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To become an Urban Forest Steward.
Learn how to identify trees and pests, care for and maintain trees, plant trees and protect Austin’s urban forest. Classes coming soon. Learn more on this Urban Forest Steward Flyer.
District 7 Candidate Forum
The Inaugural Lower District 7 City Council Candidate Forum is coming! The forum will be held at St. Louis Catholic Church on Friday, September 26. Meet the candidates from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. The forum starts at 7:00 p.m. Please see the Forum Flyer for more details.
Volunteers In Communities Tutoring Our Responsible Youth
Volunteers In Communities Tutoring Our Responsible Youth
VICTORY is an Austin ISD tutoring program that offers free tutoring to Austin residents (including private and charter schools) in grades 1-12 at the following seven public library branches throughout the Austin area:
Little Walnut
Twin Oaks
University Hills
Ruiz
Cepeda
Southeast
Carver
Tutoring is available for all subjects.
Tutoring is offered Monday - Thursday from 3-8 pm. Tutoring days vary by site.
Learn more here: VICTORY Tutorial Information Sheet
BNA General Membership Meeting 02/19/14
Brentwood Neighborhood Association General Membership meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 19th at 7:00 pm at the North Austin Lions Club at 1103 Justin Lane.
We will be electing this year’s officers and steering committee; our current slate of Officers is: Dale Henry (President), Mike McChesney (Vice President), Evan Rivera (Secretary) and Angie Ward (Treasurer). Our nominations for Steering Committee include: Pam Leighton-Burwell, Michele Holt, Don Leighton-Burwell, John Halaburt, Bill Morgan, Chase Norris, and Sam Shore. We will also take nominations from the floor and are always looking for volunteers.
We will be reviewing BNA accomplishments over the past year, discussing an Arroyo Seco Improvement Project and other goals for 2014, and address common concerns in the neighborhood.
February is also the month to pay your neighborhood association dues. You can pay your dues in person at the meeting or pay via PayPal through this website. At only $10/year, we are asking for your support by paying your dues and showing your willingness to sustain the works of our association. Do your part and let us know that you care about your neighborhood!
Curbside Organics Collection Pilot Progam
Austin Resource Recovery is excited to announce that select homes in the Brentwood neighborhood were chosen to participate in the City of Austin’s Curbside Organics Collection Pilot (see map). Pilot participants will receive weekly curbside collection of food scraps, food-soiled paper and yard trimmings.
Why an Organics Collection Pilot?
Nearly half of the materials that end up in Austin’s landfills are compostable!
Collecting organic materials at the curb will keep valuable materials out of our landfills, reduce harmful greenhouse gases and help Austin accomplish Zero Waste by 2040.
What’s Next?
In February, participating homes will receive additional information, including helpful tips and guidelines for the new organics collection service. A green, 96-gallon cart will be delivered to homes the week of Feb. 17. We’ll keep you informed throughout this process and would like to work with you to help make sure residents have the information they need.
Austin Resource Recovery also will host an informational open house where residents can learn what goes in the green organics cart, discover the benefits of the new service and ask questions. Attendees will receive a free kitchen compost collector (while supplies last), and refreshments will be provided.
Open House:
Feb. 12, 2014, 5-7 p.m.
Old Quarry Library, 7051 Village Center Dr., Austin, TX 78731
Questions?
Austin Resource Recovery is here to help. For more information, instructional videos and downloadable resources, residents can visit austintexas.gov/austincomposts or call 512-974-1945. If you have specific questions, feel free to email us.
Austin Marathon and Half Marathon
On February 16, 2014 the Austin Marathon and Half Marathon will take place on the streets of Austin. An estimated 20,000 runners and 20,000 spectators will take part in the Marathon and Half Marathon. The race will begin at 7:00am on Congress Ave near 16th Street and conclude with a post race festival located between 5th and 11th street on historic Congress Ave.
As in previous years, Brentwood will be right in the heart of the action. This is a great opportunity for our community to come out and cheer on the participants as they edge closer to reaching their individual goals (in previous years we were located at approximately the 20 mile mark of the course). It is also an occasion for traffic and access issues.
