Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, October 26, 2010,
Citizens Communication
>> citizens communication is next.
citizens communication gives residents an opportunity to address the court on any item not on the agenda.
gus pena, john k.
kim, morris priest, and Karen renek.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, gus pena, proud east Austin native, proud united states marine corps veteran.
first and foremost number one I would like to talk about all these elections that are going, all these candidates talking about everything but.
one of the things we've seen is teen pregnancy.
is more funding going to be needed for prevention mechanism and programs. Not enough is being said about teen pregnancy.
Travis County has one of the highest in the united states of america.
and that is not acceptable.
homelessness, a lot of candidates talking about homelessness, this, that and the other.
a lot of people claim a lot of money is being allocated to homeless prevention, city of Austin.
but let me tell you what, folks, you go out in the city and talk to these homeless individuals and homeless veterans with families, and that outreach is not getting to them.
I know because I talk to them daily.
I stop whenever I can, whenever I have time, whenever I have money to spend with them.
education.
excuse me.
the Texas education agency specifically Commissioner scott is -- are proposing to cut up to 36 to $46 million in dropout prevention funding for the whole state of Texas.
here in Austin, Travis County, and I told you this the second, third week of school when it -- school started, we're having problems with students grasping the concepts and the material math, english specifically and history.
not enough -- funding for tutorial is available.
we have teachers inundated by their classroom environment.
giving time to provide tutorial.
it's very difficult to provide something to get a student to grasp the subject matter and the material and the concepts and strategies if you don't have an appropriate tutorial mechanism.
that's not being done in Austin, Travis County, aisd and wherever.
please if you have time to become a volunteer mentor, please volunteer math, english, reading, et cetera.
job creation.
if you go out to east Austin, I just talked about east Austin, south Austin, a lot of small businesses are failing and it's not good.
I hope our elected officials nationwide do remember and remain cognizant of why.
preventive health care is really not out there for the people.
we had health care reform through the united states of america.
some of it is good, some of it is bad.
it's not getting to the common folk.
vote, vote.
us military veterans fought for our country's right, for y'all's right to vote.
please exercise that vote.
it's an honor to vote.
>> [speaking in spanish] military veterans assured us a right to vote and we need to remember their sacrifices for our freedom, safety and democracy.
>> [buzzer sounding] last and foremost, judge Biscoe, we want the people to vote for re-election of tim Biscoe, judge herb evans, thank you very much and keep up the good work.
bye.
>> thank you, mr. Pena.
dr. Kim is next.
>> thank you very much.
I really appreciate you.
good morning all of you.
my honorable county judge samuel Biscoe and
>> [indiscernible] district 2 and honorable Commissioner Margaret Gomez precinct 4, I wish you all good fortune for your election.
>> thank you.
>> I really appreciate.
and I知 also about to keep democracy and education in Travis County and Austin community college perfect.
I was here last time but I did not receive any written response from all of you.
I presented 43 pages documentation.
August 11, 2006, one of my students wrote this.
dear dr. Kim, you are excellent.
you have been the best instructor I have had my whole school career.
I look forward to coming to your class every morning at 10:40.
you made the learning about the american government interesting and even though it was difficult to understand, you explained it so well and made it easy for your students to follow.
you are so compassionate about your work and you do your best to make sure that your students are doing their best too.
some instructors give out work, but they do not explain or do not care how well students do in their class, but you make sure that we knew what was going on and you helped us figure out my problem or question that we had.
this year was my first year of college.
many other professors discouraged me to try my best and one of them told me that I wouldn't understand the things even with help.
those professors made me very uncomfortable with asking questions and also made me think that maybe college wasn't right for me.
but however you give your students the
>> [indiscernible] that we can succeed and that we are all excellent students.
I really appreciate it that you -- because you let know that I am capable of making good grades and working hard for it.
at first I had no understanding of american government, but now every day when I get out of my class I find myself talking, telling my parents and a friend what I learned that day in your class.
