Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, August 31, 2010,
Citizens Communication
Citizens communication is next. This item gives residents an opportunity to address the court on any matter not on the agenda for up to three minutes the following persons have signed in. I will call three. These three are asked to come forward because as one finishes i will call the next one. Sheriff greg hamilton. Speaker number one. Is he still here? Jim harrington, speaker number two. Morris priest, speaker number three. If those would please come forward. Sheriff hamilton, jim harrington, morris priest. Is somebody here for sheriff hamilton? Was he here on the first item, the resolution.
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic] all right. We won't jump ahead. Number four, sondra kirk. Please come forward. And get comfortable.
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic]
>> all right. You don't want to go next, ma'am?
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic]
>> please come fort.
>> we are in the same position
>> [inaudible - no mic] mr. Priest, would you like to being now.
>> i would wait after this gentleman. I'm not number one, sir. I want to rebut the issue.
>>
>> [inaudible - no mic]
>> no, ma'am, i would very much appreciate your coming forth now and giving your comments, if you would. We have a long agenda after citizens communication and we normally reach this item at about one hour earlier than we have already. Darren long is number five. I mentioned ned. Mandy dealy here. Everybody that came with ms. Kirk, come forth right now.
>> good morning.
>> good morning.
>> my name is sandra kirk, i'm here to speak with you about something that's very important to me. I know that it's not on your current agenda and not up for action. But i hope that you will remember the content, the comments that we make today when this does come up for you. I would like to speak with you about historic preservation program in austin. And the fact that recently there has been some public discussion about whether or not tax abatements, both from aisd and the county, and the city, are appropriate for the support of the incentives that go into historic preservation. And i am here to request that you continue your support of austin's historic preservation program. By not rescinding the county's tax abatement. My involvement is that i am a board member of the heritage society of austin. I'm actively engaged in trying to make sure that we look at historic preservation in a way that's very comprehensive, that we have some priorities and that we support the program because i think what makes the city strong is -- is the fact that it has some unique character to it. We have neighborhood plans in austin, each of our neighborhoods, the city of austin has gone through a process over about a 12 year time to make sure that we have neighborhood plans where the citizens get to directly input what happens in their neighborhood and what their priorities are. And every neighborhood plan that i have seen has had as a very high priority the preservation of the neighborhood character. So our preservation program in austin is very necessary to balance the development pressures that we have that are -- that are on the city right now because of the reputation austin has and so -- so it's -- it's important to us with the heritage society of austin that you know how much we very much appreciate the support we have gotten from travis county in this endeavor and we hope to have your input in the future. I'm also a planning commissioner with commissioner dealy, in that role we have involved in the oversight of the city's codes and ordinances development. We are looking at our processes and trying to make sure that some of the issues that have come up, some of the concerns that have come up regarding the high volume of very concentrated applications for historic designations that have come from essentially one neighborhood that we -- that we don't allow that to happen again. So we are doing some temporary measures that are going to make sure that we don't have this kind of issue arise again, but we are also working on some long-term solutions and looking very much at what we need to do in terms of -- of cataloging our historic assets in austin and making sure that we -- that -- my time is up. It happens very easily. I find that on planning commission. So i have a letter that i would like to just pass out to you when i leave the -- the -- the speaking table. Thank you so much.
>> ms. Team or ms. Dealy.
>> ms. Team.
>> well, i'm not going to read the letter that i brought. We'll distribute these, my name is linda team, i'm a board member of the heritage society and co-chair of the preservation committee. We have been working really diligently over the last several months to try to deal with some of the issue that's have arisen. We are here just to encourage you all to participate as the mayor leffingwell has invited you to do in the process of -- of -- of realigning and -- and adjusting our programs so that it goes better into the future. But we also are very concerned about the precipitous action that the school board seems to be taking, we're going to try to see if we can get them to reconsider that. But we don't think good policy is developed in a kind of crisis precipitous way. And we -- we are -- we are encouraged to think that you all will -- will give it time to -- to do a long-term situation -- solution to this situation.
>> thank you.
>> my name is mandy dealy, i'm president of the heritage society of austin. Andment also a plan -- and also a planning commissioner. I understand that you are not planning to abandon the texas incentives that support historic preservation in this next fiscal year. I'm -- preservation really serves many important public services and is a key component to austin's iconic brand and should be encouraged. That brand draws new businesses, new residents to austin and i think that's something we don't want to lose. The city's undertaking an examination of the historic landmark program, i really encourage y'all to -- to participate in that. If there were some way that we could have -- all of the taxing entities come together to talk about what the benefits are, that we want to see -- to see some historic preservation, i think that we might come up with a stronger, more sustainable program. If there's any way at all the heritage society of austin can help y'all answer questions, provide resource, please let us know. We are -- we are more than willing to do that. Again want to thank you for not abandoned the tax incentives for this fiscal year and look forward to working with you in the future.
