Travis County Commissioners Court
July 7, 2009,
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next.
this item gives residents an opportunity to address the court on any matter not on the agenda.
ronnie reeferseed is first, followed by gus pena, who will be followed by maurice priest.
>> okay.
if you click me on so I'm going to start talking.
but thank you all.
forgive me for mentioning, but former u.s.
presidential candidate and u.s.
representative cynthia mckinney is still in jail, people.
for delivering toys to children in gaza.
but ronnie reeferseed saying rejoice Austin, it being ignored by the local media and, of course, that's nothing new in our ongoing Ron paul revolution of love in our sacred constitution.
on July 4th all afternoon there was a huge rally at the state capitol building.
the lovely pink lady that was completely ignored by local media, we, Ron paul enthusiasts, hours of speeches and songs highlighted by two biggies, our very own senatorial stooge john cornyn struggled with his lame speech that prompted boos from the crowd when our very own big-time governor bill the rick slick perry tried to address the crowd, he was virtually booed off stage.
clearly governor slick rick build a burger perry couldn't wait to escape the derise I have boos that were being hurled at him and later the news media only showed him giving that same lame speech some other place to a crowd who didn't boo so loudly.
many hundreds of patriots crowded the capital to so no to the truly evil bankster thugs.
angry citizens are waking up to the build a burger treason.
who are the build a burgers?
they consider themselves the elite.
about 150 so of the world's wealthiest biggots including royalty who stupidly -- in fact membership in any such organization is forbidden by our constitution.
bankster chose build a burger biden so obama has to obey him.
we have traders ruling our world through obama-bidenen.
you can now subscribing online for free by visiting american free press.net.
hard copies come by calling 886-999-6397.
ob-gyn doctor Ron paul writes for the american press.
only afp gave him adequate coverage in his run for the white house and endorsed dr.
paul for president.
american free press has been oppressed by our ongoing -- consistently been opposed to our ongoing war with islam, et cetera.
info words.and 97.7 for free 11:00 to 3 --
>> [buzzer sounding] -- and 4:00 to 6:00 on Sundays.
thank you so much.
>> thank you.
mr.
pena.
>> yes, sir, good morning, judge, gus pena.
first and foremost I would like to recognize all the youth that participate or are present at city council and the county Commissioners court and I hope david salazar's daughter and I want to -- let's welcome her to the Commissioners court, please and thank you for participating here.
>> [applause] I hope I didn't embarrass you but I would like to acknowledge the youth that are present.
anyway, if a veteran is not disabled or does not have a service connected injury or retired, they do not qualify for dental services at the clinics, at the veterans clinics.
what does that do?
we have to -- our safety net is either the clinics or the
>> [inaudible] clinics or let your teeth rot.
i know it sounds mean and bad but that's the truth.
that's what a lot of military veterans have to look forward to when they don't have health or dental coverage.
not all the hospitals will provide dental service for the veterans.
we need food for the food pantries and food banks.
the economic need is great we are the economic downturn.
out there to the people who can, the haves, please donate food that is nutritious, low in sodium, low in sugar for those people that are special needs diets.
we need for mental health treatment.
a lot of veterans testified on the need for more funding for mental health treatment.
not just a lot of veterans but a lot of kids are suffering from mental health conditions like we didn't know back in the 50s, 60s or 70s.
it used to be called anger management, now it's called bipolar.
it's a disorder, thank you, reefer man.
please advocate for funding for job training, et cetera.
it's very important.
article in the paper yesterday, July 6th, mr.
ed windler jr., and knew senior and he loved east Austin and the people.
he was loved by many people in east Austin and we used to meet to talk about and dialogue but not only politics but the need to help people everywhere and specifically east Austin that was traditionally neglected in the past.
anyway, mr.
wendler jr., this is a good article.
it tells about the need of the people and it's very good.
outstanding.
if you see a military veteran or military personnel in uniform, please acknowledge them and thank them for their service to our country and our freedom and other countries' freedom.
a lot of military veterans are coming back, they are losing their jobs, some of the jobs didn't pay well before they left.
they have an opportunity to go back to a job, it's been filled or cut just like the city of Austin has frozen positions.
they need help for job reentry program, counseling.
>> [buzzer sounding] anyway, acknowledge our military veterans.
they need the help and they deserve it.
thank you very much and keep up the good work.
>> thank you, mr.
pen 82.
mr.
priest.
>> maurice priest, for the record.
i just wanted to record that the toll road fight is still on.
i was down at the capitol, I was down at the capitol the last day of the legislative session on June 1st and I was down there July 1st and we had a pretty good showing.
it's a pretty good article that ben ware wrote I believe it was Monday about the fact when the spotlight is on our elected officials, they seem to vote differently than when the spotlight is not on our elected officials.
during the legislative session.
the regular session many things were voted on but when it came time to do the toll road vote on bill 3, the spotlight being on them, they -- their vote was entirely different than it was during the regular session.
one thing I agree with, I'm a Ron paul supporter, I voted for Ron paul and chuck baldwin in the November election and then I did get the call from cynthia mckinney because if I hadn't voted for chuck baldwin, I would have voted for here.
sometimes I feel like we're down to just Ron paul and Ron Davis.
i saw the article in the paper today about one of many issues, and just like these toll roads, bill 2707 created these comprehensive development agreements and this is where they have no compete clauses that actually say in the legislation that the public won't even know some of the terms and conditions of these comprehensive development agreements.
