Street Talk | July 2011 Issue

STREET TALK

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 4

REPORTING ON WHAT MATTERS TO PUBLIC WORKS

JULY 2011

inside: Bringing the Heat!

Street and Bridge bring some heat to the streets

History of a Department:

A look back tells us how far we have come in PWD

What’s Bugging You?

Find out how you can get rid of summer pests in our guest column from the Grow Green Program

Bringin’

theHeat

director’s message

BY HOWARD LAZARUS DIRECTOR

STREET TALK

Summer in the City...

P

WD is bringing the heat! With summer upon us, this expression will bring thoughts of 100 degree days to many of us. There are days when the heat and wind make you feel like you just walked into a blast furnace, and the only thing left of you will be a pile of goo and two eyeballs on the sidewalk. In the words of the Lovin’ Spoonful (for those of us old enough to remember):

Hot town, summer in the city Back of my neck getting burnt and gritty Been down, isn’t a pity Doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city All around, people looking half dead Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head…

Working out in the Texas sun can be tough, especially for our Project Inspectors and Street & Bridge crews. You have my greatest admiration, as you are made of the sternest stuff! As we all travel around Austin this summer, please give our fellow Public Workers a tap on the horn and a wave of appreciation. And in the words of Sergeant Phil Esterhaus (of Hill Street Blues fame)… “Let’s be careful out there.”

“Bringing the Heat” can also refer to the exerting of extraordinary force upon a situation. In sports, it’s typically used to describe the tall, lanky pitcher with the 95 mph fastball that dances across home plate and makes the batter look like an overmatched schoolboy. For us, it applies

02 STREET TALK JULY 2011

to the power we bring collectively to solving problems and moving work ahead.

Street Talk highlights those among us who advance projects and quality of life initiatives, whether in the lead or in a supporting role. It’s only through the synchronization of all of our efforts that we’re able to do the remarkable things we do.

Let me provide two examples -- one small and one big. On June 17, I had the privilege of representing all of us at the groundbreaking for the Detrick-Hamilton House. When finished, this facility on East 11th Street will serve as the African-American Cultural and Heritage Facility. The event was a multi-cultural celebration for Austin, and it would not have occurred without significant support from PWD (and in particular, Allison von Stein).

At the same time, crews from Street & Bridge were working on resurfacing South Congress Avenue. This job has advanced without incident, due not only to the field crews, but also to the leadership of SBO, through Infrastructure Management, Overlay, Utility Cuts and Repair, and the Districts.

Also leading the way is Project Management, Neighborhood Connectivity, and the Public Information team. Think about that – interrupting traffic on one of the busiest streets in the City without complaint and without incident!

I would be remiss if I did not note that during the span of this issue of Street Talk, I’ll be marking my third anniversary as your Director. I can honestly tell you that al-

EDITORIAL Editor in Chief: Sara Hartley

sara.hartley@ci.austin.tx.us

Chief Reporter:

Michelle Frith

michelle.frith@ci.austin.tx.us

Contributing Writers: Howard Lazarus

howard.lazarus@ci.austin.tx.us

Karen Maggio

karen.maggio@ci.austin.tx.us

Vera Labriola

vera.labriola@ci.austin.tx.us

Sara Krause

sara.krause@ci.austin.tx.us

Luciano Tamayo

luciano.tamayo@ci.austin.tx.us

Steven Penshorn

steven.penshorn@ci.austin.tx.us

Max Eby

max.eby@ci.austin.tx.us

Guest Writer:

Denise Delaney

denise.delaney@ci.austin.tx.us

DESIGN Chief Graphic Designer:

Alexa Muraida

alexa.muraida@ci.austin.tx.us

Director of Photography:

Shannon Wisner

shannon.wisner@ci.austin.tx.us

though there have been challenges, I have never had a bad day at work, and that’s due entirely to your support and belief that we can be “Your Department with a Heart!” So, between now and when I see you around town, roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer!!!

cityspace.ci.austin.tx.us/departments/pwd VOLUME 1

ISSUE 4

contents JULY 2011

COVER STORY

Bringin’ The Heat!

Our Street and Bridge Operations “Bring the Heat” every summer by getting out in extreme temperatures to take care of our streets!

Brazos Street Reconstruction

2011 JULY STREET TALK

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contents

cityspace.ci.austin.tx.us/departments/pwd VOLUME 1

ISSUE 4

JULY 2011

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25 features 1

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ALL AROUND AUSTIN

Public Workers spent time in May and June doing all kinds of things around town to highlight the work we do in PWD. See what’s been happening and what is coming up next.

BRINGIN’ THE HEAT! Street and Bridge Operations bring the heat - and endure it during the busiest season of their year!

divisions 4

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OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR:

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From communications to executive administration and special projects – this OOD team does it all. Read about how they are here to help you!

SHARED SERVICES: Number crunching may not sound glamorous, but these folks are there every time someone has a financial need and often with the fire turned up under them to get it done – but they never break a sweat!

04 STREET TALK JULY 2011

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NCD:

27 09 columns

Neighborhood Partnering Program gets going with a brand new project being built this summer. They are showing Austin how they are empowering neighborhoods and building communities.

HRO: FIELD TRIPPIN’ HRO staff visits Street and Bridge on site once again – but this time it is to bring some sweet relief from the heat for our Overlay crew!

ESD: New software changes the landscape of ESD and how they will get their business done. Tools to help speed the design and delivery of civil engineering projects will fire up their work!

CIPID: New supervisors and lead inspectors organize the division and utilize their experience and expertise to make the division a “hot commodity!”

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HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR?

Michelle Frith profiles two employees that work hard for PWD everyday, who you may have never met!

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THE SAFETY ZONE How safe are you staying on the job?

Tips on how you can make improvements on the job and in your daily life!

GUEST COLUMN: AUSTIN’S GROW GREEN PROGRAM GETS BUGGY How other City departments are trying to make Austin more livable! This month Grow Green talks about those pesky bugs of summer.

safety zone

BY MICHELLE FRITH CHIEF REPORTER

Keeping Your Cool During the Heat Wave

T

here are many medical problems that come with the extreme heat during Austin summers. Keep in mind that your body has to find ways to get rid of the heat that it produces. If it can’t, your internal temperature can soar well beyond the safe and comfortable 98.6°.

Who is at risk?

Heat-related illness can affect anyone, but mostly those not used to hot weather, and when combined with high humidity. Especially at risk are the very young and elderly, those with heart or circulatory problems, those working in the heat, and those taking sweat altering prescriptions. Pets are also at high risk when outside.

Heat cramps

Are painful muscular spasms that happen suddenly affecting legs or abdominal muscles. These can occur after physical activity by those who haven’t maintained enough body fluid. If you get heat cramps, you should: Sit or lie down in the shade Drink cool, lightly salted water or

a sports drink Stretch the affected muscles

Heat exhaustion

Is a form of heat-related illness that can develop after several days of exposure to high temperatures and inadequate replacement of fluids. Warning signs of heat exhaustion include: Heavy sweating often accompa-

nied by cold, clammy skin Paleness Intense thirst

Muscle aches and cramps Fatigue/weakness/dizziness Headache/confusion/anxiety Nausea or vomiting Fainting Weak and rapid pulse and fast and shallow breathing Affected person may believe they have the flu

You should:

Sit or lie down in the shade, or get to air conditioning Drink cool, lightly salted water or a sports drink If persistent, gently apply wet towels and call for emergency medical help.

Heat stroke

Heat exhaustion can lead to heat stroke if untreated. It is a medical emergency and delay in treatment could be fatal. Symptoms of heat stroke include: Victim’s body is extremely hot when touched Altered mental status (ranges

from slight confusion/ disorientation to coma) If conscious can become irrational, agitated or even aggressive, might have seizures.

In severe heatstroke the victim can go into a coma in less than an hour. The longer the coma lasts, the less chance for survival.

What to do if someone is having a heat stroke:

Move the person to a half-sitting position in the shade Call for emergency medical help immediately If humidity is below 75%, apply ice packs on neck, armpits or groin.

Be smart and beat the heat Keep as cool as possible Avoid dehydration by drinking 8 oz. of water every 20 minutes.

Wear appropriate clothing Avoid alcohol and caffeine Rest frequently

2011 JULY STREET TALK

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guest column

BY DENISE DELANEY GUEST COLUMNIST

The Bugs of Summer

The City’s Grow Green Program helps our community understand how to conserve and protect the environment, all while keeping our yards safe and beautiful!

S

ummer is an active time for bugs, some of which can be total pests! Using the most earth-friendly way to deal with them makes sense for the health of our landscapes and environment. The Watershed Protection Department’s Grow Green program has many great resources and advice to assist you with common landscape issues.

Get to know your plants!

