Milwood Neighborhood Assoc.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
August 19, 2009 Jill Mayfield, Public Affairs Office
City of Austin Water Utility
(512) 972-0150; pager 802-8959

Austin Water Utility To Enact Stage 2 Watering Restrictions
Austin – ”Beginning Monday, Aug. 24, the Austin Water Utility (AWU) will enact Stage 2 Mandatory Watering Restrictions because of the exceptional drought in Central Texas and recommendations made by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA).
Stage 2 Watering Restrictions are in line with the 2009 Drought Contingency Plan authorized by Council earlier this year.  The plan states the City Manager may order additional water restrictions when the combined lake storage levels of Lakes Travis and Buchanan is less than 900,000 acre-feet. That level was reached on Aug. 12.

Stage 2 Mandatory Water Restrictions

• Requires residential and commercial water customers to follow a once-per-week watering schedule.
• Limits automatic irrigation systems to operation between the hours of midnight and 10 a.m. on designated days.
• Limits residential vehicle washing to designated days and times and prohibits charity car washes.
• Automatic fill valves for pools or ponds should be turned off.
• No outdoor fountains should be used except to provide aeration for aquatic life.
• No water to be served at restaurants unless requested by the customer.
• No washing of sidewalks, driveways, parking areas or other paved areas except to alleviate an immediate health or safety hazard.

To ensure that restrictions are followed, the AWU Water Conservation staff will begin stepped-up, around-the-clock enforcement and take a zero-tolerance approach to violations of the restrictions. Violating mandatory watering restrictions is a Class C misdemeanor with fines up to $500. To report water waste, residents should call 3-1-1. For more information on water conservation visit www.WaterWiseAustin.com.

A car was broken into overnight or early in the morning of August 10/11, 2009 in the area of Ganymede Drive and Europa Lane. Police were notified.

We have heard of other incidents, including possible burglaries recently as well, and would like to remind the neighborhood to keep an eye out for anything or anyone suspicious. Alert your neighbors to watch your house if you are traveling; ask someone to bring in or hold any mail, flyers, newspapers or anything that may indicate you are not at home for a period of time.

If you see something or someone suspicious or witness a crime, please call 311 (non-emergencies) or 911 (emergencies) as appropriate.

We have asked the Austin Police Department’s District Representative (Officer Dunn) to add extra patrols to our neighborhood, which began immediately upon request. If you have questions or concerns, feel free to contact the District Rep office main number at 974-5743 or Officer Dunn’s direct line at 974-5553 (he is on vacation until Aug 25 and other officers are filling in for now).

If your block or area of the neighborhood is not a part of the National Neighborhood Watch Program, please consider taking charge and starting the program on your street and adjoining streets. The National Sheriff’s Association began Neighborhood Watch back in 1972 to help neighborhoods and law enforcement prevent crime. You can get additional information at their web site to see how to get started.

On a personal note, a couple of years ago, we had a rash of vandalism on many blocks throughout the neighborhood, starting (most unfortunately) with my own house. Thanks to our Neighborhood Watch program, we were able to alert out block captain who in turn notified everyone on our block and the adjacent streets immediately. With nightly vigils and a lot of communication between our neighbors and the police, we caught the culprit who was tried and convicted and spent time in jail as a result. The program works.

Cap Metro posted their most recent update on Friday, with some milestones, but no target start date.

the details can be found here.

You have probably noticed that the lines on Amherst have disappeared in the last week or so.

The Public Works/Streets department has decided after studying the street that they are going to go ahead with restriping it as 2 lanes + center turn lane (just like most of Duval) for the entire length from Parmer to Duval. The bike lanes would run the entire length of Amherst on each side.

Work is scheduled to begin imminently.

Public Works has said that they looked at the traffic patterns and think this is the best way to reduce cut-through traffic and reclaim this as a neighborhood street.

On the north end of Amherst, there will still be turn lanes leaving the neighborhood.

On the south end of Amhert the center turn lane would be dedicated to turn left, still leaving two lanes exiting the neighborhood. The dedicated part will be somewhere south of Eton

The bus stop on the south part of Amherst is a slight question mark, although the number of drop offs and pick ups is less than 10. Cap Metro is aware of this and has said they will look at adjustments if this becomes an issue.

Once people adjust and it all settles down into a pattern, we should hopefully see an improvement in both safety and neighborhood friendliness of the street.

This re-striping will occur soon. If you have a burning question or comment, please email me directly.

Thanks to everyone that turned out for the 6th annual Milwood and Walnut Crossing 4th of July Parade and Picnic! We had an incredible turnout despite the triple-digit weather.

This year’s highlight was the Austin Civic Wind Ensemble’s excellent concert under the live oaks! The raffle and memership revewal tables were hopping and absolutely everything was eaten and consumed with not a scrap left. Amazing!

We especially want to thank the many supporters of this event, starting with YOU, the volunteers! This event couldnt go on without your hands-on help, whether at the grills, chips table, or raffle ticket booth. Many neighbors offered table, sun shades, ans grills. And let’s not forget those of you that walked the hot streets putting out flyers on your neighbors’ doors…thank you!

Also, this was a banner year for business support from within and around Milwood and Walnut Crossing! Thanks to this great set of sponsors, the parade and picnic was a raging success!

Harvey Pikoff Realty
H&H Design and Build
Milwood Baptist Church
TSS Photography
Austin Roofing
Tammy Fariss Realty
Gift of Serenity Massage
Twihtlight Faerie Nostalgic Notions
Vanessa Shield with Mary Kay cosmetics
Yoga Yoga
Mangia Pizza
Stepping Stone School
The Steeping Room
Top Spa Nails
The Texan Market

If you are interested in volunteering for our July 4th festivities, we’ll be having a planning meeting on Thursday at 7:30 in the park by the playscape. Please come by and let’s get the plan in order. If you would like to volunteer, but can’t come out on Thursday, please email egarana at gmail.com.

See you then!

Do you want to help us make the food line fantastic? Let us know if you can donate supplies of food goods towards a successful event. Food donations should either be of a generic variety (hamburger buns, etc) or some sort of baked good for desert (i.e. cookies).

Do you have a business that you want to promote at July 4th? We have an easy solution for you – donate a gift card towards something of general interest to help us make the July 4th raffle a sucess. In the past our prizes have ranged from the simple food gift card, to hardware store gift cards supplies by realtors, to sponsoring the water bottles for the parade. If you are willing to help, we usually turn 250+ people, last year substantially more than that.

send a note to dustin at milwoodna.com with ideas.