ZNEWS Archives for 1994

meeting
NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING
Monday, December 5, 7:00 pm
Zilker School Cafeteria
1900 Bluebonnet Lane
Agenda
Parks & Recreation Deparunent Presentation
Ron Sparks and Michael Heitz from PARD will speak to the neighborhood on several issues:
1934 Trail oflights: current plans for traffic management
Upcoming review of the present policy regarding special events held at parklands such as Auditorium Shorts and Zillker Park and a discussion of the impact on our neighborhood in terms of noise, traffic, etc. Index(meeting)

foodland
Recap of October 3 ZNA Meeting: Foodland Remodeling At the meeting of the Zilker Neighborhood Association, Foodland officials including company president B. J. Armstrong, announced plans to remodel the Lamar Plaza store. New meat and dairy cases, new flooring, a restructured single entrance, and in-store bakery are planned. The remodel is scheduled to start in January and the store will remain open during the estimated six weeks of construction.
Neighbors present at the meeting requested that Foodland consider adding such items as organic vegetables and fruits, a greater variety ofproduce, and better quality locally-baked breads. Shoppers polled at the meeting named Whole Foods, Randalls and Central Market as their principal food stores. Oddly, Mr. Armstrong, a lifelong grocery industry professional, said he had never visited a Whole Foods. Still he claimed a sincere interest in feedback from the neighborhood about our wants and said he would welcome any suggestions. You can call him with your thoughts at Foodland headquarters at 834-9177. Index(foodland)

auditorium_shore_noise
The Boogie-Woogie Blues in Our Own Backyard
If you are one of the many people who were disturbed by the Steamboat Benefit at Auditorium Shores on September 25 you may have wondered why this kind of disturbance was allowed to occur on a Sunday evening until midnight. A special permit was granted by PARD for this event. A month later on October 23, the Hispanic Music Festival brought music into our neighborhood at stratospherically loud levels again on a Sunday evening. Interestingly, PARD off;cials were experimenting with sound and speaker management that night. Their intention was to keep the sound from bothering Bouldin Creek Neighborhood residents, who have a long history of very vocal protest and well-organized agitation as a result ofthe neighborhood's status as a virtually besieged state during AquaFest. On this evening, PARD aimed speacers to the west as opposed to the usual south. Apparently this arrangement was very successful in mitigating noise in the Bouldin area; unfortunately it was disastrous for Zilker. At a November 10 meeting between PARD and neighborhood representatives from Bouldin, South River City (Travis Heights), Old West Austin, and Zilker, plans for this year's AquaFest were discussed. However representatives of these groups were unanimous in their feeling that AquaFest is not really the primary issue. The more important concern is the specia events policy itself and the need for limiting the frequency ofevents, curtailing late evening hours of such events, and implementing lower decibel-level standards. Guidelines for such events are a part of the policy which is in review. To make your views on these matters known, attend the ZNA meeting. Index(auditorium)

Zilker_year_round_school
Year-Round School at Zillker Elementary! The prospect of a year-round school caendar continues to be debated by teachers, parents, and administrators at our neighborhood elementary school. At a November 15 meeting Principa Elida Bera noted that the state-mandated number of school days would stay the same; the change is in how vacation days would be distributed throughout the year.
A surprising fact reported by Zilker librarian Jadde Kraa is that there is no evidence to support the assumption that year-round schools improve children's overall learning abilities or achievement. In amost every state where year-round schools have been implemented, noted Kraal, the reason has been economic: overcrowded schools were forced to mace fulltime use of their buildings when voters denied bonds to build new schools.
The economic factor has no relevance to Zilker's situation; as the school is not overcrowded and the change would have no impact on building usage. One advantage of a year-round schedule is the prospect of less teacher and student burn-out. The debate continues. Index(Zilker)

znews_delivers
Thank you, Deliverers !! It's been some time since we've expressed our appreciation to the many folks who help distribute the ZNews. Special recognition must be given to the Bouns, Fabos, Kaplans, Kickes, Oeltjens, Ogorzays, Parks, Petersons, and Vajgerts. Also thanks to lames, Margaret, Jeff, Georgina, John Z., Barbara, Fontaine, John H., Karen, Kay, Kevin, Sarah, Glenna, Mike, Marcellina and Richard. All these folks have delivered cheerfully and consistently for many years. If you can help deliver, (it's good exercise!) we still need help for the following streets: Nash/Baurle, Heather, Anita, Ford, Goodrich, Blue Crest, Frrazier, Rabb (Eastside), and Arpdae/Deverne. Index(znews)