Travis County Commissioners Court
February 23, 2010,
Citizens Communications
Citizens communications neck.
this gives citizens an opportunity to address the court on any item not on the agenda.
mar sello defoyan is first.
and he will be followed by mr.
fernandez and who will be followed by gus pena.
>> good morning, Commissioners, judge.
my name is mar sello tefoa, a district 12 director here in Austin, Texas.
first of all,to thank you for giving us the opportunity to the community to express itself.
i want to thank several of y'all Ron Davis, Margaret for responding to a request for support for, in before of the international fnam masons and the order of the eastern star together with lulac council 4858 for supporting them on an event regarding the Texas rally.
every year we have a situation where a lot of other people come in, parents, friends, neighbors, to the city.
and sometimes cause havoc.
they have decided to do something to enter time them at expo center and have them come down.
thank you very much four your letter of support.
i understand some more are coming on behalf of the rest of y'all and we want too thank each of you.
and I'd like the thank Margaret for participating with us in giving additional people to sign up the vote.
we had a meeting which we asked individuals to come and provide the support to give more people to register to vote.
and very successful and want to thank you Margaret for joining us.
also want to thank the community for outreaching especially on the census.
this is one of the issues coming up that is going to be very important that each and every one of you help us in getting the message out that it's important to counted.
already movement that people want to boycott especially in immigrant community.
want to thank Margaret for coming out to the event this weekend in support of the immigrant community and also advise them of the value of education and the value of joining us in the census.
once again, I want to thank you very much for giving us this opportunity.
again, iyou all to participate as much as you can.
you all have the ears of the media.
we don't.
to tell them the importance of going out and being counted in the census.
it's a very simple one.
not as complicated as used to be.
i remember the first instance I participated it was like 36 pages, how many refrigerators and the model and how many bathrooms.
now they made it so simple that anybody can fill it out.
so we want to thank you and hope you will be able to participate with us on that.
>> absolutely.
thank you.
>> thank you.
>> good morning.
>> good morning.
>> good morning Commissioners.
my name is garvino fernandez and I come the speak as Travis County precinct four voter and resident and long time Austin native.
and my comments that I want to convey to you, you know as neighborhood associations and specifically in east Austin we have always, unfortunately, experienced a low voter turnout in many municipality elections and local electe elections.
right now one of our challenges is to increase that vote, to increase our voter turnout.
we're in the process of educating our people.
thank you, Commissioner.
we are also in the process now of the education part now that the voters are registered.
one of the unique elements and unknown factors or not understood factors within our community that we have the challenge in educating is that the power for change in any governmental organization is in our hands.
one of the things that we're doing now is that as people call us for help on certain icious sh one of my --certain issues, one of my first questions is how many are registered to vote.
three or four out of the ten.
how many those registered have voted.
goes down to one.
so, for now on we are asking those asking for assistance not only to register but follow up and vote and educate themselves on the individuals that run.
we have many quality elected officials in the community.
i want to share these documents with you.
i hope that I won't lose my time.
this is just to illustrate to you.
the commitment and dedication that we have seen from our county Commissioner, Margaret Gomez.
Commissioner Gomez was a frontier in the electorel process for latina women in our community in that era when women being' elected to office was not the thing to do.
for many years she has served our community.
many elected officials have different styles of advocating for their constituency.
we do have a saying in our community, chicata, perobicoks, meaning small but aggressive and representative of our community.
i was involved in an accident and I received two letters well wishing that I continue to keep as archives because they mean a lot to me.
and again, only illustrates the type of person that we're talking to.
those that I'm sharing with you is one from Commissioner Margaret Gomez and the one is from the late lady bird johnson.
i urge our people to go out and vote for Margaret Gomez and continue her work at the Commissioners and representing our people and la raca.
thank you thank you, judge, for the opportunity.
can I make a suggestion to you, to let your workers out early today.
it is going to get very bad this morning.
>> I second that motion.
>> it would be a social issue, judge, for you to consider that.