I have told so many people that you are terrific professor and that you have been the best instructor that I have very had --
>> [buzzer sounding] -- throughout my school yearment I have never had any instructor with so much energy and compassion that for your work.
and their students as you do.
thank you so much for everything and being such a terrific professor.
sincerely.
but Austin community college fired me on all the 3rd, seven days before without receiving
>> [indiscernible] and Austin community college refused to release 52 of the students
>> [indiscernible] today.
they stole my student -- why they refused.
according to Austin community college rules, all student policy must be released to the students, to the professors and to department chairs.
and also --
>> mr. Kim, you are a minute over.
>> time is over?
>> three minutes goes pretty fast.
>> thank you, sir.
I respect the rule.
>> you mentioned leaving a document with us last week.
>> yes, I did.
but it was 43 pages?
>> yes.
>> any way to reduce that down to two or three?
try to respond to you.
>> I値l try to do that today.
>> do highlights and maybe we can respond.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> you're welcome.
>> mr. Priest is next and would gerald daugherty come forward.
>> with our increasing property taxes, our county still finds money to give all elected officials pay raises as well as department heads.
they still find money for $450,000 for abortions while jobs are down and foreclosures is up.
our county finds poor tax incentives for businesses who are nonproducing when it comes to jobs.
this nonresponsive county on environmental issues, transportation issues and crime issues or failing infrastructure, buying 700 lavaca a poor investment.
failing infrastructure, communication problems with employees, broken promises and flip-floppers on our court from formula 1 to sh 35 to Austin colony, we have so many issues that even ray charles can see the problems that this county is facing.
>> [one moment, please, for change in captioners]
>> we see having to go into executive sessions.
we see even the situation that we saw last week when there is a consensus on water districts, the county's heavy handed tactics to put moratoriums on people and devalue their land.
we have race relation issues, illegal entries into the country, enormous crime, and we see this in in never ending stream of broken promises and flip-floppers.
this environmental situation that we're facing this this county with many of the issues such as we just discussed this morning are not being address bid our local elected officials.
and the normal response to the citizens is that this county has been nonresponsive in dealing with critical issues that affect our quality of life, so I hope everyone -- to remind everybody again that November is coming, election day is coming.
I致e seen my own Commissioner lose support from e.m.s.
and other things, so a lot has happened since March primary.
and people are really getting dissatisfied with the failed leadership of this county.
I hope to see you at the polls.
vote republican, vote early and vote often.
>> ms. Renek is next followed by mr. Reeferseed and mr. Daugherty and would mark littlefield come fortsdz.
>> good morning judge and Commissioners.
too bad Commissioner Eckhardt has left because my remarks this morning are meant for her.
at last week's Commissioners court during part of the proceedings where we were discussing about the continued use of the electronic voting machines, -- good, she's coming back.
Commissioner Eckhardt --
>> I heard every word.
I had to run to the restroom.
>> I wanted to correct a clarification that the county clerk made in direct response to a question you had.
you had raised the question about the counting paper ballots in germany and we raise that had issue to the court several times.
the county clerk, in her response, she stated that it was only the small jurisdictions in germany that used the hand-counted paper ballots.
and this is not right.
electronic voting has been banned throughout the entire country as per the constitutional report in germany.
and I wanted to let the Commissioners court know that tonight on hdnet-tv, dan rather has a report specifically about the german decision.
he traveled to germany with his crew and he has done a full report about the fact that they have banned electronic voting in germany.
and that's at 7:00 tonight, so I wanted to let Commissioners' court know as well as all the public out there, hdnet, I think you have to pay more to have it, so we've set up a viewing at sholz's garden tonight at 7:00.
so anyone is welcome to join us at 7:00 tonight at sholz's garden.
I also wanted to just use the few last seconds I have to remind the public that next Tuesday we are holding a public -- a pilot hand count.
the location of the pilot hand count will be announced later this week.
and interested citizens who would like to participate or join us go to the hand count coalition or vote rescue.org to find information about that.
and we also have what we're calling an election incident hotline that we've set up.
you can get to it through vote rescue and it basically internet bull horn.
it will provide a central outlet where citizens can directly alert fellow citizens to problems that are occurring at the polls.
thank you very much.
