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Today I attended my neighborhood association's annual Christmas party pot luck.
There were a lot of really boring parts to the program, and I didn't talk to anyone, but there were a few interesting bits.
My favorite was when the new association president played us the video he made about the history of our neighborhood. I recognized his name from his ads in the newsletter (I think he's a real estate agent), so now I know how to pronounce Lueke (rhymes with kooky). He looks like a male model, so right away my prejudices that he might be a self-centered jerk reared their ugly heads. But when he accidentally ran his face into the microphone when he got distracted, that helped.
The video started with one of those voices that sound like an announcer from the 'fifties, so that was funny, but it turned out to be an actual promotional ad from the 'fifties, which was even funnier. It was from a residential builder promoting Austin, but the houses were clearly from our neighborhood. They were very proud of the asbestos siding for example. And we could see it was painted with brushes. The houses had the same windows as we have, each made from 4 matching rectangular pieces of glass (one across the top, one across the bottom and two side-by-side uprights, one of which opens out). Three times they said--and spelled out on the screen--"Quality at no extra cost!" So this was proposed as our new neighborhood slogan.
Then he went on to show a bunch more boring stuff, but with plenty of snide remarks and questions to keep things lively. "Do you recognize this intersection? Neither did I and I live on one of those streets." A few trees have grown up in the last 50 years. So he turns out to have a great sense of humor. And he humors all the little old ladies who like to put one arm around him while they whisper messages in his ear for him to pass on to us.
I also got to see the proposed replacement for the "jug handle," which someone has dubbed "the gooseneck." They're going to make it so you can go under the bridge and turn right on 53rd. Right now you have to pass by and it's a long time before you get to another real street, so many residents cut through a parking lot.
Sadly, the 53rd Street/Cameron Road intersection is something we avoid unless it's two in the morning because it's almost impossible to to turn left onto Cameron like we want to. But the proposal includes a traffic light, so that could be good. But will that make the Cameron road traffic back up even worse during rush hour? Maybe; it's hard to tell.
Doing this will require that they tear down the overpass that I use to cross the freeway as a pedestrian, but they are adding sidewalks to the parts the drivers use, so that might be okay too. Overall, I'm guessing I'll give it a thumbs up. If it works, this will save so much gas and pollution and obnoxiousness and confusion over the "jughandle" detour into the old airport.
I also learned that Cameron Road used to go to Cameron, Texas, a town about 70 miles northeast of Austin.
I still don't really get the point of neighborhood associations, though. Apparently what got ours started is a that a bunch of people wanted a bigger place for our library which was then in a strip mall. And they got a bigger spot in the strip mall and, 18 years later, a new library. I get the idea that we were fighting other neighborhoods for that library (because city funds are limited). And I learned a little about why there are two statues of lions out front. It's so that we can read between the lions.
They also "fought" to move the airport as the planes got bigger and louder. I didn't mind the airport being there, but I did like the t-shirts. On the front it just said "Move It" in a small circle on the chest. On the back is a view through a window to somebody's backyard. On the window sill are a nice plant and a few books behind a bookend. The book whose title you can read is something about airplane crashes. Then in the backyard, what takes up most of the view is a jetliner landing in it. Fun!
They also worked to get a new pool and a splash park in our local park. And they are pround that our neighborhood won the backyard wildlife award last year (neighborhood with the most new certifications?). And they pull weeds in the park and pollution out of the creek. And there's a garden and an annual fall festival.
And a page taped to the wall had some demographics which I've just double-checked online. Windsor Park has 16,000 people in 2.5 square miles. Only a couple hundred are members of the neighborhood association, though at one point, 500 were. The median household income is 38K per year, compared to 50K in Austin overall. We're half Hispanic, 1/3 white, and most of the rest are black, but virtually everyone at the meeting was white. The average age is 29, but, although it wasn't mostly old people at the meeting this time, it was mostly old people and middle-aged people.