Some plant and insect relationships are notorious, such as spider mites on lantanas. Anticipating when and where a problem may occur is an advantage over the pest.

Keeping plants healthy helps them resist attacks. Using a diversity of species makes it harder for any one pest to thrive and invites more beneficial insects to your yard.

Be on the lookout!

this at a minimum of once a week. Be sure to spray under the leaves.

Catching an infestation early makes If that doesn’t work, try using an insecit easier to address the problem. Regularly ticidal soap. It doesn’t poison the bugs but walk through your yard looking for signs simply dries them out, so the spray needs to of damage. Try to determine who’s the real actually contact the insect. Once dried, the culprit! Is the problem actually a pest or pos- remaining soapy residue is not harmful to sibly an environmental one? Could it be too any other insects. much sun/shade, over/under watering?

Spider Mites thrive when it is hot and dry. They stab the plant and suck juice leaving little white or yellow speckles.

These tiny bugs (but not technically insects) can be hard to see. With severe infestations webbing is visible. Shake the infected foliage over a white piece of paper and look for the tiny crawling mites.

Aphids are soft-bodied insects found in many colors. Typically found on new growth because it is easier for their piercing mouthparts to penetrate tender, new plant tissue. Severe infestations distort foliage. Lady beetles (“ladybugs”) love to eat aphids so sometimes doing nothing is the best approach.

Scale spend most of their lives under a protective stationary “shell” or scale (like catepillars) and they are most commonly found on woody species. Since you probably won’t see them move you might rule out an insect problem even though the plant may show signs of damage. When scale insects are in the crawler stage they come out from under their shell to mate and relocate. If they are under their scale “home”, using a highly refined horticultural oil to smother them works quite well.

For spider mites, aphids and scale in their crawler stage just spray them with a stream of water to dislodge them off the plant. You will have to be persistent and do

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Beetles can be pests but many are beneficial because they eat everything from snails and slugs to the aforementioned aphids and mites. The beetles that are pests chew on plants leaving obvious damage. Use floating row covers to keep beetles physically off plants or use a product with neem oil or azadirachtin.

Caterpillars need to be properly identified because some caterpillars turn into desirable butterflies. For a small scale problem, try physically removing the pest caterpillars. With a larger infestation use a product containing Bacillus thuringensis or Bt. It is a bacterium that only kills caterpillars.

Often the trick is actually finding the pest. If after searching the plant and its general vicinity to no avail, go out in the evening with a flashlight and see if you can find them in action because some beetles and caterpillars are nocturnal.

These are simple, low toxic ways to deal with some of the pests you may encounter in your landscape this summer. Getting rid of every single pest is not practical or necessary. Before using any pesticide correctly diagnose the problem and determine its severity. Always read the label and follow the directions.

For more helpful earth-wise gardening information go to www.growgreen.org or pick up program materials at your local Grow Green Nursery.

divisions

BY KAREN MAGGIO CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Shared Services:

Handling the money of four departments is enough to make most people sweat - but this division isn’t afraid of the heat!

W

hat’s the difference between an accountant and an engineer? The accountant knows he is boring!

It’s an interesting stereotype, but the Shared Services Division staff is anything but boring. Sure, we like numbers but we also like good customer service! Whether you need assistance in purchasing anything, paying your bills, making sure that you are following the right financial procedures, going to a conference, getting petty cash, or having your mail picked up and delivered, Shared Services is there to help you out. It doesn’t matter if what you need is tied to something as large as Water Treatment Plant #4 where billions of dollars are involved, or something as small as a new pair of safety shoes, Shared Services will help you make it happen. Our mission is to aid our fellow Public Workers and make their jobs a little easier by making sure that they have what they need when they need it.

Twelve staff members for Shared Ser-

vices are located on the 10th floor of One Texas Center and four others are located at St. Elmo. We consist of project accounting, purchasing, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and mail services. The departments we support at One Texas Center are Public Works, Transportation, Contract and Land Management, and Real Estate Services.

We also provide purchasing, accounts payable, and accounts receivable support for Street and Bridge. We work hand in hand with our friends in Financial Monitoring and Budget to make sure that we are always in compliance with the City of Austin’s policies.

By seeking their input on the front end, we keep things flowing more quickly to avoid potential problems.

We’ve also done some reorganizing and streamlining over the past year. There are teams in place who work together to make processes go more smoothly and efficiently and deliver superior service to all of our coworkers. If you haven’t come by lately,

there are four new people in the division.

Christopher Mendoza has joined Peggy Ybanez in Purchasing and Leticia Torres is a welcome addition to the Project Accounting team of Sylvia VanVlerah, Patricia Lopez, and Dorothy Callahan. Karen Maggio is the Support Services Manager at OTC. At St. Elmo, Alicia Jackson rounds out the team with Brenda Jimenez, Lisa Escobedo, and JoLynn Ayala. The other teams at OTC are the Accounts Payable/Accounts Receivable group which consists of Candy Guerra, Virginia Ramos, Claudine Barlow, Deborah Harper, and John Lopez.

We also have new computer programs in place that make it easier to track where items are in the process and to make sure we don’t miss any deadlines. We currently are doing many of our transmittals for approvals electronically, which is saving a whole lot of paper!

Over this next year, we are researching new processes for document management 2011 JULY STREET TALK

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divisions

continued from pg. 07

and will be the first division to go online with the City Clerk’s Electronic Document & Imaging Management System (EDIMS). We hope this will become a tool that saves everyone in the Department a lot of time, move us toward a paperless environment, and make researching much simpler.

So, remember: the next time you have something delivered that makes your job a little easier, or you need to take care of a bill, there is a whole crew of people buried underneath all that paper trying to make things more efficient by handling the red tape –we’re here to support all of you!

A QUICK LOOK

INTO OUR SHARED SERVICES DIVISION OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR Howard Lazarus, P.E. Director James Snow Assitant Director of Systems Karen Maggio Support Services Manager 49770

PURCHASING

ACCOUNTABLE PAYABLE

PROJECT ACCOUNTING

Brenda Jimenez Contract Comp.

Specialist Sr. 47995

Peggy Ybanez Contract Comp.

Specialist Sr. 47238

Candy Guerra Accountant Assoc.

Sr.

Claudine Barlow Accountant Assoc.

47275

Sylvia Vanvlerah Accountant Assoc., Sr. 47155

Lisa Escobedo Contr. Comp. Spec.

48758

Christopher Mendoza Contr. Comp. Asso.

47768

Virginia Ramos Accountant Assoc., Sr. 45606

Debra Harper Accountant Assoc.

47050

Patricia Lopez Accountant Assoc.

47184

Jolynn Ayala Accountant Assoc.

47037

John Lopez Administrative Assoc.

47295

Vacant Accountant Assoc.

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Leticia Torres Accountant Assoc 49242

Dorothy Callahan Administrative Assoc.

47764

divisions

BY MAX EBY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

HRO helps keep our field crews ‘chilled out’

The Human Resources team takes a break from their air conditioned offices to bring some sweet relief to the overlay crew in the blazing afternoon heat.

Y

ou know when summer is here in Austin because the sun hits you like a ton of bricks and the daily temperature rises to well above 100 degrees. Standing still on the pavement, it feels like you’re in a life-sized oven set to extra-crispy! But the intense heat certainly doesn’t stop our Street & Bridge crews from kickin’ asphalt!

Our HR Team caught up with the Overlay Crew on Thursday, June 9, near Exposition and Greenlee at about 2pm - just when the sun is at its hottest. They were hard at work on day two of a paving project and

were a little surprised to see us appear at the worksite.

The HR team has a great deal of respect and admiration for the dedication and high quality of work our Street & Bridge crews constantly produce for our citizens. So we thought a great way to show our appreciation would be to host an ice cream social right at the worksite! We loaded up our coolers with various types of iced treats (even sugar free) and cool drinks to distribute to everyone working outside in the heat.

Dianna and Kris chat it up

So did they like it? The results are pretty evident from their smiles! We always enjoy going out to the field to learn about our crews, share stories, and put faces to names. The HR team had a great time visiting the overlay worksite and providing them with a break from the Texas summer. We all thank the Street & Bridge crews for their excellent work in challenging conditions! Stay tuned, because we’ll be out and about in the near future to visit more workgroups, and your crew may just be next!

Debbie fans off with Mickey!

Mmm...popsicles!

The Whole Crew

Working hard in the heat

2011 JULY STREET TALK

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BASH

h t 3 1 t s u g u Saturday, A-12pm 9am @

r te en C n o i t n e v n o C n i t s Au

events

BY SHANNON WISNER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Public Works Connects You...

All Around Austin!

Public Works builds our city’s future and celebrates our successes with PWD staff and events all around town.

