Travis County Commissioners Court
August 30, 2005
Item 31
[One moment, please, for change in captioners]
>>
>> ...first of all, I want to thank the Commissioners and the judge for making time available to us today. Also being willing to address the issues that are facing the county's african-american citizens. First of all, let me introduce the folks here, my name is greg marshal, president and c.e.o. Of the capital city african-american chamber of commerce. To my immediate right is lisa bird who is executive director of the pro arts collective here in Austin. To her right is mr. Joseph barnes. Who is director of the alliance on african-american health care in central Texas and to his right is mr. Byron marshal, the president and c.e.o. Of the Austin revitalization authority and is clearly our most famous member here [laughter] as you well know, this is a process that has been going on for a number of years and has -- received a fair amount of -- of coverage and is -- is part of a great amount of effort here in the city right now. But given that 700,000 of the -- rather of the county's 800,000 residents, 700,000 of them also reside in Austin, we wanted to put forward a series of recommendations that will improve the quality of life of all county residents and particularly today we are talking about those of -- those citizens of african descent. I want to share a few key statistics with you just to set the foundation and what really got -- got this process going to a certain extent here. In our area. There's a study done recently and this statistics, while I admit are for the city of Austin given that -- that 700,000 of the 800,000 residents of the county do reside in Austin, I think that they are directionally correct. If you look at -- this study was based on recent census data. If you look at median family income, in -- in the area, african-american families have a median family income of $35,685 compared to white families at just under 70, 69,000, 898. The home ownership rate for african-americans is full ally less at 37.3 versus 50.4 for whites. Poverty rate is double at 19.5% versus 9.2% and the unemployment rate is more than double at 7.9 versus 3.2%. Clearly there's a disparity that exists for citizens here in the county. And based on some query that's were being done, with the city government, there was a study that was commissioned essentially to try and understand what the differences were. There were series of recommendations generated to address these issues, generated by the members of the african-american community through a series of community forums, conducted by r.j.w. Group solutions. Also a community driven town hall forum conducted at huston tillotson university. Conducted in April and in June respectively. Essentially, r.j.w. Group solutions made 23 recommendations regarding the quality of life here in the city. And in the county. The community then took a look at those recommendations and essentially expanded it out to a much larger list which frankly we have now to speak to you today have condensed frankly from about 60 recommendations down to about 22. We speak here today on behalf of that community. What we have done with those recommendations is to prioritize them into actions and solutions that we believe can be accomplished in the short or intermediate term versus those in the long term. We have also identified recommendations to assist in developing policies and -- effective policies and procedures and we also will -- will work to identify recommendations to ensure that there is accountability for these recommendations. And the opportunity to ensure and achieve maximum results. So we are going to take a look at these recommendations, there are 22 points here, let me just bring you up to speed on what the community had to say. The recommendations fall into six areas, the first of them is art, culture, entertainment, I値l going to turn it over to lisa bird to cover those points.
>> thank you, greg. Good afternoon, judge, Commissioners, thank you.
>> [indiscernible]
>> arts and culture are essential components to any community's violate. It connects us as individuals to the values and to the legacy of our cultural history. Greg gave us some acquaint nalysis of the status of african-americans in Austin and Travis County. Qualitatively we have some results from the studies conducted and the conversations that r.j.w. Group had with the community. In the quality of life research, the most common comments about living and working in the city of Austin and in the greatest -- greater Travis County area is the lack of a social and cultural infrastructure that reflects the african-american legacy. Change in progress requires effective partnerships between government and community organizations, arts organizations and artists are important players in that coalition as well. The community's recommendations look specifically in terms of the county at three areas. One is the Travis County exposition center. The county owned and managed facility hosts events from radios to sporting events to pop music concerts. We would like to develop a plan that allows african-american non-profit and for profit presenters and promoters who produce signature events such as Juneteenth events, the Texas relays and mlk day. Signature events to the african-american community celebrations to utilize the facilities at the expo center, with support from the county. Our next recommendation is in the area of cultural arts, heritage district. Cultural districts are a mixed use area in which a high concentration of cultural and arts facilities and activities occur. The recommendation reads to develop a partnership with a non-profit african-american arts organization to develop after school and summer arts programs ooult utilizing the historical landmarks, arts facilities and arts organizations designated within the cultural arts district. And finally, a cultural fund. Strategic support to educational, economic and cultural initiatives will foster opportunity, leadership and civic participation by african-americans in Travis County. The recommendation reads: develop partnership with a non-profit african-american arts organization to administer and african-american cultural arts fund. The fund provides technical assistance and financial support to non-profit and for profit efforts that promote artistic excellence, economic self reliance and cultural awareness. It's imperative that young people have access to and knowledge of their own cultural legacy. And the means to develop their own cultural production. These three recommendations we feel will ensure the continuation and evolution of african-american cultural heritage in this area. Thank you.
