Highland Park West Balcones Area
HIGHLAND PARK WEST BALCONES AREA NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION VOLUME 17, NUMBER 09 • SEPTEMBER 2021 • WWW.HPWBANA.ORG
On July 20th, the HPWBANA hosted an event called “Books & Beers.” Starting at the newly renovated Yarborough library (see photos), event attendees were treated to a librarian-led, behind-the-scenes tour of the various improvements that make this former movie theater truly shine. After the tour, attendees joined HPWBANA members and City of Austin officials for a happy hour at La Mancha. Please check each newsletter or go to our webpage (hpwbana.org) for notices and details of upcoming fun and informative events sponsored by HPWBANA.
The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - September 2021
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Highland Park West Balcones Area
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The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - September 2021
IMPORTANT NUMBERS
Highland Park West Balcones Area
Austin Citywide Information Center... 974-2000 or 311 Emergency Police, Fire and EMS.............................. 911 Non-emergency Police (coyote sighting, etc.)......... 311 Social Services (during work hours)........................ 211
APD REP. - Officer Darrell Grayson........ 512-974-5242
BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT Jason Lindenschmidt................ president@hpwbana.org VICE PRESIDENT Bill McMillin.........................................vp@hpwbana.org
The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association (HPWBANA) now has "Drive Like Your Kids Live Here" signs available! If you would like one - free of charge email Bill McMillin at: vp@hpwbana.org and we'll get one out to you! This is another small way to help slow down traffic in the neighborhood. We would love to see them in as many yards as possible!
TREASURER George Zwicker........................ treasurer@hpwbana.org SECRETARY Dawn Lewis.............................. secretary@hpwbana.org NEWSLETTER EDITOR Pam Keller.............................. newsletter@hpwbana.org WEBMASTER Henry Tang.............................webmaster@hpwbana.org BOARD MEMBERS Bill Hyland...................................... board@hpwbana.org Rebecca Spratlin............................. board@hpwbana.org
The HPWBANA Board meets on the fourth Monday of each month except December. Please go to HPWBANA. org for our current meeting location or contact president@ hpwbana.org. HWPBANA is bordered on the north by 2222, on the south by 35th Street, on the west by Mt. Bonnell Road, and on the east by MoPac and by Bull Creek Road between Hancock Drive and 45th Street. Mail your membership dues to HPWBANA, P.O. Box 26101, Austin, Texas 78755.
The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - September 2021
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Highland Park West Balcones Area
William Hyland and his wife Diana have lived in Austin for 24 years, the last eight in Highland Park West. William and Diana curate a neighborhood social group oriented around outings to premium food and drink venues and unusual destination activities. They have a garden that produces fresh vegetables and fruits throughout the year. William is entering his second year as a Board member and looks forward to serving in 2021.
Dawn Lewis has lived in the HPWBANA neighborhood since 1993, and this is her second stint on the HPWBANA board. She loves the charm and beauty of the neighborhood and is glad to be able to serve on the board to support neighborhood interests. She has three grown children and two cats who grew up in this neighborhood, and her children attended and loved Highland Park Elementary. She currently works for an education non-profit and serves as the District 10 appointee and chair of the Parks and Recreation Board. She enjoys jogging, drawing, and watching her favorite college baseball and football teams.
Jason Lindenschmidt has called Highland Park West home since 2003. Originally from Del Rio, Texas, Jason moved to Austin in 1997 to work for Tivoli Systems after graduating from Texas A&M University. Jason is a 15-year veteran in the Austin real estate market and is the current owner and broker of LindenDwell Real Estate. His wife, Katie, is active on the Highland Park Elementary PTA, where daughter, Ray, will be attending 1st grade in the fall. Jason has served on the HPWBANA board since 2014.
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The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - September 2021
Arriving in Austin from Pittsburgh in 1976, Bill McMillin attended St. Edward’s University, graduating with a Theatre Management degree. He has had 40 years experience as a stage manager, actor, and voice artist, as well serving on numerous non-profit boards. Bill has served on the National Council of Actors Equity, and during that time, was a Broadway Tony Award voter. He currently teaches Theatre and Stage Management at St. Edward’s University. Bill resides on Ridge Oak Drive with his wife Mary, daughter, MAE, and their three dogs Batty, Norman, and Sammie.
