Applicant Review Panel to make final recommendations to City Council for
Citizens Redistricting Commission

The panel charged with recommending who potentially should draw the 10
geographic Council districts will present its 60 names to the Austin City
Council on May 16.

The Applicant Review Panel for the City’s first Citizens Redistricting
Commission has narrowed an initial pool of 444 people. Each Council Member may strike one applicant from the list of 60.

The remaining names will be placed in a drawing for eight spots on the
14-member Redistricting Commission. City Auditor Kenneth Mory will conduct that drawing at 12:30 p.m. May 22 in the Boards and Commissions Room at City Hall, 301 W. Second St.

“We had an incredible applicant pool of well qualified residents,” said
Applicant Review Panel Member Caroline Limaye.” It was very difficult to narrow
down the list to 60. We’d like to encourage those that applied to please stay
involved and engaged in this very important process and time in our
city.”
 
Once the eight members have been confirmed, they will select the remaining six.
It is expected that the Citizens Redistricting Commission will determine the
boundaries for the 10 single-member Council districts by the end of the
year.
 
The three Austin residents serving on the Applicant Review
Panel are:
Michele DeFrance, Senior Auditor, Texas State Auditor’s Office.
Caroline Limaye, Auditor, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Carol Feller, Auditor. 

According to the City Charter, each of the Applicant Review Panel Members
must live in Austin; be licensed by the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy;
and have at least five years of auditing experience.

 For additional meeting information and back-up materials on the Applicant
Review Panel’s work, visit www.austintexas.gov/10-One.
 
About the 10-ONE Redistricting Process
 
City of Austin voters approved Proposition 3, a City Charter amendment commonly referred to as “10-ONE,” in November 2012. The Charter amendment provides for the election of City Council Members from 10 geographic single-member districts, with the Mayor elected from the City at-large, beginning with the November 2014 election.

The amendment calls for the creation of a three-member Applicant Review Panel and a 14-member Citizens Redistricting Commission.

The City Auditor was tasked with initiating and widely publicizing an
application process and taking all reasonable and necessary steps to get a
diverse pool of applicants.

Bruce Elfant, Travis County Tax Assessor Collector-Voter Registrar will be deputizing folks to do voter  registration. Only one Saturday training is required.

Where: First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin
4700 Grover Avenue

**Grover dead-ends at the church. Park in the south side parking lot and follow signs to the office. Each week,  someone will be at the office to show you where to go.

WHEN: April 20, 2013 - 10A
April 27, 2013 - 10A
May 4, 2013 - 10A
May 11, 2013 - 10A

Should last about an hour, depending on Q&A's

PLEASE CHOOSE THE SATURDAY WHEN YOU CAN ATTEND AND SIGN UP:

volunteerdep.registrartraining@gmail.com

More training is available through  Travis county:

http://www.co.travis.tx.us/tax_assessor/press_releases/2013_volunteer_registrar.asp

From Irene Koenig, Quail Hollow:

http://pflugervillepflag.com/2013/04/21/school-board-candidates-discuss-education-issues-at-chamber-forum/

This link above will give you more information on the elections which are coming very very soon. The incumbents, Acosta and Fletcher, both who have been on the School Board for years and have backgrounds in teaching and education and who are well respected, now have two contenders who basically are running on the platform of denying benefits to domestic partners. Pflugerville ISD is the first school district in the State to offer benefits to domestic partners who are gay. If the contenders get elected, they will influence the School Board for years to come, not only in their own views, but in the choice of a Superintendent. The incumbents have helped guide the school district for a number of years, even while it is facing problems with lots of additional students, and often students whose first language is not English. They have done a good job.

I cannot give you political advice on how to vote, because that is not what this neighborhood association is for.

What I can tell you is the the Texas Freedom Network, which carefully monitors issues of separation of church and state, is endorsing the incumbents and if any one is interested in seeing their endorsement and take on the situation, just let me know and I can forward it to you.

In addition, a local minister wrote about having heard of a particular church that has many practitioners who live in the School district,  advising its practitioners to make sure to vote and to vote as the Bible would advise them according to their Christian credo that was espoused in this particular church, or something to that effect.

I don't have first hand knowledge of this, but it came from a reputable source, who is trying to confirm this outside of the information he personally received.

