First, I've got to mention the Historic Hyde Park Homes Tour, which we did back on Father's Day weekend. There were a lot of last minute efforts going into the preparation of the homes, the arrangement of transportation and trolley conductors and advertisements, distributing of tickets, designing and printing brochures, putting up banners, posting yard signs, arranging for musicians and dancers, getting all of the right publicity, making last minute changes to the web site, arranging for the antique cars, etc. etc.

You get the idea. The tour volunteers looked like a big bunch of busy bees, but they were happy bees. My impression was that everyone was really enjoying being part of the tour. I know that these folks definitely wouldn't want to make a career out of the tasks that they chose during this last tour, but for that brief weekend, everything seemed to come together very nicely for one heck of a tour. I am very proud of the effort that went into the tour and it wouldn't have been possible without the literally hundreds of Hyde Park neighbors who chipped in. I thank you all for making it such a success. After the tour was over that Sunday, we did have a post tour party where you could definitely see the joy and the relief in the faces of the folks in attendance.

Now, regarding next year's tour, we will be starting the planning effort at about the same time in February so that we can get the early issues worked out. This is where you the reader come in. If

Hyde Park Neighborhood Association P.O.Box 49427 - Austin, TX 78765 http://www.hydepark-na.org --- HPNA Officers --- Co-President - Bob Breeze, 4815 Ave G 452-3850 Co-President - Gary Penn, 3913 Ave G 452-3103 Secretary - Glenn Coleman, 207B E. 43rd 407-9357 Treasurer - Mike Capochiano, 4904 Ave H 467-9198 Treasurer Emerita - Josephine Casey HPNA Committee/Task Forces AISD - Ann Graham, 3815 Ave H 458-8096 Alley Coordinator - Volunteer needed Beautification - Margot Thomas, 4106 Ave F 454-7284     - Merle Franke, 4102 Ave D 452-0414 Children's Programs - Anne Graham, 3815 Ave H 458-8096 Church Liasion - Niyanta Spelman, 3802 Ave F 459-8349 Communications/Web - Mark Fishman, 3905 Ave G 371-7920 Crime and Safety - Bruce Nadig, 615 E 48th 452-0781 Development Review - Stan Kozinsky, 4604 Ave G 451-4455 Homes Tour 2003 - Volunteer needed Membership - Jeff Woodruff, 4007 Ave B 451-3978 Neighborhood Planning - Karen McGraw, 4315 Ave C 459-2261 Mueller Task Force - John Kerr, 4209 Ave F 451-3931 Shipe Park - Suzee Brooks, 4900 Ave H 459-5115 Sidewalks - Volunteer needed 38th Street Taskforce - Volunteer needed Triangle Development - Cathy Echols, 4002 Ave C 206-0726 Zoning - Dorothy Richter, 3901 Ave G 452-5117 Austin Neighborhoods Council Rep. - Vol needed

you know of a home that you think should be on next year's tour, please let me know. We are particularly interested in seeing homes of merit that haven't been on the tour before for next year's tour. Just be sure to e-mail me the address of the home that you would like to see on the next tour to breeze99@texas.net and I'll be sure to include it on the roster of prospective homes for next year.

Now, onto a subject that is near and dear to most Hyde Park residents... Garbage Pickup! Both Gary Penn and myself did the tour of the Hyde Park alleys with Willie Rhodes, the head of the Solid Waste Services Department of the city. We wanted to see, first hand, the issue that they had brought to us, that being the problem that the garbage pickup crews had been experiencing when they tried to maneuver their trucks through the alleyways. They had mentioned that the vegetation had begun to choke up the alleys and they were experiencing problems getting their trucks through. What Gary and I saw was not very encouraging. With all of the rain we have experienced, the amount of brush and trees that had grown into almost all of the alleyways was astonishing. We asked that the Solid Waste Department identify the alleys throughout the neighborhood that they were experiencing problems with. What we received back was a map of the neighborhood with ALMOST EVERY ALLEY in need of a haircut. In my last article, I asked that any civic-minded neighbor who was interested in going after this problem to volunteer to be part of a team that would make an attempt to tackle this problem. But based on the response that I received, we currently don't have near enough personnel to complete this task. So I'll ask again, that if you'd like to participate and spend one or two Saturdays going after some bushy alleys, please give me a call at 452-3850 or e-mail me at the address below.

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