>> thanks.
>> thank you.
>> I知 going to cover the business and economic development area. There are five recommendations. Essentially they fall into it was categories, that of equal -- excuse me, economic development and that of -- of equal participation. The first recommendation is that we work with the county to partner with the african-american chamber of commerce to recruit businesses with a focus to Travis County, with a focus on african-american businesses to relocate, start up or expand here. Through the use of various tax and incentive packages. The county would -- wes that the county work in partnership with the chamber, the city of Austin and the greater chamber, and I think it's appropriate that mike rawlings is here today. I知 sure he's here expressing his solidarity and agreement with that. But that process is beginning to start with the other three parties, we are asking that the county through the use of its role in economic development and business recruitment also join that partnership as well. Those recruiting efforts also look to bring businesses in that -- that create and retain jobs here in the community that are actually slightly different than the profile that has been used in the past. While we are still very much in favor of the recruitment of basic industries, those that create wealth here, we think that there needs to be an effort to help recruit businesses that have a different employment profile. There are many of our citizens here that think -- that are smarter with their hands necessarily than their heads. So there needs to be some effort taken to find jobs and advancement opportunities for those companies that offer opportunities for low-tech, semi skilled or non-technical workers. Again using the various assortment of tax incentives abatements that are available to the county. The third program is to establish a -- a unified program to allow h.u.b. Subcontractors to leverage existing contracts with the public entity to attain either working capital, loans from existing loan program, or to take advantage of retainage within a contract to help fund start-up costs. This would be an opportunity to -- to remove a barrier that exists for those contracts for -- from which there are significant start-up costs from many businesses, as many african-american and h.u.b. Businesses tend to be. Along with that, the fourth program, better keeping with everyone else than I am myself. Would be to develop a process to increase actual h.u.b. Participation with Travis County vendor award contracts through the use of incentives as well as the use of consequences. To do that, we need to monitor the number and type of post award -- subcontractor substitutions, as well as rewarding businesses that promote diversity by including hub subcontractors in a proposal when goals have not been required or set in a county solicitation. That's the sum of the business and economic recommendations. I知 going to pass it over to joe barnes for a health recommendations.
>> good evening, judge Biscoe, Commissioners.
>> good afternoon.
>> thank you guys for inviting us here and I知 very appreciative of you guys stepping forward, taking the initiative to invite us. One of the things that we started out with, we said we want to have one team, one dream. And of course that included the african-american community. But then we realized that it also had to include the wider Austin community, which was very good for us, that the -- that the city council stepped forward. And when you guys stepped forward, it kind of gives greed dense to that -- creed against to that again -- cerrdence to that team and community has to be involved in that effort because what we are really talking about is exclusion, how african-americans have been excluded from a lot of the quality of life indexes. What I passed to you is the Travis County health and human services department mortality rate in 10 or 15 categories. And african-americans lead in 10 of those categories. The only two categories that -- that white Travis County residents lead in is influenza and suicide. So those are -- one is relatively minor and the other one is I don't know, must be the stress. But of the 15 african-americans lead in 10. Now, I知 with -- with an organization called alliance for african-american health in central Texas. One of the things that we are trying to bring the city and the county and the residents focus and attention on is why this disparity. Why are african-americans dying at a greater rate than everybody else? In 10 or 15 categories in this county? And not only that, we have looked at this and compared it to other counties and we are dying at a faster rate than african-americans in dallas and Texas in two and three of these categories. So when you want to talk about what would it take to attract african-americans, we need to know that we will pay attention to their health. So that's one of the jobs that -- that we are trying to bring with this new alliance is let's look at these disparities, what can we do about it. Now, when I was trying to -- to fashion these recommendations from the nine that we gave to the city, we had to try to fashion it to address what the county is capable of doing. One of the