(unofficial minutes prepared by Brian Almon, Place 4)
Restore Rundberg Priority Update
#1 – Revitalization of 4 Key Properties: No new developments. – UT rpt later when Dr. Springer arrives.
#2 – To Facilitate and Improve Accessible Quality of Healthcare- Physical, Mental, and Substance Abuse: Frank Rodriguez of the Latino Healthcare Forum is collecting funds to perform the healthcare needs assessment in the Rundberg area. The assessment will cost $78,000 of which $70,000 has already been committed.
#3 – After School Programs for those 10 yrs and Older: A meeting is planned with the Freedom School in September about the 2015 summer program.
#4 – Code Compliance Accountability: Team met with Code Compliance and APD on August 20.
The top three apartment complexes for violations were identified. Only one was identified as non-compliant – Mira Vista at 9601 Middle Fiskville.
#5 – Homeless and Prostitution Intervention: Michael Willard, Place 10, presented a report on the action taken at 606 Barwood Park. Upon receiving notice on August 5 that the property owner of 606 Barwood had instructed Code Compliance and APD to remove the homeless individuals living on the property within 24 hours, the Priority 5 Care Team swung into action and made several visits to the site with the final one occurring on August 20^th. The Care Team was successful in obtaining several extensions of the “move out” date in order to do an assessment of the homeless that occupied the site. Originally 19 people were on the site and at the final visit 6 people remained. APD issued 8 trespass warnings on August 21^st. Several lessons were learned from this operation. It allowed the testing of the ECHO assessment process and pushed everyone to look for new housing resources. With the cooperation of Code Compliance and APD and the property owner, the homeless social service community was able to provide some service alternatives to the residence, but there is clearly a lack of affordable housing in our community. Many said “no thank you” to temporary housing.
#6 – To Define, Maintain, Improve, and Expand Affordable Housing in the Rundberg Area: A meeting is planned for next week with experts in the field in order to set priorities. Housing other than Section 8 is needed because many Austin police, firemen, EMS, and nurses often live outside City due to high rents.
#7 – Identify Scalable Economic Development and Workforce Opportunities in Coordination with Private and Public Sector Stakeholders: First step is to identify what opportunities are occurring in the area and share the information at future meetings.
Kenny Mitchell – a homeless person who has been working with Don Shepard expressed his appreciation for all of the work that is being done in the RR area. He is Don Shepard’s designee.
Nelson Andrade (from Michigan), [email protected] Community Engagement Coordinator, and April Gutierrez (from California—Texas Tech in Lubbock), Community Engagement Administrator, were introduced to the audience and they spoke briefly about their background.
They will be working out of the APD substation on Lamplight.
Commander Baker stated that the briefing to the City Council took place on August 23^rd. The briefing can be viewed on Channel 6. Ann Teich, Place 5, spoke during the briefing.
Commander mentioned that six full-time APD positions were approved for the Rundberg evening shift of the foot patrol, seven days a week. The District Representatives reported that during the hours of the Mobile Walking Beat, there have been 0 violent crimes committed in the three hotspots. Also, the RR Apartment Coalition has expanded to 14 apartment complexes and more are expected to join in the future.
Dr. Springer from UT reported that criminal activity is down at the three hot spots with the greatest impact occurring on Sam Rayburn. No displacement of crime has been noticed by APD. A crime statistic comparison from 2013 to 2014 will be available in 1-2 months.
He is organizing a door to door survey of residents in the hot spots to be conducted by UT student teams. The survey will provide a sense of what residents think of the foot patrol. Also, UT students will be participating with students from Dobie Middle School to do “Launch Pad”. The teams will go about the RR area with cameras to record the experience of living in the RR area – Photovoice.
The next Revitalization Team Meeting September 11^th at 11 a.m. will be moved from GAMA to N. Central Health location at 1120 Braker Lane.
The next Community Meeting, 7-8:30 p.m. will be September 25^th at the Settlement Home.