Odd Lots of Common Sense
Commissioner  David  Gray - in exile

2015 -  2016

City of Austin Commission on Seniors
davidTgray@SeniorCommission.info
SeniorCommission.info
512-913-0326

Adulthood is where dreams come to die.  In old age they come back to life.
Smile at a Senior  and  living history  Smiles Back
  Delve deeper, and the wisdom of the ages may be revealed  

 
  
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   FORTRESS  AUSTIN  

A time has come when we must think about protecting the Dream of Austin - the allure of low stress living is gone.  In our quest accommodate our neighbors we have destroyed a soft and gentler lifestyle.  We cleaned-up the air and water only to pollute our lives with stress.  Bump-into the person next-to-you.  Defenses go-up and in a crowded city you're on-all-the-time.  Drive down crowded narrow lane streets, it's like running a gauntlet.  This is STRESS.  

The average car is on the road 10% of the time.  Run 10% of the cars, 100% of the time and accomplish the same.  Recycle existing transportation funds employing newer rideshare technologies to lighten-up the roadways.

I imagine a moat surrounding Austin.  There is a drawbridge and every visitor who crosses will pay, contributing to roadway costs.  They line-up like race horses at 7, 8, 9 in the morning flooding into our sleepy city.  About a million people live here and a million live out-there.  They spend half their time here.  They can pay half of our city's cost - that's fair.  We do this by placing a payroll tax on the visitors, amounting to about half of our tax burden, reducing our living cost, making Austin Affordable again.

Of course, the visitors cannot vote here and will complain about Taxation Without Representation.  A war was fought over this back in 1776 but we need to protect the Dream of Austin.

 

 

 
  
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  THE  DOLLAR DRAIN  

 

In 1973 there were oil shocks.  Prior to that the Depletion allowance allowed the Texas Railroad Commission to manufacture oil shortage thereby affecting world oil prices.  In that year, the emerging Organization of Petroleum Exporting States (OPEC) took control of world oil markets.  Whether the Texas Oil Men were defacto members of OPEC is a matter of debate.

Long lines formed at the pump, gas prices went up.  America retaliated by inflating the money supply, thereby paying for energy with cheaper dollars - turnabout is fair-play.

By 1980, inflation was 13%.  With higher energy prices, all prices went-up but wages didn't.  The women stepped-up and like the women of WW II, they went to-work, restoring the middle class life-style at the expense of the single-earner household - "hurray" for WomensLib, life went back to a new normal.  

Fed-Up being paid in inflated dollars the Texas the Oil-Men wanted their fair share.  Taking control of the White House, Two Gulf Wars ensued disrupting world oil supplies.  The second Gulf War in 2003 used the pretext of Weapons-of-Mass Destruction to manipulate public opinion for an invasion of Iraq America fell-for-it.  

By year 2000, inflation has run-its-course.  Record oil prices were paid-for in real dollars.  The stock market went flat for 8 years and Texas was living-high - three-cheers for Texas.

Oil prices are about supply, demand.  Disrupting oil supplies from the Middle East brought Skyrocketing energy prices, gasoline prices rose to $1, $2, $3 and $4 a gallon redistributing the wealth of America to the Middle East.   For America which is energy dependent, all facets of modern life are in one way or another touched by petroleum-hydrocarbons

But oil pricing is more complicated.  Oil prices are actually controlled by the little-understood futures market.  In the futures market prices are based on future-price-expectations - the fortunetellers have taken-over financial markets.

During this is era, for a generation, a wave of paranoia had slept across America reminiscent of the McCarthy era red menace.  Al-Qaeda had emerged then ISIS - is your neighbor a terrorist?  And like the child who misbehaves seeking attention, the more they misbehaved, the more we retaliated.  The stress-of-uncertainty drove-up energy costs.  Commencing in an unending drain on the wealth of America - a failed foreign policy

The reality is that America was built on cheap energy, much at the expense of the Oil Industry.  Unfortunately the psychological ramifications of the wave-of-fear and the decline of the middle-class into the new-normal has left a black mark on history. 

 

 

 
  
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BANNED by order of the office of the Chief Appraiser for distribution on the premises of the Central Appraisal District.
 
IDENTITY  THEFT  PREVENTION

TEXANS believe in PRIVACY -  the sales price is NOT on the Deed.
Tax Appraisers cannot Trespass on the property.
They rely on visual OPINION, but there is ANOTHER WAY.

PROTEST  YOUR  PROPERTY  TAXES

2  Tax  Appraisal  Methods by David Gray

During the 1989 market crash, a fire-truck rolled out of the fire station on MLK across 4 lanes of traffic into my living room.  During the turmoil, home prices had dropped 50%.  Tax appraisals didn'tThey disregarded the wave of foreclosures assuming them to be aberrations.

Actually this happens every generation. The cycle repeats itself every 18 years.  Those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it!

The Wrong Way!

COMPARABLES  
based on OPINION.

Each year, Prices rise because of scarcity - there is only a limited supply of properties available.

Each year the buyer forms an OPINION and makes a purchase.  The tax appraiser doesn't know what the buyer paid.

Each year the tax appraiser cleans the OPINION data of aberrations assembling a sample of property sales - called comparables.

Based on the sample, the tax appraiser acts as a real estate appraiser pretending that all property sold at the new price level - posting on the internet, mapping the new valuations over the landscape.

WOW!  Everybody is RICH - the cycle continues... until the CRASH - the HURT sets-in, the wife runs off with he kids, the guy's in bankruptcy, and property values revert to COST.

This is the Greater Fool Theory of market manipulation - the appraiser is the unwitting fortuneteller of a sell-fulfilling prophecy.

The Right Way!

COST  
based on FACT.

Each year the tax appraiser ignores OPINION data.

Each year the tax appraiser rebuilds the house at today's builder's cost.

Then uses Generally Accepted Accounting Principles to age the home arriving at a value - if it's life is half-up, cut the price in half!  Then the land is added.

When you buy a soft-drink, you pay tax on something you own, IRS income tax is on your own income.  Property should be taxed on the value of what you own rather than on the OPINION-of-others.

This a more sensible approach to taxation, taking the HURT out of the impending CRASH, relieving the tax appraiser of having to provide hearsay-evidence from spies and paid informants to assemble comparables.  

The taxing jurisdictions don't care how the valuations were assembled, they get their money anyhow.

THERE  ARE  PROBLEMS  IN  TRAVIS  COUNTY

Land value:  Real estate is a bundle of rights.  In Austin the bundle is smaller than in the County because we have Zoning (in appraisal theory this is called economic obsolescence).  Identical houses on lots zoned for a single-family home have about the same value regardless of size in a given area. The housewife selects the house and in the mind of the buyer, about 86% of overall value is vested in the home.

Beware, tax appraisers don't respect zoning and allocate 20%, 30%, 40%, even 50% of overall value to the land.

Depreciation (%Good): Travis county does not use Generally Accepted Accounting Principles to age the home.  If occupied it's visually 80% Good.  Add a fresh paint, it's 85% Good.  This the FaceBook approach.  

FaceBook was originally designed for guy's to rate the hotness of the girls at Harvard.  The tax appraisers rate property hotness as %Good - pretending it to be depreciation.

Older properties are visually valued as almost new. A fresh coat of paint is like putting lipstick on a pig, overvaluing the house driving the old folks out of the their homes, in the spirit of urban renewal, gentrifying Austin - good work tax-guys your parents would not be proud of you!

Today's replacement Cost: Travis county does not use wholesale price data to rebuild the house, instead they use retail data from the local home improvement store - after-all the local store buys wholesale then marks-it-up.  Home-builders buy wholesale.

The social impact of the Comparables and the percent-good (%Good - android app) depreciation of the Cost method, tends to drive those on fixed incomes, the elderly, disabled and financially less-fortunate to the streets.  Remember, renters are tax-payers too.  The apartment owner gets the tax bill,  divides it by the number units - everybody's rent goes-up.
 

Why pay tax on OPINION?  Sales tax and IRS income tax are based on proven-valueProperty tax is based on the opinions-of-others.  Taxation should be based on FACT!

 

 

AGING  THE  PROPERTY  IS  CALLED  Depreciation
It is a mathematical means of measuring invisible deterioration based on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
The IRS, Insurance, Accounting and Financial companies world-wide use this measure.

Locally called  %Good  - a form of Orwellian DoubleSpeak!  

OPINION

When we look-around we might have the visible OPINION that the average person is 80% Good.  

When taxmen look-around they have the visible OPINION that the average home is 80% Good.

FACT

To translate OPINION to FACT:

Invisible %Depreciation is wear and tear (age of home / life expectancy).  

Visible %
Good is (100% - Invisible %Depreciation).  This is straight line depreciation of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles

This is a high-school algebra test:  Observe the average home in Austin.  It's 80% good and has a life expectancy of 50 years.  How old is itAnswer:  It's 10 years old or (100% - 80%) x 50 years).

50 Year Old House

10 years old

20% used up

40 Years left

80% good

This is a perception test:  How old is the average house in Austin?  Answer:  Older than 10 years, since Austin is over 100 years old - the Travis Central Appraisal District treats most homes as almost new The average home in Austin is an older home and has invisible disabilities accumulated over a lifetime of wear and tear.

The pier and beam foundation has life of 50 to 70 years.  Cellulose is biological polysaccharide providing flexibility in wood.  Oxidation causes broken links in the molecular chain, the wood becomes brittle - a rickety old house.  

The concrete slab foundation has life of 40 to 50 years.  Exposed to the elements, heat and cold, wet and dry on shifty ground, concrete is porous.  The metal reinforcing in the concrete oxidizes (rust/corrosion).  The metal expands and eventually cranks the foundation - look at old sidewalks or bridges falling down.  

Look inside the walls it's like a petri-dish - a whole other life lives there - mould and bacterial.  A fresh coat of paint covers-up a lifetime of natures abuse.