principles, streams, one. Principle programs that we feel will address this, this disparity, is a prevention team to go to areas of high african-american concentration. Clearly, this mortality data, only reflects the morbidity data, which means that we are affected by this illnesses greater than everybody else, one of the behaviors that we have found that leads to that is that we do not utilize our medical system. We do not utilize our hospital system. We utilize it more on an emergency basis than on a preventive basis. And we need to turn that around, not only for african-americans, but for all of our population. And we need to make a strong effort in this population because we have a history of not utilizing our medical system. And it is not all good. The reason why we have developed this pattern. But we can change that and we must try to change it and we think the prevention team to take our services to the community. Screening, prevention, education, eligibility, one of the human complaints that we have from the community was it -- it make take years to get into m.a.p. Programs and upon research we found out that there may be 200 people eligible for map services and they only have funding to serve 50,000. So that's 150,000 folk. Who are outside of that system. Who are on the shore, but outside of that system. So we must find ways to bring our services, take our services to that community and we have three or four areas strictly in the county that we know could utilize this system because they are farther away in terms of distance added to -- to our historical behavior of utilizing our medical system, particularly for prevention. So the first recommendation that we think is appropriate for the county is to work with the alliance in central Texas and the city of Austin, develop prevention team to focus services in county zip codes with high concentrations of african-americans and improve health status and access to primary and preventive health care services. Okay? The goal is to bring them into the system. This is a transition to not only take some services in education there, but to also be the vanguard of letting them know that maybe the system has changed from the 40s and 50s when we weren't allowed in the system or we had to go to a secondary system and not use what we knew was the best system or the best services available. A lot of folk don't know that the system has changed. That they are welcome and that they will be treated fairly and treated equally. A lot of folk don't know. So we must take that message to them and form that transition. That is the primary effort that we really would like to have the county's participation, the secondary strategy is to work -- to work and use your influence with the hospital district as it is developing to establish a clinic in the far northeast. We are looking at a corridor that runs up cameron, dessau road, up to maybe Pflugerville. Austin colony in the east. These are a -- are huge areas where there is no clinic specifically for people of color in that area.
>> okay.
>> right now, we have -- we have an interim program that we hope will at least get us an incubator clinic in that area, it's going to be in the saint john's effort which is an effort to see if we can fulfill the need and design on affordable service that we could later get funding for to put a fully full-fledged clinic. But we really need to have that service in that -- in that far northeast area and address some of the people in those areas who -- who really have nothing available. Okay. In terms of our ch -- services our community health centers, too far off. So we really need to put as much influence with the hospital district to look at developing a clinic that's -- what we call afro centric. It does not mean that it is uninviting to people of other groups but it is inviting to african-americans. I have seen this process with other groups, I walked into places where I knew hispanics were welcome, anglos were welcome, you can see it in the walls, on the staff. We need a facility like that, to provide quality service to everybody. But it's friendly to everybody, particularly a group that we are trying to target to bring them back into this system of care. Finally, we would like to continue to develop a program of information to the jail population. Not only about the information that you see contained in that mortality data, I think that education about those 15 areas, what the behavior is, what kind of changes are necessary to change those rates, but also we need to focus on our std rates. Drugs, h.i.v., hepatitis c, a lot of that in communities of color are -- circulate around, drugs, jail population. We did have a program that dealt kind of with std's in the jail, out on -- on -- in del valle. But I think we really need to fashion and taper our program to focus on std's, but also a wider range of illnesses that are contacting african-americans -- impacting african-americans. I think you guys for your attention, I really appreciate you allowing us to come here and talk about these issues. Particularly about this health issue when you look at that data. With that I think that I will turn it over to my brother byron marshal.
>> good evening.
>> hello.
