BHNA - January 2000 Newsletter

Barton Hills-Horseshoe Bend Neighborhood Association Newsletter January, 2000
President's Corner	Greetings, I am Joe Gieselman, your new Association President. With my wife Kathy and three children (now young adults), I have lived at 2622 Barton Hills Drive since 1975. My children attended St. Mark’s Day School, Barton Hills Elementary and Austin High. My son Dan was a Boy Scout and I an assistant scoutmaster with Troop 11. We float Barton Creek on inner tubes, jog the Town Lake hike n’ bike trail, and shop at Barton Market. I commute a mere 15 minutes to work in downtown Austin where I am the Executive Manager for the Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources Department. In short, we enjoyed our neighborhood community and all of its assets. With your help, I would like to nourish that sense of place and community we already have. To that end, the BHNA Executive Committee met last month to set eight short-term goals for our administration. They are: Clean up of Barton Creek Greenbelt on Saturday, January 29th. Organize the annual July 4th neighborhood parade. Work with the City of Austin to complete missing links of sidewalk along Barton Hills Drive. Work with the City of Austin to resurface Barton Skyway. Work with the City of Austin to build new trail segments and renovate the Sunken Garden within Zilker Park east of Barton Creek. Publish a Neighborhood Directory. Research and educate residents about property maintenance guidelines/deed restrictions. Work with the City of Austin to designate and construct a pedestrian crosswalk on Barton Springs Road within Zilker Park. There are probably an equal number of goals you would like to see on our list of "to do’s" and we welcome your suggestions. I emphasize that it’s our list because I expect that you will be there when the call comes to pitch in on these projects. Hope to see you at the January 29 cleanup of the Barton Creek Greenbelt.
January 25 Meeting Agenda	Neighborhood Association Meeting Tuesday, 25 January 2000 BBQ Dinner and Social Hour 6-7 p.m. St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 2128 Barton Hills Drive 6-7 p.m.: Social Hour Barbecue dinner will be served, catered by Green Mesquite, for $5 per plate. This includes 2 meats and 2 side dishes. $1 for cobbler dessert. 7 p.m.: Business Meeting 1) Testing of PA system 2) Call to order and approval of the minutes of the November 15 meeting. 3) Membership Report 4) Treasurer’s Report Audit Report 5) President’s Report Survey of neighborhood goals for Year 2000, calendar of events, criteria for BHNA involvement, and purchase of PA system. 6) Committee Reports - Greenbelt Cleanup, Mark Gentle - Independence Day Parade, Roberta Preston - Zilker Sunken Garden - Other Committees 7) Old Business 8) Presentation: Stuart Strong – City of Austin Parks Department "Zilker Park Inner Loop Trail" 9) New Business - Zilker Park trail project - Committee assignments 10) Adjourn
BHHBNA Elects New Officers	Welcome to our 2000 Executive Board Members. We have 4 new members on the committee. The 1999 treasurer (John Bell) and secretary (Yates Barreda) will continue to serve the neighborhood association. With their experience and commitment, the new committee looks forward to a productive new year. The members are as follows: President – Joe Gieselman 447-4207 gieselj@tcgs.co.travis.tx.us Vice President – Mark Reinking 444-5371 mark@reinking.com Secretary – Yates Barreda 448-1276 webarreda@earthlink.net Treasurer – John Bell 441-4048 johnbell99@aol.com Corr. Secretary – Emily Mazac 447-8708 mmazac@austin.rr.com ANC Representative – Kay Killen 447-4287 hatsociety@juno.com
Barton Creek Greenbelt Cleanup	Please join us in our 1st Annual Barton Creek Greenbelt Cleanup on Saturday, January 29, 2000, 9:00 a.m. Meet at Barton Springs Pool back parking lot (on Robert E. Lee) We will disperse from there into groups to pick up trash along the greenbelt bordering our neighborhood. We are soliciting help from other neighborhoods, community groups and individuals. The city Parks and Recreation Department will provide a crew to help us. We need as many volunteers as possible to tackle this trashy mess. The city will provide trash bags and plastic gloves. To protect yourself on the primitive trails, wear long pants, long sleeves, hiking boots, and heavy gloves. Questions? Call committee chairman: Mark Gentle @ 462-9965.