and then in senate bill 3588, that piece of legislation alerted us to the fact that txdot can take our land in 90 days if we don't take what they offer.
it's pretty much for the people, it's the same thing, the dialect, we cause the problem and then we reach in our toolbox for a tool to fix it and it's problem reaction solution.
we have these people coming up with this mcmansion ordinance, we wouldn't have had mcmansions if there hadn't been an ordinance.
these are created by the same people that pull these tools out of their toolbox to fix this problem.
these people are going to put their land in a land bank and have what's left stole from them from code enforcement through the international property maintenance code 2006.
you can put that in the search engine and see what it says.
but the thing about it is when these people sign these contracts, any time you sign a contract, you are going to give up your constitutional rights.
and then you won't have Ron Davis to blame, you won't have me to blame.
we warned you, we positive the truth and love.
we asked the questions.
we fought the good fight.
we're not going to give up.
but this is the tyranny that we're faced with on a daily basis.
problems are caused, the solutions are worse than the illness, and that's really what's going to happen.
code enforcement is going to take these people's money before they even kick them out of the house and they will not have a place to live.
>> [buzzer sounding] we need to have representation and I think it would behoove all of us to ask questions and look into these matters before we jump on board.
thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
linda Moore smith is next followed by scott johnson.
>> good morning.
linda smith, director of human resources.
it's my pleasure to come before you today to introduce the newest member of rrmd's leadership team, todd osborne.
todd osborne joined hrmd on June 15th as compensation manager for Travis County.
he is actually stepping into the role that had been occupied by luann shoal who has taken on the beef it project working on all the technical aspects of making that transition from a h.r.
standpoint.
todd I'm introducing really to some and presenting to others because he's a familiar face around Travis County.
but just by way of formal introduction, todd comes to us with an educational background, a bachelor's master's and some dock tore ial work in political science, having gone through kent state, bowling green state as well as florida state universities.
he's skilled in compensation system design, classification analysis, market research, project management, database management, and all of those things that we have been engaged in very extensively in our compensation program.
he has served in the private consultant area in human resources management as well as compensation design systems and multiple local governments regionally as well as nationally.
and not only within the -- I would say the civil service type position but also in law enforcement type positions.
you will remember todd first became introduced I guess to Travis County when we conducted the peace officers market study some years ago.
we've been fortunate enough to continue our relationship with him and welcome todd to our compensation group and express great appreciation for luann shoals' contributions over the past six, eight years in terms of getting us to where we are now with compensation.
>> welcome.
>> welcome.
>> thank you.
i just want to say that I appreciate the faith linda has shown in me and I will do the best I can for this commission and also I wanted to also acknowledge the fine efforts and contribution that luann has made within the compensation division in the last I guess eight years.
truly walking into some giant shoes to fill there and I think she's done a fantastic job and I look forward to working with everybody.
thanks.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
mr.
johnson.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
county staff.
my name is scott johnson.
i'm here talking on two issues.
one is the park at windy point, a park that you all manage for the lcra.
i've been out in that park since the early 90s.
the park is transformed quite a bit in terms of the user groups that are out there in the mid-to-late 90s one of the communities I'm involved in which is the wind surfing community adopted the park and clean it a couple times per year.
i was glad when the county raised the fees of the park out there while still encouraging carpooling to help pay for the park and the staff that goes on out there.
i think at this point in time there are user groups out there, particularly young people, people of color who come to the park and they are openly drinking, openly littering and it's quite a challenge.
i've spoken to mr.
byrd about this and I don't want to discourage carpooling, as some of you know I'm an advocate for air quality, but I don't the revenue paid by those user groups come with several people or more into the park is paying for the services to clean up the park.
there are some other issues in there with regard to motor boats coming into the park and all and the staff is stretched thin.
but it's -- it's quite a different park.
i don't think people feel that welcome when there are people openly drinking, using profanity, which I've heard quite a lot, and dispairing my efforts to help people learn wind suffering.
i don't know how to address it but I wanted to bring it to your attention.
switching subjects to air quality, we're in a situation that if we monitor reasonably high levels of ozone this summer we could be reclassified as a nonattainment region for ground level ozone.
you are aware of that.
i think the county staff is doing a good job on this effort.
i am concerned about the issue who is accountable to the public.
some of you know, judge Biscoe has followed this, we get emissions from outside our region as far as ohio and other states.
but when I'm trying to pinpoint accountability and ask questions who is in charge of what and how are you doing with the resources that are allocated to you, city of Austin, Travis County, clean air force, capcog and campo, it's hard to pinpoint who is going to stand up and say yes, I'm responsible, I'm taking the lead on this, I'm doing everything that I can.
what options do you think are best?
what is your input?
how can we use your resources and knowledge and talent and the talent of the community to do a better job?
i want you all to be asking questions at the campo meeting if you are a campo policy advisory committee and also to staff here and in other venues through capcog when you have the opportunity.
i'm looking for leadership on this issue.
i'm not seeing it.
there's some leadership at the city.
i don't know if that's going to continue on climate, but it's all about the implementation, how we implement these plans.
>> [buzzer sounding] how comprehensive in nature do we look at this.
i would be happy to answer any questions.
>> thank you, mr.
johnson.
>> 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:
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 1:31 PM