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Travis County Commissioners Court

May 27, 2008
Citizens Communication

View captioned video.

Citizens communication is first. And this item gives residents an opportunity to address the Commissioners court on any matter not on the agenda. Two residents have signed in, gus pena is first, and he will be followed by jimmy castro. Morning.

>> good morning, judge. Commissioners, gus pena. I’m going to say this real quickly. I thank the good lord for this. Yesterday I was at a memorial service at the cemetery and I mentioned my friend as that were both john tonites who died in vietnam. I hadn't seen toby's mom and family in 29 years. At the service I saw ms. Rodriguez, toby's mom. Leaving my phone number everywhere, we finally found his mom. Anyway, judge and Commissioners, I want to thank you for increasing the funding for the summer youth employment program. I asked the city council and the mayor and the city manager to also expand and increase the amount of positions for the youth. If -- as I said before, if we can employ as many youth as possible, get them off the streets, get them doing something positive and earn money, they will -- as I was telling mr. Castro here, they will learn about fiscal responsibility and stay out of trouble hopefully. Thank you very much for that. The city council had an item on the agenda last Thursday that said approve a resolution to authorize the city manager to apply for a foundation grant of one million dollars and the loan not to exceed $4 million. My statement to the mayor and council is this, if you're going do this to preserve -- it says here to preserve affordable rental housing in Austin, you should have started a long time ago because Austin does not have that much supply of affordable, rental housing. And I mentioned the sunny meade apartments that are insteaded to be torn down on oltorf street, which is in precinct 4. That is one of the last affordable apartments we have out there for low income people. My other question to the mayor and city councilmembers and the city manager was who will be the accountability agency? Who will receive this funding and also allotted or allocated to whomever is supposed to be proving affordable rental house fog data gathering analysis? I think the taxpayers have had enough of data analysis. I know it's very, very essential that we have these statistical datas, but give it to direct services and to the thing that was allocated for, preserve low income rental housing. Anyway, that's all I have to say, but I want to thank you very much for your hard work and due diligence for the youth. And let's pray for the youth and the senior citizens because this summer is coming up. We have a lot of gang problems out there. I know we've asked the federal law enforcement officers to come out there and they're doing a good job of gathering intelligence, taking pictures and preserving case law for those hoodlums out there causing problems. We're not scared of y'all, guys. You need to get out of crime. Sooner or later, if you don't, there's a place for you. Thank you very much.

>> I’d like to remind everyone of this year's children's miracle network celebration to benefit the dell children's medical center of central Texas from Friday may 30th through Sunday June the first. All the money raised will be earmarked for the dell children's medical center. The dell children's medical center of central Texas is the only dedicated pediatric medical facility serving a 56 county region offering world class specialty care for families throughout central Texas. It is a residency programs that offers a well rounded 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 programs at the dell children medical center of central Texas include the dell children's cranial facial and reconstructive plastic surgery center, the dell children's specialty care center. The dell children's asthma program. The dell children's juvenile diabetes team. The dell children's pediatric therapy program. The topfer emergency center, the topfer emergency center is one of only five dedicated pediatric er's in Texas. And the only one in central Texas. The pediatric intensive care unit is the only critical care facility for children in central Texas. The childhood cancer and blood disorder center. Dell children's is the only provider of pediatric neurology as much ass and central Texas. It is the most comprehensive care for newborns and infants. The dell children's imaging center has on-site radiology. The expanded dell children's surgery center is the only one in central Texas dedicated specifically to children. The pediatric critical care transport team is available on a 24/7 to serve the needs of the central Texas area. So the dell children's regional heart program will continue a long and distinguished history of service to patients throughout the state and the world. Finally, what really make the dell children's medical center of central Texas different is people. People who can leave work each day knowing that they have made the difference in the life after child. Thank you.

>> topfer. Not tofper. Only because you may run into them.

>> hi, Travis County judge Sam Biscoe, Commissioners and new chair woman Margaret Gomez, Commissioner joe Daugherty, Commissioner sarah eckhardt and my own Commissioner Ron Davis. Good luck in the upcoming election. And it is election time this June 14th. June 2nd -- anyway, we've got an election coming up. Early voting starts in just a few days. So I’m asking everybody in Travis County to get out and vote. There's a story in the nokiah talking about justice in Travis County or in america at large, and we really don't have justice. If you're an american of african heritage, you need to understand that you're innocent. It doesn't matter if you think you committed a crime or someone is accusing you of a crime, you are innocent until proven guilty and you should get the legal representation. The university of Texas has a program for misdemeanors a through c. You get ahold of them at 232-1300 and you will have a whole battery of students and lawyers help you out on your case. But if you don't have the intent to commit a crime, then you're innocent. So anyone that goes before a judge, a magistrate, you automatically say you're innocent whether or not you think you're guilty. We need to make sure that we look around our cars this year. Children think cars are beautiful and fun to play around, so we need to look around our cars because a child from another neighborhood may be playing around your beautiful car. I hope everyone looks at u.s. America.org, it puts a face on the men and women who have died for us recently and 230 years ago for our country. These people died for our right -- for our rights. And our freedoms, which we are not so reluctantly giving away. So I want everyone to go to usmemorial itday.org and look at everyone who has died. For veterans, jim webb, the senator, wants to get a gi bill. A gi bill means help to get veterans educated. And we need to have veterans that are educated because the health care system for veterans doesn't work. So veterans need to educate themselves so that they can make themselves more healthy and to be able to make the kind of money where they can afford to have medical care.

>> [ buzzer sounds ] and very quickly, for your health care, because too many people are having their gallbladders out for no reason at all because they're inflamed. It's 8:00 to 12 ounces of -- it's 8 to 12 ounces of freshly squeezed grape fruit and lemon juice. Eight to 12 ounces of grape fruit or lemon juice mixed with eight to 12 ounces of olive oil. You shake that up and you zip it over an hour. And do you this after having three days of more live food, plants and vegetables. And that will lift the cholesterol and everything that's been gathering since you were a baby out of your gallbladder and make it so when it goes into your small intestine that it breaks down your nutrients and you will feel much better because your liver and your gallbladder desperately love that stuff. Eight to 12 ounces of grape fruit and lemon juice and eight to 12 ounces of olive oil. Shaken, not stirred.

>> thank you for the legal advice and the medical advice. Anybody else for in 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, May 28, 2008 8:51 PM