Co-President's Desk
of directing densification to appropriate sites within the city such as the Mueller tract, the Triangle, the recently announced Featherlite and Tips Iron Works tracts and other redevelopments of existing commercial and apartment sites. There are at least two problems with this strategy:
- it means involvement with (shudder) politics, and,
- individual landowners will loudly assert their right to develop their property (the lot located next to your house) intensively.
Mr. Bryan King, the head of the Austin Neighborhoods Council, says that more development of the same sort that already exists in a neighborhood is "infill", while development of a much more intense nature (Superduplexes, the forthcoming Superhouses) is "inpacking" and that he is opposed to "inpacking". In my own view, garage apartments are "infill" while duplexes two or three times the size of their neighbors are "inpacking".
I hope that Glen and Pam will have the enthusiastic support of the entire neighborhood during the coming year while they confront these problems and the host of others that will no doubt spring up, unanticipated.
| -- | Gary Penn HPNA Co-President garypenn@swbell.net |
State Hospital to Neighborhood: Thank You Hyde Park!
Dear Neighbors,
The Volunteer Services Council (VSC) of Austin State Hospital www.ashvolunteers.org wishes to thank the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association for your generous donation of $2,500. This money, along with funds raised by the VSC, will be used for a landscape improvement project at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit (CAPS) located at 904 W. 45th St.
The CAPS Unit, founded in 1966, provides a lifeline for mentally ill children and their families who live in 69 rural and urban counties in the Central, South and East Texas area. CAPS goal is to help these children, adolescents and their families overcome the disabling effects of mental illness and improve their ability to function at home, at school, and in the community.
The staff at Austin State Hospital would also like to thank the organizers of the Hyde Park Homes Tour for the opportunity to partner with you. The two-day event brought a steady stream of visitors to our campus. Many of them said that this was their first opportunity to see the ASH administration building -- Texas' third-oldest public building. The event provided our staff and volunteers with an opportunity not only to show off the building, but also to dispel some of the myths surrounding mental illness -- past and present -- and to educate the public on the current status of treatment at our facility.
Three cheers to our neighbors for your good will, good work, and generous support. We look forward to partnering with you again in the future!
| -- | Wendy Biro-Pollard Director of Community Relations, Austin State Hospital 419-2333 |
