraisal came out about $3,700 for the slice of our property,
our trees. And we're very proud of our property. It's right on Barton Creek.
It has a lot of vegetation, a lot of trees, and that's the reason why we bought
that property. We have livestock and horse oz it. It's very scenic. And what's
going to happen, a lot of trees are going to be taken down, the fence is going
to be removed and replaced and it's not going to have the same feel or look.
It's not going to have the same shade that we have for our animals. We don't
have that much out there and this is going to take away from it. So we're
just asking you to consider -- and i'll give you some information, what we
think is realistic. We had a price on the fencing, price on the trees to be
replaced, and what we thought was a fair value of the property. We would rather
nothing happen, but since it is going to happen, we'd rather have it kind
of look like what it looks like today. There's some photographs included in
there. And so when y'all deliberate over this, I would appreciate y'all really
considering what we've -- we spent a lot of time on this trying to work out
what the numbers ought to be. We made a proposal, and next thing we knew,
an appraisal was being done and so it was kind of -- we didn't know what was
going on exactly. We weren't that clear on a couple of items. So we appreciate
your consideration. I'll hand this to you. Thank you.
>> thank you, mr. Fleming.
>> kevin, if you would go up to my office and make sure that
bob Moore's office knows how to get with you. We'll work with you on this
thing.
>> okay. I appreciate it. Michele (indiscernible).
>> good morning. My name is michelle and I would like to
talk to you today about organ donation. I want to tell you a little bit about
our organization. We operate in 56 counties in central and south Texas. Our
mission is to educate people about organ donation, consent from families,
if something happens -- (indiscernible). The need is so great right now. It's
at a crisis level. There are 87,000 people throughout the nation living on
the transplant list. 17 people die each and every day. Weekends are not --
when organs are not available. As you can see, it's a very important issue
that we need to address. There are several organs that you can donate at the
time of death. There are the hearts, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas and small
intestine. We can save eight lives if you become an organ donor. If you would
like to do this, I encourage you to talk to your family. That's really the
only way to become an organ donor. Some people believe their -- (indiscernible).
Some say that it's against their religion. That's not true. There's not any
mainstream religion these days that is opposed to organ donation. Most encourage
it and say it's the ultimate act of charity. Other reason is what if they
take my organs before I知 dead? That absolutely can't happen. A doctor pronounces
brain death and another team of people come in and ensure that that is the
case. Then they go ahead and confirm to the family from procure the organs.
So if we consider the myths that are out of the way and people really need
to learn about it. Another one is people think that if they it on their driver's
license they are able to check a box able to check a at the dmv. That does
not exist any more, so if you look on your driver's license, it is not available.
What you really need to do is sign a donor card and keep it in your wallet
and you can put the sticker on your license, but most of all we would like
you to talk to your family. So we encourage you to go in today and talk to
your family about organ donation. Especially this weekend, a long holiday
weekend, people will be with their families, so it's something I would really
encourage you to talk about. Thank you.
>> thank you very much. Judy -- jimmy castro is next.
>> good morning, judge and Commissioners, staff. My name
is jimmy castro. I知 going to tell my story. I知 a kidney transplant rekip
yent. When I first knew something was wrong, my nephrologist says I was losing
kidney function. I eventually had to go on dialysis. This was hard to believe,
since I was in good shape, had no other medical problems and I was running
three miles a week. I thought dialysis was just once a month, but I soon found
out that the treatments are every other day four or five hours a day. I was
on dialysis for over a year every other day. Since I was in good shape I was
placed on the kidney transplant list right away. I soon realized that there
were several other people awaiting kidney transplant. One day at 5:00 o'clock
in the morning, I got the call, the transplant coordinator called and was
yelling, jimmy, this is it? And I had the transplant operation. My wife and
I went to brackenridge hospital. After the operation I was sore. I couldn't
stand up without the pain. My wife said it's similar to what a woman goes
through after a c-section. If this is what it woman goes through after a c-section,
thank goodness men don't have to have babies! Otherwise they would say not
tonight, honey, i've got a big headache. [ laughter ] the kidney operation
worked and I was able to get off the dye al sis machine after a year and return
back to normal life. This is a golden gift of life that one human being can
give to another. And i've been a kidney recipient since marc 10th, 1990 and
especially with the help from the doctors and brackenridge hospital and the
Austin diagnostic clinic, I along with my family know the true meaning of
the gift of life. Thank you, judge appeared Commissioners.
