JULY 2004 - PFCONA "PFLUGERVILLE TIDBITS" E-NEWSLETTER
Pflugerville Council of Neighborhood Associations Pfolks and Pfriends,
This E-mail initially goes out to PfCONA neighborhood reps, associates, honorary, and pending members*...those interested in neighborhood / community issues...open dialogue...problem-solving...and solutions. Share "Tidbits" with your homeowners / block contacts / captains and affiliated organizations, to give residents something to TALK about (constructive gossip). If you like what you read or what PfCONA is up to, click here for a PfCONA 2004 Membership Application online ($10 by check or PayPal).
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JULY 12TH PfCONA "TOWN MEETING"
The Monday, July 12th, 7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m. agenda will include:
1) Neighborhood Watch Coordinator Orientation/National Night Out Preparation*
naming of city reservoir; architectural review board vs. city staff architect
5) Neighborhood Community Announcements
Councilman Kurt Reece, Mayor Cat Callen, and City Manager David Buesing are scheduled to be present at PfCONA Town meeting to share information and take questions/comments from those attending. PfCONA Town Meetings are intended for city/ETJ neighborhood leaders and residents. Bring a neighbor, family member, or friend.
*Neighborhoods should plan to send representatives to July 12th town meeting if they are attempting to start a Neighborhood Watch program or expand it.
Click here for agendas/minutes of meetings and Tidbits archive. Town Meetings are always held on second Monday of the month at Justice Center. September 13th meeting will be at a different location TBA and will be on the subject of Downtown Master Plan - Gin Tract/Pfluger Tract/Main St. projects. Resident, neighborhood leaders, business owners, and city leaders will be invited to this town meeting as project stakeholders.
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WHAT'S GOING ON IN PFLUGERVILLE AREA, NEIGHBORHOODS, & PFCONA?
In relation to the Pflugerville area...
In relation to PfCONA happenings...
Note: Send correspondence to PfCONA via: info@pfcona.org. Also, visit our www.pfcona.org/ website. PfCONA has had almost 19,000 visitors to its website since it was started.
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DID YOU KNOW...
...U.S. population is more than 293 million. The global population is more than 6 billion...
...Pflugerville city payroll was 231 in 2003. It is 294 as of May 2004...
[Source: City Council 6/22/04 Meeting Minutes]
...Combined Police Unit mileage during May 2004 was 34,227 miles...
[Source: City Council 6/22/04 Meeting Minutes]
...Specific nuisance or code violation site visits during May 2004 by City Code Enforcement = 160...Nuisance violation notices mailed by registered letter = 53...Bandit, political, and garage sale signs picked up = 325...Mileage recorded patrolling the city for violations = 1,483 miles...
DOWNTOWN MASTER PLAN NOW ONLINE ON CITY WEBSITE
Click here for master plan broken into six parts. Since the September 13th PfCONA Town Meeting will be a forum on the Downtown Master Plan, with stakeholders invited from the Gin Tract, Pfluger Tract, Downtown Area, and surrounding neighborhoods and schools, now that document is online it is a chance for residents/landowners to study the plan in preparation for the 9/13 meeting. The location of the meeting may be Brookhollow Elementary from 7p-9p. Excerpt:
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COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM (CERT) TRAINING
Click here for PPD website CERT description of workshops and an application for one of eight sessions over 5-days (three hours each class, with 30 people per session) being offered to train citizens on disaster preparedness, fire suppression, disaster medical operations, llight search and rescue, disaster psychology and team organization, and disaster simulation. The first 175 Citizens enrolled will receive a first aid kit and a emergency rescuer kit. There is no fee for the course.
NATIONAL NIGHT OUT ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 3RD
National Night Out is just around the corner on August 3rd. PfCONA is one of the sponsors. Click here for police department flyer. Block Party packet stuffing for neighborhoods is scheduled for July 29th at PPD. Citizens on Patrol, Victims Services, neighborhood residents, and more help out. Call Cpl. Mike Clowdus at 670-5512 or E-mail at mclowdus@cityofpflugerville.com to register your block party. There may be 60 or more parties like last year. And remember that July 12th PfCONA Town meeting will feature how to get Neighborhood Watch started in your neighborhood. Send a representative from your neighborhood to this town meeting.
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COMMUNITY CALENDAR VIA PFCONA WEBSITE LINK
Click here for Community Calendar created. It was created for listing of neighborhood and community organization events and meetings, since PfCONA's mission is to be a clearinghouse of information. Organizations without online calendars or who want to double their efforts can learn how easy it is to post an event on this calendar. They can E-mail: info@pfcona.org.