As a result of lifetime of seasonal environmental fluctuations, homes deteriorate invisibly at an annual linear pace.  This why we use the straight line depreciation of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles - taxmen should abandon the Visible FaceBook method. 

 

 

 

 

  

 AGING  in  PLACE  a taxation initiative 

65 and becoming WARDS of the STATE, forced to live on their mandatory subsistence lifetime retirement plan, pension funds, IRA's, 401K's and/or social security;

This is plight of the elderly.  No longer wage slaves, 65 and can can now do all things dreamed of, heading out the door, but, hips, knees and clouded cataract eyes don't work as well, destined to watch daytime TV - inactivity breeds decline.  Maybe a professional or a housewife?  The best job available is a "greeter" at WalMart.  

The world keeps spinning, friends and family die off, the world grows smaller - big buildings go-up, taxes go-up, the quality of life goes down.  The kitchen knife scratches on the doorframe marking the kids ages and the child's footprints in the concrete of the backyard patio are the architectural memory's of a life to be abandoned as the family home becomes unaffordable.

We, the VOTERs, DEMAND that the elderly 65 and older be exempt from all city of Austin TAXES, including but not limited to school taxes, sales taxes, fees and assessments making Austin the Age Friendly Capital of America.

download voter sign up petition to force the city to put it to a voters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  
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Discontinue the    KILL THE KIDS   program. 

Remove bike lanes from the busy streets.  Put the bicycles back on extra-wide sidewalks where possible - a bicycle collision with a person causes scrapes and dings, with a car it's often death.  Design a short-cut network through neighborhoods.  Bicyclists can travel north, south, east and west across Austin without having to ride-along busy street.  The city often has utility easements between homes.  Turn some of these into sidewalk bike-shorts cuts - especially between one-way-in, one-way-out cul-de-sac neighborhoods - some neighborhoods in west Austin have already done this.  Reconnect shopping center parking lots.  Let cyclists travel seamlessly to their destination without encountering a public street - we put alarms on windows around home swimming-pools - we care more about the kids drowning-in-the-pool than dying in the-streets????
 
 

 


 
 

 
  
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  This  Web  Site  is  Wi-Fi  BLOCKED    at  the  CEDAR  PARK  REGIONAL  MEDICAL  CENTER
This site is hosted in Milan, Italy (a Catholic Country) by the largest publishing house in Italy.  The hospital is a Catholic hospital  - somebody should talk to the POPE about this.
Censorship is the first step to tyranny  


 MEDICARE  CUTS  DOCTORS  20% 
this will reduce life expectancy 40%
where the doctors manta is, patients should be SEEN and NOT HEARD
Forbs 201

GIVE your LIFE for your COUNTRY
and save
social security

BUT WAIT, Welfare's not running out of money?  Hmmmm!
Some suggest - it's all about the money.  KILL-OFF the old folks and balance-the-budget.

WHY do we put-up with this Misbehavior?
and Medical costs are OUT-OF-SIGHT

Remember when plumber bent the float in the toilet to keep it from running?  This was an very expensive because you are paying for his knowledge.  If he charged by-the-hour the cost would be quite different.  This is the concept of value-added which is prevalent a realm where the profit motive is the objective.

The medical device called an MRI will diagnose a 100 knowledge things.  Though the machine costs a little more than a couple of expensive cars and will run for 10 years, the charge is $8,000 for a short ride - what if they charged by-the-hour? 

The question is, are the 100 knowledge things worth more than the ride?  Is the sum of the knowledge parts worth more than the whole?  The answer is YESBUT IS the value-added profit-motive appropriate in the medical field?  Doctors only want to treat healthy people, insurance companies want healthy people, the profit motive has corrupted health care.  After-all the maintenance of human life is a higher-calling.

We see from mass-produced consumer products that when the knowledge component has been paid-for, the price of the product converges with the cost of the raw materials.  In cost accounting there are hard costs and soft costs.  In the medical realm the soft costs, the intangible costs, are out-of-proportion.

Much of medical care is old technology - bandages and blood tests.  Why should we pay over-an-over again for that which is already known?  What if we removed the profit-motive from the medical realm and paid by-the-hour.   Put the doctors on salary and stop paying  kickbacks for ordering medical tests and pharmaceuticals, maybe we could bring medical costs under control.

  THE  NEW  MEDICINE  

Go to the doctor for body repair.  Run a whole body scan, an MRI or CT scan.  The real problem might be a convergence of minor things or something other than the primary focus.  The managing physician having sent copies of the MRI/CT imaging electronically to his colleagues is engaged in an online web-conference with specialists, all the while searching the National Institute of Health worldwide databaseA database which includes socialist countries where they don't mess-around and can do things we cannot because of privacy laws.  Things like run the DNA of everybody in the county.  This is a  HOLISTIC  approach rather than the piece-meal, one appointment at a time, method, which may take years of appointments with specialists and thousands of dollars to cure the whole-thing.

 

 

 
  
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  MOBILITY    EMPOWERING  SENIORS  TO  HELP  THEMSELVES 

In Austin, public transportation is funded by 1% of Sales Tax Revenue, we all pay Sales Tax which amounts to about 1 Billion dollars every five years.  In addition to buses, cars provide rides for those who are disabled, called PARATRANSIT.  This is only available in certain preferred areas of Austin.  These areas are called corridorsThough we all pay for-it, it's only available to some of us.

This  is  JERRY

Jerry had a seizure while driving to work on MoPac.  He ended-up wrapped around a light post.   He is now 73, disabled and home-bound, he pays Austin Sales Tax and lives next to a paratranist corridor.  He is denied a ride.

 

This  is  VIRGINIA

She was 58, her dementia qualified her for paratransit but she lived several hundred feet outside of the paratranist corridor.  Home-bound, she was denied a ride - in 2016 she died of Alzheimer's.  

 

FEDERAL LAW: American Disabilities Act (ADA) Title II
State and Local Government Activities

Title II covers all activities of State and local governments regardless of the government entity's size or receipt of Federal funding.  Title II requires that State and local governments give people with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from all of their programs, services, and activities (e.g. public education, employment, transportation, recreation, health care, social services, courts, voting and town meetings).  http://www.ada.gov/cguide.htm - anchor66477

POLICY  CHANGE  PROPOSAL:  

1.  Expand paratransit to span all of Austin - in the spirit of the American Disabilities Act.  
2.  Allow those with invisible disabilities, like seniors, to qualify for paratransit.
3.  Incorporate existing risesharing programs into the network.

To accomplish this we retool existing transportation systems for people who are home-bound called paratransit that currently provides personal curb-to-curb transportation.  Retool by employing an Air Dream Network out of Artificial intelligence to supervise the cars.  

Call and request a ride, by conventional phone or cell phone, specifying your location and destination.  The supervising computer in the cloud locates a car nearby and reports the expected arrival time.

The signals are traveling at the speed of light and the cars are going 20, 30, 40 miles per hour.  The cars are equipped with a cell phone the equivalent of the mini-computer of yesterday.  The cell phones are doing the heavy-lifting throwing-up coordinates (phone#, altitudes and longitude) to the cloud all-the-while receiving navigation instructions updating the car's heads-up display.  An electronic voice instructs the driver to, "turn left in 500 feet, your designation is on the right".  

We could start off with 4 cars, one traveling north, others south, east and west.  Then add cars as necessary to reduce wait time with goal of reducing wait time to 15 minutes which should be adequate for most time sensitive appointments.

 
  
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Traffic is Awful   - Austin is rewriting the zoning ordnance called CODENEXT.  
The suspicion is they want to: 

Double the density of Austin.
Doubling
the number of cars. 
Doubling
traffic congestion and living stress.  

An alternative would be to:

Cut the density in half.  
Cutting the number of cars in half.  
Cutting traffic congestion and living stress - this would make more sense.

Another suspicion is that CodeNext is a Trojan-Horse brought to you by the development community at the Texas legislature greasing-the-wheels for massive in-town re-development - the same people that surrounded us with toll-roads to the parasite communitiesWho-now, hope to finalize their invasion of Austin and have proposed HB-2861 - turning part of I-35, MoPac South, U.S. 290W and others into toll-roads - it's all about the money.

As with all new things, the devil is in the details.  After the city is remapped, properties that do not conform with the new-way of doing-things, would be grand-fathered.  However, the manner in which building inspection will implement this can be problematicImagine, your house does not meet the setback requirements, all-is-good until you want to add a shed on-the-back.  You would be required to bring the whole-house up-to code - maybe, moving the house - ouch!

To avoid these aggravations - casting-out the devil, I would suggest phasing-in the new zoning ordnance - a two tier system.  While keeping the older-one intact, until a lot is cleared or a new territory is added.  Then over the next 50 years as the city is re-developed the new zoning code can take hold.

Making Austin more AFFORDABLEWRONG!   Austin is land-locked but the people come anyhow, seeking the mythological allure of a better life.  It is thought that increasing density by rewriting the zoning ordinance will make Austin more AFFORDABLE.  

CodeNext intends to double the number of units on each lot, but we also we double the number of cars in residential neighborhoods.  Of course, there is not enough room for the additional cars.  The overflow cars park in the bike lanes, congesting the street.  Traffic flow is reduced, neighborhood streets may turn into, dangerous, one lane alleys.  Additional impervious cover will double water runoff.  To prevent flooding, our 2400 miles of streets will be torn-up to install new storm drains.  Twice as many cars means we need to double the size of highways - maybe even open-up environmentally sensitive areas to development, all-the-while destroying the allure of Austin.

Cut a thing in half.  Cut cost in half.  But the economics of Real Estate are differentReal Estate is defined as bundle of rights - not, land and buildings.  Increase the number of rights in the bundle and the value of the bundle increases.  This is particularly relevant in cities like Austin which have zoning - land use controls.  In the case of land which conveys the rights to 1 single family unit, increase that to 2, the value of the whole lot doubles.  But, the price of each home remains the same - where there was one home, now there are two.  Look at the price per square foot of a condominium unit vs. a single family home next door - the market price is the same even though one has more land than the other, because land is virtually worthless deriving it's value from the improvement placed thereon (note: the tax department doesn't agree with this theory).

