Travis County Commissioners Court
March 16, 2010,
Citizens Communication
>> next item is citizens communication.
we have three people signed up.
the first one is kenneth schneider.
>> my name is kenneth schneider, north ridge acres subdivision, about 10 or 15 miles down the road.
we got the water in, I'm trying to get sewer in there.
we need it so bad.
said ability no program or anything, but the water development board said there is programs out there, we need to get somebody to implement them.
since dan smith left, I hope we can get somebody to work for us like dan smith did.
because we need sewer so bad out there.
water right now is running down the hill.
3 to $400 to have your tank pumped up and then it's full again.
this program is out there, I know.
all of y'all can get together and everything and find all of these grants and everything, community block grants is out there for us.
we put the water in.
we can do the same thing for the water.
i know dan smith got it in for us and everything, I know y'all got somebody in there, as smart as he is to figure this out, get the counties to work together.
this has been going on for 40 years.
i lived out there almost 40 years.
this is how long I've been fighting trying to get this thing done.
i haven't been up here in the last three or four years, couple of years since I got water and everything, I told judge I was going to hold off and everything.
he promised he would get sewer in, too.
i think we should have gotten sewer before water nttie has been up here.
there is programs out there.
plenty of programs out there.
we don't have beetles or anything, salamanders and spiders, if we had that they would fix the problem because they are afraid they would drown.
it's going to be all over the internet pretty soon.
a guy coming out there to do a story and everything, he wants to put an e bay -- not e bay but a web page or something like that for us because this subject has got to be fixed sooner or later.
poor people out there, low income.
so many lots out there, they could put another extra 2 or 300 houses out there if we could have sewer.
houses out there for sale, they can't sell them.
who wants a house, you have to have a mountain sitting up this high to run sewer down the road.
no way to make the sewer work.
we have to have sewer and we have to have it immediately.
it's a health risk.
a lot of people dying, sick out there.
my wife has had 14 operations in the past two years, can't walk, in a wheelchair, had her foot cut off.
i will probably die before I see it.
i'm 60 years old, we have to get this fixed.
i know there's programs out there to fix this problem.
we're only on a few miles down the road, right in the middle of Austin and Round Rock, we can't get nothing done.
thank you very much.
>> thank you, mr.
schneider.
>> thank you.
next person is morris priest.
>> thank you acting judge, Margaret Gomez, morris priest speaking on my own behalf.
last week we saw this Commissioners court out mr.
vogel with the manchaca fire hall, there was an article in the statesman's paper on March the 11th and of course on that same page, we see the quarry mine issue the city has been looking for what it could do.
add city council to the members of the list concerned about the gravel mine.
i really do think that it's time for change in this community and the -- of course I wouldn't say -- I would say that whether the judge or Commissioner Eckhardt was here or not, but I do think that it's time for them to go.
we just have too many bad decisions by this court.
the foreign trade zone last week being another fine example of putting big business interests, giving them tax incentives, the international property maintenance code passed by this court, toll roads, broken promises.
one item after another.
it is true that ken salazar came to town, our u.s.
secretary of interior, ken salazar, he was an obama stimulus package tour, on a tour, and didn't get a chance to speak with him because I was on the radio talking to jeff ward about how we need to send marc ott and acevedo packing as well.
there's too many bad decisions by our elected officials in city government and county government.
we have so many things that we could have done on this manchaca fire hall, we've -- here in the past we've had the city offer over a million dollars, if you take everything into consideration to mid town live, a bar, and -- and of course las manitas and everything, we have so many opportunities that we could have used the stimulus money or other tax breaks or things that we could do to help local businesses here in the community.
we have stimulus package money available, we have landmark commission, which certainly would have been a historical landmark for the communities, I think it's been around longer than callahan's.
i really want to encourage -- I did go out Saturday and speak with mr.
vogel, I offered to give him any help that I could give him to move the -- went and spoke with him Saturday.
i'm sure we will all remember him in our prayers and help him.
but I think more importantly we need to remember in November that we need change here in Travis County.
it's not really something that I enjoy saying, but it's just the facts.
>> [buzzer sounding] thank you.
>> thank you.
third person, gus pena.
and lucio.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, gus pena, along with my son lucio pena, who is on spring break.
i think doing something productive over here.
i want to say this to you, judge.
contrary to what the prior speaker said, I do respect you, you have done a lot of good.
as I said, not everybody is going to agree, but you have done a good job.
there have been issues that I don't agree on, but we disagree respectfully.
i want to tell you a lot of us continue to support you, sir, as our leader over here as well as Commissioner Ron Davis, very proactive and aggressive on the issues for all.
anyway, I want to thank first and foremost the american legion and veterans of foreign wars for their increased assistance to the veterans.
as you well know this is not my first year talking about this.
i started this back in 2001.
i found out there was a lot of veterans that are homeless and now increasing veterans with families that are homeless in shelters, in the streets.
with parents.
relatives or in motels.
one of the things that I want to mention because I tend to go off on a tangent.
i attended the census gathering over here last week at the capitol, I met the local I think it's local director gabriel sanchez, I did ask him what are y'all doing in order to include people in motels or other non-traditional housing?
he said we are actually going to the motels and making sure that all of the families are counted.
all of the people are counted, thank god, thank god for that.
Karen baum, her telephone number is 492-2411.
that's her phone number in case you have questions about the census, call her, she does work for gabriel sanchez of the department of commerce, which does include the united states census bureau.
>> [speaking in spanish] homelessness, families are losing jobs, housing.
as a matter of fact in today's article in the paper, it says taking a personal look at homeless.
and then last week, how do homeless people visualize a concept of home.
if you have have been homeless you know darned well it hurts.
let me tell you something, also, about tort reform.
we need to get people working on insurance reform.
when people have accidents it takes close to two years to get a settlement from progressive, seton and
>> [indiscernible] who seton hired in order to collect from the victims, from the victims.
it's a long drawnout process, judge.
we are trying the best we can to get some reform out there.
anyway, Margaret, I would ask you, in precinct 4, to maybe get a -- task force, senior citizens, youth, I was listening to k vet, talking about potholes.
how many times have I brought up this issue of potholes and capital metro not doing its jobs for repairs.
last and foremost, Margaret Gomez a picture with you and long lloyd doggett.
the congressman's office said it was not appropriate, staying neutral, this was utilized, not acceptability, I think he's very concerned about it.
judge, Commissioner, keep up the good work.
the society is measured by its treatment the less -- treatment of the less fortunate.
have a good day.
thank you.
>> that's it.
>> thank you.
>> thanks for starting without me.
i apologize for being a bit late there.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 2:10 PM
