| | Dear Neighbors,
Happy New Year! At City Hall, 2019 is off to an exciting start. I am pleased to welcome two new colleagues, Natasha Harper-Madison representing District 1, and Paige Ellis representing District 8. On Jan. 7, Council Members Ellis and Harper-Madison were inaugurated along with Mayor Adler and Council Members Kitchen, Renteria, and Tovo, all of whom won their re-election campaigns.
At the inauguration ceremony, Council unanimously voted to elect Council Member Delia Garza as our Mayor Pro Tem – Austin's first Latina to serve in this role. I am excited to be part of the new Council, and I am looking forward to working together towards solutions to some of the city's largest issues. |
| | | Courtesy City of Austin Public Information Office |
| Members of the Texas Legislature also were sworn in this week, marking the beginning of the 86th Legislative Session. On Tuesday, I was proud to see so many District 10 constituents at the Capitol advocating for important causes such as gun safety, climate change and school finance reform. Legislators will be making decisions on a wide range of topics over the next several months, and I encourage you to get plugged in and make your voice heard this session.
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| | As always, there are several upcoming opportunities to get engaged and help shape various City initiatives. Read below to find information on how to participate, provide input, and maximize City services.
Regards,
Alison Alter
Council Member, District 10
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Table of Contents - Davenport/Loop 360 Fire and EMS Station Public Meeting – Jan. 16
- Shoal Creek Boulevard Improvements – Comment Period Closes Jan. 13
- Small and Minority Business Resources Disparity Study – Public Input Meetings Jan. 14, Jan. 24 & Jan. 30
- Point in Time Count – Jan. 26
- Parks and Recreation Long Range Plan – Survey Closes Jan. 31
- Travis County Voter Deputy Registrar Training
- Austin Water Wastewater Averaging
- Austin Resource Recovery Personalized Schedules
- D10 Artist Feature – Jerome Collins
- D10 Call for Artists and Musicians
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| | | Davenport/Loop 360 Fire and EMS Station Public Meeting – Jan. 16
Come learn about the new Fire/EMS station for the Davenport/Loop 360 area at a community open house! City of Austin representatives from various departments will be present to provide an overview and answer questions. Attendees may come and go as needed during the open house.
Wednesday, Jan. 16 6-7:30 p.m
Bridge Point Elementary
6401 Cedar St.
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| | | Shoal Creek Boulevard Improvements – Comment Period Closes Jan. 13
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| Help shape the future of Shoal Creek Boulevard! The Austin Transportation Department is currently collecting input regarding improvements to Shoal Creek Boulevard from 38½ Street to US 183. ATD is establishing this process to follow up on previous commitments in the 2018 Local Mobility Annual Plan, as well as long-standing requests for area improvements from neighbors.
In December, ATD held a listening session as a first step in studying safety and mobility concerns along Shoal Creek. If you were unable to attend that meeting, you can still review the boards, leave comments using ATD's online map, and take the Shoal Creek Boulevard survey by visiting the project website. The comment period closes on Jan. 13.
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| | | Small and Minority Business Resources Disparity Study – Public Input Meetings Jan. 14, Jan. 24 & Jan. 30
The City of Austin's Small & Minority Business Resources Department (SMBR) is hosting three public input meetings to receive comments on the proposed scope of work for our upcoming Minority-Owned Business Enterprise (MBE), Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Disparity Study. The Disparity Study shall analyze whether a disparity exists between the number of available MBE/WBE/DBE owned businesses in the City's geographic and product markets and the number of MBE/WBE/DBEs being utilized on City contracts.
Details for the public input meetings are as follows:
Monday, Jan. 14 9:30-10:30 a.m. City Hall, Council Chambers 301 W. 2 nd St.
Thursday, Jan. 24 1:30-2:30 p.m. Carver Branch Library 1161 Angelina St.
