On Hottest Day Ever in Austin, Gray Panthers of Austin Had Very Cool Meeting!

A major issue of Importance to Seniors Prosecution of corrupt official practices key to Deficit Comment/Questions by Clint Smith: Regarding 9/1/11 Austin City Council FY12 budget hearings and for those concerned about Official Accountability for PRUDENT decisions, a Question: 'What was the final outcome of the following 2009 HUD Audit of Austin Housing Authority?' cited in www.austinaccountabilityproject.com. Have City of Austin (Travis County) officials inquired regarding ANY of these Referrals?
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Join the fight to overturn those who would deny us our rights!
maggie kuhn, founder
JOIN THE TEXAS GRAY PANTHERS OF AUSTIN Call 512-225-4789 512-225-

Reduction!

Article submitted by James Wallace:

Calling all Gray Panthers/Coalitions & others!

Hon. Charlie Baird, former State District Judge, announced at the Gray Panther Annual Meeting on August 28, his decision to run for Travis County District Attorney. The kick-off of his campaign for Travis County District Attorney is to be held on Tuesday, September 6, 11:00 a.m. (This is the Tuesday after Labor Day.) The kick-off will be at the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex, 1156 Hargrave Street, Austin, TX 78702, (512) 472-6932.
Its located east of Interstate 35. Refreshments will be served after the announcement. Everyone is invited!
More Articles & Pictures from 8/28/11 Annual Mtg, pg 11

This Is Why We Are Requesting a Federal Investigation! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MONEY? HUD Audit 8/17/2009 Date Issued August 25, 2009 Audit Memorandum
No.: 2009-FW-1801

Push-Up Foundations, Inc. Meeting with HUD.

The title of our presentation is: "Review of the City of Austin's Community Development Block Grant Administration or Process." Push-Up hereby invites community leaders and members of the community to come and observe our presentation to HUD regarding CDBG grant awarded to us in 1999. Thanks. James Wallace, Wallace Development, LLC When: Thursday, September 8, 2011, 10:30 AM-11:30 AM Where: 1000 East 11th St., Room 400B

Title: Travis County Housing Authority, Austin, Texas, Lacks Capacity to Administer American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Public Housing Capital Funds. The memorandum reports that the Authority lacks capacity to administer ARRA public housing capital funds. The OIG recommended that HUD increase monitoring and oversight of the Authority's financial and program activities, and either recover ARRA funding from the Authority or place the Authority's ARRA funding on a cost reimbursement basis. Date Issued: August 17, 2009 Audit Report No.:
2009-FW-1015

Please come!
Pictured below L to R Gray Panthers, James Wallace, J McCart , Alissa Chambers discuss HUD issues/problems 8/28.

Candidates & GPs David Wahlberg (Lf), running for Judge 167 District & (Rt) Hon. Charlie Baird, running for Travis County District Attorney.

Title: The Housing Authority of Travis County, Austin, Texas, Could Not Adequately Account For or Support Its Use of Federal Program Funds. We audited the Housing Authority of Travis County (Authority) due to several problem indicators including the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) rejecting the Authority's 2005 and 2006 audited financial statements and noting that the Authority's 2007 financial stateContinued page 6 What Happened to the Money?

Texas Gray Panthers of Austin , Gary Dugger, Convener 3710 Cedar St, Box 15, Austin, TX 78705 Sharron Aisenman, Gray Panther Newsletter Editor

512-225-4789; Ofc: 512-458-3738 www.graypanthersaustin.org National Gray Panthers www.graypanthers.org sharronaisenman@yahoo.com

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September/October 2011
Published: July 11, 2011

City Shouldn't Shy Away From Outside Help in Big Deals Alberta Phillips, Commentary

Since last week, I have received several responses to a column I wrote about the City of Austin's lack of due diligence in vetting the Formula One agreement between the city and the Circuit Events Local Organizing Committee. It was clear that city attorneys were outmaneuvered by the wellconnected, skilled lawyers representing Formula One. I questioned why City Manager Marc Ott or City Attorney Karen Kennard did not hire outside legal experts to ensure that the city's interests were protected. The blunders by city attorneys were big and obvious. They were on board with demands that greatly favored F1 but weakened the city's position. That was evident in their nod to the way in which environmental measures were handled. That approach required City Council members to approve a contract with F1's handpicked local organizing committee the Circuit Events Local Organizing Committee before environmental provisions were negotiated. That surely would have weakened the city's bargaining position had it been done that way. It was not, thanks to City Council members who delayed voting on the contract until environmental negotiations were done. There also was that glaring stumble by city attorneys in missing a key clause in the contract that would have permitted the events organizing committee working with F1 to change its contractual obligations simply by notifying the city and the state comptroller. It was the diligence of a regular citizen that brought that to light. Susan Moffat deserves our thanks. The final contract stipulates that the events committee must get approval of the city and comptroller to make changes. Since that column ran, I've heard from readers also concerned about the city's flawed methods in negotiating the F1 contract as well as other deals. They cited the Holly Power Plant decommissioning deal as another example in which the city needed outside help from experts. That was evident after city staff initially recommended hiring TRC Environmental Corp. to dismantle the Holly plant in an East Austin neighborhood even though its $24.9 million bid was $6.1 million higher than its nearest competitor. I'm not saying that the city should have gone for the lowest bidder on an environmentally sensitive project such as Holly. But it certainly appeared as if the city was being taken for a ride on that deal. After months of delay and public fallout, the company ultimately sliced its bid to $11.5 million, which the council approved in May. The change in price prompted some council members to question the credibility of the bid and led the chairman of the city's Electric Utility Commission to declare at its April meeting, "This one stinks." In explaining the price cut, the city and TRC company officials blamed in part a $5 million accounting quirk by the city. That is some quirk. American-Statesman City Hall reporters will be watching to see whether that project stays within budget. Taxpayers should not be on the hook for any more money on that deal. Ed Wendler Jr., a local developer, recommended that the city tap its wealth of experts in the community by creating an advisory board to help vet (for free) future ventures and transactions. He said most of those experts could come from local professional groups, such as the Austin Bar Association, Real Estate Council of Austin, Austin Association of Architects and University of Texas' McCombs School of Business. That's worth thinking about. I think the city should take a page from the Travis County Commissioners Court, which is soliciting outside help to assist with evaluating proposals for the private-public partnership that will finance and build the county's new downtown courthouse. With such a big investment, it just makes sense to hire experts. You get what you pay for. Still waiting on Ott, City Council Members Laura Morrison and Sheryl Cole have yet to receive a credible explanation from Ott and Kennard regarding their decision not to hire outside legal help on the F1 deal when it became apparent that the city legal staff wasn't up to the job. Those council members rightly requested that the city to hire experts to assist with the complicated F1 deal. They deserve an answer and the public deserves one, too. Ott's silence on the issue won't make it disappear; it is making matters worse by continuing to fuel the fallout over the F1 deal. It's not wise to ignore that fallout not in Austin, where it has a way of coming back to bite you. Not pursued by Ms Phillips, a Question* WE may usefully raise: Why does CoA and CapMetro use taxpayer money to hire outside lawyers to defend themselves against challenges from the Public regarding violation of the Texas' Open Meetings Act? CoA's own lawyers, obviously lacking the Council's confidence, do not defend CoA nor CapMetro. Could it be a reason to allow Council to cloud the issues as in the past? An even more direct/pertinent issue: Why does CoA employ incompetent staff Attorneys? AND that'll open really big bag o' worms including past decisions re housing, and many other issues that have yet to be answered or settled. *Maybe its time for a G/Panther written request to Morrison/Cole/Tovo for their Report to the Public with answers to their questions, which Ott & City Attorney Escamilla seem to be stonewalling our City Council. Questions from National Gray Panther, Clint Smith