But it won't be more AFFORDABLE.  Austin has used expansion policies in the past, spreading the city over 300 square miles, annexing new tax-payers to fill it coffers.  Now landlocked, CodeNext density will double the number of tax-payers to fund the trickle-down financial policies of the downtown Mother-Land.

Another way to increase density is to go-up.  High-rise housing, which, within in 50 years will end up like Cabrini-Green in Chicago, where a beautiful high-rise housing development evolved into a slum .  It was demolished in 2011.  Density increases living stress - defenses are up - you are on all-the-time.

  A  DIFFERENT  SOLUTION    Instead of doubling living stress (density).  what if we encourage new comers to live out-there and pay to come-here.  

Remove the tolls from highway 130, recapturing IH 35 routing pass-thru traffic around Austin.  Then turn IH 35 and other major roadways into a toll roads.  Levy a payroll Tax, on people who live out-there but work-here, much like the 9% Hotel Tax on other temporary residents thereby requiring contribution to the maintenance of the city infrastructure.  Then issue Austin residents a pre-paid Austin-TxTag.  Pre-paid because it is paid out of the proceeds of the non-resident payroll tax using excess funds for roadway improvements. 

Alternatively:  Most of major pass-thru-roads (IH 35, HWY 183,  MoPac, etc... are owned by somebody else (the State of Texas, the Federal Government, etc...), the cars line up at 7, 8 and 9 in the morning flooding into our sleepy city.  But when cars exit onto our roadways then they can pay our toll - Austinites are exempt.

 FORTRESS  AUSTIN  SOLUTION  

Instead of expansionist policies, either inward or outward, we embrace our lower density and encourage people out-here to pay to come-here then redistribute the wealth equally over our 10 districts.  I imagine a moat surrounding Austin.  There will be a drawbridge and every visitor who crosses will pay.  There are million people living here and a million out-three,  They spend spend half their time here.  They can pay half of our city's cost - that's fair.  A payroll tax on temporary residents equivalent each year to half of Austin property tax can used to offset local taxes making Austin a most affordable city.

 
  
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  LOW   INCOME   HOUSING    a reverse ROBIN HOOD effect.  

In Austin we have Districts with median incomes of over $100,000 and other Districts below $50,000Low income is defined to be some percentage of median family income.  The Travis County Median Family Income is $75,400.  Families that earn 60% the Travis County Median Family Income qualify.  60% of Median Family Income $45,240.

Let's build in districts 1, 2, 3, 4
Based on 
Travis  County  Median Family Income
District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4
  Median Family Income

$42,150

$42,650

$36,185

$39,200

  Qualifying rent  1,053 1,066 904 980

OOOPS!  Everybody in these districts is low income.  Land value is less in those areas, overall building cost is less.  Let's build a 100 unit complex.  Set the rents at fair market value for the area (about $1,000 per month) and in addition to normal investment returns, receive bonus tax credits of  ONE  MILLION  DOLLARS  of tax money.  WOW!  WHAT-A-DEAL.

Based on District  Median Family Income, qualifying rent would much less, around $600 per month. This world benefit actual low income residents in the area.  Of course that may not be our intent?  Maybe we want to displace lower income people?

PROPOSAL:  Use the DISTRICT median family income instead of the COUNTY-WIDE median family income for eligibility - otherwise we defeat the stated purpose of the program.

  

 


 

 
  
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  THE  BIG  WASTE    

Most city buildings are vacant half-the-time while environmental systems are running all-the-time to make-ready for the next day.  

WHY NOT - be open 24 hours  day, 7 days a week?  Spread work schedules accordingly thereby lightening-up traffic and making government available when we are.  It won't cost more!  

What happened to the days when the phone is answered, you ask a specific question and an answer is found?  Today nobody answers the phone, it's always voice-mail or check the website.  Email ends up in the Spam Folder.  The implied message is GO-AWAY - figure it out yourself!  Or, maybe it's just me?  I don't answer the phone either and only occasionally dig through email.  But government should behave better.

WHAT IF we organize government like a grocery store where everybody knows something about the product line or will take you to somebody who does - this will handle most of inquiries.

When the PHONE RINGS, the wait-time should be no longer than stop-light, a person answers - no more voice-mail.  A computer system randomly distributes the calls to any open line - maybe the mayor or a janitor - nobody is left-hanging!

Make public-service a helping-hand again.

 

  AUSTIN  WATER  USAGE    - Lift the Drought Restrictions and Clean the Air

The darkened areas on the map are the Austin rainforests - areas of highest water usage.  There were 2 droughts during the last 77 years.  Living in FEAR, Austin is in permanent drought restrictions.  Why live in FEAR?  Most of the time we are in the rainy season!  

Plants photosynthesize the greenhouse-gas carbon dioxide and water releasing oxygen.  Humans breath oxygen.  

carbon dioxide +  water +  sunlight glucose (plant food)    +  oxygen
6 CO2  +  6 H2O +  photons    C6H12O6 +  6 O2

What if we lifted the drought restrictions to clean up the air producing a BEAUTIFUL green city?  Currently we are dumping excess lake-water over the dam to the gulf of Mexico.  Instead, if we used the water to clean the air and green the city, excess water not absorbed by plants will recycle into the aquifer.

On your water bill there is a fixed infrastructure cost, then add water usage.  Use one drop of water and you are mostly paying for the city's water pipe.  The more water you use the unit cost is less.

 

 

 

 
  
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  Why?   TOLL - ROADS   WHY?   DOUBLE - TAXATION

Nationwide roads costs 2, 3, 5, 10 million a mile.  The toll-road barons charge 20, 30, 50, 100 million dollars a mile.  They both use the same concrete, reinforcing steel bars, labor etc.  State govenment has been STARVING the cities for roads in favor of toll-roads because they get the WINDFALL of gasoline tax what would normally be used to construct the road.

Communication is a primary function of government - that's why we created the interstate highway system;

Historically:  States and the Federal Government have viewed fuel taxes as an attractive revenue source for highway construction and maintenance programs... https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/05nov/02.cfm

Theory:  When a new person moves to town, they need X number of feet of new roadway.  We take out a mortgage (called Municipal Bonds) to keep the payment low, then repay the loan with the $X of Gasoline Tax revenues paid by the new driver.  Traditionally this is how we financed roadways.

Since:  Toll Road financing has been a murky topic.  Unethical political maneuvers were often used to by creating off-shore ownership of our public right-of-ways, but in reality the money stays here, just the paperwork moves offshore to facilitate the old-time wheeling and dealing out of public view defeating the public's right-to-know called, transparency - who knows where the money goes.  This method of Toll Road financing is called U-BOATING;

Since:  In addition to paying a fee to drive the Road, drivers also pay the Gasoline Tax that traditionally would have used for building the road providing a WINDFALL for State and Federal Tax revenues.

Next:  The Toll-Road-Trolls will put a TxTag-Camera on every STOP light - and it will cost an extra 50 cents to the next light!

Proposed City Ballot item:  that the City of Austin PAY Toll-Road-Fees billing the Gasoline Tax for reimbursement.

 
  
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TRAFFIC  IS  AWFUL
the old folks can't get around 
nobody can get around
what  is  going  on
?

 

  TAKE  the  FAST  LANE  -  RIDE  the  TRAIN  
bring urban  BLIGHT  and  CONGEST  Austin

Some years back the bus company, the Austin Metropolitan Transit Authority was taken over by the people down the street at the Capital.  Calling it, the Capital Metropolitan Transit Authority (capital metro), they stole our money - a billion dollars every five years of Austin sales tax, leaving behind a fleet of empty busses paid-for long ago.  It is a mystery as to where our billion dollars has gone?

But, there were clues.  The development community needed ways to develop outside of Austin and Travis County avoiding development restrictions.  Enter the TOLL-ROAD and TRAIN people.  The State of Texas authorized the 183A toll-road and required their Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority run the Austin-Leander train-line in the wild west of unregulated development

The the idea was pattern Austin after the "beehive model" of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles with sprawling suburbs fed by toll-ways and commuter trains.  People with money moved to the wide open spaces in the suburbs where taxes were lower and living is easy.  The downtowns declined.  This is about to happen to Austin.

Remember the Domain, that mini-city on MoPac (loop1), home of the beautiful people, the big box stores, Dillard's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, etc.  The developers plan to build another mini-city four times that size near the Lakeline and Leander train stations in north west Austin.  The hill country landscape near Lakeline, Cedar park and Leander is being plowed as far the eye can see for housing to take advantage of the train and toll-roads to downtown.  Already, at 7, 8, and 9 in the morning the cars line up like race horses flooding into sleepy Austin. 

This new construction acts like a big sucking-force pulling the wealth out of Austin. The driving force behind real estate development is OPM (Other People's Money).  The suspicion is that Austin is being suicidal, and that this development is being financed with our billion dollars.

Population growth will drive that billion dollars to become 2 billion over the next 10 years.  It's a ripe-plum for the taking.  Agencies make proposals and get a hunk of change.  Maybe a thousand or a million dollars but it's only good the duration of the contract.  But to get it forever?  Now, the surrounding counties want their cut.

We can FIX this

Fortunately, we can take the wind-out of their sails by re-establishing the Austin Metropolitan Transit Authority recapturing our billion dollars (1% of sales tax) and focusing on Austin, thereby strangling the sucking-force, trashing the train and buses sending them to the dumpster, burning the real-estate developments there-by bankrupting the toll-roads (183A) re-capturing our public right-of-ways.

