Travis County Commissioners Court

April 3, 2012 - Citizens Communication
Agenda

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Citizens communication is first.
and this item gives residents an opportunity to address the court on any matter not on the agenda.
for up to three minutes.
any matter not on the agenda, and with the following three -- would the fooling three individuals please come forth.
caton head.
followed by morris priest.
followed by cyd covington, this is to give comment on issues, items, not on the agenda today.
ms. -- ms. Cadenhead.

>> good morning, court.

>> thank you for having me.
I'm in Travis County.
coming of age Austin metro program.
just wanted to let the court know, let everybody else know about an exciting free training opportunity that coming of age is operating.
it's called explore your future, free four interactive section workshop series, gives citizens 50 plus to consider what's next in their lives.
this is hands on, which focuses on the individual person and their desire to create a vision and a plan for their future that's personally satisfying and rewarding.
so it's not about financial planning.
instead it's a personal life planning workshop, which is thoughtful, intentional and purposeful.
and results in crafting goals and objectives which are meaningful and fulfilling.
so what will you learn?
will with, it's four sessions.
the first session is on April 17th.
and each person who attends needs to attend all four sessions because they build on each other.
so the first session is called what has influenced me.
this is where participants reflect on what has meant most to them in their lives and has brought them the greatest fulfillment while they explore the people and events that have helped shape them.
they look at patterns in their lives, help identify their strengths.
the second session is on Thursday, April 19th.
it's called who am I now, it goes through a self discovery and process where people explore talents and values, motivators, passions, interests, individual gifts, dreams and aspirations, the third session is on Tuesday, April 24th.
it's called how can I realize my dreams?
this is for participants to gain more self awareness as they address practical ways to align their values, passions, gifts by -- generating life options, strategies to fuse passion, purposes, personal strengths and ways to imagine potential.
the final session on Thursday, April 29th, called how do I create an engaged life.
here participants develop individual action plans that are based on smart goals which some of you may be familiar with are specific measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.
real challenges and ways to overcome those challenges and resources to help them identify and reach their goals.
so participants are going to discover, understand, plan for what's next in their life.
who should attend?
people who are 50 plus who are considering next steps beyond full-time employment or retirement.
retirees who want to say engaged in the community, but not just people who are 50 plus or retirees, but also folks who are interested in rebalancing their time and energy commitments, people interested in identifying their values, strengths, passes, dreams, anyone interested in shaping their individual future.
each session runs from 9:30 in the morning until 11:40 in the morning, held at st.
david's foundation on barton springs road.
I have one sheeters with more information as well as fliers that will help maybe answer some of the questions that you may have.
thank you.

>> thank you.

>> thank you very much.

>> mr. Priest is next.
is cyd covington here?

>> judge, I'm here.
I meant to sign up for agenda item 1 instead of the public comments.

>> okay.
that's the apple.

>> yes.

>> did you sign the --

>> yes, sir.

>> okay.
larry wood.
mr. Wood, are you here on item no.
20?
larry wood here?
rick

>> [indiscernible] gavino fernandez.
mr. Priest?

>> thank you, judge, Commissioners, morris priest, speaking on my own behalf.
I did want to say that the situation with txdot as reported in the statesman today on the mopac lanes, this is an agency that -- that lost track of $1.1 billion.
and now this is the same agency that's now telling us in March the 9th paper in the statesman of a $2 billion windfall for txdot.
of course, they are saying that construction costs are going down.
as fuel prices are going up.
we have a problem here.
one of the problems is that we made an extremely bad hire with maureen mccoy as executive director of campo.
this decision was made by the campo board.
and campo board also has made an extremely bad decision in not making the information available to the public.
through innuendos, lies, parsing of words as leaked officials do.
-- as elected officials do.
basically the public at large, we know this because the board itself doesn't even know, we see this at our last campo meeting, when they talked about even giving this money to other metropolitan planning organizations and then coming back, getting paid back later.
the board is -- is less aware of what's going on than this court is aware of things such as formula i, this court even reports to the public.
we don't know anything except what's been in the paper.
basically we have a real information crisis.
we know that the former governor, the former county judge from hays county wrote a scathing rebuke about how she thought campo was government at its worst when -- when we didn't even get allowed to speak.
a lot of statements have been made about our honorable governor, rick perry, but I know that our honorable governor and our honorable attorney general and many other people in government are aware of some of these situations, I've written them a letter and made comments about campo.
but -- but the record is real clear.
we have an executive director.
we have a chair of the board, that is really -- that has really made it very difficult to stay in compliance with title 6 as I know that Margaret Gomez has been brought up to her when she shared on the capital metro two board, she was really enthusiastic about this information, even asked for a copy of some of the speakers.
I do thank you, Margaret, for providing the information.
but how are other people in the public going to get this information.
so basically, you can't find a governing body what's brought every single agenda item in for years and then all of a sudden not provide anything.
or without having to go through an extreme

