Travis County Commissioners Court
September 18, 2007
Item 36
>> now, we do have residents here on number 36, which is to consider and take appropriate action on request for a collaboration resolution from ridgetop and north field neighborhood associations regarding urban change in central Austin. Good morning.
>> good morning.
>> if we can get those resident to come forward. We did make available the other information you provided previously first let's give you the opportunity to make any comments you have.
>> thank you very much, judge Biscoe and Commissionerers I'm martha ward. I'm with the ridgetop and northfield planning area. And with me is--
>> kim bern steen, president of the ridgetop neighborhood association.
>> welcome to both of you.
>> thank you. We're very grateful for your consideration of this resolution. We sue had this as a tremendous opportunity to break new ground in relationship between local government and community to create positive mutual benefit changes across the board. I think when you look at the resolution, it has different aspects to it that I'm hoping that individual Commissioners may find of particular interest and will let us know so that we can work more closely with them on how these things can be moved forward into the dialogue of the community. It's really a communications that I think is going to be a model across the whole area.
>> the part of airport boulevard where the county, newly acquired facilities are.
>> right.
>> is in which one of these?
>> actually, its officially is in ridgetop.
>> okay.
>> right across the street on the other side of airport boulevard begins north field. So it's really an interface between these two communitiesokay.
>> and that's very important to us.
>> all right.
>> as well as we have an elementary school in that area which has been an exceptional school, and we work very closely with it and then as you are seen from the resolution, there are a number of services that the county has moved into the area which is a complement to our great number of nonprofits that are already functioning in our area.
>> as far as we know, we have been there now about two years, two or three sm.
>> yes, and growing.
>> growing and feeling more at home.
>> good.
>> we try our best to be good neighbors.
>> I think that's been working very nicely. We meet occasionally with roger o curry about various things as well as john carr, the facilities manager locally. When I'm walking in morning through the neighborhood I encounter employees from the neighborhood who are making use of our nicely shaded streets and enjoying a morning walk. I just saw dan out into the hall and he was talking about the wellness program that is going to be, is already active and will be more active in the future.
>> right.
>> and how we might work together with the community and county health project. So I think it's very exciting. The other piece of course is the development of the property at 53rd and the airport as it should move forward as the county property and the redevelopment of that and how that can trulien a community civic interface so that the presence of the county offers an opportunity for the local community to have a place to come in the evenings and on weekends as well as during the day, that we feel a part of rather than being buildings that open at seven and close at five. We are looking for something that is of mutual benefit to the county, its employees, its customers, and the community.
>> okay.
>> what are the limitations that we have in the county for trying to interface? I think it sounds like a great idea. Probably would be a neat project. Is that something that we can do pretty easily is this.
>> we have to look at each one to be certain that there is statutory authority for the county to do. And it would have to be on a case by case basis ace to whether or not it was sole we were authorized.
>> just so you know there may be some limitations that we have.
>> uh-huh.
>> so that you wouldn't try to change those or modify if there are things that made sense. I think there's a lot of good in making a building not look like just a municipal budding. How could you really interface that with the community. Just bear in mind that we sometimes think we have great ideas and notions for this stuff and find out, oh, didn't know we couldn't do that. Obviously, we can do some of it. I think this building when we first bought it, didn't it have private folks here?
>> insurance company.
>> yeah, I think the portion that's going to be carried through this whole piece is the active communications, staying engaged and involved. Regardless, at one level, of what the physical structure may ultimately look like, it is going to be the relationship of the people who come to work there every day in our community and the community itself as well as the people that it serves. I think the communication and collaboration can exist, hopefully supra to any limitations that may otherwise be imposedthanks to.
>> thanks to you all for starting the dialogue early so it stays in the frontal lobe. Very important. You all have done a free men douse job.
>> thank you.
>> (inaudible) relationship with the yitis an ever morphing entity. Certainly with health and huge services, certainly as you know, the day labor center is in our neighborhood. Kim serves as advisory member for almost two years, 14 months, on the development of a second day labor site as well as ultimately utilizing the site there. So now, for instance, just to give an example, our neighborhood currently is using the day labor site quarterly for our neighborhood meeting. So this is a small incremental transition towards opening communications, having a shared presence, and getting additional value of mutual benefit.
>> in large measure due to you all's incredible organizational skills.
>> thank you.
>> community organizing skills.
>> and happy birthday.
>> thank you. Boy.
>> and you will invite us to make any changes we deem necessary to the draft resolution that they have provided. No changes so far.
>> no changes so farment i--so far. I would hope the changes would be part of the communication as we go forward.
>> we kind of put this on the back burner when we get heavily involved in the budget process. That's about over, and I thought I would go ahead and stick it on the agenda. Maybe what we ought to do is put this on sort of the format, resolution format that we can execute and before making any changes, we'll let you know. So far, though, no changes. Now that it's on the front burner and we can think about it a bit more, we may have a few.
>> I'll look forward to being, we all look forward in our community to being in communication about that. I'll be happy to be the point person for that for the time being. I look forward to working with you.
>> shall we say two weeks instead of one? Give ourselves a deadline of.
>> the second.
>> can we give ourselves a deadline, what is the Thursday before at noon?
>> 27th.
>> September 27 at 12 noon. If we haven't contacted you by then, we don't have any changes.
>> September 27, 12 noon. Thank you.
>> thanks for coming down.
>> look forward to it. Thank you.
>> . Also would like to acknowledge steve swanson here with community energy mishtive. He has given us some nice guidance.
>> we're fortunate to know mr. Swansonlve we thought he was just down here observing the court today. Thank you. There is an annual holiday calendar on the agenda. I thought would I take the residents there because I promised them we would call it up at about eleven o'clock. Number 27, I thought it would be just good to discuss these publicly so the world would know.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, September 19, 2007, 18:30 AM