OCIA VE S SA

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September/October 2011 Page 3

Was CoA Hoodwinked Into Granting Hasty Approval for Complicated F1 Deal?
Back in June, Austin City Council looked more like a convention for F1 with the many hats and checkered flags being waved by supporters and employees of local F1 sponsors and supporters. It was apparent to those of us present in the Council Chambers that the orchestrated packing and demonstration by local F1 sponsors and supporters were intended to pressure City Council to cave to their demands. Were staff attorneys also part of the plan to push through a yet unfinished contract agreement? Mayor Leffingwell led the charge to vote to agree to the yet unfinished contract as presented by F1 sponsors. Reasonable and insightful cautions by Susan Moffet to postpone vote until City Council could obtain specialized Legal Council to review the contract (between the City of Austin and the local F1 sponsors) were ignored as well as urging by the many people opposed in attendance. Thursday, June 23, the Council postponed voting on whether to approve the F1 race, which would begin in 2012 and run for at least 10 years. The Council vote, according to Richard Suttle (Council for the local F1 organizers) was crucial for race promoters to get a projected $25 million per year subsidy from the state. He argued that any delay on the part of City Council to signing their contract as presented without delay could jeopardize the entire F1 project in Austin. In a statement to John Maher, Austin American Statesman, investor Bobby Epstein warned, In good faith, our investors have continued to spend millions of dollars each week creating more than 1,000 construction jobs...If things get delayed any more, job lay-offs are a certainty and construction spending will stop. Spokesman Jeff Hahn noted that F1 construction workers were some of the workers who were being paid to attend the Council meeting to show support for the project. Now that Austins City Council has been coerced to agree to a still unfinished contract with F1 under the guise of time is running out, so what was the big rush? 8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Key F1 Meeting Canceled; Committee Must Vote To Make Project Eligible For $25 Million State Subsidy
By Marty Toohey AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Monday, July 11, 2011

Call it the case of the disappearing Formula One meeting. As part of a complicated set of arrangements with Austin and the State of Texas, local F1 sponsors established a quasi-governmental "local organizing committee" to act on the city's behalf and the committee was supposed to hold a key meeting Monday, July 11, 2011...it was canceled by the F1 committee, comprised mainly of local F1 backers. The committee is required to cast a few votes to make the project eligible for as much as $25 million in annual state subsidies. As recently as late June, the local lawyer representing the F1 efforts told the City Council the project's finances could be imperiled if the committee met later than the July Fourth weekend. The meeting was scheduled to be at the 13-story downtown office of the Armbrust and Brown law firm. But several members of the public were told by a receptionist at the law firm that the meeting was canceled and that no additional information was available. City Council Member Laura Morrison's office said a posting error resulted in the cancellation after the F1 committee tried to post meeting notice at City Hall. The city's public information office referred additional questions to F1 organizers. The firm handling F1's public relations could not immediately say what happened or when the committee will attempt to meet again. It's not clear what effect a delay could have. In late June, Richard Suttle, the local attorney representing F1, told the City Council that if the organizing committee did not meet before July 4, the $25 million annual subsidy could be at risk. Critics in turn accused Suttle of manufacturing that deadline to push a hesitant council into granting a hasty approval for a complicated deal. The council decided to delay a vote at that meeting and then voted the next week to endorse the event. 8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

UPDATE! The first F1 race is now scheduled to take place in November 2012. As was said at the time, there was no rush to authorize because the F1 race was going to be rescheduled. No one is in their right mind would run it in Austins summer heat. November is far more logical, if equally questionable. We had all the time necessary to take a good, deep look at these agreements. I doubt the full ramifications have yet been parsed. Is anyone working over the contracts on behalf of CofA? I wonder if it has already been violated by this reschedule? Probably not, since their lawyers drew up the contracts and no one in the city's offices fine-combed it, or seemingly has adequate training and/or background to understand such if the noxious exhibition at the council meeting was any example of their capacity. They may be nice people, but I never heard so many legal non-answers and self-protective responses in my life. Leslie Aisenman

