Welcome to the Milwood Neighborhood Association - Austin, Texas 78727

Early voting for the March 4 Primary begins on 2/19/2008 and ends on 2/29/2008.  The closest location to Milwood is the Randall’s at 183 and Braker Lane.  Hours are Monday – Saturday, 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM and
Sunday, Noon to 6:00 PM.For a complete listing of all early voting places, visit the Travis County Elections site at http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/20080304/early.asp.  

Two things to note from the website: 

How to vote early? – Registered voters can vote with a voter registration card, driver’s license or any official photo ID, birth certificate, United States citizenship papers or passport, a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement or other official document that shows the name and address of the voter.

NOTE TO FIRST-TIME VOTERS: If you are a first-time voter in Travis County who registered to vote by mail and did not previously provide a copy of ID, you must show a form of ID other than a Voter Registration Certificate before voting.

Found some interesting recycling tips in the Austin American Statesman.

Looking to recycle CD Cases
Tim Hamblin, video archivist at the Austin History Center, accepts donations of empty CD cases. Bring your donation to the Austin History Center, 810 Guadalupe St., during business hours (available at www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/ahc). Contact Hamblin at 947-7305.

Looking to recycle Cooking Oil
You can donate used cooking oil to DieselGreen Fuels, 5217 E. Cesar Chavez St. Drop off donations at any time, preferably in the oil’s original container.

There is also an on-site container where you can deposit oil. DieselGreen cleans the oil to remove water and impurities and makes it available as raw oil or biodiesel at EcoWise, 110 W. Elizabeth St. In addition to individual donations, the organization collects used oil from 75 local restaurants.

Interested in learning more about the process? DieselGreen has an open house on Tuesdays from 7 to 10 p.m.

Call 247-FUEL or visit www.diesel greenfuels.com for more information.

We previously posted on the City’s roadshow to get input into the City website, which I definitely think could use some reengineering. If you are interested in the topic:

7 p.m. Feb. 7, 2008, at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus Commons Conference Center, Building 137, 10100 Burnet Road.

During the meeting, City officials will discuss the importance of public involvement in the Web redesign project, present an executive summary of the recent Web usage survey results and outline the best practices embraced by other cities. Austinites will have a forum to offer ideas on what promises to be a new standard for municipal Web sites. More information about these events can be found at www.austingo.org.

Here’s a recent update on our housing market

Milwood-Housing Information 1/1/08 to 2/6/08
New Listings

Monthly Stats
Homes Sold 5
Average List Price $177,000
Average Sales Price $175,845
Homes Pending 16
Average List Price $167,619
Active Listings 9
Average List Price $184,761

Saw this interesting note in the Summit Elementary School newsletter.

“We like dogs; we do not like the messes they are leaving in on our school play area. We have to clean up much animal waste daily before our young children can have a safe and sanitary place to play.

Please do not allow your pets to use our play area as their restroom.

Thank You”

Just as a note, if your dog happens to make a mess on school grounds there are waste bag stations along the perimeter of the fence near each entrance. Feel free to grab a bag and keep our neighborhood school clean so that we all can enjoy it.

AUSTIN – For the first time in the Lone Star state’s history, Texans can vote online for a new general-issue license plate.

From noon Monday, February 4, until noon the following Monday, February 11, Texans can vote for one of four new license plate designs or to keep the current general-issue plate.

All of the plates feature the state name on the top and “The Lone Star State” on the bottom. They are divided into four categories, a representation of how Texans see the state:

Traditional Texas. The plate features blue highlights with a gold Lone Star, and bold, red “TEXAS.”
Lone Star Texas. A white Lone Star stands out in the top, left-hand corner of the plate. Wide brushes of red and blue punctuate the Texas sky on the top half of the plate along with a low-lying mountain range on the bottom.
Natural Texas. The entire plate is covered with wildflowers.
New Texas. This red, white and blue plate features a composite of modern landmark buildings from several Texas cities.
My Texas. This is the current general-issue license plate that was introduced in 2000. It features icons of the state, including a horse, space shuttle, and oil derrick.
All of the plate designs were created by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).

“We’re excited that the internet makes it possible for Texans to help choose the next general-issue license plate,” said Rebecca Davio, director of Vehicle Titles and Registration, the TxDOT division that oversees the manufacturing of the state’s license plates.

Even if Texans choose the current plate design, they will see something new in early 2009 when the state changes to seven-character, alpha-numeric plate patterns.

“By the end of this year, we will be out of license plate combinations for the three letters and three numbers that we currently put on the general-issue plate,” Davio said. “Because we need to change the plate, we thought it was the perfect time to invite Texans to participate in a design selection.”

By law, the Texas Transportation Commission must give final approval to any new general-issue plate design. If Texans select the current plate design, no further action is needed by the commission.

See the official page for more information.

As mentioned in the previous post “Where Can I Recycle….”, Austin’s Hazardous Waste Facility is currently open to residents the first Saturday of each month from 7 a.m. to noon and from noon to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  If these hours don’t work for your schedule, there will also be a collection event open to the public on Saturday April 5 at Anderson High School.  For more information, go the hazardous waste link at http://www.austinrecycles.com.  Something to consider as spring cleaning season approaches!