ANNUAL RIDE WITH THE DIRECTOR KICKS OFF BIKE MONTH

T

he first week of May, over FORTY people joined Howard Lazarus on the 2nd Annual Director’s Ride. The ride highlights bicycle facilities put into place by our department’s Neighborhood Connectivity Division.

In 2010, the ride brought together about fifteen people and was an afternoon ride. This year the ride moved to the morning due to the heat, and the word spread

quickly about the fun and informative ride.

Folks from other departments, City Hall, and even outside bicycle groups joined the PWD Director, Assistant Director Keri Juarez and NCD staff to learn what was new and exciting on the road for bicycles (and pedestrians)!

The ride visited Butler Park, the new Stratford Drive trail that takes you from Barton Springs through to the Mopac Pedestrian Bridge, the new contra-flow bike lanes on Third Street, to the new wide bike and pedestrian sidewalks on Lamar at 5th, then onto the Pfluger Bridge Extension and the Lance Armstrong Bikeway (LAB). The group

moved east on the LAB, showing off separated facilities and the new bridge at 4th street. It was a great morning, and what a great way to learn about what PWD is doing out there!

The ride has become so popular and the facilities are going in so quickly that there is talk of doing it twice a year now!

And if you want to take the tour on your own, with friends, or maybe even with one of our Bicycle program staff, contact Nadia Barrera for the map of the May ride. Stay tuned for a fall ride and get those bikes tuned up and ready to go.

2011 JULY STREET TALK

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events

continued from pg. 11

PUBLIC WORKS ROCKS IT TO THE C.O.R.E

O

n Wednesday, May 18, Public Works employees gathered together early in the morning at the Givens Recreation Center for a delicious breakfast and to celebrate yet another year of achievements. The CORE Breakfast (Cre-

ative Opportunities to Recognize Employees) is a long standing tradition meant to give each of us an opportunity to recognize each other for a job well done.

The morning was kicked off with a display of “A Day in the Life” from each division. Attendees enjoyed the display of each group’s depiction of a typical day in their jobs. The winning display this year,

as judged by the Executive Team, was ESD. City Manager Marc Ott greeted the crowd and expressed his pride in the work accomplished by our department. How-

12 STREET TALK JULY 2011

ard Lazarus then gave a thematic presentation on teamwork, accompanied by a photo montage of the New York Yankees and music from the musical “Damn Yankees” to illustrate the point!

Sixteen group awards were given for outstanding achievements in: helping others to integrate into Public Works, working long hours and delivering quality results, eliminating backlogs, dealing

given to Ron Gentry, retired Public Works employee who continued offering his expertise and advice on current projects.

Finally, a presentation on Safety and Accountability was given by Rich Forbes of the Austin Police Department. His entertaining presentation made the point that we are all responsible to speak up to make sure that we are each practicing our jobs in a safe and professional manner and

with emergencies and controversial projects, ensuring the safety of citizens, saving money, keeping Austin green, improving communication and working with citizens to further beautify our city.

Twenty-four individuals were recognized for: systems improvements, excellent customer service, behaving with integrity, taking initiative and saving funds, working beyond expectations, superior coordination and problem-solving, innovation, and being eco-conscious.

“Hero with Heart” Awards were presented by Howard. These are Director level recognition of outstanding performance. They were awarded to Joe Campos, Nadia Barrera, Max Eby, Vera Labriola, Demira Wyatt and Jose Ibarra. Citizen Superhero Awards were presented to Deanne Breedlove and Stephen and Ellyn Yacktman for their collaboration with Public Works on the Manana Bridge and to St. Austin Brownie Troop 591 for earning their badge for “Getting Involved” for writing to Public Works, requesting repairs to the sidewalks in front of their school.

A posthumous Citizen Hero Award was

that being a good friend and co-worker includes ensuring a safe environment.

TAKE YOUR CHILD TO WORK DAY

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his year, the annual ‘Take Your Child to Work Day’ was a great success packed full of fun, interactive, and informative activities! The event was held at One Texas Center in the third floor training room and outside the building.

Upon check in, custom-made shirts were passed out for all the kids to personalize and decorate. The shirts for the PWD kids, of course, featured our very own Shuv L. Reddy! After decorating and donning their shirts, the troop headed down to the parking lot for a discussion about Cars-2-go from Anthony Forcier. At the end of the discussion, the kids were invited to climb in, and a competition was held to see how many kids could be packed into the tiny smart cars.

The winner was Car #2 with 20 children!

After the Car-2-go demo, the kids were

taken to the intersection of South 1st and Barton Springs for an ADA crosswalk safety demonstration by Mario Porras. Getting all the kids across the street in a timely and safe manner was obviously very important – many thanks to APD for their support!

After using the crosswalks safely, the kids and sponsors headed back to OTC for a few more demonstrations. They were

shown by Kris Sanchez and J. Limon how street markings are made, the process of filling a pothole by Eli Mendoza, and how a street sign is installed by RJ Little. The kids definitely found this information very interesting and had many questions for the demonstrators.

Then, the kids headed indoors for a snack break and demonstration by Sharon Warren on CPR, AED, and the dangers of texting while driving. The kids were invited to come up and practice chest compressions on the dummies – maybe someday one of them will save a life!

After an exciting day full of activities, everybody had worked up an appetite.

Pizza and juice was brought in for lunch and the kids headed over to the park to splash around in the fountain and fly kites.

Special thanks and appreciation to the organizers: Rebecca Zapata, Rhonda Bolik, Candy Guerra, Max Eby, Virginia Ramos, Leticia Richardson, Esther Crawford, Edmir Cortez, Fred Garcia, and Suzanne Cortez.

This year’s event was definitely one to remember!

2011 JULY STREET TALK

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divisions

BY SARA HARTLEY EDITOR IN CHIEF

Office of the Director

I

t’s not that scary on the 13th Floor...

No, really it’s not! The staff of the Office of the Director (OOD) often wonders why people are so afraid to visit us. Is it the superstitious nature of the number ‘13’ that’s giving them the heebie-jeebies? Or do they just not know we are here to help?

We want to rectify that, either way!

Although many buildings skip over thirteen, it seems to fit the oddness of One Texas Center, and we put our Director’s office right on the “unlucky” number, because we are not afraid. We believe in hard work over luck.

The OOD staff is split between Executive and Administrative support, Citizen Relations, Public Information, and Program Coordination. We are often pulled in on special projects that come from City Hall, or to execute one of the good ideas that an Executive Team member has for the department.

While the organizational chart shows the basics of how our staff is organized, we wanted to bring you a glimpse of what that means for us every day, and how we can help you to make our department run smoothly and look good!

Michelle Frith

COMMUNICATION TEAM: graphic design

Communications:

promotional outreach, project outreach, operation outreach

Four out of our six staff members work on the communications team for Public Works. “Communications” feels like a broad term, and it can be when you encompass all that we do. We want the divisions to come to us to help coordinate these types of efforts. We have the skill set and the knowledge to help your division to best communicate what you do.

website content, design, and publishing for the internal and external websites

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marketing of programs and operations internal communications (including the magazine you are reading!) photography

media relations (writing news releases, traffic briefs, articles, and giving interviews), coordinating public information requests and customer assistance forms external awards program coordination content, design, production, and printing and for promotional materials

divisions Alexa Muraida has a talent that is evident to all with her artwork. She has created many logos, campaigns, Shuv L. Reddys, Street Talks, and other promotional items for our department. But some may not know that Alexa is one of our Outreach and Marketing Specialists. She handles event coordination and operational outreach for our department. Promoting and working with SBO on street maintenance outreach is her newest endeavor, and she is on the department’s Diversity Council. She’s creating communications plans for them, too! She welcomes new projects and is always willing to fit something into her production calendar.

Michelle Frith is an indispensible part of our efforts to inform the public as our lead Marketing and Outreach Coordinator for PWD. Michelle is on the 9th floor to be close to her biggest customer – Project Management. Any Project Manager going into a project should know that Michelle is one of the first stops they should make! She can create a communications plan like a magician, and help PMs to create a solid relationship with the stakeholders being affected by our construction projects. But she doesn’t stop there. She heads up marketing efforts, too. Coordinating a department wide award application process going to conferences to promote PWD, and she is also Chief Reporter for Street Talk! Phew.

Executive and Administrative Support:

Jeannette Gilpin joined us in May to take on the Executive Assistant role for our department. Most don’t know how extensive her role actually is for PWD. She supports all of the Assistant Directors and the Director. She manages their calendars, the PWD Director’s Conference Room, all of the office administration, and on top of it all is working on many special projects at once. She is already assisting in the Edims project due to her extensive record management background. She is the first point of contact for the Director’s office, and is often the liaison between our department and other departments. Jeannette’s background is perfect to handle the multiple tasks thrown at her each day, and she is truly supporting the department’s mission through reinventing the role.

