Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 (Agenda)
Citizens Communication
Citizen communication is next and this item gives residents an opportunity to address the court on any matter not on the agenda for up to three minutes.
and if I could get the following three individuals to please come forth.
gavino fernandez, followed by gus pena.
as one person finish oh, I'll call out another person.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
Commissioner Gomez.
my name is gavino fernandez and I come before you today as lulac district club director.
and basically I want to send a message out there to our voting constituents and remind them of the importance of voting, especially in this upcoming runoff election at the city council.
early voting begins June 6th and runs through June 14th with the elections being on June 18th.
and the reason I come before you to speak about that issue is because this last city council runoff we had a total of 552 people vote in the following boxes, pan am, montopolis, alan, the johnston box.
152 people voted.
that's sad.
given all the issues at the city of Austin that we confront as constituents of the city to have that few people go out and vote.
we need to educate our people that the decision-making and the changes that are -- that we seek in government, that power is in our hands.
and if we continue to stay away from the polls, we're not going to have any input into the decision-makings of our local government.
I also want to speak to you about the homestead exemption.
I think that that is a -- because it's not an equitiable and fair process at the city, as a neighborhood association, we've submitted quite a few homes for historical designation, not for the tax purposes but for the preservation.
and the record at the historic land commission is -- it's not favorable to homes in east Austin.
to have a homeowner own a home at a value of a million dollars and only wind up paying $300 or $400 is not a fair proposition in regards to taxing to government.
we have many homes -- many homeowners in east Austin that are losing their homes and do not have the well to be to go through the historical designation process.
and to me the historical designation process exemption is a luxurious proposition and given the financial situations of all our government is facing I think you should follow suit with aisd, acc and all the other taxing entities in eliminating this exemption.
because again to me it's more of a choice as opposed to others that do not have that equitable opportunity to seek this historical designation.
since last Monday, there was over 40 homes that were put on the list for historic designation.
>> [buzzer sounding] very few from east Austin.
finally on 990, if it comes back I hope you will reject 990.
I haven't visited the internet to find out where it's at, but last time I saw it it was just at the house.
it didn't get out of the senate.
thank you for the opportunity to speak to you, Commissioners.
>> thank you, mr. Fernandez.
dr. Kim is next and would ronnie reeferseed come forward.
>> thank you, sir.
good morning all of you.
I'm here all the time to appreciate and praise american government and the Texas government and the Travis County also as well.
all of you.
it looks great to say all who have attended today.
he mentioned about elections, but our chief justice wallace b.
jefferson educated the Texas legislature and you Texas governor rick perry, Texas judicial system is broken.
but Texas legislature is not fixing, does not fix it at all.
what do they do?
I have very exciting newspaper, Austin american-statesman, put Travis County and the judge Sam Biscoe wonderful face in the front page b section.
and this other page on governor rick perry.
so our judge is popular more than rick perry.
>> [laughter] and I have great news.
I received a letter -- no, email letter from president obama may 11th when I was here.
he wrote to me, john, I went to el paso, Texas, today to lay out a plan to do something big, fix america's broken immigration system.
president obama wrote to me, john kim, american immigration system was broken, we needed to fix it.
he asked me to lead washington -- he wrote this -- washington won't act unless you lead.
president obama asked me to lead washington, d.c.
I'm going to put this email at the front page of my book, democratization of america.
america
>> [indiscernible] need to democratize america and Texas, especially, broken, horrible judicial system in Texas.
Friday I talked to the Travis County Commissioner -- no, Travis County court administrator warren barbara.
he hang up on me while I was talking to him.
his office reinstated my case and has set a hearing date June 13, 14, 15.
warren barbara removed --
>> [buzzer sounding]
>> thank you, dr. Kim.
>> thank you, sir.
>> mr. Pena is next, and would morris priest please come forward.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, proud u.s.
marine corps.
ronnie if I could ask you to take off your hat.
we remember the gratitude of the men and women in armed forces.
remind us of the cost of freedom many have given.
grant comfort to those who mourn and continue to bless our country.
we praise in your name for you gave your life to free us from sin, death, all evil.
this is a prayer read to a lot of veterans in vietnam and other conflicts.
I just want it to be known to the public that we deserve to recognize our veterans who fell in defense of our country's freedom and safety and democracy.
what I have before me here is a newspaper clipping of the first casualty in vietnam, first lieutenant ronnie woolmansy.
the last casualty in vietnam, my friend alex, my fellow classmate all the way from zavala elementary and johnston high school.
may they rest in peace.
this is toby rodriguez, he was within of my friends, he died in 1969 in vietnam.
and here is alex's high school picture from our album, our graduating album.
he never made it to our graduating ceremonies.
18 mexican marine, soldier, air force personnel died in vietnam.
18.
we gave up 18 of my fellow classmates.
all I want to do today is this, remember what memorial day is all about.
it's not celebrating because you are a veteran because we recognize the effort and the sacrifices they gave to the country's defense, safety and democracy and other countries' safety, democracy and their beliefs.
ladies and gentlemen, we've done a poor job of remembering our military personnel who died in combat in the united states of america and also Austin.