As I said, I don't feel that I should be giving you any particular advice, but I do think you should take a few minutes to read up on this, and then go cast an educated vote. We make up the Pflugerville School District, and we have the opportunity to have a say in who is running it. Please go and vote either tomorrow or May 11.

More info:

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/local/domestic-partner-benefits-a-campaign-issue-in-pflu/nXXCT/?icmp=statesman_internallink_textlink_apr2013_statesmanstubtomystatesman_launch

Early voting has started. Regular voting day is May 11. Please vote!

http://cms.pflugervilleisd.net//site/Default.aspx?PageID=3377

COME GET DEPUTIZED TO REGISTER PEOPLE TO VOTE!

Bruce Elfant, Travis County Tax Assessor Collector-Voter Registrar
will be deputizing folks to do voter registration.  Only one Saturday training
is required.

Where: First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin
4700 Grover Avenue

**Grover dead-ends at the church. Park  in the south side parking lot and follow signs to the office. Each week, someone  will be at the office to show you where to go.

WHEN:
April 20, 2013 -  10A
April 27, 2013 - 10A
May    4, 2013 - 10A
May 11, 2013  - 10A

Should last about an hour, depending on Q&A's

PLEASE  CHOOSE THE SATURDAY WHEN YOU CAN ATTEND AND SIGN UP SO THAT MR. ELFANT CAN BRING  PLENTY OF PACKETS!

SIGN UP BY PROVIDING THE INFORMATION BELOW AND
EMAIL TO:  volunteerdep.registrartraining@gmail.com

Sign Up Form:
Saturday you choose to attend:  ____________
Name:   __________________________
Email address:  _______________________
Phone  #:  ___________________
(asking this info so that we can contact you if there
is new information on the classes)

Monday, March 11, 6:00 pm
Austin Energy Building
721 Barton Springs Road
(Plenty of free parking in the back)

Capital Metro seeks public feedback on several proposed changes to our
MetroBus service to improve access, efficiency and reliability. These proposed
changes will go before the Capital Metro Board of Directors on March 25. If
approved, these changes will take effect on Sunday, June 9, 2013.

 The June 2013 proposals are based on ridership performance, Capital Metro’s
Service Guidelines & Standards and customer requests. The proposed changes
would improve connections in East and Northwest Austin and increase service
coverage in Southwest Austin.

Capital Metro invites public feedback about the proposals and will host
public meetings and a webinar beginning next week. 

See http://www.capmetro.org/june2013/
for schedule details.

 You can also comment on these proposals on th online discussion forum at
ideas.capmetro.org,

 Or mail us at feedback@capmetro.org, or call  512-474-1200.

City Auditor Kenneth Mory has drawn the names of three Austin residents to
serve on the City's first Applicant Review Panel:

 Michelle DeFrance
Caroline LeMaye
Martha Parke

The first meeting of the Applicant Review Panel is this coming Friday,
March 8, 5:30 pm @ City Hall.

WHAT IS 10-1?  Austin is moving to a City Council of 10 geographic districts, plus 1 Mayor.

-The City of Austin will need to form an Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. This is a group of citizens who will draw the lines for the 10 districts.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR NORTH AUSTIN?

We can also make an educated guess that the north end of town (2222 to the city limit) will be roughly divided into 3 districts because of our population. (220,000 people roughly live at this end of town - 800,000 divided by 10 districts is 80,000. 80,000x3 =240,000)

NACN currently represents 78758 and 78753.  Expanding/changing to create a new alliance of all three districts would us 3 council members to bring North Austin’s needs to the table: Growth and development that is family and neighborhood friendly and a City Hall that is focused on solving our key issues; education, crime, infrastructure, transportation, and cost of living.

Is this what North Austin and our sister neighborhoods want?

Answers from the January Town Hall meeting is available: here

Please weigh in and take the survey and let us know what you want!

Survey link

(Survey will be open until April 15th)

The League of Women Voters of the Austin Area is sponsoring workshops to
provide information and support to those considering applying to serve on the
Redistricting Commission. 

Sat., Feb. 16, 1:30 - 3:00 p.m. South Austin Recreation Center,1100
Cumberland Rd., Austin, TX 78702. Come anytime during that period.

Tues., Feb. 12, 6:30 - 8 p.m. Co-sponsored by IACT, Indian American Coalition of Texas, who especially invite all in the Asian community to participate. Held at the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, 3423 Greystone, Suite 202, Austin TX 78731.