>> thank you.
>> jennifer gale. Would anyone else like to address the court
on any matter not on the agenda today? If so, please come forward. Under citizens
communication.
>> good morning on this very wet, wet morning. Please no
more rain. Hi, Austin. Travis County Commissioners court, county judge Sam
Biscoe, Commissioners Gomez, Sonleitner and the newly elected Commissioners
Daugherty and Ron Davis. And thank you, jimmy castro after you succeeded in
getting money for light rail, now you want to leave. I think we should all
give our organs at least the day after we've died. Let's give a little time.
When I first recognized our urban commuter light rail was a decision to be
decided upon, I noticed that the map itself was too small and ambiguous. And
looking at the map I couldn't really tell where it was actually travelling.
Then I heard the allegedly informational news, and nothing was negative. It
never pointed toward anything that might say maybe they shouldn't vote yes
for this. And they didn't say anything about not travelling in south Austin.
Then you have the fact that it's that it's at a point between in the educational
information that they put on radio and tv that is actually between Leander
and downtown. So the question is, if it's not between Leander and downtown,
is it misleading? And if all these items that are misleading, do they add
up to fraud? And you go east to the Austin convention center and then it goes
due east. It's clearly not between those two points of being between so if
you draw the two lines in between, it doesn't go parallel. It makes a circuit
tus route. All these people are believing that the train is coming to them
when it's not. It's going to go in an area of east Austin that's already having
a problem with justification of homes selling at 7, $800,000 that were much
less at market value. It travels through there, then cuts over at highland
mall and then up and over from parmer to Leander. So all the people -- the
university of Texas, the complex, even the northern capital complex, the state
business offices don't get the light rail. So I知 asking to please take this
with Commissioners court, to please take it to court so the people of all
the cities and towns can make a knowledgeable and unaffected decision on urban
light rail -- urban commuter light rail next may. Let's let a judge decide
if this is -- if this has been misleading enough a mapping for you to make
the payment for you to take it to court. I can't afford it. I want the facts.
And also I知 asking on this thanksgiving, this coming thanksgiving, either
before or after, to take a friend to a thanksgiving day meal and just share
one another and neighbor's attention and just have fun during the holidays.
Thank you.
>> thank you. Anybody else for citizens' communication? One
quick announcement by the county judge on behalf of the combined charities
committee. We have extended the deadline to get contributions and pledges,
at least another week and probably two. The drop dead date will be December
seventh or eighth. We often look to the city of Austin as a model for a positive
or negative example in terms of combined charities, it is a very positive
example. As of late yesterday they had raised $555,000. If thif the same number
of employees as Travis County and assuming they gave at the same rate they
would have raised 222,000. Our goal is 150,000 and we are less than half the
way there. So the city of Austin is doing a fine job of raising money for
the nonprofit agencies in our community that help persons in need. And what
the community and I are asking for is that employees of Travis County try
to give at least what they gave last year, and that if they gave zero last
year to give something this year. Last year we raised about 120, $125,000,
and I added another 25 to 30,000 to that total because that is the amount
that we raised in 2001. And so I am pleading, begging, etcetera, for a more
aggressive effort, more assertive effort, more cooperative effort by the 4,000
plus employees at Travis County, and I have a long list of managers to call
personally, which I plan to do between now and five p.m. Tomorrow. It will
be a plea in the thanksgiving spirit. And if I come across as being a bit
pushy, it is just my prethanksgiving style. Anybody else for citizens' communication?
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 2:59 PM