Only a few citizens attended Monday’s July PfCONA meeting. I’m sure the guests outnumbered the usual neighborhood regulars. However, I hope this communication spreads the important information we heard that night. I will post some recorded video online soon of the speaker’s presentations.

1. The 2009 Hurricane Season is Upon Us. Marty McKellips, Williams County Development and Communications Manager of the American Red Cross of Central Texas reminded us that there were three alerts last year and that Austin had to shelter 17,000 coastal evacuees. She urged us to tell our residents that free Shelter Management Team Training classes will begin July 14. There will be 8 dates through August 18th at various locations around Travis and Williamson counties. The 7-hour classes give individuals the skills and knowledge to be shelter managers. The Central Texas chapter depends 100% on volunteers and citizen donations to operate; not one cent comes from government sources. Ms. McKellips mission is to train more volunteers from Pflugerville and Round Rock so that our communities can be more prepared for disasters. Red Cross classes cover many topics such as first aid and emphasize readiness and planning for emergencies. The Centex Red Cross web site is the first place to look for information on how to give time or money as well as training class schedules. For any questions, you can reach Ms. McKellips on her cell phone at 512-417-6235.
2. Its School Budget Time Again: Amanda Brim, Director of Community Relations, and Deputy Superintendent Keith McBurnett told us that Pflugerville (PISD) school Board of Trustee hold their first budget public workshop beginning at 6:30 PM on Thursday, July 23rd. Where to locate and how to finance a planned new fourth high school is one of the most important issues being discussed right now.  2010 student population will be about 27,000 students. Perfomance indicators show accepatable to exemplary Texas TAKS test results. You can read about Gatlinburg’s local campus Pflugerville Elementary’s performance report.The take-away message for me was that neighborhood assoications should be involved in their local schools, even if residents personally don’t have school-age children. Our home property values depend on PISD’s reputation for delivering quality instruction.  The PISD web site describes many ways for individuals to volunteer or groups to partner with their local school campus.
3. Crime is UP! Its UP to Us to Prevent Crime: Pflugerville Police Chief Hooker said our 2009 crime rate is up 22% from 2008 and the number of daytime residential burglaries increased too. This was expected since our city population has also increased, but its still hard to accept. We all need to be more vigilant about locking our cars and keeping valuables out of public view. Crooks look for expensive stuff that is easy to steal and that leads them right to the average Pflugerville neighborhood. According to the Chief, only about a third of our theft is done by local residents, 70% are professional crooks who come here and leave. Many robberies are by repeat criminals who steal to buy drugs. He urged homeowners who see unknown persons acting suspiciously on their street, for example, going into back yards or looking in windows, especially from 10 AM to 2 PM when many residential break-ins occur, to quickly call Pflugerville police at 251-4004.Before buying an expensive alarm system, homeowners should request a free police home survey from the Community Service Division.On a more positive note, Chief Hooker described a new summer program called “Cool Moves”, a program which teaches basic pedestrian and bicycle safety to kids. Officers are rewarding good bike safety everywhere in town when they see it with coupons for free ice cream.