>> how are you. I echo our thanks for you seeing us. And I知 going to try to get through this pretty quickly. I know we had a certain allotted amount of time. And I think that we have gone over it slightly. The area I want to speak on has to do with neighborhood sustainability. That area focuses primarily here on my recommendation for housing on commercial development. But it actually takes into account all of the other things that we have talked about here. Jobs in education, health, and other things that we are not talking about here. Safety and -- and services. What we are trying to do is -- is make Austin a place that -- that is -- is known nationwide for being a lays that's welcoming to african-americans. Now it's right now known as one of the best places in the country to create a business. It's also known as the number one place in the country for hispanics to live, work and play. Those are great things. It's the music -- live music capital of the world, self proclaimed, that's great. All of those things make Austin what it is, make it a -- one of the best managed and best places in the world to live. Where we want that -- that is not the experience for african-americans primarily. We think that's what it should be. That the recommendations that we are making, while they are targeted to attracting and retaining african-americans, really are for the benefit of the entire city. So my three recommendations really are in three broad areas. One has to do with mitigating the negative impacts of gentrification. Gentrification in and of itself is not a bad thing. It's just the displacement aspect that causes the most problems, both physical as well as political displacement. And the second issue is doing more to create affordable housing and the third is to create mixed income neighborhoods. To get to those three things, our first recommendation is that we develop a comprehensive approach to -- mitigating police placement through striking certain properties from the tax rolls and allowing them to be used as affordable housing. I think there was a project that came to you, project of american dream, maybe almost two years ago now that spoke of that kind of process where the city, county, other taxing jurisdictions could look at properties and determine that those properties might best be put back out at affordable house and allowing non-profits to create those. We think another look needs to be given to that and try to figure out a way to make that happen. There are a huge number of foreclosures in Travis County over the last year and there are more and more people on the edge who are likely to lose their homes and even from the c.a.n. Report. The vast joert of people in the county are spending more than 30% of their income on housing, which classifies them as really being -- being in need of affordable housing much even if you are spending 38%, that's people who make, 50, $60,000, they still need affordable housing based on that rule of thumb. We are thinking one of the best things we can too is try to add to that pool by, one, trying to keep people from losing their homes, by educating them on ways that they can -- have their taxes reduced on ways that they can manage their income and manage their budgets so they don't get into trouble in the first place. But if -- you know, failing -- if you don't succeed in either one of those areas, to then at least strike some of those properties so they don't become higher income house g and make them available to people lower or moderate income. Help non-profits help develop some of those things. And related to that is creating exemptions and tax relief for residents who, long-term residents who have been business owners in -- in areas that are rapidly appreciating. So that they don't get pushed out with the progress. They have stayed there through the tough times, so as things start to improve, we need to figure out a way to help them maintain their businesses. The second recommendation has to do with working on the land banks. You could have multiple land banks but the notion is that there has to be a way of contributing properties into these banks so that non-profits and others could make affordable housing available again. Whether it's -- whether you sell it, whether you have some kind of long-term rental, but if we don't figure out a way to help low income people maintain their homes, then the county becomes more of one of people being pushed out, moving further away. Just people who are [indiscernible] staying in the county, I知 sure that's not what really anybody wants to see. The third notion is really more focused on taking a comprehensive look at the overall mix of neighborhoods so we don't concentrate all of the affordable housing in one area. Breaking the cycle of poverty is a really difficult thing to do. I know the county stepped out with the housing finance agency trying to help people at least with the option to purchase homes, which is a really great thing. Part of what we are finding as we try to recruit people, send them to that programs and others, one many people really feel like they won't be able to buy a home and/or they are embarrassed to go out and take a chance on talking to a lender. They think that that program needs to be advertised more and maybe report back on people who were turned away as to why they are turned away, what can be done to improve that program. But along with that. We think it would be helpful for the city and the county, the two housing authorities and the two housing finance agencies to think through the best way of developing mixed income housing throughout the county so that people have a chance to come in, when -- in their starter homes, as winners, progress to home ownership and then to their final homes. But -- but to larger homes to -- this will they become empty nesters, do something different. We really believe the county made a really great stride by selling the bond, making it -- making it -- making home ownership more available. Just thinking it could be tweaked some and that is imperative that the city and county work together. So that citizens have a better chance of finding a place to live. That all of course -- one place with that. I wanted to speak to one area, which has to do with education. Once the particular aspect of education here is dealing with ex-offenders. One of the -- the statistics that greg talked about earlier on had to do with high unemployment. And a disparity between unemployment for african-americans and unemployment for the general population. We also talked about the disparity between median family income. And I suspect had he gone on to talk about the -- the in-- the incarceration rates, we would have continued to see that disparity. One of the problems that we have in trying to help people, take it back to housing again, we have sent people over to the finance agency so that they could try to buy a house. They have a job. Not a high paying job, but they have a steady job. The credit is not great, but it's not awful, either. But because they had -- a convicted felon, they are ineligible to participate in the program. Now, part of what we say in this society is that sending people to jail to be rehabilitated so when they come out, they should become an active part of the society again. If you can't buy a home, particularly in a market where the rent costs as much as the mortgage and why gasoline is going up, you know, exponentially, it makes it difficult for people to take care of their families, be contributing parts of the community. We would like the county and city and others to look at ways of incentivizing corporations to hire ex-offenders. Obviously you need to be logical. You are not going to hire a sex offender to take care of children. If somebody robbed a store when they were 20 or stole a car, maybe there's some other kind of job they can get now so that they can get their lives back in order. Those are some of the recommendations that we would like for you at least to think through in your own hiring and in the contracts that you put forward with others. With that I will turn it over to craig. To close this out.