Program Coordination and Citizen Support: Our office works very closely with City Hall to make sure we are meeting the public’s expectations. That can mean a single request from a citizen (we get MANY of those!) or something as process-oriented as creating the City Council Agenda each week.

In order to even spend the money we have in our budget, each project, program, or operational process has to go through City Council. And one woman is making that happen smoothly and efficiently – Susan Garnett. Susan is the ProOFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR

gram Coordinator over Capital Outputs.

She deals with the RCA process for Council, the constant coordination between the City Manager’s Office and our department, and making sure that all special requests, projects, and processes are completed above and beyond the expectation of City Hall and our citizens. Plus, not to mention the many random requests she fulfills with a smile-each day.

Shannon Wisner takes on the Program Coordination of Community Relations. This ties her also to the communications team, but so much of what she does goes to directly assisting our Citizens. She coordinates the Automated Customer Assistance Program (ACAP) and the Public Information Request Program (PIR).

Given the many requests we get weekly, she is busy making sure we maintain our transparency and best customer service to the Austin community. She also works diligently to create a sense of family and pride in our department by photographing the people, places, projects, and events that make up our Public Works team. Her services are available to all and recommended anytime you need to capture a PWD moment!

So, we recommend stopping by the 13th floor sometime to say hi, introduce yourself, and let us know how we can assist. Forget the silly old superstition of that unlucky number – we’re harmless… and hopefully incredibly helpful!

A QUICK LOOK INTO OUR OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR STAFF

Howard Lazarus, P.E. Director

PUBLIC INFORMATION & MARKETING MANAGER Sara Hartley

COMMUNICATIONS & OUTREACH PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

CITIZEN SERVICES

MAYOR & COUNCIL CITY MANAGEMENT INTERDEPARTMENTAL:

ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES:

CITIZEN RELATIONS (CAF/PIR PROCESS)

MARKETING AND DESIGN:

PROJECT OUTREACH:

Susan Garnett Capital Outputs Program Coordinator

Jeanette Gilpin Department Executive Assistant

Shannon Wisner Community Relations Program Coordinator

Alexa Muraida Marketing Representative B

Michelle Frith Marketing Representative A

2011 JULY STREET TALK

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columns

BY MICHELLE FRITH CHIEF REPORTER

How Well Do You Know Your Neighbor?

Michelle Frith profiles two employees that work hard for PWD everyday who you may have never met!

B

ehind the scenes, there is a woman who works diligently as an Accounting Technician in the Shared Services Finance Division. Claudine Barlow has been in this position for ten years of the twenty she has worked at the City of Austin. In the past, she has worked for the Texas Department of Pardons and Paroles as a Receptionist, at IBM in the Warehouse, the City of Austin- Public Information Office and for Fleet Services in Accounts Payable.

Her first position at the City NEIGHBOR of Austin was as Claudine Barlow a switchboard operator, routDIVISION ing calls to the Shared Services Finance correct individuals. Claudine laughs when TITLE she describes Accounting Technician how fun it was to be sitting in a room “with a bunch of women talking about their issues” while making sure citizens’ calls reached the appropriate employee. She explains that all calls to City employees were routed through the switchboard located on Second Street.

After about a year she went to City Hall where she cut articles out of the paper for the City Manager to read, took calls from citizens and helped make sure their needs were addressed. Around 1979, she went to work for the Public Information Office in accounting for the City’s print shop. The City did all printing in house and would charge back to the appropriate department and Claudine made sure the

correct charges were made to each department. In the first layoff in the City, the print shop was closed and Claudine went to work briefly for Brackenridge Hospital, then to Austin Energy as a Billing Clerk for two years. Unfortunately, Claudine’s mother developed Alzheimer’s and Claudine made the decision to take care of her mother, Laura Wade full time. After her mother’s passing, Claudine returned to the work force. She came to Public Works in 1992 in Accounts Payable where she has remained.

Her work is demanding but Claudine just “goes with the flow”. She is looking forward to retirement next year and “finding out what it’s like to be bored”. She is considering working for the Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation with her niece. Claudine is “most inspired by a challenge”. Her number one challenge was to “get her girls to graduate from school and see their kids doing the same – seeing them cross the stage”. Claudine’s daughter, Karen, has worked for the IRS for 30 years, daughter Kanetha, is an investigator with the Texas Workforce Commission and daughter Lisa works in pharmaceuticals. Claudine’s grandson, Stephon, graduated this past month and will be the first to go to college. He received an athletic scholarship to North Dakota. Claudine’s granddaughter, Brittany, is attending Virginia Tech to be a medical assistant. Grandson Jalon, a high school freshman, wants to be an engineer and grandson, Brandon, wants to be an architect.

Claudine shares that she believes progress is being made in Public Works by being better organized. While prepar-

Claudine Barlow

16 STREET TALK JULY 2011

ing for retirement, she looks back on her career and advises new employees to, “Get all the training you can; ask all the questions, don’t just sit and wonder. If you have a question, you should ask.” She feels the new management has brought the department a long way and the environment is better. Claudine is a quiet treasure behind the scenes who has a lot of City history to share with us all.

S

ome people just have a knack for in the right place at being at the right place at the right the right time. Fredertime like Joe Campos, Survey Technician in ick “Torch” Acosta recthe newly formed Quality and Standards ommended he apply Management Division. This year alone, with the City, and as a Joe has helped three citizens in emer- result, Joe’s been with gency situations while he was on the job. Public Works DepartJoe was surveying a project on Lavaca/ ment since December Guadalupe and saw a man walk into a low 2008. Joe says that hanging tree branch and sustain a deep as a Survey Technihead gash. Joe quickly applied first aid cian, he locates all the and drove him to the hospital. Less than geographic features a week later Joe witnessed a bicyclist slam of an area; including into the back of a car that had cut him off. trees, roads, curbs, Joe rushed to the rescue again and took structures, and utilthe bicyclist to the hospital. Finally, during ity features to create South by Southwest, he found yet another drawings. Engineers person whose car window was smashed then use those drawin a robbery. Joe helped the tourist by ings to begin project cleaning up the broken glass and giving design, keeping all the him the number of a nearby glass repair features in mind. He business. is happiest when he Joe is from sees the finished prodDonna in the uct, knowing he had NEIGHBOR Rio Grande Val- a hand in it. He adds Joe Campos ley and studied that it’s important to at the Univer- be one of the people DIVISION sity of Texas at who cares, and is hapQuality and Standards San Antonio. py to find there are Management He moved to many City employees Austin in 1998 who genuinely want to to work in sales; have a positive impact TITLE including door- on their community.

Survey Technician to-door sales, One of the best outcomes of being financial inside in the right place at the right time began sales, and even for a dating service! Un- for Joe around seven years ago. He met fortunately, durhis friend, Lauing the dot-com ra while they We are here to serve the were both gobust he was laid community and to make ing through off, but a friend who was returnrough periods our community better. ing to school in their lives.

-Joe Campos, Quality and Standards needed to find a They counted Management, Survey Technician replacement for on each other his job. Joe took and would the job as a surveyor, loved it and has now call each other for support when having been in surveying for 11 years. He loves a bad day to say “I need a dose of Laura” the outdoors, math, and geometry and or “I need a dose of Joe”. Over the years, had studied architecture while in college, their friendship grew by talking and sharso the job is a perfect fit. After another ing with each other. This friendship grew downturn in the economy, the company into love and they were married last OcJoe worked for closed, but he was again tober. Joe is thrilled that he shares his life

“

with his best friend.

Joe says he was inspired by Joe Ramos, former Acting Director and retired Public Works employee, to be friendly and helpful, and to have a good sense of humor. He admired Joe Ramos for being well-liked by many and for working his way up through the ranks. Joe hopes someday to work in Inspection or Project Management. He is proud to be a public servant and to know that he has affected the many changes that have occurred in Austin. He advises Public Workers to remember that “we are here to serve the community and to make our community better”. It’s the right time and place for Joe and for Public Works.

Joe Campos ”

2011 JULY STREET TALK

17

Bringin’ the Heat the searing heat of the summer, our guys are Ioutnworking hard every day to maintain our roadways, saving precious tax dollars by preserving infrastructure.

BY SHANNON WISNER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

features

Meet the Crew

A

ccording to an old proverb, you can never appreciate the shade of a tree unless you sweat in the sun.

Our field crews know this all too well as the warmer months represent the most favorable conditions to do street maintenance. This means, of course, that the women and men of our Street and Bridge Operations are out in the elements working with heavy equipment and hot materials on a daily basis.

