street talk | july 2011 issue

STREET TALKREPORTING ON WHAT MATTERS TO PUBLIC WORKSVOLUME 1 ISSUE 4 JULY 2011

inside:Bringing the Heat!Street and Bridge bring some heat to the streets

History of a Department: A look back tells us how far we have come in PWD

What’s Bugging You?Find out how you can get rid of summer pests in our guest col-umn from the Grow Green Pro-gram

HeattheBringin’

Summer in the City...

director’s messageBY HOWARD LAZARUS DIRECTOR

02 STREET TALK JULY 2011

PWD is bringing the heat! With sum-mer upon us, this expression will

bring thoughts of 100 degree days to many of us. There are days when the heat and wind make you feel like you just walked into a blast furnace, and the only thing left of you will be a pile of goo and two eyeballs on the sidewalk. In the words of the Lovin’ Spoonful (for those of us old enough to re-member):

Hot town, summer in the cityBack of my neck getting burnt and grittyBeen down, isn’t a pityDoesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city All around, people looking half deadWalking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head…

Working out in the Texas sun can be tough, especially for our Project Inspec-tors and Street & Bridge crews. You have my greatest admiration, as you are made of the sternest stuff! As we all travel around Austin this summer, please give our fel-low Public Workers a tap on the horn and a wave of appreciation. And in the words of Sergeant Phil Esterhaus (of Hill Street Blues fame)… “Let’s be careful out there.” “Bringing the Heat” can also refer to the exerting of extraordinary force upon a situation. In sports, it’s typically used to describe the tall, lanky pitcher with the 95 mph fastball that dances across home plate and makes the batter look like an overmatched schoolboy. For us, it applies

EDITORIALEditor in Chief:

Chief Reporter:

Contributing Writers:

Guest Writer:

DESIGNChief Graphic Designer:

Director of Photography:

Sara [email protected]

Karen [email protected]

Vera [email protected]

Alexa [email protected]

Shannon [email protected]

Sara [email protected]

Luciano [email protected]

to the power we bring collectively to solv-ing problems and moving work ahead. Street Talk highlights those among us who advance projects and quality of life initia-tives, whether in the lead or in a supporting role. It’s only through the synchronization of all of our efforts that we’re able to do the remarkable things we do. Let me provide two examples -- one small and one big. On June 17, I had the privilege of representing all of us at the groundbreaking for the Detrick-Hamilton House. When finished, this facility on East 11th Street will serve as the African-Amer-ican Cultural and Heritage Facility. The event was a multi-cultural celebration for Austin, and it would not have occurred without significant support from PWD (and in particular, Allison von Stein). At the same time, crews from Street & Bridge were working on resurfacing South Congress Avenue. This job has advanced without incident, due not only to the field crews, but also to the leadership of SBO, through Infrastructure Management, Over-lay, Utility Cuts and Repair, and the Districts. Also leading the way is Project Manage-ment, Neighborhood Connectivity, and the Public Information team. Think about that – interrupting traffic on one of the busiest streets in the City without complaint and without incident! I would be remiss if I did not note that during the span of this issue of Street Talk, I’ll be marking my third anniversary as your Director. I can honestly tell you that al-

STREET TALK

Steven [email protected]

Howard [email protected]

though there have been challenges, I have never had a bad day at work, and that’s due entirely to your support and belief that we can be “Your Department with a Heart!” So, between now and when I see you around town, roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer!!!

Michelle [email protected]

Denise [email protected]

Max [email protected]

2011 JULY STREET TALK 03

COVER STORY

Bringin’The Heat!Our Street and Bridge Opera-tions “Bring the Heat” every summer by getting out in extreme temperatures to take care of our streets!

contentsJULY 2011

cityspace.ci.austin.tx.us/departments/pwdVOLUME 1 ISSUE 4

Brazos Street Reconstruction


contentsJULY 2011

cityspace.ci.austin.tx.us/departments/pwdVOLUME 1 ISSUE 4

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27features

divisions

columnsALL AROUND AUSTIN

BRINGIN’ THE HEAT!

NCD:

HRO: FIELD TRIPPIN’

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR?

THE SAFETY ZONE

Public Workers spent time in May and June doing all kinds of things around town to highlight the work we do in PWD. See what’s been happening and what is coming up next.

Street and Bridge Operations bring the heat - and endure it during the busiest season of their year!

Neighborhood Partnering Program gets going with a brand new proj-ect being built this summer. They are showing Austin how they are empow-ering neighborhoods and building communities.

Michelle Frith profiles two employees that work hard for PWD everyday, who you may have never met!

HRO staff visits Street and Bridge on site once again – but this time it is to bring some sweet relief from the heat for our Overlay crew!

How safe are you staying on the job? Tips on how you can make improve-ments on the job and in your daily life!

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ESD: New software changes the landscape of ESD and how they will get their busi-ness done. Tools to help speed the de-sign and delivery of civil engineering projects will fire up their work!

25OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR:

From communications to executive ad-ministration and special projects – this OOD team does it all. Read about how they are here to help you!

Number crunching may not sound glamorous, but these folks are there ev-ery time someone has a financial need and often with the fire turned up under them to get it done – but they never break a sweat!

14

SHARED SERVICES:07CIPID:

New supervisors and lead inspectors organize the division and utilize their experience and expertise to make the division a “hot commodity!”

24

GUEST COLUMN:AUSTIN’S GROW GREEN PRO-GRAM GETS BUGGY

How other City departments are try-ing to make Austin more livable! This month Grow Green talks about those pesky bugs of summer.

06

Heat exhaustion can lead to heat stroke if untreated. It is a medical emergency and delay in treatment could be fatal. Symptoms of heat stroke include:

Victim’s body is extremely hot when touchedAltered mental status (ranges

from slight confusion/disorientation to coma)If conscious can become irrational, agitated or even aggressive, might have seizures.In severe heatstroke the victim can

go into a coma in less than an hour. The longer the coma lasts, the less chance for survival.

Move the person to a half-sitting position in the shadeCall for emergency medical help immediatelyIf humidity is below 75%, apply ice packs on neck, armpits or groin.

Keep as cool as possibleAvoid dehydration by drinking 8 oz. of water every 20 minutes.Wear appropriate clothingAvoid alcohol and caffeineRest frequently


BY MICHELLE FRITH CHIEF REPORTER

safety zone

Keeping Your Cool During the Heat Wave

here are many medical problems that come with the extreme heat

during Austin summers. Keep in mind that your body has to find ways to get rid of the heat that it produces. If it can’t, your internal temperature can soar well beyond the safe and comfortable 98.6°.

Heat-related illness can affect any-one, but mostly those not used to hot weather, and when combined with high humidity. Especially at risk are the very young and elderly, those with heart or cir-culatory problems, those working in the heat, and those taking sweat altering pre-scriptions. Pets are also at high risk when outside.

Are painful muscular spasms that happen suddenly affecting legs or ab-dominal muscles. These can occur after physical activity by those who haven’t maintained enough body fluid. If you get heat cramps, you should:

Sit or lie down in the shade Drink cool, lightly salted water or

a sports drink Stretch the affected muscles

Is a form of heat-related illness that can develop after several days of exposure to high temperatures and inadequate re-placement of fluids. Warning signs of heat exhaustion include:

Heavy sweating often accompanied by cold, clammy skin

Paleness Intense thirst

T

Who is at risk?

Heat cramps

Heat exhaustion

Muscle aches and cramps Fatigue/weakness/dizziness Headache/confusion/anxiety Nausea or vomiting Fainting Weak and rapid pulse and fast

and shallow breathing Affected person may believe they have the flu

Sit or lie down in the shade, or get to air conditioning Drink cool, lightly salted water or a sports drink If persistent, gently apply wet towels and call for emergency medical help.

You should:

Heat stroke

What to do if someone is having a heat stroke:

Be smart and beat the heat

For spider mites, aphids and scale in their crawler stage just spray them with a stream of water to dislodge them off the plant. You will have to be persistent and do

BY DENISE DELANEY GUEST COLUMNIST

guest column


The Bugs of SummerThe City’s Grow Green Program helps our community understand how to conserve and protect the environment, all while keeping our yards safe and beautiful!

ummer is an active time for bugs, some of which can be total pests! Us-

ing the most earth-friendly way to deal with them makes sense for the health of our land-scapes and environment. The Watershed Protection Department’s Grow Green pro-gram has many great resources and advice to assist you with common landscape issues.

Some plant and insect relationships are notorious, such as spider mites on lan-tanas. Anticipating when and where a prob-lem may occur is an advantage over the pest. Keeping plants healthy helps them resist at-tacks. Using a diversity of species makes it harder for any one pest to thrive and invites more beneficial insects to your yard.

S

Get to know your plants!

Be on the lookout!