>> that's it. Those are our 22 points. The -- the one thing that I wanted to add to the end of that is that -- that we as a community would work with those, it's one thing just to talk about these things, it's one thing to even say that we are going to do or once they are even adopted, it's quite another to -- to make sure that these things actually happen. Both by the letter and the spirit of the recommendation. We stand ready to work with -- with the county and its designees to help define what these outcomes would look like. What are outcome measures, what are performance measures, how can they be developed and communicated to understand what kind of job we are doing. Also to talk back to the community and understand what strides are being made. We think whatever progress is made needs to be communicated both not just with the folks working, but also the stakeholders, that being the community at large. So they can understand what really is happening. Even to the point of having at least an annual review in Commissioners court as a public meeting so that we can all assess our progress to date. Let me just finish up again by thanking you all for your time and your interest in giving us the opportunity to visit with you today. As -- as byron said earlier, this community is -- is an incredible place. That's where we live here, that's why it gets all of the national press, national attention. But we are not hitting on all 8 cylinders. One of those cylinders is misfiring. This community is a global competitor, it's a competitor for industry, tourism, jobs, recreational opportunities, all of those things, cultural opportunities. All of those things that go into making that he will loosive thing -- elusive thing that we call quality of life. We work with you to enhance that quality of life, not just from african-americans, but for everyone, every last vanderbilt in this community. As a first step towards improving that quality of life, we request that you approve all of the recommended actions and solutions and direct staff to be in develop -- to begin developing a quality of life action plan with input and assistance from the community to be worked and completed within 90 days. Again, we thank you for your leadership on taking major steps towards improving the quality of life for african-american citizens, which again improves the quality of life in turn for all of us here in Travis County as a hole, and we would like to entertain any questions that the Commissioners or the judge might have.
>> judge.
>> yeah.
>> again, I would like to thank you for this -- this great presentation. And I don't know if you have been paying attention as far as some of the things that the county has done, not perfect, we are trying to really work on some of these things. I recently sent a letter to the city manager, I think under -- assistants city manager mcdonald. Looking at opportunities for entertainment at the expo center, suggestions on that. And it's just a lot of things here, that -- that we are -- have been working on. We haven't done them all, I知 quite sure. But there is a lot of them that we have done. And have worked toward bringing about economic opportunities to this community. One of you recall the discussion that we had this morning, as far as looking at some of the -- of the incentive packages that we are offering some of these different corporations that are coming here, one of the things that we -- that we are stressing is that we do look at the economically disadvantaged situations whereby persons are not -- our ecelon of salary, median family income, you mentioned $35,000, we are asking that these folks do entertain in hiring practices and things like that, also job training, having a workforce in place to do a lot of things that we are asking to happen. We are active this morning on bringing infrastructure to a precinct or to eastern Travis County. An example, to bring the necessary development, economic development to that area, but you have to have first of all infrastructure to make a lot of these things happen. That -- that particular vote to do that as far as what's being placed on this coming November 8th bond election address some of the economic development outreach that we are trying to achieve here. Affordable housing, we have looked into this area, how can we make things more affordable. I can think of a subdivision out in the county called briar creek subdivision where we have asked those particular developers in this community who would like to participate in bringing affordability to a home is that we reimburse them for their plat expenses and things of that nature if they would allow a certain percentage of the homes that they construct be made available to those "median family incomes" I think byron brought up mixed neighborhood where you have a -- a neighborhood where it's composed of our moderate income, low income persons, all in one setting in the subdivision. So these are some other things and just a few examples of a lot things that I think we have been working on toward this goal of bringing some -- some development, economic opportunities. And address the needs of -- of a lot of concern that's have been met here today. That you have mentioned here today. The expo center is something that we continue to work on to bring about. If I had my way about it, we could have gotten a few things as far as using some of the tax limit dollars to generate hotel-motel bed tax so we could advertise that police a lot more to bring the kind of opportunity at that particular center that deserves it. That's an ongoing thing. I知 glad that you brought that up because one of the things that have happened here lately in I don't know if you remember, do -- during the Juneteenth month, that there was quite a good concert activity out there that was demonstrated, give you all a chance to participate in those, you saw that there was some events that were scheduled out there and the people that were actually doing it, jaguar, I guess they were the promoters, had new persons coming in here that really did attract a crowd. And of course those kind of things, but continue to work on. These are challenges and I think that we can all participate. We brought the hospital district. A new kid on the block. Let me just ask you this question to you. Especially on the health concern, thank goodness for bringing those health concerns up as far as mortality and a whole lot of other things. But let me ask this question of you. Have you gone before the hospital district board meetings and brought some of the same presentations, especially under these health concerns? That's big stuff there? Sir?