>> we have a blue ribbon internal committee, looking at this issue for us. My guess is that they will be looking at it for the next three months. We will show you a letter and contact information with them. It seems to me that -- that the -- that the best thing that you can do for us now, if you haven't done so in the letters that you are about to leave with us, is to give a statement of the benefits or advantages of the historical exemptions that we have granted for years.
>> great.
>> thanks for coming.
>> thank you very much.
>> and what should we do with these? Just --
>> give them to marietta there she will pass them down.
>> thank you for your service and for giving us this opportunity.
>> mr. Harrington are you and your group ready?
>> yeah.
>>
>> major --
>> will you
>> [indiscernible] so the sheriff's office can respond to some of their statements, please.
>> well --
>> thank you, judge, members of the court, the reason that we are here is to talk to you and raise the issue with you about the report that came out from -- from the brandon institute and two other groups about the rate of extraordinarily high rate of deportation for folks that have not -- have no criminal history. And you remember the back couple of years ago we were here when the program -- problems that this was happening, it appears to be happening and it appears to be happening at an extraordinarily high rate, even higher than maricopa county, in arizona. The reason that we brought the issue forward is because of the effect that it has on -- on crime enforcement. In the community. That -- that in the message -- the message is that you may face deportation if you report domestic abuse, for example, that that means that you are not going to report it. And that increases the -- the probability and incidence of abuse. And we have -- we run a violence against woman project in which congress asked
>> [indiscernible] to allow women who are abused to regularlize their status in the country. We have seen in el paso county when the prior sheriff instituted this kind of immigration check that it had adverse impact on the obama program. Police need to have that kind of contact with the -- with the public in order to -- to resolve crime and to deal with crime and when the public doesn't have the confidence, that people won't be deported, then that means the rate of crime is going to increase and further victimize the -- the community. What we want to propose here is actually that since our -- there's so many players in this, there's the county, the sheriff, the judges, and immigration, that actually the -- you set up some sort of study group. To look at this issue. I have sent out letters to everybody, and i get no response from anybody. Because i think part of the reason that i don't get response from anybody about what exactly is happening, what's happening with the d.a., what's happening with the judges, what's happening with the county, what's happening with the sheriff is that nobody has a coherent view of what's happening to address the issue. But i think since it's been flagged, as a very important issue, 82% of people being deported out of this county, have no criminal record. These are folks that may have a member of the family who is a citizen or has status and all of a sudden they are gone or what -- we have cases in travis county in which the parent is deported and the kids are left behind. They're just left behind on their own. And you would have kids that are born here and that context or kids that come here very early age and have no -- no relationship to the country for which their parents are coming.
>> [one moment please for change in captioners]
>> for 15 years i have worked all the time to support my family. I have been in the united states for 15 years. For eight years i was in a marriage in which my husband was violent against me. I was afraid i could be deported if i told the police and that he would keep my daughter since she was born in the united states. Finally things became so violent that i had to call the police. 20 of them came and arrested my ex-husband. He was deported. If he returns to the united states in 10 years, he will go to the jail. I divorce, receive a protective order, apply for a new visa which is crime victims' visa. The problem with my ex-husband being deported is that there is now no way to make him pay for child support. That means i have to support my daughter alone. I do not qualify for any government assistance. I make a thousand dollars per month. The other problem with deporting my ex-husband is that he's 17 years old from a previous relationship has no parent to live with. I do not know where he is, but i do know that he goes to school. I'm also afraid if a police officer stops me for a traffic violation, he might not understand my visa and i might get deported. I believe they high deportations of travis county means that other victims of domestic violence and crime will be afraid to report it to the police and suffer more. More children will be without a parent, wouldn't have a family, will be alone. Many others like me will not receive child support.
>> [ buzzer sounds ] please work with the sheriff to change the program so that not as many people get deported, especially victims of crime or those who are in need of child support. Thank you for listening to me.
>> thank you. Now, did the two of you sign the -- complete sign-in forms?
>> we did not, judge. It was actually over here by the time we arrived.
>> and there were none left and we were just told that we could ask to speak.
