Hancock Neighborhood Association

the hancock herald
Cody Coe Snow White Kennedy Coe Gayle Miller James Harkrider Lori & Catrell Wicker Eva & Hal Mohrlok Christopher & Wyeth Purkiss David Block Mary Sanger Merianne Gaston

March 2015

These people stepped up and made it happen.
Between them, these neighbors are covering both routes that were published in the last issue. Another person volunteered to take over someone else's route because he has more time now since retiring (lucky fella).

INSIDE
Hot Topics Stealth Dorm Update New Special Committees

One More Route Needs Volunteers!
Contact to help: editor@hancockna.org

Feel Some Love

The Talent

Between Red River & Waller Creek, 38th & Harris

HOT
"Stealth Dorm" Update
In February, 2014, the City Council adopted an occupancy ordinance which limits the number for unrelated individuals in duplexes and homes to four, down from six. This ordinance was limited to two years. As a part of the occupancy ordinance, the Austin Planning Commission was asked to study and make recommendations on Code enforcement and violations. At its February 15, 2015 meeting, the Planning Commission unanimously adopted recommendations on the occupancy limit ordinance to be sent to the City Council. The recommendations include: 1) newly permitted buildings with designs typical of over occupancy would have to agree to an inspection after one year. This inspection would ensure that buildings are in compliance with the occupancy limit ordinance; 2) grandfathered structures with repeat violations of the Property Maintenance Code will lose the status that allows them to house six unrelated individuals; 3) Code Compliance can investigate a housing for over occupancy if there are violations of the Property Maintenance Code; 4) insert space The Planning Commission also recommended that Code Compliance establish a system of escalating fines for repeat offenders, and coordinate communication between departments in order to track violations; 5) City Council shall institute civil proceedings for code violations, rather than resolve violation complaints through criminal proceedings; 6) Council shall extend the occupancy limit boundaries to neighborhoods outside the McMansion Ordinance boundaries. (the properties under occupancy limit stretch from Research Blvd to William Cannon Drive and from Loop 360 to Ed Bluestein Blvd) In an effort to stop the misuses of single-family zoned property, the Planning Commission recommended creating a new zoning category called "multifamily lite" which would encompass duplexes, fourplexes and sixplexes.

TOPICS
The Planning Commission also recommended the Council review the effectiveness of the ordinance and consider expanding it beyond the two-year limit. The City Council has had one briefing on Stealth Dorms. They will discuss the issue in more detail in the newly formed special Council committees. Stay tuned. Reported by Mary Sanger

New Special Committees
Austin City Council has established 10 special committees where most issues will be discussed and possibly decided. Citizens may speak at the meetings. Check City Council website for meeting times. District 9 Council Member, Kathie Tovo, sits on the following committees: Open Space, Environment and Sustainability: Leslie Pool (chair), Delia Garza (vice chair), Kathie Tovo, Don Zimmerman Planning and Neighborhoods: Greg Casar (chair), Sabino "Pio" Renteria (vice chair), Sheri Gallo, Kathie Tovo Audit and Finance: Kathie Tovo (chair), Ellen Troxclair (vice chair), Sabino "Pio" Renteria, Leslie Pool Austin Energy All members of the City Council For a list of possible council standing committees: http://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Commu nications/Web_Content/2015/Possible_Council_Committe e_List.pdf Reported by Mary Sanger

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This issue's contributors: Mary Sanger Tony Beckwith Snow White Adam Wilson Alison Young Sc (comic strip)

It's My Park Day is on March 7, 2015 from 9:00am - Noon
Each year, The Austin Parks Foundation brings thousands of volunteer workers to improve Shipe Park and other parks & greenbelts throughout the city. For more info & Volunteer Registration (receive a free tshirt!) go to www.austinparks.org/its-my-park-day.html for more info. Give Shipe Park a little TLC! We will be mulching around the trees, spreading dillo dirt, cleaning the creek, repainting the benches, picnic tables and trashcans, removing graffiti, removing leaves from the large pool and small pool, adding the gravel back into the swing and playscape area. Meet your friends & neighbors at this community-building event sponsored by the HPNA & the Friends of Shipe Park Alison Young Friends of Shipe Park
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Feel Some Love for Your Neighborhood
This email was posted to the Hancock newsgroup by Adam Wilson