>> Commissioner Davis, we are scheduled for that. I would like to perhaps try to get the representative from your health department to accompany us. Because it is a collaborative community-wide effort.
>> we do have persons. I don't know how to judge -- what the judge want to direct us, to vote on that, but we do have categories on health and human services department that we work with, kind of like a joint effort between Austin Travis County health department, but we do have, health and human services department which of course we do looking at things. That would be a good candidate for that. There are a lot of things here that I知 looking at, you brought up something that kind of struck my -- it was basically talking about land banking and things of that nature. There was a -- there was a bill that was passed, just -- this past legislative session by sponsors -- representative eddie rodriguez and isn't it true gonzalo barrientos.
>> house bill 525.
>> house bill 525. Were you basically spinning off of some of those things when you brought up the land bank and land trust to look at the gentrification problem, stuff like that.
>> well, that bill begins to address some of the same issues, yes.
>> some of those same issues are referred to in that particular bill. I know that we had staff -- we had a staff person to meet with the -- chestnut neighborhood association association, scott iburn a whole bunch of stuff, there was a city initiative, per se, but I think there may have been room for the cities, the counties to participate if they choose to. But it was a lot of questions that the neighborhoods came up with from that meeting with harvey Davis who -- who briefed them on house bill 525 with the land banking and the trust and a whole lot of other things that were -- that were disseminated and discussed with those folks in that particular setting. So I think on the cultural aspect. I think there's things that we can do. I think that -- that it's a lot of progress that have been made. But it's a lot more room that needs to grow into all of these things and I -- I知 looking favorably to doing whatever we can possibly do to assist in what we can do as far as the county government is concerned to -- to ensure that we can do some of these things. And -- and as far as subcontracting, we've had problems. There's no doubt about it. We've had problems with some things as far as dealing with subcontractors. The primary and also the subrelationship. Sometimes it's not the best relationship in the world. We have been trying to mitigate that as much as possible. So that's still probably still some issues there that need to be looked at and I know that -- that the purchasing agent, cyd grimes, those folks like that, someone that could also probably get [indiscernible] because you did mention h.u.b. There's a lot of things here that I think that we have been -- we have touched on, but there's always room for improvement. And so I知 looking for the room of improvement on those things that we can actually do and improve upon. So I really do appreciate your presentation. And that was just a little overview of just some of the things, that's not all of them. But my colleagues have dealt with some of the same stuff that you have brought up, we have been dealing with this a little bit, so they may have something to say on it. I don't really know.
>> Commissioner Sonleitner.
>> a couple of questions, joe I知 so pleased that you are going to the hospital district. That was going to be my first question as well. Gee, if we can help you get scheduled. They have been inviting advocacy groups every single meeting, setting aside time to hear what are the outstanding needs in the community. So I知 thrilled that you are going to go there. I think they would be well served by your comments. Is it greg? Thank you. The one thing that I知 used to seeing as a continuing problem is the ability of our hubs and subcontractors to get bonds and insurance. And usually that's dealt with either with a rosip or isip in terms of rolling owner controlled insurance program. Or owner controlled insurance program. Was that still an issue out there, was that at all discussed in terms of another way that governments that do a lot of contracts could still be helpful? Or has that kind of -- has that kind of backed off in terms of being less an obstacle out there. I don't know that it's changing much, a lot of municipalities now are starting to do the self insurance thing and providing support to primes and subs to cut down [indiscernible] I know that the bonding issue is set by state law, there's not really that much to do. To be honest with you, in the city of Austin that's one of the things that they are wrestling with right now. Frankly the legal folks are more much am menable to changing the insurance requirements much more so than the risk management people. So that's a continuing challenge for us.
>> great. Byron, what is the -- what is the definition these days of an affordable house? What is that number? I know we all giggle about it. But what do you consider affordable housing? What do you think that range is?
>> [indiscernible]
>> is somewhere between 70 and $120,000. And because we found -- we are trying to not just capture people who are at 80% of the area median income but down to about 50%.