>> get them on the road and get them home.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> mr.
pena.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
i also am a native east Austinite, precinct 4.
i grew up on 2327 fifth street.
my dad, rest in paste, born in 1858 came from mexico, eagle pass, elected sheriff in crystal city and brought the mexican american political activism from crystal city to Austin and started the east fifth area before any other family.
may he rest in peace.
i also have these issues to speak about.
number one, we need post change to help the people whose concerns are not being dealt with.
number one, I want to say hello to jean sanderson.
she used tour our neighbor.
her concern that I had relayed is why does not the hot district not called that anymore, dental clinics are not allowing the senior citizens to be seen and treated at the clinics anymore.
this is disrespectful, unappropriate.
these are taxpayers, they patient the way for senior citizens and I'd like an answer from one of y'all.
i haven't heard from anybody, neither the city.
>> I have put out a request for nigs.
>> thank you, very much.
mom wanted me to relay the information she lives in your precinct.
Commissioner Eckhardt.
capital metro streets are in need of repair.
funded is not available.
the article in Austin american statesmanrs capital metro stops paying millions.
look at south lamar, east fifth street, chavez and these streets in west Austin and east of the corridor.
needing repair big time.
the potholes, my car is going to be in need of repair.
military veterans not getting healthcare services we deserve.
generally chin checky was in backo last week and addressed the issues very very clearly, very decisively and appropriately.
met them head on.
we're going to see positive changes for military, especially women veterans with unique different types of healthcare issues.
as speaker spoke before that, we military veterans also are getting out the vote, especially the military veterans, we're coming out to vote.
it's a low voter turnout, I guarantee, bew I tell you, changes need to happen.
things are not happening.
we're supporting lou alverez.
sometimes my mom and sister's needs have not been addressed.
lucy, we met over there.
you you remember that, Commissioner.
please start the budgetary process earlier.
2010-2011 will be one of the harshest.
dent think we --don't think we are out of recession.
look at unemployment.
people are giving up.
can't find jobs.
social service agencies need more additional funding.
please help them in the budgetary process.
last thing that I want to say, men tor students needed tor kids to keep them from dropping out.
society is worth its measure by the stream of the less fortunate.
i urge all of the people, a lot of them, please continue to reelect judge Biscoe.
good leader.
thank you very much.
>> thank you.
rhonda referseed.
>> thank you, judge.
quickly let me try to find.
of course, my name is ronnie referseed.
again, I'm hoping to share the joy for one kid.
cherish childhood as long as you can because you spend the rest of your life trying to recapture it.
with the first swig of alcohol or hit off a joint, it's over.
meanwhile, we can celebrate our obgyn Ron paul, the founding father from us, us representative, Ron paul, won 31 percent of the vote as preferred candidate in two 12 for c pac from over 2000 conservative readers nationwide.
thousands of the nation's most conservative voters and dr.
paul one big time.
in lock step media ignored the victory or twisted it beyond reason.
five-year veteran as well as flight surgeon, he appreciates the blood of soldiers as much as everyone who ever lived.
c pac proved tritrue conservatism demands piece.
it's just none of our business to run anybody else's land.
we don't have the right nor the money.
especially with the value of our dollar evaporating.
thanks bankster, that is what results from the surrender of the national sovereignty to the banksters, to the whole cabal of criminals who should not be in jail, responsibility for the pre-med dated economic melt down with derivatives as smoke streen with bonuses still being paid out.
peace loving people of all persuasions will push dr.
paul into the white house, starting with the true conservatives.
i believe dr.
paulwill get support from both parties and beyond.
i predict he will earn the endorsement of at least two political parties in 2012, republicans and the constitution party, perhaps the libertarian, if we can somehow wrestle part cheemer ship from the organized s.
take over your locally party chapter by going to meetings.
learn more on line at info wars.com, prison planet.com, Ron paul.org ran paul 2010.com.
american free press.net, lew rockwell, lou rockwell.com, or call 888-322-1414 for weekly updates from dr.
paul or subscribe to his very own american free press by calling for subscription..
thank you so much.
don't forget about deborah medina.
she is going to win.
>> thank you, mr.
refer seed.
those are the ones that signed in to speak on citizen communication.
>> judge, at this time I would like to maybe extend to the vernon holland family and the family of joe stack and the persons that were injured and those particularly employees that that are experiencing serious trauma from this event.
i'd like to at this time extend our prayers that just maybe, just a moment of silence, if you done mind.
>> no problem.
>> thank you.
>> beginning now.
>> thank you.
amen.
thank you.
>> thank you very much, Commissioner Davis.
good idea.
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, February 23, 2010 2:15 PM
