Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, November 23, 2010,
Item 21
21, consider and take appropriate action on request from golden gloves tournament sponsors for waiver or discount of fee to use the Travis County exposition center banquet hall and arena with benefits going to the youth scholarships.
mr. Reeferseed, we'll ask you to wait a few minutes, please, sir.
>> good afternoon, greg hamilton, Travis County sheriff.
we are coming here first of all -- I知 here to tell you thank you for allowing us to use the facilities last year for to golden glove boxing.
this has been in the making as far as trying to bring the golden glove boxing by Austin police department have been trying for at least five or six years and we waited and waited on them and I put captain cardenas in charge of that project and within six months we were able to bring golden gloves back and we reached out to the community to assist us who have been really involved for long time and we believe that this particular event, bringing it forward helped some of the youth to find other activities to do instead of getting in trouble.
I would like to turn this over to captain art cardenas who has really took the ball by the horn.
>> ...
really thank you all which is this particular event, but last year we had it at the expo center and was a big success and was it heavy weight division or national?
>> national.
shawn cole from --
>> what was the name?
>> shawn cole.
>> went to the national.
>> yes, sir.
>> and that is quite a tribute to something -- for such an event.
and I知 really glad to hear that success story.
but anyway, I didn't mean to cut you off and I know the captain is ready to do what he needs to do.
>> less me introduce some of my colleagues.
joe vela, who was in charge of the Austin boxing team in Austin for many, many years and I知 happy to report these going to resurrect that program because of the golden gloves.
next to him is pete gill.
pete is a retired deputy sheriff with the Travis County sheriff's office, a very famous and professional amateur boxer.
these gentlemen are part of my committee.
chief sylvester, one of my colleagues helping us.
golden gloves had not been in Austin for 25 years and it was a good thing to bring it back to Austin.
I知 the tournament director for the event and for the first time in 25 years in February of this year due to the support of the community and the Commissioners court, we were able to have it at the expo center.
it was very successful.
all the money that we raised went back to the community in the form of youth scholarships.
we also gave money to the horns bring -- they were having trouble with bullying and gangs and we gave them a grant to help combat that problem.
all the money we raised per the bylaws of the national golden gloves and Texas golden gloves goes back to charity.
we're here to ask for your support for February 16, 17 and 18 and we're asking for the use of the banquet hall February 14th and 17th and because we had such a huge turnout last year we want to move the finals to the main arena on February 18th.
that's why we're here to ask for support.
>> there's been conversation with staff and I believe that they have come up to -- come up with an agreement on this and I will ask mr. El khoury to speak at this time.
>> thank you, sheriff.
good morning, roger el khoury.
and we support waiving all the fees for the event on the 16th, 17th and 18th.
we ask that, you know, the agreement was they would pay the direct costs for utility, which is about $1,200 to cover the arena and the banquet hall.
however, the $1,000 for the custodial I think the sheriff -- I think the inmates can help us right there clean the facility up to our expo standard and the only thing left is $1,200 and I think we can live with that.
>> thank you.
>> thank you for working that out.
both sides.
I really appreciate that.
>> let me make sure I understand the agreement.
the agreement is that the inmates would assist with cleanup.
>> yes, sir, as they did last year.
>> okay.
and so do we waive all the fees?
>> with the exception of the hard cost utilities.
>> exactly.
>> so they would pay utility costs, we would waive all the other fees.
>> correct.
>> and we're fine with that.
is there any way possible that we could get the members from the community to say a few words?
>> yes, sir.
you would make a pretty good county judge, sheriff.
you have to be elected.
>> you are doing a good job.
I appreciate that.
>> first of all, I wanted to thank you for the support you give us.
I won my first golden glove championship 1951 and '53.
during my time as a boxer, my life changed a lot because I went from a hoodlum to a perfect attendance in school.
my grades went up, my attitude was changed completing and this is what we want to do with our youth today.
one of the kids that came into my programs went all the way to olympic trials.
he's a national champion, retired from boxing, he's an assistant chaplain and this is what it's all about, you know.
building character.
and I can go on and on.
let me say -- let me give pete -- oh, yes, he's the one that got me started in boxing and I owe him so much.
thank you.
>> thank you.
>> it's -- it's a great program and it helps you grow a good character.
I知 81 years old.
I started at the age of 16, and by meeting good people that saved me and it was with me all throughout my life.
and I have a career in military, sheriff's department, retired military, sheriff's department and what -- and the support was very good for me.
it did a lot more me.
>> sheriff, what would you like to see happen next in this meeting?
>> you all to approve.
>> I move approval.
>> second.
>> and let me say this, you know, years ago pan am recreation center, a.b.
cantu, he's passed on, rudy, a lot of folks down there, they had an area where you used to go out and box a little bit.
but they have the basketball and a whole lot of things, but this here is I think something that needs to be refurbished and brought back, resurfaced, and I壇 really like to thank the sheriff, all the participants, captain, you also that's been a part of this to share with the community because it is an experience for young folks to get involved.
I think it can kind of turn your life around a little bit for those out there that may be on the edge.
so I really commend each and every one of you for what you are doing for the community, and sir, I would like to thank you for your participation in this process years ago.
so I thank all of you.
thank you very much.
>> let me say one more thing.
>> okay.
>> 2011 is going to be a very important year for the Austin golden gloves and national because next year is olympic qualifying.
amongst us may be an olympic contender.
if they do well at our regional and we had a national champion, do well nationals, they will automatically be given a chance to participate in the olympic box-off.
we may have an olympic contender and we can be proud about that.
>> do you know about how many young people participate?
>> we had over 100 boxers registered last year which we didn't know what to expect and we were taken aback by the amount of support and boxers from all the clubs throughout central Texas that came to participate in that.
it's just going to get bigger so we thank you again for your support.
>> how many girls?
>> we had about ten females show up for the tournament and we'll have more this year.
>> great.
>> and I think that we would probably make more at the door if we could get one of those females and Commissioner Davis to be the top card in a boxing match.
>> [laughter] I had to throw that out there.
>> has it all been said?
do you have comments?
I do.
>> come forth.
mr. El khoury, let him have your seat.
the sheriff did not bring enough people to occupy all the chairs to keep you from speaking.
>> this is ronnie reeferseed.
but I want to express support for a great sheriff's idea generally speaking but something that needs to be said, a couple ideas about violence inherent to this and that is that hypothetically why not help teach those kids to plant trees and read to babies and other stuff that are marketable skills also, maybe not instead of but maybe also.
and because as we all know, by convenience begets violence and thus we are now in iraq, afghanistan, pakistan, iran, et cetera because of this ongoing project of violence, mindless violence that are ironically so-called president peace prize who is easily -- but what I wanted to say call me whatever you want, I知 not trying to -- I知 just trying to stop the killing and stop the killing of babies and stop our killing our own troops and stop killing cops.
>> anything on this topic?
>> well, it is because it relates to how this promotes violence.
>> no, sir.
it's not.
it's not on this item.
this item is whether or not we waive the fees for this boxing tournament.
>> will with, I guess you got me on a technicality, but I just was trying to squeeze in something about violence.
>> I understand.
all in favor of the motion?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you all.
>> thank you Commissioners.
>> keep up the good work.
move that we reset until 1:30.
>> second.
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
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, November 23, 2010 2:020 PM