>> tied into that, although 70 is not going to be that number, you are going to find that product up in the cities of manor and the cities of Pflugerville. And so it's just a question of terms of focus here. I appreciate the fact that we do have a serious issue in the city of Austin on affordability. You are not going to find a $70,000 home I don't think anywhere in the city limits. But are we still thinking that it's a positive thing for partnerships and things to be occurring out in the Pflugerville area and out in the manor area. I remember seeing a wonderful story, I think jeff travillion was one of the stars of it, a large group of folks middle class african-american choosing to buy homes, affordable, in this range even more so up in Pflugerville and they live in Pflugerville and they still go to church in east Austin. So they are not losing their roots in their community. I知 just trying to understand it in terms of we have a problem in Austin, but we want to make sure because we all represent many cities here, that there are still good efforts to affordability occurring in other cities and that we don't want to sound like we're being exclusive here in terms of where there is -- there are partnerships possible because there are -- those communities are big-time becoming more and more mixed and in terms of income levels, in terms of diversity, all of the good things that I think are very consistent with what your report is saying, that is that, you know, all boats rise, good things happen, we want everybody to be part of the american dream. We are mindful that we are talking to the county and not the city. I知 not suggesting that people should not live anywhere in the county. I think that's a very good thing. We should try to -- people here from fort worth and from Williamson county, but I guess what we are trying to say overall is that -- is that when there's a dearth of affordable housing that there needs to be more, I think with partnerships we can create whether it's in the portion of Travis County that's in the city or anywhere else in Travis County.
>> my final question is really it's more of a contact question, we are not yet completed in terms of building out our parks, northeast in Pflugerville east, manor, southeast. East of del valle, certainly we are working on things in the west as well. But it's just to make sure that we can get stakeholders in to tell us what kinds of things do we need to be programming in terms of facilities, et cetera. At these large metropolitan parks that we have invested lots of money in, there are three of them that are all east of the interstate in areas where we have the traditional populations of african-americans to make sure that we are not forgetting something that could be part, the same kind of program, programming at Travis County expo. Are there some things that we need to be thinking more about, and how do we bring more folks to the table to tell us what they want on our parks. Because we have got some wonderful opportunities there and we're not finished and I would hope that there would still be wonderful opportunities for people to say here's how you can make them even better. I want to put an open invitation there, please help us in our parks.
>> Commissioner Gomez?
>> one of the things that I -- that you kind of -- you kind of caught my interest and that's on the land banking and certainly I think that you probably would have a lot more information than we do on how to do that. But I think county government does need to modernize in such a way that it -- that it -- that it finds different ways of addressing the affordable housing issue. The -- the striking off a -- vacant lots to -- to a group that can kind of -- develop some affordable housing instead of some of the housing that I see -- in -- infilling in the city of Austin and it's -- it's really wild housing and it doesn't fit in with the rest of the neighborhood. And I don't know where those designs come from, but they surely -- I see them vacant. [laughter]
>> no, I think -- I think they come from the west coast. [laughter] they are vacant. They are built and they raise the value of the properties in the neighborhood. It messes up the whole look of the neighborhood the way it originally was and I think people are moving out and so the gentrification is -- is occurring but I don't think it's a positive change. And so -- so I would be really interested in working with you to see if we can come up with some different ways of -- of approaching infilling, because that has an effect on the neighborhood and the families who live there. Or who -- who may be could live there. Because I think that you -- that we had the -- the 70, 80, 90,000 homes there. They are not -- their homes are still there, but they are being, the value is being pulled up and that -- that just can't be. You know, there -- you will of a -- all of a sudden they go from 80,000 to 120, 125,000. That can't be. All it does is price people out of the neighborhood. And I sure don't want to lose those families to another county. I want them to stay here, and they are pretty about folks. And -- pretty good folks. I guess that I have known a lot of those people a long time. I really hate to lose 'em. But I really would like to work with you on that. I think county government, the time has come for county government to look at those issues a little bit differently and not just foreclose and not just push people out of the county. And so I would be real interested in working with you on that.
>> I値l call you soon.
>> all right.
>> Commissioner?