Spider Mites thrive when it is hot and dry. They stab the plant and suck juice leaving little white or yellow speckles. These tiny bugs (but not technically insects) can be hard to see. With severe infestations webbing is visible. Shake the infected foliage over a white piece of pa-per and look for the tiny crawling mites.

Aphids are soft-bodied insects found in many colors. Typically found on new growth because it is easier for their pierc-ing mouthparts to penetrate tender, new plant tissue. Severe infestations distort foliage. Lady beetles (“ladybugs”) love to eat aphids so sometimes doing nothing is the best approach.

Scale spend most of their lives under a protective stationary “shell” or scale (like catepillars) and they are most commonly found on woody species. Since you prob-ably won’t see them move you might rule out an insect problem even though the plant may show signs of damage. When scale insects are in the crawler stage they come out from under their shell to mate and relocate. If they are under their scale “home”, using a highly refined horticultural oil to smother them works quite well.

Beetles can be pests but many are ben-eficial because they eat everything from snails and slugs to the aforementioned aphids and mites. The beetles that are pests chew on plants leaving obvious damage. Use floating row covers to keep beetles physically off plants or use a product with neem oil or azadirachtin.

Caterpillars need to be properly identi-fied because some caterpillars turn into desirable butterflies. For a small scale problem, try physically removing the pest caterpillars. With a larger infesta-tion use a product containing Bacillus thuringensis or Bt. It is a bacterium that only kills caterpillars.

Often the trick is actually finding the pest. If after searching the plant and its gen-eral vicinity to no avail, go out in the eve-ning with a flashlight and see if you can find them in action because some beetles and caterpillars are nocturnal.

These are simple, low toxic ways to deal with some of the pests you may en-counter in your landscape this summer. Get-ting rid of every single pest is not practical or necessary. Before using any pesticide cor-rectly diagnose the problem and determine its severity. Always read the label and follow the directions.

For more helpful earth-wise garden-ing information go to www.growgreen.org or pick up program materials at your local Grow Green Nursery.

Catching an infestation early makes it easier to address the problem. Regularly walk through your yard looking for signs of damage. Try to determine who’s the real culprit! Is the problem actually a pest or pos-sibly an environmental one? Could it be too much sun/shade, over/under watering?

this at a minimum of once a week. Be sure to spray under the leaves.

If that doesn’t work, try using an insec-ticidal soap. It doesn’t poison the bugs but simply dries them out, so the spray needs to actually contact the insect. Once dried, the remaining soapy residue is not harmful to any other insects.


BY KAREN MAGGIO CONTRIBUTING WRITER

divisions

hat’s the difference between an accountant and an engineer? The

accountant knows he is boring!It’s an interesting stereotype, but the

Shared Services Division staff is anything but boring. Sure, we like numbers but we also like good customer service! Whether you need assistance in purchasing anything, paying your bills, making sure that you are following the right financial procedures, go-ing to a conference, getting petty cash, or having your mail picked up and delivered, Shared Services is there to help you out. It doesn’t matter if what you need is tied to something as large as Water Treatment Plant #4 where billions of dollars are involved, or something as small as a new pair of safety shoes, Shared Services will help you make it happen. Our mission is to aid our fellow Public Workers and make their jobs a little easier by making sure that they have what they need when they need it.

Twelve staff members for Shared Ser-

vices are located on the 10th floor of One Texas Center and four others are located at St. Elmo. We consist of project accounting, purchasing, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and mail services. The depart-ments we support at One Texas Center are Public Works, Transportation, Contract and Land Management, and Real Estate Services. We also provide purchasing, accounts pay-able, and accounts receivable support for Street and Bridge. We work hand in hand with our friends in Financial Monitoring and Budget to make sure that we are always in compliance with the City of Austin’s policies. By seeking their input on the front end, we keep things flowing more quickly to avoid potential problems.

We’ve also done some reorganizing and streamlining over the past year. There are teams in place who work together to make processes go more smoothly and ef-ficiently and deliver superior service to all of our coworkers. If you haven’t come by lately,

there are four new people in the division. Christopher Mendoza has joined Peggy Ybanez in Purchasing and Leticia Torres is a welcome addition to the Project Accounting team of Sylvia VanVlerah, Patricia Lopez, and Dorothy Callahan. Karen Maggio is the Sup-port Services Manager at OTC. At St. Elmo, Alicia Jackson rounds out the team with Brenda Jimenez, Lisa Escobedo, and JoLynn Ayala. The other teams at OTC are the Ac-counts Payable/Accounts Receivable group which consists of Candy Guerra, Virginia Ra-mos, Claudine Barlow, Deborah Harper, and John Lopez.

We also have new computer programs in place that make it easier to track where items are in the process and to make sure we don’t miss any deadlines. We currently are doing many of our transmittals for approv-als electronically, which is saving a whole lot of paper!

Over this next year, we are researching new processes for document management

W

Shared Services:Handling the money of four departments is enough to make most people sweat - but this division isn’t afraid of the heat!


and will be the first division to go online with the City Clerk’s Electronic Document & Imag-ing Management System (EDIMS). We hope this will become a tool that saves everyone in the Department a lot of time, move us toward a paperless environment, and make research-ing much simpler.

So, remember: the next time you have something delivered that makes your job a little easier, or you need to take care of a bill, there is a whole crew of people buried un-derneath all that paper trying to make things more efficient by handling the red tape –we’re here to support all of you!

divisions continued from pg. 07

A QUICK LOOK INTO OUR SHARED SERVICES DIVISION

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR

Howard Lazarus, P.E.Director

James SnowAssitant Director

of Systems

ACCOUNTABLEPAYABLE

Karen MaggioSupport Services Manager

49770

PURCHASING PROJECTACCOUNTING

Brenda JimenezContract Comp.

Specialist Sr.47995

Peggy YbanezContract Comp.

Specialist Sr.47238

Lisa EscobedoContr. Comp. Spec.

48758

Christopher Mendoza

Contr. Comp. Asso.47768

Jolynn AyalaAccountant Assoc.

47037

John LopezAdministrative

Assoc.47295

VacantAccountant Assoc.

Candy GuerraAccountant Assoc.

Sr.

Claudine BarlowAccountant Assoc.

47275

Virginia RamosAccountant Assoc.,

Sr.45606

Debra HarperAccountant Assoc.

47050

Sylvia VanvlerahAccountant Assoc.,

Sr.47155

Patricia LopezAccountant Assoc.

47184

Leticia TorresAccountant Assoc

49242

Dorothy CallahanAdministrative

Assoc.47764

BY MAX EBY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

divisions


ou know when summer is here in Austin because the sun hits you like

a ton of bricks and the daily temperature rises to well above 100 degrees. Standing still on the pavement, it feels like you’re in a life-sized oven set to extra-crispy! But the intense heat certainly doesn’t stop our Street & Bridge crews from kickin’ asphalt! Our HR Team caught up with the Overlay Crew on Thursday, June 9, near Exposition and Greenlee at about 2pm - just when the sun is at its hottest. They were hard at work on day two of a paving project and

were a little surprised to see us appear at the worksite.

The HR team has a great deal of respect and admiration for the dedica-tion and high quality of work our Street & Bridge crews constantly produce for our citizens. So we thought a great way to show our appreciation would be to host an ice cream social right at the work-site! We loaded up our coolers with vari-ous types of iced treats (even sugar free) and cool drinks to distribute to everyone working outside in the heat.

So did they like it? The results are pretty evident from their smiles! We al-ways enjoy going out to the field to learn about our crews, share stories, and put faces to names. The HR team had a great time visiting the overlay worksite and pro-viding them with a break from the Texas summer. We all thank the Street & Bridge crews for their excellent work in challeng-ing conditions! Stay tuned, because we’ll be out and about in the near future to visit more workgroups, and your crew may just be next!

HRO helps keep our field crews ‘chilled out’

YThe Human Resources team takes a break from their air conditioned offices to bring some sweet relief to the overlay crew in the blazing afternoon heat.

Dianna and Kris chat it up Debbie fans off with Mickey!

The Whole Crew Working hard in the heat

Mmm...popsicles!

BASHSaturday, August 13th

9am-12pm

Austin Convention Center@

BY SHANNON WISNER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

events


Public Works Connects You...All Around Austin!Public Works builds our city’s future and celebrates our successes with PWD staff and events all around town.

T he first week of May, over FORTY people joined Howard Lazarus on

the 2nd Annual Director’s Ride. The ride highlights bicycle facilities put into place by our department’s Neighborhood Connectiv-ity Division.

In 2010, the ride brought together about fifteen people and was an afternoon ride. This year the ride moved to the morn-ing due to the heat, and the word spread

quickly about the fun and informative ride. Folks from other departments, City Hall, and even outside bicycle groups joined the PWD Director, Assistant Director Keri Juarez and NCD staff to learn what was new and excit-ing on the road for bicycles (and pedestri-ans)!

