T he March meeting of the HPNA was well-attended and covered myriad new and revisited topics of concern to neighbors. First, three candidates for the May 7th Austin City Council election attended and gave very brief overviews of their qualifications and experience. Lee Leffingwell is a candidate for Place 1, the seat being vacated by Darryl Slusher. Information on Mr. Leffingwell is available at www.leeleffingwell.com. Jennifer Kim is running for Place 3. Her website is www.kimforaustin.com. Current Council Member Betty Dunkerley is running for re-election to Place 4. Her campaign website is www.keepbetty.com.

The next item on the agenda was an update from last month's meeting on the proliferation of graffiti and assistance from Grande Communications in fighting the unwanted tagging. Charity Naiser from Grande Communications came back to report on a new Policies and Guidelines Related to Graffiti Abatement that has been approved by Grande since the February HPNA meeting. One of the main components of this new policy as it relates to Hyde Park is that Grande will approve decorative stenciling (within specific guidelines) of the Grande metal pedestals in North Central Austin. An example of this stenciling can be seen at the southwest corner of 43rd and Ave. G. Grande would like the stenciling plan including design, paint color and content to be approved and recommended by neighborhood association officials and presented for final approval by Grande. Implementation will be up to the neighborhood association. Charity then reported on an anti-graffiti bill HB1440, introduced in the Texas House of Representatives by a Houston representative. The

bill includes fines of at least $50 for graffiti participants plus payment for any equipment damaged. She encouraged everyone present to call our Representative, Elliott Naishtat to express support for this bill. Any questions about the new Grande graffiti abatement policy or anyone who'd like to volunteer to help work on the problem in the neighborhood should contact John Kerr, HPNA president jfk@grandecom.net. Editor's Note: Elaine Meenehan of 4100 Duval has graciously agreed to lead the establishment of an anti-graffiti committee for the Association; and an introductory letter from the committee's founding chair appears elsewhere in this issue. Our thanks to Ms. Meenehan for answering the call to address this challenge!     After these discussions, John made some update announcements. Back in November, HPNA voted to request the City of Austin to enforce decisions made by bodies such Continued on page 11