WHAT IS SRCC, ANYWAY???
Hello, SRCC neighbors,
Many of you know what
SRCC is, although some have no idea, while others have only some vague
notions. As the newly elected President who would love for more people in
the neighborhood to get involved, I thought I'd take a stab at describing what
the organization is and does.
I'll be sending
additional PART's before it's all over, but I don't want to bog anybody down
with too much too soon.
BACKGROUND &
AUTHORITY/WEBSITE & LIST SERVE
SRCC is the South River
City Citizens Neighborhood Association, formed in 1972 by Jean Mather and
Harriet Buxkemper -- both of whom still live in the neighborhood -- primarily
in anticipation of a city-wide comprehensive planning effort and as a way of
being heard at City Hall.
SRCC is formalized by our
bylaws, which you may access, along with lots of other information, via the
following website: http://www.srccaustin.org/.
The web site is owned and managed by Jane Kellogg, not the
association. This
related list serve is also owned by Jane, not SRCC. Both have served SRCC very well for years,
with Jane at the helm.
MEMBERSHIP & DUES
SRCC is a 100% volunteer
organization of the residents, by the residents and for the residents.
Anyone who lives within the SRCC boundaries is eligible
for membership.
Participation and meeting attendance is open to everyone within the boundaries,
member or not. However, voting on issues
is limited to members. You may bring an issue of concern to one of our
meetings (see more on Meetings & Agendas, PART TWO), and SRCC may vote on
it and even take some action in your support without your
ever being a member, although your membership is appreciated.
Membership dues are quite
reasonable and have traditionally been used to pay for such items as production
of the newsletter that comes out 3-5 times a year and should be delivered to
your door; to participate in certain issues like trenching to stop the spread
of oak wilt; to help fund the annual Fourth of July parade and picnic; to pay
for occasional legal assistance; and to help fund our annual potluck dinner
meeting for the election of officers each March.
REPUTATION
SRCC has an excellent and
long-standing reputation with the City of Austin, which means that members of
various City Boards and Commissions as well as City staff and City Council
members will oftensuggest or insist that we be contacted by any person or group
wishing to do anything in the neighborhood that requires City approval or other
action. Our opinions on any such actions usually carry weight, and we
often prevail. Over time, neighborhood
influence waxes and wanes depending upon the makeup of City Council, so we can
never really relax our vigilance.
BOUNDARIES
SRCC's boundaries are S.
Congress on the west, the Lake on the north, Ben White on the south, and
IH 35 to Woodland to Parker on the east. By no means is SRCC
limited just to Travis Heights, as some think.
Over the past decade, the
City of Austin has conducted a Neighborhood Plan process City-wide. Very
confusing for us. SRCC was City-designated as the Greater South River
City Combined (GSRCC) Neighborhood Plan Area minus our area east of IH 35,
which was City-assigned to the East Riverside/Oltorf Combined (EROC)
Neighborhood Plan Area. This is an unfortunate bureaucratic
decision. For purposes of SRCC, we still include our east-of-IH 35 area,
although
occasionally there are
issues which threaten our solidarity.
I tell you this only in
an attempt to clarify the situation in advance of sure confusion when one tries
to distinguish among all the named groups. The official City Neighborhood
Plans have official Contact Teams whose members must act occasionally when the
City or a private interest wants to amend the Plan. Many of GSRCC's and
EROC's Contact Team members are also active in SRCC, which helps us all stay on
the same page. Fortunately, most day-to-day business involving the City and
our neighborhood is conducted at the SRCC level, rather than that of GSRCC.
PART TWO coming soon!
WHAT
IS SRCC, ANYWAY???
Hello, SRCC neighbors,
Here I am again with Part
Two, a continuing attempt to de-mystify SRCC (South River City Citizens), our
local neighborhood association and to get more residents involved.
HOW WE OPERATE
MEETINGS
SRCC holds a regular monthly meeting on
the first Monday of every month except occasionally when a holiday (such as the
4th of July or New Year's Day) conflicts. Meetings start at 7pm and are
held in the basement activity room of
The Executive Committee (see more
below) also holds a meeting every 3rd Monday in the conference room of the
Church to discuss upcoming agenda items and to vote on time-critical issues
when necessary. These meetings begin at
6pm.
AGENDAS
& POSTINGS
The agendas are put together by the
President with input from the Executive Committee, residents, and others in
search of neighborhood approval of some action.
Anyone may request a place on an agenda by contacting an officer or
other member of the Executive Committee.
Per our bylaws, agendas must be made available to the membership at
least 72 hours before the meeting. I aim
to post a final agenda no later than Friday afternoon before the following Monday
evening meeting. The agenda has already
been through an internal review by the Executive Committee, and so has been in
process for several days before final posting.
Posting is on the list serve. We
try to remember to do a reminder post the day of the meeting.
OFFICERS & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Officers of SRCC include President,
Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary, elected annually at the potluck dinner
meeting in March. The bylaws do not address the issue of vacancies during
the year, so I assume elections any time of the year to fill vacant posts is
permitted. It is not uncommon to have
co-officers to share the duties. Presently, we have Co-Secretaries. One takes minutes at the regular monthly
meeting and the other at the Executive Committee meeting.
SRCC is divided into geographical Areas
1-8. Areas 3 and 4 are further divided into 3A & B and 4A & B,
for a total of 10 areas. Each of these Areas has at least one, if not
two, Area Coordinators. These people are your local points of contact for
any neighborhood concerns. They also are responsible for distributing the
newsletters within their areas. Anyone may contact an Area Coordinator or an
officer with an issue that may need to be put on an agenda for discussion
and/or action.
The Executive Committee includes the
Officers and Area Coordinators. You can
find a list of all of us at the www.srccaustin.org website. Click "officers" in the top "FIND
IT" section, then "more information." We are also listed on the back of the newsletters,
along with a map showing all 10 Areas. A
new newsletter will come out in plenty of time to announce the annual 4th of
July parade and picnic.
PART THREE coming out very soon, to help you locate projects for which you might be interested in volunteering, and contacts for you to call or email.