Milwood Neighborhood Assoc.

A local issue of interest – the city is considering 10414 McKalla Place (Burnet at Braker Lane) as a possible site for an RV community to house members of the homeless community via the Mobile Loaves and Fishes program. There are two sites that meet the cities criteria, this one and one in far southeast Austin.

I’ve attended a couple of briefings done by the city on this, and the reaction of surrounding neighborhoods is vigorous, to say the least.

There is a more comprehensive writeup on this topic than I could ever do on this website.

At this point, the review is in staff hands. They will take a recommendation back to Council on the location recommendation, and Council would have to take any final action. It is challenging to tell you how to affect this via staff discussion, because it is across a wide variety of divisions. The best direction I can give is to go to Council offices if you have concerns you wish to express. You can find their emails here.

The Board will meet next week for our monthly meeting, and I’d like to work up a letter that could come from our neighborhood to send to Council. Primary message of, which we appreciate the mission Mobile Loaves and Fishes is seeking to deploy, The Southeast Austin location near Hornsby Bend is the right choice for this mission, and locating it here would be directly counter to the North Burnet Gateway plan that was adopted with much deliberation and ceremony via Council support.

Contact your Board if you would like to chime in thoughts.

one of the items of importance from the General Meeting was a presentation from Austin Parks on a new trail system that will link Balcones District Park to Walnut Creek Park. The link to the city information can be found at http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/walnutcreektrail.htm

from one of your neighbors:

“I was talking w/ two others this am and realized we all 3 have the same problem – no phone service and ATT has told us all it’ll take a week before it’s fixed. I was glad to hear it wasn’t just our phone jacks or our house (i.e., it’s not a problem that we’ll have to pay for), but then realized that probably many (most? all?) AT&T customers in the neighborhood may be affected and may not know it’s a widespread problem. I worry about elderly people that might not have cell phones (I’m picturing my parents).

I think it would be nice to send out an “FYI” blurb that says:

A number of AT&T custormers in the neighborhood have reported that they lost phone service a few days ago, so it seems to be a problem throughout the neighborhood. The good news is that if it is AT&T’s problem, folks shouldn’t have to pay for repairs. On the other hand, many people in the neighborhood don’t have phone service, so you may want to check with your neighbors, especially those who may not have cell phones.

AT&T is saying their response time is about a week. If you are affected, it would be a good idea to contact AT&T if you haven’t already done so.”

We had a great turnout of 40+ neighbors to the MNA General Meeting last week. We heard from the Austin Parks department about the trail system going from Balcones District Park to Walnut Creek park that will be starting imminently. We also heard from our police liaisons, got some good practical advice about writing down all the serial numbers on your pawnable electronics (if you’d ever like to see them again after a robbery), and talked about some of the unfortunate rise in burglaries as the local burglars apparently have wrapped up their summer vacations.

One of the best ways to take action to improve the safety of you and your neighbors is to get involved in neighborhood watch activities, and National Night Out is the perfect time to start meeting your neighbors. National Night Out 2010, America’s night out against crime will be Tuesday, October 5th in the evening. Please get out of the house and meet your neighbors, talk with each other, exchange phone numbers and other contact information. Different streets may have block parties or gatherings, and you are welcome to come say hello, but you don’t need a block party to participate. Just come out in your yard and talk to others about looking out for eachother. Awareness is key to crime prevention. Know your neighbors. Know who belongs and who does not. If you see someone or something suspicious, call 911 or 311 first. If it turns out to be nothing, apologize later. Don’t let timidity keep you from helping your neighbors avoid being robbed.