RG4N Good Neighbor Get Together - Feb 8th

Sunday, Feb. 8th
11:00 AM ­ 3:00 PM
Hangtown Grill
(at Burnet Rd & 2222/Koenig Ln in the HEB shopping center)

--Great Food & Fun!
--Live Music from Wendy Colonna and Cooper Henson & Nikolas Henson
--Raffle Prizes including a Dell Laptop Computer from Discount Electronics & a Brother Sewing Machine

15% of food purchases benefits the RG4N legal fund.
Or please donate today.

Click the attachment for all the details!

HERE'S THE SCOOP:
RG4N is celebrating and wants all supporters to join in!

In December 2008, the city officially approved a new plan for a much, much smaller store that saves the old trees and calls for more green space too.

Friends and neighbors stood up together, fought for a better plan for Northcross, and that is worth celebrating!

Thank you for making a difference. See you there!

-- Kat Correa

Road Closure on Lamar - Feb 3rd & 4th

Capital Metro needs to upgrade the Rail track that runs across N. Lamar. To do this the road will have to be closed during construction.

Working with the City of Austin, the City has identified a window for Capital Metro to do this work. The window is 12 hours, 6pm - 6am the night of Tuesday February 3rd into the morning of February 4th.

The City of Austin has identified a detour route, using Canion and Guadelupe streets.

As with all projects like these, Capital Metro and the City of Austin will have proper signage to identify the detour.

Matt Curtis
Asst. Director, Business and Community Development
512-389-7546
www.capmetro.org

Capital MetroRail Crestview Station Open House - Feb. 21

Capital Metro welcomes you to an open house at Crestview Station, along the MetroRail line at Lamar north of Justin Ln, this February 21st, 10am-2pm. Come see the train, pick up a schedule, learn to use the new ticket vending machines, and get all of your questions answered about riding the train.

The open house is a free, come-and-go event, open to the public. Parking will be limited. Riding the bus or carpooling is encouraged. Bus routes near the event are: 1, 101, 300, 320 and 350.

Sign Language interpreters for the Deaf will be available, and other reasonable accommodations can be requested at least three days in advance by contacting Nancy Crowther at (512) 389-7583 or nancy.crowther@capmetro.org.

Feedback on the All Systems Go Plan? Email allsystemsgo@capmetro.org

Sent by Sonya Lopez (sonya.lopez@ci.austin.tx.us)

CNA 01.12.09 General Meeting Minutes

Officers in attendance: Jonathan, Jerry, Tim, Don, Steve, Mike, Eddie, Deanna, Dave

An announcement was made that the traffic calming effort has been delayed, but progress continues.

An announcement was made that Deanna will be replacing Pam as the Place 1 representative on the executive council as Pam has resigned.

Announcement was made that two optional ordinances are available to the neighborhood to regulate parking and mobile food establishments. The executive committee indicated that they did not see a need for the ordinances, and the general assembly was asked to comment if anyone felt the need. There were no desires expressed to opt in to the ordinances.

An announcement was made from the general assembly of a new personal fitness center opening in the neighborhood near the Greek food restaurant.

By Laws:
A question was raised on Article III, Section 4 – What does this entail? Can a neighbor enforce upkeep of a neighbor’s property? The suggestion was made to contact code enforcement.

Question on the requirement of the president serving one year on the executive committee prior to running for office. Intention was to show commitment to the neighborhood. Perhaps this could be achieved in other ways, such as being a committee chair for a year. Provision for the possibility of no one with the required experience running to allow for an inexperienced president to run.

Officer duties, correction to Treasurer – paper reports should be delivered to the membership every 4 months, and monthly to the executive committee.
Newsletter Editor – Other places should be used to post information besides the case at the minimax. Perhaps Genuine Joe. Also, the issue was raised of the newsletter not coming out 7 days prior to a meeting, and the requirement that advanced notice of meeting (of at least 7 days) be provided to the membership for meetings.

Article VI, Section 7 – How one is authorized should be specified.