It's My Park Day at Shipe is coming up soon! Saturday March 7, 9am-noon. Sign up at http://www.austinparks.org/multi-project-list.html. I love living here partially because people in this neighborhood are active and engaged in the community. This is no gated community - we interact with each other and make our voices heard about all the things we care about. Sometimes that means we are passionately at odds with each other about the issue of the moment. But more than anything, it simply means we care. That comes out in a debate about zoning issues; but it also comes out in our love and care for a cherished public space like Shipe Park. Every year, we make the call to neighbors to come out and clean up the creek bed, aerate the soil in the field, weed and mulch around the trees, and re-paint park benches. And every year, hundreds of neighbors show up to help. It's three hours of good, hard, dirty work, and it's satisfying at the end to step back and see how much good we can accomplish in one morning! It is also the most effective way to build your sense of community in the neighborhood - work side-by-side with old friends and people you just met, welcome the new neighbor who just moved in down the street, joke around with the neighborhood kids, and thank the people who have been working on making this neighborhood a wonderful place for decades! It just feels good to do this work together! So if you raised your kids at the playground at Shipe (like I did), rely every summer on the cool waters of Shipe Pool (like I do), and just love having a beautiful common space in the center of our neighborhood (like I do), I hope you will work with us at It's My Park Day! Don't forget to sign up online (http://www.austinparks.org/multi-project-list.html) so we can plan effectively for the day and so we have T-shirt with your name on it! We are in desperate need of some new team leaders this year! Please consider volunteering to lead a small crew that morning by emailing our fearless leader Rhonda Baird at rhonda@stikki.com. Thanks and I'll see you at the park! Adam Wilson Friends of Shipe Park

Herald Ad Assistant Needed
Qualifications: Good organizational skills Time Commitment: Approximately 1 hour per month Contact: ads@hancockna.org

Hancock Neighborhood Facebook page
A new facebook group has been established for residents of the Hancock Neighborhood (renters and homeowners) so that we can easily communicate with each other. Each resident/member of this group may add new members/neighbors in Hancock. You can click the Join Group button to request access to the group. An admin will confirm that you own or rent in the neighborhood before admitting you to the group. This group is not intended to replace the HNA official website or our HNA Yahoo Groups distribution list. It is just a supplement for those who prefer to use Facebook for communication instead of email or the Yahoo group. Feel free to post about Hancock neighborhood events, questions you might have about the neighborhood or local referrals, school events, lost and found pets, news about the golf course, Austin news that might impact our neighborhood, etc. Not really any restrictions on what you can post. Just keep the conversation "family-friendly" and be nice to one another. www.fb.com/groups/HancockNeighborhood/
Snow White th East 44 Street

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Hancock Native Plant Swap Saturday, April 18 7:30-9:30am
This event is now in its fourth year*. The Swap is a way for neighbors to exchange plants and spread great performers around the neighborhood. Mission: To make all yards in our neighborhood more beautiful and easier to maintain, while consuming less water...for free! How it works: bring a baby plant and take one home for each one you bring. Many thanks to those who attend regularly and especially Rosemary Vaughn for being a major player in this event, along with Scott, Sarah, Ryan Edgar and Olivia Young. If you believe in the cause, come out and show your support! Hours: 7:30 ­ 9:30 am More info: fb.com/NativePlantSwap

*only the Spring swap will be held this year, don't wait for Fall!

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THE talent
What is Love?
By Tony Beckwith If love is a mystery who should I choose to help me unravel all the clues? To have and to hold me till death do us part And love me mysteriously with all their heart

If love is a journey what should I pack as I take to the road or the railway track? Something borrowed? Something blue? Some for me and some for you If love is a party who to invite to wine and dine and dance all night? To watch the magical moonlight wane and toast the dawn with pink champagne If love is a challenge I must decide who'll be standing by my side My rock of ages cleft for me from now through all eternity My love is here! It's time to go and now instinctively I know to pack all the sweetness that I can find and leave my selfishness behind For love is a lifetime Love is a flame Love is when both of us feel the same If love is eternal and love is true Then now and forever I choose you

Start the year off right with healthy meals from Subway!
Whether feeding your family or a group talk to us about your catering needs!
Come visit one of our convenient locations: 5419 IH 35 N., Austin, TX 78723, 512-467-9536 3909 IH 35 N., Austin, TX 78722, 512-323-9559 1801 E. 51st Street, Austin, TX 78723, 512-472-7282

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TOP REASONS TO JOIN
HancockNeighborhood_forsale

GROUP
Join Keep Austin Beautiful and your fellow Austinites for Clean Sweep ­ Austin's annual city-wide service day on April 11th where over 4,000 volunteers join together on an ordinary Saturday morning to make an extraordinary difference. Cleanup: 9am-11am, Saturday, April 11th View site map and details: www.KeepAustinBeautiful.org/cleansweep or call 391-0617 x905. To get rid of stuff without driving To obtain stuff without driving To make your neighbors very happy To get a great deal or even free stuff To reduce, reuse, recycle To encourage more people to post

#1 REASON
Advertisers will see value in the list and post there happily.

