July 2017 Pecan Press

The Hyde Park July Neighborhood E P A D R K Association Y Meeting H . Peca n When: 7:00 pm Monday, July 10, 2017 Where: Griffin School 5001 Evans Avenue Note: HPNA meetings usually take place on the first Monday of each month. HPNA General Meeting Press July 2017 • National Register District Neighborhood • Vol. 43, No. 7 Agenda for July 10 How the 2018 Austin Marathon will A Perspective on CodeNEXT affect Road Closures in Hyde Park - Dan Carroll from High 5 Events If It’s a Mistake, Fix It Coping with Rat and Mosquito Editor’s Note: At its June meeting, the HPNA welcomed Mayor Adler, who answered questions on the Infestation - City of Austin Public subject of CodeNEXT. Following are his remarks and responses. Health Department Urban Wildlife and How to Avoid pening remarks: Thanks for the invitation. It’s nice to be back in my Harming Wildlife while Controlling Oold neighborhood. I used to live at the southwest corner of Avenue C Pests - Hayley Hudnall from Austin and 44th Street. If I hadn’t married a woman with two children in the Eanes Wildlife Rescue Ongoing Plans at Quack’s, from school district, I would still be here among you. I appreciate the opportunity Heather to be here. It was a crazy week last week. I wrote a really good piece on cli- Hyde Park Homes Tour - Carolyn mate change and where we are on that, a pretty good piece on Senate Bill 4 Grimes and Ellie Hanlon and on immigration; we launched the first regional work force plan that the Announcements region has ever had. And what last week will be remembered for is the re- See You There! sponse I sent back to the guy about Wonder Woman. I will tell you that, for my three girls, I’m not sure that this job and what I was doing ever was really relevant to them until I managed to make it into BuzzFeed last week and Ball Moss Removed suddenly that, I understood, had significance. from Shipe Park But you all really want me to talk about CodeNEXT. So let me talk about that and let me talk as briefly as I can about that so that I can turn to questions Live Oaks and I can try to respond to you. I begin with a couple overarching premises, as where I sit right now on hanks to an urban forestry this CodeNEXT thing. And the first is that we shouldn’t pass anything un- Tgrant provided by the City of less we get it right, and I’m not going to vote for anything that’s wrong. That’s Austin Forestry Department, the the first thing I want you to know. The second thing is that our current code is Friends of Shipe Park was able not working well for us. We have a lot of problems and challenges in this city to hire Just Trees arborists in ear- that relate to affordability, that relate to gentrification, that relate to flooding. ly June to remove 90% of the ball We have a lot of challenges in this city and if we don’t change the code, then I moss that was smothering the oaks fear that we will lose the spirit and soul of the city and we will even ultimate- surrounding the playscape and ly lose the character of the neighborhoods like Hyde Park. the two massive heritage oaks that This is an opportunity to do something, I think, that is good and that frame the cabin. would be helpful in the city, and now we’re involved in a process to figure Ball moss is an epiphyte or air that out. I am trying as best I can to get people focused on working on this plant member of the bromeliad or and seeing if it can be made better, because the question right now with the pineapple family. Ball moss is an code is, “Is it good?” The answer is no. I wouldn’t endorse the code the way organism that scarcely roots but it’s set up now, and I wouldn’t endorse the maps the way they’re set up now. instead grows upon other plants I’m not sure I know anybody in this city that would. without being parasitic upon them I think the question before us is, “Is there something that we can use in in order to be in a better position this opportunity to make something that would work?” So when people come up to me and they say, this is an outrageous draft because it does this, what- to secure light. It clings to branches ever “this” might be, my answer is, “See if you can fix that,” because I think and is able to obtain and store wa- that the overarching issues that we want in this city, globally within this city, ter and to catch drifting nutrients are important things and I think generally they unite us as a city. And the that cluster around its base, be- question is, “Can we translate that into a code? Can we map that code on a cause it never actually touches soil. city to make the city work well?” Because if we don’t, if we just stay with Continued on page 5 Continued on page 13 From the Desk of the Co-Presidents t our June meeting, we were privileged to have the Mayor attend and discuss the current affairs of the ACity. As you might imagine, the conversation focused largely on CodeNEXT, but other topics discussed in- cluded affordability and transportation. While a full transcript of his re- of Friends of Shipe Park for putting and also blessed with a plethora of marks begins on the first page of this on the Shipe Pool Closing Party to wildlife including monk parakeets, issue, we mention here that the May- send the old pool off in style. The loss owls, and other birds. This particular or made the point numerous times of the pool this summer means that talk will be especially interesting. Fi- that this draft of CodeNEXT is only neighbors will be without a critical nally, Heather from Quack’s will be a start and is wrong in many places. cooling off place, but we are continu- stopping by to provide an update on He committed to shining some light ing to work with Friends of Shipe the bakery. We hope that you will be on the issues with the draft, and Park to ensure that this summer is able to attend. throughout the month of June the the only season we are without the — Kevin Heyburn & Reid Long Council is hosting numerous sessions pool for the foreseeable future. The on the draft with the consultant and renovation of the pool will not be the HPNA Co-Presidents city staff. One of the areas about only construction project in Shipe which he had heard numerous com- Park in the coming years, though. plaints was the perceived upzoning As is plain to anyone who has been of SF3 lots. The Mayor reiterated that by the park recently, the log cabin this upzoning, if it is in the draft, was is need of restoration. We look for- a mistake and would be fixed. He ward to continuing our work with Hyde Park asked neighbors to submit any addi- the Friends of Shipe Park to explore tional questions to him or Mayor Pro possibilities to restore the structure. Neighborhood Tem Tovo and promised that one of We hope to be able to discuss this in Association them would help get appropriate an- more detail later this year. P. O. Box 49427 • Austin, TX 78765 swers. While we, as a neighborhood, Finally, the July meeting will be www.austinhydepark.org will be continuing to monitoring the full of interesting discussions regard- — HPNA Officers & Steering Committee — code as the draft progresses, we en- ing issues of direct impact on the Co-Presidents courage you to reach out to them neighborhood. First, we will have a • Kevin Heyburn ................................... [email protected] with your comments and questions. representative from the Austin Mar- • Reid Long .................................................. [email protected] Co-Vice Presidents Additionally, either of us is happy to athon to discuss the route. This year, • Kathy Lawrence ............................... [email protected] assist you if you have questions for the route will be more intrusive in • Betsy Clubine.......................................betsyclubine@gmail.com which you cannot get an answer. the neighborhood, coming down 45th Co-Secretaries • Artie Gold • Susan Marshall Treasurer • PO Box 49427, Austin, TX 78765 While we are deeply saddened Street and trapping residents south • Susanna Walker ................................ [email protected] by the loss of Shipe Pool for the sum- of 45th from exiting to the north, east, Additional Steering Committee Members: • Sharon Brown • Joan Burnham • Sarah Cook • Mark mer, we are thankful for the efforts and west. One of us is a runner who Fishman • Paula Rhodes • Dorothy Richter • Lorre Weidlich • enjoys long distances and the oth- Karin Wilkins • er is a fan of watching the race, so we — HPNA Committees & Task Forces — Pecan Press AISD • Anne Hebert, [email protected] both hope that this change in course Alley Coordinator • Carol Burton, [email protected] The Pecan Press is published monthly by the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association in Austin, Texas. will encourage the neighborhood to ASH (joint HPNA-CT committee) • John Williams, [email protected] Advertusing deadline: 15th of the month preceding publication. make the race a celebration both for Austin Neighborhoods Council Rep. • Lorre Weidlich Editorial deadline: 10th of the month preceding publication.

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