>> thank you.
mr. Reeferseed?
>> thank you, sir.
yippee.
ronnie reeferseed, gasping, hey kids, cherish your brief childhood.
etcetera almost gone.
with that first hit off any cigarette of any kind or that first swig of alcohol poison, that's it, you're done.
now you get to help the rest of us stand up to the deluge of hog wash suffocating our spirits.
we have to did he fi the pundits, the corporate propaganda also regurgitate lock step simplicity trying to limit the debate.
but oops, thanks to the alternative media like infowars.com, we have been set free.
dr. Paul online.
and how about lew rock well.com, american free press.net for more original articles about dr. Ron paul.
and to subscribe to american free press dial toll free 1888-63-6397 and to learn more, go to alex jones.com.
check it out today.
for governor fellow texans, let's retire the delusional hair do who forces our young girls to be guinnea pigs for evil guardsill.
vote for libertarian kathy glass.
wisely avoided by rick perry.
libertarian kathy glass we have destroyed slick perry as well and he knows it.
look into her.
she's a libertarian champion.
and here's a happy idea about how to help feed our hungry people.
absolute freedom for family forms to grow organic crops like hemp marijuana, conserving topsoil by telling fewer trees means better food production while preserving the miracles found by bio diversity.
each species is precious.
we have the right nor wisdom to pick the winners or losers here, so let's stop trying to play god.
we must stop the killing.
the christian spokesman for saddam hussein has been sentenced to death in the ongoing coverup of bush family crimes against our constitution.
by the way, which is now only accelerating under the current regimes.
bamtrons like endless, pointless war?
you've got it, thanks heeps.
help conserve topsoil by definancing deep core station with inevitable market forces we can make it no longer profitable to just cut down trees and by conserving topsoil.
it means more bio diversity while enriching all of our lives.
by wait, over 25% of all prisoners rotting in u.s.
jails are there today for now one and only one crime.
>> [ buzzer sounds ] nothing violent, hemp marijuana offenses.
thank you so much.
>> thank you.
gerald daugherty is next.
mark littlefield is afterwards and bill aleshire is third.
>> morning.
>> judge, good morning.
dang, ronnie, you are tough to follow.
>> [ laughter ] thank you, judge Biscoe and the court for allowing me to speak.
my name is gerald daugherty and I知 here strictly as a Travis County citizen.
first of all, I want you all to know that we come -- I say we because there are a number of us today to speak -- respectfully to talk to you all about something that I think is so, so important.
and that is getting somehow -- finding a way to build sh 45 southwest.
let's lay all politics aside because this has nothing to do with politics, anything personal, it's just something that I feel like, I have always felt like that all of you that have known me for a number of years, knows that it's something that I will do everything within my power to try to move forward.
it snowed earlier this year.
if you don't remember the date, I知 not sure I remember the date, but I remember who I was with.
I was with former judge bill aleshire.
I asked bill, bill, will you sit down with me and us try to find a way to get 45 southwest built?
now, a lot of people would think that would be a pretty uncommon duo to get together to work on the same thing, but I will assure you that we will do everything and we will try to do it right, we will try to do it respectfully, but I think that you will hear from the speakers today how important it is to try to move forward with getting this road built?
y'all, we can get this road built even with the shortage of money that we have today.
if all of us pull together.
I知 here to tell you that our ask of this court at some point in time in the near future will be a financial commitment so that we can take that money.
we are also going to go to the hays county Commissioners court to ask for a give towards getting this road built.
and then we are willing, this community, bill and I leading this thing, to go to the highway commission to see if we can't move this thing up into the queuing to get it built.
this community has waited 13 years to have this road started.
I will commit to you all that I will be very forthright in my approach to each and every one of you.
and I will everything with the people of Travis County.
I think the people of hays county know the benefit they will get from it.
>> [ buzzer sounds ] we look forward to working with you, judge.
we will come back later on and I will ask for this item object agendaized so we can have interchange, which we can't do at this juncture.
thank you very much for your time.
>> thank you.
mr. Littlefield is next, followed by former judge bill aleshire and carol vance.