>> you know, I was entertained by, you know, going through this, I had read it in a lot of detail, because I really, you know, watched a lot of city council meetings, watched a lot of the testimony. As a matter of fact I was down there one night in the chambers when all of this was going on. It's striking to me that there is something glaringly omitted from this finding to me. That is where is the concentration on the family? All of this? This is not just just the african-american family y'all. This is the american family, as far as I知 concerned, I mean, the african-american community are americans. I will tell you unless we somehow find a way to get a handle on the family, in america, I mean, it doesn't make any difference how many things we get involved with here. Unfortunately, quality of life to me, I think that most people you say what is qualities of life, quality of life means that you can make a living, you can make a living, raise, afford the members of the family, all of the members of the family, still have something to do where, you know, you think this is just fine. It's kind of like, you know, somebody -- as a matter of fact it was a pretty well known coach here in town said three things that I think that you need Gerald in life, you need somebody to love, you need somebody to love you, you need to have something to look forward to. You need to have, you know, the ability to make an honest wage. Now, when somebody says what's affordable housing, an affordable house to somebody that makes a half million dollars a year, an affordable house is, you know, a $300,000 house. I mean, about you if you make $21,000 a year, I mean,, you know, an affordable house to you is probably 30, 40, $50,000. I don't know where all of us wonder where you find those, but I am -- I am constantly challenged because -- all of us are challenged with -- with how do you really go and instill in people that the one thing that you got to get is you got to get an education. If you don't get an education, I bet you all of you all have educations. I mean, I致e got a number of african-american friends, very close friends, and they live everywhere from northwest hills to east Austin. But the one thing and -- they all seem to have a pretty good quality of life. The one thing that they have, is they got an education. Now some of them I mean, else son's family in east Austin, one of 13 kids. I guess when your father is pastor, you know, you go to school, you get an education and you make it work. I don't know how to do that y'all. I would love to be part of sitting down with the african-american community and saying what can I do, what can I do to help. I will say when you know the numbers, the numbers aren't pretty, the numbers are staggering on the after school programs that we have, especially out of the minority communities. We throw a lot of money at those deals. I致e wished that we got more out of them because I think what we all do is we throw money at these deals because it makes us feel good, not to say that it doesn't helps some but I have always thought that it doesn't do a lot of good to throw money at a deal when a kid, you get them a program, they have to go home to a deplorable situation at home and you know he's influenced or she's influenced a lot more by that. But just maybe there's another part of this, that's the family. But I didn't -- there is nothing in here about how do we handle and how do we tackle that. I listen to, you know, reverend lands and parker and everybody talk about it, you got a chance when you got them in church, if you can't get them there, it's -- it's hard to -- it's hard to deal with that. You all, I知 -- I could say, you know, let me sign-off on, there are plenty of things that I can sign-off on. But you know what I think is -- is terrible is just paying you lip service going sign we'll sign-off on thing, we will do it in 90 days. But will we really have something for you in 90 days that we really, that you all can really take to the bank, say, you know, there's something really good out of this thing. I -- I don't know how to make sure that we get it done. But I think that the -- that the part that we have got to tablg kel first is -- is finding a way that that family unit understands that -- that unless we find a way to keep them together, I don't know that there's enough money that we can generate. To really -- to really have the effect that you all want. I think when you get to be an adult, a lot of this is -- not to say there aren't some of these things that you could see as the kind of cultural things. Kids don't -- kids do understand cultural things, but what they understand more, in my opinion is that, I mean, am I going to have a meal? Does somebody care whether or not I bring my book home at night and study, does somebody care, do I have something to put on in the morning and can I go to school and not have all of these pressures on me and I don't know, you know, again it's not just the african-american community, but unfortunately the common denominator is poverty. It's poor. It doesn't make any difference what color your skin is if you are poor. Unfortunately. Being poor a lot of times equates to not being educated. And boy that is a bad combination. The quickest way to get to poor is not to get educated. The thing that you look at mostly to find out if somebody is not educated is we can't get that family together. Maybe we have got another part of this thing that I would like -- I would almost rather work on that part than -- but I知 happy to help.
>> okay.
>> the -- the recommendations here were crafted in a particular way. The notion was that the government would only be asked to do those things the government can do. There was no need going to the city to asking them to build new schools or asking the county to build new schools. What we need is the opportunity to have jobs so people can take care of their own families, we need the opportunity to live in decent neighborhoods so kids can have a good neighborhood to grow up in. To have the culture perpetuated to people will come back to town. There's no question that the family is at the core of all of this. What we are trying to do is get a level playing field for those things where folks need help and let them work on their own families.
>>
>> [one moment please for change in captioners]
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, August 31, 2005 12:10 PM