>> all right. We'll give you an opportunity to give comments today, but give me that information on wait out. That becomes a part of the county record. Name?
>> my name is edna yang. I am the counsel for american gateways. We provide immigration legal services and advocacy for indigent immigrants throughout central texas. And i'm here to talk about the program that mr. Herrington addressed. On a daily basis we encounter victims of violent crimes, trafficking in family violence. And we are often faced with the challenge of convincing those individuals to go forward and to report the crimes that have been done against them. No one here doubts the great work that the travis county sheriff's office does when a crime is actually reported in investigating that crime, but the problem that this program actually creates is one of bringing victims and witnesses forward. I have several clients who are often afraid to go to the police, to the sheriff's office, afraid to apply for protective orders, afraid to apply for child support and child custody because they believe that any contact with any government agency will result in their did he deportation, their children being taken away from them or their children being deported. What we combat are the lies that perpetrators of abuse through power and control actually use to keep individuals in violent relationships. And so this program is actually being used against those individuals and used in that power and control system. And with that what we see is a large number of people who are reluctant to go forward. And i think that what it really causes is an overall decrease in the safety of our community. Not just the immigrant community, but our community overall. I don't think anyone here advocates violence and no one here is talking about the travis county sheriff's office not doing good job, but i think that the program itself hinders them and it hinders the safety of our community. And so we are asking that at least a study be performed to see how this program is affecting the overall safety of our community and the impact that it has on the lives of victims and everyone overall. Thank you.
>> thank you. Yes? Dprs.
>> my name is jacqueline watson, an immigration attorney in private practice in austin. I've been practicing for 11 years and board certified in immigration and nationality law. The program that we are all discussing today is called the secured communities program under the immigration and customs enforcement or ice. This program has the very admirable goal of deporting the worst of the worst, and that is i believe ice's words used to describe this program. These are violent criminals, these are people who have very serious criminal histories. What we see, though, with the numbers that have been coming out through the freedom of information act request, specifically to this program, is that 82% of deportees out of travis county have little or no criminal record. This is very troubling and it raises a lot of questions. The previous witnesses have raised several important questions, but it is also one of local resources. These are local resources being used to deport people who have little or no criminal record. Why are so many people being deported? Why do so many in jail who eventually get deported with little or no criminal record, why do so many happen to be immigrants? How many local resources are being used to house non-offenders in travis county jail for federal authorities? As an immigration attorney in private practice i get calls very often from people who tell me of their relatives being held in travis county jail far after the completion of their criminal case, waiting for ice holds. And i'm not only talking about people who have no papers, i'm talking about -- or people who are undocumented, i'm also talking about people who are lawful permanent residents and even people who are united states citizens who happen to have ice holds who language wish at taxpayer expense in travis county jail. One of the questions is what is the cost to travis county in terms of justice, resources, and in terms of family unity. I think these questions are very important, they should be looked into for the reasons that i have raised and that for the other witnesses have raised. As ms. Young pointed out, no one questions the great service to this county that the sheriff's office is committed to; however, this program does have problems. They should be looked into. I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
>> so is there something in writing describing what the study group would study? Maybe like a definitive charge?
>> we would be happy to submit something to you, judge, on that point.
>> let us see that.
>> okay.
>> ms. Watson and ms. Yang, if y'all would complete that form for me on the way out.
>> thank you.
>> you will have been officially here today. Major long?
>> good morning, court members. I'm darren long, i'm the jail administrator for the travis county sheriff's office. And i just want to respond so the public knows the whole story. This is not a new program as far as ice being in the jail. As long as i've been here with the county, they've been coming in and interviewing just like all other law enforcement organizations that we allow to come in and conduct their investigations. So we don't discriminate against any law enforcement agency from coming in and doing their job. And we don't think that would be fair to do that with any agency. I think maria testified that she reported family violence, and yet just like in the sheriff's office, we don't ask immigration status from reporting victims or witnesses or anything like that. We don't do that. And so now when they come to the jail and when some of the testimony was saying they don't have any criminal histories, we have a contractual obligation to accept all people because we are the only central booking facility in travis county. So when they are brought to our central booking they are charged with a crime. We have to accept them. That's our obligation to do that as the central booking facility of travis county. Now, what ice or anybody else does with the folks that are in our custody, we don't get in the way of that and we shouldn't. We shouldn't interject what we feel -- what we think is right or wrong to a legal investigation. So when someone says what investments does the sheriff's office have or what does staff resources take, we don't get involved, so it's not taking up any of our resources? And some of the testimony was saying that they're in our jail for long lengths of time after they have disposed of all county and local charges. That is not true. They come get them within 48 hours, excluding federal holidays and weekends. So we don't keep them for a long period of time. I hate to say this, but they are very efficient and they come in very quickly after all local charges are disposed of and remove them, but we don't follow them through the legal system. It's not our job to do that and i don't want to dedicate any resources to any of their investigations or asking any questions like that. The sheriff's office is not breaking up families like has been said. We invite people to report crime and we'll investigate it. We turn (indiscernible) that is very conscientious with the sheriff's office. We don't racially profile. We don't allow it. I just want to make that very clear.