In the meantime we can MAKE IT MORE EXPENSIVE TO LIVE ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF AUSTIN - We can levy an employment tax on non-Austin residents.  Then use the funds to pay toll-road fees on behalf of Austin residents and pay for roadway improvements.

 

 
  
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Pay $1 dollar and get 5 cents worth, you got ripped-off.  The bus company called capital metro gets 1 billion dollars of taxpayer money every five years and only 5% percent ride buses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 Make  Austin the  MOBILITY  CAPITAL  of  TEXAS  
     

 The average car is driven 10% of the time.  What we kept 10% of the cars running 100% of the time?

With point-to-point rideshare, providing a supplementary volunteer driver employment, freeing up the roadways, all done at no additional cost recycling our existing transportation resources

What if you could GET PAID to DRIVE, maybe TO WORK or around town? 
What if
you could RIDE WHEN you WANT, go WHERE you WANT? Ridesharing is free but there is a charge for a single ride.  This can be as easy as getting into your own car.

Well now we can, get out of the house - pedal to the metal.   Press a button on your cell phone, announce you want to drive today.  Pick up and drop off neighbors on your way, you  are paid like any other driver.  The money automatically goes to you bank account.  Buy a chicken sandwich and 1% of Sales Tax recycles to support this effort.

From a cell phone or 311 call from the home phone, it knows where you are.  It communicates your destination.  The cars are continuously reporting their location.  One person may want to go north, the next may want go south.  In the GPS world this called "the bearing".  The north cars are with matched with north riders etc..  This uses high-school trigonometry to locate the nearest car.  Anybody can slide into car, it would be like getting on an elevator, and there will be other people the car.  Let's bring back a sense of community - you can ride around with your neighbors. 

A car will be SECONDS AWAY.  Like bees, thousands of cars circulating in Austin - the cars go forever.  Imagine, a fleet of cars all containing a call phone  - the modern day equivalent of the mini-computer doing the heavy-lifting reporting to the cloud.  Where a very fast idiot, called a computer, is doing trigonometry matching coordinates to find the nearest car going your direction.  This called a AIR DREAM NETWORK in artificial intelligence.  

We use a supervising overseer.  In the morning all the cars may end up downtown, at 3 am fewer cars needed, weekends and holidays are different.  The network manages the slack time observing the behavior of the cars.  Get dropped-off, a dot goes on an imaginary map.  The network allocates cars much like a sliding puzzle game gravitating cars toward concentrations of dots - nobody is left stranded.  This is called a NEURAL EVOLUTIONARY NETWORK. 
Click to download network grid manager
 spreadsheet.  

And the ride is pre-paid out of sales taxes (1 BILLION DOLLARS every 5 years) when you buy a chicken sandwich or soda pop.  Your home may have two $30,000 cars in the garage, used 10% of the time, 1/3 the value of the house – now we can get rid of those and have an extra room.

WHAT HAPPENEDThe bus company (capital metro) was hired in 1985 to provide a public service.  This was back in the days when service was a helping hand.  Now it's called fee-for-service.  We gave the bus company an endowment - hooks into our sales tax, i.e. 1% of sales tax.  For 1 year Austinites rode for FREE.  But there was a problem, slow-pokes, the fixed income old folks - don't-do-stairs (difficult to climb into buses) - knees, hips, breathless lungs and foggy cataract eyes messed up efficient bus schedules of long lines of riders.  But this was not the real reason.  They just wanted more MONEY.  Bus schedules were arranged to pick-up where people are spending money (paying sales tax) and take them to spend more - they get you coming and going.  It's our fault by tying their income to the sales tax instead of a fixed endowment.

Capital metro's budget (350mil) has grown to about half the size of the city of Austin's (911-200 to cap metro=700Mil).  We would expect half of us use public transit since we all drive city streets.  The reality is that only 5% of us use public transit at a cost to the public of $22 a ride.

  Do you remember those days? - not so long ago.

In 1985 we had typewriters and carbon paper and buses.  Today we have word processors, high-speed smart cars and cell phones.   I have attached a spreadsheet projecting that with existing funds (the amount we pay capital metro) we can provide 30% of Austinites with ONE HOUR of rides each day to go where you want, when you want and the worst case, everybody riding, a little less than 20 minutes costing the public $2 a ride and we can do-it without any additional spending.

Parking is awful downtown.  This would be pick-up and drop-off.  Downtown could be an easy place to visit again, we could enjoy intoxicants again without fear, get the old folks off the road and lighten-up traffic taking 25% of the cars off the road.  

  The Original Austin - a Rectangular GRID

Parking lots can be smaller.  Low dentistry areas are arranged in a loop and lollypop arrangement, cul-de-sac neighborhoods - one-way in - one-way out - almost touching.  We could put in short-cuts with authorized access only - it would be like adding an extra lane on to the highway REBUILDING the GRID to absorb traffic when the main artery is clogged.  We could and install in high occupancy lanes and because each car has multiple occupants taking cars off the road thereby reducing traffic congestion.

Let's put the numbers to it: Imagine 4,000 cars like a swam of bees.  At any one time one car going north, south, east and west near you.  You catch the one going your direction.  I suggest minivans - lower to the ground - easier to get into.  In New York and Chicago they are using SUV's.  Four thousand cars times 7 riders is 28,000 rides - we give hour rides.  Ten hours a day is 280,000 rides, we have a population of 850,000, that's about 1/3 of Austin riding.  Since they are riding in our cars, their car is not on the road - we have just freed up the highways

It's up to you the voters.  When we think of opting-out of capital metro like Cedar Park and others, it's like one of those thoughts we cannot think, like "killing the kids", but the kids have to grow-up, the days of fixed-route buses are over.  I suggest putting it up for competitive bids.  Capital metro can bid like everybody else - let's get the most for our money.

Click to download network coordinate manager spreadsheet.  The model is completely scalable.  It could be used for a small community or the whole planet - just modify the assumptions. 

download voter sign up petition to force the city to put it to the voters

SPECIFICATIONS
2 to 4 thousand minivans and drivers depending on time of day – a public service, paid-for out of existing sales taxes.
7 riders per car

Austin has 272 square miles, a population of 855 thousand people and we spend $200 million on public transportation. For the same amount, a car can be 1 minute away, we can an average of 1 hour of rides for 30% of the population and fee up 1 lane on 4 lane highways and 2 lanes for 8 lanes.

  • Goal
    Providing hour of rides each day. Nobody is left stranded, subsequent rides that are delayed.
     

  • All Drivers Welcome - compensated like any other driver.
     

  • Vehicle Availability
    A vehicle is available "when you want it, where you want".
    The vehicle will be several minutes away.
     

  • Ride Request
    By cell phone or conventional phone transmitting starting and destination coordinates to the network.
     

  • Rider Cost – none.
     

  • Vehicles - Minivans
    Generic low cost mass-produced vehicles. Preferable, avoiding fossil fuels. The vehicle's GPS is reporting its location to the network every few minutes.
     

  • Computer Technology
    The network coordinate manager receives rider requests relaying them to the closest vehicle going your direction. 

  • The computerized grid manager, overlaying the city over an imaginary framework independently scanning the grid, observing vehicle behavior throwing around coordinates to adjust vehicle locations during slack times guaranteeing that a vehicle is near-by.

  • Ride Sharing
    There will be other people in the vehicle. The first rider sets the destination. The vehicle will zigzag picking-u and dropping-off riders in the vicinity along the way.

  • For the network coordinate manager it will be like catching a fly to add a new rider whose destination might extend the path even change general direction and final destination. At a final destination the vehicle will await a new rider request unless the computerized grid manager moves the vehicle to a new rest position to keep the grid well distributed.
     

  • Time of Operation
    10-hours per day of driving time distributed over the 24-hours.
     

  • ADA Compliance
    Easy to get into vehicles (no steps - to accommodate visible and invisible disabilities).
     

  • Financing
    1% of sales tax revenue currently allocated for transportation.
     

  • Contracting
    By competitive bid. 

  The  Computer  CODE  
  

 
  
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join  EMPTY EATERS  anonymous
HALF-PORTION  for  HALF-PRICE

Eat that big meal then work-it-off relieving gluttony-guilt or eat half without the guilt.
You are what you eat.   Eat half as much and be half size.
Remember your stomach is about size of your fist.

Take half the meal home.  Un-refrigerated meats turn poison in 1 hour, vegetables in 2.  If a few of us demanded half-portion for half-price.  The food Industry would get-the-idea.  

I was at lunch with friends.  That yummy sandwich was too much.  I proposed purchasing half - they declined, instead I ordered a glass of water.  Later the manager and several staff appeared inquiring as to what-was-what - they got the message - try  it!

  

 

 

 

 
  
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  What  About  the   HOMELESS?

50 years ago somebody would be smoking a Cigar, other guys - Camels and Lucky Strikes and the women Virginia Slims.  Today the smoke is all gone.  We did this by dealing with it as a social problem - its no longer "cool" to smoke.  Maybe the warm fire of home and companionship could have a similar effect?  If you can feel-it you can heal-it.

 Sanctuary Pocket Parks  

In group theory people congregate around a central core.  Those in the center are the most popular, those on the periphery are the most isolated, then there are the drop-outs.

Imagine a rest stop along Hwy 183, not for cars, but for people who dropped-out.  A restroom, a shower maybe a climate controlled glass enclosure with tables and chairs for community emotional engagement - the feeling of home.  Veterans could trade war stories.  A facility equipped with Wi-Fi and electrical outlets for cell phone charging in a grassy field, with bushes and flowers.  A camp fire area.  Social organizations would encouraged to visit helping to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of our homeless citizens.  The rule would-be, it has to be cleaned up by 1 hour after daylight available 24 hours a day for wanderers. 

Be it resolved that, we create Sanctuary Pocket Parks along major road ways where the homeless hangout. Proposed by me with observations from Nubia, Ester, Don and others in the community.