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NEW PFCONA BLOG*, ONLINE GUESTBOOK,
AND PFCONA NEW MEMBER HANDBOOK
As mentioned in last newsletter, PfCONA has made efforts to keep area citizens informed and involved in their neighborhoods and the broader community via its website, E-Newsletter, E-mails, forums, meetings, committees, partnerships, and activities. The new Blog will be the new archive for the "Tidbits" E-Newsletter -- information shared to help keep citizens in the loop--make them aware of current events and issues that impact them--plus the blog gives citizens a chance to give feedback. Go to: www.pfcona.blogspot.com/ or see link on www.pfcona.org/ on left column of main page.
The online guestbook allows people who visit the PfCONA website to leave a comment about the PfCONA website or anything else for that matter. There are a couple of enetries already. Go to: http://www.pfcona.org/guestbook/ or see link on http://www.pfcona.org/ on left column of main page.
PfCONA New Member Handbook will be posted online. It describes PfCONA's working committees and active projects. An application is included to volunteer for a particular committee and/or project.
*AudioBlog is in the works. That would mean that audio files (MP3 files) could be posted on Blog. Test are being conducted to include possible interviews, comments, etc. from neighborhood/community leaders and citizens. Stay tuned!
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The results have been posted on the PfCONA website since the election and neighborhood tallies were sent out in the last newsletter and were published in the Pflugerville Plag. However, candidate results had not been inserted in Tidbits newsletter until now.
City Election Results:
Callen Elected Mayor:
Cat Callen - 663 (51%)
Ron Beyer - 635 (49%)
Reece is reelected to Place 1:
Kurt Reece - 837 (69%)
Dick Batten 376 (31%)
Duane Blakeslee in Place 5 unopposed
PISD School Board Election results:
King reelected to place 3:
Paul King - 1104 (65%)
Bob Seitsinger - 593 (35%)
Mott elected to Place 4:
Vernagene Mott - 1322 (73%)
Sidney Parker - 477 (27%)
Fletcher reelected to Place 5:
Carol Fletcher - 1227 (66%)
Perrin Butler, Jr. - 621 (34%)
Travis County Health District Creation Results:
Approved - 31,907 (54.7%) in favor
26,401 (45.3%) not in favor
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WHAT IS ALL SYSTEMS GO!?
For Pflugerville residents to begin forming an opinion and letting their community leaders know that opinion, the following development may wish to be discussed in your neighborhood/community organization/household:
Capital Metro announced All Systems Go! on May 11th and has since held Open Houses and Workshops to begin shaping a new transit system vision and a final transit plan (referendum). Click here for related info introducing the All Systems Go! effort. Cap Metro wishes to include rail and bus solutions in the transit plan. Cap Metro says that the effort would use existing rail tracks and corridors and would require no new taxes or major street construction.
Click here for proposed long-range transit system vision map, which includes Pflugerville's MoKan corridor as commuter rail regional service. Various Pflugerville neighborhoods and businesses are along this route. Click here for links to online presentation, news, and education materials.
Cap Metro wants feedback to help determine:
- Priorities for investment
- New technology choices
- Frequency of service
- Locations for station stops and transfers
Click here for an online comment card or click here to give more feedback via an online survey available. Also, call 474-1200 to request a presentation from its Speakers Bureau, which PfCONA is attempting to setup for its August 9th Town Meeting. Also, see www.capmetro.org.
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QUOTE(S)
"Democracy is a conversation." - Theme from citizen-driven town hall e-forum
[Source: www.e-thepeople.org/]
"Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." - Vince Lombardi
[Source: www.wisdomquotes.com]
"When groups consider many alternatives, they engage in more thoughtful analysis and usually avoid settling too quickly on the easy, obvious answer."
- David A. Garvin and Michael A. Roberto
[Source: Excerpt from a September 2001 Harvard Business Review article
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NEW LINK(S) GOING ON PFCONA WEBSITE, ETC...
E The People: www.e-thepeople.org. Site is a public forum for democratic and deliberative discussion--an attempt at a citizen-driven town hall with a goal of improving civic participation.