>> any idea of what the sheriff's position would be in response to the request to have a study group look at this, a study group including the sheriff's office?
>> we invite it. We are a transparent agency and we'll come to the table every time to address citizen concerns.
>> major long, i believe you said this, but i'm going to ask it. Does the travis county sheriff's office or the austin police department or any of the law enforcement agencies inside travis county have as policy or a practice of asking a crime reporter's immigration status at the time of taking a call or at any other time during investigation?
>> i can't speak for all the other law enforcement agencies. I know that travis county sheriff's office has a policy against doing that.
>> thank you.
>> thank you. Mr. Priest?
>> thank you, judge, commissioners. Morris priest speaking on my own behalf. Just to mention the historical matter that was brought up earlier about the taxing. I am glad that the school district disallowed that and would hope that the city and county would stop doing that. So i want to mention that we have a lot of issues that's come before this court, whether it's txi or this last sludge hearing that we had. The voters voted in sh 45 southwest. We've had our personnel problems with linda and alicia. We have problems with this government not responding to this dysfunctional travis county government and while obama lies americans die at the hands of many illegal aliens in this country. According to the peer research center, the vast majority of public supports immigration laws like the arizona law, regardless of political affiliation, yet the white house and of course this county seems to ignore the problem or wants to do a study, as they have seemingly towards all the big problems affecting america or this county. Whether the crisis is an economy or the gulf oil spill or the killing and violence along the border, again and again the behavior pattern from this administration seems to be the kind typically found among university professors like a good accuse deemian. Obama tends to talk about a problem rather than solve the problem, as does this county. No wonder if the motto of this administration is no problem too big to ignore or to continually debate and study. I think that basically what we're having is a failed leadership. Failed leadership of not only the obama administration, but of this county. I know that there's been many people supporting the republican party and i want to encourage people to vote down these poor transportation bonds that the city has, that the county has and to vote the incumbents out. We're having nothing but failed leadership and time and time again we see that this is always at our county and city government. We have situations, you know, such as what happened here with mr. Vogel out at the manchaca fire hall. We have nothing but tolers on the city and the county. We see these people voting in their pay raises. Their appointments are appointments that have been laughing and mocking the county. So i just want to let people know that when they see how much tonnage of sewage we're going to have and when we have these debates about what's going to be done, the variance allows unlimited tonnage. There's your tonnage. We have people that they're constantly bringing up issues before this county and before this city and they're being ignored. And then we see people come up here in front of our county government and lie continually and make distorted representations with their twisted feelings and abnormal behaviors. We have these people coming up here continually. It's just a barrage. Thank you.
>> thank you, mr. Priest. Mr. Reeferseed. Thank you for your patience.
>> thank you. Yes. Yes, i am ronnie reeferseed, singing yippee to the so-called end of combat operations in iraq, that totally has been negative hog wash. Dilution and propaganda from our very own so-called presidential called barack obama, vulnerable to blackmail. Gee whiz in blackface. Come on, everyone, let's temporarily transfer the troops to kuwait is not a withdrawal of forces. It's only one more nugget of hog wash who is now borrowing his middle name from the good old secretary of state. But he is vulnerable to hog wash on multiple levels and you hope he doesn't want to hurt us all, but he is a ugeniuy. When does that mean? Ask warren buffett, sliming, scheming pig. Let me tell you, a ugenius who thinks that killing fellow human services in mass is justified. To supposedly solve environmental challenges from the actions of the president accounted for adult population. Killing babies is their solution. Ageism big time is killing babies. It's the mechanism for killing babies and for any reason at any time it's not their fault. It's not the baby's fault any time. Killing babies is pure evil. Never justifiable. I wonder why the rest of the world hates us? Since row v wade the ongoing american hog wash stands well over 50 million dead babies. Now spread worldwide thanks to the clintonians satanic policy of supporting population reduction through coercion and destruction, financed again by billy the killer gates etcetera. It's having people act accordingly. To learn more call toll free for weekly updates from george washington and george washington and thomas jefferson channeled through dr. Ron paul. That 50 year husband, five-year veteran, examp onof a sound economy. Enemy of a costly counterproductive interference into the business above the nations. Why, that's what we call want, isn't it, freedom and peace? So to learn more and to get your ideas in there somewhere again, call dr. Paul. And let's stop the killing across the board and bring our troops home to stop the killing from mexican organized crime illegal drug thug gangs while we just stop funding the killing by just granting absolute freedom to family farms here at home to compete with gmo boys and food crap shoved down our throats by the scum bums in charge. Organic freedom would save family forms and feed and save our world. Empty the jails. Make room for military industrial media banks or complexes.