The ride visited Butler Park, the new Stratford Drive trail that takes you from Bar-ton Springs through to the Mopac Pedes-trian Bridge, the new contra-flow bike lanes on Third Street, to the new wide bike and pedestrian sidewalks on Lamar at 5th, then onto the Pfluger Bridge Extension and the Lance Armstrong Bikeway (LAB). The group

moved east on the LAB, showing off sepa-rated facilities and the new bridge at 4th street. It was a great morning, and what a great way to learn about what PWD is doing out there!

The ride has become so popular and the facilities are going in so quickly that there is talk of doing it twice a year now! And if you want to take the tour on your own, with friends, or maybe even with one of our Bicycle program staff, contact Nadia Barrera for the map of the May ride. Stay tuned for a fall ride and get those bikes tuned up and ready to go.

ANNUAL RIDE WITH THE DIRECTOR KICKS OFF BIKE MONTH

his year, the annual ‘Take Your Child to Work Day’ was a great success packed full of fun, interactive, and informa-tive activities! The event was held at One Texas Center in the third floor training room and outside the building.

Upon check in, custom-made shirts were passed out for all the kids to person-alize and decorate. The shirts for the PWD kids, of course, featured our very own Shuv L. Reddy! After decorating and donning their shirts, the troop headed down to the park-ing lot for a discussion about Cars-2-go from Anthony Forcier. At the end of the discus-sion, the kids were invited to climb in, and a competition was held to see how many kids could be packed into the tiny smart cars. The winner was Car #2 with 20 children!

After the Car-2-go demo, the kids were


PUBLIC WORKS ROCKS IT TO THE C.O.R.E

events continued from pg. 11

O n Wednesday, May 18, Public Works employees gathered to-

gether early in the morning at the Givens Recreation Center for a delicious break-fast and to celebrate yet another year of achievements. The CORE Breakfast (Cre-

ative Opportunities to Recognize Employ-ees) is a long standing tradition meant to give each of us an opportunity to recog-nize each other for a job well done.

The morning was kicked off with a display of “A Day in the Life” from each di-vision. Attendees enjoyed the display of each group’s depiction of a typical day in their jobs. The winning display this year,

as judged by the Executive Team, was ESD.City Manager Marc Ott greeted the

crowd and expressed his pride in the work accomplished by our department. How-

ard Lazarus then gave a thematic presen-tation on teamwork, accompanied by a photo montage of the New York Yankees and music from the musical “Damn Yan-kees” to illustrate the point!

Sixteen group awards were given for outstanding achievements in: help-ing others to integrate into Public Works, working long hours and delivering qual-ity results, eliminating backlogs, dealing

with emergencies and controversial proj-ects, ensuring the safety of citizens, saving money, keeping Austin green, improving communication and working with citizens to further beautify our city.

Twenty-four individuals were recog-nized for: systems improvements, excel-lent customer service, behaving with in-tegrity, taking initiative and saving funds, working beyond expectations, superior coordination and problem-solving, inno-vation, and being eco-conscious.

“Hero with Heart” Awards were pre-sented by Howard. These are Director level recognition of outstanding perfor-mance. They were awarded to Joe Cam-pos, Nadia Barrera, Max Eby, Vera Labriola, Demira Wyatt and Jose Ibarra. Citizen Superhero Awards were presented to Deanne Breedlove and Stephen and El-lyn Yacktman for their collaboration with Public Works on the Manana Bridge and to St. Austin Brownie Troop 591 for earn-ing their badge for “Getting Involved” for writing to Public Works, requesting repairs to the sidewalks in front of their school. A posthumous Citizen Hero Award was

TAKE YOUR CHILD TO WORK DAY

T

given to Ron Gentry, retired Public Works employee who continued offering his ex-pertise and advice on current projects.

Finally, a presentation on Safety and Accountability was given by Rich Forbes of the Austin Police Department. His en-tertaining presentation made the point that we are all responsible to speak up to make sure that we are each practicing our jobs in a safe and professional manner and

that being a good friend and co-worker in-cludes ensuring a safe environment.


taken to the intersection of South 1st and Barton Springs for an ADA crosswalk safety demonstration by Mario Porras. Getting all the kids across the street in a timely and safe manner was obviously very important – many thanks to APD for their support!

After using the crosswalks safely, the kids and sponsors headed back to OTC for a few more demonstrations. They were

shown by Kris Sanchez and J. Limon how street markings are made, the process of filling a pothole by Eli Mendoza, and how a street sign is installed by RJ Little. The kids definitely found this information very in-teresting and had many questions for the demonstrators.

Then, the kids headed indoors for a snack break and demonstration by Sharon Warren on CPR, AED, and the dangers of texting while driving. The kids were in-vited to come up and practice chest com-pressions on the dummies – maybe some-day one of them will save a life!

After an exciting day full of activities, everybody had worked up an appetite. Pizza and juice was brought in for lunch and the kids headed over to the park to splash around in the fountain and fly kites. Special thanks and appreciation to the or-ganizers: Rebecca Zapata, Rhonda Bolik, Candy Guerra, Max Eby, Virginia Ramos, Leticia Richardson, Esther Crawford, Edmir Cortez, Fred Garcia, and Suzanne Cortez. This year’s event was definitely one to re-member!


divisionsBY SARA HARTLEY EDITOR IN CHIEF

t’s not that scary on the 13th Floor... No, really it’s not! The staff of the Of-

fice of the Director (OOD) often wonders why people are so afraid to visit us. Is it the superstitious nature of the number ‘13’ that’s giving them the heebie-jeebies? Or do they just not know we are here to help? We want to rectify that, either way!

Although many buildings skip over thirteen, it seems to fit the oddness of One Texas Center, and we put our Direc-tor’s office right on the “unlucky” number, because we are not afraid. We believe in hard work over luck.

The OOD staff is split between Exec-utive and Administrative support, Citizen Relations, Public Information, and Pro-gram Coordination. We are often pulled in on special projects that come from City Hall, or to execute one of the good ideas that an Executive Team member has for the department.

While the organizational chart shows the basics of how our staff is organized, we wanted to bring you a glimpse of what that means for us every day, and how we can help you to make our department run smoothly and look good!

Four out of our six staff members work on the communications team for Public Works. “Communications” feels like a broad term, and it can be when you en-compass all that we do. We want the di-visions to come to us to help coordinate these types of efforts. We have the skill set and the knowledge to help your division to best communicate what you do.

I

Michelle Frith

Office of the Director

Communications:

COMMUNICATION TEAM:

graphic design

promotional outreach, project outreach, operation outreach

website content, design, and publishing for the internal and external websites

marketing of programs and op-erations

internal communications (in-cluding the magazine you are reading!)

photography

media relations (writing news releases, traffic briefs, ar-ticles, and giving interviews), coordinating public informa-tion requests and customer assistance forms

external awards program co-ordination

content, design, production, and printing and for promo-tional materials


gram Coordinator over Capital Outputs. She deals with the RCA process for Coun-cil, the constant coordination between the City Manager’s Office and our depart-ment, and making sure that all special re-quests, projects, and processes are com-pleted above and beyond the expectation of City Hall and our citizens. Plus, not to mention the many random requests she fulfills with a smile-each day.

Shannon Wisner takes on the Pro-gram Coordination of Community Rela-tions. This ties her also to the communica-tions team, but so much of what she does goes to directly assisting our Citizens. She coordinates the Automated Customer Assistance Program (ACAP) and the Pub-lic Information Request Program (PIR). Given the many requests we get weekly, she is busy making sure we maintain our transparency and best customer service to the Austin community. She also works diligently to create a sense of family and pride in our department by photograph-ing the people, places, projects, and events that make up our Public Works team. Her services are available to all and recommended anytime you need to cap-ture a PWD moment!

So, we recommend stopping by the 13th floor sometime to say hi, introduce yourself, and let us know how we can as-sist. Forget the silly old superstition of that unlucky number – we’re harmless… and hopefully incredibly helpful!

Alexa Muraida has a talent that is evident to all with her artwork. She has created many logos, campaigns, Shuv L. Reddys, Street Talks, and other promo-tional items for our department. But some may not know that Alexa is one of our Out-reach and Marketing Specialists. She han-dles event coordination and operational outreach for our department. Promoting and working with SBO on street mainte-nance outreach is her newest endeavor, and she is on the department’s Diversity Council. She’s creating communications plans for them, too! She welcomes new projects and is always willing to fit some-thing into her production calendar.