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Battle Brewing Over Texas Public Pensions by K. Alexander, Austin American Statesman (edited for this publication by Sharron Aisenman)
Clint Smith, National Gray Panther, asked in the Gray Panther Newsletter April/May issue, Is the City of Austin Employee Retirement Fund Broke? - On the August 29, 2011, as reported in the Austin American Statesman, we found out that Texas could be gearing up for its own Wisconsin-style grudge match over public employee benefits. - A group of high-powered Houston business leaders is starting a statewide campaign to overhaul retirement for future teachers, firefighters, police officers, judges and other state and local government workers. "I think the state needs to get the hell out of this (pension) business completely," said lawyer Bill King, who is forming Texans for Public Pension Reform with others from the Greater Houston Partnership, an berchamber of commerce with business members representing $1.5 trillion in assets. - Taxpayers bear too much risk on behalf of public employees by providing them a guaranteed retirement that most private sector workers don't get, King said. But advocates of the public pension system say there are ways to eliminate or reduce risk without doing away with the program. "They don't have to destroy a system that works," said Keith Brainard, research director of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. He said government pensions provide retirement security for millions of Texans in a cost-effective manner for taxpayers. Research by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College shows that professionally managed pension funds produce better investment returns than 401(k)s and cost less to administer. - King said the campaign is in its infancy, and its specific goals are still being developed. It's not clear how the campaign will get involved in next year's elections or the 2013 legislative session, but King said he is confident the campaign will soon make pensions an issue for lawmakers. He would support a constitutional amendment eliminating public pensions in the state and moving all government employees to retirement accounts akin to 401(k)s. Legislators would have to approve such an amendment on the ballot when they convene in 2013. - Pension fund leaders from across the state see no good intentions in the Houston initiative, and earlier this month they created Texans for Secure Retirement to protect the guaranteed retirement benefit for public workers."When there are rumblings, you sit up and take notice," said Bill Miller a prominent Austin political consultant and lobbyist representing the employee pension groups. Miller said he doubts that pension reformers will be able to make it a major issue in next year's legislative elections. But if they do, he said there are 2 million public pension members in Texas who will stand up and take notice. "I'm not picking a fight, but I'm not backing off from one, either," Miller said. - Texans for Public Pension Reform developed from King's interest in the City of Houston's pension liabilities. He said he was shocked when he started looking at the city's books to prepare for a possible run for mayor in 2009. Houston's three pension plans "are gobbling up an ever larger share of the city's budget but continue to be under funded by billions of dollars," King wrote. "One of the fundamental questions in the impending debate will be whether it is appropriate for the taxpayers to continue to assume these risks for public employees," King wrote in a January column. - "If it's a local issue in Houston, they ought to keep it a local issue in Houston," said Andy Homer, director of government relations for the Texas Public Employees Association, which has not been approached about joining the counter-effort. The state pension funds should not be dragged into this fight because they're in good financial shape, Homer said. Both the Employee Retirement System of Texas and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas have more than 80 cents for every dollar needed to pay their long-term obligations, a level considered to be a benchmark of a strong fund. The state funds also have tight restrictions on contributions and benefits. - There are about 1,800 public retirement systems in Texas, the vast majority of which are small cities and counties that pool their resources for investment purposes. The big cities, however, have mostly set up shop on their own and have separate plans for police, firefighters and other municipal workers. The sentiment that pensions are unsustainable gained traction across the country after the 2008 financial market collapse sank the value of funds everywhere. - The problem is that states can't save money anytime soon by doing away with pensions. In fact, it costs more in the midterm because taxpayers must contribute more to cover the benefits accrued by retirees and current workers because new workers would no longer be chipping in to the pension, Fehr said. King argues that finally wiping clean the public pension liabilities is worth the higher costs now. "It will require sacrifices in city services and higher taxes than would otherwise be necessary," King wrote. "But at least the number will be finite, unlike in our current predicament." To see entire article see AAS/8/28/11.

Social Security Isnt Broke! Les Aisenman

Leslie Aisenman tells it like it is. Social Security isnt Broke! Its a Lie, and if you tell a big enough lie often enough, people will believe it! The Corporatists have been trying to destroy Social Security since it was created. They want that money to go to Wall Street so they can easily, as in the housing scam and the Wall Street over inflation, steal it from the people. They Lie, Lie, Lie and Lie again. If nothing at all is done to the program it will be fully funded for the next 27 years. Just lift the arbitrary cap and let the wealthy pay their fair share and it will be funded into the distant future. They have convinced the majority of the young people today that the program will not be there for them when they need it. Lie. With no change it will cover 70-80% of the benefits required, but with a lifted cap it can assure the retirements of the generations to follow. But, they LIE; we must cut benefits, because people are living longer. The simple truth is that people in retirement are living just about as long as retirees lived 70 years ago! Longer life spans are the result of fewer deaths in infancy and childhood. With their Lies the Corporatists look for every Lying excuse to injure and reduce Social Security, even the patently false insistence that it is adding to our National Deficit. Social Security more than pays for itself, with a current Leslie Aisenman, surplus of $2.6 trillion that is loaned to the Treasury in the form of Treasury Bonds, a positive for the trust fund and a Gray Panther positive for our Nation. Next time they try and give you the shaft, give them the bird. Board of Directors

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City Program Has Spent Millions to Improve East Austin Neighborhood, But Has It Helped? By Sarah Coppola AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF, AUGUST 29,
emissions threatened to sue Austin Energy. But the utility said it couldn't shutter the plant quickly because it would first have to upgrade the electrical grid downtown, which would take years and millions of dollars. So the City Council and Austin Energy, which had already begun soundproofing Holly homes to muffle the noise, vowed in a 1995 decree to shut off two of the plant's four units by 1998 and two by 2005. -In that decree, which formally began the Good Neighbor initiative, the council also agreed to "continue programs designed to mitigate the impacts of the (plant) on the adjacent neighborhood \u2026 such as the direct home weatherization program and investments in neighborhood and recreational facilities. A five-year (mitigation budget) shall be prepared and annually updated for City Council approval until retirement of the plant." The plant closed four years ago, but the program has continued. The money comes from Austin Energy, which runs on the fees that all Austinites pay for electricity. The city never wrote a five-year budget for the Good Neighbor program, nor a long-term plan or guidelines for spending the money, because it expected to shut down the plant within a few years, said Roger Duncan, who in the early 1990s was an assistant director of environmental conservation at the city and later joined Austin Energy, retiring as general manager in 2010. Instead, spending decisions were made year by year, with the 1995 decree in mind and one main aim: that the money benefit areas adjacent to the plant. Even that benchmark wasn't always met. - The city also doesn't track whether nonprofits that receive Good Neighbor money to offer after-school programs enroll kids from the Holly area, though many of the classes take place in East Austin schools. - The 1995 decree "was not specific. People felt the funds should be used in a variety of ways," said Susana Almanza of People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources, an East Austin advocacy group that has received $12,000 from the program, "There was never a process to say how much should be put into housing, how much into cultural arts. There was never a planning entity, so it became a patchwork along the way." In recent years, the suggestions about how to spend the $1 million set aside for the program each year have been compiled by the council's one Hispanic member formerly Raul Alvarez and now Mike Martinez who is seen as the de facto leader of East Austin because the council has no district-based representatives. -Austin Energy accepts applications for the grants and asks for a description of and budget for the project and how it will benefit Holly residents. But the utility doesn't review the substance of the requests; it simply forwards a list of applicants to Martinez's office. - Unlike other grant programs run by the city, those materials and other requests for Good Neighbor money are not reviewed or evaluated by city staffers or a city board, and applicants aren't required to show they have secured other sources of funding such as state or federal grants. -Many of the same groups apply for and receive Good Neighbor money year after year, but the application materials vary widely. Some groups include detailed information about their finances, mission and successes. Others submit a page or two. There is also very little follow-up. Only in the past three years has the city required groups that receive Good Neighbor grants to submit one-page summaries with receipts verifying how they've spent the money. This year, some were turned in late; some lacked receipts. (Itallics & bold added). -The part of the Good Neighbor program that has the clearest guidelines but has caused the most discord is money set aside to repair Holly homes. In 2003, the city began offering Holly homeowners up to $10,000 each to have city contractors repair plumbing, electrical items, roofing or foundations and didn't require them to pay back the money. Owners could apply for bigger sums up to $100,000 to rebuild homes in the roughest shape. But the housing department later scrapped the
Continued East Austin on page 6.