Rebecca Wolfe Spratlin is an Austin businesswoman and artist who enjoys painting, sculpting and studying art and art history. Rebecca earned a BA in Fine Arts (painting, sculpting, medical illustration) and an MBA (marketing, finance). After spending 27 years as an executive in the corporate world, she initiated a second career in real estate. She is the well-known owner of Rebecca Realty, LLC, a premier brokerage firm specializing in Balcones Park, Highland Park West and Central Austin. Rebecca and her husband, John Spratlin, have loved living in Balcones Park/Highland Park West for 17 years. She has served on the HPWBANA Board for five years and leads the Events Committee.
George H. Zwicker has been a resident of HPWBANA since 2013 and a board member since 2015. He was elected treasurer a year later. After a 40+-year career in the Houston office furniture industry, George and his wife, Carol, were relocated to Austin for Carol’s job. They both love being in Austin, enjoying their children and many grandchildren. They traveled extensively prior to the pandemic and hope to resume soon. George’s goal is to help HPWBANA involve many more neighbors in neighborhood activities once everyone can meet up again in person.
Highland Park West Balcones Area By Melissa Plicque
Living in Highland Park West, I’ve become accustomed to sharing the neighborhood and my lawn with small herds of white-tail deer. I’ve known since I was a child that living in such close proximity to wildlife comes with certain responsibilities. I need to respect the animals’ wildness and not try to approach or pet them, I need to slow down and be on the alert as I drive by, and I need to teach my dogs not to bark or startle them into the roadway. But when trouble strikes any of the deer, we need to know who to call for help. Like many others who live in this area, I love our neighborhood and I love Austin. I’ve always felt drawn to hilly, wooded areas. I love stumbling across wild creatures who are just living their natural lives building their homes, enjoying a warm day, or enjoying a lazy lunch alongside their babies. I can walk for hours along twisting residential roads, admiring man-made structures that have been slipped into the natural terrain, some sitting atop a steep tree-lined canyon while others are nestled at the bottom, easy to miss until you look closely or until the leaves fall in winter. This graceful mingling of humans and nature is what I love about Highland Park West. Living here, we strive to find the perfect balance of development and wilderness, hoping to build our neighborhoods and live our lives without causing any negative impact on wildlife. Each family that moves here tries to do their part to create and sustain the natural balance that feels right to them. Not everyone agrees what that natural balance should be or how we should maintain it. Some love the graceful beauty of deer and try to attract them to their yard with deer-friendly landscaping. To them, the deer are family who should be protected like any other family member. Others consider the deer a destructive nuisance who destroy carefully planted gardens and flowers, so they spray repellant and put up fences to keep the deer away. Some worry about potential danger of deer-related diseases or aggressive does and bucks who may charge if threatened. They want their children to be able to ride bikes or play in the streets without worrying about the deer or cars who may be swerving to avoid the deer. Others think about the deer from a conservation standpoint, saying that the residential herds have grown unsustainably large, weakening the herd and making them susceptible to disease and other harm. They press for government action to reduce the size of the herd. Still others feel they should be able to hunt and kill residential deer for meat and sport the same way they do when deer live in the wild. The regulations around deer in Texas are designed with all these different viewpoints in mind. With so many disagreements about deer and how we should live with them, manage them, and manage our lives around them, it’s no wonder that priorities and jurisdiction often seem puzzling or unexpected. As a result, we struggle to know who to call for help or what type of help we should expect to get. For a simple rule of thumb, we can simply remember that white tail deer and other Texas wildlife are the jurisdiction of Texas Parks and
Wildlife and not Austin Police. For more detailed information, see the list of Who You Gonna Call.
