This guest editorial was published in Austin American-Statesman on August 2, 2008 as well as to their website, but removed from the website in less than 36 hours. Interesting that it's no longer available, but here's a copy from their print edition. --Mark

Roxanne Evans | Local Contributor
Demand Equity in City Projects

In the past few months, the city of Austin has watched a sleeping giant rouse. A diverse coalition of East and Northeast Austin residents has organized in strong opposition to:

• An RV park for the homeless
• An animal shelter
• A landfill
• A gasoline storage facility
• A so-called transitional housing development for the homeless that a developer proposes for Manor Road in Northeast Austin.

The opposition is not because East and Northeast Austin have a not-in-my-backyard attitude. In fact, one could argue that East and Northeast Austin have been pretty accommodating in allowing the city to use their backyards for years for a variety of facilities that many other neighborhoods would never allow.

This includes a correctional facility, a state jail, two city dumps, the airport and a wastewater treatment facility. And now neighborhoods have done more than their fair share to help hold together the fragile safety net for the less fortunate among Austin's residents.

This is an issue of disproportionality. Those of us who live in East and Northeast Austln and who have deep roots here want a discussion of equity before these types of projects are placed in a residential area. The idea of placing a facility in Northeast or East Austin solely because the property is cheap no longer holds water. And could it be the property is "cheap" because not enough thought and care has gone into the placement of such facilities in the past?

This is an issue of fundamental fairness. As the city of Austin proceeds on updating the Austin Tomorrow plan, it is an appropriate time
to move forward with the idea of creating an equity commission or at least to have an equity study when projects such as the ill-conceived transitional housing complex are born.

There are a number of flaws with the proposed transitional housing facility. First, the city manager (who has no known ties to this
community) has no track record with this kind and size of facility. The site is too close to schools and neighborhoods and raises myriad safety risks as well as concerns about changing the very character of the neighborhood when the city should be trying to stabilize middle-class areas. The proximity of the proposed project to the Mueller development nearby raises two questions: Was it the long-term vision for East and Northeast Austin? Is the city trying to attract middle-class families and residents or push them out?

Sequestering and concentrating the homeless and near-homeless individuals into densely populated, multi-family units can be a breeding ground for crime and other anti-social behavior. A facility that concentrates poor and low-income people with possible health problems, including drug addiction, alcoholism and mental illess, not only has the potential to turn these unwitting newcomers into victims, but can turn the entire neighborhood into a magnet for crime.

There also is concern that rather than merely helping to address the problem of the Austin homeless, a facility like this (and the RV project, too) could attract homeless people from outside the city. It is one thing to provide shelter for our own residents, but we should proceed with caution before becoming a magnet for homeless people from elsewhere.

The opposition to this development has been intense. Neighborbood associations, residents, area businesses, clergy, elected officials and others all concluded that 5908 Manor Road is not an appropriate site for this type of multi-family housing development for the poor.

A much more appropriate use of the site would be a small park for the burgeoning number of young families and schoolchildren in the area.

The neighborhood would also welcome businesses that would provide jobs and services or amenities to the neighborhood. I urge the city to listen to the voices of East and Northeast Austin residents, taxpayers and business owners before placing a homeless transition facility on Manor Road.

Evans, a former American-Statesman reporter and editorialist, has lived in Northeast Austin for 25 years.

More info from the city....

City of Austin Pay As You Throw customers can now break free from sorting their recyclables! Beginning in October, the City of Austin's Solid Waste Services (SWS) Department is launching a new recycling service: Single Stream Recycling. Single Stream allows customers to mix together recyclable paper, plastic, cans and glass all in one cart. The all-in-one program is easy and convenient, will encourage more people to recycle and allows more types of items to be recycled.

SWS crews will collect recycling with automated collection trucks. Recycling collection will occur every other week, which will help reduce our carbon footprint and save gas. Customers will receive complete Single Stream Recycling instructions and a calendar showing the collection schedule with their new recycling cart. New 90-gallon recycling carts will replace the current blue recycling bins. Customers can recycle their blue bins by placing them at the curb or keep them for use in their homes. Single Stream will also be available in City offices.

Examples of items that can be recycled once the program launches:

• Paper: newspaper, office paper, junk mail
• Paperboard: cereal and soft drink boxes
• Corrugated cardboard
• Aluminum and metal cans: food cans (labels left on OK), soda and beer cans, etc.
  