-The City of Austin has spent more than $16 million over 20 years on a program meant to benefit residents who live near the Holly Power Plant in East Austin. But there are few tangible signs of that investment. With the plant now closed and soon to be dismantled and the Holly Good Neighbor Program slated to end next year, many homes in the largely Hispanic, working-class area remain dilapidated. And public spaces that could benefit from public dollars, such as parks and sidewalks, are far from firstrate. -A recent American-Statesman review of records and interviews with officials and residents found lackluster oversight, a less-than-rigorous application process shepherded by one City Council office and an unclear mandate about how the money should be spent. "We have been telling the City Council for years, 'We need to have more accountability for this money," said Gavino Fernandez Jr., a Holly resident since 1965 and a coordinator for El Concilio , a coalition of Mexican American neighborhood groups. "There should be more of a process. They shouldn't just give it away." -The Holly Power Plant for decades ran noisily day and night and spewed fumes into the streets, neighborhoods and homes. -Activists who had long decried the plant's noise and

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September/October

"It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonoured by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice. Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money. Is there a single virtue now remaining among you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse; gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man among you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth? Ye sordid prostitutes, have you not defiled this sacred place and turned the Lords temple into a den of thieves by your immoral principles and wicked practices. Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You who were deputed by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance. Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God`s help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do. I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place; go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves, be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. In the name of God, go! " Oliver Cromwell's dismissal of the Long Parliament, April 20, 1653 Thank you Bonnie Gardner - Still Relevant! Continued from page 1 What Happened to the Money?
East Austin Continued from page 5

ments contained $4.1 million in interprogram transfers and a negative $579,783 administrative fee reserve. Our objectives were to determine (1) whether the Authority and/or its related entities followed HUD procurement regulations for nonprofit development or procurement activities, if required, and (2) whether the Authority used federal funds only for eligible program activities. In violation of its annual contributions contract and federal regulations, the Authority could not adequately account for its use of federal program funds or support that it used program funds only for eligible program activities. Specifically, the Authority haphazardly transferred more than $2.5 million between its federal and nonfederal programs and activities without proper support or justification. Further, its books and records were not auditable, and it did not properly allocate costs. Limited testing also showed that it could not support more than $600,000 in costs charged to federal programs, spent more than $3,000 on ineligible costs, and did not always follow procurement requirements. These violations occurred because the Authority disregarded HUD requirements in order to keep its programs functioning and lacked financial controls. We recommended that the Authority (1) correct its books and records (2) hire an outside accounting firm to perform a comprehensive review of the $2.5 million in transfers (3) provide support for expenditures or repay $600,000 (4) repay $3,084 in ineligible costs; and (5) develop policies, procedures, and controls to ensure that federal funds are only used for eligible program activities and that interprogram balances are reconciled and paid in a timely manner. We also recommend that the Acting Director, Departmental Enforcement Center, take appropriate administrative actions against Authority officials, as applicable.
Thanks James, this is another VERY important program - featured in '08 Gray Panther Video 'Rehabilitation, not Incarceration' along with Judge Baird. To View Video go to www.graypanthersaustin.org - Austin Highlights

reconstruction option because it wanted to serve a greater number of applicants, said assistant director Rebecca Giello. And over time, it has revised the application rules. -Today, Holly homeowners can receive up to $50,000 in repair money. But they must be low-income and must have lived in the neighborhood since 2000 to ensure that the money is helping those who have suffered most from the plant, Giello said. Recipients don't have to pay back amounts up to $15,000. But for bigger amounts, the city places a lien on the home for 10 years, and if the owner sells it before then, all or part of the money must be paid back. Otherwise, the cost is forgiven. -Holly neighborhood activists fiercely object to the lien, saying it could result in the city taking away their homes, which the city denies. They also say that after living in the shadow of the loud, noxious plant for decades, they deserve larger sums of home reconstruction money with no strings attached. The city "gives money to things like Pachanga and the MACC without liens or restrictions," said Elisa Rendon Montoya , who has lived in the Holly area since 1959 and in March received a $10,000 grant for electrical work, painting and plumbing work at her home. "Those things have nothing to do with what we have suffered. We have been the victims of the plant," Montoya said. -Martinez said the money is a public investment that the city should be able to recoup if the owner flips the house. About 150 homes have been repaired with $1.8 million in Good Neighbor money, an average of about $12,000 per home. The small-scale repairs have done little to improve the impression of tired, older housing stock in the area. Seventeen applications have been refused. A quarter of the nearly 500 homes in the Holly area are still eligible to receive repair money. -So many homeowners have refused to agree to the lien that in 2010, the city put $550,000 in home repair money toward creating a master plan for Fiesta Gardens, Festival Beach and a new park that will replace the power plant. There is currently $1.7 million in unspent repair money, and city leaders are discussing whether to expand the geographic boundaries of who is eligible. Martinez and others say the city should extend all facets of the Good Neighbor program until the plant is cleared away, work that is scheduled to start next month and is expected to take a year and a half. -Mike Martinez said, I guarantee that the ($16 million) put into Good Neighbor program is more than the profit that Austin Energy made on electricity from the plant. We made a commitment to the neighborhood. We should continue funding this (program) until that land is turned into open space."
Real Stories of Waste, Fraud, & Abuse by CC & County & Officials Failure to Investigate or Prosecute. Go to www. austinaccountabilityproject.com for more information.

