Brentwood PTA's Used Book Sale

The Brentwood PTA's Used Book Sale is open to the community Thursday and Friday, March 11th and 12th!

We have children's books:
board books
picture books
early readers
chapter books
teen books

We have great adult fiction and non-fiction! We had a donation from an estate, and we have old books - 1902, 1930's, 40's, 50's and up. We even have 2 vintage language courses on records in mint condition (French and German). There are CD's, DVDs, videos, and books on CD.

Prices on almost all things range from $0.25 - $1.00.

Come on down! We are open all day on Thursday, from 7:30 a.m. to 7:00p.m.
Friday is half-price day! We will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Please check in at the office and bring your picture ID. The sale is located down the hall from the cafeteria, in front of the library. Follow the signs.

Come support your neighborhood school! All proceeds go to purchasing more materials for the library.

Andrea Roberts
Used Book Sale Coordinator
Brentwood Elementary
6700 Arroyo Seco
414-2039

03.08.10 CNA General Meeting Minutes

The first experimental meeting combining the general meeting and
executive committee meeting.

Introductions.

Recap of Morrow and Lamar - 400+ petition signatures against the opening, letters from the Crestview NPCT formation group, the Crestview Traffic Calming Committee sent to the members of the sub-committee assigned the issue (Riley, Morrison, Cole). Steve Dobie and Eddie Gary met with Riley and Morrison earlier in the day and
Cole's policy person last week. The meeting where results of the analysis and feedback meeting are presented to the sub-committee is tentatively scheduled for April 5th at 2pm (the agenda won't be finalized until 1-2 weeks before the meeting). Contrary to an earlier announcement, that meeting will be open to public input and concerned members of the neighborhood are encouraged to attend. A desire was expressed to work with Highland on a fix to the Anderson-Lamar intersection. The action group that is handling the issue explained that this is the 2nd phase of their plan. The first phase of their plan ends with Council's decision on what to do regarding the request to re-open the Morrow-Lamar intersection.

Recap of Neighborhood Plan Contact Team - By laws vote and officer elections on April 19th. The ex comm needs to encourage the neighborhood to attend as there will not be a mail out by the city announcing the meeting.

CNA By Laws Amendment Discussion - The proposed changes to the by laws regarding a flexible annual start/end date for memberships, and staggered 2-year terms for titled ex comm officers, were announced and feedback solicited from the general assembly. No one was opposed to the proposed change.

CNA/BNA/Violet Crown/Friend of Brentwood Park Joint Project Meeting Recap - Kat and Eddie attended this meeting. The group talked about existing projects in the neighborhoods and seemed to agree that a park project would be a good target for a collaborative effort, since the park is a shared resource to both Brentwood and Crestview. One participant is currently creating a neighborhood map showing existing
and desired projects. They will likely meet again this month or next month to decide upon a joint project.

Methodist church contacted Paige about working with neighborhood groups. CNA has no current need of an additional meeting place. A representative of Liveoak Bible Church also offered their space for use, and expressed a desire to lease space in the church on an as-needed basis during the day to like-minded groups.

Treasurer's Report
Feb: $9456 + $213 (ads) - $392 (newsletter printing) = $9277

Newsletter Proposal - Kat proposed a contest to come up with a new logo for the CNA. All were in favor of the proposal. There will be an announcement in the newsletter, and a neighborhood vote will take place during the ice cream social on the 4 finalists. We should honor the old 25+ year-old logo. The first prize will be $200 (2nd $50, 3rd $25), which is less than one month of typical ad revenue for the newsletter. The ex comm will reserve the right to void the contest if
it does not find any submissions to be eligible candidates.

Deanna will not be running again for her position on the executive committee in June. Melinda expressed an interest in running.

April Meeting - Councilperson Laura Morrison will stop by to speak and listen to the concerns of the neighborhood. It will also be a combined general and executive committee meeting. The proposed CNA by laws amendments will be voted on, provided a quorum exists.

It's My Park Day in Brentwood Park Recap

Thanks to everyone who made It's My Park Day in Brentwood Park a success! We tackled a lot of projects and the results are amazing! Plus we had fun and connected with our neighbors. Check out our web site and Facebook page (see links in signature line below) for pictures of the day¹s events.

Here's what our 37 volunteers accomplished:

One team, led by Cheryl Goveia, cleaned up the planting beds outside the pool area. Small saplings of mountain laurel and red oak were transplanted from undesirable areas into new spots around the pool, existing trees around the pool were pruned and new planting beds were created.

Another team, led by Emily Wilson, removed all the nandina and other invasive shrubs inside the pool fence. They will be replaced with more suitable native shrubs in a near-future work day. Also, a lot of trash and toys that had found their way into that densely vegetated area over the years was cleaned out.

A third team, led by Karen Lorenzini, landscaped the area around the Brentwood Park sign on the east side of the park, thanks to a mini-grant from Austin Parks Foundation and donations of plants from neighbors. We are hoping El Nino will stick around long enough to help the new plants get established, but if we have another extended drought, we may call on volunteers to adopt these new plantings.