>> judge, Commissioners, thank you for your time this morning.
my name is mark littlefield.
I致e been helping organize the neighbors in shady hollow in southwest Austin in this effort, the coalition to build sh 45 southwest now.
I just wanted to come here this morning and give you a quick update about the coalition, what we've done, how many members there are.
we've primarily just focused on shady hollow.
we have 532 public supporters who have signed on through a website.
they have been met at their front doorstep, they've been called on the telephone, who say they are in favor of having this road built right now.
we've also -- about once a month we will shoot a quick ivr poll out into shady hollow or those neighborhoods right along brodie lane.
for those of you who don't know, this is the telephone poll you get where it's press 1 if you're voting for judge Biscoe, vote 2 if you're voting for somebody else.
and we have new questions, would you like to have the toll road?
obviously the question is not to have the toll road, but in shady hollow, it's 94% would like to have this road built.
up and along, outside of shady hollow it's 88 percent.
we have 532 public supporters.
we've raised over $6,000.
the average donation or the median donation is less than $100.
and we look forward to coming here in the coming weeks, week after week with neighbors and residents with other neighborhoods along brodie lane.
thank you very much.
>> thank you.
judge aleshire is next.
and would vicky goodwin please come forward?
>> morning, judge and Commissioners.
it was a good thing to be here early to be able to see and be reminded that members of this Commissioners court have to put up with a lot of sludge.
and sometimes literally.
Commissioners, I am so sick and tired of seeing stuff tried to be dumped on east Austin.
I spent a career trying to find that.
and I appreciate your comments this morning about that, Commissioner Davis.
in that regard I知 here to try to give you briefly a perspective that I have as a former county wide official as well as a resident of shady hollow.
the problems that we experience now on brodie lane and the excessive amount of traffic on that road was caused in part by a decision by this Commissioners court to punch brodie lane through to 1626.
it created a thoroughfare.
it should not have been done until sh 45, the parallel sh 45, was under contract.
it was anticipated because sh 45 was planned that it would be built, but the delay in sh 45 has predictably caused that traffic to use brodie, a two-lane road that was never intended to be used for that purpose.
there was a point in time when 100% of the traffic on brodie was generated by or to shady hallow because it didn't go anywhere else.
it dead-ended in there in essence.
now -- and shady hollow is built out.
shady hollow is not going to be a generator of additional traffic on brodie in the future.
the increase in traffic on brodie has come from the developments to the south and into hays county.
and that traffic will use brodie until sh 45 is built.
the public voted on sh 45 to buy the right-of-way and the money spent and it's sitting there wasted.
sh 45 not only should be built, but it ought to be built right.
it is important that an environmental impact study be completed and that the construction be consistent with that environmental impact study.
I sat there and studied this issue years ago before we even put the item on the agenda and I was convinced then that it is possible to build this road.
is there a sinkhole around the route for sh 45?
you bet.
there's a sinkhole a few hundred yards from brodie, but we know how to deal with those issues.
there are members of -- I was shocked by the four-one vote on this Commissioners court to take sh 45 out of the plan before the eis was even finished.
I was shocked by it.
there are members of this Commissioners' court who are usually sensitive to neighborhood concerns.
>> [ buzzer sounds ] and I ask you to rethink the impact of that vote and then put you out of sing with all the of other folks, but I ask you to respectfully rethink that vote and please republican to us and figure out how to best proceed with construction of this road.
thank you.
>> thank you, judge.
miss vance is next, followed by ms. Goodwin.
>> good morning, Commissioners and judge.
thank you for allowing us to come and speak to you today.
my name is carol vance and I知 the president of the board of directors of the shady hollow homeowners association.
our association represents 1400 families who call shady hollow their home.
we live along brodie lane, which has become impossiblely congested and unsafe because of the traffic it must carry to and from Austin.
as a result our children are unsafe and those who are using brodie lane are unshave.
