The Allandale Reporter

Join your neighbors at the neighborhood garage sales

The Annual Allandale Super Sale will be held Saturday, May 3, 9:00 am to 4:00 PM

Spend a day strolling the neighborhood, greeting neighbors, and maybe bag a bargain while you’re at it.

The sale includes the entire neighborhood.

Saturday, May 3, 2008, marks the Annual Allandale Super Sale. Hours for the sale will be 9 am to 4 PM

The Super Sale is an annual event in which all Allandale residents are encouraged to participate by having a garage or yard sale on the same day. An ad is placed in the Austin American Statesman, and the event is promoted online and via flyers. You do the rest!

30 Years and Still as Popular as Ever – the Omelettry

Tom Linehan

It has been years since I ate at the Omelettry, but it hasn’t changed…and that’s a good thing. The place has been at its current location on the corner of Burnet Rd and 48th Street for 30 years, and it’s still one of the more popular breakfast spots in north Austin. I visited the restaurant three times in the past seven days, and there was always a steady flow of customers. Just as I had remembered, the outdoor sign board at the entrance was covered with posters. Inside, I found tables with vinyl tablecloths, a friendly wait staff, and customers of all ages — also as I had remembered. Fortunately, my last visit was on a weekday, and I was able to get seated right away. Be prepared to wait if you’re going on a weekend morning.

Officer Crowder to be Transferred

The following note posted to the newsgroup by Officer Croweder:
Subject: [Allandale NA] Good News / Bad News

The good news is effective Sunday the 30th I will promote to the rank of Corporal. The bad news is I will be transferred effective the 6th of April. There are plans to replace me, but I do not know if that person will be in place by the time I leave. I will leave behind contact information and information on the list serve's for the replacement. In the mean time, (and I will send out another reminder email) after the 6th of April if you need to contact a district representative, you will need to call our mainline number at 974-5545, one of the other 3 District Representative's will be assigned to you.

ANA General Meeting, Thursday 6:30-8:30

Please join us at the ANA General meeting on Thursday at the Yarborough Library from 6:30 to 8:30.

Agenda:
Call meeting to order - 6:30

- Approval of Minutes
- Treasurer's report

Committee Reports:
    -    Northcross Committee
    -    Zoning and Planning - VMU
    -    Bylaws - status report on bylaws review
    -    Beautification
    -    Neighborhood Safety
    -    Membership

Other Business:
    -    Austin Neighborhoods Council Update
    -    Celebrate Allandale Picnic

Adjourn - 8:25

Tom Linehan
President, ANA

Central Tx. Electric Lawnmower Program - Sat., 4/5 - 8:30am - So. Aust in Home Depot

Who: The Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (www.cmpbs.org/electriclawnmower)
What: Central Tx. Electric Lawnmower Program
When: Saturday - April 5th from 8:30am-2pm
Where: Only at the So. Austin Home Depot - 3600 So. IH 35

Why: Gasoline-powered lawn/garden equipment is responsible for between 5-10%of the total air pollution in urban areas and lawnmowers are responsible for the majority of these emissions. CO2 emissions (the main Greenhouse Gas) are spewed out in large quantities from lawnmowers as well.

Take action: Help reduce air pollution by trading in your gas-powered
mower for a cordless or corded model.

Cost: Save up to 20% on the Homelite cordless model.

Details: To reserve your mower please call Scott Johnson (Project
Manager) at (512) 389-2250 (land line).

Battery pack (cordless) electric mowers can cut up to 1/3 of an acre on a single charge and have the power to cut grass that is up to 6 inches in height.

Coyotes along shoal creek in the news

Randy Farrar, Wildlife Damage Management Biologist, Texas Cooperative Extension - Wildlife Services, will be presenting a program on Suburban Coyotes and discussing the problems in our neighborhood.

This will be a great opportunity to find out what the city is doing and how we can help this growing situation. See today's article in the Statesman for more info.

When: Monday, April 14, 2008 7:00 PM-9:00 PM
Where: Northwest Recreation Center, 2913 Northland Drive

McCracken Shoots Down Allandale Town Center Proposal

submitted by Steven Zettner

Council Member Brewster McCracken on Monday March 17 rebuffed a proposal by ANA and two other North Central Austin neighborhood groups to modify the City’s plan for Vertical Mixed Use (VMU) on Burnet Rd and Anderson Ln.  McCracken hinted that modifications to VMU proposed in the “Two Nodes” plan would not be acceptable to developers, who would ignore VMU to do traditional commercial development. 

