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Proposed RA Bloch Cancer
Survivor Plaza
FAQ as of 7/28/09
Overview: This is a proposed plaza to be funded by a grant from the R. A. Bloch Cancer
Foundation. As of 5/26/09, the design has been approved by the Bloch Foundation and
was presented to the City Parks Board as a briefing.
What is the Latest News on the Proposal?
Public input continues to be sought as we go through the approval process with the City
of Austin. As of 7/28/09, we have briefed the Parks and Recreation board in late May
and late June and have briefed the Art in Public Places panel in mid-July. We have not
formally submitted the project to the city but hope to do so soon. We are currently
working to incorporate some of the input that we have received during briefings into the
proposal.
Our thanks to the R.A. Bloch Cancer Foundation, the Prostate Cancer Resource Center,
the Lance Armstrong Foundation, TGB Partners and the City of Austin for working with
us. More information about Bloch Cancer Survivor Parks on their website at
www.blochcancer.org.
We have received some input about our proposal during the briefing as well as via email
from citizens, writing us about the proposed Plaza and raising some concerns. We
strongly believe that there has been a fair amount of misinformation and given that much
of it is the same, we believe that is coming from a coordinated source. We wanted to
provide some corrections and a few additional points on why we have proposed this
project.
1) Why the site in front of the Palmer Events Center for the Proposed Plaza?
We have worked with the parks department staff and the convention center staff on the
proposed site and given that a number of elements were stripped out of existing original
pond project, part of the master plan designed in 1998 when Palmer and Butler Park were
built (waterfalls, walkways around the structures, additional native landscaping are
among the items stripped out of the final designs and weren%u2019t built.) Our primary goal is
to use the funds to finish this area of the park that is both incomplete and as a result, is
seldom used now. So, the gift of $1 M from the RA Bloch Cancer Foundation builds on
the over $1 M of improvements already in place. This is the first key difference from a
1996 proposal that some citizens have written about or voiced concerns about.
2) We hear that there are required elements. What are they?
We do provide the required artwork (statues of a family passing through a series of
doorways, often called the Maze sculpture) which appears in all of the Bloch Cancer
Survivor Plazas along with 4 inspirational and 10 practical quotes for anyone facing a
cancer or other life threatening illnesses. These are displayed in various areas of the
design. Apart from calling it the RA Bloch Cancer Survivors Plaza, it is open and
accessible and available for other enhancements and artwork. For more information
about the genesis and major elements of every park or plaza, read question #9 below.
We have also identified 11 spaces for artwork that we would like to add to the site and
will raise funds to commission local area artists to design and install those works. This is
a big change from a 1996 proposal.
3) Who designed the project?
This project is designed locally by TBG Partners who have done all of the work pro-bono
to date. We seek to match the materials and native plants already used in the existing site,
which already has over $ 1 M of native stonework and rock work, native landscaping
including a number of mature trees, a pond and benches. This is another big difference
compared to a 1996 proposal, we are using local talent to design and build the plaza and
we are not starting from scratch. Instead, we are working to complete a portion of a park
already in place.
4) What About Ongoing Maintenance and Operation of the plaza once it is completed?
The Austin Parks Foundation with its fiduciary partners will raise the endowment for
ongoing maintenance and operation, adding to the $100,000 starter endowment fund.
This is the another major difference compared to a 1996 proposal, In 1996, there was no
entity looking to start and raise funds for operation and maintenance, we seek to
demonstrate that there are ways to develop public/private partnerships to improve our
parks.
5) Aren%u2019t there specific guidelines governing the selection and placement of Artwork in
Butler Park?
The Art in Public Places program and specific guidelines for Town Lake Park (now
Butler Park) are policy guidelines for Art In Public Places and not part of the ordinance
passed by City Council in 2002. The guidelines specifically state that:
%u2022 All artwork for Town Lake Park must be commissioned. %u2022 Acceptance of gifts of preexisting
artworks and the purchase of pre-existing artwork for Town Lake Park is
strongly discouraged. Standard manufactured park amenities such as benches, picnic
tables, plaques and lighting are under the jurisdiction of the Parks & Recreation
Department and do not qualify as works of art.