   

   

 

 
  
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         ABOUT the   OLD FOLKS

  

OLD  AGE  is an  INVISIBLE  DISABILITY   - cataract clouded eyes, night blindness - we don't go out at night anymore, knees, hips and breathless lungs - we slowdown - don't do stairs anymore - the rusty old frame doesn't work as well.  Our world has grown smaller until nobody is left.  In Austin there are 140,000 of us.

Government is like a bunch of kids.  We, the-voters, the-parents, the-owners of this city create government.  And like our kids, government, a reflection of our collective mind takes on human characteristics.  It is both the best and worst in all of us.  We give them an allowance, they call it taxes.  When the kids want an extra piece of candy, they call it fees -

  • charging us to go to our swimming hole, Zilker-Park, 
  • charging us to drive our streets - Toll-Roads,

When the kids misbehave -

  • violate simple freedoms - it's illegal to buy pharmaceuticals from foreign suppliers where they cost less,
  • become afraid of the voters - Darth Vader searching us at the front door to city hall... - do you search your neighbor at the front door?

It's up to us to set-them-straight.  Remember the days when public-service meant a helping-hand

  We are  LIVING  HISTORY   
We are the  SENIORS 

I suggest looking to the past to move forward.   For those of us who grew-up in a world where kids "kids were to be seen and not heard" - a sense of alienation.  Much of life was about being beaten-down, don't-do-thisdon't-do-that, you can't-do-itDon't-speak until spoken-to.  Don't-talk-back.  Growing-up in this world of DON'TWe were inadvertently programmed, with a lack-of self-confidence - lest the child be "spoiled."

This feeling has infected generations.  For the old folks, as recent memory declines, life-before becomes clearer.  There is a regression toward our former-selves as the feelings from the past have emerged into everyday reality.  We can change that!  The programming was based on the Opinions-Of-Others.

Image may contain: 1 person Leonard S Bronik had the notion that we could reverse this, reprogramming ourselves.  His thought was, if they could PROGRAM-US.  We could use the same technique to ReProgram ourselves undoing the damage.

He proposes a series of positive affirmationsSay this over and over again: 

I love myself.  I am calm, cool, comfortable, competent, confident and completeDon't you feel better NOW?

His website is lsbff.altervista.org

Even-now going the doctors office.  I have a sense of déjà vu - it's hurry-up and wait - Patients Should be Seen and NOT Heard.
Dr. Spock whose book Baby and Child Care - spared the stick

The book's premise to mothers is that you know more than you think.

For young adults, John Gray's book Men are from Mars Women are from Venus brought the sexes together.  

Men are motivated and empowered when they feel needed. Women are motivated and empowered when they feel cherished.

All fostering a more well adjusted civilized world.

 

  Come to the  TRIBAL  GATHERINGS     of  the  CLAN  
If you are OLD, you are member regardless of the social-cast of your former-life, you are reincarnated.
They told us of Everlasting-Life, WELL.... don't believe everything they-told-you.

Fifty years ago at the University of Texas there were 1,000 kids with my similar life experiences, today being almost three-quarters of century old, I can count these on one-hand but still desire to be connected.

Business are getting smart.  For pennies of goodwillTreat-them-right, and old folks who are the top of the family tree of generations of kids, grandkids and great-grandkids become ambassadors for the product line, it's a WIN-WIN  - inexpensive advertising with a high return.

Cedar Park Regional Hospital Cafeteria:  Mon/Wed/Fri: Join SeniorCircle.com for $15 a year. Members get free coffee at the cafeteria, a discount on food and a limited membership at the Twin Lakes YMCA.  Come as my guest, at 7-9am. The men - engineers, chemist, ministers from all walks of life [age 65 to 80] - congregate at one end of the cafeteria, the ladies to the other, it's like high school.  In the hospital cafeteria it's like getting a Flu shot receiving low-level exposure to all the pathogens in the local environment - that's why doctors and nurses are so healthy.

HEBTuesdays: Free coffee, cakes, donuts, yogurt and fruit at the cafe.  Join me at 7-9am in the cafe located at LakeLine Blvd. and 183.  I arrive around 7am and and line up the tables.  The guys -mostly military age 65 to 90 -congregate at one end the women at the other.

What-A-Burger:  Thursdays: Ask for senior coffee/drink (free) at Lakeline Blvd. and Cypress Creek Rd.  Join me around 8:30  for the senior gathering.  These are guys - mostly an agricultural background, I affectionately call them red-necks age 62 to 85.

PC users Group:  Saturday (see calendar) at Old Quarry library.  Computer Special Inertest Groups - forget the PC, it's all about the cell phone.

Wendy's:  For good junk food.  Get the dollar burger or chicken sandwich and ask for a free senior drink.

TIP:  Wherever you go, always ask for the Senior discount.  Many Stores are afraid to ask you if you are a Senior because some get offended when asked their age.

Need a Ride NW:  Age 60 or older.  Live in our service area (click here for a map or scroll down to see the zip codes we serve).  Able to make own arrangements with our office to schedule rides Mobile (using a cane or walker is just fine, our volunteer drivers can't transport wheelchairs).  Potential clients just need to call our office (512-250-5021) to start the enrollment process.  Proposed by Diane via NextDoor.com site.

 

   

 AGING  in  PLACE  a taxation initiative 

65 and becoming WARDS of the STATE, forced to live on their mandatory subsistence lifetime retirement plan, pension funds, IRA's, 401K's and/or social security;

This is plight of the elderly.  No longer wage slaves, 65 and can can now do all things dreamed of, heading out the door, but, hips, knees and clouded cataract eyes don't work as well, destined to watch daytime TV - inactivity breeds decline.  Maybe a professional or a housewife?  The best job available is a "greeter" at WalMart.  

The world keeps spinning, friends and family die off, the world grows smaller - big buildings go-up, taxes go-up, the quality of life goes down.  The kitchen knife scratches on the doorframe marking the kids ages and the child's footprints in the concrete of the backyard patio are the memory's of a life to be abandoned as the family home becomes unaffordable.

We, the VOTERs, DEMAND that the elderly 65 and older be exempt from all city of Austin TAXES, including but not limited to school taxes, sales taxes, fees and assessments making Austin the Age Friendly Capital of America.

download voter sign up petition to force the city to put it to the voters

  
  
  

 
  
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Old-Timers vs. Alzheimer's

Keep misplacing your keys, losing memories, thoughts and words.

    

Brain cells become DISCONNECTED to cause this dysfunction.

Normal cognitive skills will trace a path through your brain to find memories, much like the GPS on your cell phone can find your destination.  

When you can't remember a word because a disconnection has damaged the brain's mapping.   You STAMMER SEARCHING for the word.  Messages in BRAIN CELLS called neurons, are transported in the brain in plasma which fires across gaps between connectors, called synapses.  Higher-level cognitive functions take over trying to explore back roads through memory to find the lost connections. 

The average brain weighs about 1350 grams and occupies about 1350 centimeters of space but as we age SHRINKAGE - probably due to neuron death and pathway pruning - has occurred.


We call this OLD-TIMER'S

Get in your car.  You draw a BLANK.  You can't remember how to make it go.  Higher-level cognitive skills have deteriorated and the memory paths have become dead-ends. 

We call this ALZHEIMER'S or more correctly called dementia.

  
 

While we assume these SENIOR MOMENTS are of little consequence, these can be symptoms of SOMETHING MORE SERIOUS.  For instance a lost signal, broken neurotransmission can cause a malfunction.  

Maybe the scavengers, called MACROPHAGES, seek out foreign invaders in the blood stream and activate a memory T-cell alert from the immune system to destroy the invading antigen and the alert gets overlooked and PNEUMONIA progresses unabated. 

Maybe a cardio-vascular event gets ignored, a sudden stop of blood supply to part of the brain. You have strokes without ever knowing it. So-called SILENT STROKES either have no easy-to-recognize symptoms, or you don't remember them, but they do cause permanent damage in your brain. You may have slight memory problems or a little difficulty getting around. 

As we age, these disconnections accumulate. Our bodily systems deteriorate toward the inevitable conclusion if life.

We call this DEATH

 

 It's all about Neurotransmitters  

To overcome these disconnections, what if we overload the signal generators and flood the brain with messages.  The old folks shuffle when they walk, handwriting turns to chicken scratch.  MUSCLES are GOOD, BONE structure is FINEMaybe something is missing?

What happens when nobody is listening?  For diabetics, insulin receptors shut down, we shoot-up with insulin to overload the remaining receptors.  Parkinson's patients are shaky, we overload them with dopamine (a neurotransmitter that stimulates motor control) to light-up their remaining receptors.

In the movie Cocoon they went for a swim and came out with the functionality of a young person.

What if we could do this?  Design a neurotransmitter protocol.  Measure how well the signal receivers are functioning, then prescribe the appropriate pill to overload the remaining receptors to light-up the brain.  

Padding between joints wears down, maybe the repair is an age related signaling problem, after-all when we were younger things worked better.

This comes with consequences, the old folks intuitively do this with illegal/unsanctioned drugs - maybe saturating the receptors - our body resists - we sleep-it-off, the receptors have a short memory.  But then over time we need more-and-more, but, what if we could design maintenance dose to stabilize the overload-restorative cycle.  Perhaps the waking day becomes shorter but the quality of life is better.  We all come with an expiration date but life is good till the end.

Unfortunately most substances that LIGHT-UP neurotransmitters are BANNED.  Doctors are not allowed to prescribe these and research is prohibited.  BUT NOT ALL, those that DISRUPT neurotransmitters are encouraged.  In fact these are BIGGEST SELLING drugs in America for seniors - let's shut the old folks down!