E-Democracy.org: www.e-democracy.org. Minnesota E-Democracy is a non-partisan citizen-based organization whose mission is to improve citizen participation in democracy in and outside of Minnesota. It includes: effective and meaningful online discussions and two-way information exchange on public issues; increasing the use and relevancy of democratic information resources that inform citizens about elections, governance, the media and public affairs; building on and sustaining the unique citizen-based "E-Democracy" model, so active citizens anywhere can join in and work to improve the outcomes of citizen participation in governance and public life in their communities and nations.
Youth Vote Coalition: www.youthvote.org. National non-partisan coalition dedicated to: increasing political and civic participation among young people; building an inclusive, accountable, and responsive government; and, increasing public awareness about the value of participation in democracy through the electoral process.
Austin Wireless City Hot Spot List: http://austinwirelesscity.org/hotspot-list.php. The Austin Wireless City Project is an initiative to improve the availability and quality of public free WiFi in Austin.
See http://www.pfcona.org/ for other links available. Also, click here for "Tidbits" e-newsletter archive. Since the website is developing many helpful links, they will be split into categories in the near future.
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BOOK(S) YOU MAY WANT TO REVIEW...
Bowling Together: Online Public Engagement in Policy Deliberation by Stephen Coleman & John Gøtze.
Book Description: There is a growing recognition on the part of many within the developed democracies that new relationships between citizens and institutions of governance must emerge...There is a pervasive contemporary estrangement between representatives and those they represent, manifested in almost every western country by falling voter turnout; lower levels of public participation in civic life; public cynicism towards political institutions and parties; and a collapse in once-strong political loyalties and attachments. Click here to see book online or click here for PDF of book. At beginning of Chapter 2 there is a graph called the "Broader Model of Public Engagement" developed to show how the public can be kept informed, consulted, and actively engaged.
Note: See September 2003 Tidbits E-Newsletter at www.pfcona.org/E-Newsletter.htm or Books You May Want to Review archive at www.pfcona.org/BookReview.htm for Bowling Alone book, which Bowling Together book was based on.
Book Description: Governments increasingly realize that they will not be able to conduct and effectively implement policies, as good as they may be, if their citizens do not understand and support them. Thus, governments are looking to new or improved models and approaches for better informing and involving citizens in the policy-making process. Work focuses on information, consultation, and active participation of citizens in policy-making. Click here to see book PDF (policy brief) or click here for full PDF version.
Open Government: Fostering Dialogue with Civil Society by Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Book Description: This book examines how to build robust legal, institutional and policy frameworks for access to information, consultation and public participation in policy-making. It focuses on lessons from experience from both OECD member and non-member countries in seeking to apply the principles of good governance in practice and to build effective partnerships between government, citizens and civil society organizations. Click here to see book PDF.
Engaging Citizens Online for Better Policymaking (2003) by Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Book Description: The barriers to greater online citizen engagement in policy-making are cultural, organisational and constitutional not technological. Overcoming these challenges will require greater efforts to raise awareness and capacity both within govern-ments and among citizens. Click here to see policy brief PDF.
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MARK YOUR CALENDARS...
Pflugerville Professional Firefighters Association 1st Annual Golf Tournament: Saturday, July 10th. For info call 848-9983 or E-mail drodrig104@aol.com.
Cox Cable Ch. 10 Programs Scheduled:
City Council Work Sessions, 6:00 p.m. on Wed., Fri., Sun.
City Council Meetings, 7:00 p.m. on Wed., Fri., Sun.
Note: See Pflugerville Pflag, City Newsletter, Cox Channel 10, Pflugerville Library, or Bulletin Board outside City Hall for more Pflugerville news, event, and city council information. Also, see PfCONA website which also has current events and NewsBYTES on home page and other archived info. Or, subscribe to weekly Weekly City E-Newsletter by E-mailing city secretary at: webmaster@cityofpflugerville.com. City website is http://www.cityofpflugerville.com/. Also, go to PfCONA Member Listings on website to see what neighborhoods are up to.
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Rod Reyna, PfCONA Chair/Communications Committee
info@pfcona.org
www.pfcona.org
PFCONA Member Notes: E-mail neighborhood happenings to PfCONA for sharing with others (or share at upcoming meetings). Neighborhoods are also encouraged to send stories to the Pflag.
*For those wishing to join or with memberships pending, $10 yearly dues (from January to December) can be sent to (checks made out to PfCONA): Attn: PfCONA Chair, c/o Pflugerville Police Department, PO Box 679, Pflugerville, TX 78691. Or, drop off to M. Pundt at PPD. Dues were initiated in January 2003 and renewals are for 2004 year.
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