Welcome to the Milwood Neighborhood Association - Austin, Texas 78727

Please attend your neighborhood Spring General Meeting Thursday, April 30th at 7pm in the Milwood Library.

A few notes about the meeting:

Agenda Change
We made a call earlier this month that a political debate format this time around wasn’t in the cards. Frankly, the Council candidates are run ragged right now with (literally) multiple debates a night, debate fatigue has definitely set in, and it just didn’t make sense. We are still happy to allow candidates an opportunity for a short address if they come, but it won’t be the meeting focus.

Instead, we will have a topical presentation from city staff on local bike/sidewalk capacity and its tie-in to commuter rail, and a neighborhood discussion about the upcoming July 4th event.

Bike & Pedestrian presentation
First, Annick Beaudet from city staff come and talk about the potential for a bike trail that would connect Duval with the frontage road, and ultimately to the Kramer station through the Domain. This would be a major time saver and safety improvement, so if you have any interest in getting to commuter rail on your own power, you should come out and show the city that the Community is interested in this. Annick is a critical player for the city Bicycle Plan, as well as city sidewalk planning, so she can speak to any other items you may have.

July 4th discussion
Second, we’d like to engage the neighborhood on how to have a great July 4th, our best neighborhood event that always draws hundreds of people. It seems far away, but it’s not. This is an event that only successful with active neighborhood support. With the economy as an obvious backdrop, we need your time, talent and ideas more than ever to ensure we do a great job with an important neighborhood tradition.

Please come out on Thursday and be an active part of your community.

Early Voting for city elections goes from Monday, April 27, 2009 through Tuesday, May 05, 2009. The link below has information on all early voting locations (and yes, you can vote at any of them).

http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/20090509/early.asp

The closest to the neighborhood is:

Randalls Research and Braker
10900-D Research Boulevard @ Braker Lane
Mon–Sat 7 am–7 pm, Sun Noon–6 pm

AISD, along with the E3 Alliance and Austin Voices, is sponsoring a series of Community Conversations to gather input from the public about education in our city. Over 30 neighborhood groups will gather in homes, libraries, schools, churches and other community spaces to talk about what we can do to educate the community’s children for the 21st century.  Notes from all of the community conversations will be compiled into a report that will be used by our new superintendent, Dr. Meria Carstarphen, and the AISD Board of Trustees as they develop a new strategic plan for the district.

The closest Community Conversation to Milwood is:

Friday, May 1
Davis Elementary 5214 Durval Rd.
8:30 – 10 a.m., cafeteria

His name is “White Cat”. He is entirely white except for a grey smudge on the top of his head. There’s a good chance that he is pretty dirty because he likes to roll in the dirt. He is a male 5 year old that weighs about 15lbs. He was lost on Sunday, April 5, 2009 in the Duval/Dull Knife area of the Mesa Park Subdivision. We think he might have gotten into the drainage system and popped out on the north side of Duval somewhere. He is strictly and indoor cat (no collar) and so he’s probably very scared and won’t let anyone approach him. Reward if found. Please contact with any information.

Summer’s almost here. Come gather tips on starting and improving your vegetable garden from Kathy Boles of the Texas Master Gardners Association.

Date: Saturday April 25th
Time: 2pm – 3pm
Location: Milwood Library (Meeting Room)

The Austin Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) will meet with the community in April to review the draft document of the Parks and Recreation Long Range Plan for Land and Facilities (LRP). The document will be available, starting 04.01.09, to download for 30 days/month of April 2009. www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/longrangeplan.htm

The meetings will explain:

1. How input was gathered for the LRP
2. How input was implemented into LRP
3. Display where input is located within LRP
4. Open the floor for 3 minute citizen communication

The public meeting for the N/NW portion of the city will be Tues. April 14th, 2009. PARD does ask that input participation be from residents within the designated boundary to ensure the meeting stays on track and focuses only on recreational opportunities within these areas.

For residents unable to attend the public meeting, comments may be submitted to: longrangeplan@ci.austin.tx.us

If you have any questions prior to the meeting, please contact the PARD
Planning & Design Division at 974.6760.

Public Meeting for the N/NW portion of Austin

Tues. April 14, 2009
6:30 – 8:30 pm
Northwest Recreation Center – Gymnasium
2913 Northland Dr.
512.458.4107

Come out tonight at 7:00pm to the Covenant Methodist Church at 4410 Duval Rd, Austin, TX‎ to hear from Union Pacific on the siding project coming to a rail line near you.

Map is here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=4410+duval+road+covenant+church+duval&sll=30.4207,-97.727509&sspn=0.094442,0.206165&ie=UTF8&ll=30.4207,-97.727509&spn=0.098883,0.206165&z=13&iwloc=A