• Glass: Jars and bottles (remove lids)
• Rigid plastics: # 1 through # 7 (including yogurt and margarine tubs)

What cannot be recycled?

• Plastic bags
• Styrofoam (cups, egg cartons, take-out containers)

More information: visit Single Stream Recycling or call the Single Stream Hotline at (512) 974-1945.

Water Feature in the Park

7 people expressed interest in helping with fund raising for the water feature so YEAH!. We are currently working with Tom Nelson, Aquatics Director to get a rough draft of a proposal for the design so that we can draft grant proposals with a tangible item and realistic numbers.

Dog Park

The City Parks and Recreation Department is open to our ideas of having a leash-free, fence-free area of Bartholomew designated as a dog park for specific hours of the day (a time in the morning and in the afternoon evening most likely). We will begin the process of creating an "Adopt a Dog Park document" that outlines the responsibilities and roles of each stake holder (volunteers, City Parks and Recreation, Austin Parks Foundation). As this document is formalized we will bring the document/proposal to the Neighborhood Association for a vote of support. We will also keep working on ideas for a fenced area too. If you would like to follow this activity feel free to read (OR JOIN) the Bart Dog Walkers Yahoo Group.

If you have any questions, concerns or issues please feel free to email me or call me. If you know someone who would be interested in this information but doesn't use the list server...PLEASE feel free to share it with them.

Cherie Simpson
Parks Committee
451-6783

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 7, 2008
Contact: Public Information Office, 974-5017

Northeast Area Command Safe Neighborhood Project

The Northeast Area Command District Representatives, along with the Metro Tactical Unit, the Mounted Patrol Unit, and the Code Enforcement Unit are working on a neighborhood project with citizens that reside on Sweeney Circle and Sweeney Lane. The area has been identified as a high crime area.

A mobile police substation has been installed on Sweeney Circle. It will be an office to the District Representative officers until the completion of the project, which has no set end date.

The District Representatives will be conducting neighborhood surveys to gather information from property owners. The goal is to assist the owners and managers of the properties in increasing the quality of life for the residents of the neighborhood. The Code Enforcement unit will be inspecting properties to ensure that they are up to code standards.

The APD Mounted Patrol Unit and the Metro Tactical Unit will assist with the identification and enforcement of persons committing crimes in the area.

Some thoughts about Blanton....based upon the questions asked about Blanton Elementary in our neighborhood on the WindsorParkPotluckFamilies e-mail list.

First, some background.... My daughter (Gwyn) attends Blanton Elementary. She is going into the 2nd grade this fall and started attending in Kindergarten. I can't say enough good things about Blanton, but I will also note that there are many educational opportunities for our children, and each parent must (will) make the best decision they can at the time for their child, and I support those choices -- as long as we continue to fund public education and not allow those taxes to be diverted from such. Both my partner and I are the result of public educations (but not inner city) and both of us attended UT (grad school for my partner who attended SMU for undergrad). I am a proponent of the public education system overall and believe that generally one can get a solid education that prepares one for life and college, but even if one lives/attends school in the most affluent area of town, it still requires involvement by the parents. That said, public school does have it's own issues (as do other choices), but this post is not going to address those. I applaud whole-heartedly those that home-school and such; while I could teach some subjects well, I'm not sure I would/could do what it takes to provide the type of education that my child needs. And the other choices offer alternatives to those that find them attractive for their kids.

Now, about Blanton. Like I said, I can't say enough good things. For those that care about such indicators, Blanton is currently a recognized school, generally repeatedly improving statistically year after year, and after maintaining an academically acceptable rating for at least the previous 10 years, in 2006-2007, Blanton finally achieved recognized status -- due primarily to the efforts of the very active and involved teachers and administrative staff. Blanton was also awarded the Blue Ribbon School award in the fall of 2000 for achievement improvement and community building/involvement. I'll also note that teacher/staff moral is high despite the issues that we have in our community, and turnover remains minimal. At the end of last school year, no turnover was known for this coming year (although teachers usually continue to seek opportunities throughout the summer, so likely there will be some), and that was the case for the previous year as well.