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE, is America bi-polar?  Dementia is a disruption neurotransmissions. The FDA has done studies:

Antipsychotic drugs DISRUPT neurotransmitters, those on-the-drug died twice as fast. I quote:

FDA BOXED WARNING
WARNING: Increased Mortality in Elderly Patients with Dementia-Related Psychosis - Elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis treated with  Antipsychotic drugs (Abilify, Seroquel, Zyprexa,  Resperdal and hundreds of others) are at an increased risk of death. Analyses of seventeen placebo-controlled trials (modal duration of 10 weeks), largely in patients taking atypical antipsychotic drugs, revealed a risk of death in drug-treated patients of between 1.6 to 1.7 times the risk of death in placebo-treated patients. Over the course of a typical 10-week controlled trial, the rate of death in drug-treated patients was about 4.5%, compared to a rate of about 2.6% in the placebo group

 These are the  BIGGEST  SELLING DRUGS 
in America Today - prescribed mostly for the elderly cutting life expectancy in half.

BUT this is the CLUE!  The antipsychotic drugs are euthanasia drugs disrupting neurotransmitters shutting-us-down.  The REVERSE strategy can be used to build-us-up (the antipsychotic drugs target the dopamine and serotonin neurotransmitters).  

Could the DRUG FREE AMERICA program be an EUTHANASIA program for the OLD FOLKS reducing in life expectancy to save social security?

 OLD  AGE  IS  ABOUT  SHAG  CARPETING  AND  OXIDATIVE  STRESS 

Going to the OTHER SIDE OF LIFE is a life changing experience, much like a woman having a baby, one day she is high-performing executive something-or-other the next day she is a mommy (baby food) -  turn 60-ish and they put you out too-pasture, you were high-performing and now the best job you can get is as a consultant or greeter at WalMart all the while moving onto the mandatory lifetime substance retirement saving plans, 401K's etc.. and social security.  

LIFE IS EASY, now you can relax, but the shock reverting from high-performance lifestyle to a sedentary one, can have consequences.  Cholesterol accumulates in the arteries.  It clogs your arteries and within three years it is likely that you will have a heart attack or stroke. 

ARRIVING AT AGE 70 your body cruises into a maintenance mode and life is extended.  Each year you live an extra few months are added (look at mortality tables).

But, throughout your life, since age 20, there has been a decline in the efficiency the bodies electrical systems, the neurotransmitters and signal receptors deteriorate.  This is a relay system and when the messages are disrupted, repair signals are lost our bodies don't work as well, the rusty old frame begins to wear-out.

Even after age 50, breaking down our muscles forces a rebuild of the muscular systems, but after turning 60-ish our body passes a critical threshold and does not replenish itself as fast as is it used up - this is called old age and when you over use-it you loose-it.  It takes longer to heal from aliments, the cartilages in knees wears out faster than we replenish, memory declines called senior moments etc... 

But?  What disrupts the messaging system?  After all, our DNA has all the require information to rebuild us and keep us going indefinitely.

From one standpoint, it's the signal receptors that have shut down.  There is a 5 to 10 percent decline per decade in function after age twenty resulting in reduced muscle mass, brain and skin density.  The FDA has done studies of the euthanasia drugs, called antipyschotics, used to reduce life expectancy by disrupting neurotransmitters, these are the biggest selling drugs today.  Hmmm! are they trying to kill-off the old folks?  

For diabetics we overload the remaining insulin receptors to process sugars so you can eat an donut.  For Parkinson (shakiness) we overload the remaining dopamine receptors with the appropriate neurotransmitter to maintain body function.  This holds true for other bodily systems as well.  The solution is that when we age and things don't work as well, we can chemically overload the remaining receptors to maintain body function with the appropriate neurotransmitter.  But there is downside because our body may build up a tolerance and we have to sleep-it-off and the waking-day becomes shorter.

Maybe there is another way to look at the same problem.  Unbeknownst to us we have inadvertently built-up excessive electrical charges clouding of our messaging systems.  With the coming of shag carpeting back in the 1960's - remember the electrical shock when you touch a door handle.  

When you slide your feet along a rug your rubber soled shoes insulate you from the surface below.  A positive charge is left behind, called called a static charge - actually whenever two dissimilar materials rub together we build up a slight charge - something as simple as sliding into a chair.  The static charge clouds our internal messaging system leaving behind molecules looking for an electron to neutralize them, these are called free radicals leading to condition called is oxidative stress which can also cause other problems. 

The wiring scheme in our bodies is a relay system sending electrons through a series of connections, one positive the other negative passing the message from one to the next.  The static buildup arising from friction with an external source (carpeting) is a positive charge.  Positive repels positive.  The static buildup repels the bodies internal relay system depolarizing neurons and the message is blocked.  Knees and hips are the first to-go, they are closest to the ground.  It's popular to take antioxidants which are molecules that donate an electron to molecules seeking an electron to relieve the oxidative stress.

What if there is simple solution?  What if we could ground ourselves and neutralize the cloud, after all the earth is full of electrons.  What if we rid ourselves of carpeting and insulating rubber-sole shoes which accumulate the static charge?  Remember, what it felt like when you walked though in sand at the beach, maybe we could use the poor-man's antioxidant - take your shoes off and make life better.

 

 

  SENIOR VOICES    (submitted members of the senior community, and me)

0000  Government for the Sake of Government - When staff takes over boards and commissions - capital metro which is a 350 million dollar bus company and subcontractor with the city of Austin has a vote on the senior commission - the fox is in the hen-house.  Proposed by me.

1201 PROPOSAL:  Make Austin the Gray Capital of America.  Since with good fortune we all will become senior citizens in the future, therefore it should be the goal of the City of Austin to work toward the highest quality of life todayProposed by Mike at What-A-Burger free senior free coffee.


TRANSPORTATION

1302 PROPOSAL:  Let's get the slow-pokes off the highways.  Seniors should be automatically should be eligible for the Capital Metro ParaTransit services. (ParaTransit service proves all most free taxi service under federal ADA guidelines for people that are mobility impaired.)  Proposed by me.

1303 PROPOSAL:  That, bicycle lanes be removed from major roadways (like over 40+mph streets) because of hydro-carbon pollution poisoning and traffic dangers to bike riders.  Instead, put bicycle shortcuts between the dead-end/cul-de-sac neighborhoods.  Interconnect with local retail and connect the parking lots so as provide a seamless path.  This is a lower cost solution - better than squeezing traffic lanes to accommodate the bicyclist.  Proposed by Ester H. at the free senior breakfast provided by HEB.

1304 PROPOSAL:  

Living in the shadows:  When I took a senior shopping.  We drove his preferred path between and around parking lots then behind stores and apartment houses to our destination.  I thought this to be very strange, but upon reflection realized that from the standpoint of the elderly it was a more desirable to take the back roads than trying to navigate the modern six lane highway in front.  

Be it resolved that - instead of encouraging loop-and-lollypop retail development, inter-connect shopping center parking lots facilitating traffic flow between. This can be encouraged in the zoning ordnance.  Proposed by Jerry at senior breakfast.

1305 Gridlock  Central Austin is a sewer of traffic congestion.  Proposed by me.

1306 Mobility Let's try a new traffic solution.  Proposed by me.  

1307 ADA Districts I got mine, why should I share? Proposed by me.

1307a PROPOSAL

Whereas: Persons in the ADA Paratransit corridors who are mobility impaired get an almost free transportation.

Whereas:  Paratransit is designed to be in parallel with the existing fixed-route system, thus the ¾ mile service area boundary surrounding the Capital Metro fixed-route. 

Whereas:  Citizens pay 1% for their sales tax to support capital metro.

Bet it resolved that;  Bus service be extended to cover all of Austin, thereby making Para transit available to all Austinites. Proposed by me.

1308 PROPOSAL:  In the interest of transparency, have capital metro un-fog the windows so the public can see if the busses are occupied.  Proposed by Daniel at Gateway church gathering.

Austin ADA paratransit coverage -  yellow areas are skipped - District 6 (the largest yellow area) is about 10% of Austin, contributing $20,000,000 of sales tax revenue to capital metro. 

1309 PROPOSAL: 

Whereas:  It is first responsibility of a mobility system to service those who have physical or cognitive disabilities restricting mobility.  This is called paratransit providing almost free transportation;

Whereas: 
Federal ADA guidelines in 14.... require that paratransit to be available within 3/4 mile of a bus route;

Whereas:  Austin has expanded.  Many of the outlying are not being serviced by bus routes.

Whereas:  Capital metro is unable to modify the guidelines to remove the 3/4 mile distance limitation;

Whereas:  Capital metro has failed to provide bus service to the outlying  areas of Austin;

Whereas:  Austinites all pay sales tax of which 1% is allocated to support capital metro to provide these services.

Be it resolved that:  Austinites that are excluded from the bus service and/or paratransit be issued a special 1% sales tax discount card.  Proposed by me.

Austin ADA paratransit coverage -  yellow areas are skipped - District 6 (the largest yellow area) is about 10% of Austin, contributing $20,000,000 of sales tax revenue to capital metro. 

1309a PROPOSAL - Austin didn't build new roads and surrounded itself with green belts to avoid newcomers, but they came here anyway.

Since: Capital-Metro has forgotten about District 6.  Almost no bus service or paratransit exist in our district.

Whereas: District 6 is 10% (10 Districts) of Austin, and contributes 10% of $200mil in sales tax revenue that is allocated to Capital Metro -of which District 6 contributes about $20mil. Note: Capital Metro gets 1% of total Sales Tax Revenue.

What If: Capital-Metro installed an UBER Like taxi model in District 6.  "Take me to HEB - "Take the Kids" to school -  opps! "I'm feeling a little tipsy - it must be that pain pill?", "Take me Home" - let's let people enjoy life and get those who are chemically challenged off the road.  Recommended by Herb.

How much would it cost? 20mil/(100k per van that includes the driver, van, gas, maintenance... ) is about 200 vans.  Each ride 10min avg, 5 riders in each vehicle ... (60 min/10 min per ride)*(5 riders)*200 cars = 6,000 rides per hr and over 10 hours that's 60,000 rides per day.  There are about 80,000 people in District 6. Since we are in out cars about 10% of the time 60k/(80k*10%) is about 7 trips per day for each resident. 