Michelle Frith is an indispensible part of our efforts to inform the public as our lead Marketing and Outreach Coordi-nator for PWD. Michelle is on the 9th floor to be close to her biggest customer – Proj-ect Management. Any Project Manager going into a project should know that Mi-chelle is one of the first stops they should make! She can create a communications plan like a magician, and help PMs to cre-ate a solid relationship with the stakehold-ers being affected by our construction projects. But she doesn’t stop there. She heads up marketing efforts, too. Coordi-nating a department wide award applica-tion process going to conferences to pro-mote PWD, and she is also Chief Reporter for Street Talk! Phew.

Jeannette Gilpin joined us in May to take on the Executive Assistant role for our department. Most don’t know how exten-sive her role actually is for PWD. She sup-ports all of the Assistant Directors and the Director. She manages their calendars, the PWD Director’s Conference Room, all of the office administration, and on top of it all is working on many special projects at once. She is already assisting in the Ed-ims project due to her extensive record management background. She is the first point of contact for the Director’s office, and is often the liaison between our de-partment and other departments. Jean-nette’s background is perfect to handle the multiple tasks thrown at her each day, and she is truly supporting the depart-ment’s mission through reinventing the role.

Our office works very closely with City Hall to make sure we are meeting the public’s expectations. That can mean a sin-gle request from a citizen (we get MANY of those!) or something as process-oriented as creating the City Council Agenda each week.

In order to even spend the money we have in our budget, each project, pro-gram, or operational process has to go through City Council. And one woman is making that happen smoothly and ef-ficiently – Susan Garnett. Susan is the Pro-

Executive and Administrative Support:

Program Coordination and Citizen Support:

A QUICK LOOK INTO OUR OFFICE OF THE

DIRECTOR STAFF

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR


PROGRAMMANAGEMENT

Susan GarnettCapital Outputs Program

Coordinator

MAYOR & COUNCILCITY MANAGEMENT

INTERDEPARTMENTAL:

Sara Hartley

PUBLIC INFORMATION& MARKETING

MANAGER

CITIZEN SERVICES

COMMUNICATIONS& OUTREACH

Jeanette GilpinDepartment Executive

Assistant

ADMINISTRATIVESERVICES:

Shannon WisnerCommunity RelationsProgram Coordinator

CITIZEN RELATIONS(CAF/PIR PROCESS)

Alexa MuraidaMarketing

Representative B

MARKETINGAND DESIGN:

Michelle FrithMarketing

Representative A

PROJECTOUTREACH:

divisions

columns


How Well Do You KnowYour Neighbor?Michelle Frith profiles two employees that work hard for PWD everyday who you may have never met!

ehind the scenes, there is a wom-an who works diligently as an

Accounting Technician in the Shared Ser-vices Finance Division. Claudine Barlow has been in this position for ten years of the twenty she has worked at the City of Austin. In the past, she has worked for the Texas Department of Pardons and Paroles as a Receptionist, at IBM in the Warehouse, the City of Austin- Public Information Of-fice and for Fleet Services in Accounts Pay-able.

Her first posi-tion at the City of Austin was as a switchboard operator, rout-ing calls to the correct individ-uals. Claudine laughs when she describes how fun it was to be sitting

in a room “with a bunch of women talk-ing about their issues” while making sure citizens’ calls reached the appropriate employee. She explains that all calls to City employees were routed through the switchboard located on Second Street. After about a year she went to City Hall where she cut articles out of the paper for the City Manager to read, took calls from citizens and helped make sure their needs were addressed. Around 1979, she went to work for the Public Information Office in accounting for the City’s print shop. The City did all printing in house and would charge back to the appropriate department and Claudine made sure the

B

NEIGHBOR Claudine Barlow

DIVISION Shared Services Finance

TITLEAccounting Technician

correct charges were made to each de-partment. In the first layoff in the City, the print shop was closed and Claudine went to work briefly for Brackenridge Hospital, then to Austin Energy as a Billing Clerk for two years. Unfortunately, Claudine’s mother developed Alzheimer’s and Clau-dine made the decision to take care of her mother, Laura Wade full time. After her mother’s passing, Claudine returned to the work force. She came to Public Works in 1992 in Accounts Payable where she has remained. Her work is demanding but Claudine just “goes with the flow”. She is looking forward to retirement next year and “find-ing out what it’s like to be bored”. She is considering working for the Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation with her niece. Clau-dine is “most inspired by a challenge”. Her number one challenge was to “get her girls to graduate from school and see their kids doing the same – seeing them cross the stage”. Claudine’s daughter, Karen, has worked for the IRS for 30 years, daughter Kanetha, is an investigator with the Texas Workforce Commission and daughter Lisa works in pharmaceuticals. Claudine’s grandson, Stephon, graduated this past month and will be the first to go to col-lege. He received an athletic scholarship to North Dakota. Claudine’s granddaugh-ter, Brittany, is attending Virginia Tech to be a medical assistant. Grandson Jalon, a high school freshman, wants to be an en-gineer and grandson, Brandon, wants to be an architect. Claudine shares that she believes progress is being made in Public Works by being better organized. While prepar-

ing for retirement, she looks back on her career and advises new employees to, “Get all the training you can; ask all the questions, don’t just sit and wonder. If you have a question, you should ask.” She feels the new management has brought the department a long way and the en-vironment is better. Claudine is a quiet treasure behind the scenes who has a lot of City history to share with us all.

BY MICHELLE FRITH CHIEF REPORTER

ClaudineBarlow


ome people just have a knack for being at the right place at the right

time like Joe Campos, Survey Technician in the newly formed Quality and Standards Management Division. This year alone, Joe has helped three citizens in emer-gency situations while he was on the job. Joe was surveying a project on Lavaca/Guadalupe and saw a man walk into a low hanging tree branch and sustain a deep head gash. Joe quickly applied first aid and drove him to the hospital. Less than a week later Joe witnessed a bicyclist slam into the back of a car that had cut him off. Joe rushed to the rescue again and took the bicyclist to the hospital. Finally, during South by Southwest, he found yet another person whose car window was smashed in a robbery. Joe helped the tourist by cleaning up the broken glass and giving him the number of a nearby glass repair business.

Joe is from Donna in the Rio Grande Val-ley and studied at the Univer-sity of Texas at San Antonio. He moved to Austin in 1998 to work in sales; including door-to-door sales, financial inside

sales, and even for a dating service! Un-fortunately, dur-ing the dot-com bust he was laid off, but a friend who was return-ing to school needed to find a replacement for his job. Joe took the job as a surveyor, loved it and has now been in surveying for 11 years. He loves the outdoors, math, and geometry and had studied architecture while in college, so the job is a perfect fit. After another downturn in the economy, the company Joe worked for closed, but he was again

in the right place at the right time. Freder-ick “Torch” Acosta rec-ommended he apply with the City, and as a result, Joe’s been with Public Works Depart-ment since December 2008. Joe says that as a Survey Techni-cian, he locates all the geographic features of an area; including trees, roads, curbs, structures, and util-ity features to create drawings. Engineers then use those draw-ings to begin project design, keeping all the features in mind. He is happiest when he sees the finished prod-uct, knowing he had a hand in it. He adds that it’s important to be one of the people who cares, and is hap-py to find there are many City employees who genuinely want to have a positive impact on their community.

One of the best outcomes of being in the right place at the right time began for Joe around seven years ago. He met

his friend, Lau-ra while they were both go-ing through rough periods in their lives. They counted on each other and would

call each other for support when having a bad day to say “I need a dose of Laura” or “I need a dose of Joe”. Over the years, their friendship grew by talking and shar-ing with each other. This friendship grew into love and they were married last Oc-tober. Joe is thrilled that he shares his life

with his best friend. Joe says he was inspired by Joe Ra-

mos, former Acting Director and retired Public Works employee, to be friendly and helpful, and to have a good sense of humor. He admired Joe Ramos for be-ing well-liked by many and for working his way up through the ranks. Joe hopes someday to work in Inspection or Project Management. He is proud to be a public servant and to know that he has affected the many changes that have occurred in Austin. He advises Public Workers to re-member that “we are here to serve the community and to make our community better”. It’s the right time and place for Joe and for Public Works.

NEIGHBOR Joe Campos

DIVISION Quality and Standards Management

TITLESurvey Technician

S

We are here to serve the community and to make our community better. ”“-Joe Campos, Quality and Standards Management, Survey Technician Joe

Campos

BY SHANNON WISNER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

the HeatBringin’

n the searing heat of the summer, our guys are out working hard every day to maintain our road-ways, saving precious tax dollars by preserving infrastructure.