I encourage anyone that wants to consider the public school system to consider Blanton. Yes, my daughter is in the minority, statistically (she is part of the current 3.1% white attenders), but I have been very happy with the schooling she has received there, and based on my research, academically she is excelling. She is continually challenged by her teachers to go the extra mile and has been accepted into the G&T program (run sidereally in the regular classroom). For kindergarten, she had Ms. Skoczen, and for 1st grade, she had two wonderful teachers who tag-teamed: Ms. Deloach (who lives in our neighborhood and has a delightful daughter attending Blanton as well) for science/math/homeroom and Ms. Smallwood for history/language arts. She also attends PE, Art, and Music every third day. She thoroughly enjoys school and comes home energized about it all, and they even read the newspapers in class and discuss and write about issues of the day.

Blanton also has an enclosed courtyard with animals, pond, and plants as well as other animals in the office and rooms and such. The children get to help take care of them and learn about the animals and responsibility at the same time. They have an excellent library with a wonderful atmosphere and great librarian. And the teachers. The teachers are nothing less than great. They do everything they can to ensure that the learning environment is supportive and enriched and that your child has every opportunity to learn. You will have a hard time finding a better corp.

You may certainly see for yourself what is going on at the school; at AISD, if interested, you may audit classes/teachers by contacting the school and getting permission. Personally, we considered and reviewed most if not all of the same types of options that have been noted and discussed in this thread. After visiting Blanton, we knew that our child would get an excellent education there, and so far the results are as expected. For the past two years, we have walked to our school in the morning, something I would hope to encourage more of our community to do -- both for the healthy lifestyle choice as well as the independence from a car-based society. Also, we get to have great discussions during the talk, and find interesting things along the street. Over the summer Gwyn learned to ride a bicycle and likely we'll think about transitioning to riding our bike some time; we've already made the 3/4 mile walk/ride a couple of times now. She also enjoys the times when we take public transportation, so we continue to do more of that and ride around the neighborhood for small errands and to visit friends.

A few other notes.... 

Recently school attendance zone boundaries have changed in the neighborhood which will increase the number of attending students as well as likely change the demographics of the school. The zone now includes the N side of Mueller (nothing there yet) as well as most of the area west of Berkman, previously in Harris' attendance zone.

As noted in another posting, some parents may desire to change schools in the elementary stage due to what's called tracking. Tracking is the process where students from one school "track" their attendance to other schools in the next stage (during the jump from elementary to middle and then to high). By making the change at the elementary level, then it's easier to track to the school(s) of your choice. We certainly have a ways to go with our middle and high school in the area, but I've met a number of people in the neighborhood that have attended and graduated from both of those schools, admittedly in a different era for both. Are they struggling? Yes, but the community can rebuild them by working together, guiding change, and making a difference. Where will our child go to middle and high school? I can't say yet, but we will certainly review all the options and help to make the best choice for her at the time.

School meetings at Blanton are bilingual, but certainly diverse and well attended. This aspect may be a potential frustration to some parents considering Blanton due to the time involved translating everything, but it works well and everyone attending seems to be patient. It certainly reminds us of our diversity and I like being a part of bridging that language divide as we learn to live together as one happy community.

The Blanton PTA is still somewhat immature at this point. Having been missing for 7-8 years, it was jump started in 2005-2008 only to flounder a little bit, but it's been recharged again last school year, this time with a bilingual president (probably the biggest issue from the floundering time). Yet, prior to that time, the principal and her parent support specialist (along with the help of the teachers and other staff) has held the community together through regular morning coffees and other involving activities (including parental educational opportunities as well).

2006 Attendance Stats:
White/Non-Hispanic: 3.1%
Black/Non-Hispanic: 19.1%
Hispanic: 77.8%

Anyhoos, I hope this info is helpful as you make your educational choices for your children. Everyone has different experiences, but this is that which we've had. Whatever choice you make will be the best choice for your child, I'm sure, but I do encourage you to consider and visit Blanton. Cutting through the rhetoric, you may be pleasantly surprised. A previous but rambling posting of mine, if you'd like to read it.

Working together, we'll guide change, and make a difference!

On Thursday, July 31, 2008, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) Governing Board met to approve funding for proposed development projects.

Community Partnership for the Homeless (CPH), who had applied for funding for the proposed project on 5908 Manor Rd, was not awarded any funding.

The zoning issue is scheduled for public hearing before the Austin City Council on Thursday, August 7, 2008.