I had the pleasure and privilege of visiting the Seal Coat 1 team down south at Milford Way, and they showed me the ropes. In order to perform this type of work, it has to be 70 degrees or above, so the main push for sealcoating is April-October. Supervisor Alfred Leday, explained that first, a large truck spreads the emulsion evenly across the existing

20 STREET TALK JULY 2011

Seal Coat 1

Seal Coat 2

Overlay

Seal Coat 1 in action

pavement (this is shown on the cover of the magazine), then chip seal is immediately laid in an even stream over the hot layer of liquid. After this, the roller comes by to push the rock down into the surface, which creates a water-tight layer.

The sweepers will come later to remove excess rock.

To get a great view for photographs, I rode along on the roller with Al Trevino. Between snapping photos, we had the opportunity to chat and he seemed to really enjoy the fact that his work allows him to be outdoors. He also said that his crew gets along really well as a team, which makes working out there better. Later, I hitched a ride with Fred Freeman and got to ask him a few questions as well. He let me know that to beat the heat, it is important to stay hydrated

and seek out shade whenever you can get it. He also relayed, “I can honestly say that I like everyone from the DM to the ground crew - we’re like a family. We have our bumps in the road at times, but at the end of the day we come together.”

I also had the lucky opportunity to go out to photograph our guys in Sealcoat 2, where I learned about beating the heat, safety, and a little healthy competition between crews. Larry Salas, Lead Operator, said that their crews get out early in the morning so they can beat the heat as well as the traffic. The craziest thing he’s ever seen on the job was about seven years ago. They had just finished sealcoating when a little boy skateboarded by and fell hard. Larry says, “We were all pretty worried, but he just got back up and kept going!”

One of the most important and challenging parts of the job is dealing with citizens. Art Gatica, a Lead Operator from Seal Coat 2, explains that he really enjoys the customer service aspect of his position. “A lot of citizens do ask us questions and we try to answer them the best we can. Some of them even get upset, but once we explain the work that we are doing, they are usually very cooperative.”

Just take it from Fred Freeman of Sealcoat 1, “from the citizens to the crew, there is never a dull moment out in the field.”

Naturally, I discovered that there is a little bit of friendly competition between

the two Sealcoat crews. Randle Clark from Sealcoat 2 explained to me that Sealcoat 1 and 2 both strive to complete their 180 lane miles first. “Every year, we try to make sure that we finish ours and go help them with theirs. We try to stay ahead, but at the same time work safely.

It’s really all about bragging rights,” he says.

And, let’s not forget our overlay crew. Currently, they are working on a very large project on South Congress Avenue. As every citizen of Austin knows, this is a very highly trafficked street. Tourists flock from all over to shop, dine, and

attend events here – which means any major work on this street can be a bit tricky. Despite these obvious hurdles and the non-obvious ones like multiple interruptions to the schedule due to unforeseen utility work, the overlay crew continues to display professionalism and expertise as they work diligently to be in and out as quickly and safely as possible.

The two photographs below represent resurfacing on Congress, one from today and one from the 50’s. My, how times have changed!

A FEW EXAMPLES OF THE WORK OUR FIELD CREWS PERFORM INCLUDE: Crack Sealing– sealing cracks in the

pavement with a sealant to prevent moisture penetration.

Sealcoat– A thin asphalt emulsion surface treatment covered with aggregate, used to waterproof the existing street surface and increase skid resistance.

Level-up– Placing a small amount of asphaltic level-up material before resurfacing with a sealcoat or overlay.

Surface Replacement– Replacing

value and the life cycle of the street.

the asphaltic pavement surface, which is typically the top 2-3 inches.

Full-Depth Repair– Repairing the pavement at a depth of 10-14 inches due to a base or sub-grade failure.

Minor and Major rehabilitation–

of asphalt mix over an existing pavement, which increases the structural

should be totally reconstructed, including replacement of curbs and gutters as necessary.

Preventative and Structural Overlay– Placing one or more layers

Now

Fixing pavement that is severely deteriorated and may or may not require full-depth repair depending on the severity of deterioration.

Localized Street Area Reconstruction– When the street

&

Then

2011 GOALS FOR SEALCOAT & OVERLAY 2011 GOALS FOR SEALCOAT & OVERLAY

Overlay

Sealcoat

Responsible for 75 lane miles Recycles millings for the following year

Responsible for 180 lane miles per crew Recycles excess gravel (trap rock)

Preventive Maintenance

92 lane miles of preventative crack sealing Maintains 75.5% of streets in fair to excellent condition

2011 JULY STREET TALK

21

‘Men at work’ 1948

A glimpse into Austin's history of

Street Maintenance

Street and Bridge Division with equipment, 1948 You may remember the first history article where we highlighted the first known equipment used to maintain our roadways. Let’s take a quick look at how things have changed by comparing some of those items with some we now use today: 22 STREET TALK JULY 2011

THEN:

NOW:

Mule Wagon Double harness Cart Wheel scraper Slusher scraper Plow Shovel Crow bar Five-ton roller Pick Rock hammer

Bucket loader dump truck Backhoe Loader Motor grader Paving machine Distributor Milling machine Chip spreader Concrete SAW Water truck Motorized roller Hand-held equipment

&

Asphalt Crew, August 1937 It must have been very challenging to work with this type of equipment, compared to our efficient systems we have in place today. Here, the Street and Bridge crew from 1937 is shown spreading hot asphalt onto west 26th Street they were helping to create the foundation for what we maintain today!

Overlay, 1942 In this photo, which is Street Talk’s favorite Austin History Center treasure, the man is working to pave east 11th Street, between Navasota and Comal. Luckily, we don’t have to pull wooden carts of rock around with tractors anymore!

2011 JULY STREET TALK

23

divisions

BY VERA LABRIOLA CONTRIBUTING WRITER

CIP Inspection Division How CIPID serves Austin.

I

n some industries, summer is a slower time of the year and a lot of people take the opportunity to go on vacation or catch up on projects that have been put off during the year. However, in CIP Inspection Division, summers can be hectic!

These months are packed with all kinds of construction projects, many of them street maintenance or street improvements, and our inspectors get very busy.

CIP Inspection Division has two field offices located at the St. Elmo and Rio Grande facilities. Two registered professional civil engineers licensed by the State of Texas oversee the operations of these locations.

Projects with work performed in the right of way (ROW) must be inspected by CIPID. Our field engineers verify that the

finished products are built according to the City standards. They sign the acceptance letters on behalf of the PWD director and once the acceptance letter has their signature, the COA owns the product of the contractor’s work.

Construction in the ROW presents many challenges, like unknown conditions underground. Our inspectors interact with many businesses and members of public. They also encounter numerous traffic issues when making sure that continuing access to businesses and residents is provided during construction.

Finally, the Division Manager, Trish Wadsack, P.E., and Lek Mateo’s Technical Services team can be found at One Texas Center. Lek’s team consists of Vera Labriola, responsible for division support, Nan-

THE BREAKDOWN VALERIE DICKENS, P.E., is in charge of the three groups located at the Rio Grande Field Office and Valerie Rockwell, P.E., oversees the two groups located at the St. Elmo Field Office. Each of the five inspection groups has a supervisor, and in the future a lead inspector will also be assigned to every team. The leads and supervisors represent the most experienced of our inspectors.

Greg Weems was recently promoted to supervisor, and his group inspects a variety of projects in the City’s ROW. This includes many sidewalk projects, a large storm sewer project, and complex water utility projects.

ST. ELMO FIELD OFFICE:

Pat Webre’s team’s focus is largely street reconstruction projects. They’ve had many RIO GRANDE FIELD OFFICE: large, high-visibility projects of this type in Jim Vickery’s group has in-depth backrecent years. They also inspect many projects ground in facilities improvement inspection. for the Watershed Protection Department and His inspectors are currently working on a the Austin Water Utility. series of high-profile projects including Water Phillip Preslar’s inspectors have been asTreatment Plant 4, Hornsby Bend, and the signed to a variety of ROW projects but most Pilot Knob Pump Station. recently have been focused on the South Alexa Locklear’s group of inspectors has core IH 35 water and wastewater improvement training in basic civil construction. In recent program. It consists of 21 projects in the south years, they worked on many tunnel projects.

Austin area including many water transmisAlexa’s team has been assigned the inspection sion mains and several wastewater tunnels. of the important Waller Creek Tunnel Project.

24 STREET TALK JULY 2011

nett Holweger who handles project support, and Peggy Howard, an engineering technician who will work on project closeouts. Stay tuned- in the upcoming issues, we will visit each CIPID team

divisions

BY LUCIANO TAMAYO CONTRIBUTING WRITER

New Software launch in ESD

W

hile City employees are preparing to migrate to Microsoft Windows 7, ESD is getting ready to switch from Microstation to AutoCAD Civil 3D for their design software – and couldn’t be more excited about the change!

AutoCAD Civil 3D is a Building Information Modeling (BIM) solution for civil engineering design and documentation.

Civil 3D is designed for civil engineers, drafters, designers, and technicians working on transportation design, land development, and water projects.