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features

ccording to an old proverb, you can never appreciate the shade

of a tree unless you sweat in the sun. Our field crews know this all too well as the warmer months represent the most favorable conditions to do street main-tenance. This means, of course, that the women and men of our Street and Bridge Operations are out in the elements work-ing with heavy equipment and hot mate-rials on a daily basis. I had the pleasure and privilege of visiting the Seal Coat 1 team down south at Milford Way, and they showed me the ropes. In order to perform this type of work, it has to be 70 degrees or above, so the main push for sealcoating is April-October. Supervisor Alfred Leday, explained that first, a large truck spreads the emulsion evenly across the existing

pavement (this is shown on the cover of the magazine), then chip seal is immedi-ately laid in an even stream over the hot layer of liquid. After this, the roller comes by to push the rock down into the sur-face, which creates a water-tight layer. The sweepers will come later to remove excess rock. To get a great view for photographs, I rode along on the roller with Al Trevi-no. Between snapping photos, we had the opportunity to chat and he seemed to really enjoy the fact that his work al-lows him to be outdoors. He also said that his crew gets along really well as a team, which makes working out there better. Later, I hitched a ride with Fred Freeman and got to ask him a few ques-tions as well. He let me know that to beat the heat, it is important to stay hydrated

and seek out shade whenever you can get it. He also relayed, “I can honestly say that I like everyone from the DM to the ground crew - we’re like a family. We have our bumps in the road at times, but at the end of the day we come together.” I also had the lucky opportunity to go out to photograph our guys in Seal-coat 2, where I learned about beating the heat, safety, and a little healthy compe-tition between crews. Larry Salas, Lead Operator, said that their crews get out early in the morning so they can beat the heat as well as the traffic. The craziest thing he’s ever seen on the job was about seven years ago. They had just finished sealcoating when a little boy skateboard-ed by and fell hard. Larry says, “We were all pretty worried, but he just got back up and kept going!”

A

Meet the Crew

Seal Coat 1 Seal Coat 2

Overlay Seal Coat 1 in action


Crack Sealing– sealing cracks in the pavement with a sealant to prevent moisture penetration.Sealcoat– A thin asphalt emulsion surface treatment covered with aggre-gate, used to waterproof the existing street surface and increase skid resis-tance.Level-up– Placing a small amount of asphaltic level-up material before re-surfacing with a sealcoat or overlay.

Surface Replacement– Replacing the asphaltic pavement surface, which is typically the top 2-3 inches.Full-Depth Repair– Repairing the pavement at a depth of 10-14 inches due to a base or sub-grade failure.Preventative and Structural Overlay– Placing one or more layers of asphalt mix over an existing pave-ment, which increases the structural

value and the life cycle of the street.Minor and Major rehabilitation– Fixing pavement that is severely dete-riorated and may or may not require full-depth repair depending on the severity of deterioration. Localized Street Area Reconstruction– When the street should be totally reconstructed, in-cluding replacement of curbs and gut-ters as necessary.

2011 GOALS FOR SEALCOAT & OVERLAY

One of the most important and challenging parts of the job is dealing with citizens. Art Gatica, a Lead Operator from Seal Coat 2, explains that he really enjoys the customer service aspect of his position. “A lot of citizens do ask us ques-tions and we try to answer them the best we can. Some of them even get upset, but once we explain the work that we are doing, they are usually very cooperative.” Just take it from Fred Freeman of Sealcoat 1, “from the citizens to the crew, there is never a dull moment out in the field.” Naturally, I discovered that there is a little bit of friendly competition between

the two Sealcoat crews. Randle Clark from Sealcoat 2 explained to me that Sealcoat 1 and 2 both strive to complete their 180 lane miles first. “Every year, we try to make sure that we finish ours and go help them with theirs. We try to stay ahead, but at the same time work safely. It’s really all about bragging rights,” he says. And, let’s not forget our overlay crew. Currently, they are working on a very large project on South Congress Av-enue. As every citizen of Austin knows, this is a very highly trafficked street. Tour-ists flock from all over to shop, dine, and

attend events here – which means any major work on this street can be a bit tricky. Despite these obvious hurdles and the non-obvious ones like multiple interruptions to the schedule due to un-foreseen utility work, the overlay crew continues to display professionalism and expertise as they work diligently to be in and out as quickly and safely as possible. The two photographs below represent resurfacing on Congress, one from today and one from the 50’s. My, how times have changed!

Then&

Now

2011 GOALS FOR SEALCOAT & OVERLAY

Overlay Responsible for 75 lane miles Recycles millings for the following year

Sealcoat Responsible for 180 lane miles per crew Recycles excess gravel (trap rock)

Preventive Maintenance 92 lane miles of preventative crack sealing Maintains 75.5% of streets in fair to excellent condition

A FEW EXAMPLES OF THE WORK OUR FIELD CREWS PERFORM INCLUDE:


You may remember the first history article where we highlighted the first known equipment used to maintain our roadways. Let’s take a quick look at how things have changed by com-paring some of those items with some we now use today:

Street MaintenanceA glimpse into Austin's history of

THEN: NOW:Mule Wagon Double harness Cart Wheel scraper Slusher scraper Plow Shovel Crow bar Five-ton rollerPick Rock hammer

Bucket loader dump truck BackhoeLoader Motor graderPaving machine Distributor Milling machineChip spreader Concrete SAWWater truck Motorized rollerHand-held equipment

&

‘Men at work’ 1948

Street and Bridge Division with equipment, 1948


It must have been very challenging to work with this type of equipment, compared to our efficient systems we have in place today. Here, the Street and Bridge crew from 1937 is shown spreading hot asphalt onto west 26th Street - they were helping to create the foundation for what we maintain today!

In this photo, which is Street Talk’s favorite Austin History Center trea-sure, the man is working to pave east 11th Street, between Navasota and Comal. Luckily, we don’t have to pull wooden carts of rock around with tractors anymore!

Asphalt Crew, August 1937

Overlay, 1942


THE BREAKDOWNVALERIE DICKENS, P.E., is in charge of the three groups located at the Rio Grande Field Office and Valerie Rockwell, P.E., oversees the two groups located at the St. Elmo Field Office. Each of the five inspec-tion groups has a supervisor, and in the future a lead inspector will also be assigned to every team. The leads and supervisors represent the most experienced of our inspectors.

divisionsBY VERA LABRIOLA CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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CIP Inspection DivisionHow CIPID serves Austin.

RIO GRANDE FIELD OFFICE:

Jim Vickery’s group has in-depth back-ground in facilities improvement inspection. His inspectors are currently working on a series of high-profile projects including Water Treatment Plant 4, Hornsby Bend, and the Pilot Knob Pump Station.

ST. ELMO FIELD OFFICE:Pat Webre’s team’s focus is largely street reconstruction projects. They’ve had many large, high-visibility projects of this type in recent years. They also inspect many projects for the Watershed Protection Department and the Austin Water Utility.

Alexa Locklear’s group of inspectors has core training in basic civil construction. In recent years, they worked on many tunnel projects. Alexa’s team has been assigned the inspection of the important Waller Creek Tunnel Project.

Greg Weems was recently promoted to supervisor, and his group inspects a variety of projects in the City’s ROW. This includes many sidewalk projects, a large storm sewer project, and complex water utility projects.

Phillip Preslar’s inspectors have been as-signed to a variety of ROW projects but most recently have been focused on the South IH 35 water and wastewater improvement program. It consists of 21 projects in the south Austin area including many water transmis-sion mains and several wastewater tunnels.

n some industries, summer is a slower time of the year and a lot of people

take the opportunity to go on vacation or catch up on projects that have been put off during the year. However, in CIP In-spection Division, summers can be hectic! These months are packed with all kinds of construction projects, many of them street maintenance or street improvements, and our inspectors get very busy.

CIP Inspection Division has two field offices located at the St. Elmo and Rio Grande facilities. Two registered profes-sional civil engineers licensed by the State of Texas oversee the operations of these locations.

Projects with work performed in the right of way (ROW) must be inspected by CIPID. Our field engineers verify that the

finished products are built according to the City standards. They sign the accep-tance letters on behalf of the PWD direc-tor and once the acceptance letter has their signature, the COA owns the product of the contractor’s work.

Construction in the ROW presents many challenges, like unknown condi-tions underground. Our inspectors inter-act with many businesses and members of public. They also encounter numerous traffic issues when making sure that con-tinuing access to businesses and residents is provided during construction.

Finally, the Division Manager, Trish Wadsack, P.E., and Lek Mateo’s Technical Services team can be found at One Texas Center. Lek’s team consists of Vera Labrio-la, responsible for division support, Nan-

nett Holweger who handles project sup-port, and Peggy Howard, an engineering technician who will work on project close-outs. Stay tuned- in the upcoming issues, we will visit each CIPID team


divisionsBY LUCIANO TAMAYO CONTRIBUTING WRITER

hile City employees are prepar-ing to migrate to Microsoft Win-

dows 7, ESD is getting ready to switch from Microstation to AutoCAD Civil 3D for their design software – and couldn’t be more excited about the change!

