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It would seem easy for Austin City Manager Marc Ott to learn about any neighborhood or
street without ever leaving his office
but the City Manager is experimenting with a new data-gathering method that is turning
heads and maybe
changing minds.
On a hot Friday afternoon Ott joined Assistant City Managers and key departmental and community
leaders on a walk through the southeast neighborhood of Dove Springs. The City Manager made
his first neighborhood stop at Mendez Middle School
which has emerged as an important community center where students learn and families go
for services.
But the school faces some challenges that the Principal says the City could help address.
"We have a lot of areas that become dangerous areas not only in
in the night time
but also in the day time...." The tour wound its way through much of the city's most important assets
including the fire station where firefighters unexpectedly
left for a call during the visit, 0:00:56.630,0:00:58.760 and the Dove Springs Recreation Center
where Chief of Staff Anthony Snipes tried to demonstrate his skills
with a young man from the neighborhood. (cheering) "Oh-ho, air ball!"
but some of the more meaningful moments on the tour came during spontaneous chats
along neighborhood streets.
Residents seemed surprised and pleased that the City Manager took the time to do this.
"..and the way jobs (?)."
"This is the first time I've ever seen something like that. It made me feel good. It lets me know
that you all do care about little kids."
The tour wound its way to the River City Youth Foundation for a "Stop the Violence - Start
the Peace" back-to-school concert.
Sseveral musicians sang inspirational songs and local dancers showed off their moves.
The City Manager assured neighborhood residents his visit was not for show.
(applause) "... we'll be back to try to help address some of those issues." After finishing the tour the City Manager acknowledged how helpful the trip had been
for him and his staff. "I saw a lot of challenging issues over here. I saw the deterioration
of the neighborhood which I think obviously has occurred over a period of time." 0:02:07.399,0:02:10.429 "I learned some of the history behind that."
"I also saw a lot of trash on the street. I saw, well I didn't see,
I heard lots of complaints about
drug-dealing activity here and you know we still don't want the streets where, as I
understand it, a lot of that activity occurs." "It's impacting
our youngest citizens and we have to do something to change that and we have
to do it sooner rather than later."
City officials plan to meet again with neighborhood leaders in the near future to address some
of the more pressing issues raised on the Dove Springs walk.
The City Manager also plans to walk additional neighborhoods in the coming months.
For Channel 6, I'm Larry Schooler.