And last but not least, Phil Tomlin led a team in mulching trees and bare, compacted soil on the west side of the park and refreshing the walking trail. You may notice a few piles of left-over mulch around the park because we received more than we expected. We will be putting together a mini-work day in the next couple of weeks to finish distributing the mulch.

Here is an example of the wonderful synergy sparked between park volunteer and user as reported by volunteer Kat Correa:

"As Dave, Autumn, and Jennifer and I were tackling the mounds of mulch along the trail, a nicely dressed gentleman was participating in a birthday party at a nearby picnic table. He came over in his slacks and loafers and helped us shovel and move mulch for a bit. He said he wanted to do his part since he was enjoying the fruits of our labor. How neighborly!"

And I (Hedrich) also had a nice encounter with some regular softball players, out for a weekend practice, who are interested in getting their group involved in revitalizing the ball field. Also, on more than one occasion, people jogging by or through the park or walking their dogs expressed encouragement and appreciation. Talk about warm glow!

We'd like to thank Austin Parks Foundation (APF), Wheatsville Co-op and Austin Parks & Rec Dept., as well as all the other event sponsors for making It's My Park Day happen all across Austin. Special thanks go to Genuine Joe Coffee for providing hot chocolate and Taco Deli for breakfast tacos to our group. And, of course, many, many thanks to our incredible volunteers for their hard work and service to the community!

We ended up with a few tools afterwards, so if you are missing a tool please contact Hedrich at 459-1750. Plus any volunteer who showed up, regardless of whether they registered on-line or not, if you DID NOT get one of the awesome t-shirts and would like one, let Hedrich know as well. There were several left over and APF has extras as well.

We're not done yet... Stay tuned for more ways you can get involved in making Brentwood Park a better place! If you are itching to make a difference now, we are always happy to accept financial or in-kind donation assistance towards future work days. For example, we will need to gather plants and materials for the pool area to replace what was removed. Email me directly for in-kind donations or follow the links in the signature line below if you'd like to make a cash donation.

We are still trying to build a database of park users with interests in specific areas of the park to help lead or participate in projects to revitalize and improve those areas. On Saturday, we identified a number of people who are interested in general landscaping projects, the walking trail, addressing dog use issues, the playground, the pool, the tennis courts, basketball court, fitness station, the volley ball court and baseball field. The more interest expressed in a specific area, the more likely a project will get done to address that area. If you didn't get a chance to sign that sheet or weren't there but are interested in one or more of these areas, please send Hedrich or Emily a message and we will add you to the appropriate list(s). Thank you!

Emily Wilson & Hedrich Michaelsen
Friends of Brentwood Park Co-Coordinators
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Friends of Brentwood Park
website
facebook
Tax-deductible monetary donations toward park improvement activities can be made through the Austin Parks Foundation by selecting "Brentwood Park, Friends of" under "Gifts to Special Funds."

03.08.10 CNA General Meeting Agenda

7pm, Wozniak Hall at St. Louis Church

This month we will be conducting a experiment in combining the executive committee and general assembly meetings. According to a prior CNA president, the original intent of the general meetings was to conduct CNA business, which is what currently happens at the executive committee meetings. As the current executive committee meetings are open to the public, it has been decided to combine the meetings to see if the general assembly is interested in attending, and if business can still be conducted efficiently.

Executive Committee Meeting Agenda

Follow Up on Feb. 8th Morrow Street Traffic Analysis Public Meeting

Addendum: Eddie Gary mentioned at the 3/8/2010 CNA General Meeting that Molly has informed him that the April 5th meeting WILL be open to public input and interested neighbors are encouraged to attend.
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Thanks to all who attended the Feb. 8, 2010 Morrow Street Traffic Analysis public meeting. We received a lot of good feedback on your interests and concerns regarding the traffic analysis and the citizen-based request to remove the barrier (raised island) on Morrow Street that currently prohibits traffic from traveling from the east side of Lamar to the west side, and from turning south on Lamar.

Notes from the Feb. 8th meeting are now available for download.

We have also tentatively scheduled a presentation of the traffic analysis results to the Comprehensive Planning and Transportation Committee (CPTC) of the City Council on April 5th, 2010, 2pm, City Hall, 301 W. 2nd Street, Austin, TX.

Staff will present the traffic analysis findings and a summary of neighborhood viewpoints gathered during the Feb. 8th public meeting. Please note that this will be a staff update to the CPTC - it is not a public hearing. The CPTC meeting may be viewed on the Channel 6 website live or in replay. Staff will seek direction from the CPTC on next steps. I will update the website following the CPTC meeting with any news or future public input opportunities.

The April 5th presentation date is tentative because the CPTC agenda is typically finalized the Friday before the meeting. The agenda, once finalized, will be posted here. I will also send an email out to the Morrow traffic analysis email interest list (those who provided their email addresses on the sign-in sheet at the Feb. 8th meeting and others who have requested to keep informed) once the agenda is finalized.

Please call or email me if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Molly Scarbrough
Principal Planner
City of Austin
Planning & Development Review Dept.
Tel: (512) 974-3515
Office Hours: 8:30am to 3:00pm