Treasurer's Report	The following is the annual report from our Treasurer, John Bell. ANNUAL TREASURER’S REPORT January 1, 1999 – December 31,1999 1/1/99 Beginning Balance $3,052.56 Receipts: Membership Dues $2,791.00 Newsletter Ads $ 710.00 Total Receipts: $3,501.00 Disbursements: Newsletter $1,146.60 July 4th Parade $ 464.99 St. Mark’s mtgs $ 100.00 ANC $ 24 Total Disbursements: $1,735.59 12/31/99 Checking Balance $4,817.97 Designated Oak Wilt Donations ($ 67.00) 12-31-99 Available Balance $4,750.97
Boy Scouts Recruit	January and February are the designated months for recruiting for the Boy Scouts. Our Barton Hills Troop #17 would like to extend the invitation to join. Fifth grade boys are now eligible. Boys from 5th – 12th grades are welcome. This troop goes camping every month! If you’d like to join, or need more information, call the Scoutmaster - Kent Black @447-5828. We also have another troop in the neighborhood, Troop 11 – that meets at St. Mark’s Church.
Park Police	Keep your eyes open! Report suspicious activities/items on the Greenbelt or in Zilker Park to the Park Police @ 480-3082 (non-emergency)
Music at St. Mark's	St. Mark’s Episcopal Church welcomes the Balcones Community Orchestra (Robert Radmer, conductor) presenting the Baroque and Classical chamber orchestra works. Sunday, January 16th at 7:00 p.m. A $5 donation is suggested. There will be an evening prayer service at 6:30 p.m. – all are welcome. For more information, call 444-1449.
Signal Timing	Are you waiting longer to turn onto Robert E. Lee from Barton Springs Road? It seemed so to incoming President Joe Gieselman who spoke with Dave Gerard of the City of Austin Public Works and Transportation Department. The City periodically resets the "green time" on signals based on the flows at the signal. Given the increasing volume of thru-traffic on Barton Springs Road it would be reasonable for a disinterested traffic engineer to give preference to the heavier thru-movement. Joe reminded Dave that Robert E. Lee is one of two principle gateways to over 4.000 residents of Barton Hills and that the green time for southbound turning movements was very important to the neighborhood. Dave said that he would look into it.
Status of Barton Skyway	Ron Cain of the City Street and Bridge Department says that the City will repave Barton Skyway between Oak Park and Oakland in the spring or early summer when the ambient temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees. The City will mill the existing pavement, level-up depressed areas, and then overlay the road within inch and a half of hot mix asphalt.
Stuart Strong to speak at January Meeting	Stuart Strong of the City of Austin Parks Department, or his representative, will speak at the January Association meeting about the city’s approved project to link the Town Lake hike and bike trail with our neighborhood. The construction plans call for the reconstruction of the trail along the eastern shoreline of Barton Creek south of Barton Springs Road, extending south along and outside the fence line of Barton Springs pool and then on to connect to the existing sidewalk on Barton Hills Drive at the bottom of "the curve". The inner loop trail will also include a new crossing of Barton Creek south of the pool. Association President Joe Gieselman spoke to Mr. Strong about adding a short segment of trail along the western side of Robert E. Lee (across the street from the Umlauf Garden) to connect the Little League parking lot to Barton Springs Road, a project for which the neighborhood could provide the labor.
Membership Survey	In order for 2000 to be a productive year, we need to know what you think is important for our neighborhood. Please complete the following survey and return it with your 2000 Membership Dues (see below) to John Bell. Please rank the following projects in order of importance to you. (1 highest, 10 lowest) _____ Pave Barton Skyway _____ Neighborhood Directory _____ Completion of Sidewalks on Barton Hills Drive _____ Independence Day Parade _____ Completion of trails within Zilker Park _____ Join National Night Out (block parties) _____ Sunken Gardens _____ Barton Hills Drive speeding remedies
If you are not a neighborhood association member, sign up today! The cost is a mere $5.00 per year, and the benefits are well worth it. Return the membership form below with $5.00 check, payable to Barton Hills Neighborhood Association, to: John Bell, Treasurer 2315 Farnswood Circle Austin, TX 78704 2000 Barton Hills - Horseshoe Bend Neighborhood Association Membership Form Name(s) (include full names of all 18+ household members) (1) ______________ (2) _________________ (3) _______________ Address: _____________________ Phone: (H) ________ (W) _________ E-mail: ____________________ I/we wish to receive the newsletter: ___ in paper form ___ by e-mail ___ both

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