Travis County Commissioners Court
December 16, 2008
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next. This item gives residents an opportunity to address the Commissioners court for up to three minutes on any matter not on the agenda. Ronnie (indiscernible) has signed in. He's speaker number one. Frances mcintyre is speaker number two. And richard hallpin meant to sign in, but did not. You will be speaker number three.
>> good morning. Howdy. Good morning, judge. Judge and your full court of jesters. In all seriousness -- just one shoe for you today. But big special howdy for ms. Eckhardt's mom and everyone else paying attention. Now is the time to express our collective displeasure with the here and now, and personally this holiday season I am especially saddened with the fact that over a half million people are rotting behind bars in u.s. Jails for non-violent marijuana offenses. I mean, we're all guilty of laziness and selfishness, putting the relative convenience of our own precious lives over and above our duty to canceling our collectively counterproductive and continually counterproductive war on pot smokers and hemp enthusiasts here at house. Housing the people in our evil prison industry only hurts all of us. We cannot afford to pay for this expensive political oppression, especially now as our economy worldwide continues to implode. Let us all take the time to just say no to this ongoing failure of peace and freedom and say yes to freedom, freedom for farmers to help feed our hungry future, foam for doctors to obey their hip accurate tick oath to best treat their patients and freedom for honest cops to do their jobs with common sense priorities. We all owe a debt of gratitude to our brave troops overseas who are currently sacrificing at least part of their precious lives because you and me have not yet found the will or the way to imprison the real criminals who masquerade as public servants who swear to preserve and protect our constitution. This includes not only the truly evil, cheney regime of criminals, but also the entire choir of tag alongs to the treason. There is of course at least one notable exception, ie, the impeccable, five-year veteran of the air force and national guard, professional baseball player and over 50 years as husband and pay tree arc of his honorable patriots, ob-gyn dr. Ron paul. Now serving his 11th term as u.s. Congressman from Texas. Yeehaw my hero dr. Paul makes me proud to be a Texas. Peace enthusiasts are beginning to understand their collective missed opportunity to help save our world with their wasted vote on mr. Obama, super stooge to the world's only real superpower, that big gotted, socialisted regime called israel, which is an imposter for the nation referred to as israel in the bible.
>> [ buzzer sounds ] by the way, the biblical state or group of people called israel is truly of no relation to the former mentioned regime called israel today that shaims our nation and thank you so much. I'll pick up my own shoe. Thanks.
>> thank you. Frances mcentire?
>> judge Biscoe and Commissioners, good morning. I'm frances mcintyre, president of the Austin league of women voters. And I would like to address the increasing downturn in Austin's economy and the ramification on the county budget. As I'm sure you're aware, we are seeing a decline in tax revenues and seeing businesses filing for bankruptcy and an increase in foreclosures of homes which probably will affect the property tax income. The county's budget will no doubt have to be altered. The Austin league of women voters would like to commend the Commissioners for their attention on to our citizens who are most affected by the economic downturn. Not all county departments address the needs of the most vulnerable population and we would like to recommend that you prioritize those programs and services which help the most needy in our county. There may be a need for those programs and services to have additional funding. The league support programs and policies to prevent or reduce poverty and to promote self sufficiency for individuals and families. There will no doubt be an increased need for services in the near future. The programs that benefit the elderly, the mentally ill, the homeless, the near poor and others will unfortunately see increase in numbers of our citizens who because of circumstances beyond their control will need help. When times are tough, priorities must change. Travis County is a caring county and as we tighten our budget belt, the league asks that the county Commissioners find ways to lessen the effects on the economic downturn on those who will need our help the most. Your job is not an enviable one. We do know that you care and trust that you will do the best you can for the sit sins of Travis County. We know that this is not a permanent situation. And the county budget will be back in better shape hopefully in the not too far distant future. Thank you.
>> thank you. Richard halpin.
>> thank you, judge Biscoe. Members of the court, my name is richard halpin. I'm founder and chief executive officer of american youth works. My purpose to coming to speak with you this morning is actually to follow up on the league's position here of creating new opportunities in Travis County to create a robust and exciting economy here. I believe very strongly that Travis County is in a unique position to draw federal funds to our community, to invest in green opportunities to invest in a green economy. I feel like the evidence is clear that our county is in a unique position to broker green service all over Texas. They can start here and flourish in our community and our county. I know the court is a very progressive one and probably has already thought about this. In case you've already got this underway, this is certainly my support. If you haven't had a chance to apply for the federal funds, I urge you to get your departments and the court to make a very significant, if not a national leading initiative to draw those funds to our community. Part of the reason to do this is part of the reason for our most vulnerable and the second purpose of me being here today is the young people who have dropped out of school will cost the taxpayers $450,000 each. And if they get into the criminal justice system they will cost $2 million. You are big investors in knees young people in our community. You have made extraordinary initiatives to invest in them. You are in fact I think leaders in investing in these young people. I think the two categories tie together very, very well. I also want to make sure that this particularly vulnerable group of young people over the holidays is often the time when you and community leaders run into people who are out of school, out of work and seemingly out of luck. So I'm going to with your permission, judge, pass out a couple of brochures to each member of the court inviting you to have these brochures with you. Commissioner Gomez, should you run into young people who are dissatisfied with their current sation, Commissioner eckhardt, you could say follow up on this. It could be a pathway for outfuture. And on a personal note, Commissioner Daugherty I would like to thank you for your service to our community, for your compassion and for your care about the people in this community. Thank you so much for all you've done for Travis County.
>> thank you.
>> [ applause ]
>> jennifer gale.
>> hi travis. Trail of lights, happy hanakkuh. Commissioners --
>> capital metro.
>> that's right. The chairman of the capital metro metropolitan transportation authority, Gerald darty. One of the finest leaders we've had in in our county. I agree with mr. Halpin about the good job you've done. Judge Sam Biscoe, Commissioner sarah eckhardt and my Commissioner Ron Davis. I hope you're enjoying the holidays. Merry christmas. Gus pena brought up the need to have tutors. Our children are falling behind and unable to catch up. So if we can provide tutors, specialties being the last days of the semester for our students that are coming home, we need to slow down in our cars and our trucks with all that horse power it's dangerous. But all the students in the Austin independent school district after they've left, if they've dropped out or have left the Austin independent school district has two years ago back and finish their education and get their high school diploma. So any students out there that have not completed high school may go back to the Austin independent school district and finish their education. I am Austin's only six-time candidate for mayor of Austin. My name is jennifer gale. You won't see me in the Austin chronicle. They're trying lieg to you by omission. They have for two months. The good life has published, saying that sensible voters may end up voting for me. That's very promising. I'm interested in the county creating a plan where we can do single stream recycling so we have manufacture grade recycling where we separate out the white glass so that when companies look for our recycled goods, they can go right here in Travis County. All businesses should have a dutchster behind them to get all the cardboard, glass, styrofoam. We don't even recycle styrofoam in Austin. So let's build a plant and let's do that. Let's let the county take the initiative. I'd like to thank the league of women voters, frances mcentire for publishing the voter guides, and I'm asking a candidate for mayor that all people during the hard times carry quarters around with them and dollar bills so that the homeless don't have to ask you for money. Simply give them a quarter or a couple of dollars. Thank you very much. Merry christmas, everyone.
>> thank you. Ms. Gale, if you would turn that form in so we can put that -- make that part of the record.
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, December 16, 2008 1:45 PM