June 6 2019 is William H. Russell Austin Cave Heritage Day by Proclamation of
the Austin City Council.
The proclamation will be presented by the Mayor at a ceremony in City Hall
beginning at 5:30pm on June 6.
Cavers are encouraged to attend and wear your helmet. We are asked to sign in
by 5:15.
Some of us will be gathering in the ish of 4:30 at the Austin Java located in
the City Hall building.
From Clerk’s office:
The City Council meeting is in the Council Chamber at City Hall, which is at
301 West 2nd Street, between Lavaca and Guadalupe. You may park in the public
area of our underground parking garage; the entrance is on the west (Guadalupe)
side of the building; you may park on the P1 or P2 level. When you enter the
building, security staff will be at a table in front of the Council Chamber,
and will validate your parking ticket, so parking won’t cost you anything. The
Proclamations section of the Council meeting will be announced by the Mayor,
beginning no earlier than 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 6th.
Please arrive by 5:15 to check in with the Proclamations Coordinator for final
instructions and arrangements; she will be at a table outside the Council
Chamber.
In a fitting universe coalescence June 6th is also National Cave and Karst Day,
a holiday began in 2017 by the National Caves Association which is the national
Show Cave Owners Association http://cavern.com/Learn/cavesday.asp
~ ~ ~ ~
Having a William H. Russell Austin Cave Heritage Day was only one point to the
change dot org petition which led to this proclamation. In an effort to address
the rest of the petition there is a resolution (item#: 48) on the consent
agenda for the June 6 Council Meeting.
It seeks to make good on our petition request to rename the Blowing Sink
Research Management Area as the William H. Russell Karst Preserve and engage
the local caving community as the most knowledgeable stakeholders in further
exploration and documentation of its karst resources.
The text can be found at:
https://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=320262
If you live in Austin please consider writing your council member in support of
agenda item#: 48 on the June 6th City Council Agenda. If you don’t live in
Austin but are of distinguished status/title then a letter of support from you
would also be influential.
The Resolution was drafted through and is sponsored by the Office of Council
Member Ann Kitchen and is also being sponsored by Council Member Paige Ellis,
Council Member Kathie Tovo, Council Member Alison Alter, Council Member Leslie
Pool. That’s half of Austin's City Council !
If your district is one of these council members, PLEASE THANK THEM !!!!
If you don’t know who’s district your in, use the District Lookup Tool here:
http://www.austintexas.gov/government
That same page has this link to email all City Council members:
http://www.austintexas.gov/email/all-council-members
Beyond urging support of the 6/6 agenda item#: 48 and/or giving thanks, it
would be good for cavers to emphasize that what William did is what Cavers do
and it is important and needs to continue. This will help make sure City
Council will see value in us cavers and allow Williams legacy to move forward
through continued cave excavation, exploration, documentation, and research.
I wrote up some talking points on that last point, and put them in a Google
Drive along with some various potential resources from his archives and google
searches:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VrBxHv_kFfwbnhcl7xvl-1fyAJ_e_bUH
Justin Leigh Shaw
[email protected]
512-593-CAVE (2283) - mobile voice & text
"we need to start using our collective intelligence in a creative, clear and
coherent manner"
- John Trudell_______________________________________________
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