Travis County Commissioners Court
September 25, 2007
Citizens communication
Citizens communication is next. Jimmy castro has signed in. And I think the others that I have here were actually here on item number 2.
>> we did not sign in, judge, nelda and I didn't. We need to have a moment.
>> this gives residents an opportunity to address the Commissioners court on any matter not on the agenda for up to a full three minutes. Mr. Castro.
>> thank you, judge. Good morning, judge Biscoe, Commissioners and staff. My name is jimmy castro. I'm here to speak on my own behalf. As more universities make genuine efforts to recruit hispanic students, the number one question parents ask is which schools are the best in the nation. The results are in. The hispanic business magazine September edition features schools that rule. The top 10 best schools for hispanics in business, engineering, law and medicine. The top 10 business schools for hispanic students, according to hispanic business magazine, rank number 2 in the nation the university of Texas at Austin, mccomb school of business. The top 10 best engineering schools for hispanic students rank number 1 in the nation the university of Texas at el paso, college of engineering. Ranked number 6 in the nation, the university of Texas at Austin college of engineering. The top 10 best law schools for hispanic students rank number 3 in the nation the university of Texas at Austin school of law. The top 10 best medical schools for hispanic students rank number 1 in the nation the university of Texas southwestern medical school of dallas. Ranked number 4 in the nation the university of Texas medical branch at galveston. Ranked number 5 in the nation the university of Texas health science center at san antonio. Ranked number 7 in the nation the university of Texas health science center at houston. This is why we need to continue the push for the university of Texas medical school at Austin. The intent is to fortify two crucial components of the Austin economy, scientific research and health care. Austin is the nation's second largest city after phoenix with no medical school. The lack of a medical school and only one teaching hospital is certainly a detriment to growing the biotechnology sector in Austin. Most of the successful biotech parks try and link themselves with a medical school. Unless the Austin area attracts a medical school, associated research dollars, companies and jobs will continue to be lured to other areas such as raleigh-durham, north carolina, san diego and seattle. Thank you, judge and Commissioners.
>> thank you, mr. Castro. Dana debouvier and nelda wells spears.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
>> good morning.
>> good morning.
>> we're not here to ask you for anything.
>> [laughter]
>> that makes me a lot more comfortable.
>> what we would like to do is to -- we're hear to bring you a thank you note. We have signatures from virtually 100% of the employees in the administrative family in county government who brought their case before you and the court acted, and very briefly we would just like to read their heartfelt thank you to you. It will take us just a second. And we would also request that the court accept the signatures into the public record. We the undersigned employees of Travis County would like to thank you for the vote that you took on September 5th, 2007, regarding compensation issues. We are deeply appreciative for your work to ensure that our salary levels match the jobs we perform, recognition is given to our levels of knowledge, skills and experience, and outstanding performance is rewarded. We are also grateful for your long-standing efforts to provide cost of living adjustments to all Travis County employees.
>> we are very aware of the difficult decisions you face every year when preparing a budget. We know from our own experiences as residents and from what we see in our jobs how community needs and expectations keep growing at a rapid pace. We know you carry the heavy burden of protecting our community's health and safety. We understand that voters rely on you to provide a high level of service while at the same time ensuring taxpayer money is spent wisely. That is why we want to thank you for the priority you give to the human resources that make county government possible. We thank you for your understanding, the struggles we face in trying to make a decent living for our families and ourselves. We thank you for acknowledging the commitment we have to our jobs and to the public we serve. We thank you for making us feel respected and appreciated. And it is signed by the people in the administrative job family.
>> there's probably 300 signatures here, would you guess?
>> uh-huh. Tax office, county clerk's office and district clerk.
>> thank you for the arm twisting
>> [inaudible].
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you all.
>> thank you.
>>
>> [inaudible] goss. You didn't sign in? We'll get you next. No problem. Mr. Goss.
>> good morning, Commissioners. I'm retired construction worker. I'm not real good at public speaking and this is my first time in front of the Commissioners court, and I may have the wrong agenda for this. I'm here to speak to you today about the concerns of the residents of the montopolis area and the henry sector which is -- what is it, central southeast command? We've got serious crime problems in those neighborhoods. And we've organized and we're looking into what's going on, and what we're finding out is a.p.d. Is doing its due diligence. It's making the arrests. What's happening is these people are getting into the the court system, they are getting back out on p.r. Bond, on minimal cash bonds. We've got serious problems over there. At 707 short kemp we have a crock house that's been in exist continues for 12 years. I've told people about this. They say how do you know it's a crack house. I say just drive by and take a look some Friday or Saturday afternoon or sundown. They come back and they just look at me and go, oh, my god, how do those people get away with that. It's that bad. It's been there 12 years. I can't imagine any other part of Austin having a house like this that's been in existence for 12 years. This house has finally, finally entered the first stages of the abatement process. A.p.d. Has done three search warrants and over 12 buy busts in front of this property in the last three months. That's how serious it is. I have an e-mail from -- that was sent to me. It went to our new police chief. And what really concerns me is this is eight people that were arrested out in front of this house on September 13th. Of these eight, two have very, very long criminal records. One of these gentlemen is only 18 years old. He's been -- he was arrested for possession of a controlled substance, manifestation of drugs. His check of criminal history shows aggravated assault, assault, burglary of a habitation. Burglary of a building, theft, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, criminal mischief, possession of a controlled substance, public lewdness, engaging in organized crime and evading arrest. This man is 18 years old. This is his adult record. That means that all this has occurred within one year. He has a t.d.c. Number. I don't understand how with that record he received less than a year's sentence because he's already off parole or probation. He's not on any form of court supervision. Less than a year for all those prior felonies? That's beyond me. I don't know if this commission has any influence on the municipal judges, on the county judges, on the district judges. We need help from those judges. I've talked to john hunt at the district attorney's office. I've received a letter from ronnie earle and they tell me they do what they can do, but eventually it's up to the judges to set bonds for these people and to set, you know, for final sentencing. And I'm at a loss as to what's going on. I don't understand this resolving door policy at the Travis County jail. These guys get arrested, I've got one here that was arrested -- he was arrested Thursday a week ago. He was back out there selling crack Sunday. They did a search warrant on the house again. He got arrested Tuesday. He's back out on the street selling crack this morning. Something is wrong with that picture. I mean I realize that Travis County is basically a liberal county and I look at it and Williamson county which has the strongest drug sentences in the united states and think god, can't we reach some sort of happy medium between travis and Williamson county? Something that's not too light but at the same time doesn't send somebody to prison for life?
>> you are about a minute over.
>> I'm sorry. Thank you very much. I hope you all can have some effect on this.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, jack kerfman representing sfscme. Just wanted to thank the court for the hard work you did on this year's budget specially in the area, I think you've made great strides in correcting long-standing problems. We look forward to working with you and your excellent staff going forward to address the compensation issue more thoroughly in the years to come. Thanks so much.
>> thank you.
>> anybody else for citizens communication? If so, please come forward.
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, September 26, 2007, 18:30 AM