We strongly believe that these guidelines for public artwork at Butler Park have resulted
no works of art being added to Butler Park, apart from the decorative fencing in some
areas, the star on top of Doug Sahm Hill and several Texas authors quotes in the pond
area where we've proposed the park.
That said, we have received different, often conflicting information from both the AIPP
panel, but also city staff on how these guidelines apply, to what extent and who decides
what is allowed and is not. We will continue to work with City staff to determine the
appropriate action. Further, we continue to refine our proposals based on the input
received from the city boards and city staff.
6) Aren%u2019t There Greater Needs for Park Improvements at Butler Park?
We acknowledge that the Butler Park and Auditorium Shores areas have many additional
needs for improvements. There are forthcoming improvements for Phases 3 and 4 will
address many that a number of concerned citizens have mentioned including irrigation,
turf, children's playground, possible trail (bridge) enhancements. These issues face many
of our parks through out Austin.
Are there needs for more improvements? Absolutely. But, all donations come with
requirements and no matter the donor, there were be some elements that we need to
provide in any given project. We do understand the desire to keep our park improvements
free. But we also understand that finding donors gets harder and harder every day.
The Austin Parks Foundation has funded over 35 park improvement projects worth over
$500,000 in the past two years and is in track to fund another $600,000 in improvements
in 2009 alone, directly and through 45 partners (specific community groups) who raise
funds under our charitable umbrella. We, like the Trail Foundation and Friends of Deep
Eddy, two other local non-profit foundations, constantly look for fundraising
opportunities and given the challenges that we are facing as we end one lean fiscal year
and approach an even leaner forthcoming fiscal year. We also know that success in large
donations results in success for additional large donations.
7) We%u2019ve heard that some of the survivor parks and plazas in other cities have been
maintained adequately. How do you prevent that from happening in Austin?
In the 1990s, Richard Bloch personally led efforts to develop cancer parks in a number of
cities and the approach, including design, development and construction was handled
differently. Mr. Bloch passed away in 2004 and the foundation has revised its approach,
with local organizations and activists proposing parks to the Bloch Foundation staff,
which then are reviewed and either approved or rejected by the Board of Directors.
A big piece of the discussion is how the park will be developed and maintained and that
has been one of the biggest items in discussions with city staff from both the parks
department and the convention center departments. Specifically, the foundation working
with its volunteer fiduciary partners, agree to raise and hold funds for the heavy
maintenance %u2013 beyond the weeding, mowing or mulching. So, we agree to take the
$100,000 starter fund and add to it to ensure that the park%u2019s irrigation, water, electrical
and other systems are checked and repaired on a regular basis.
8) Why does the Bloch Cancer Foundation fund these parks and plazas? Aren%u2019t there
more important items to fund?
The Bloch Cancer Foundation funds a number of programs, including the Bloch Cancer
Hotline, Multidisciplinary second opinion centers using the Bloch funded Physician Data
Query (PDQ) tool. The Foundation also originated the Cancer Survivors Rally on
National Cancer Survivors Day, held the first Sunday in June of each year, three books
for patients and survivors and lastly, the Cancer Survivor Parks program.
9) What are the required elements of each Cancer Survivor Park or Plaza?
This information comes directly from the Bloch Cancer Foundation website, written by
Mr. Bloch: http://blochcancer.org/2009/02/cancer-survivors-park/
We believe that the second greatest correctable cause of cancer mortality (smoking being
#1) is relating death and cancer. Many have been brought up to believe that a diagnosis of
cancer means automatic death. Some believe that treatments are worse than death. When
they are diagnosed, they give up and do not try to fight.
This brought us to the idea of a Cancer Survivors Park. It would not only encourage
current patients to have the will to fight, but would subconsciously give healthy people,
who know they will never get cancer, the will to fight when they are subsequently
diagnosed. Normally parks memorialize the dead. We wanted to do something as a
tribute to the living. A Park would be there daily %u2013 continuously %u2013 to give the same
message, %u201CDon%u2019t equate death and cancer%u201D. Each person who passes would be
subconsciously reminded. Further, a patient could stroll through the park and gain
strength from it%u2019s various components.