>> [indiscernible] of their front desk, art

>> [indiscernible] when you do finally get to look at the backup material a week after it's supposed to have been made available to the public.
basically what we need is a new executive director of campo.
we also need a new campo board.
but many of us are going to be fighting to abolish these type of organizations

>> [buzzer sounding] and so that we can have clear and transparent government.
thank you.

>> thank you.
mr. Luna is next, followed by mr. Fernando, there he is, and dr. Kim if you would come forward.

>> judge, Commissioners, I come before you today let you know that the county jail is only for the -- for the mr, for the -- for the special need areas that are

>> [indiscernible] inmates.
that are mr. There's about 400 that are mr and one psychiatrist for these 400 inmates.
and a lot of them are being left behind by medication and they are not being treated with a right -- with the right medication.
and -- I'm talking about my son, ricardo luna.
he's in jail right now.
and he's not getting -- they're not even giving them medication, they are not even trying to give them the medication that he needs.
they gave him the -- the last time he was there, they gave him medication that his blood count was very low, so we had to stop giving him that medication.
it's a shame that the county has a lot of money but only one psychiatrist for these inmates.
you are talking about 400 inmates.
every time you get one, they're not going to be seen, you know, they see one time and then you get what 400 of them, it's just -- it's just not being, you know, it's not fair for the inmates that are -- that have needs, special needs, you know, to -- for -- for the county to -- to, you know, not provide the service.
maybe because of the budget or whatever.
but I'm bringing this up to y'all because they do need special help and they -- civil rights are being violated, also.
my son's mr and he shouldn't be locked down on -- they locked him down for 30 days.
30 days and they let him out one hour every four days.
that's a violation of his civil rights.
and -- and so I'm just bringing this up to y'all to y'all, you know, are aware of this.
I talked to Ron Davis about it.
and he also was kind of like, you know, it's a shame that we only have one physician for 400 inmates that need -- you know, that are special needs, you know.
and I talked to the sheriff and see -- see if you all can -- can help him with the budget.
and I guess that's it.
thank you.

>> thank you, mr. Luna.
mr. Fernandez is next followed by mr. Kim.

>> good morning, Commissioners, my name is gavino fernandez, I come before you as the lulac district 12 director and coordinator of el concilio, a coalition of mexican american neighborhood associations.
this year one of the things that our organization, lieu lulc and the neighborhood association is very heavily focused on is getting out the vote.
we are having two events that are coming up that will encourage hopefully people to come out and vote.
the first one I placed a flier before you is cinco de mayo, the early vote rally for city council elections and they're going to -- we're going to have cinco de mayo celebration at parque zaragosa, we will be there from 10:00 a.m.
to 5:00 p.m.
we will have music, food booth, we're also looking for -- for entertainment, anyone that's strong, courageous enough to get up there, open mic, sing, poem, dance, whatever, that's part of the entertainment.
so we ask that our community join our community for early voting for city council elections.
I have

>> [indiscernible] as contact and on the other side of the page, we have a -- we have a very unique event that we're having on the fourth of July and we're doing it on a Saturday, which is June 30th because the 4th of July falls during the week.
but we're organizing and putting together a -- an event where we're celebrating the fourth of July in the barrio parade.
we're going to follow suit of allendale, all of those other organizations throughout the city that -- that hold 4th of July parades in their community.
and -- and, you know, we'll be starting from pleasant valley down cesar chavez to fiesta gardens and when we arrive at fiesta gardens, cristo rey will be there, there will be plenty of food, entertainment and activities.
we encourage you all to join us in that paragraph because again many people misunderstand our community and a lot of times we're attacked that we're not patriots.
but we are very strong patriots.
we have many people that gave their lives and served their lives in vietnam and other wars and this is another another opportunity to highlight those veterans during those parade.
I just want to piggyback on what luna was saying for it, meet with the sheriff on this issue.
it is a big concern, he did convey to us that it was a budget issue that there wasn't enough funding to provide additional doctors to oversea or attend the in-- oversee or attend the inmates in Travis County.
lulac is working with the sheriff and here at the court to ensure that once you begin your budget deliberations that we have doctors to address the inmates that mr. Luna is talking about, thank you for the opportunity to come before you.