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Judge: Mentally ill defendants wait too long for treatment

By Chuck Lindell AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011

An Austin judge ordered five Travis County prisoners into treatment at the Austin State Hospital last Tuesday an act of frustration that, if repeated, could provoke a confrontation over the state's underfunded and strained mental health system. - The three men and two women had been ruled incompetent to stand trial because mental health problems left them unable to understand the legal issues involved or assist in their defense. Charged only with misdemeanors related to family violence or trespassing, the five had been waiting up to 71 days for a bed to open at the Austin State Hospital, where they would receive treatment typically drugs and therapy designed to restore mental competence so a trial could be held. - County Court-at-Law Judge Nancy Hohengarten worried that the long wait could jeopardize the prisoners' due process rights, the constitutional guarantee of fair treatment in the justice system. So she ordered them to be immediately taken to the Austin State Hospital, and within 24 hours, all were admitted. Problem solved? No. The hospital, which serves 38 counties, still had 34 felony and misdemeanor defendants on a waiting list for competency treatment as of Friday, including 21 from Travis County, the state health department said. - Another 21 prisoners who have been ruled mentally incompetent were awaiting beds in other state-run facilities that offer specialized care, such as maximum-security settings including one who's been waiting 257 days and four still waiting after 109 to 180 days. - But as Travis County acted to lessen the pressure on its jails and correct a potential constitutional violation, last week's order raised the pressure on the Austin State Hospital, where the demand for beds has long exceeded the supply. - The order to take five prisoners at once limited bed space available for emergency commitments, said Christine Mann of the Department of State Health Services, which runs the state system of mental health facilities. "Emergency room patients next on the list to get a bed will now have to wait longer or find psychiatric services elsewhere," she said. - People committed to the Austin hospital for emergency care typically stabilize and are released in seven to 10 days, Mann said. Restoring a defendant to competency averages 35 days. - Hohengarten, who oversees Travis County's mental health docket for misdemeanor cases, is well aware that ordering treatment from the bench could have unintended consequences for a strained system. Limiting emergency bed space "weighs heavily upon me," she said. But many of the defendants awaiting treatment have schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or extreme forms of mental illness, Hohengarten said. - "It is not appropriate to treat them in jail. It's a liability for local counties, and it can be inhumane. It certainly is not a proper way to deal with mental illness," she said.

- Hohengarten will have to weigh the consequences again Tuesday, when she will hear a request to transfer three more misdemeanor defendants to the Austin State Hospital spurred by an Austin lawyer who is spoiling for a fight with state health officials. - Keith Hampton, a 22-year criminal defense lawyer who recently ran as a Democrat for a seat on the Court of Criminal Appeals, hopes to keep pressing the hospital to accept more and more patients who have been waiting "unreasonable" lengths of time for a bed. If the state health agency makes room, Hampton is happy to have served his clients. But if the agency refuses to accept prisoners because of a lack of beds, he plans to push for a contempt hearing, forcing state officials to explain why they did not comply with a judicial order at the risk of fines and possible jail time. - "To be incompetent to stand trial, your mental disability has to be real severe. But when I saw people in jail over 100 days, I just went, 'This is it; enough is enough,'" Hampton said. "Maybe this will make leaving disabled people in jail a very rare occurrence instead of a common one." But his actions might not precipitate a courtroom confrontation. - "If we receive another court order, we'll comply with it," said Mann, with the state health department. "If we are told to provide a bed for someone waiting in Travis County Jail, that would be one fewer bed for someone waiting for acute, crisis psychiatric treatment." Mentally incompetent defendants wait an average of 54 days for treatment at the Austin State Hospital, but the shortage of beds is a statewide problem. The wait time is 60 days at the state's eight other hospital campuses that offer competency treatment. - Hampton is ready to take his fight statewide, promising to make his legal briefs available to any lawyer whose client is subject to a long wait for mental health treatment. He also is pushing Travis County judges to put time limits on their orders that declare a defendant mentally incompetent to stand trial. The strategy works well for Williamson County, where incompetency rulings frequently include a 14-day time limit for defendants to receive mental health treatment, District Judge Billy Ray Stubblefield said. - Hohengarten said she is contemplating a time limit as well something between a week and 21 days. Some misdemeanor cases, she noted, have been dismissed because a defendant's time in jail and the state hospital equaled the maximum possible sentence. "It is not out of the ordinary to have people waiting for unreasonable amounts of time," Hohengarten said. "This has been going on for years." Hohengarten blames the Legislature and state officials for shortchanging the mental health system, forcing many patients from hospitals into homelessness and, eventually, jail. State health officials, however, say help is on the way. To help restore mental competency to defendants, the Legislature last session allocated $10 million for 20 beds in Harris County and $30 million for 100 beds in Montgomery County, Mann said. Five new outpatient programs were added as well, she said. - Hampton hopes the added beds relieve some pressure on the system, because he's not about to stop pressing the state. "I will not be leaving my clients just languishing in jail," he said.

Judges Charlie Baird & Nancy Hohengarten (Video) addressed this in 2008 (see www.graypanthersaustin.org - 'Austin: Network Highlights; "Rehabilitation, not Incarceration" ') - resulting in both increased attention, as well as - for a time - a bit more funding!