Three fundamental elements were perceived. First is a sculpture as a focal point. Created
by the renowned Mexican sculptor, Victor Salmones, it is eight life-size figures passing
through a maze depicting cancer treatments and success. It is placed in the most visible
point in the park for passers-by because it needs no explanation. People can walk among
the figures, touch them, walk through the maze and generally visualize themselves being
helped. It is moving.
The second element in the park is a %u201CPositive Mental Attitude Walk%u201D. This is an area that
a person can stroll through, meditate and read some 14 plaques; 4 are inspirational and 10
are specific suggestions on fighting cancer.
The third element is The Road to Recovery. This consists of 7 bronze plaques with
common sense advice to use during treatment.
Other than these three components, each park is totally unique, being designed to
complement the local environment. It wants to make a magnificent showing to the passerby.
97% of the American population does not have cancer, knows they will never get it,
has no interest in the park because cancer only happens to the other guy. However, 33%
of the people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. By passing daily and seeing
the beautiful structures and the sign, %u201CCancer Survivors Park%u201D, individuals will realize
when diagnosed that there is a possibility of surviving and hopefully will try to fight
rather than give up.
In Kansas City, the main focal point is a massive arch of triumph. In Omaha, it is 14
stainless columns representing a tower of light. In Houston it is beautifully carved stone
work covered in wrought iron, the dome of which has 2,000 lights. New Orleans is
planned as 14 architecturally different columns with a French style arch and a fountain.
Columbus is a massive 5000 granite ball floating in low pressure water in a base
constantly revolving. The motion can be stopped with one finger and made to go any
other direction. It symbolizes cancer that is constantly moving but with personal
intervention, the course might be changed. Cleveland is a tall obelisk of carved brick.
Landscaping, flowers, water, etc. are all extremely important. We must have an area that
looks beautiful 365 days a year. We love color in the seasons where color is possible, but
we would not want color to be the focal point if it was not possible 12 months a year.
Annette and I want to build a park in every city over one million metropolitan population
in the United States and Canada. We pay the entire cost of constructing the park and fund
perpetual maintenance. If you would like to help get a park built in your city, contact
your Park Department and have them contact us. It might give someone the will to fight
and make the difference.
Currently, Austin Dog Rescue is seeking experienced Board Members for the following positions. Please review the needed experience and time requirements and if you are interested, please send a resume with contact information and someone will be in touch within one business week. Thank you for your support of Austin Dog Rescue!
Position: Director of Marketing and Public Relations
Purpose:
To oversee all external communications ensuring that ADR messaging is consistent with our mission, key objectives, and of the appropriate level of professionalism.
Key Duties:
Develop and maintain relationships with key community partners who have ability to enhance ADR reputation and community presence
Oversee newsletter and distribution, ensuring quarterly distribution is scheduled and distributed within budget standards
Work with Dir of Social Media to ensure all e-sites are updated regularly with consistent messaging
Write (or approve) all press releases for ADR activities; ensure timely submission to external vendors
Partner with Director of Fundraising to manage annual giving campaign through direct mail program
Partner with Director of Fundraising and Director of Special Events to ensure messaging is consistent, timely and broad enough to attract right audiences for the fundraiser
Job Requirements:
Strong working knowledge of greater Austin PR community including radio, TV, print, e-media, and any other venues of communication viable for ADR messaging
Proven experience in writing press releases and/or other related public communications
High comfort level with networking in the community on behalf of ADR – may be asked to speak at public events or market/educate community stakeholders about ADR
Demonstrated background in managing volunteers handling communication related requests
Accessibility – must be able to respond to emails within 48 business hours of a request from fellow BOD member
Must be able to attend monthly board meeting with fully prepared agenda and materials
Must be physically located in greater Austin area
Must be willing to sign confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement
The City of Austin makes the goal of its Climate Protection Plan clear: to "make Austin the leading city in the nation in the fight against climate change."
We have created the petition below to show our support for the Mayor, City Council, Austin Energy, Austin's city leaders, and our diverse community of multiple stakeholders, to achieve rapid implementation of affordable, world-leading, climate solutions, immediately.