>> thank you.

>> thank you dr. Kim.

>> thank you, good morning, everyone.
I greatly agree to support mr. Rick luna's unfair treatment in the courts.
and also mr. Priest's statement information crisis right here in the state of Texas.
all of the issues are -- are because of american court, broken right here, in the western district of Texas, and the texan court, most of them are broken.
I have here to fix reform american court in the western district of Texas and also texan court right here.
I received the paper from -- from the western district of Texas court, clerk, william

>> [indiscernible] of western district of Texas, el paso.
sent me a letter full of fraud.
I'm going to ask the u.s.
attorney to prosecute him.
to the federal court.
also prosecute charges

>> [indiscernible] I already asked -- I met the district court of Travis County, criminal court, attorney.
and investigator two times request to prosecute, laura livingston.
address the court of Travis County to prosecute her.
step down from the court.
also, I asked that the prosecute clerk,

>> [indiscernible], of the supreme court of Texas right here.
she sent me a letter full of fraud and declare me I am a

>> [indiscernible] litigant and the supreme court refused to accept my file.
he sent me a full of fraud.
most of lawyers justices of Texas of the united states of america, they don't know that title alone has no legal force.
after law school, they do not study at all.
at the time of their graduation, they forgot all of what they learned from the law school.
title alone has no legal force, u.s.
supreme court

>> [indiscernible] for the nation, but unfair, lawyers justice of the state of Texas, even the supreme court.
of -- of the court of appeals and the court of Travis County, even Travis County right here, they sent me junk full of fraud.
the white house responded to me with a written letter, typed the letter, two letters within six days.
but Travis County did not respond.
months and years.

>> thank you, dr. Kim.

>> you're welcome.

>> mr. Johnson.

>> good morning, judge and Commissioners.
my name is scott johnson and I'm the project manager of the central Texas electric lawn mower program.
each year we strive to help residents upgrade their gas powered mowers to electric models for environmental reasons and financial reasons.
this year, on Saturday, April 7th, this coming Saturday, we will have our sales event day at the mueller home depot near 51st and i-35 north.
thisment break will allow -- this program will allow folks to replace their gas powered mower, have us scrap it, crush the mower, reused for building material.
the cordless model, the one that you would charge run for 60 to 70 minutes around the yard, that one the discounts would be 20% off, bringing it down to $255 plus tax, a savings of $65.
the other mower is accorded mower, fine for several central city lawns, the discount with that with a trade in is 75% off, approximately $55.
if folks don't have a trade-in, they can still save 10% off the price of an electric mower.
this program can be found on a web search under central Texas electric lawn mower program or by contacting me at my phone number 389-2250.
gas powered landscaping equipment in general is responsible for approximately five to 10% of the total air pollution in an urban area, including carbon monoxide and particulate matter.
some people wonder what they can do to improve their environmental or carbon footprint.
this is one of the easiest measures this he can take.
because changing your driving habits or energy use is much more of a challenge.
the alternative would be a push mower, exriscaping your lawn where you don't have to use mowers.
this is April 7th at the mueller home depot, please do a web search for the Texas electric lawn mower program or contact me.
regarding the vote you took regarding air quality education, I would be happy if there were people from the non-profit that you're supporting that were coming down and trying to educate you more about air quality issues as a requirement of the donation or the grant that you are giving them, a week ago Saturday or Sunday, we had a 74 part per billion day here in Austin before the ozone season normally kicks off, that's a stunningly high figure.
and it doesn't body well for the summer -- bode well for the standard when the standards is 75 parts per bill.
in a year or two year the standards may be lowered to 70 parts per billion.
finally on Friday, April 18th, I challenge the candidates to join us for a bike ride, Austin city hall plaza at 5:00, Friday, April 13th.
if you need a loner bike and helmet, we ride to a happy hour location, I will be happy to answer any questions, thank you for your time.

>> thank you, mr. Johnson.

>> those are the persons who signed up to speak under citizens communication

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