AutoCAD Civil 3D is a Building Infor-mation Modeling (BIM) solution for civil engineering design and documentation. Civil 3D is designed for civil engineers, drafters, designers, and technicians work-ing on transportation design, land devel-opment, and water projects.

The 2012 release has new tools to help speed the design and delivery of civil engineering projects and will help with cost savings for projects.

Some of the new features of the soft-ware are in the design, analysis, surveying, visualization, drafting and documentation, and collaboration and data management areas.

WNew Software launch in ESD

Design1. Civil 3D automatically calculates quan-tities and generates reports to export into cost-estimating software.2. It lays out sanitary and storm drainage systems. It even provides pipe informa-tion such as invert elevations, size slope and type.3. It includes terrain shaping tools capa-ble of supporting large 3D models while maintaining the source data, including: contours, break lines, corridor models, and grading objects.4. It can create alignments and profiles based on set-standards and allows the de-signer to check the standard while design-ing.5. It also creates 3D models of transporta-tion, land or water features using objects and data.6. Civil 3D also includes a wizard-driven process, enabling a person to create dy-

namic 2D or 3D roundabouts and inter-section models.

1. Civil 3D performs geospatial queries, creates thematic maps, and conducts buf-fer, tracing and overlay analysis.2. Visual analysis tools enable the user to visually inspect the line-of-sight, includ-ing point-to-point and sight distance along a corridor.3. Dynamic model elements help with stormwater and sanitary systems analy-ses. They can move data between Auto-CAD and Civil 3D to create more design scenarios.

Analysis

Surveying1. It works with more than 4,000 real-world coordinate systems to create more accu-rate geo-reference and generates 3D mod-els for GPS machine control design.2. It converts and processes proprietary raw survey data into an Autodesk field book and offers help creating base plans. It defines the critical transitions in site de-sign, surveying, and roadway widening, and allows importing, creating, or editing figures. 3. Creates point clouds in the software us-ing data from LIDAR scanning.

Visualization1. Civil 3D will create a simpler and more effective 3D visualization by publishing model information to Google Earth map-ping service or by creating 3D DWF files. 2. Another feature: 3D Max Design Civil View - Which transforms complex civil de-sign geometry and models into compel-ling 3D design visualizations faster and more efficiently.

Drafting & Documentation1. It has great Annotation Tools; deriving annotation directly from the design ob-

Collaboration & Data Management1. Civil engineering project teams are co-ordinated by working from the same con-sistent, up-to-date project model using data shortcuts and references from survey through construction management.2. It offers direct access to geographic in-formation system (GIS) data from a varied list of data sources and edits the geospa-tial data, polygon objects and merge func-tions, and populates attributes with data calculations and intrinsic object proper-ties.

THE BREAKDOWN:

jects and automatically updates annota-tion.2. It uses an extensive library of country-specific CAD drafting styles, automates the layout of sheets and matches lines along alignments to generate plans and profile sheets based on the layout. It also generates production plans - including fully annotated section sheets, profiles, and grading designs.3. Civil 3D uses cartographic mapping functionality to create maps that highlight specific features or information, such as wetland boundaries, zoning districts, land development, soil types and pipe sizes.

nature of their func-tions will provide an environment which sup-ports collab-oration and c u s t o m e r service in the drive for excellence. This merger provides a clear path to accomplish the Divi-sion’s commitment to improving quality and standards.

The new structure also includes two titles that are new to the City of Austin, the City Architect and City Engineer. Kit Johnson and Cuong Tran will be perform-ing these respective duties and are valu-able additions to QSMD. These positions will provide an avenue for interaction with other industry leaders, expert consulting and oversight, and integration of progres-

xciting change is underway in the Public Works Department with the

creation of the Quality and Standards Management Division (QSMD). This new Division will merge three existing teams, drawing on the strengths of each to pro-vide greater value to City projects and better meet the customers’ needs. QSMD customers range from internal city groups to sponsor departments within the City.

Mike Boyle will manage the Divi-sion and brings with him the Quality As-surance/Quality Control (QA/QC) team formerly known as the Program Manage-ment Office. Jay Ulary will oversee the QA/QC team and will be joining forces with Wade Mullin’s Hazardous Materials Man-agement Program and Steve Penshorn’s Engineering Technical Services group (ETS).

This move brings together Engineers, Land Surveyors, Geologists, and Architects who provide broad services and expertise that are highly sought around the City. The different groups have a long history of focused and collaborative problem solv-ing. The goals and processes of the groups are very similar, and the complementary


BY STEVEN PENSHORN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

divisions

EQuality & Standards Management

sive initiatives into projects. As QSMD moves forward, great em-

phasis will be placed on developing rela-tionships with their customer base and determining ways to provide the greatest value to the customer and their projects. Getting the message out about all of the services the Division offers will be key to maximizing the group’s success, and is just one way that QSMD is helping PWD to “Bring the Heat”.


Keri Burchard-JuarezAssitant Director

Hazardous Materials Management Program

Wade Mullin

Mike BoyleDivision Manager

Engineering Technical ServicesSteve Penshorn

QA/QCJay Ulary

Cuong TranCity Engineer

Kit JohnsonCity Architect

Sustainability InitiativesDesign Commission LiaisonArchitectural Consulting and Oversight

Sustainability InitiativesDesign Commission LiaisonArchitectural Consulting and Oversight

Surveying & Field Note ReviewGeotechnical Consulting

Structural Consulting and InspectionConstruction Materials TestingReview of Standards, Specifications & Structures in the ROWArchitectural & Engineering Design

Hazardous MaterialManagementEnvironmental Consulting

QAQCStandards & SpecificationsRules Posting

Management of Historical Cost Data

Claims ManagementCost Estimating

A QUICK LOOK INTO QUALITY & STANDARDSMANAGEMENT

n 2009, the Austin City council ad-opted a resolution to create a cost-

sharing program to provide communi-ties and neighborhood organizations with a way to bring about public im-provements. The program allows for communities to improve City owned prop-erties or right-of-ways, through a cost-sharing mechanism. Communities can cost-share via in-kind labor, service donations or cash match to the program.

The Neighborhood Connectivity Division, un-der the leadership of Mike Curtis, houses the Neigh-borhood Partnering Pro-gram. Neighborhood Cost Sharing Programs exist in a few cities in the U.S., such as Arlington, TX, Hampton, VA and Seattle, WA. City staff worked to build the Neighborhood Partnering Program procedures as they related to Austin and Austin City government; re-sulting in a solid program that is expected to handle a large number of applications as the program goes into full-swing this summer with the launch of its first project.


BY SARA KRAUSE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

divisions

NCD:The Neighborhood Partnering Program to launch first major project this summer.

A Model Partnership

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The Neighborhood Partnering Pro-gram (NPP) builds more than just infra-structure and beautification of local areas: it pulls community members together for a common goal. The very first project il-lustrates the potential of this program in Austin.

Foundation Communities is a 501(c)

(3) non-profit organization, “providing service-enriched, high-quality affordable housing that enables families and indi-

viduals with low incomes to permanently improve their educational and economic standing.” Established in 1990, the foun-dation owns 11 communities in Austin and 3 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Twenty years ago, Foundation Com-munities purchased and remodeled Si-erra Ridge, an apartment community on the South side of St. Elmo road between South First and South Congress. In 2009, it had the opportunity to purchase and remodel a complex on the opposite side of the street, which is dubbed “Sierra Vis-ta.” At the same time, the Foundation has expanded its afterschool program which serves the residents of both properties, as well as, the surrounding communities. The

Foundation wanted to create a safe way for area residents and Foundation staff to access the adjacent complexes, and the

local elementary school. The Foundation rec-

ognized that if the project were designed well, it could do much more than posi-tively impact safety and pro-vide transportation options. In its application, the Foun-dation wrote: “We are also interested in streetscape im-provements to beautify the street and tie together the community.”

St. Elmo, with its 44’ width, offered a lot of op-portunities for a modified streetscape, and Foundation Communities developed a basic design in coopera-tion with representatives of the local neighborhood as-sociation. The result of this collaboration is a neighbor-hood friendly, multi-modal

design including bike lanes and land-scaped pedestrian islands in St. Elmo.

“From the beginning, it was obvious we had a project that really fit the goals of this program,” says NCD Manager Mike Curtis. “Because it’s a multi-modal design, it gave us the opportunity to take a collab-orative approach in our own division and also seek the input of Assistant Director of Transportation, Gary Schatz. A lot of work went into this and we’re looking forward to seeing the final product.”

The Neighborhood Connectivity Di-vision expects to complete construction by the end of the summer.


street talk extraUPDATES FROM THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

JEANNETTE GILPIN

Hails from Hous-ton. Working for HRD Engineering for five years she then came to the City at PARD working in the Finance Division before coming to PWD.