To subscribe, send an email to: Hancockneighborhood_forsalesubscribe@yahoogroups.com

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Neighbor in the street
When neighbors meet in the street, fascinating tidbits can be revealed. The next time you run into someone in Hancock, ask them a few questions, take a pic with your phone, and send it (with permission) to the editor at dcarleenedgar@yahoo.com
There were no submissions for this feature this quarter. Anyone is welcome to interview someone they meet and send along with a pic to: Editor@hancockna.org

Sample Questions:    How long have you lived here? What brought you to the neighborhood? What do you value most in this neighborhood?

It's My Park Day
March 7, from 9am - Noon

Hyde Park Egg Scramble
April 4, 10:30-12:30pm

President: Mark Harkrider Vice President: James Harkrider Treasurer: Bruce Fairchild Secretary: Mary Sanger Historian: Vacant Position

KAB Clean Sweep
April 11, 9-11am

Hancock Native Plant Swap
April 18, dawn to 9:30am

Thank you to our past and newly elected officers!
Newsletter Editor: Carleen Edgar editor@hancockna.org Newsletter Ads: Kathleen Strong ads@hancockna.org

HNA regular meeting
March 18 7pm ­ 8:30pm Hancock Rec Center

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Robotics team stakes claim to Highland Mall storefront with big plansFeel Some Reprinted from American-Statesman post Love Jan. 25, 2015 By Julie Chang Posted: for Your Neighborhood

In a dark corner of the nearly comatose Highland Mall, Austin students are refurbishing an old beauty school into a new robotics arena. Called the ATX STEM Park, the 10,000-square-foot space isn't quite the Cowboys stadium. Underneath the old mall lights, cream walls still have full-length mirrors attached and holes where shelves were screwed in. Over the next several days though, a carpeted arena will be installed on top of the wooden floors before whirring robots from all over Central Texas roll through. "You get ideas off of other people and scrimmage against each other, so this should be really cool," said David Worman, a Liberal Arts and Science Academy junior, about sharing the space. Old robots built by LASA students occupy the storefront now, catching the attention of the mall walkers who are among the few passers-by. Austin Community College donated the space, which should be ready for practice by Feb. 1. "This is a need in the community," said Becky Carter, a LASA parent who helped secure the site. Most of the students who will be using the arena are contestants in the FIRST Robotics Competition league. Each year, high school FIRST teams are assigned a challenge and are then judged at regional and ultimately, national competitions. About a dozen Central Texas high schools and groups participate in FIRST, arguably the largest competition in high school robotics. In previous years, kids have been pushing together chairs and tables in their school cafeterias, gyms or work spaces to practice. "Janky" is the best word to describe their setup, students say. The LASA team still laments not having a practice space last year. An air tank, which powered their robot, fell off during competition and the robot ran it over. The students laugh about it now, but said the hiccup could have been avoided had they test-drove their creation more. Although more confident about their preparation, students say this year's challenge isn't as sexy -- moving and stacking recycling bins. In previous years, robots were tasked with shooting flying discs and dunking balls.

ATX STEM Park storefront at Highland Mall. "They are doing real-world kind of stuff," said Jerry Moldenhauer, the teacher sponsor of the Eastside Memorial High School team. Moldenhauer hopes that with a new arena, regional competitions would be held locally. Raising up to $12,000 from corporate donors and grants to travel and compete each year is a challenge for Eastside, he said. ACC plans on renovating the rest of the mall for university purposes over the summer so the ATX STEM Park will likely have to relocate, Carter said. Carter hopes ACC will be able to find another spot for them by next school year. Robotics is slated to become a University Interscholastic League academics competition in August, which would make an arena even more necessary, students say. "More high schools might get more interested with it being a UIL activity, and they won't have space to do so," said Alice Sullivan, a LASA freshman. "Using a gym doesn't work." To reserve the space or for more information about the ATX STEM Park, visit atxstempark.com. The park is located at 6001 Airport Blvd., Suite 2010, Austin, TX 78752.
Editor's note: On February 21, 2015, at the Alamo Regional Competition, the two LASA Robotics FTC teams competed against 72 other qualified teams at the Rackspace San Antonio headquarters. FTC5998 "Ultra-Violet" had a great showing, coming in 15th for robot performance in their division of 36 teams. FTC4290 "High PHdelity" was awarded the PTC Design award. This qualified them to be one of the 13 advancing teams moving forward to the "Super-Regionals" held at the San Antonio Convention center, March 11- 13th. There, they will compete against the top teams from 11 other states as far as Florida and West Virginia.

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