-- unsafe.
the answer to our problem was proposed years ago.
the construction of sh 45 southwest.
the proposed road is designed to carry inbound, outbound and local traffic from fm 1626 and brodie lane directly to mopac.
this would keep the through traffic off of our residential street.
as you know, money was spent to buy the right-of-way.
an environmental impact study was begun and then nothing happened.
and now no one except those of us in the area are even trying to solve this increasingly serious problem.
together with other neighborhood associations we're beginning a campaign to create awareness of our problem.
we're here to discuss it with you today.
we will be here next week and we will be here the week after that.
and we will keep coming until we get relief.
we will keep coming until the money is found to build sh 45 southwest now.
we will enlist other affected neighborhoods in the area to join with us.
we'll enlist the people of northern hays county who are also affected because this truly is a regional problem that desperately needs a solution.
please determine that this is a problem that needs a solution and needs it now.
find the money that would be the appropriate participation from Travis County to help solve this problem and find it quickly.
thank you.
>> I am here again to ask for your support on this road that we so desperately need.
I wanted to give you my perspective as a long time resident of shady hollow.
I致e lived in shady hollow for 17 years.
I lived in shady hollow before the road went through, before brodie lane went through to 1626 and there was only a stop sign at capistrano.
the increased volume of traffic on brodie lane is just incredible.
I also wanted to give my perspective as a parent.
I drive my child to bailey middle school everyday.
she plays clarinet and just can't manage riding her bike with backpack, clarinet and being a 65 partly sunny 10-year-old girl -- being a 65-pound 10-year-old girl.
I thought having the school kids go to griz ski would have an impact, but if it has I can't see that it's lightened traffic at all.
traffic is incredibly heavy at dropping her off at 8:00 in the morning.
on the west side of brodie there is no option to get out of the neighborhood other than getting back on to brodie.
and sitting at the light at capistrano is takes sometimes six, seven light changes before I can get back on to brodie.
it's ridiculous.
and my perspective as a realtor, I sell a lot of homes in shady hollow, but I sell homes all over, georgetown, Cedar Park, dripping springs.
and last week I was out at the corner of haystack showing a home on haystack, which is in spicewood, and had to dodge the construction trucks that are out there off of 71 and haystack.
they've been doing a lot of construction out there.
construction on 290.
so when I hear that we don't have the financing available, I wonder how is it there's financing available for other roads.
we've been asking for this road for so long.
it's time to do something.
thank you.
>> thank you, ms. Goodwin.
>> judge and Commissioners, I知 howard faulkenburg, a mobility advocate.
it's in that role that I appear this morning.
for 20 years sh 45 southwest has been planned as an essential part of the roadway system to serve southern Travis County and northern hays county.
without it the thousands of residents in shady hollow and the other nearby subdivisions are held hospital sage in their own homes because of commuter traffic in the neighborhoods off brodie lane.
serious congestion, serious safety concerns, loss of personal productivity time, all are the cost of failure to build sh 45 southwest.
this is a regional need that exists and I知 convinced it can be solved with a regional solution.
I believe the next speaker is brad hagan, who lives in hays county and experiences the issues coming off of 1626 on a daily basis.
I知 convinced the hays county Commissioners' court is going to address this issue no matter what happens on the election on November 2nd.
both candidates for Commissioner precinct 2 have addressed the importance of extending the mobility provided by the widened 1626 into hays county via sh 45 southwest.
one of the candidates in dripping springs has addressed the same attitude.
both the county judge candidates have spoken of the importance of transportation and the need for sh 45 southwest.
I think that the hays county court will be ameanable to finding funding to help provide part of this need, which is no longer even going to be principlely in their county.
I believe that the Texas department of transportation can find the funding from their resources, as they seem to be able to find money when they really want to find money.
and I think they can find the resources to apply to sh 45 southwest and I encourage you to consider how you can provide funding to be a part of the solution, the regional solution that we need to build sh 45 southwest to bring people in and out of northern hays county, to bring people in and out of brodie lane subdivisions, and to make this system work so much better than it currently does.
we'll appreciate your consideration as we go forward with this matter and thanks for your time this morning.
>> thank you.
brad hagan.