The route utilizes Congress Ave., South 1st St., Cesar Chavez St., Winsted Ln., Enfield Rd., Exposition Blvd., 35th St., Bull Creek Rd., Shoal Creek Blvd., Great Northern Blvd., Foster Ln., Arroyo Seco, Woodrow Ave., North Loop Blvd., 53rd St., Duval St., MLK Blvd., San Jacinto Blvd. and other local roads. Please see the attached map for the 2014 race route.
Roads along the route will begin closing at 6:00am and will remain closed until the last runner passes.
A comprehensive traffic control plan, which will be approved by the City of
Austin Right-of-Way Management, will be used to position barricades along the
route. Cross traffic will be allowed to cross the route at certain
intersections staffed by officers from the Austin Police Department. City of
Austin required public notice signs will go out along the route, 14 days prior
to the event along with letters to business and residences.
For more information about the race, please checkout the information at http://youraustinmarathon.com/ .
Here are some resources provided by the race organizers that you might want to check out in order to plan your day accordingly:
Road Closure Details
More traffic coming to Burnet Road
by Sam Shore
It will come as no
surprise to anyone living or driving along the stretch of Burnet Road from
2222/Koenig lane south to North Loop that traffic is heavy and often
problematic. This section of Burnet Road is much more narrow than the rest of
Burnet to the north of 2222/Koenig Lane leaving no room for turn lanes and no
buffering distance for pedestrians or cyclists. Development
of residential and business properties has increased dramatically along this
stretch and brought additional traffic. One development scheduled for
completion by November 2013 is the 179 unit apartment complex, Burnet Flats,
being built between Adams Ave and Clay in the Brentwood neighborhood. The only
ingress and egress from this development is on Adams Ave, a 27 foot wide
residential street. This project was approved by the city in spite of the fact
that it will increase traffic on Adams Ave from the current 560 trips per day
to 1,760 - a 215% increase.
As a resident on
Adams Ave with 3 small children, I am concerned the increased traffic will
present a significant spike in the life safety risks in the immediate
neighborhood along Adams, Ullrich and Clay. A small group of residents from
this area and the Brentwood Neighborhood Association have been working with the
city staff and the developers of Burnet Flats (Ardent Residential) to address
the immediate traffic concerns. Ardent has offered to pay for a signal at this
intersection in recognition of the traffic impact on the neighborhood. The city
staff has continually been opposed to having a traffic signal along this
stretch of Burnet saying it is not "warranted". However, they may
reconsider.
In mid-January a
meeting was held with the city transportation staff to seek traffic solutions.
A key aspect of the discussion focused on traffic calming and installing a
traffic light at the intersection of Adams and Burnet. The goal is to encourage
Burnet Flats traffic to use the Burnet/Adams intersection rather than to cut
through the neighborhood to find places to get onto Burnet or Koenig lanes. If
you have ever tried to use this intersection you know that it is a harrowing
experience to turn left or right onto Burnet due in large part to the
non-perpendicular angle of the approach to Burnet and the fact that there are
very few gaps in the traffic that come barreling north and south on Burnet. The
stretch from Northland to North Loop is the longest space between signals that
exists when you look at traffic signals between 2222/Koenig and Hancock. Because
of this distance, city staff refers to the Northland to North Loop section as a
"bowling alley" (with us pedestrians as the pins).
At the January
Allandale Neighborhood Association (ANA) Executive Committee meeting, this
situation and the possibility of a signal at Adams and Burnet was presented by
me and Don Leighton-Burwell from the Brentwood Neighborhood Association.
Representatives from ANA were invited to participate in discussions with the
city to do two things - to come to a decision on having a light at this
intersection and to engage in a discussion of area-wide traffic planning. On
February 1st, a follow up meeting was held with city staff and
representatives of both neighborhood associations. Discussion of the proposed
signal and traffic planning for the area has begun and follow up with the
transportation engineers is scheduled to occur in the next few weeks.
From my perspective
we have gained the attention of the appropriate people from the city. The
challenge will be to quickly come up with acceptable solutions and get the city
staff to implement those solutions. There is a risk of missing this opportunity
to make traffic improvements along this stretch of Burnet Rd due to prolonged
planning, analysis, and inability to arrive at a consensus on viable solutions
to present to the city. If you are interested and concerned you can let me (Sam
Shore) know by sending an email to seshore@gmail.com