City Council Candidates’ Forum on March 26

The City Council candidates' responses to the Austin
Neighborhoods Council questionnaire are now available
on the ANC website: http://www.ancweb.org/

Cynthia Keohane <cbkeohane@prodigy.net> wrote:
All are invited to attend the AUSTIN NEIGHBORHOODS COUNCIL (ANC) candidate forum on March 26 at 6 PM. An ANC committee has sent a questionnaire for all candidates to complete before the meeting. This will be a good opportunity to see how the candidates respond to issues of concern to neighborhoods. It is also a good chance to see ANC in action, and learn about concerns of other neighborhoods.

Best regards,
Cynthia Keohane
ANA rep to ANC and ANA EC member

Sunday April 6 - Save the Date

All those living in Allandale should have received the flyer in last month's newsletter - but for those who haven't heard - save the date of April 6 for our 2nd Annual picnic in the park! We had a wonderful time last year and this year's event is shaping up to be even more so. This is truly a neighborhood event that extends far beyond - invite your family and friends! Feel free to contact me should you have any questions! - Regards, Mary Jean

Celebrate Allandale
Picnic in the Park

Bring your blanket and have fun with the whole family!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
1–6 pm at Northwest Park

AUSTIN NEIGHBORHOODS COUNCIL (ANC) 2008 CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES' FORUM

You are cordially invited to attend the Austin Neighborhoods Council (ANC) 2008 Austin City Council Candidates' Forum. Get to know the candidates and hear their answers to questions about the issues important to Austin on such varied topics as:  Growth Management, Neighborhood Planning, City Government Structure, Open Governance, Community Values, Code Enforcement, Environmental Issues, Transportation, Working with AISD, and more.  Everyone is welcome to attend this free forum.

How people in Allandale voted in the March 4th primary

Here are the election results for the presidential primary from the three precincts in Allandale: Precinct 236 (Rosedale School), Precinct 239 (Gullett Elementary), and Precinct 243 (Lucy Reed). The results are from the Travis County County Clerk's web site. You can get the full results here.

Agencies team up for flood monitoring system

From City of Austin's Watershed Protection and Development Review Department:

What:  News conference about new flood guages that will help COA prepare better for floods.

When: Friday, March 21, 2008 - 9:30 - 10:30 AM

Where: Pedestrian Bridge on Silverway, on the west side of the creek.

"I'm hoping you can help me spread the word to residents in your neighborhood about a small event we're hosting on Friday, March 21, at 9:30 a.m. at the pedestrian bridge on Silverway Drive, on the west side of the creek. The City of Austin together with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Weather Service will be holding a brief news conference about the installation of 10 new flood gauges and how they will help the City prepare better for floods.

Home Burglaries Map for Allandale

submitted by Kelle B

Since we have had so many incidents of home burglaries, I charted the crime stats for us on a google map.

The data is from Sept 06 to the present - so 2006 and 2008 have smaller numbers. You can zoom in by clicking the vertical bar on the left of the screen. Each color represents a year and the legend should be on the left of the screen. If you click on a point, you will find the time, date, and day the crime was reported - hopefully similar to the time the crime actually occurred, but I guess that may not be the case.

Observations:
1) There are clusters of areas where burglaries occur
2) 75% of crimes happened during the day
3) Most crimes happened on a Friday or Monday

Here's the link

Please watch out for your neighbors especially during the day since that's when it seems most crimes occur.

If you are interested in starting a neighborhood watch or becoming more involved with the neighborhood safety committee, please let me know.

Regards,
Kelle B

14th Annual Rosedale Ride

The Rosedale Ride is an annual bike ride benefiting Rosedale School, the Austin Independent School District's only school for children with multiple disabilities. The Rosedale Foundation has raised over $300,000 for Rosedale School since 1999.

The Roseddale ride is open to cyclists of all abilities, the ride offers different courses to suit anyone. This year the Rosedale Ride has four courses to choose from: a Kid’s Fun Ride; or courses of 20+, 42+ or 62+ miles. The ride begins and ends at Samsung, winding through the gently rolling countryside east of Austin.

The 2008 Rosedale Ride is Saturday, March 29th, and is followed by entertainment, food vendors, silent auction and more...

You will find more information and registration here.

How do you see Central Texas Growing?

Here is your chance to give input on growth of the region. Please read the following letter sent from Diane Miller, Assistant Director, Envision Central Texas asking for participation in a survey and/or upcoming Regional Growth Meetings:

What’s on your mind? Envision Central Texas wants to know.