Who can raise the motion to remove an officer? Should the general assembly be able to call their own meeting to remove an officer? No. But they can raise the issue at a general meeting called by the executive committee. Question on how this could be done, as the president sets the agenda for the meeting, and such an item, if not on the agenda, may not be recognized by the president.

Article XI – Remove the prorating sentence. Suggestion that household membership be listed at the time of application.

New Neighborhood Listserv for Commerce

A new listserv has arisen in the neighborhood, "Crestview For Sale", to allow people to offer their services to the neighborhood, post items for sale, announce garage sales, etc. This was started to address the desires of some on the neighborhood listserv to not be subjected to advertisements. There is a link to the Yahoo Group page for the new (and old) listserv in the Neighborhood Links section. To subscribe, send an e-mail to crestview_forsale-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Tree Planting a SUCCESS!

Hi neighbors,

Thank you for helping to make the tree planting a huge success! About 45 people turned out today to plant 128 new trees along St. Joseph's and Northcross Drive...AND IT ONLY TOOK 2 HOURS! People can do great things when they come together to serve the common good.

You can continue to help Austin's tree planting program by sending in a couple extra bucks when you pay your electric bill.

Here's a link to the [Kodak Gallery of] pictures I took today. There were plenty of cameras around, so we may see some more.

Sincere thanks to Emily King at the City, Tree Folks, and of YOU for making it happen.

Posted by Kat Correa to the neighborhood listserv.

Here are some more pictures taken by Cheryl Goveia.

Crestview Neighborhood Association

Neighborhood Association Officer Resignation and Appointment

The Place 1 representative of the Crestview Neighborhood Association's Executive Committee, Pam Mathison, has resigned concurrent with a planned move to another Austin neighborhood. Pam will be available to answer any lingering questions or provide historical knowledge to the Executive Committee, if needed. We are grateful to Pam for her many years of service to the neighborhood.

During the January 5th 2009 Executive Committee meeting, it was decided to ask Deanna McMillen, a candidate for office in the May 2008 officer election and a current member of the neighborhood ByLaws Committee, to fill in for Pam until the upcomming officer elections in May 2009. Deanna has accepted the position and will begin attending Executive Committee meetings in February.

Photos of the Holiday Arroyo Seco Luminarias

Here is the link to the photos. Enjoy! Thanks to the volunteers who orchestrated, set up, and maintained the luminarias.

Brentwood Elementary Open House

Brentwood Elementary Open House will be January 15th at 6:30 pm

And please join them for one of their "Welcome Walks" -- a chance for families to visit the school while in session, January 22nd and 29th from 9 to 10am. Meet the Principal, Katherine Williams-Carter, and have a tour guided by parents of the school.

At each of these events you'll learn more about Brentwood's innovative methods to instill a life habit of learning through such innovative programs as Multi-age Classrooms, Brain-Based Instruction, Tribes, Lifeskills and Community Involvement.

For more information please call 414-2039

New CNA ByLaws for Review by General Assembly

At the 12-January 2009 Crestview Neighborhood Association meeting proposed new bylaws for the neighborhood association will be presented to the general assembly by the ByLaws Committee and Executive Committee. A general discussion on the merits and reasoning behind the new bylaws will occur, and input from the general assembly will be sought. The bylaws are, at present, a work in progress, and changes may be made up until mid-February. After that, they will be finalized and be presented before the general assembly for final approval or rejection at the March general meeting. The old and revised bylaws should be reviewed prior to the meeting, if possible, to increase the efficiency of the discussion and minimize the length of the meeting. These can be found under the Neighborhood Documents section.

Neighborhood Option for Increased Regulations on Parking and Mobile Food Establishments

The city's Neighborhood Planning and Zoning Department has contacted the neighborhood association with the option to add additional restrictions to parking in the neighborhood, and regulations on the hours and locations of operation of mobile food establishments. The details of the specific ordinances are provided for parking and mobile food establishments for the general assembly to review. The general assembly will be informed of the options and asked to impose or reject the new ordinances at the next general assembly meeting on 12-January-09. The Neighborhood Planning and Zoning Department has requested a response before the end of February.

