Wooten Neighborhood Association
Minutes from the WNA Meeting, May 11, 2015
President Chris Gregory called the meeting to order at 7:01pm. The minutes from the March meeting were approved.
Treasurer Victor Engel provided a Treasurer’s Report. The beginning balance as of the last WNA meeting was $2165.71. WNA paid for park expenses and then was reimbursed by a grant for them, which brings the current ending balance to $2172.38.
APD Officer Judson Chapman answered neighbors’ questions about crime and other issues. Officer Chapman reported that APD calls to 8007 Burnet Road have decreased since the March meeting, but did not have updates about the code issues at the location. Chris said he will ask for an update on the situation from Councilwoman Leslie Pool. He said he was unable to contact Amos King, the property’s manager.
Vice President Adam Turner asked about APD statistics, and Officer Chapman said that APD is currently focusing on traffic enforcement, particularly cars driving too closely to bicyclists, and at “collision hotspots” like Anderson and Lamar. Alan Sheer asked about traffic enforcement, including speed bumps, and traffic calming. Officer Chapman said he can send out directed patrols to his shifts to monitor speeding vehicles in specific locations. Officers will do this whenever not taking 911 calls, so neighbors are encouraged to report regularly speeding drivers. Officer Chapman can be contacted at judson.chapman@austintexas.gov or 512-974-4705.
Rhan Jackson provided an update on the APD Commander’s Forum, which was held April 7 at McCallum High School. Our new area Commander is Curtis Krause, a 20-year veteran of the force, who spent five years as a District Representative. The clean up under the 183 highway is still ongoing, and APD is monitoring the situation. Additionally, APD said that a citizen calling their district representative (DR) generally gets their issue addressed 8-10 weeks faster than by calling their City Councilmember. And if neighbors have video evidence related to a crime (from a home security system, for instance), it is encouraged to approach the investigating officer to offer the evidence. The next APD Commander’s Forum is on July 7 at Reinli Church.
Joanne Garrett talked about the Austin Humane Society’s Trap/Neuter/Release (TNR) program to control the feral cat population. Crestview purchased traps and people can call the woman who keeps them to borrow the traps and take trapped cats to AHS to get fixed. Apparently Crestview has fixed 43 cats so far through the program. Betsy Thaggard said she would look into a neighbor who wrote a letter about the TNR program for the newsletter a few years ago, and provide this information to neighbors.
Joanne also provided a park update. There was a park workday on April 25, that helped to put in more plants, weed around the park sign, and spread gravel near the flower boxes close to the playground. The Parks and Recreation Department is trying to get another group together on June 6 for National Trails Day to finish mulching the trees in the park. Joanne is looking for project leaders for that half-day project, and anyone interested should let Joanne know. Additionally, the water fountain in the northwest corner of the park is now fixed. Joanne said that the Parks Committee is trying to get “No Littering” signs around the playground, and they are hopeful for educational programs to help encourage students not to litter. The majority of the trash appears to come from the playground, rather than the periodic soccer games played in the field. The Parks Committee is still hoping to get new trash cans for the park as well.
Betsy Thaggard said that the Austin History Center will be putting the Wooten Newsletter on file there so all past editions will be available.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:55pm.