We, the citizens of Austin, TX, urge members of Austin City Council to officially recommit to our City's Climate Protection Program. We feel our City can and must do more, and we stand ready to support our City's commitment to world-changing leadership.
In 2007, just two years ago, when the Austin Climate Program was adopted, more than half of today's council was not yet elected, we had a different Mayor, and a different City Manager. We urge our City's new leadership team to recommit the City to the bold, urgent and important goals laid out in 2007.
We ask that today's City leadership put climate solutions first on their agenda and make public their commitment to finding an affordable way forward.
Currently, Austin Dog Rescue is seeking experienced Board Members for the following positions. Please review the needed experience and time requirements and if you are interested, please send a resume with contact information and someone will be in touch within one business week. Thank you for your support of Austin Dog Rescue!
Position: Director of Fundraising
Purpose:
To develop, implement, execute, and evaluate an annual fundraising plan, through a wide range of community, web-based, direct mail, and other unique channels, ensuring steady revenue to meet or exceed budgeted goals.
Key Duties:
Prepare an annual calendar with a minimum # of small scale (target earnings of >$1000) and large scale (target earnings of $1000+) including timelines, marketing plans, budgets, venues/logistics, and other resource needs and considerations
Develop and oversee a stable fundraising committee of 10-20 volunteers who are regularly engaged with various activities and have formal meetings no less than bi-monthly
Present project plans prior to events and evaluation plans (post event) to BOD to evaluate ROI
Manage annual giving campaign through mailing
Create new fundraising initiatives with a focus around minimizing labor needs
Partner with Director of Special Events as needed to share marketing duties, volunteer resources, etc
Partner with Director of Volunteers and provide ample notice of specific volunteer needs to allow time to recruit and train as applicable for needed events
Partner with Director of Social Media and Director of Marketing & PR to ensure messaging is consistent, timely and broad enough to attract right audiences for the fundraiser
Develop and maintain relationships with key community partners who have ability to enhance ADR revenue through direct or in kind donations
Job Requirements:
Must be comfortable cold- calling/soliciting donations or contributions on behalf of ADR
Must have prior experience with fundraising programs – will consider any size/scope
Must have past experience presenting (in writing and in person) to different size and type of audiences; strong sales/marketing background preferred
Event planning experience strongly preferred – small to mid size events (10-150 people, budgets under $10K)
Accessibility – must be able to respond to emails within 48 business hours of a request from fellow BOD member
Must be able to attend monthly board meeting with fully prepared agenda and materials
Must be physically located in greater Austin area
Must be willing to sign confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement
- Fundraising page goal: $2,620.00
- Total donations to date: $2,725.00
- Total contributions: 40
Many of you are aware that two of the passions in my life are my children and running. This past November, after running way too many marathons, I finally qualified to run in the upcoming Boston Marathon. While running Boston will be a celebration of sorts for me, I also want to use it as an opportunity to raise research funds for the fight against autism.
As some of you are aware, my son Austin struggles with severe autism. Despite the best efforts of a dedicated team of therapists, his teachers at school, and others who work with and support him, Austin's life is profoundly affected by this puzzling disease. Austin is not alone in his struggle. Autism affects, to varying degrees, 1 in 166 births and is estimated to affect 1.7 million Americans. It is more prevalent than Down Syndrome, childhood diabetes, and childhood cancer COMBINED. Although some exciting treatments and therapies have been developed over the past few years, autism remains incurable.
I hope you will consider supporting me, and Austin, in the fight against autism. None of your contribution will go toward travel or race entry fee -- 100% will go toward autism research. Thank you in advance for your consideration. It means a lot to both of us!
Jeff and Austin
Austin Dog Rescue is seeking experienced web developers for its all-volunteer web team. Candidates will be asked to volunteer a minimum of 6 hours per month.
Candidates should have significant experience in JavaScript and/or PHP. Other programming languages are a plus.
Experience developing in Wordpress or Joomla! CMS preferred, but not required.
Web Designer
Austin Dog Rescue is seeking experienced web designers for its all-volunteer web team. Candidates will be asked to volunteer a minimum of 6 hours per month.
Candidates should have significant design experience and be willing to provide samples of previous site designs. Additional graphic design experience, such as advertising design, illustration, or print design is a plus.