OOD:

KIT JOHNSON

A Native Texan and UT grad in architecture. His career has taken him to Dallas, San Francisco, San Antonio, and back to Austin. Returning to the capi-tal city, he became the founding partner of Hailey | Johnson Archi-tects. In 2008, he and his wife of 19 years (an interior designer) formed Architecture 365. He is the father of two energetic boys - his all time favorite construction project!

QSM:

BRANDON LOWDEN

From Wimberley, but currently living in Round Rock, Brandon is married and has three sons. He has worked in construc-tion since 1998 and follows in the footsteps of his family by running heavy equipment.

SBO:

RONNIE HARRIS

Joined the SBO team in April. He is a Street and Drainage Maintenance associate.

SBO:

VINCE SEGURA

Worked for PARD doing Park Maintenance before joining the SBO North District. He graduated from Texas Lutheran University and played baseball while in school. He enjoys his job at North District and plans on mov-ing up to higher positions within the City.

SBO:

RONNIE MINTER

Is a Truck Driver for SBO. He worked for “Key Ener-gy” in Giddings previously, driving an oil tanker. Ronnie loves his job and aspires to move up the career ladder within the City.

SBO:

ENRIQUE LLAMAS

joins the SBO team as a Truck Driver for the Cen-tral District. He recently moved from El Paso and is still nervous about the heavy traffic in Austin. He worked with the El Paso County Water District and has experience in working with oil rigs.

SBO:

SARA KRAUSE

A native of Tuc-son, Arizona, she’s lived in Austin 15 years. She joins NCD after re-cently working with endurance athletes from the amateur to the professional level. Sara’s main interest is improving the City’s in-frastructure so that every citizen has access to safe and affordable recreation and transportation op-portunities.

NCD:

NEILKOPPER

Is originally from Conway, Arkansas. He has a Mas-ters in Civil Engineering from Oregon State University. After school, he took time to travel and volunteer on organic farms before starting his job search. Looking for jobs in cities with strong cycling reputations, he saw the Austin po-sition and it became his top choice – and here he is!

NCD:

JOHN EASTMAN

John, his wife, and his two daughters (ages 6 and 8) relocated to warm, friendly Aus-tin from Steamboat Springs, Colo-rado. He started his career in the private sector as a project man-ager on highway, airport, and in-frastructure development projects. For the last ten years, he worked as a County and City Planner.

NCD:RICHARD SCOTT

is from Oklaho-ma, he moved to Texas and then Oregon, where he met his wife. He has an extensive background in construction, mainly in under-ground utilities, road and site work. He moved to Austin in 2005 and worked as a Demolition Su-perintendent until the economic downturn. He joined SBO Districts in April.

SBO:

STEVE PARKS

Is a new Project Manager for PMD. He joined Pub-lic Works in January.

PMD:

LETICIA TORRES

Is an Accountant Associate for the PWD Shared Ser-vices/ Project Accounting Division and has been a City employee since 2007. “She lives, works, and buys in Austin.”

SSD:

KATHRYN TREVINO

Is an Engineer-ing Associate on Design Team 3. She earned a Civil Engineering degree from UT at San Antonio, she worked for Bexar County In-frastructure Services, TXDOT, and Civil Engineering Consultants (CEC). Kathryn brings specialized experience in the Transportation Engineering field.

ESD:

OLIVIA HOANG

Comes to ESD as a summer intern and is working with Design Team 4. She just com-pleted her sophomore year at UT Austin. Studying Civil Engineering, she will use her experience at ESD to help choose her field of special-ization.

ESD:

WHO’STHAT?

STEPHYNHOLLAND

Has over 40 years of construction experience in underground utilities, roads and bridges, water and wastewater plants, and tunnel construction. He owned a business and served on the Houston Contractors Asso-ciation Board of Directors. He vol-unteered with the Cypress Creek EMS (Harris County) as an EMT and is a licensed multi-engine instru-ment rated airplane pilot.

CIPID:

STEVENROBLES

is a new Super-intendent with SBO. He worked for the City of San Antonio, Public Works and retired after serving 21 years. He then worked for a private contractor for 6 years. Steven is married with five kids and enjoys fishing, gardening, and cooking.

SBO:

CLAYRIVERS

Has been With the City for over 8 years, Clay has a Class C Water Distribution license and Class II Wastewater Collection Operator’s License through TCEQ. In April he became the Superinten-dent for SBO Utilities & Structures Division.

SBO:

New Employee Breakfast

Hot Zone

I n May, Street and Bridge Operations was contacted by the Austin Police Depart-

ment (APD) to assist in providing protection for President Obama’s visit to Austin. The as-signment was to use heavy vehicles (dump trucks and water trucks) to block all vehicu-lar access to the W Hotel where the Presi-dent’s speech was held.

In order to provide the protection re-quested by the Secret Service through APD, a great deal of planning was required. APD met with David Magana, Fernando Ortegon and Gerald Nation before the President’s visit.

The plan was to use the City’s heavy vehicles to form a barricade around the Pres-ident’s location. If a problematic vehicle at-tempted to breach the area, the heavy trucks would stop that breach. To make the heavy vehicles a more formidable obstruction, the dump trucks were filled with dolomite and the water trucks were filled with water.

The Street and Bridge team began the process of preparing for the visit by plan-ning and taking action! A staging area was chosen, the equipment was checked, and 23 staff members were assigned to the project. The schedules of employees were changed so they could assist. Then, the trucks were loaded with dolomite or water and the stage was set.

Information on the Street and Bridge personnel assigned to the project was sub-mitted to obtain Secret Service clearance and the assignments were again reviewed with APD.

On the day of the event, the employ-ees were drove their respective trucks to the staging area on East 4th Street. There, the employees were given conduct instructions that had been provided by APD and the Secret Service. These instructions included: keep the vehicle running, do not depress the brake pedal, stay with the vehicle, do not let a vehicle through the blockade unless di-rected by the APD!

All directives from APD and the Secret Service went through Gerald or Fernando. Special instructions required Street and Bridge to place specific employees at one particular intersection where protestors were located. Juanita Tovar, Gerald Blocker, Fernando Ortegon, Shannon Wisner and Ger-ald Nation were assigned to work at this loca-tion.

APD arrived at the staging area to hold a meeting with all employees and provided a police escort for the team. The line of Street and Bridge vehicles were escorted to the area surrounding the W Hotel and City Hall and the trucks were positioned at their as-signed locations curb to curb to block the streets. At some locations, as many as three trucks were used to provide proper security, which resulted in assigned areas being com-pletely sealed off to vehicular traffic.

Thankfully, there were no major inci-dents in the secured area. The only incident involved the police subduing and arresting a disruptive and aggressive citizen.

The team provided road blockage from 3:00pm to 7:30pm and all employees repre-sented the Street and Bridge organization in a professional manner. APD and the Secret Service also expressed their sincere apprecia-tion to Street and Bridge for providing their support.

SECURING THE W HOTEL


Street & Bridge Operations crew for W Hotel


hot zone continued from pg. 29

Twenty City of Austin (COA) employ-ees were recognized by school staff for excellence in serving as mentors and/or tu-tors to students in the Austin Independent School District (AISD). The recognitions were announced at Salute 2011, the annual celebration of AISD community partner-ships and announcement of the AISD Teach-

er of the Year. With almost 400 employees participating during the 2010/11 academic year, COA mentors and tutors had a great impact on students across the community. Those awarded from PWD were Robin Field for her mentoring at St. Elmo Elementary and Rohini Kumarage for her mentoring at Becker Elementary. Kudos to these two for taking the time to represent our depart-ment and influence Austin’s youth. You can learn more about these programs and how you can participate during the 2011/12 academic year at http://cityspace.ci.austin.tx.us/services/mentor-and-tutor/.

awards &recognition

The City of Austin, in an effort to identify future leaders, created the Executive Academy. Attendees must be high potential employees who wish to develop professionally in order to compete for future executive vacancies in the City. The program includes eight monthly ses-sions and a project assignment. The Academy takes nearly a year to complete and applicants must compete for the openings. Congratula-tions are extended to the first-ever graduates of the Academy, including the following Public Works employees:

BIMALADHIKARY

DAVIDMAGANA

DAVIDSMYTHE-MACAULAY

JEFFREYTRAVILLION

PATRICIAWADSACK

CONGRATULATIONS, GRAD!

CIPID AWARDS:

JEFFJEWETT

Recently was given his ser-vice pin for his great 10 years of service!

Was chosen for the Pat on the Back Award for his excel-lent work on the ADA Side-walk and Ramp Improve-ments-Group 10. Thanks, Rick!

