District 5 Candidate Forum on October 9
Neighborhoods all over Austin are experiencing rapid growth, and certainly South Lamar Neighborhood ranks among the top for development and density increase. You have probably heard or read about the “South Lamar Neighborhood Mitigation Plan”, a resolution passed unanimously this year by City Council directing the City Manager to develop a plan to address the negative effects of infill development specifically in our neighborhood. The resolution strives to address the years of development we have experienced which has led to our problems of flooding, traffic, and lack of supportive infrastructure.
The mitigation plan is a positive development towards improving our future. But perhaps even more important, we now have the opportunity to influence our own future by electing our District 5 representative in the upcoming City Council elections.
In order to get acquainted with the candidates, SLNA is participating in the District 5 Three-Neighborhood City Council Candidate Forum, along with our neighbors in two adjoining neighborhood associations Barton Oaks and Zilker.
This forum was originally scheduled in September, but cancelled on account of threatening weather. Now it has been rescheduled for Thursday Oct. 9, 6:15-8:30 at Faith United Methodist Church, 2701 S. Lamar.
We will be conducting 15-minute interviews of all (we hope) of the District 5 candidates.
Here they are in alphabetical order:
Dan Buda http://www.danbuda.com/
Jason Denny http://www.dennyfordistrict5.org/
Dave Floyd http://www.floydfor5.com/
CarolAnnRose Kennedy no website
Ann Kitchen http://kitchenforaustin.com/
Mike Rodriguez http://www.mikerodriguezforaustincouncil.com/
David Senecal http://www.davesenecalatx5.com/
The idea is to ask questions of each candidate in isolation, so that they won’t pick up from each other and there won’t be interplay between them during the interview.
We have an important job opening to fill. We hope to see you there on Thursday!
Not So Crazy About Crazy Ants
- At September 10, 2013
- By SLNA Admin
- In Nature
- 0
One of our neighbors, Ed LeBrun is a biologist with UT who studies invasive ants, and he recently sent us this informative and disturbing message:
There is a relatively new invasive ant species that is spreading in Texas and the SE US: tawny crazy ants. Until recently, in Texas this ant was mostly confined to areas around Houston. Unfortunately, this year many populations have been reported within Austin. These ants most commonly colonize a neighborhood by hitchhiking on landscape materials and nursery products. Their arrival in our neighborhood would be a very bad deal. These ants can reach truly enormous densities and they nest and forage inside people’s houses in large numbers. There is no proven way to eradicate them once they are established. Control inside structures requires continual treatments with nasty pesticides that only licensed pest control operators can apply. Expensive and very undesirable. With all the new construction in the neighborhood, I thought that it might be wise to contact the builders and make them aware of this threat. Many populations start as a result of commercial scale landscaping projects. The message for the builders is to get nursery products from local (absolutely not from the Houston area or East Texas), trusted sources, and inspect them for ants prior to planting. I am attaching a fact sheet that might be useful to incorporate into the neighborhood news letter.
Let’s all be on the lookout for these ants and take action to alert Wizzie Brown or Ed LeBrun if you see them. The information on how to identify and collect the ants, and how to notify these experts is in the Tawny Crazy Ant fact sheet. A big thanks to Ed LeBrun for keeping us informed about this invasive ant.
Important Announcement – Pocket Park Name Nominations – Voting Aug 15
- At August 02, 2013
- By SLNA Admin
- In Neighborhood Park
- 0
At our next neighborhood meeting on Thursday August 15th, we will be voting for the proposed name of our pocket park that we present to City Council. This does not guarantee that the park will be given this name, but our nomination will be considered in the City’s naming process. Here is a note from the Park Committee regarding the nominations.
——————————————————————————————————–
Hi all,
I wanted to share the names that were submitted for our neighborhood park.
There were 5 names submitted (in no particular order):
South Lamar Pocket Park
Del Curto Park
South Lamar Neighborhood Park
Frank and Iva Del Curto Park
Freedom Park
Voting for the park name will take place at the August 15th SLNA meeting.
If you are unable to make the meeting you may absentee vote. Click HERE for the voting form.
You may only vote one time and you must be an SLNA member by August 5th to vote.
To become a member, visit the Membership Page
If you have any questions please let me know!
Thanks
Kassi
SLNA Secretary
Park Naming Committee Member