Page 8

September/October 2011

National 'Poverty Tour' Will Highlight Hardships in Obama's Backyard Talk Show Host, Professor Teaming Up to Advocate For 'More And More Invisible' Poor
By Dahleen Glanton, Chicago Tribune reporter 9:37 p.m. CDT, August 3, 2011 BD by Sharron Aisenman
--

Tavis Smiley, the syndicated talk show host who has been a vocal critic of President Barack

Obama's policies on behalf of African-Americans, will bring his national "poverty tour" to Chicago this weekend, putting the spotlight on economic hardships in the president's hometown. The tour, organized by Smiley and Princeton professor Cornel West, is the latest effort by the two to highlight what they see as deficiencies in the Obama's administration and to force the president and Congress to pay more attention to poor people who have been hit hardest by the recession.
-- The events, scheduled for Sunday in Joliet and Chicago, come on the heels of the deal approved

Tuesday by Congress to raise the country's debt ceiling while allowing for at least $2.1 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years. Smiley called the legislation, signed by the president, "a declaration of war on the poor." -- "I don't understand how the president could agree to a deal that does not extend unemployment benefits, does not close a single corporate loophole and doesn't raise the taxes on the rich," said Smiley. "The poor are being rendered more and more invisible in this country. Nobody, not the president, not the Republicans in Congress, is speaking to the truth of the suffering of everyday people." -- After signing the legislation, the president said he would now return his attention to job creation and called for Congress to consider several measures including the extension of middle-class tax cuts. The president also has called for higher taxes on the wealthy. "We can't balance the budget on the backs of people who have borne the biggest brunt of this recession," the president said. "Everyone is going to have to chip in. It's only fair."
-- Smiley and West have planned town hall meetings in 16 cities, from Washington to Memphis, where families will have the op-

portunity to talk about their difficulties making ends meet. When the tour ends Aug. 12, the men will continue to use their national public radio program, "Smiley & West," as a platform to keep the conversation going through the November elections, they said. -- A couple of hundred people, mostly black and Latino warehouse workers, are expected to attend a private forum Sunday afternoon in Joliet, followed by a public town hall meeting at 7 p.m. at St. Sabina Church, 1210 W. 78th Place in Chicago.
-- "The conversation in the nation has shifted dramatically to nutrition, especially with the first lady on this campaign about eating

healthy," said Juan Andrade Jr., president of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, which is participating in the Joliet event. "But it's kind of difficult for that message to resonate among people who barely have enough to eat. When you are hungry, you eat what you can."
-- Smiley said Chicago was chosen as one of the tour cities because of its high rate of poverty. Across the country, Smiley said,

families that were once middle class have fallen into poverty.
-- The recession has pushed the national poverty rate to the highest point in 15 years, to 14.3 percent, according to the U.S. Cen-

sus Bureau. In Chicago, 21.6 percent of residents have incomes below the poverty level. In Illinois, the poverty rate is 13.3 percent.
-- Some local supporters said the events should not be seen as an attack on Obama, but as a means to provide a forum for poor

people who have no political voice. "My agenda is one thing, poverty," said St. Sabina's pastor, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, who has been a supporter of Obama's. "I don't think this is a political statement. That was a big concern for me. This is not about Democrats or Republicans or the president, but a country that I believe has abandoned the poor."

September/October 2011 . . .owing to the persistence of racism, poverty, militarism and materialism.

Page 9

Dr. King Weeps From His Grave

By CORNEL WEST, Princeton, N.J., August 25, 2011

THE Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was to be dedicated on the National Mall on Sunday exactly 56 years after the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi and 48 years after the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. (Because of Hurricane Irene, the ceremony has been postponed.) These events constitute major milestones in the turbulent history of race and democracy in America, and the undeniable success of the civil rights movement culminating in the election of Barack Obama in 2008 warrants our attention and elation. Yet the prophetic words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel still haunt us: The whole future of America depends on the impact and influence of Dr. King. Rabbi Heschel spoke those words during the last years of Kings life, when 72 percent of whites and 55 percent of blacks disapproved of Kings opposition to the Vietnam War and his efforts to eradicate poverty in America. Kings dream of a more democratic America had become, in his words, a nightmare, owing to the persistence of racism, poverty, militarism and materialism. He called America a sick society. On the Sunday after his assassination, in 1968, he was to have preached a sermon titled Why America May Go to Hell. King did not think that America ought to go to hell, but rather that it might go to hell owing to its economic injustice, cultural decay and political paralysis. He was not an American Gibbon, chronicling the decline and fall of the American empire, but a courageous and visionary Christian blues man, fighting with style and love in the face of the four catastrophes he identified. Militarism is an imperial catastrophe that has produced a military-industrial complex and national security state and warped the countrys priorities and stature (as with the immoral drones, dropping bombs on innocent civilians). Materialism is a spiritual catastrophe, promoted by a corporate media multiplex and a culture industry that have hardened the hearts of hard-core consumers and coarsened the consciences of wouldbe citizens. Clever gimmicks of mass distraction yield a cheap soulcraft of addicted and self-medicated narcissists. Racism is a moral catastrophe, most graphically seen in the prison industrial complex and targeted police surveillance in black and brown ghettos rendered invisible in public discourse. Arbitrary uses of the law in the name of the war on drugs have produced, in the legal scholar Michelle Alexanders apt phrase, a new Jim Crow of mass incarceration. And poverty is an economic catastrophe, inseparable from the power of greedy oligarchs and avaricious plutocrats indifferent to the misery of poor children, elderly citizens and working people. The age of Obama has fallen tragically short of fulfilling Kings prophetic legacy. Instead of articulating a radical democratic vision and fighting for homeowners, workers and poor people in the form of mortgage relief, jobs and investment in education, infrastructure and housing, the administration gave us bailouts for banks, record profits for Wall Street and giant budget cuts on the backs of the vulnerable. As the talk show host Tavis Smiley and I have said in our national tour against poverty, the recent budget deal is only the latest phase of a 30year, top-down, one-sided war against the poor and working people in the name of a morally bankrupt policy of deregulating markets, lowering taxes and cutting spending for those already socially neglected and economically abandoned. Our two main political parties, each beholden to big money, offer merely alternative versions of oligarchic rule. The absence of a King-worthy narrative to reinvigorate poor and working people has enabled right-wing populists to seize the moment with credible claims about government corruption and ridiculous claims about tax cuts stimulating growth. This right-wing threat is a catastrophic response to Kings four catastrophes; its agenda would lead to hellish conditions for most Americans. King weeps from his grave. He never confused substance with symbolism. He never conflated a flesh and blood sacrifice with a stone and mortar edifice. We rightly celebrate his substance and sacrifice because he loved us all so deeply. Let us not remain satisfied with symbolism because we too often fear the challenge he embraced. Our greatest writer, Herman Melville, who spent his life in love with America even as he was our most fierce critic of the myth of American exceptionalism, noted, Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges; hence the conclusion of such a narration is apt to be less finished than an architectural finial. Kings response to our crisis can be put in one word: revolution. A revolution in our priorities, a re-evaluation of our values, a reinvigoration of our public life and a fundamental transformation of our way of thinking and living that promotes a transfer of power from oligarchs and plutocrats to everyday people and ordinary citizens. In concrete terms, this means support for progressive politicians like Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont and Mark Ridley-Thomas, a Los Angeles County supervisor; extensive community and media organizing; civil disobedience; and life and death confrontations with the powers that be. Like King, we need to put on our cemetery clothes and be coffin-ready for the next great democratic battle. Cornel West, a philosopher, is a professor at Princeton. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/opinion/martin-luther-king-jr-would-want-a-revolution-not-a-memorial.html?_r=1&src=tp&smid=fb-share

