Travis County Commissioners Court
May 30, 2006
Citizens Communications
Citizens communication is next. This gives residents an opportunity to address the court on any matter not on the agenda. And for up to three minutes and two citizens have signed in. Jimmy as castro and gus and lucio pena. Mr. Castro.
>> thank you, judge. Good morning judge Biscoe, Commissioner, staff, I do have slides to show you this morning. I知 here to speak on my own behalf. I would like to remind everyone of this year's children's miracle network celebration, to benefit children's hospital of Austin, Saturday and Sunday June 3rd and fourth. All money raised from the central Texas area during the celebration will be earmarked for children's hospital of Austin. It is the only dedicated pediatric medical facility serving a 46 county region offering world class specialty care for families throughout central Texas. The Austin pediatric medical education is a residency program that offers a well rounded balanced training experience for our country's finest medical school graduates. The pediatricians of tomorrow, medical students and residents, play an important role in caring for children. Some of the departments and program at children's hospital of Austin include the child life department, the specialty care center, the children's asthma program, the juvenile diabetes team, the children's therapy gym, the children's emergency center, the children's emergency center at children's hospital of Austin is one of only five dedicated pediatric e.r.'s in Texas and the only one in central Texas. The pediatric intensive care unit is staffed 24 hours a day, by especially trained team of doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists. The childhood cancer and blood disorder center, the children's hospital foundation of Austin, the neonatal intensive care unit provides the most comprehensive care in the state for newborns and infants with medical or surgical problems. The new dell children's imaging center creates space for onsite radiology and ultrasound capabilities. The expanded children's surgery center is the only one in central Texas dedicated exclusively to children. The pediatric critical care transport team is available on a 24 hour basis, comprised of registered nurses and a registered respiratory therapist. The children's regional heart program has a long and distinguished history of service to patients from throughout the state and the world. Finally, what really makes children's hospital of Austin different is people. People who can leave work each day knowing they have made the difference in the life of a child. Thank you, judge and Commissioners.
>> thank you, mr. Astro. Castro. Gus and lucio pena.
>> [inaudible - no mic]
>> judge, Commissioners, good morning my name is gus pena, to my right and to your front is my beloved son lucio who is going to be a freshman next year, where we don't know, but we are trying to pick out a good school. I知 over here to address the issues, number one, of the proposed -- I guess it's called the Travis County mental health public defender office. We have been in dialogue in the community out there with many people who have -- who have family members that are incarcerated and some of them have mhmr problems. Now, I値l tell you this much, and I leave it up to my good friend jerry morris who I know you all know very well was a criminal defense attorney and you remember I was a bailiff at municipal court here at criminal district court, I will leave it up to him, one of the most knowledgeable individuals on these issues, I don't know what the structure is, if there is an advisory committee whatever you want to style it, have the bar association involved in this issue also because I highly respect the opinion and opinions of mr. Morris, mr. Jerry morris and other criminal defense attorneys such as david shepherd and mr. John butler and several that have been friends of mine for many years. Listen to them, they know what they are talking about. They represent a lot of families out there. Number two, judge, I知 said to it the mayor this morning, in a voice mail, we need the children's programs, summer youth programs fully funded, keep the kid and youth active in participating in programs otherwise you are going to lose them to gangs. You heard that there is an increase of gang membership, school district didn't want to listen to me. We helped bust the gangs back in '94, they don't want to listen to me that there have been establishing gangs within the schools. Now, these programs, whether the city and elsewhere, provided viable opportunity to keep the kids off of gangs and off the streets. So I understand that -- that the city of Austin needs to fully fund their -- their summer youth programs, I have addressed it with them already, but I知 making it known to the people on television. Number 2 the neighborhood centers have lost grant funding for bus passes. You know a lot of people, the poor, needy, have nots do not have alternative transportation. This is very important, please look into that. I know that I mentioned that to mayor wynn this morning. Also we need the funding for bus passes at the neighborhood centers. Number 3 I want to thank mr. David evans, mildred, david Gomez and rudy zapata of the Austin Travis County mhmr program. We have a lot of people, homeless people on the streets. One specifically I will mention her first name, her name is miss carroll, very articulate, highly educated. Mhmr issues and problems. She's on the street, I called mr. Dave evans to see if we could find a place for this sweet senior citizen. Sent outreach counselor out there, mr. Zapata found a safe place at safe haven I think it is. We know that Travis County mhmr does not have enough funding to provide, I will wrap up. Street counselors. You go to the people in the streets, go to the kids in the streets, you don't wait for them to come to you to ask for help, they are doing a good job, I知 asking the parks beat, at the capitol, legislature to helpfully fund Travis County mhmr. Thank you very much, good to see you all again. Have a good day.
>> thank you, gus.
>> anybody else for citizens communication, whether you signed in or not? Okay.
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, May 31, 2006 9:38 AM