Travis County Commissioners Court
February 19, 2008
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next. This item gives residents an opportunity to address the court on any matter not on the agenda for up to a full three minutes. Gus pena is first, followed by john williams.
>> good morning again, judge and Commissioners. Gus pena. One of the things that I would like to give you is an update on what we have done as far as juvenile crime is concerned and crime as a whole. You noticed that I致e spoken to the fact that we've been meeting with the federal officials. When we helped bust the gangs back in 1984, we brought in the f.b.i., ... United states attorney's office, united states marshal's office, augmented whatever a.p.d. And the sheriff's office needed to do. F.b.i. Has been very successful, we worked with special agent
>> [indiscernible] and john
>> [indiscernible] at that time. Wanted to let you know that henry sector is one of the worse crime areas in the riverside drive, oltorf park. And my understanding is that they have hit them again. But we need more effort out there. As far as -- as far as gangs are concerned, gangs are increasing. It's increasing, they are following people. But we have people photographing them, taking down license plate numbers and hoodlums a word to the wise, we've got your picture. Anyway, the last thing that I would like to say is this, keep it brief, I have to go, I have a meeting with the federal officials from washington today speaking on housing and et cetera and services, need for more funding. Anyway, we would respectfully request that the county also I told this to the city council two weeks ago, that fully fund the youth programs, whatever you fund, whatever programs you fund here in Travis County, we want the kids to be safe during spring break, we want the kids to be active, off the streets and out of gangs. There's a great big need for funding for -- for youth services out there, as I mentioned before. Please, please, fully fund these programs. We don't need the kids in gangs and it's just bad enough that the gangs already infiltrated the high schools, we don't need that. Anyway, that's all that I have to say. Affordable housing I forgot to mention let's have again a true definition of affordability, not 150,000 to $250,000 for a house. A lot of our people here, natives, cannot afford that price. Anyway, you all have a good day. Thanks a lot for your work hard.
>> thank you.
>> john williams is next, followed by jimmy castro.
>> judge, Commissioners, my name is john williams. I live in eastern Travis County, southeast of manor. I知 president of the park springs neighborhood association. When we were here in November and December to express our opposition to the city of Austin's plans for developing a landfill on what the city calls the webberville tract some of you said our concerns were premature and you wanted to wait to receive a report, which the city was conducting about the -- about the suitability of the land for municipal uses. Your concern was certainly understandable. You wanted more information about the city's plans. You wanted to actually see the reports from the consultants that the city had hired. I知 here today to be certain that you know that at last Thursday's city council meeting, the city manager's office specifically assistant city manager burt
>> [indiscernible] and water utility director greg mazares
>> [ phonetic ] made a presentation to city council. In case the city has not provided you with their presentation, I distributed to you a printed copy of -- of the material which was available for distribution at that meeting. There are also additional pages about the wastewater treatment plant that were not printed for distribution. I trust that the city will give those to you as well. Specifically, the city staff said it had engaged three consultants to evaluate the property. And mr. Lambreras
>> [ phonetic ] summarized their reports by saying that the consultants had found "no fatal flaws" to use the property not just for a landfill but also as a wastewater treatment facility and a substation or generating facility for Austin energy. Mr. Lambreros did not disclose any close to fatal flaws or any possibly fatal flaws or any flaws that might be detrimental but not fatal, which the consultants had noted. He did specifically request authorization for city staff to select consultants to develop what he called a master plan for all three uses. Landfills, solid waste, wastewater and Austin energy. A city council vote is likely according to the discussions last Thursday to take place on February 28th, less than 10 days from now. City --
>>
>> [indiscernible] from the city council? Take action on this particular item?
>> that was the discussion --
>> after we -- after we honored and acknowledged on a letter that came from lee leffingwell, councilmember leffingwell on the 14th of December asking us to hold up on any action based on an evaluation that they needed to take for the consultants. I知 going to have to make that same request due to the fact that we honored mr. Leffingwell's letter of December 14th of 2008. So I知 going to have this item placed back on the agenda and also ask the city to hold up until the -- until the county, Travis County can look at this thing.