Page 10 Audit Cites $4.1 Million In Prohibited Transfers

September/October 2011 Austinites Lobbying for Municipal Accountability

Keeping the Power in the Hands of The People www.austinaccountabilityproject.com
alma@austinaccountabilityproject.com A.L.M.A. is a community coalition concerned about Housing Programs & Land Grabs A.L.M.A. insists on Government Accountability & Mopping Up Misuse Of Power.grams: I. A.L.M.A. launched The Accountability Project for Affordable Housing Programs, after a number of citizens complaints were made that centered on a common issue. That common issue is the alleged mismanagement of certain housing programs and how the citizens who participate in those programs are/were affected.

Waste, Fraud & Abuse!

AUSTIN (KXAN) August 26, 2009 - The director of the Housing Authority of Travis County has resigned in the wake of an audit that cited $4.1 million in prohibited transfers between federal and non-federal projects. - The Housing Authority of Travis County is the sister organization to the larger Housing Authority of the City of Austin, both of which are accountable to the US Department Housing and Urban Development. According to the audit dated August 17, 2009, HUD found both the illegal interprogram transfers and a negative $579,783 administrative fee reserve. Further, HUD wanted to know if federal funds had been used to underwrite three market-rate complexes the agency financed with tax-free bonds. - "Specifically, the Authority haphazardly transferred more than $2.5 million between its federal and nonfederal programs and activities without proper support or justification," according to the audit. "Further, its books and records were not auditable, and it did not properly allocate costs." - HATC and its auditor did not follow federal guidelines, according to the audit. Limited testing of accounting records by HUD also showed that HATC could not provide documentation to support more than more than $600,000 in federal spending. Another $3,000 in spending was ineligible. And HATC did not always follow the proper procurement procedures. "Consequently, HUD did not have a true understanding of the Authority's financial position, which was deteriorating," according to the audit. - Wiley Hopkins, who had served as executive director of HATC since 1999, resigned at the end of July. Interim Director is Craig Alter, who was chief executive of Strategic Housing Finance Corp, the company that partnered with HATC on three apartment complexes. In exchange for access to HATC's tax-free bonds, Strategic Housing offered to share its revenue stream with HATC. That revenue stream, from Strategic Housing's three apartment complexes, made up about 12 percent of HATC's total budget. While HATC has had some financial challenges since 2002, those problems accelerated in recent years when developer fees did not materialize on schedule. - The transfer between funds was a way to reduce that financial strain, Alter said. And past accountants raised no issues with the practice. As to the future, Alter is unequivocable. "There will be no more transfers," Alter said. - HATC has agreed to repay the $3,000. And, in the coming months, the agency will be unraveling the transfers, transaction by transaction. If a shortall exists in the federal funding account, revenue from the three apartment complexes' non-federal funding stream will be diverted to restore a balance to the federal account. The People want to know... What has the City of Austin and Travis County Officials Done to Prevent MORE WASTE, FRAUD, ABUSE?

II. Questions are raised with regard to the management of certain affordable housing programs: 1) general practices enacted by program managers & other public official i.e.: a. are contractual & H.U.D. guidelines consistently followed? b. have program participants rights been violated? c. have fiduciary duties been fulfilled or misused? d. are contractor violations and poor workmanship consistently reported & penalties enforced? e. Verity of Recordkeeping and Evaluation Reports: loan repayments, application of funds and other financial reports; contractor evaluations and contractor re-qualification applications; project status & completion reports; project delays &/or abandoned projects; 2) Does management follow through with what it represented it would do? 3) Accountability of: Program Managers; Program Contractors; Public Officials 4) How effectively are our tax dollars being applied? and WHO is benefiting? 5) What is the end result for certain program participants and their homes? 6) Does the City maintain its obligatory stance of neutrality; OR is preferential & protective treatment given to certain contractors? III. A.L.M.A. aims to keep homes & families safe from misuse of power by holding its public officials accountable. IV. A.L.M.A.s goal with The Accountability Project is: 1) To hold Public Officials and programs Accountable; 2) Maintain &/or restore ethical & exemplary management practices of these housing programs 3) Develop and implement a plan that will: a. safeguard from potential mismanagement in the future. b. provide realistic, effective and responsive avenues for participants to enforce accountability & restore equitable treatment. c. protect participants rights via writing and implementing more equitable contractor acts on behalf of the participant. --4) Acquire a thorough investigation by a neutral & objective party. As part of the Investigation, A.L.M.A. requests that: a. ALL program participants dating at least as far back as 1990, be notified of the pending investigation, & that they all be given the opportunity to provide comments, free from the fear of retaliation. b. ALL program participants are allowed to formally question the manner in which the status of their projects were reported. c. The application of funds for each project be thoroughly traced; determine whether its legitimacy is disputed by the participant. d. If participants no longer own the property that was the subject of the program, determine why. e. Review the number of foreclosures & vacant lots; how many are owned by the city; how manyh were sold; and what circumstances prompted the foreclosures, sales, vacant lots, or municipal ownershipcontact the previous program participants to get their side of the story. A.L.M.A. welcomes your support. We hope that The Accountability Project will provide relief for previous housing program participants; and assurance and protection for future housing programs in the future. A.L.M.A. thanks the Gray Panthers of Austin, Travis County Green Party, Austin Housing Pinch, ANC & KOOP

radio & P.A.C.T.V.

Allissa Chambers, Chair A.L.M.A.