Web Technical Administrator
Austin Dog Rescue is seeking an experienced web technical administrator for its all-volunteer web team. Candidates will be asked to volunteer a minimum of 4 hours per month.
This position will provide expertise in all technical aspects of the organization’s website, including security, site performance, and site data analysis.
Salesforce CRM Administrator
Austin Dog Rescue is seeking an experienced Saleforce Administrator for its all-volunteer web team. Candidates will be asked to volunteer for a minimum of 6 hours per month.
Candidates should have Salesforce implementation and administration experience. Salesforce certification preferred.
Salesforce CRM Developer
Austin Dog Rescue is seeking an experienced Salesforce Developer for its all-volunteer web team. Candidates will be asked to volunteer a minimum of 6 hours per month.
Candidates should have significant experience developing on the Force.com platform. Salesforce Sites and Adobe Flex experience preferred.
Austin Great Public Spaces is a coalition of people and organizations looking to make the public spaces of Austin great through play, art, music, adopting parks, community gardens, games, neighborhood events, community activities and so much more.
By harnessing our collective creative energies we aim to help in the creation of public spaces where:
- Every visitor feels invited to participate, enjoy, and become inspired
- We meet as citizens, neighbors, friends and family
- Our public identity, special essence of Austin, is nurtured and grows
Because public spaces belong to everyone their success is every citizen's responsibility. This Call to Action will tell the leaders of our city that collectively we are committed to making Austin's public spaces some of the best in the nation.
Sign on to the Call to Action (click the "letter" link under the photo to read the Call) and show your support!
Terms: We will give money to: Mobile Loaves and Fishes
We will all enjoy friends, family and food this holiday. Please don’t forget about those who will go without. For just $10, Mobile Loaves and Fishes, a non-profit organization based in Austin, can feed FIVE hungry (often homeless) people a complete, nutritious meal. For $100 you can feed 50 people. No amount is too great or too small when you think of how little it takes to provide a much needed meal and how many people are in need in Austin…thousands homeless on any given night. Please help and show the generosity of spirit Austin has with just a $10 suggested donation.
If so, Volunteering at Barton Springs is your answer!
We need volunteers like you, to help administer a survey at Barton Springs Pool!
The Austin Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) is conducting a user survey of the pool, the survey will be applied to approximately 200 pool users per month.
The goal of the intercept survey is to collect information from a wide-range of swimmers at Barton Springs pool. In other words, the survey is an important way gain input from the Austin community about the pool facilities and possible additions.
Volunteers will administer between 3 and 10 surveys per session. Each volunteer will be trained on how to administer the survey and to become familiar with the project . The volunteer shifts are very flexible and you get to hang out and swim at the pool for FREE!
You can volunteer as little or as much as you want!
As a token of our appreciation for your time, each time you volunteer you will receive a 1 day free pass to the pool.
So, what are you waiting for! Enjoy this summer at BSP!
The Ideal Candidate will have the following qualitifications:
-The ability to follow survey protocols
-Be on time and stay for one full shift
-Familiarity with Barton Springs / Zilker Park facilities and Barton Springs Pool
-Maintain confidentiality of respondent identity and survey answers
-Familiarity with the survey implementation
-Be responsible, energetic and friendly
-Have the ability to remain focused while interacting with many different personalities
-Have fun while volunteering at Barton Springs!
If you are new on survey implementation methodology, new Austin resident and with little or no knowledge about Barton Springs pool, we still encourage you to apply! We will provide you with a proper training to fill you in!
Barton springs pool is an equal opportunity institution. We make no discrimination.
. “Please Mr. President” is an arts exchange program designed to create a book of letters and drawings from homeless children in the U.S. and refugees in the Congo. The letters and artwork will be addressed to President Barack Obama and will contain the hopes and dreams of these children.
The Austin, TX workshop is tentatively scheduled for September 2009. As we are based in Los Angeles, we are looking for a volunteer to act as Team Leader in Austin to help coordinate vendors and volunteers as we lead up to the event. Our President and Executive Director will be in Austin Aug. 10 for a couple of days to start making arrangements and finalize the date. We'd like to set up some meetings with potential Team Leaders then as well. The first workshop held in Los Angeles at the Union Rescue Mission June 20th was a great success - the children and families who attended were treated to music, arts & crafts projects and volunteers who were happy to help. We look forward to another successful event in Austin. If you have experience with event coordination and planning, we'd love to hear from you.
