About Me
- I am a native Texan, born and raised in the Houston area. I moved to Austin in 1984, and then to the Dallas area in 1990 after I married my husband, Greg. We lived in Colorado for six years and moved to Lakeway in 2005, about a mile from where we were married 28 years ago.
- I have three children and four grandchildren. I believe we need to leave our children and grandchildren with a better world (and that includes Lakeway, of course) than the one given to us.
- I left home when I was 18 to go to work. I worked with banks, law firms and advertising agencies, but retired from the commercial world in 1992 when our son Ash was born. I was busier at home than at work!
- I have been active as a volunteer in our parishes over the years, most recently at Emmaus Catholic Parish, where I am a Mass Coordinator, Second Grade Sacramental Preparation Teacher and co-presenter of the Spring 2017 women’s retreat.
- I have been advocating for the residents of Lakeway for at least the last four years at multiple City Council meetings (check out the video archives). I don’t understand why this City is not more open and inviting to resident participation, and I want to change that.
- In November 2017, I co-founded the Heart of Lakeway Town Hall Meetings that have been held monthly since that time. It’s great to see our fellow residents take back their voice in government!
- I want to see Lakeway residents become more involved in a city that values its residents, its beauty and its community character.
My Guiding Principles
I will not simply be a reed blowing in the wind, however. I have guiding principles that I will use to defend you from those who would take your rights or money from you. Here are my guiding principles:
- Our city government is here to serve you, not the other way around
- Everyone deserves civility and honesty
- The city government only has the money that residents and businesses pay to it – the city must use that money wisely, fairly and sparingly
- There is no excuse – none – for any city official or employee to take any action outside of the best interests of the residents and businesses of this city
- Our city, our state and our country are wonderful examples of what caring people can do when they work together
- I believe in the virtues of faith and love and a God who cares for us all, but will not impose my faith on anyone
- I believe in the future of our city, if only we work together to protect and defend it
Specific Policy Beliefs
Here are some specific things I think City Council should deal with:
- Give 65-and-over residents an additional property tax exemption; $5,000 is much too small. The burden on the city budget would be relatively light.
- Lower the effective property tax rate (which is the rate that you pay, taking into account the rising value of your home) from year to year; this rate has been steadily going up. Aren’t you tired of buying your house and then have to essentially “rent it back” from the city, school district, county and state every year? The least the city can do is to make that burden lighter over time. I would support a one-time exception to purchase parkland for the city.
- Not waste money on projects unsupported by adequate information. Case in point – why stubbornly continue deer management (as the only city in Travis County to do so) when the city has not commissioned a recent study on how many deer live here? And the current version we use is barbaric and cruel. It needs to stop now.
- Adhere to the overall tenor of our Comprehensive Plan (which needs to be updated) in judging new development plans, and not look for little loopholes in that Plan to squeeze in new projects
- Support the beauty of the land that we have been calling the Heart of Lakeway (go see what I’ve done already to lead that effort under the tab dedicated to it on this website)
- Seriously consider repealing the Hotel Occupancy Tax – it’s money (over $4 million now) that has been burning a hole in the pocket of our City Council. Eventually, some City Council will push to use it to build a performing arts center that very few have supported in the past. Performing arts centers have been notorious tax-money sink holes in the cities that have tried it. Let’s not go there.
Let me know what you would add to this list! Let’s work on it together!
The Heart of Lakeway
We have a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to make something beautiful for Lakeway in the raw tracts of land that are behind HEB, extending to Rolling Green and Lohman’s Crossing. This land has been aptly dubbed “The Heart of Lakeway.”
The two biggest parcels are controlled by Stratus Properties (around 36 acres) and Legend Communities (around 63 acres). The Legend tract is currently owned by the Lakeway MUD; Legend has an option to buy it (and has indicated it will do so) if the city approves its development plan and the relating re-zoning of the land that the plan would require.
The City Council is considering purchasing the Stratus tract and making it into a park. Legend is in the process of having its plan considered by the city’s Zoning and Planning Commission (ZAPCO), prior to an approval decision being made by the City Council. This has been a very contentious process for the residents of the city, who have been kept in the dark about much of this project until recently.
To combat this lack of information, I co-founded the Heart of Lakeway Town Hall Meetings in November 2017. Residents from around the area have come together for four town hall meetings since then, to hear and share information and to make their voices known in an open-forum session. Engagement has been strong and very respectful – it’s a great testament to the spirit of our city.
We are asking ZAPCO and the City Council to fight for this city and negotiate a development that is best for our city – not just take what the developer offers. One of our Town Hall regulars, Dennis Hogan, has suggested that the city purchase the Stratus property and “blend” it with the Legend property to make it better fit the contour of the Heart of Lakeway property and allow for greenspace throughout the land. We have also been advocating for more greenspace and land preservation on the part of Legend.
If you would like to learn more about the Heart of Lakeway Town Hall meetings and related posts, click on the appropriate link below.