The 2012 release has new tools to help speed the design and delivery of civil engineering projects and will help with cost savings for projects.

Some of the new features of the software are in the design, analysis, surveying, visualization, drafting and documentation, and collaboration and data management areas.

THE BREAKDOWN: Design

1. Civil 3D automatically calculates quantities and generates reports to export into cost-estimating software.

2. It lays out sanitary and storm drainage systems. It even provides pipe information such as invert elevations, size slope and type.

3. It includes terrain shaping tools capable of supporting large 3D models while maintaining the source data, including: contours, break lines, corridor models, and grading objects.

4. It can create alignments and profiles based on set-standards and allows the designer to check the standard while designing.

5. It also creates 3D models of transportation, land or water features using objects and data.

6. Civil 3D also includes a wizard-driven process, enabling a person to create dy-

namic 2D or 3D roundabouts and inter- jects and automatically updates annotation. section models.

2. It uses an extensive library of countryAnalysis specific CAD drafting styles, automates 1. Civil 3D performs geospatial queries, the layout of sheets and matches lines creates thematic maps, and conducts buf- along alignments to generate plans and profile sheets based on the layout. It also fer, tracing and overlay analysis.

2. Visual analysis tools enable the user to generates production plans - including visually inspect the line-of-sight, includ- fully annotated section sheets, profiles, ing point-to-point and sight distance and grading designs.

3. Civil 3D uses cartographic mapping along a corridor.

3. Dynamic model elements help with functionality to create maps that highlight stormwater and sanitary systems analy- specific features or information, such as ses. They can move data between Auto- wetland boundaries, zoning districts, land CAD and Civil 3D to create more design development, soil types and pipe sizes. scenarios.

Surveying

Collaboration & Data Management

1. It works with more than 4,000 real-world coordinate systems to create more accurate geo-reference and generates 3D models for GPS machine control design.

2. It converts and processes proprietary raw survey data into an Autodesk field book and offers help creating base plans.

It defines the critical transitions in site design, surveying, and roadway widening, and allows importing, creating, or editing figures.

3. Creates point clouds in the software using data from LIDAR scanning.

1. Civil engineering project teams are coordinated by working from the same consistent, up-to-date project model using data shortcuts and references from survey through construction management.

2. It offers direct access to geographic information system (GIS) data from a varied list of data sources and edits the geospatial data, polygon objects and merge functions, and populates attributes with data calculations and intrinsic object properties.

Visualization 1. Civil 3D will create a simpler and more effective 3D visualization by publishing model information to Google Earth mapping service or by creating 3D DWF files.

2. Another feature: 3D Max Design Civil View - Which transforms complex civil design geometry and models into compelling 3D design visualizations faster and more efficiently.

Drafting & Documentation 1. It has great Annotation Tools; deriving annotation directly from the design ob2011 JULY STREET TALK

25

divisions

BY STEVEN PENSHORN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Quality & Standards Management

E

xciting change is underway in the Public Works Department with the creation of the Quality and Standards Management Division (QSMD). This new Division will merge three existing teams, drawing on the strengths of each to provide greater value to City projects and better meet the customers’ needs. QSMD customers range from internal city groups to sponsor departments within the City.

Mike Boyle will manage the Division and brings with him the Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) team formerly known as the Program Management Office. Jay Ulary will oversee the QA/ QC team and will be joining forces with Wade Mullin’s Hazardous Materials Management Program and Steve Penshorn’s Engineering Technical Services group (ETS).

This move brings together Engineers, Land Surveyors, Geologists, and Architects who provide broad services and expertise that are highly sought around the City.

The different groups have a long history of focused and collaborative problem solving. The goals and processes of the groups are very similar, and the complementary

A QUICK LOOK INTO QUALITY & STANDARDS MANAGEMENT

nature of their functions will provide an environment which supports collaboration and customer service in the drive for excellence.

This merger provides a clear path to accomplish the Division’s commitment to improving quality and standards.

The new structure also includes two titles that are new to the City of Austin, the City Architect and City Engineer. Kit Johnson and Cuong Tran will be performing these respective duties and are valuable additions to QSMD. These positions will provide an avenue for interaction with other industry leaders, expert consulting and oversight, and integration of progres-

Sustainability Initiatives Design Commission Liaison Architectural Consulting and Oversight

Kit Johnson City Architect

Engineering Technical Services Steve Penshorn Surveying & Field Note Review Geotechnical Consulting Structural Consulting and Inspection Construction Materials Testing Review of Standards, Specifications & Structures in the ROW Architectural & Engineering Design

26 STREET TALK JULY 2011

sive initiatives into projects.

As QSMD moves forward, great emphasis will be placed on developing relationships with their customer base and determining ways to provide the greatest value to the customer and their projects.

Getting the message out about all of the services the Division offers will be key to maximizing the group’s success, and is just one way that QSMD is helping PWD to “Bring the Heat”.

Howard Lazarus, P.E. Director Keri Burchard-Juarez Assitant Director Mike Boyle Division Manager

Hazardous Materials Management Program Wade Mullin Hazardous Material Management Environmental Consulting

Sustainability Initiatives Design Commission Liaison Architectural Consulting and Oversight

Cuong Tran City Engineer

QA/QC Jay Ulary QAQC Standards & Specifications Rules Posting Claims Management Cost Estimating Management of Historical Cost Data

divisions

BY SARA KRAUSE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

NCD:

The Neighborhood Partnering Program to launch first major project this summer.

I

n 2009, the Austin City council adopted a resolution to create a costsharing program to provide communities and neighborhood organizations with a way to bring about public improvements. The program allows for communities to improve City owned properties or right-of-ways, through a cost-sharing mechanism. Communities can cost-share via in-kind labor, service donations or cash match to the program.

The Neighborhood Connectivity Division, under the leadership of Mike Curtis, houses the Neighborhood Partnering Program. Neighborhood Cost Sharing Programs exist in a few cities in the U.S., such as Arlington, TX, Hampton, VA and Seattle, WA. City staff worked to build the Neighborhood Partnering Program procedures as they related to Austin and Austin City government; resulting in a solid program that is expected to handle a large number of applications as the program goes into full-swing this summer with the launch of its first project.

A Model Partnership The Neighborhood Partnering Program (NPP) builds more than just infrastructure and beautification of local areas: it pulls community members together for a common goal. The very first project illustrates the potential of this program in Austin.

Foundation Communities is a 501(c)

(3) non-profit organization, “providing Foundation wanted to create a safe way service-enriched, high-quality affordable for area residents and Foundation staff to housing that enables families and indi- access the adjacent complexes, and the local elementary school.

The Foundation recognized that if the project were designed well, it could do much more than positively impact safety and provide transportation options.

In its application, the Foundation wrote: “We are also interested in streetscape improvements to beautify the street and tie together the community.”

St. Elmo, with its 44’ width, offered a lot of opportunities for a modified streetscape, and Foundation Communities developed a basic design in cooperation with representatives of the local neighborhood association. The result of this collaboration is a neighborhood friendly, multi-modal viduals with low incomes to permanently design including bike lanes and landimprove their educational and economic scaped pedestrian islands in St. Elmo. standing.” Established in 1990, the foun“From the beginning, it was obvious dation owns 11 communities in Austin we had a project that really fit the goals and 3 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. of this program,” says NCD Manager Mike Twenty years ago, Foundation Com- Curtis. “Because it’s a multi-modal design, munities purchased and remodeled Si- it gave us the opportunity to take a collaberra Ridge, an apartment community on orative approach in our own division and the South side of St. Elmo road between also seek the input of Assistant Director of South First and South Congress. In 2009, Transportation, Gary Schatz. A lot of work it had the opportunity to purchase and went into this and we’re looking forward remodel a complex on the opposite side to seeing the final product.” of the street, which is dubbed “Sierra VisThe Neighborhood Connectivity Dita.” At the same time, the Foundation has vision expects to complete construction expanded its afterschool program which by the end of the summer. serves the residents of both properties, as well as, the surrounding communities. The 2011 JULY STREET TALK

27

street talk extra

UPDATES FROM THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

WHO’S

THAT?

New Employee Breakfast QSM:

OOD:

KIT JOHNSON

JEANNETTE GILPIN

Hails from Houston. Working for HRD Engineering for five years she then came to the City at PARD working in the Finance Division before coming to PWD.

NCD: SARA KRAUSE

A native of Tucson, Arizona, she’s lived in Austin 15 years. She joins NCD after recently working with endurance athletes from the amateur to the professional level. Sara’s main interest is improving the City’s infrastructure so that every citizen has access to safe and affordable recreation and transportation opportunities.

ESD: OLIVIA HOANG

Comes to ESD as a summer intern and is working with Design Team 4. She just completed her sophomore year at UT Austin. Studying Civil Engineering, she will use her experience at ESD to help choose her field of specialization.