September/October 2011

Page 11

Texas Gray Panthers of Austin Annual Meeting held at Lyons Gardens, Sunday, August 28, 2011
'Education's critical role in Economic Development; Jobs in TX Richard Franklin presented an enthusiastic overview of his unique teaching program that motivates children to learn. By taking peer groups and making them a positive force in a childs life he achieves real, long lasting hope and self-confidence in his student. Richard has proven that his critical thinking techniques, pre pare his student to be successful and to believe they can be successful, an idea that is new to his students in far too many cases.. Imagination is more important than knowledge, according to Albert Einstein, really seems to epitomize Richards philosophy that if he can get his students to imagine, open their minds to possibilities, they will be successful , responsible adults. We need letters of support to get back into LBJ School and financial support & donations. We need everyone to talk with people in the public schools and get facilitators in schools. Richard Franklin, President of Youth Unlimited, Member of Del Valle School Board , candidate for Gray Panther Board of Directors. In explaining how his system works Richard used the lesson , Recognize the Hole Youre In, what do you have at your disposal to get out of the hold, and you need to work together to analyze the situation youre in to get out of the hole. This is a one hour lesson and gets students to think about their life and how they work within their community and peers to critical think a better life.

Who was John Hanson? He explained that he was a "Black" Man, A Moor, John Hanson was the First

President of the United States! 1781-1782 A.D. George Washington was really the 8th President of the United States. Gray Panthers concensus that CITY COUNCIL members should be asked WHY they're not actively supporting funding for a program with proven results, especially as it targets youth they've most trouble reaching -AND adding to public safety costs! For more information on Youth Unlimited go to: http://youtu.be/bikPbjg4jms, http://youtu.be/Udz0hzr319s, http://youtu.be/JQ_mWgUHPfM. Allen Weeks has been traveling the State of Texas holding Save Texas Schools meetings and rallies. In early March more than 12,000 people showed up at the Texas Capitol to demand better schools and protest cuts to education and teachers. Something has gone wrong in Texas.nobody feels clean in either party, he said. In the last session of the Texas Lege made huge cuts to public schools, and we should expect those cuts to continue every Legislative session, unless we elect representatives who will be dedicated to restoring fund to Texas schools. Texas ranks 50th in the amount of money we spend per student..after Mississippi. Next year we need 20,000 people to show up at the Capitol.. Save Texas Schools is holding training seminars around Texas to prepare our citizens to fight back. A key strategy is organizing house parties. The goal is to hold 500 meetings on Texas School Funding 101. House Meeting In A Box is a 90 minute guide with scripts, signs, questions for discussion, everything one needs to organize a successful house party. You may download the entire program...go to Save Texas Schools.org.

Allen Weeks, Save Texas Schools shows key strategy for organizing called House Meeting In A Box.

SPECIAL NOTE! All Precinct Chairs take particular note! House Meeting in a Box is a perfect tool you Precinct chairs can use to organize your precincts with 2012 elections in sight. Contact your 2Ds and 3Ds to help organize block house parties and get out the vote. Save Texas Schools works with Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Greens, Libertarians. Texas Gray Panthers of Austin support Allen Weeks and Save Texas Schools.

Gray Panthers arent just Gray any longer! Beautiful Example of Age & Youth In Action!

Call: Gary Dugger 512-225-4789 Office: 512-458-3738

www.graypanthers austin.org Mrs. Richard Franklin Chris Nielsen, Gray Panther Board of Directors

(L) Gary Dugger, Convener & (R) Thor Armbruster, Board of Directors Candidate

JO IN

Page 12

September/October 2011

Age and Youth in Action

TH ht Corp E G ora RA tist G Y P ree AN d an TH d Co ER rrup S T tion OD ! AY !

Fig

7371612 K Street NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006, (202) 737-6637 www.graypanthers.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ..Sunday, August 14, 2011, Gray Panthers Contacts: Judy Lear, National Chair, 202-737-6637, Ext. 28 judylear@graypanthers.org Shadia Henson, 202-737-6637, Ext. 21 shenson@graypanthers.org

Gray Panthers Launches Media Watch on Social Security Fight Truth Decay
National Gray Panthers, an intergenerational social and economic justice group, celebrates the 76th Anniversary of Social Security on August 14, 2011 by launching a campaign to challenge lies and errors of fact currently being floated in print and electronic media about the soundness and effectiveness of the Social Security program. The appointment of a 12 member Super Committee to reduce the national debt is considered by the Gray Panthers to be a clear and present danger to preserving the benefits of Social Security for its beneficiaries. A team of Gray Panther watchdogs, armed with a Fact Sheet called the Truth About Social Security, has launched a national campaign calling on its membership to watch out for lies, challenge the media to issue corrections, and report their findings to the National Gray Panthers which will post this information on its website and Facebook pages. Gray Panthers throughout the country have made the commitment to be Social Security media watchdogs. Here is a common example of a lie about Social Security: Social Security is going broke -- Gray Panthers response: Social Security is solvent. Social Security today has a $2.6 trillion surplus and can pay out every benefit owed to every eligible American for the next 27 years. From that point forward, it will still be able to provide 75-80 percent of all benefits. If we lift the cap on contributions so that rich people pay their fair share, we can fund it indefinitely.
For more information, see Gray Panthers website: www.graypanthers.org or contact Judy Lear, National Chair, Gray Panthers 202-737-6637, ext. 28.

The Texas Gray Panthers of Austin

Membership and Contribution Form I want to join the Gray Panthers movement for a fair and just society.
Individual membership ($30) Student membership ($10) Household membership ($50) (Please list Names and ages.) Other, Contribution ___________ Amount Enclosed: ___________ Name_______________________________________ Address_____________________________________ State_______________________ Zip____________ Phone______________________ Age___________ E-mail______________________________________

My Organization would like to join. Please contact me Regarding sliding scale fee:

_____________________________________________________

Mail Form with Your Check in Payment to:

The Gray Panthers of Austin, 3710 Cedar St, Box 15, Austin, TX, 78705-1405 Contact: Gary Dugger 512-225-4789 Office: 512-458-3738 garydugger@austin.rr.com

You are not required to complete the work, but neither are you free to abstain from it.
Texas Gray Panthers of Austin , Gary Dugger, Convener 3710 Cedar St, Box 15, Austin, TX 78705 Sharron Aisenman, Editor Gray Panther Newsletter

Rabbi Tarfon,, Pirkei Avot

512-225-4789; Ofc: 512-458-3738 www.graypanthersaustin.org National Gray Panthers www.graypanthers.org sharronaisenman@yahoo.com