Location: Ridgetop Baptist Church
7pm Lisa D’Augustine opened the meeting. 9 members in attendance
Neighborhood updates
51st Street aesthetics –Meredith
This effort has been in process for over 2 years. RNA was able to send one person from our neighborhood.
- Small group participating from nearby neighborhoods. 15 people from COA, TxDot, etc.
- First 1.5 hours—orientation shared before at other public meetings
- 51st, Mueller, Windsor Park photos and people selected road elements
- 1 developer from Mueller
- Topics discussed
- Art elements
- Trees and ground cover
- Hard surface recommendations, including pavers
- Want to finalize the plans and start construction between March and July
- All citizens are encouraged to send feedback to Karen Lorenzini (Karen.lorenzini@txdot.gov)—but this needs to be submitted right away.
- Clint will summarize the meeting and post relevant documents to ridgetopaustin.org
53 1/2 Street roundabouts–Billy
- Placed on Tuesday. Already some pins knocked down. Large trucks can no longer pass through there.
- This is a proof of concept to determine if they help the community. If we decide we want them to be permanent, we’ll need to work with the city to secure funding.
- Speed is significantly slower. Lots of honking, especially when several people arrive at the same time. It will take time to know which challenges will change with time and which issues will be more long term. Could we find a driver’s ed video for a 1-lane roundabout and post. Pedestrian safety is also diminished.
- Billy will provide some initial feedback to the city. E.g. people taking left turns. Will inquire about replacing poles. 12/16/15 update: signs placed.
- Martha raised a question about people parking too close to the intersection. Clint suggested call to 311 and report it as an issue. They will eventually send a traffic engineer to assess; then, they place the signs. This can be a 6-month process.
Websites and social media
The discussion to consider archiving the Yahoo site was postponed to the next business meeting. It was suggested that we consider that Yahoo will send the full message for a given post, whereas Nextdoor only offers and link.
Open discussion for generating ideas for increasing membership, revenue, and participation. Summary of key points and suggestions.
- There will always be a percentage of people who feel that we are not communicating enough. When we vote on things to determine letters of support. How do we get a roster that we can use to reach out people in order to collect votes on key issues and to pay their dues? This list would be used only by officers. Reach out once yearly to confirm still living here and remind the resident to pay their dues.
- Clint suggested that we assemble a roster that would only be used by the President to reach out via email/phone to encourage them to offer they votes on key issues.
- Lisa B suggested we should also remind members that they can give their written proxy to fellow RNA members.
- It was also suggested that, maybe once per year, we send out a direct mailer or newsletter to keep people informed.
- Martha suggested once yearly a streamed “State of the Neighborhood” meeting
- Lisa B suggested we could also communicate in newsletter or something similar the processes for participation.
- Next Step: Lisa D and Lisa B will update the roster.
Upcoming meetings
- January Social: in 2nd week of January, TBD
- January meeting with Council Member Greg Casar—Lisa D. is working with his staff to secure a date
- February 22, 7 pm: Next regular RNA business meeting
Ridgetop Neighborhood Association 