Let's Keep Hyde Park Spotless

L ast month's appeal for help with our graffiti problem brought a small but spirited response. Most encouraging was the emergence of Elaine Meenehan as the new chair of the Graffiti Committee. See her letter in this issue of the Pecan Press.

My own personal encounter with graffiti came a couple of weeks ago when I discovered my trash can had been sprayed. Using the anti-graffiti wipes provided by Grande Communication, I was able to erase it completely in about 75 seconds. Of course, surfaces and paints vary, but usually, if you react quickly, graffiti comes off readily.     Neighbor Mary Carolyn George recently noted that Manhattan was once horribly disfigured by graffiti, but these days you rarely see it there. Part of the reason, she says, is that the city Pecan Press The Pecan Press is published monthly by the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association in Austin, Texas. Editor Grant Thomas   454-7284 hgthomas@youthlaunch.org Associate Editor Sarah Sitton   459-4530   307 E. 39th St. Poetry Editor Nancy Taylor Day   892-0127 Nancy@ciphersbyritter.com 4001 Duval (Salon) 78751 Crime Reporter Hermelinda Zamarripa   974-9097 hermelinda.zamarripa@ci.austin.tx.us Advertising Director Mike Capochiano   4904 Avenue H   467-9198 Production Manager Robert M. Farr   731-0617 bobfarr@austin.rr.com Mail Ads to: Print Deluxe 7500 Chelmsford Dr. Austin, TX 78736 Note: Each month's ad and editorial deadline is the 15th of month preceding publication. Distribution Coordinator Herb Dickson   4401 Avenue D   458-4335 Area Coordinators North of 45th/West of Duval - Pam Dozler 458-8927 North of 45th/East of Duval - Sarah Heather 452-8486 South of 45th/West of Speedway - The Gossetts 452-3654 South of 45th/East of Speedway - Martha Campbell 452-2815 Contributors Glen Alyn, Candy Gray Becker, Cynthia Beeman, Laurence Becker, Mary Collins Blackmon, George Bristol, Chris&Sharon Brown, Lewis Brownlow, Katherine Bryn, Mark Burkhardt, Amon Burton, Martha Campbell, Inga Marie Carmel, Nicole Caspers, Kitty Clark, Carol Cohen Burton, Mike Capochiano, Susan Crites-Krumm, Celeste Cromack, Rob D'Amico, Herb Dickson, Avis Davis, Don Davis, Lynn Denton, Pam Dozler, Cathy Echols, Merle Franke, Gregory Free, Larry Frelich, Robert Garrett, Mary Carolyn George, Larry&Susan Gilg, Ann S. Graham, Carolyn  E. Grimes, Ben&Sandi Heimsath, John&Susan Kerr, Bo Kersey, Susan Kirk, Anna Kotecki, Mary Lehmann, Dennis Lensing, Karen McGraw, Sharon Majors, Alan Marburger, Peter Maxson, Brook Meggs, Fred Meredith, Susan Moffat, Jill Nokes, Wanda Penn, Cecil Pennington, Peter Pfeiffer, Dorothy Richter, Sheree Scarborough, Cathy Short, Sarah&Thad Sitton, Julie Strong, Kathleen Strong, Lao Tzu, Jennifer Vickers, Katie Vignery, Sandra Villalaz-Dickson, Lorre Weidlich, Joe Wiseman

banned the sale of spray paint to minors. I have memories of trying to buy spray paint at Breed Hardware and being asked to wait while the clerk went for the key to the spray paint cabinet. Apparently Austin had an ordinance requiring spray paint to be locked up as part of its anti-graffiti effort. Perhaps it's time to rev up that ordinance again.     Speaking of anti-graffiti ordinances, please email or call our man at the Legislature, Rep. Elliot Naishtat, and ask him to support HB1440, which sharply increases the penalties for graffiti. His phone number: 463-0668. To email, go to www.house.state.tx.us/ members/ email.php?dist=49&rep=elliott.naishtat and use the form provided.     Finally, does anybody happen to know the whereabouts of Steve Martin, who formerly ran Rowell Shoe Service at Duval and Park Blvd.? He used to give us a solvent that would remove anything from any surface, including the log cabin at Shipe Park. HPNA should buy this stuff in bulk and distribute it widely. But first we have to find out what it is and where to get it.     Useful URL Dept. Every wonder what sort of building project is going on next door? To find out, check out the city's handy permit database at www.ci.austin.tx.us/pierivr/permit_menu.cfm. Just enter the address you're curious about and see what you find. The database goes back at least 20 years. -- John Kerr 4209 Ave. F 451-3931 jfkerr@yahoo.com

I noticed the bird as I was getting out of the car after returning from work. It caught my attention immediately because, at about two feet tall, it was quite large and was perched confidently on a barren limb about 10 feet above my garage.

    It was March in the year 2001, and the pecan trees had not yet gotten their first spring greenery. So the bird really stood out, just perched up there in the sticks. The bird and I stared at each other for a few minutes, and then it flew away. I was surprised the next day when I pulled up to see not one, but two of these big birds perched in the tree. Over the next weeks, my family watched, fascinated, as the birds began to gather sticks and twigs, messing with them and fitting them together to make a nest in the most unlikely looking nook over in the pecan tree by the garage. The spring greenery was still nowhere to be found, so the nest looked all alone up there, just a gathering of sticks in