I知 going to ask for your acceptance of an apology and so that -- with that being said, I値l go on.
we're passionate about it, we're desperate for it and so probably my verbiage could have been presented a little better.
judge Biscoe, thank you for your efforts for supporting in the vote.
it was critical.
ooltses for your efforts in the campo on that vote when we were trying to keep the sh 45 southwest alive.
there's funding available and there's funding already being applied to the ea for the sh 45 southwest if I知 correctly getting my source from the central Texas mobility authority from contacts in there.
they said already there's monies being applied.
so this thing is well on its way and it's been well on its way for 20 years.
they've been -- they've done how many ea's?
and we failed to get it done because we don't act, we don't follow through.
I think now you will see some follow through.
what I would like to share with you is I live in cimarron park.
I知 right off of 1626 just below bliss spillar.
every morning if I leave at 6:00 I知 fine, 6:30 is fine.
if I get to 7:00 going through brodie already has a line of traffic.
so I sat because I had people telling us it's a brodie traffic problem.
it's a shady hollow traffic problem.
it's not.
I sit at 1626 and I sat there for hours watching traffic to see what's happening, how many cars are filing up from 1626 up brodie.
and I also watched to see how many would commute on 1626 to 35.
it's probably half.
but it's a tremendous amount that take the left turn and head up brodie.
so there's a tremendous amount of traffic coming in.
neighborhoods that are affected, cimarron park, leisure woods, huntington estates, whispering hollow.
there's a multitude of communities that are cutting through cimarron park, and that's the ont onl way they can get to 1626.
that would be colin country, creekside, all of these places are growing and expanding and now we're getting new subdivisions all along 1626.
if you put your pencil geographically on 1626 try to get to mopac.
you can't.
there's no way.
you cannot get to it unless you go through brodie.
a two-lane residential with school zones.
also we have a school zone on slaughter.
we're getting tremendous traffic build upcoming south on mopac on the way home on our commute home.
now that's starting to build up.
and you can see the traffic backup almost a quarter of a mile hitting slaughter.
it would be easy for us to go across slaughter and then start to head out.
everybody is turning left at slaughter and trying to cut across.
we've been battling this thing in hays county for roads and we worked hard for a grassroots effort --
>> [ buzzer sounds ] , and we passed 1626.
we got that hurdle out of the way.
that was the big limitation.
now that we've got that out of the way our focus is on sh 45 southwest.
and hays county we plan on teaming with shady hollow now, not fighting against them and we want to see if we can do this.
and we'll do it respectfully, but we'll come to you and come to the Commissioners or the Commissioners that run txdot and we'll be here because we're desperate and we need the help.
so I知 hoping you will reconsider your votes and your positions and start to consider the safety that we need to get on to get our commuters back and forth.
>> thank you.
anybody else that didn't sign in.
>>
>> judge and Commissioners, my name is ken rigsby, contrary to the folks you heard from I live at scoirk cire c ranch.
I have for 22 years.
I have supported sh 45 southwest because it's a project that needs to be done.
I recognize the tremendous traffic load we get from circle c coming towards us on slaughter lane in front of bowie high school at that slaughter lane-mopac intersection.
this is a project that needs to be done and I encourage all of your support.
and judge, I appreciate yours.
Commissioner Huber, I wish you would support it as well.
thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
>> thank you.
Commissioner Huber.
>> I would like to clarify or add additional information to a couple of points that were made.
first I want to say that I do agree with much of what's been said today.
the congestion on brodie and the problems on 1626 are very, very bad and very challenging.
but what I would like to add is that when the bonds were sold to the taxpayers in Travis County, they were represented as bonds that would buy the right-of-way for a free road and that it would relieve the con jeks on brodie.
I would like to point out that in the campo studies modelings with 45 southwest that within just a very few years of the construction of 45 southwest that the traffic counts on brodie are projected to be higher than they are now.
the other thing that -- and also the road is proposed as a toll road.
it was put to the voters as a free road.
to my knowledge no studies have been done that would indicate that the traffic from hays county, the majority of them would indeed pay for the toll.
so those are -- those are points that I think the public should be aware of as well.
>> okay.
thank you very much.
that does it for citizens communication.
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, October 26, 2010 2:00 PM