I don't want anybody to forget what our veterans have gone through and the sacrifices their family made when they lost their loved ones in combat or conflict.
I'm going to keep it short because I tend to get emotional, but I will tell you this much, god bless america, god bless our veterans.
and remember memorial day, the veterans that were killed.
please remember that when you are off on Monday.
a lot of us veterans will not have the day off.
a lot of us veterans were nearly killed in other conflicts or wars.
remember their sacrifices.
pray for their families that they left behind because they are hurting to.
god bless america, god bless our veterans.
thank you, have a good day.
>> [applause]
>> thank you, mr. Pena.
ronnie reeferseed.
>> thank you, sir.
it's ronnie reeferseed.
singing love your life.
I mean it's really -- we have to defeat this war machine.
anyway, yes, the precious gift of life given by god to not be messed with, don't mess with life here in Texas.
a fair phrase, some wisdom from katherine albrecht who can be found to genesis network.
there is no left and no right anymore.
it's all about freedom versus control.
and to celebrate all life is love -- is to love god or mother nature with no conditions just because we can now see potentially life altering problems pre-natally does not give us the authority to execute anyone early for anyone else's convenience or advantage.
let's be fair.
fight biggotted ageism promoted in our death worshiping zion is controlled media.
oops we're not supposed to say that.
it's a convenience palestinian civilians are always labeled terrorists defending their home land while the biggotted and oppressive invaders the israelis are always labeled victims no matter what.
who controls our media.
hmmm.
how about our scheming leaders.
why is both republicans and democrats give a check to that biggotted war promoting state of zionism israel.
let's demand vision for peace.
call or write somebody about it.
why not come down here, throw in your two cents while we still can.
our time to strut on stage of life is brief.
why not do something.
say yes to life.
life is everything we've all got to appreciate more -- and we all need to appreciate that more.
I'm here because I'm allowed to survive my own traumatic brain injury for which I am grateful.
many of our returning heroes have suffered their own traumatic brain injuries from eids, et cetera, so I believe all medical treatments should be available, like medicinal marijuana should be made available to veterans from all 50 states.
I know
>> [indiscernible] is helpful to promote peace on earth.
talk truth and manned so-called president obeyed the u.s.
constitution demands congressional instigation of war.
we have no king, no water that the u.n.
says, president needs congressional approval for war.
call for weekly updates from dr. Ron paul and listen to 90.1 mf radio here with lots of great stuff, alex jones.
and another great source of political enthusiasm for me is american free press, this weekly populace newspaper that showcases thinkers like dr. Paul, craig roberts, jim, et cetera.
>> [buzzer sounding] thank you so much.
>> thank you, mr. Reeferseed.
>> morris priest.
>> many of us will be down at the capitol today supporting house bill 12 and, of course, the canvassing of the votes and the randy shade election is happening today and many of us are supporting randy shade.
we have quite a few.
she's ahead of us and it's going to take a person that's been involved with experience and the process over the last three years to continue.
we don't need someone like I recently heard someone say on the planning commission during a hearing when it was her second meeting that it was like drinking through a power hose taking in the information on the item they had on their agenda.
we need experience and we need someone in there that will take care of some of the pressing issues whether it's telecom committee regarding our access station, our fire department issues.
I know that many of you seen a recent article in the may 20th newspaper of our failed leadership, our assistant city manager, michael mcdonald, mr. 83% pay raise along with our failed city manager mark ott and our failed fire chief that needs to be replaced immediately.
we have many pressing issues here not only with immigration and budget matters, but many other things we've had success on but not near the success we would have liked to have seen such as total abolishing of funds for planned parenthood, though they have had some success he is.
many things address understand upcoming years are going to be handled administratively.
many things the public not being involved, as one of the earlier speakers had failed to realize, many of these things we've taken up in appropriations.
there will be lawsuits, there will be information and complaints filed, there will be administrative hearings.
there will be contacts with homeland security and governmental affairs offices on our transportation issues here locally as we've seen it campo.
there will be other administrative hearings and complaints filed in regards to our immigration policy.
we have a police chief that can have checkpoints for d.w.i.s but he doesn't seem to have time for illegal invaders in our country.
we're going to address some of these matters in more creative ways than you've seen before.
we'll have recalls and an education campaign that will make this last think tank group session at the capitol look like a mole hill.
there's going to be mounds of evidence brought before the public to see the corruption and see the failed leadership that we've had.
we've seen time and time again that failed leadership has been bragged on in this community, but there is a conservative movement alive.
and people are getting knowledge and coming to an understanding that -- that the old ways of dealing with matters with elections and things of this nature are gone.
we're using our brains and we're using our spirit and we're following our creator and we're following --
>> [buzzer sounding] -- the things that our constitution and bill of rights stand for today.
thank you.
>> thank you, mr. Priest.
a group will come forth next.
sylvia lopez, jerome guerrero, betty chappa and others.
and they will all have a total of a full three minutes.
