Travis County Commissioners Court
June 3, 2008
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next. And this item gives residents an opportunity to address the Commissioners court on any matter not on the agenda for up to three minutes. Gus pena has signed in and the second speaker will be Karen
>> [indiscernible]
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, gus pena. Good to be back here with you again. Budget issues. I’m going to read it out because sometimes I tend to forget and ramble. More corrections officers needed as the inmate officers, risks for the corrections officer as well as the inmate sift. Having been a former federal corrections officer, we know the risks that are involved but we did our job because not only does it help to -- the public, the government and also the families to remain safe inside the facilities. Also, it is a given that we need more patrol officers. That's a given. I am blessed to have cultivated friendships with other officers of our field. This is a given that we also need the patrol officers because we have a big area as Travis County grows. As a foreman federal investigator for the department of treasury, i.r.s., also have established friendships with federal law enforcement agents and officials. Also friends with the united states attorney's office as well as help judges get elected and reelected as well as worked on many candidates campaigns, the reason I say this is that there are other kids who want to strive and become elected officials. We have to groom and educate them on the process, we need good leaders you the out there. Happy birthday to my good friend frank cooksey, may god bless you with many more birthdays and my god bless you with advocacy of the people. Former mayor cooksey along with other people is a good christian, helped out a lot of people homeless or kids in need of help, child abuse, spousal abuse, he's been a leader to combat these type of problems. Vote early, early voting, city of Austin place 4 runoff. Early voting is open at Travis County courthouse. The city of Austin is -- I’m sorry, experiencing a shortfall with $20 million at the budget. I will continue with the county and city, please remain cognizant of the needs of those less fortunate, senior citizens, many who are reentering the workforce, they have to buy medication, they are not able to buy food, nourishing foods or vegetables. It's very sad. They paved the way for us. We had better take care of our kids, children, youth, they are our future. What kind of future do we have for our children. Funding for social service agencies, critical and essential. I have been coming here for many years, even before you all were elected here to this elected body dealing with problems in the community. Needs in the community. This is not an affordable county or an affordable city of Austin. I much prefer it to be an affordable city of Austin, not a weird Austin. Let's keep it affordable, not weird. Please continue to advocate and prayer for our -- pray for our veterans in harm's way. We are going to have a big meeting in about three weeks with the secretary of veterans affairs on health care issues with the clinic. Regarding the issues whereby veterans have been denied coverage and health coverage. A society's worth is measured by its treatment of the less fortunate. Take care of the senior citizens and the youth. Senior citizens pave the way for us. The youth and children are our future. God bless you all, thank you all for the very good work that you have done to help provide funding for the social service agencies, keep up the good work. And god bless y'all.
>> thank you.
>> thank you so much.
>> thank you, mr. Pena. Karen hooper is next.
>> thank you, judge. Good morning.
>> good morning.
>> Karen huber here, resident of western Travis County, reside at 23020 pedernales canyon trail. I’m here on behalf of myself and my neighbors out in that part of the county because as we speak there is a very time critical and serious issue evolving along highway 71 that has far reaching impacts for the county. As the -- as the highway 71 goes down towards the pedernales river, there is a stretch of almost a mile where there's residential property fronting on both sides of the highway. Several different subdivisions, these subdivisions have deed restrictions on commercial activity. On those parcels. I was called on Friday because I have billboard experience, but -- and realize that the seriousness and the time sensitivity of this issue. There is a subdivision called hazy hills, ii, that sometime last fall, August, September, had realized that there was a parcel, one of their residential lots fronting 71, was bought and a commercial entity known as spicewood stone company was going in there. They have sent letters to the court to a number of different people, they have tried get legal representation to enforce their deed restrictions which restrict commercial activity. This is an old working class neighborhood, they don't have deep pockets or financial resources to enforce these deed restrictions. What has happened now is apparently the spicewood stone company is working with the outdoor advertising industry to erect a billboard on their property and there is another one slated also on another residential property along 71 in the hazy hills ii subdivision. I got -- I was called on Friday. I got scenic Texas involved. Txdot is reviewing the legality of the permitting for these. What is happening is they started putting up the sign yesterday on the property of the spicewood stone. I do not know the details behind this. But I did consult with a land use attorney over the weekend who advised me that if this commercial entity is allowed to prevail in this residential subdivision that has deed restrictions against commercial activity that it sets a precedent for all of the other residential areas that front highway 71. With similar deed restrictions. The -- these commercial entities going in here and the subsequent billboards that go in devalue the property of these people. This particular business that's gone in here has dust and noise that affects the neighbors. It is -- these people cannot afford to enforce their deed restriction. If this precedent is set, it has implications not only along highway 71, but county wide
>> [buzzer sounding] the billboard industry will go in and buy parcels to erect billboards, it's difficult to fight them once they're up. The panel made a unanimous recommendation that we have no more billboards on highway 71. There are two that will come out of this one if we can't stop it. And I really ask the court to become involved in this because the residents do not have the deep pockets to fight the billboard industry. So I would like to request the court take a look at this and see if there is some way that they can become involved perhaps bracketing this kind of issue because it has serious implications and cost implications down the road, too.
>> thanks.
>> thank you, ms. Huber.
>> anybody else for citizens communication?
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:
Tuesday, June 3, 2008 12:51 PM