How has the rapid growth in Central Texas over the past few years affected you and the community in which you live and work? Have you seen changes in your city or county? Do you have concerns about how additional growth in the region will affect traffic congestion, housing prices and education?

CAMPO seeking public comment on Project Funding and Short-Range Plan Amendments

If you want to take a look at proposed upcoming transportation projects and provide input you can review and complete this area wide transportation questionnaire being conducted by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO).  The first project on the list relates to the intersection at 2222/Northland/Parkcrest that backs up at Northland due to traffic coming off MoPac and coming from the Burnet Rd area heading west on 2222. 

This online questionnaire is not the only way to learn about the area projects and provide input. CAMPO is also hosting community meetings. Go here to learn more.

Lost Dog

Sweet, shy B&W Siberian Husky. No collar, but is micro-chipped. Answers to "Grizz". Last seen 3/5 near 2222 @ Shoal Creek. Reward if found. Call
560-7688.

Household Hazardous Waste North Austin Collection Event

Here's an opportunity to dispose of household hazardous waste responsibly and relatively conveniently. The details are:

Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Location: Anderson High School, 8403 Mesa Drive, in
North Austin.
Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Limit: 30 gallons / per customer
For more information, or to download the event flyer,
visit www.austinrecycles.com or download the event flyer here.

APD VIN Etching March 12th

APD is hosting a VIN Etching at the Randall's located at 715 S. Exposition. The date is March the 12th from 10-1p and it's located at the Randall's at Lake Austin and Exposition.

As we all know the parts on the vehicle are worth more than the whole vehicle itself, so the help prevent auto thefts come on out have the VIN etched onto your vehicle.

Hope to see y'all there;

SPO David V. Crowder Jr. #4398
Austin Police Department
Central West Area Command
District Representative
512-974-5545

Allandale's Precinct239 Caucus

Like precincts all around Austin, the Gullett cafeteria was packed. Precinct 239 chair, Jim Bryce said they were anticipating about 100 to 150 attendees because they knew there was a lot of interest. They ended up with more than double that amount. The overflow didn't last though. The caucus started at 7:00 and it wasn't until 9:00 that everyone signed in. By that time, many people, myself included, felt that making their candidate preference known was enough and went home.

What follows is Jim's post to the Allandale newsgroup at 2:50 a.m. regarding last night's event.

Update on Coyote Sigthings

This was a note posted to the Allandale newsgroup:

From: Randy.O.Farrar@aphis.usda.gov
Date: March 1, 2008 11:54:17 AM CST

Subject: Re: Coyote Sightening on Turnabout Lane.....AGAIN

FYI

Wildlife Services has been actively trapping coyotes in your neighborhood for several months now. A total of 4 coyotes have been removed, and I estimate that two to three more coyotes need to be removed. The good news is that the most recent capture (19 February 2008) was a bred alpha female weighing 33 pounds, so there should not be any active coyote den in your neighborhood this year . The remaining coyotes were avoiding the area after the capture (this is typical), and traps were removed 22 February 2008. Trapping was scheduled to resume when coyote activity resumed or observations were reported. The first report of coyotes in your neighborhood received after 19 February 2008 was received 28 February (non 311 telephone call). Consequently, trapping was scheduled to resume 03 March 2008. Please contact me if you have any further questions or concerns.

Randy O. Farrar
Wildlife Damage Management Biologist
Texas Cooperative Extension - Wildlife Services
1600-B Smith Road
Austin, TX 78721-3541

512-854-9613 (o)
512-854-9611 (fax)

Report on Latest Commander's Forum

submitted by Laura DiCarlo

Hi Safety Committee!

I went to the Commander's Forum on Thursday evening and thought I'd share my notes with you since I didn't see anyone else from our committee.  Actually, when I signed in there were no other Allandale residents on the list, and I was one of the last to enter.  There were about 20 people present - many from Tarrytown, Rosedale and other neighborhoods.  In additon, 8 area officers were there, including David Crowder.  The main presenter was Andy Westbrook and a few others spoke as well.

More on the Village Mixed Use Project

This past week, the Austin American-Statesman included an article on the mixed use development planned for the Village shopping center on Anderson Ln where the Alamo Drafthouse is. The article, "Developer plans makeover of Anderson Lane shopping center," by M.B. Taboada, reports that according to the new owner Joe Lamy, the long range plan for the development would include 88,000 square feet of retail, 100,000 square feet of office and more than 400 apartments. As reported earlier, the developers are working with the North Shoal Creek Neighborhood Association. According to the article, the new owners will need to rezone the site before moving forward. The hearing before the Planning Commission scheduled for last week was postponed.