Traffic Calming Project Delayed

Due to the recent retirement of engineers in the Transportation Department, the Crestview traffic calming effort has suffered delays. However, Robert Spillar, P.E., Director of the Transportation Department, has indicated that the technical review of the draft of the Crestview traffic calming plan developed by the working group is currently underway and expected to be completed in early January 2009. Once the final plan has been approved by the working group, the open house and balloting process will continue. Funding is available to implement traffic calming measures and three new funded engineering positions for traffic calming are currently open and expected to be filled in the near future. Additional questions are referred to Peter Marsh, an engineer with the Transportation Department, at 974-7021 or peter.marsh@ci.austin.tx.us.

Newsletter Distributors Needed

One of the newsletters distributors that distributed the newsletter to the individual street delivers is moving out of the neighborhood, so the CNA newsletter editor, Jerry Schmidt, is in need of several more distributors.

He needs a distributor for 7000 to 7300 on Hardy and Hardy Circle ( 35 addresses) (deliver to the two churches also).

A) He needs three of the main distributors to distribute to the smaller ones.

He is trying to group them in the same numbers but they will include
three streets.
1) 1200 through 1300 on Pasadena, Madison, Piedmont and St Johns (4 deliveries)
2) 1400 through 1500 on Pasadena, Madison, Piedmont, St johns (5 deliveries)
3) 1700 through 1900 on Madison, Piedmont, St. Johns (4 deliveries)

B) He is also looking for a distributor for 1900 Cullen to Burnet (1 business, 35 houses & apartments)

C) He would like to have 3 distributors to deliver newsletters to the business on Anderson & businesses on the east side of Burnet

So we could use another 7 to 8 distributors.

Please contact:
Jerry Schmidt
371-0201
jerrynewsltr@gmail.com

2009 Austin Marathon Road Closures

On February 15, 2009 the Austin Marathon and Half Marathon will take place on the streets of Austin. An estimated 13,000 runners and 20,000 spectators will take part in the Marathon and Half Marathon, participants will travel from all 50 states and 23 foreign countries. The 2009 Austin Marathon and Half Marathon will benefit 26 local charities through the "26 Miles for 26 Charities" program for the second year; last year the program raised over $900,000 for local charities.

The race will begin at 7:00am on Congress Ave near Cesar Chavez Street and conclude with a post race area located between 6th and 11th street on historic Congress Ave.

The proposed route utilizes Congress Ave., South 1st St., Cesar Chavez St., Lake Austin Blvd., Enfield Rd., Exposition Blvd., Woodrow, North Loop, Duval St., Guadalupe St., MLK, San Jacinto Blvd. and other local roads.

On Sunday, February 15th, the following roads in our area will close to traffic by 6:00am and reopen on a rolling schedule based on the location of the last runner. All roads should reopen by 1:00pm.

The east bound lanes of North Loop between Woodrow and Guadalupe
The east bound lanes of St. Josephs/Morrow between Burnet and Woodrow
The south bound lanes of Woodrow between Morrow and North Loop
The south bound lanes of Arroyo Seca between Woodrow and FM 2222

During the event access in and out of the Crestview area will be available via Lamar, FM 2222, Burnet Road and Anderson Lane as well as side streets that do not cross the race route. All signalized intersections along the race route will be staffed by officers of the Austin Police Department to assist with access in and out. The runners will cross Lamar at North Loop and will cross Koenig at Woodrow, and cross Burnet Rd at Northcross Dr.

A comprehensive traffic control plan, which will be approved by the City of Austin Right-of-Way Management, will be used to position barricades along the route as well as officers of the Austin Police Department. City of Austin required public notice signs will go out along the route, 14 days prior to the event along with letters to business and residences.

For futher information, please contact David Grice at 512-536-6987 or David@Raceworksinc.com