SSD: LETICIA TORRES

Is an Accountant Associate for the PWD Shared Services/ Project Accounting Division and has been a City employee since 2007. “She lives, works, and buys in Austin.”

A Native Texan and UT grad in architecture. His career has taken him to Dallas, San Francisco, San Antonio, and back to Austin. Returning to the capital city, he became the founding partner of Hailey | Johnson Architects. In 2008, he and his wife of 19 years (an interior designer) formed Architecture 365. He is the father of two energetic boys - his all time favorite construction project!

SBO: BRANDON LOWDEN

From Wimberley, but currently living in Round Rock, Brandon is married and has three sons. He has worked in construction since 1998 and follows in the footsteps of his family by running heavy equipment.

NEIL KOPPER

Is originally from Conway, Arkansas. He has a Masters in Civil Engineering from Oregon State University. After school, he took time to travel and volunteer on organic farms before starting his job search. Looking for jobs in cities with strong cycling reputations, he saw the Austin position and it became his top choice – and here he is!

ESD: KATHRYN TREVINO

Is an Engineering Associate on Design Team 3.

She earned a Civil Engineering degree from UT at San Antonio, she worked for Bexar County Infrastructure Services, TXDOT, and Civil Engineering Consultants (CEC). Kathryn brings specialized experience in the Transportation Engineering field.

28 STREET TALK JULY 2011

SBO:

RONNIE MINTER

VINCE SEGURA

Is a Truck Driver for SBO. He worked for “Key Energy” in Giddings previously, driving an oil tanker. Ronnie loves his job and aspires to move up the career ladder within the City.

SBO: RONNIE HARRIS

SBO: NCD:

SBO:

ENRIQUE LLAMAS joins the SBO team as a Truck Driver for the Central District. He recently moved from El Paso and is still nervous about the heavy traffic in Austin.

He worked with the El Paso County Water District and has experience in working with oil rigs.

CIPID: STEPHYN HOLLAND

Has over 40 years of construction experience in underground utilities, roads and bridges, water and wastewater plants, and tunnel construction.

He owned a business and served on the Houston Contractors Association Board of Directors. He volunteered with the Cypress Creek EMS (Harris County) as an EMT and is a licensed multi-engine instrument rated airplane pilot.

Joined the SBO team in April. He is a Street and Drainage Maintenance associate.

SBO: STEVEN ROBLES

is a new Superintendent with SBO. He worked for the City of San Antonio, Public Works and retired after serving 21 years. He then worked for a private contractor for 6 years. Steven is married with five kids and enjoys fishing, gardening, and cooking.

SBO: RICHARD SCOTT

is from Oklahoma, he moved to Texas and then Oregon, where he met his wife.

He has an extensive background in construction, mainly in underground utilities, road and site work. He moved to Austin in 2005 and worked as a Demolition Superintendent until the economic downturn. He joined SBO Districts in April.

Worked for PARD doing Park Maintenance before joining the SBO North District. He graduated from Texas Lutheran University and played baseball while in school. He enjoys his job at North District and plans on moving up to higher positions within the City.

SBO: CLAY RIVERS

Has been With the City for over 8 years, Clay has a Class C Water Distribution license and Class II Wastewater Collection Operator’s License through TCEQ. In April he became the Superintendent for SBO Utilities & Structures Division.

PMD: STEVE PARKS

Is a new Project Manager for PMD. He joined Public Works in January.

NCD: JOHN EASTMAN

John, his wife, and his two daughters (ages 6 and 8) relocated to warm, friendly Austin from Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He started his career in the private sector as a project manager on highway, airport, and infrastructure development projects.

For the last ten years, he worked as a County and City Planner.

Hot Zone

Street & Bridge Operations crew for W Hotel

SECURING THE W HOTEL

I

n May, Street and Bridge Operations was contacted by the Austin Police Department (APD) to assist in providing protection for President Obama’s visit to Austin. The assignment was to use heavy vehicles (dump trucks and water trucks) to block all vehicular access to the W Hotel where the President’s speech was held.

In order to provide the protection requested by the Secret Service through APD, a great deal of planning was required. APD met with David Magana, Fernando Ortegon and Gerald Nation before the President’s visit.

The plan was to use the City’s heavy vehicles to form a barricade around the President’s location. If a problematic vehicle attempted to breach the area, the heavy trucks would stop that breach. To make the heavy vehicles a more formidable obstruction, the dump trucks were filled with dolomite and the water trucks were filled with water.

The Street and Bridge team began the process of preparing for the visit by planning and taking action! A staging area was chosen, the equipment was checked, and 23 staff members were assigned to the project.

The schedules of employees were changed so they could assist. Then, the trucks were loaded with dolomite or water and the stage was set.

Information on the Street and Bridge personnel assigned to the project was submitted to obtain Secret Service clearance and the assignments were again reviewed with APD. On the day of the event, the employees were drove their respective trucks to the staging area on East 4th Street. There, the employees were given conduct instructions that had been provided by APD and the Secret Service. These instructions included: keep the vehicle running, do not depress the brake pedal, stay with the vehicle, do not let a vehicle through the blockade unless directed by the APD! All directives from APD and the Secret Service went through Gerald or Fernando.

Special instructions required Street and Bridge to place specific employees at one particular intersection where protestors were located. Juanita Tovar, Gerald Blocker, Fernando Ortegon, Shannon Wisner and Gerald Nation were assigned to work at this location.

APD arrived at the staging area to hold a meeting with all employees and provided a police escort for the team. The line of Street and Bridge vehicles were escorted to the area surrounding the W Hotel and City Hall and the trucks were positioned at their assigned locations curb to curb to block the streets. At some locations, as many as three trucks were used to provide proper security, which resulted in assigned areas being completely sealed off to vehicular traffic.

Thankfully, there were no major incidents in the secured area. The only incident involved the police subduing and arresting a disruptive and aggressive citizen.

The team provided road blockage from 3:00pm to 7:30pm and all employees represented the Street and Bridge organization in a professional manner. APD and the Secret Service also expressed their sincere appreciation to Street and Bridge for providing their support.

2011 JULY STREET TALK

29

hot zone

continued from pg. 29

aewcaorgdnsi&tion r The City of Austin, in an effort to identify future leaders, created the Executive Academy.

Attendees must be high potential employees who wish to develop professionally in order to compete for future executive vacancies in the City. The program includes eight monthly sessions and a project assignment. The Academy takes nearly a year to complete and applicants must compete for the openings. Congratulations are extended to the first-ever graduates of the Academy, including the following Public Works employees: BIMAL ADHIKARY

JEFFREY TRAVILLION

DAVID MAGANA

PATRICIA WADSACK

CIPID AWARDS: JEFF JEWETT

CONGRATULATIONS, GRAD! Our very own Annie Van Zant has recently graduated with a Masters of Applied Geography with a focus in Resource and Environmental Studies from Texas State University.

She began in 2007, and some of her most memorable classes include: Applied Water Resources, Environmental Law, Environmental Management, Karst Hydrogeography and Geomorphology, and Parks & Protected Places.

The title of her directed re-

search is “An Active Adaptive Management Program for Riparian Restoration & Rehabilitation in Austin, Texas.” She feels she learned so many things, and as a result grew personally and professionally. For anyone who might be interested, she highly recommends furthering your education and taking advantage of the City’s tuition reimbursement program, as she earned her degree at almost no personal cost.

Way to go, Annie!

Recently was given his service pin for his great 10 years of service!

RICK RAMONES Was chosen for the Pat on the Back Award for his excellent work on the ADA Sidewalk and Ramp Improvements-Group 10. Thanks, Rick!

DAVID SMYTHE-MACAULAY

Seal Coat 2 Team The members of Sealcoat 2: Carlos Brown, Felipe Cardiel, Randle Clark, Calvin Earvin, Carlos Frausto, Arthur Gatica, Thomas L. Hernandez Jr., William Hollins, Phill Jackson, Andres Medina, Eric Mendoza, Liborio Mendoza, Benny Palacios, Fermin Patino, Angel Rangel, Gilbert Rodríguez, Larry Salas, Daniel Sustaita, Ray Thompson

With great apologies from the CORE Team, the Seal Coat 2 Team won an award during the CORE Annual Awards Breakfast, but they were not recognized.

We want to take the opportunity to congratulate them here in Street Talk for the job well done!

“SEALING THE DEAL” This last year was challenging for the Seal Coat 2 Team due to many organizational changes and the loss of a superintendent. Even under difficult circumstances, this team completed 360 lane miles of seal coat with less complaints than in previous years. Now that’s sealing the deal!