>> I certainly think that would be appropriate, Commissioner. According to the transcript of -- of the city council meeting, what was said was specifically "and we could do that as early as February 28th, yes, sir, we certainly do that. So that was at the city council meeting. What I would like to request in addition to that is that you Commissioners ask your county staff to obtain an independently -- and independently analyze the full, complete, unredacted copies of the -- of the consultant's reports which the city summarized and referenced to the city council. It seems obvious to me that since the city staff has discussed and summarized those consultant's reports the complete reports should be and are public information. And I would support you in -- Commissioner Davis in asking that as soon as possible you county Commissioners put an action item on your agenda to exercise the county's land use authority. We've heard from -- from the county attorneys here in open session that you as county Commissioners do have authority in sighting landfills and I urgently ask you to exercise that.
>> I intend to put it on the agenda as quickly as possible, mr. Williams.
>> in the material that I am distributing, the stapled material is what was distributed at city council. I致e added two additional maps, one is the map which with after authorizing staff to analysis the potential applicability of chapter 62, if it did apply to landfills. So this map is the map that your staff prepared. And the -- the other map is a map that -- that your staff provided to our neighborhood organization. It shows the relationship of that property to vital environmental -- concerns, springs, the colorado river and the village of webberville, which mayor gonzalez has -- has said would be devastated by this project. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you, mr. Williams.
>> jimmy castro is next, followed by michael woodward was here on the cdbg I think. Still here? Craig pader? Mr. Castro.
>> thank you, judge. Good morning, judge Biscoe and Commissioners. My name is jimmy castro, I知 here to speak on my own behalf to invite everyone to the far and Texas fair and rodeo February 29th through March 15th. The scholarship program is open to students from 254 counties, within Texas. This is a -- the largest youth education fundraiser in central Texas. The star of Texas fair and rodeo has a rich tradition in history of stewardship to the community, agricultural industry and the youth of central Texas with a clear vision for the future, successful pass and continued dedication from his volunteers. Everyone is invited to the cowboy breakfast at auditorium shores from 6:00 a.m. To 9:00 a.m. On Friday, February 29th. Capital met will be providing rides through the Travis County exposition center. The star of Texas fair and rodeo will continue to provide wholesome family entertainment and still be a pillar of strebts to the youth of central Texas. Strength. The rodeo rumble 5 k and the kids rodeo rumble 1 k will be held on March 1st at 88:00. Some of the events will include bull riding, barrel racing and mutton busting and the young of miss rodeo. The 2008 rodeo Austin gala was a huge success. If you are looking for the best Texas barbecue, the barbecue cookoff is set from March 7th through the 9th, last year proceeds from the event generated over $200,000. Kids will enjoy kids town and the petting zoo. Nearly 10,000 Texas youth will bring livestock projects that have spent countless hours working with. Over the last 20 years the star of Texas fair and rodeo awarded $18 million to 13,500 kids. In 2007, the star of Texas fair and rodeo scholarship program awarded $312,000. The preparation for the show is a year round endeavor. This is a climax of a year's work by the 4 h club members. These scholarships will help those who might not otherwise have had the golden opportunity. The young men and women of the future farmers of america who wear those blue and gold jackets wear them with pride. Because agribusiness in Texas is good business. Today the star of Texas fair and rodeo has more than 2,000 volunteers who contribute their time and talents. Finally, thanks to the generous support of established buyers groups, area businesses thousands of visitors, this has made the star of Texas fair and rodeo the success it is today. Thank you, judge, Commissioners.
>> thank you mr. Castro. Mr. Adair is next, followed by dan mansour.
>> thank you.
>> my name is craig adair, a volunteer with the american civil liberties union of Texas. I testified last week on the presence of ice in the Travis County jail. I知 going to be very brief. I知 only here because I omitted an important detail as regards the reimbursement Travis County receives for the incarceration of the inmates that get the ice detainers. So it regardings the state criminal alien assistance program, the reimbursement is about 25 to 30% of the overall costs to the facility in incarcerating those individuals, but I omitted to say why that is, that has to do with the way the program works. Which is that scap only reimburses the county for a subset of those individuals that get ice detainers. That subset is those individuals have to have stays of four days or longer and they also have to have prior felony conviction or two prior misdemeanor convictions, which is why that's a smaller subset than the total. So individuals arrested on minor crimes will likely only stay for the 48 hours that the ice detainer last because they would have been released without being jailed at all in the past. So thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you. Mr. Mansour and ms. Barnett.