Students are fully insured, proficient in English and come with their own spending money to cover personal expenses. Host families are responsible for providing the student with room and board, as well as a loving family environment. The rewards a family receives by hosting an exchange student last a lifetime. In addition, the family makes friends from abroad while helping to bring the world closer together.
For more information, contact us today!
$775 of $875 raised.
Started raising funds on Mar 23, 2008
Austine Thomas Efosa is 29 years old, married and has 2 children. He resides in Benin-City, Edo state, Nigeria. Austine sells men's and women's clothing and shoes and has been in this business since 2005. He needs a loan of $875 to buy more clothes and shoes for sale.
BRING NLT TO AUSTIN! WE NEED THEM, THEY ARE AMAZING AND THEY NEED TO EXPERIENCE HOW AWESOME AUSTIN IS. IT IS THE CAPITOL OF THE BIGGEST STATE IN THE UNITED STATES AND KNOWN FOR MUSIC. WE NEED SUPPORT FROM EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY THE NLT FANS. IF YOU DON'T KNOW THEM HERE IS SOME INFO.
NLT stands for Not Like Them. The group consists of the most talented singers with irresistible voices, dancers with insane moves, and probably the cutest boys to ever form an all boy group since N'sync and Backstreet boys(: Travis Garland, JJ Thorne, Kevin Mchale, and V Sevani. NLT is not your typical all boy group, their sound is unique, fresh, and brings you back to the days where you were dancing to N'sync..but a little bit better(: The boys are bringing back true pop with their smooth blend of hip hop and R&B. Some musical influences of NLT include: The Beatles,Michael Jackson, McFly,Justin Timberlake, *NSYNC, Brian McKnight, Brandy, Lauryn Hill, Oasis, Marques Houston, Gavin Degraw, Stevie Wonder, Musiq Soulchild, B2K, Ryan Tedder, Tank, The Temptations, India.Arie, Daniel Bedingfield, Boyz II Men, Radiohead, and Destiny's Child.
PLEASE JOIN US. :) YOU WON'T REGRET IT.
BRING NLT TO AUSTIN! WE NEED THEM, THEY ARE AMAZING AND THEY NEED TO EXPERIENCE HOW AWESOME AUSTIN IS. IT IS THE CAPITOL OF THE BIGGEST STATE IN THE UNITED STATES AND KNOWN FOR MUSIC. WE NEED SUPPORT FROM EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY THE NLT FANS. IF YOU DON'T KNOW THEM HERE IS SOME INFO.
NLT stands for Not Like Them. The group consists of the most talented singers with irresistible voices, dancers with insane moves, and probably the cutest boys to ever form an all boy group since N'sync and Backstreet boys(: Travis Garland, JJ Thorne, Kevin Mchale, and V Sevani. NLT is not your typical all boy group, their sound is unique, fresh, and brings you back to the days where you were dancing to N'sync..but a little bit better(: The boys are bringing back true pop with their smooth blend of hip hop and R&B. Some musical influences of NLT include: The Beatles,Michael Jackson, McFly,Justin Timberlake, *NSYNC, Brian McKnight, Brandy, Lauryn Hill, Oasis, Marques Houston, Gavin Degraw, Stevie Wonder, Musiq Soulchild, B2K, Ryan Tedder, Tank, The Temptations, India.Arie, Daniel Bedingfield, Boyz II Men, Radiohead, and Destiny's Child.
PLEASE JOIN US. :) YOU WON'T REGRET IT.
Por favor firme para estar en solidaridad en contra del muro y en soporte de la manifestacion en Austin, Tx en el Capitolio el SABADO, 18 OCTUBRE, 2008 @ 4 p.m.
This opportunity will require a commitment of Saturday mornings from 9 am to noon (though some weeks there may be less time needed), located right across from the entrance to Barton Springs Pool. The ideal volunteer will be able to commit through the summer.