>> [ buzzer sounds ] thank you much.
>> thank you, mr. Reeferseed. And our final speaker today on the citizens communication is joe gieselman.
>> good morning. Mr. Reeferseed is always a hard act to follow.
>> [ laughter ] i'm joe gieselman, i'm the executive manager of transportation and natural resources. My good friend and fellow executive manager, danny hobby, has advised me on several occasions to turn to the bible for guidance on major decisions in my life. And i know eclees yasties has something to say about an appointed time for everything. But i personally favor country music lyrics such as kenny rogers when he says you've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em and know when to walk away. Well, i've mulled over my hand and it's time to turn in my chips. Today i publicly announce that i plan to retire from county government effective january 31st, 2011. I will be 63 in january and i will mark my 36th year with travis county. Six and three, three and six. There's an appealing balance between those two numbers. When i came to work for travis county i had a full head of blonde hair.
>> [ laughter ] i started to work in travis county when there were five members in the county attorney's office. We housed a little office underneath the stairs in the main courtroom when the population of travis county was merely 250,000 people. Today my department is 450 people, wonderful employees. The county's population exceeds over a million people. I have worked through -- worked through and facilitated much change in county in those 36 years. It's given me an opportunity of a lifetime and i hope i have created some value in return. But it's time for me to move on and to hand off my duties to new leadership. Over at my remaining five months i will assist you and diane blank enship to works a recruitment and hiring process for my replacement and i will work to ensure a seamless transition and tnr's executive leadership. I am extremely proud and respectful of the employees in tnr and i am protective of their future well-being. I want them to be in good management hands when i leave. For this i say thank you very much.
>> joe, that's --
>> [ applause ]
>> thank you for your service. Oh, man, i tell you, tough act to follow, joe.
>> i note with wryness to do this so we can't have a conversation about this. You really know how to work the system, joe.
>> let's do item number 4 before we do the consent items.
>> excuse me, i didn't sign up, but i would like to speak in citizens communication. Is that okay?
>> go ahead.
>> woo. Pardon me. I just got through walking around town lake. My name is mary aleshire and joe gieselman has been really good to travis county over all these years. The reason i'm coming to you today is that i filed for public housing in september of 2008. Excuse me. Not section 8 housing, but regular public housing. And i was called in for an interview on july the 17th. I'm sorry, august the 17th. So i thought -- i jumped through all these loops and everything, turned in all the documents that you have to turn in in order to get into public housing, and i got a list of the 30 different place is around town that you can go into. And at the very last they didn't accept my disability. And my doctor is dr. Pamela monday and she's a ritual abuse, torture, mind control therapist. If you google here she's listed in the article by gary cartwright in the texas monthly magazine as a psychologist and that article appeared in the monthly magazine. And in 1994 and it's called the innocent and the damned. So here i am. You know, are they going to want to put me on the streets in austin? My disability has a stigma. It's one of the worst stigmas ever. And so the reason i'm coming before you today is because i don't want to live on the streets in austin. I thought about getting a fema truck, even with the formaldehyde and black mold. It's not fair. How much can you expect a political family to give? Bill uncovered the cia doing mind control experiments when he was working for state representative lane denton in the 1970's, which led to the church hearings.
>> [ buzzer sounds ] and i became a victim. They go after your families. Everything i'm telling you is the god's truth. Will i be living across the street in the park? On a bench? In the middle of the night i'm taken away to god knows where?
>> thank you, ms. Aleshire.
>> oh, and -- in conclusion, i did watch your work session last week on indigent burials, and i'm definitely for cremation. Thank you.
>> thank you. Let's go to item 4 before we take up the consent items.
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, August 31, 2010, 2010 2:30 PM