>> judge, Commissioners.
>> dan.
>> we are very excited about talking with you today about the at&t marathon, half marathon held yesterday. Sunday. This is not Monday, is it? It was held Sunday and the lady on my right, not only participated but finished that full marathon. She is parted of our benefits assistants, also facilitates some of the fitness programs. She not only talks the talk, but apparently races the race here. So show your medal.
>> wow.
>> all right.
>> it was a 26.3-mile race.
>> .2.
>> .2-mile race. Tell them about the race.
>> the race was awesome. I started this journey maybe about a year and a half ago. And I just started out with run-tex doing things around Travis County. And when I got the word about the at&t marathon, they hiked it up so much I was like okay, you know, I think that I may want to run that. So I went home and I talked to my sister about it. My sister ran with me and I said tracy, I think I want to do the at&t marathon in 2008. And I want you to do it with me. She go are you ready? I was like no. She said how many miles is that? I said 26.2 miles. She's like I don't think I can run 26.2 miles. That's -- I said I don't think I can either, let's try. From that point on we started training with round Round Rock fit, into a training group. Six months into it we trained and we were able to finish the marathon on Sunday.
>> congratulations.
>> congratulations.
>> [ applause ]
>> thank you.
>> very good.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> dan, what place did you finish?
>> I finished in my front yard.
>> [laughter]
>> keep up the good work.
>> thanks.
>> jennifer gale. Jennifer gale.
>> all right, all right, I heard you. Buneas dias.
>> hi, Travis County. I know many of you are still hurting after running the half and the Austin at&t marathon. Get lots of massages, you're going to need them. Commissioners Gomez, Daugherty, my Commissioner Davis, and judge Sam Biscoe, I think we all hope well for sarah eckhardt as she repairs her leg and we should say a prayer for her so she gets cured more quickly. Many of you have been on our Commissioners court for a great many years. Long enough to write a book about Travis County in its earliest days. I was thinking debonaire dan smith just might get that book written before you guys now that he's free to do so. I came here to talk about our bus operators. They are now driving around Travis County, our county, without a contract and have been for eight months. Eight long months after they agreed to a year contract after several months of being without a contract. It is almost as if the union is working for star trans, as they don't seem to be in a hurry to bargain for one. Their lost contract cost our operators a quarter of their pay, going from nearly 16 down to $11. Or $12. And the island workers from 15 council to 10. Let's give them a contract that will last for five years and that has a cost of living raise. Along with it. Updated yearly. If we're going to have inflation, let's make sure they can afford their health care benefits as well, which has been depleted with any raise that they were given. And after all that work and having gone on strike, our metro system went on strike. And I stopped that and have been given no credit by the union for having stopped that strike with my constant pleas before this council and before the Austin city council. David escamilla should investigate the county attorney, where our money is going, for light rail. And why we have to pay for our own schedules. I知 here to thank david escamilla for his work on the can, community action network. I would also like to address that john kelso impugn a person's character on building 7 in new york city which wasn't directly affected by the damage to the other building of the world trade center. And I wonder what his observation is on the damage to that building if he knows what the government is doing. And I would also ask -- I would also like to know why our boys and girl kvue sports
>> [beeping] are always americans of european heritage instead of americans of african heritage or other americans of european heritage from mexico or why is it always that they are always put in the criminal area of the newspaper. It's not fair. And we should be funding the scouts. The greater Austin -- very quickly the greater Austin chamber of commerce didn't give me credit for the university of Texas medical branch idea that they said would bring in $2.4 billion in the city. I have been running on that campaign platform for years and would like credit for that. I will see you all at the star of Texas rodeo. It's a great benefit for scholarships for children. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> anybody else for citizens communication? Whether you signed in or not.
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, February 20, 2008 8:09 PM