First Week Of School Update

Ok haven't posted in a day or two.  Been a little busy.  Some people want to know where 1010 Collins is.  Well it is at 1010 North Collins, and if you haven't been reading the papers there was an event there that caused a real problem.  Over 500 kids were at this place when fights broke out and a teenage girl was thrown to the ground by a police officer.  The officer was investigated for excessive use of force, and as far as I am concerned he was well within the confines of the law in doing what he did.  If parents were a little more involved at home then the police wouldn't have to use force at all.  Essentially one Howard Beckerman is the owner of this establishment and he realizes that he made a mistake in renting to the kids parents for $4,000 for the evening because it has caused him major problems with the city that he doesn't want.  The city is working with Mr. Beckerman to ensure that he remains within the parameters of a banquet hall, which is how he is operating.  If he operates under the parameters of a nightclub then he has to get a special use permit or SUP.  That requres council approval.

Now I am also looking at a residence at 612 Crown Colony that is renting by the day on VRBO (vacation rental by owner).  This guy is ruining a neighborhood for a couple of bucks.  I have called the owner 3 times with no return call.  The Assistant City Manager has left 2 calls with no response.  Essentially we want this type of activity stopped and if we have to write an ordinance stating that you can't rent your house for less than 30 days, like Ft. Worth, then we will write the ordinance.

The movement of kids through Walgreens has been very good.  I talked with Mark Thomasson, the store manager, on Wednesday and he is very pleased.  For some reason parents still seem to think that it is ok to pick up their kid at Walgreens and the parking lot is full of cars driving through when school lets out.  I don't know why they can't figure out how to pick up their kids at school, or what makes them so special that they have to clobber the parking lot for about 15 minutes.  Anyway that problem seems to be working out ok.

Concerning the 100% inspection for the Forest Hills apartments.  Code Officers have found 3 buildings that might be listed under the Dangerous and Substandard Structure ordinance.  The end of the 30 day housing inspection result is coming to an end and David Zapasode will be back in the office next week to see where we are in that issue.

I am trying to get the parents of kids in the overlay apartments to get involved in their kids education.  In that effort I have asked Deanna Palla and Dara Wandel to approach apartment management to donate either funds or gift cards to kids that distinguish themselves in academics, citizenship and attendance.  There is a hiccup in the program in that the management teams that are in place in these apartments are very temporary.  That causes a real problem.  I am up for suggestions.

That's all for now, have a great weekend.

Charlie