• Do call 9-1-1 if you see someone with a weapon actively hunting in a residential area or engaging in any other dangerous activity. • Do call Operation Game Thief at 800-792-4263 if you see someone actively poaching (hunting) a deer or other wild animal. Learn more about the Operation Game Thief program at ogttx.org. • Do call a Texas Game Warden if you believe someone is hunting (or has hunted or intentionally killed) deer or other game animals in a residential area. Travis County Game Wardens are listed on the Texas Parks and Wildlife site at tpwd.texas.gov. Benjamin Echelson—254-563-3315 Alberto Garnica Jr.—254-239-4032 Jeffrey Hill—254-534-4210 Natali Merez—512-650-7341 • Do call Austin Wildlife Rescue at 512-472-9453 for help with injured or abandoned animals. AWR does not pick up or transport animals, but you can bring a sick or injured animal to their facility. You can find the address and additional information at austinwildliferescue.org. • Do check the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s list of nonprofit wildlife rehabilitators for Travis County if Austin Wildlife Rescue is unable to help in your circumstance. Go to tpwd.texas.gov and search for “Travis County wildlife rehabilitators.” • Do call 3-1-1 to file a report if you believe that someone has committed a crime such as shooting an animal within the city limits or any type of animal cruelty. • Do call 3-1-1 to request that the city move a deceased animal in or near the roadway. • Do call the Travis County Sheriff at 512-854-9770 to report a crime that may have occurred outside of Austin police jurisdiction. You can see a jurisdiction map at tcsheriff.org. • Don’t call 3-1-1 for urgent assistance or to help with deer-related problems. The dispatchers at 3-1-1 work hard to connect citizens with the right resource very quickly, often with little information. They are constrained by regulations and must pick from a very limited range of solutions. If at all possible, it is best to call the correct resource directly yourself. • Don’t call 9-1-1 to report past crimes against wildlife if no person or property is currently in danger. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is responsible for protecting Texas wildlife and will be better suited to investigate and take action.
The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - September 2021
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Highland Park West Balcones Area Recycling Challenges A study done by the City of Austin found that 44% of all items that end up in the City’s landfill could have been recycled. There are many reasons we don’t recycle. In our hearts, most of us want to help maintain the health of our planet by recycling. We know it’s the right thing to do, but our lives are busy and it’s not always easy. Some challenges to recycling are as follows: o Inconvenient to collect items at home o Some jars are difficult to clean out o Don’t know how to recycle unusual items SUGGESTIONS TO MAKE HOME COLLECTION MORE CONVENIENT • For curbside recycling pick-up: Put small containers in the areas where recycling accumulates, such as the kitchen and office. • For curbside compost collection: Keep a collection container on the kitchen counter, lined with a compostable bag. • For plastic bags that go to collection bins at the grocery store: Place a bag somewhere convenient to collect plastic bags, bubble wrap, etc. When it’s full, take it to the plastic bag recycling bin. • For items that need to go to the Recycling and Reuse Drop-Off Center: Keep boxes in the garage for items headed for the RRDOC. SUGGESTIONS FOR CLEANING OUT PROBLEM CONTAINERS We need to rinse our jars and bottles so that jars that might get broken in the recycling trucks don’t contaminate paper with food product and make the paper unable to be recycled. The City of Austin recommends a light rinse to the jars, but has anyone ever “lightly rinsed” a peanut butter jar? Here’s what works - add some detergent and very hot water to the jar, shake well, and that’s good enough. This also works with mayonnaise jars. RECYCLE VARIOUS ITEMS IS CONFUSING It’s difficult to know or remember which items go into which cart or to which location. The following City of Austin website is a great resource to learn where various items should go: www.austintexas. gov/what-do-i-do I will research any recycling questions you have. Just email your recycling questions to recycling@hpwbana.org. FLUFF – DON’T STUFF Recently, I noticed that a compost collection truck’s automatic arm kept shaking a green can. Finally, the driver set the can down, got out of the truck, reached into the can, and pulled out pizza boxes that had been stuffed in it. He then was able to re-engage the auto arm and empty the can. Please don’t stuff things into any of your cans. 6
The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - September 2021
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The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - September 2021
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The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - September 2021
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Highland Park West Balcones Area PO Box 1148 Round Rock, Texas 78680
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The Highland Park West Balcones Area Neighborhood Association News - September 2021