Not only that! District 6 is 48 square miles and with 200 vehicles - that is one per 1/4 mile (48/200= 0.24).  There is a car around the corner from you.  You could almost pull-out-your thumb and hitchhike creating a ride-around-with-your-neighbors environment and at the same time incorporating people with both visible and invisible disabilities.

Better yet, let's make it really nice: Fewer cars but more up-scale vehicles, change the image from the mini-van to the chauffer driven Cadillac.  This would get people carpooling alleviating traffic congestion.

The best part: Your cost $0, because it's already paid for.

Be it resolved that,
Capital Metro devote 10% of there Sales Tax revenue to an UBER like taxi service for District 6.  Proposed by me
, Errol wants it for District 10 too.

Suggestion: Start off small - a few cars. Use the ADA paratransit machinery for communication.

Posted to neighborhood 73% in favor.


1310 PROPOSAL - Capital metro bus fees

Whereas: The University of Texas pays a fee, students ride-for-free;

Whereas: The City of Austin pays a fee, but Austin riders-pay-a-fee;

Since: Transportation service is prepaid;

Be it resolved, that, capital metro discontinue bus fares.

1311 PROPOSAL:  Instead of providing parasite communities like Round Rock a fast lane to South-by-South-West and downtown, we  incorporate the MoPac (Loop 1) improvements as extra lanes for the benefit of Austin residents.

1312 PROPOSAL: Transportation Self-Determination for Districts

Be it resolved, that, each District work with city staff to access District transportation needs. Then put-it-up for competitive bids in accordance with the manner in which we normally manage with sub-contractors.

1313 PROPOSAL: Transportation Self-Determination for District 6

City of Austin

 Capital Metro (Bus Company)

 

District 6 Transit Demographics

Whereas;  Capital metro's budget is about half the size of the City of Austin's (excluding the Austin's contribution).

Whereas;  We all use city roads.  We would expect half of us to use public transit. 

Whereas;  In District 6, only 1.5% use public transit.  No bus service.  No pick-up and drop-off for the elderly with visible and invisible disabilities.  With the exception of the 183 corridor, the district has been neglected for 27 years.

43 years ago we put a man on the moon, today we can't get around town.

Be it resolved, that, 

  • District 6 opt-out of the capital metro bus service..
  • Utilize district 6's share of sales tax collections allocated to capital metro and;
  • Hold public hearings and get with city staff to build its own transportation plan and;
  • Solicit competitive bids.

1314 Agenda Item - Pilot project for District 6

1315 Agenda item  -  Paradigm shift for mass transit.

Imagine, a fleet of cars cars taking you where you want, when you want.

We employ  a neural-evolutionary-network to supervise an UBER style coordinate manger (latitude/longitude)  to direct vehicle destinations.  In the morning all the cars may end up downtown, at 3 am fewer cars needed, weekends and holidays are different.  The network manages the slack time observing the behavior of the cars as prescribed by the riders in order to allocate driver work schedules..

A car will be minutes away.  Like ants, several hundred cars circulating in the neighborhoods - the cars go forever.

Your cell phone knows where you are.  It communicates your destination.  The car is continuously reporting it's location.  This requires high-school trigonometry to locate the nearest car.  Like getting on an elevator, there will be other people in the car.  You can ride around with your neighbors. 

And the ride is pre-paid out of sales taxes you pay every time your buy a chicken sandwich or soda pop and your home may two $30,000 cars in the garage - 1/3 the value of the house – now we can get rid of those and capture the extra room.

All the districts have 75 to 80 thousand residents and pay a little less than 20 million dollars in sales tax each year which would be adequate to fund this for their district.

1316 Agenda item  - Street naming to provide sense of location.

1317 Proposal - Eliminate small car lanes

Many roadways in Austin have narrow lanes.  For instance, in downtown Austin some cars and busses are as wide or wider than the street lane striping leaving very little room for operator error.

Be it resolved, that, we fix this.


BOOKS - LIBRARIES

1401 PROPOSAL:  That, since Recycled Reads costs nearly $200,000 to maintain.  Since it so expensive to sell the books, we can save $200,000 by giving them away. Put a free-book shelf in the our pubic libraries.  Proposed by guys at computer club meeting.

1402 PROPOSAL: Recycled Reads is valuable public resource that we are disappointed to see discontinued.  With the funds saved, home owners could be encouraged add pick-up and drop-off book houses.  The libraries could provide free book houses along with supplementary reading materials that would otherwise be discarded.  Proposed by Steve's wife at Olive Garden senior lunch.  My neighbors daughter would like to add her book called "A Dragon with a Cookie at Night" .

 

1402 PROPOSAL:  Cataracts dress code - I was asked to remove my base-ball hat in the Library and Court House

Whereas: Austin public facilities have dress code that does not permit wearing hats.

Whereas: Many seniors have cataracts.

Whereas: A cataract is a clouding of the normally clear lens of your eye scattering incoming light.  The light from a lamp may seem too bright or glaring.

Whereas: The brim of simple base-ball hat can block the glaring light.

Be it resolved, that, the City of Austin dress code be revised to allow hats in public facilities.

 

STREET PEOPLE

1501 PROPOSAL:  That the city provide public restrooms under underpasses.   Proposed by Chase he lives under an underpass on 183.

1502 PROPOSAL:  Get rid of the homeless.  Turn them into productive citizens.  Get them jobs, make them work, educate them if you need to.  I don't care if they are cleaning parks, sprucing up the community.  Proposed by Herb at senior breakfast.

1503 PROPOSAL:  That, Sanctuary cities are wrong. You can't send 100 million people back across the border but you can send felons back.  Propose by Daniel at HEB breakfast.

1504 PROPOSAL:

Whereas:  I used to take the left over snacks from senior gatherings to the homeless.  I was informed by management that this was against Travis County Health Department Regulations.

We request: That the Travis Count Health Department to explain this.  Proposed by me.

1505 PROPOSAL: Sometimes curing the symptoms can cure the disease.

Whereas:  Long ago the homeless were young free-spirits, today they are older and damaged by life.  Many are in physical or psychological pain and self-medicate with pain killers supplied by the legal and illegal drug cartels.

Since: Over a certain age kids are allowed to consume alcoholic beverages.

Be it resolved that, drugs be legalized for those over a certain age Proposed by Daniel.

1505a PROPOSAL: 

In group theory people congregate around a central core.  Those in the center are the most popular, those on the periphery are the most isolated, then there are the drop-outs.

50 years ago somebody would be smoking a Cigar, other guys - Camels and Lucky Strikes and the women Virginia Slims.  Today the smoke is all gone.  We did this by dealing with it as a social problem - its no longer "cool" to smoke.  Maybe the warm fire of home and companionship could have a similar effect?  If you can feel-it you can heal-it.

Imagine a rest stop along Hwy 183, not for cars, but for people who dropped-out.  A restroom, a shower maybe a climate controlled glass enclosure with tables and chairs for community emotional engagement - the feeling of home.  Veterans could trade war stories.  A facility equipped with Wi-Fi and electrical outlets for cell phone charging in a grassy field, with bushes and flowers.  A camp fire area.  Social organizations would encouraged to visit helping to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of our homeless citizens.  The rule would-be, it has to be cleaned up by 1 hour after daylight available 24 hours a day for wanderers. 

Be it resolved that, we create Sanctuary Pocket Parks along major road ways where the homeless hangout. Proposed by me with observations from Nubia, Ester, Don and others in the community.

Suggestion:
 

  • Instead of using public funds for housing - further isolating them;

  • In a culture of 30 year olds, who wants their parents hanging around;  

  • Instead provide public hangouts enabling those isolated to find to their own path.

1505b PROPOSAL:  That churches and other religious organizations be encouraged to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of our homeless citizens.  Proposed by Bob at Cedar Park Regional Hospital.

  CEMETERIES

1601 PROPOSAL:   Whereas the city of Austin is responsible for city cemeteries which are declining condition.  We recommend that the city establish a Cemetery Commission to provide a direct communication to the city council for oversight.  Proposed by Sharon at cafeteria.


  SENIOR COMMISSION ORGANIZATION AND RULES - the devil is in the details

1001 PROPOSAL:  That, commission members be allowed to use the email programs they are familiar with connected to the city public servers thereby allowing transparency (the publics-right-to know).  Proposed by me.

1002 PROPOSAL:   That, the City Of Austin provide all members of the commission with "bc-your.name@austintexas.gov" email boxes/addresses placing their email communications on the public record.  Proposed by me.

1003 One District One Vote  Rigging the vote, let's level the playing field.  Proposed by me.

1004 District Meetings  Lot's of little meetings spanning Austin.  Proposed by me.

1005 PROPOSAL: Radiating seniors

Whereas:  The public is subjected to radiation screening to access the public forum at city hall.  As we age cancer incidence increases exponentially with advancing age,  a major cause of cancer is accumulated exposure to radiation. 

Ionizing is high-frequency radiation that has enough energy to remove an electron from (ionize) an atom or molecule. Ionizing radiation has enough energy to damage the DNA in cells, which in turn may lead to cancer....
https://www.americancancerfund.org

Remember when electric blankets were discontinued because of causing leukemia?

In 2012, when the Europeans discovered that airport screening was causing cancer, the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) began dumping the old machines to local court houses and city halls.... http://www.motherjones.com/

Be it Resolved, that, we error on the side of caution and remove the radiating screening equipment from city facilities. Proposed by me.

1006 PROPOSAL:  Paranoid security screening at the front door

Whereas:  After 911 a wave of paranoia swept across America reminiscent of the Cold-War-era - remember (HUAC - the House on Un-American Activities) the search for communist traitors during the 1950s. 