Cake of the Day
Ho hum, just two colors:
Here's a close-up:
Let's get a little closer:
There were a lot of really boring parts to the program, and I didn't talk to anyone, but there were a few interesting bits.
My favorite was when the new association president played us the video he made about the history of our neighborhood. I recognized his name from his ads in the newsletter (I think he's a real estate agent), so now I know how to pronounce Lueke (rhymes with kooky). He looks like a male model, so right away my prejudices that he might be a self-centered jerk reared their ugly heads. But when he accidentally ran his face into the microphone when he got distracted, that helped.
The video started with one of those voices that sound like an announcer from the 'fifties, so that was funny, but it turned out to be an actual promotional ad from the 'fifties, which was even funnier. It was from a residential builder promoting Austin, but the houses were clearly from our neighborhood. They were very proud of the asbestos siding for example. And we could see it was painted with brushes. The houses had the same windows as we have, each made from 4 matching rectangular pieces of glass (one across the top, one across the bottom and two side-by-side uprights, one of which opens out). Three times they said--and spelled out on the screen--"Quality at no extra cost!" So this was proposed as our new neighborhood slogan.
Then he went on to show a bunch more boring stuff, but with plenty of snide remarks and questions to keep things lively. "Do you recognize this intersection? Neither did I and I live on one of those streets." A few trees have grown up in the last 50 years. So he turns out to have a great sense of humor. And he humors all the little old ladies who like to put one arm around him while they whisper messages in his ear for him to pass on to us.
I also got to see the proposed replacement for the "jug handle," which someone has dubbed "the gooseneck." They're going to make it so you can go under the bridge and turn right on 53rd. Right now you have to pass by and it's a long time before you get to another real street, so many residents cut through a parking lot.
Sadly, the 53rd Street/Cameron Road intersection is something we avoid unless it's two in the morning because it's almost impossible to to turn left onto Cameron like we want to. But the proposal includes a traffic light, so that could be good. But will that make the Cameron road traffic back up even worse during rush hour? Maybe; it's hard to tell.
Doing this will require that they tear down the overpass that I use to cross the freeway as a pedestrian, but they are adding sidewalks to the parts the drivers use, so that might be okay too. Overall, I'm guessing I'll give it a thumbs up. If it works, this will save so much gas and pollution and obnoxiousness and confusion over the "jughandle" detour into the old airport.
I also learned that Cameron Road used to go to Cameron, Texas, a town about 70 miles northeast of Austin.
I still don't really get the point of neighborhood associations, though. Apparently what got ours started is a that a bunch of people wanted a bigger place for our library which was then in a strip mall. And they got a bigger spot in the strip mall and, 18 years later, a new library. I get the idea that we were fighting other neighborhoods for that library (because city funds are limited). And I learned a little about why there are two statues of lions out front. It's so that we can read between the lions.
They also "fought" to move the airport as the planes got bigger and louder. I didn't mind the airport being there, but I did like the t-shirts. On the front it just said "Move It" in a small circle on the chest. On the back is a view through a window to somebody's backyard. On the window sill are a nice plant and a few books behind a bookend. The book whose title you can read is something about airplane crashes. Then in the backyard, what takes up most of the view is a jetliner landing in it. Fun!
They also worked to get a new pool and a splash park in our local park. And they are pround that our neighborhood won the backyard wildlife award last year (neighborhood with the most new certifications?). And they pull weeds in the park and pollution out of the creek. And there's a garden and an annual fall festival.
And a page taped to the wall had some demographics which I've just double-checked online. Windsor Park has 16,000 people in 2.5 square miles. Only a couple hundred are members of the neighborhood association, though at one point, 500 were. The median household income is 38K per year, compared to 50K in Austin overall. We're half Hispanic, 1/3 white, and most of the rest are black, but virtually everyone at the meeting was white. The average age is 29, but, although it wasn't mostly old people at the meeting this time, it was mostly old people and middle-aged people.
Cake of the Day
Ho hum, just two colors:
Here's a close-up:
Let's get a little closer: