Travis County Commissioners Court
August 16, 2005
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next. This item gives residents an opportunity to address the court on any matter not on the agenda. Mr. Delaney has already spoken. Don't smith is the -- is the second speaker. Fire chief don smith.
>> good day, Commissioners, my name is don smith, fire chief for Travis County fire control, esd number 4. I wanted to come today on two topics real quick. One is we are preparing for class number 9 of the Travis County fire training academy. We have approximately half of class 5 has been hired in full-time positions. We were hopefully looking for an additional four to go into the Austin fire department, they were very high on the list until Austin postponed that hiring process. So we are hopeful that we can get them on to another list at a later date with Austin or one of the surrounding fire departments. So we are kind of excited. We are in the process right now in preparing for class number 6. We have some very good applicants, some very excited young men and women who want to go into the career and are looking forward to a career in the fire service. I want to thank you again for your support of that fire training program. It does make a difference for those young people. And we are seeing more volunteers coming from those targeted neighborhoods, that was one of the concepts that we had early on was to see more young people getting involved in the fire service or emergency services field. So again thank you very much for that. Today, you might not know, but today across the road over here, between the courthouse and the annex, Travis County sheriff's officers are doing a little benefit, fundraiser, officer john carpenter's son died in a car wreck a couple of weeks ago. You might have heard about that. At i-35 and riverside drive. A young man, about 22 years of age, no insurance, unfortunately the accident that occurred. So today they are doing a lunch fajitas over there. We would encourage everyone to go over and support that effort, if you would. I think -- I was over earlier and some of the tcso people were over there. They have their shorts and t-shirts on prepared for a hot day. But the food was smelling really nice. So if you would, I encourage the other office people to go over and take part. That's what I had for you today. Again thank you so much for supporting that fire academy program. It makes a difference to our young people in Travis County.
>> thank you very much, keep up the good work, that's a good program. Producing good results. And more professional firefighters. Rusty sigmor?
>> I知 rusty sigmor, a resident a hamilton pool road, have lived there close to 22 years. Speaking on behalf of the road improvements, I have just taken an osha safety course, the instructor said that every time you see a stoplight it's because it has blood on it unless it's a planned subdivision. He said three to five people have been killed when you see a stoplight in rural area. We have quite a few people that were dead at the stoplight we finally put on at the end of hamilton pool road. Since then I致e had two employees what have flipped their trucks, been injured because they pulled off and there was no way to dodge a deer, to put their tire on the edge of the road. We see numerous accidents out there. I知 just really hoping that we can get some improvements out on there. It's really a dangerous thing. Now, I知 a nimby, not in my back yard, too. But the problem with that attitude that if you don't have responsible growth you are going to have problems. The people, the naysayers that I have only heard on this were the pseudo environmentalists that don't live out there and they have come out and they were nay saying the water line for years. They said the reason why is we have so much traffic and problem on that road. Now that the water line has been improved basically, they don't want the road improved. The most illogical thing that I have ever seen. The thing about responsible growth. I want to live in never land, too, but as a judge you cannot vote on no improvements and no growth. If you could, I would like you to vote on that and also to vote on me not aging anymore. But we don't have never land. And I just wanted to say as a citizen out there, we really, really, need some road improvements. Thank you.
>> thank you very much. Cameron willard, was that the speaker from the --
>> no.
>> okay. Good morning.
>> good morning.
>> good morning.
>> my name is carol willard. I live on hamilton pool road. I have been a property owner there for about five years. I would like to talk about how incredibly dangerous the road is and the endangered species is the human species. It is so narrow and dangerous that there's no shoulder, there's no bike lanes, when -- when two -- when two big trucks, even a car and a truck come next to each other, there's no room for error. A lot of times we have bikers there and when there's a biker on the road, there's no shoulder, the car has to come almost to a complete stop to get around them, then you cause almost a head-on fatality collision. So it really, really needs to be improved, it's very, very frightening road. Also it's a corridor. There's a -- school buses that come from Lake Travis high to dripping springs. They go back around fort. Trucks constantly are up and down that road. I have children. There's a lot of children that live along there. There is bee cave riding school that has a horse riding center, an arts school. There are 150 students that go there every day to ride horses. And at madrone ranch stables, there are 30 students there that go up and down and use that road so there's a lot, a lot of children high schools and riding horses going up and down that road. Please consider putting money to improve that road. Thank you.
>> thank you, ms. Willard. Ms. Clifton spoke earlier, right?
>> if you are holding citizens communication slip number 6, now is your opportunity. If you are not here on an item on the agenda. 7 and 8 are gone, too, maybe those residents are here on the landfill item. Number 9 is mark willard, he spoke, didn't he? Well, maybe he didn't. This is mark willard.
>> hi, my name is mark willard, I知 carol's son, I live along hamilton pool road. I知 16 and I just started driving and I知 also an avid mountain biker. I would like to say that hamilton pool road is very unsafe, especially between 71 -- 71 and ranch road 12. And I can definitely see as a mountain biker and a driver that it needs to be improved for the safety of everyone. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you, mr. Willard. Maryanne holland.
>> good morning.
>> good morning, any name is maryanne holland, I also live on hamilton pool road. I have been mountain biking and rock climbing out at rhyme mer's ranch, I知 excited about the beautiful place you guys are working towards keeping accessible for a long time for the residents. But I would also that along with that is going to come increased traffic and I live along on section of the road that is very narrow with no shoulders and no center lane. And so I would ask that you would also approve in your bond package money to ad shoulders for the cyclists, it's very windy, foggy days, curving road, you often ride up on a cyclist. We need to get shoulders so that the cyclists have a place to go. We have shoulders and we don't. A new driver thinks there's space, suddenly there's not. It creates a dangerous situation. I think a turn lane would also be helpful in that there's a lot of turns on and off the road. If someone is waiting to turn left it brings traffic to a dead stop, since it's very curvy and hilly, people often times don't have much visual lead on when they are going to need to stop. I would also ask that you put in a turn lane. And I would also ask that yeah for this -- for the sake of -- I drive up and down that road 8 or 9 miles of it every day with my own children. I remember a couple of years ago, bee cave art school, they were taking outdoor sculpture class. The kids and teacher and I stood there as we watched someone drive off the road, through a fence, flip their car over. A nurse from the school ran over and helped the person, they were all right. The people told me that this road was hexed. Because the kids have seen so many cars flip over there. The teacher told me they had a car run off the road toward the swimming pool at that school and catch some things on fire. Anyway it's a very curvy road. If we are going to increase traffic on the road by providing a beautiful rimer's park, a wonderful thing, it would be great to have a paved road into the park, right now that road is a long dirt road. That would be great, but we also need a way to get traffic safely to and from the park. So I appreciate all of your support. For the neighbor -- neighbors in my area, I appreciate your time today.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you. Anybody else for citizens communication, that is to address the court on any matter not on the agenda.
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, August 17, 2005 10:52 AM