Whereas:  Some believe that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are a suicide pact and the guarantees;

  • the protections against search and seizure - the 4th Amendment,
  • the assumption in jurisprudence of "Innocent till proven Guilty", 
  • the rights again Self Incrimination - the 5th Amendment,
  • and simple privacy;

have become irrelevant.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” ― Benjamin Franklin.

Whereas:  Our public spaces should be open and free for anonymous citizen discourse.

Be it Resolved, that the City of Austin remove security screening at the front door.  Proposed by me.

1007 PROPOSAL:  Secrecy is the enemy of transparency

Whereas:  Proprietary software is secret computer code subject to hidden outside agendas.  Microsoft Outlook Mail, that we use, is proprietary.

Whereas:  Microsoft Outlook Mail relies on remote computers far away to process our communications.

 Whereas:  Remote access, called The Cloud, relies on slow-speed internet transmissions reducing our modern high-speed computer hardware to the dumb-terminals of yesteryear - we have gone back to the future

This is the dream of internet providers, get us into the cloud, then charge monthly rent and they make dollars$$$.

Whereas:  The alternative is keep our work here, only the work-product goes there - to the Cloud.

Be it resolved:  The City of Austin look to a more decentralized open alternative for email communication.  Proposed by me.

1008 PROPOSAL: Back to the future

The dream of internet providers, get us into the cloud, then charge monthly rent and they make dollars$$$.

Whereas: With the success of the cell phone, everyone wanted to get on the gravy train - the monthly subscription plan.

Whereas:  Remote computing, relies on slow-speed internet transmission for communication reducing our modern high-speed computer hardware to the dumb-terminals of yesteryear dependent on a back-end mainframe called the cloud.

By 2004 desktop/notebook computers ran fast enough, the computer chip manufactures forgot about speed and instead went green, focusing on reducing energy consumption hoping to let the internet speed catch up.

The industry dream was to speed up the internet to catch the computer.  Migrate users to the cloud.  Then charge a monthly subscription fee to make dollars$$.

Whereas:  Microsoft couldn't get their software debugged by time of release.  Normally this would require a recall.  But, Microsoft provided us with the fixes, they called them updates.  Later they were called security patches because of inherent vulnerabilities in the operating system design to outside intrusion.

Every now-and-then Microsoft sold new versions of Windows (XP, 7, 8 etc..).  But these were really the same-old-thing made to look different with few enhancements.  

Windows XP.., 7 and 8 are mature operating systems that will run for 100 years.  To keep the dollars flowing Microsoft has developed a subscription version of Windows (Windows 10) oriented toward remote computing in the cloud.  Instead of desktop computing, where the work product stays here, the work product resides in the cloud - forget to pay your rent - you loose and not very secure. 

Note:  The Chinese are using a public domain Linux version of Windows which doesn't have the inherent vulnerabilities of Microsoft versions of Windows and which is free.

Be it resolved that, the City of Austin get off the Microsoft treadmill and either stay with already paid-for mature versions of Windows or migrate to Linux instead of upgrading to Windows 10.  Proposed by me.

1009 PROPOSAL:  Voting - 2 votes

Be it resolved that, in case there is controversy, we take 2 votes.  One vote of the 10 distinct representatives (with the mayor's representative only voting as a tie breaker like the US Senate), and a second vote of remaining 5 members.  When there is disagreement present both vote tally's to council.  Proposed by me.

1010 PROPOSAL:  

Whereas; in accordance the 10-1 concept and the voters divided the city into 10 Districts;

Be it resolved that, each district be allocated one-tenth of public $dollars$.  Proposed by me.

1011 PROPOSAL:  

Whereas:  Our meetings run for 1 1/2 hours while other boards and commissions such as the Mayor’s Committee for People with Disabilities run for 2 hours;

Be it resolved that, we add an extra 30 minutes to our meetings length to bring us in compliance with other city board and commissions.  Proposed by me.

1012 PROPOSAL: Creeping disability

Whereas:  The elderly, for one reason or another, often live in isolation.

Whereas:  From time-to-time they are in need of emergency services;

Whereas:  Many of the elderly have hidden disabilities that are NOT covered by other public programs and/or commissions.  

Whereas:  These conditions are things like Night Blindness, Cataracts, Motor Neuropathy, Mild Cognitive Decline a precursor of Dementia etc... and though they are not debilitating, they are invisible disabilities.

Whereas:  Though many elderly do not consider themselves disabled, but over time, their world has grown smaller till there is nobody-there, no-place-to-go, new relationships are problematic because of psychological baggage and they find themselves living in isolation.

Be it resolved, that we discuss creating a working group to address the physical and psychological needs of Seniors with invisible disabilities living in isolation Proposed by me.

1012 PROPOSAL: Remove the requirement of a second to place an item on the agenda.

Robert's Rules of Order:  http://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html#14

For a proposed agenda to become the official agenda for a meeting, it must be adopted by the assembly at the outset of the meeting.  At the time that an agenda is presented for adoption, it is in order for any member to move to amend the proposed agenda by adding any item that the member desires to add, or by proposing any other change.

It is wrong to assume, as many do, that the president “sets the agenda.”  It is common for the president to prepare a proposed agenda, but that becomes binding only if it is adopted by the full assembly, perhaps after amendments as just described.

Be it resolved that, any member can place an item on the agenda in accordance with the Open Meetings Law.

HOUSING

1701 Section 8 Housing  Section 8  is also the militaries designation for the mentally unfit - Sometimes the kids can be cruel - let's call it something else.  Proposed by me. 

 TAXES

1801 Double Taxation  We give the kids an allowance, called taxes. We expect them stay within their budget, but some are greedy - want an extra piece of candy, they call it User FeesProposed by me.

1802 PROPOSAL:

Since:  We  the Seniors graduated long ago and our kids are gone.

Be it resolved that, seniors be excluded from paying the school tax.  
Proposed by Elana at HEB coffee.

1803 PROPOSAL:  The kids want an extra piece of candy.

We all ride the wave.  The money supply expands and contracts, prices rise, wages rise and fall.  It's called inflation and it's all proportional

Whereas:  City staff wants a 3% pay increase.  We, the Seniors, got a 1.7% increase from last year and projected 0% (because of expected deflation) for next year.  

Be it resolved that, city staff gets what the Seniors get.
  Proposed by me.

1804 ALERT: The kids want an want more. 

Slip your boat into the water under into 360 bridge over town lake.  Now there is new tax/fee to float your boat  Proposed by Danny.

  
1805 PROPOSAL:
  The public right-of-way's have become the public pay-for-way's.

Whereas:  User fees are only appropriate when there are identifiable recipients who enjoy special benefits derived from government activities beyond those received by the general public. - United States Government Office of Management and Budget.

Be it resolved that, when using public services, since they are prepaid, present your tax receipt.  Renters - present your rent receipt.  Federal, State, County and City taxes are built into rentProposed by me.

1806 PROPOSAL:  Let's do away with taxes.

Whereas:  Some cities are organized around a volunteer board of directors allowing private companies to provide city services on fee-for-service basis. Pay-for-it when you Use-it.

Be it resolved that, Austin convert to a co-op model eliminating taxation in favor of fee-for-service.  Proposed by a District 6 resident at the Don&Jen..Z.. art gallery event.

1807 PROPOSAL:  Removal of stealth urban renewal taxation of older neighborhoods.  


 SENIORS ISSUES

1901 Doping Seniors  Kill off the old folks, these are the biggest selling drugs. This is of concern, because, by the time we are eighty 50% of us will have Alzheimer's. Proposed by me.

1902 Planned Obsolescence  The old folks don't understand technology, let's help. Proposed by me.

MISCELLANEOUS

2001 Don't Shoot the Messenger  Sometimes the kids misbehave.  Proposed by me.

2002 PROPOSAL: 
Right to Know

Whereas:  Sealed records prevent adoptees from knowing their biological origins;

Whereas:  The child's right to know supersedes secret agreements made long ago;

Whereas:  The child was not a party to these agreements;

Additionally:  These agreements conceal critical up-to-date medical records which only the biological family has knowledge of;

Be it resolved that, when a child comes of age and assumes his or her full rights and responsibilities as citizens of the United States, all documents, including sealed court records, pertaining to the child's origins and/or identity should be made available to the child upon request.
  Proposed by me and the Adoption-Search community.

Suggestion:  If our Judges were to support this, all state adoption records are warehoused at the Bureau of Vital Statistics at 49th and Lamar.

2003 PROPOSAL: Deceptive ballot wording for the November 3, 2015 election.

TRAVIS COUNTY BOND PROPOSITION
The issuance of $287,275,000 of bonds for the purpose of
constructing, improving and equipping civil and
family courts facilities and the levying of the tax in payment
thereof

Whereas:  The money was for a new Court Court House not a remodeling project.

Be it resolved that, next-time, let's come up-front and saying what-we-mean.

2015 The flu season is upon us.  

Whereas:  There is a attitude in the senior community - boycott the flu shot.   If  you do this, when infected you become a carrier - spreading the virus, to your friends, your kids, grandkids - your family.  

There is one cell living thing called a virus, a little piece of RNA, convertible to DNA inside the cell - airborne - floating around waiting to visit you.  It slips inside your cells, into your DNA control center to do its damage.  

This is a stupid parasite because it not-only kills you but kills it's self - violating basic laws of survival of the species. 

The flu shot is marvel of modern technology, a training program for immune system, subjecting you to low levels of the killer so-as learn to defend again the impending invasion.  

Be it resolved that, we Join the fight - get the FLU SHOTProposed by me.

2016 PROPOSAL:  Public funding for Charities should be focused on the truly needy not-so-much on those who are talented and can improve their own lives.   Proposed by me.

In order for us to discuss this, you must show interest, called a SECOND. A SECOND doesn’t mean you support it, it only means it will be placed on the agenda so we can all discuss it in the public forum at the meetings.  Contact staff.