30 STREET TALK JULY 2011

Annie Van Zant

menyteoarrof the PWD EMPLOYEES NOMINATED FOR ‘MENTOR OF THE YEAR’

Twenty City of Austin (COA) employees were recognized by school staff for excellence in serving as mentors and/or tutors to students in the Austin Independent School District (AISD). The recognitions were announced at Salute 2011, the annual celebration of AISD community partnerships and announcement of the AISD Teach-

Rick Ramones and Jeff Jewett

er of the Year. With almost 400 employees participating during the 2010/11 academic year, COA mentors and tutors had a great impact on students across the community.

Those awarded from PWD were Robin Field for her mentoring at St. Elmo Elementary and Rohini Kumarage for her mentoring at Becker Elementary. Kudos to these two for taking the time to represent our department and influence Austin’s youth. You can learn more about these programs and how you can participate during the 2011/12 academic year at http://cityspace.ci.austin. tx.us/services/mentor-and-tutor/.

Hot Zone promotio

ns CIPID: BRAND NEW LEAD INSPECTORS

SBO: LAWRENCE ALVAREZ

IGNACIO ARAUJO

Has accepted the position of Superintendent and will be responsible for the Central District operations.

He brings experience and proven management skills to the position and will be located at the 3511 Manor Road facility.

Has accepted the position of Heavy Equipment Operator Lead for District Operations of Street & Bridge and will report to North District located at 2412 Kramer Lane.

Ignacio Brings with him over 16 years of experience in operating Heavy Equipment.

FREDDIE ALONZO Has been with CIP Inspection for the last three years. Before he joined the team, he worked as a private inspector. He has a background in materials testing and paving. He has recently been one of the inspectors on the 7th Street Projects. Freddie will remain with Pat Webre’s team through the completion of the 7th Street Project.

KEVIN JONES Retired from the U.S. Army and has been with CIP Inspection since 2004. He is currently assigned to the Waller Creek Tunnel Project and he has worked on a lot of high visibility projects in his years with our division. Kevin will be the lead inspector on Alexa Locklear’s team.

SHON JOHNSON

JIM EVANS

Has accepted the position of Street & Drainage Maintenance Senior for District Operations of Street & Bridge and will report to North District located at 2412 Kramer Lane.

Shon Brings with him over 10 years of construction experience.

Is a U.S. Air Force veteran and has been with our division since 1999. Before he came to the City of Austin, he worked for TxDOT as an inspector. His most recent project is the Shoal Creek Allendale Storm Drain Improvement Project.

He will be the lead inspector for Greg Weems’ team.

Crossing Guard s

Kevin, Jim and Freddie

CROSSING GUARDS GET ‘CAUGHT CARING’ Every year, the Child Safety Team hosts a Crossing Guards Awards and Appreciation Luncheon.

This year’s luncheon featured some delicious BBQ, cupcakes, and prizes, and was held on Friday, May 13.

The purpose of the luncheon each year is to congratulate the Crossing Guards for their hard work and dedication to keeping our children safe as they walk to and from school.

Chris Moore, Child Safety Program Coordinator, handed out awards and her legendary and resounding “Waa-HOOO’s” to all of those who were “caught caring.” Everyone certainly left with a smile on their face and a full belly! The Child Safety team really knows how to put on a great event.

2011 JULY STREET TALK

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continued from pg. 31

y a d l o o h c bike tokisck off helps onth bike m For this year’s Bike or Walk to School Day, an event was held at Martin Middle School on May 6th to promote health awareness and bike safety. The event began with media coverage and staff interviews, includ-

ing Neighborhood Connectivity Division’s Nadia Barrera and Chris Moore. Later, students were dropped off by school busses on-site, provided with bikes, and interviewed as they were queued up to ride to Martin. Doug Ballew, with the Safe Routes to School program, led the crew as the kids biked their way to keep Austin active, healthy, and green!

Bike to School Day Department Directors

ent depar tm g n i t e e m s r o t c dire CITY OF AUSTIN 2011

On Tuesday, May 3rd, it was the Public Works Department’s turn to host the Department Directors Meeting. We thought it would be a great idea to have it at a newly completed Public Works managed project, so it was held at the Public Safety Training Facility (managed

32 STREET TALK JULY 2011

by Rossy Farina-Strauss). Before the meeting, the Department Directors were invited to attend a tour of the facility and have refreshments.

After a very interactive meeting, most of the Directors hung out to pose for a photo-op!

IN EVERY ISSUE

WHERE IS SHUV-L-REDDY?

Where In The World Is Shuv-L-Reddy?

Remember Carmen San Diego? Waldo? Well, Shuv wanted in on some of the action…play our guessing game as he wanders around the city at various PWD-related sites...and beyond!

Can you correctly identify both project site locations that Shuv-L-Reddy has visited? Write in to: streettalk@ ci.austin.tx.us for a chance to WIN A PRIZE! LOCATION 1

LOCATION 2

Answers from last issue: Location 1: Austin City Hall Location 2: Public art piece: Prada Storefront; Marfa, TX 2011 JULY STREET TALK

33

events calendar 2011 JULY

Monday

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1

2

0

Music Under The Stars 6- 9 PM Bob Bullock Museum (FREE)

4

5

0

4th of JulyIndependence Day Offices Closed

7:30 PM- 9:45 PM Zilker Park (FREE)

2

1

1

9

Roadway Safety

New Employee Safety Orientation

class 8:30 AM-12:30 PM Cheathem Facility

class 1-5 PM LRC

5

2

6

2

4

1

K.G.S.R Blues on the Green 7:30 PM- 9:45 PM Zilker Park (FREE)

6

1

7

2

2

Nature Night

8

2

Computer Ergonomics

class 8 AM-4 PM OTC-325

class 8-9 AM OTC-500

3

2

Sunday

6-9 PM Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (FREE)

Defensive Driving

34 STREET TALK JULY 2011

5

1

1

1

7

0

1

Sunday

2

2

9

7:30- 10 PM The Long Center (FREE)

class 8 AM-12 PM OTC-325

2

0

10 AM- 12 PM 2913 Northland Drive

Concerts in the Park

CPR

0

1

Northwest Rec. Center Ribbon Cutting

Sunday

6 PM- 10:45 PM Fiesta Gardens Building

3

9:30 AM IH-35 and 7th Sreet Parking Lot

8

8

0

Eastside Movie in the Park

1 IH-35 Makeover Ribbon Cutting

1

3

OTC-325

K.G.S.R Blues on the Green

Sunday 0

New Employee Safety Defensive Driving Orientation class 8 AM-4 PM class 1-5 PM LRC

1

7

6

0

0

0

0

4

2

9

2

0

3

Sunday

1

3

AUGUST Monday

1

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

Friday

4

0

0

2

0 Safety Meeting (PMD/ESD/NCD) class 8:30-9:30 AM OTC-325

6 PM- 10:45 PM Fiesta Gardens Building

class 8:30-9:30 AM OTC-325

5

2

class 8 AM-4 PM OTC-325

Back 2 SchoolFirst Day of Classes

9

2

4

1

9

0

1

Safety Meeting Watershed Protection

2

Sunday

1

class 9-10 AM OTC-325

2

5

4

2

2

Computer Ergonomics class 8-9 AM OTC-500

class 8-9 AM Cheathem Facility

0

8

7

Safety Meeting (S&B) Utilities & Structure

3

3

1

9 AM- 12 PM Convention Center

1

1

3

class 8-9 AM OTC-325

Back 2 School Bash

class 8-9 AM Cheathem Facility

2 Safety Meeting (Austin Transportation)

2

1

Sunday

7:30 PM- 9:45 PM Zilker Park (FREE)

2

1

Safety Meeting (S&B) District Maintenance

K.G.S.R Blues on the Green

class 8-9 AM OTC-325

7

0

1

0

1 Safety Meeting Watershed Protection

6

0

Sunday

class 8 AM-4 PM OTC-325

1

6

1

5

7:30 PM- 9:45 PM Zilker Park (FREE)

0

Safety Meeting Support Service/ Construction Inspection

Defensive Driving

K.G.S.R Blues on the Green

9

8

0 Defensive Driving

class 8-9 AM Cheathem Facility

Eastside Movie in the Park

0

3

0

Safety Meeting (S&B) Pavement & Infrastructure

Saturday

6

2

7th Street Reconstruction Grand Opening

7

2

9-11 AM

Sunday

8

2

1

3

2011 JULY STREET TALK

35

Exercise

YOUR Independence WRITE IN TO US WITH YOUR SUGGESTIONS REGARDING:

Hot Zone

NOMINATIONS

WRITING A GUEST COLUMN PHOTO CONTRIBUTION SPECIAL EVENTS GOING ON IN YOUR DIVISION EMPLOYEE PROFILE NOMINATIONS ...AND ANYTHING ELSE WE MAY HAVE MISSED OR YOU WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT

CONTACT US:

streettalk@ci.austin.tx.us