>> good morning.
my name is sylvia lopez.
good morning, judge, Commissioners.
I'm the h.u.d.
coordinator for Travis County and I have been I believe for the last 13 years.
we're here today to talk about our h.u.d.
program.
our h.u.d.
program was adopted in 1994, which is 15 years ago.
and our focus over 15 years has been mainly on what I would like to call the now generation of small business owners.
auntly the years, you know, we've talked about where the next small business owners are coming from.
so we made a paradigm shift and we decided to focus on a new event, to focus on the next generation of small business owners, our children.
let me back up.
let me introduce jerome guerra, a h.u.d.
specialist, and belty chappa, she's a h.u.d.
specialist.
she is fixing to have her baby so we might have to help her get out of the chair.
we wanted to focus on a new event to focus on the new -- our next small business owners are our children.
I'm a mentor at allison elementary.
I mentor a 10-year-old, and we decided why don't we start partnering with the schools.
we want to make a fun day with the kids that they will be face to face with the people that basically mirror them.
we decided to do a partnership.
the principal loved the idea.
what's going to happen is this Friday on the 27th, the children, the fifth grade class will be transported to local minority businesses that are in east Austin.
the first one is Austin lumber and the second business is estillo communications.
the kids are going to have an extra benefit visiting the second location because it is in an historical building east, and there's also three other minority owned business owners that are located in that building.
so the kids will be meeting four small business owners instead of just one at the second location.
the kids then will continue downtown to cjc and they basically will get a 45-minute visit with judge lynch.
and I know we gave them the oath of education, you know, I promise to stay in school and not drop out, and the kids are real excited when they get that.
we wanted to do a special thank you to lou in p.b.o.
he's the one that basically -- for a couple of years he asked me to be a mentor and finally I said yes and I'm glad I did.
and also judge lynch for agreeing to once again have the fifth grade class at his -- to have a visit with him.
and then lastly the kids will go to the church across the street, and they are going to have lunch.
we're going to put them in groups of six and it is about 68 kids that will be attending.
they are going to be in groups of six.
have some professionals that I've recruited to mingle with the kids and talk about them because that's the focus.
so I wanted to give a special thanks to my volunteers in my office, jose, john pena, Commissioner Huber, laurie and of course jerome and betty.
thank you, I think our time is up.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you, court, for supporting us and I want to thank my boss for always supporting the h.u.d.
program.
>> miss lopez, the way you beat the system is for all three of you to complete a citizens communication form.
>> okay.
>> don't tell them you got that from me.
the consent -- no, richard suttle.
>> judge, Commissioners, richard suttle.
I'm here to speak briefly on citizens communication, give you a brief update on the circuit of america's facility that you are aware of where the united states grand prix, formula one grand prix will be held.
construction is underway.
we've been under construction since January when we got the permits.
several hundred men and women are out there working every day now six days a week.
if you go out there, the parking lot that has been constructed to accommodate the workers is packed.
it almost looks like a shopping center parking lot from all the people out working.
there are 16 Texas firms now working on the facility.
it includes -- we'll eventually come to give you a full briefing but it includes convention space, conference space, banquet facilities.
we're working on partnerships with the del valle school district for internships.
we're already working on educational programs with the del valle school district.
huston-tillotson, signed ed's, we've reached partnerships with them and we're close on the university of Texas as well.
we're -- we have built the facility for multiple events or multiple types of uses including bike races and running races.
it's interesting to know that you've got to design drains differently for bike races as opposed to motorized vehicle races because if you have the wrong kind of drain it will catch a tire of a bike.
so we've gone through a redesign on the drainage facilities.
it's just one of the many, many details we've been working on.
we're working with the law enforcement and emergency services folks.
we'll be talking to them about the capability of training at the facility.
we'll be meeting with your staff later this week to talk to -- have further talks about the traffic improvements.
you have an item on today's agenda.
it is the first phase of that where we're paying for a share of improvement on 812.
to make sure that 812 will work.
finally I just wanted to invite you if you have any interest in all at seeing the facility, it's quite a -- it's quite a facility to see.
it's probably if not the largest construction project going on in the state maybe even in the country, it's one of the -- it's one of the top few.
it's quite impressive to see the amount of work that's going on out there and I would invite the court if you have any interest in seeing what's going on out there, I would love to take you out there and take you on a tour because it's a one of a kind thing in our country and it's very interesting to see.
with that I'll just close with that invitation and look forward to updating you as we move forward on processing stuff with your staff.
I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have.
>> can't do it.
>> but when the item comes up, item 7, that would be an appropriate time --
>> I'll come back from item number 7.
did I hear you say it probably would be after lunch?
>> later than that more likely.
>> it will be much later today when we get to the executive session items.
>> okay.
I'll try to keep track of your hearing.
>> my guess is after lunch.
>> after lunch.
>> I'll see you after lunch.
thank you.
>> thank you.
miss brown and miss dean have signed up but you are here on item number 10.
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.