RICKRAMONES

PWD EMPLOYEES NOMINATED FOR ‘MENTOR OF THE YEAR’

With great apologies from the CORE Team, the Seal Coat 2 Team won an award during the CORE An-nual Awards Breakfast, but they were not recognized. We want to take the opportunity to congratulate them here in Street Talk for the job well done!

“SEALING THE DEAL”This last year was challenging for the Seal Coat

2 Team due to many organizational changes and the loss of a superintendent. Even under difficult circum-stances, this team completed 360 lane miles of seal coat with less complaints than in previous years. Now that’s sealing the deal!

The members of Sealcoat 2: Carlos Brown, Felipe Cardiel, Randle Clark, Calvin Earvin, Carlos Frausto, Arthur Gatica, Thomas L. Hernandez Jr., William Hollins, Phill Jackson, Andres Medina, Eric Mendoza, Liborio Mendoza, Benny Palacios, Fermin Patino, Angel Rangel, Gilbert Rodríguez, Larry Salas, Daniel Sustaita, Ray Thompson

Our very own Annie Van Zant has recently graduated with a Mas-ters of Applied Geography with a focus in Resource and Environmental Studies from Texas State University. She began in 2007, and some of her most memorable classes include: Applied Water Resources, Environ-mental Law, Environmental Manage-ment, Karst Hydrogeography and Geomorphology, and Parks & Pro-tected Places.

The title of her directed re-

search is “An Active Adaptive Man-agement Program for Riparian Res-toration & Rehabilitation in Austin, Texas.” She feels she learned so many things, and as a result grew personally and professionally. For anyone who might be interested, she highly recommends furthering your education and taking advan-tage of the City’s tuition reimburse-ment program, as she earned her degree at almost no personal cost. Way to go, Annie!

mentor ofthe year

Rick Ramones and Jeff JewettAnnie Van ZantSeal Coat 2 Team


CROSSING GUARDS GET ‘CAUGHT CARING’

promotionsSBO:

Has accepted the position of Superintendent and will be responsible for the Central District operations. He brings experience and proven management skills to the position and will be located at the 3511 Manor Road facility.

LAWRENCEALVAREZ

Has accepted the position of Heavy Equipment Operator Lead for District Operations of Street & Bridge and will report to North District lo-cated at 2412 Kramer Lane. Ignacio Brings with him over 16 years of experience in op-erating Heavy Equipment.

IGNACIOARAUJO

Has accepted the position of Street & Drainage Mainte-nance Senior for District Operations of Street & Bridge and will report to North District located at 2412 Kramer Lane. Shon Brings with him over 10 years of construction experi-ence.

SHONJOHNSON

CIPID:BRAND NEW LEADINSPECTORS

Has been with CIP Inspection for the last three years. Before he joined the team, he worked as a private inspector. He has a background in materials testing and paving. He has recently been one of the inspectors on the 7th Street Projects. Freddie will remain with Pat Webre’s team through the comple-tion of the 7th Street Project.

FREDDIEALONZO

Retired from the U.S. Army and has been with CIP Inspection since 2004. He is currently as-signed to the Waller Creek Tunnel Project and he has worked on a lot of high visibility proj-ects in his years with our division. Kevin will be the lead inspector on Alexa Locklear’s team.

KEVINJONES

Is a U.S. Air Force veteran and has been with our division since 1999. Before he came to the City of Austin, he worked for TxDOT as an inspector. His most recent project is the Shoal Creek Allendale Storm Drain Improvement Project. He will be the lead inspector for Greg Weems’ team.

JIMEVANS

Every year, the Child Safety Team hosts a Crossing Guards Awards and Appreciation Luncheon. This year’s luncheon featured some delicious BBQ, cupcakes, and prizes, and was held on Friday, May 13.

The purpose of the luncheon each year is to congratulate the Crossing Guards for their hard work and dedication to keeping our chil-dren safe as they walk to and from school.

Chris Moore, Child Safety Program Coordinator, handed out awards and her legendary and re-sounding “Waa-HOOO’s” to all of those who were “caught caring.” Ev-eryone certainly left with a smile on their face and a full belly! The Child Safety team really knows how to put on a great event.

Hot Zone

Crossing Guard s Kevin, Jim and Freddie


hot zone continued from pg. 31

On Tuesday, May 3rd, it was the Public Works Department’s turn to host the Department Direc-tors Meeting. We thought it would be a great idea to have it at a newly completed Public Works managed project, so it was held at the Public Safety Training Facility (managed

by Rossy Farina-Strauss). Before the meeting, the Department Direc-tors were invited to attend a tour of the facility and have refreshments. After a very interactive meeting, most of the Directors hung out to pose for a photo-op!

CITY OF AUSTIN 2011

departmentdirectors meeting

For this year’s Bike or Walk to School Day, an event was held at Martin Middle School on May 6th to promote health awareness and bike safety. The event began with media coverage and staff interviews, includ-

ing Neighborhood Connectivity Division’s Nadia Barrera and Chris Moore. Later, stu-dents were dropped off by school busses on-site, provided with bikes, and inter-viewed as they were queued up to ride to Martin. Doug Ballew, with the Safe Routes to School program, led the crew as the kids biked their way to keep Austin active, healthy, and green!

bike to school dayhelps kick off bike month

Bike to School Day

Department Directors


LOCATION 1 LOCATION 2

IN EVERY ISSUE WHERE IS SHUV-L-REDDY?

Where In The World Is Shuv-L-Reddy?

Can you correctly identify both project site locations that Shuv-L-Reddy has visited? Write in to: [email protected] for a chance to WIN A PRIZE!

Answers from last issue:Location 1: Austin City Hall

Location 2: Public art piece: Prada Storefront; Marfa, TX

Remember Carmen San Diego? Waldo? Well, Shuv wanted in on some of the action…play our guessing game as he wanders around the city at various PWD-related sites...and beyond!


events calendar 2011

JULY

2

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

02

03

04 05 06 07

12 13 14 15

7

class 1-5 PM LRC

New Employee Safety Orientation

28

22

26

01

18 19 20 21

25

Saturday

11

Sunday

08 0

0

9

1

Sunday4th of July- Independence Day

16

17Sunday

32

42

Sunday

29 03

13

Sunday

class 8 AM-4 PM OTC-325

Defensive Driving


CPR

class 8:30 AM-12:30 PM Cheathem Facility

Roadway Safety

class 8-9 AM OTC-500

Computer Ergonomics

class 1-5 PM LRC

New Employee Safety Orientation


Defensive Driving

Offices Closed K.G.S.R Blues on the Green7:30 PM- 9:45 PM Zilker Park (FREE)

Eastside Movie in the Park6 PM- 10:45 PM Fiesta Gardens Building

IH-35 Makeover Ribbon Cutting9:30 AM IH-35 and 7th Sreet Parking Lot

K.G.S.R Blues on the Green7:30 PM- 9:45 PM Zilker Park (FREE)

Northwest Rec. Center Ribbon Cutting10 AM- 12 PM2913 Northland Drive

Music Under The Stars6- 9 PM Bob Bullock Museum (FREE)

Concerts in the Park7:30- 10 PM The Long Center (FREE)

Nature Night6-9 PM Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (FREE)


AUGUST

09 10

16 17

29 30

24

0201

22 23

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

08

15

03 04 05

Sunday

11 12

Sunday

18 19

Sunday

25 26

Sunday

06

07

13

14

20

21

27

28

31


Safety MeetingWatershedProtection


Defensive Driving


Defensive Driving

class 8:30-9:30 AM OTC-325

Safety Meeting(PMD/ESD/NCD)

class 8-9 AM Cheathem Facility

Safety Meeting(S&B) Pavement & Infrastructure

class 8:30-9:30 AM OTC-325

Safety MeetingSupport Service/ Con-struction Inspection


Safety Meeting(Austin Transportation)


Safety Meeting(S&B) District Maintenance


Safety MeetingWatershedProtection


Safety Meeting(S&B) Utilities & Structure class 8-9 AM

OTC-500

Computer Ergonomics

Eastside Movie in the Park6 PM- 10:45 PM Fiesta Gardens Building



Back 2 School-First Day of Classes

Back 2 School Bash9 AM- 12 PMConvention Center

7th Street Reconstruction Grand Opening9-11 AM

WRITE IN TO US WITH YOUR SUGGESTIONS REGARDING:

Hot Zone NOMINATIONS

PHOTO CONTRIBUTION

SPECIAL EVENTS GOING ON IN YOUR DIVISION

EMPLOYEE PROFILE NOMINATIONS

WRITING A GUEST COLUMN

...AND ANYTHING ELSE WE MAY HAVE MISSED OR YOU WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT

CONTACT US: [email protected]

ExerciseYOURIndependence

street talk | july 2011 issue

Documents

street bridge crews

street talkreporting

street talk highlights

field crews

rid of summer pests

guest writer

chief reporter

public worksvolume