Travis County Commissioners Court
November 8, 2005
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next, and two citizens have signed in. Gus and lucio pena. And they will be followed by jennifer gale.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners. Gus pena, good to be here with y'all again. I致e been very busy with my boys' schooling, so I haven't been able to attend. I would like for y'all to really remember what veteran's day is all about. I know it's not memorial day, but I would like everybody to recognize those who have fallen and that's what memorial day is for. But especially remember my friend, fellow zavala classmates and johnston iets also. Even though this is veterans day, not memorial day, a memorial time for our families, friends and fellow veterans to not only recognize current military members, but also our friends. I knew the last infantryman to die in vietnam. And I hope they rest in peace. Remember the veterans and the sack rice fies that they made for us. I served in the united states marine corps and I知 very proud of it. I would do it again, but we also have problems in the communities nationwide that the veterans' needs are not being held, health care, job wise, affordable housing, not this title that they say is affordable housing, $100,000 or $150,000 for a house. That's not affordable to us. Also, 40% of the local population -- of the homeless population are veterans. Remember that. And they're falling through the cracks everybody. One last thing that I wanted to say and I will wrap up quickly is that I know it's not politically correct what I知 about to say, but we all appreciate the help that the hurricane katrina and rita victims have received, but remember the poor in Travis County and a lot of their needs are not being met. And if you talk to other social service providers you will find this is not correct. You call the churches and organizations, they don't have the funding to provide the needs for the families. You've seen a lot of homeless families out there now, people who can't pay their rent, they're homeless. No transitional housing. I致e been telling y'all that we need more transitional housing for families, not singles. They have more than they do for families. We need to remember that. And not only dialogue, but work something out to have a funding mechanism and talk to the federal officials also. One last thing also, we do appreciate the fundings for more corrections officers. I can tell you that the inmate ratio to corrections officer is scary, pretty scary. And I wouldn't take that job for anything, even though I知 pretty tough, but I wouldn't do that. And we appreciate the funding that I believe -- I may be incorrect, but in the budgetary cycle for court appointed attorneys. They do need more funding. They do a lot of work for the local inmate population. But somebody's hero, every one. Here is my buddy. Remember the veterans, not just on veterans day and memorial day, but remember what they did and we did. I served in the united states marine corps, I will serve again if called on my country to iraq or anywhere else, but you need to help out everybody else, but help the veterans also who are falling will you the cracks. Thank you very much for allowing me to speak my piece. And I brought my boy lucio so he can also witness this civic course in action. Thank you very much.
>> lucio, you got any comments you want to make?
>> no, sir.
>> he's not like dad.
>> jennifer gale is next.
>> thank you, Commissioners court. Hi, Travis County. It's election day. All you need is a driver's license, that's it. And please vote on -- just read all the propositions, make a determination about whether you feel for or against, but please vote against proposition 2. Commissioners Gomez, Daugherty, Sonleitner, Ron Davis and county judge Sam Biscoe, good morning. November 10th is the marine corps' 230th birthday. Let's sponsor a resolution ending the war with the republic of iraq in support of our military. The city of Austin continues to have two members on the Austin city council despite an interpretation on September 15th, 2005 showing that lee leffingwell and betty dunkerley had complaints filed against their petitions. Both were insufficient, many not legal signatures. Our city clerk simply ignored the laws. Our city councilmembers are also violating the constitutional rights to survival to Austin's homeless in regards to sleeping, and asking for money. Despite Travis County magistrate jim coronado's court order telling them that they were violating these laws. My name is jennifer gale, in a candidate for governor of the state of Texas. I知 asking on proposition 2 to vote against it. It's a matter of life and death. We've had two suicide attempts in the last week. We lead the state of Texas in suicides. Many of these are gays and lesbians that have done nothing wrong. These people are no different than anyone else as our eye color is any different or our hair color is any different or the color of our skin. This doesn't make us any different. And the bible doesn't say to treat them poorly and not allow them to marry. Let your children know you voted to secure their right to love either a boy or girl, that their love is as natural and beautiful and innocent as any love could ever possibly be. I知 jennifer gale, as a candidate for the governor of Texas, I will provide the kind of leadership that when you look into your son or daughter's eyes as you send them off to enjoy their lives that they're free to love whom they choose. To enjoy the freedom from hate and frustration that the hate group a couple of days offered. That you will be responsible for the destigma tiesization from those people who don't understand why people have hazel, violet or green or brown eyes like they do. A texan cannot change their sexuality. It's natural. It's part of who you are. Just as the 19th amendment to the constitution gave us the right to vote, let's give texans the right to marry the woman or man of your dreams. This Friday at 9:00 o'clock we have a veteran's day parade. Let's all get together and enjoy it. It's a lot of fun. See you there. Thank you.
>> judge, we also have an aawns noment.
>> Commissioner Sonleitner, I would like to thank the Commissioners court for supporting the gay and lesbians community. Thank you.
>> we have an announcement out of our office. We have a brand new precinct 2 resident as of yesterday. The child of two very die hard u.t. Alums, my executive assistant gretchen and paul nagy. We finally got a name last night. It is nathan (indiscernible) nagy. He joins his big sister natalie. So we have nate and natalie and nate will be making his first public appearance, he's looking forward to it, at the aggie pay back dinner a couple of days from now, joe. And gretchen is believe it or not, watching this as we speak, so clearly the pain pills are not working. So gretchen, please turn this off, get some rest and we look forward to having you back at work and again, we're very blessed that everything is cool with paul and natalie and nate and natalie.
>> congratulations. One final announcement, from the Travis County combined charities committee. At this time last year we had raised $57,347. As of yesterday we had raised $66,000. So we are about eight thousand dollars ahead of where we were this time last year. The other thing is that last year we raised a total of $133,000 compared to 128,000 the year before, so last year was an increase of 5,000 over the year before, and the good news is that November is always our biggest month, and as gus pena said a few minutes ago, we did a fine job helping the evacuees from hurricane katrina and hurricane rita, but we also have local residents in need and we have used campaign funds historically to help children and families, those suffering from health and wellness issues, those with learning and literacy disabilities, those in need of basics such as food, clothing and shelter to cover safety and security matters, environmental issues, international stuff, etcetera. The note that I was handed indicates that residents of Travis County suffer from a variety of illnesses and many of them cannot deal with these issues alone, and combined charities is to give us collectively an opportunity to assist, and so the plea from the judge this morning is that those who gave last year, please give as much, and if you can give more, that would be appreciated also. If you were not able to give last year, please consider giving this year. Our goal is to make sure that we let everybody know, so getting out the message to 100% and increasing the percentage of participation over last year and what we would like to do this year is to raise more than the $133,000 that we raised last year.
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:
Tuesday, November 8, 2005 6:21 PM