Wednesday, Jan. 30 6-7 p.m. Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center 600 River St. The City has conducted several disparity studies over the last 25 years, to correctly identify the areas of disparity and remedy them with the MBE/WBE Procurement Program. To learn more about the proposed scope of work on the disparity study, visit the SMBR website at www.austintexas.gov/smbr |
| | | Point in Time Count – Jan. 26
Register to volunteer with the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) for the annual Point in Time Count! Each year, ECHO leads a census of the homeless population in the Austin area. Numbers from this census are used to contribute to both local and national data.
On the morning of January 26, over 500 Point in Time Count volunteers will cover all of the Travis County geographic area to talk with persons experiencing homelessness to conduct a survey that helps ECHO to better understand the scope of unsheltered homelessness in our community.
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| | | Parks and Recreation Long Range Plan – Survey Closes Jan. 31
Take a 10-minute survey to help shape the future of Austin's parks!
The Austin Parks and Recreation Department is in the process of creating a plan to guide the growth and development of the City's parks system. PARD’s Long Range Plan for Land, Facilities and Programs (LRP) is developed every 10 years and provides a blueprint to guide land acquisition, capital improvements and the development of programs and new amenities.
The survey closes Jan. 31, so be sure to share your voice! |
| | Travis County Voter Deputy Registrar Training
Help folks get registered to vote! By attending one of the voter deputy registrar trainings this month, you can become authorized to register friends, family, and neighbors to vote in the next election. Travis County has a goal of deputizing and re-deputizing 1,000 VDRs in January. Sign up for a training, help Travis County reach its goal, and assist in increasing voter turnout! |
| | | Austin Water Wastewater Averaging
From November to March, Austin Water calculates customers' wastewater usage to determine monthly billing for the next year. Wastewater averaging is used as a way to save customers money since most of the water during these months goes directly into the sanitary sewer system instead of being used for outdoor watering. To learn about how to save water and possibly lower your wastewater bill, visit http://waterwiseaustin.org.
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| | | Austin Resource Recovery Personalized Schedules
Wondering when Austin Resource Recovery is scheduled to pick up trash, yard trimmings, bulk items, or other things? You can download a personalized pickup schedule for all curbside services by entering your address into the online ARR collection schedule tool. You can add your schedule to Google, iCal or Outlook, or you can print it. You also can sign up for text, email or phone reminders and alerts. |
| | D10 Artist Feature – Jerome Collins |
| | Jerome Collins is a District 10 resident with an extensive education focused in art and humanities, including degrees in Art and English from the University of Texas Pan American, graduate work at Skidmore College, NY, LSU, Baton Rouge, classes at San Francisco Art Institute, time spent as a medical illustrator work at Letterman Hospital and two years living and studying in Europe.
The featured drawing is from 2018 and depicts Bromeliadae Tillandsia Recurvata, the much maligned Ball Moss native to this climate that Collins finds on walks around the North Oaks Neighborhood. Collins' drawings are in pen and ink, and sometimes watercolor or colored pencil, on recycled paper, 8.5 x 8.25 inches. Collins features his work via his Flickr page, which can be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeromecollins. |
| | D10 Call for Artists and Musicians
Do you know a local artist whose work you'd like to share with your neighbors? If you or someone you know have a knack for painting, singing, drawing, guitar, photography, etc., we would love the opportunity to feature work from District 10 artists in the newsletter!
To submit an artist/piece to be featured here, please email my Communications and Outreach Coordinator, April Brown, at April.Brown@austintexas.gov. If you are sending in your visual artwork, please include a photo of the work you would like to share with your neighbors, the work's title, year, medium/materials, and a link to your website if you have one. Also encouraged is a bit of background info, such as: - What/who inspired the work?
- What do you hope viewers/listeners will feel/think?
- Why did you choose the medium, subject matter, style?
For musicians, please send a photo of the musician(s), a brief description of the artist's or band's background, music genre, instruments played, etc. If a band website or online link exists, please feel free to share that as well.
We also are looking for musicians to play at City Hall! If you or your group are interested in playing before Council, please send us an email indicating your interest and include the information above with a link to your music.
Through these artist features, we hope to showcase some of the many talents and passions of District 10 residents and increase awareness of the importance of art in our communities. |
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