NSCNA Blog Archive


  • The NSCNA Nominating Committee is soliciting people to serve on the 2012 NSCNA Board of Directors. The committee was elected by the membership at the November general meeting. The members of the committee are Alice Kubacek (chair), Mary Jane Wier, and Tomas Rodriguez.

    The NSCNA Board of Directors is comprised of four officers (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer) and seven directors at large. As a member of the Board of Directors, you would have an opportunity to direct the programs and activities of our association, and work to help keep our neighborhood strong.

    The time commitment can vary, depending largely on the decisions of the board members. Typically the board meetings have been held about once a month. Board members are encouraged — but not required — to take a leadership role in an NSCNA committee, where a lot of the program work is done.

    The Nominating Committee invites neighbors who can help bring a diversity of demographics, areas of expertise, occupations, and geographic residence to our board.

    Candidates must have an interest in the goals and policies of our association. Candidates must also be a member of the association in 2011, which can be done online now.

    If you are interested, can offfer any recommendations, or have any questions, please contact nominating@nscna.org by Monday, December 26.


  • The second annual Holiday Lights Walk, scheduled for Thursday evening, December 15, has been postponed due to weather.

    We plan to reschedule for a future date and will keep you posted.

    All are welcome to still go to Pillow Elementary at 6pm to support the children at their school program “Holiday Traditions” and the PTA fundraiser (serving cookies for donation). Hope to see you there!


  • Date: Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011
    Time: 6 – 8pm
    Location: Pillow Elementary School track

    This event has been postponed due to weather.

    Come out and celebrate the season with light.

    On the evening of Thursday, December 15th we will be lighting up the track at Pillow Elementary with luminaries and lanterns from 6-8pm. Students from Pillow will be making lanterns to display this year as part of the event.

    Our neighborhood association sponsored its first holiday lights walk last year. It was such a success, neighbors wanted to do it again.

    Looking forward to neighbors, students and families coming together at this festive event!

    Call for Volunteers

    Neighbors and families are also invited to make lanterns to bring to the event. We will have a workshop on Saturday, Dec 10 from 1-3pm at the Pillow cafeteria. Space is limited, so please RSVP to socialchair@nscna.org with the number of adulits and children that will attend.

    Bring empty gallon milk jugs and transform them into festive lanterns! On this Saturday, there will also be other materials available to help decorate and prepare for the Luminaria Walk.

    If you would like to help out or volunteer, please contact Amelia Cobb, NSCNA Social Chair at socialchair@nscna.org. We need helpers to assemble and set out the luminaries and lanterns from 4-6pm on Thursday, Dec. 15 and helpers to take down and clean up from 8-9pm. Also, if you have clean, empty gallon milk jugs to donate, bring them to Pillow Elementary for the art teacher, Suzy Swingle, by Friday, Dec 9.

    This will be great fun for all ages.

    Happy Holidays!


  • Dear Neighbors,

    Just over a year ago (October 19, 2010), our association passed a resolution to submit an application to the City of Austin Neighborhood Partner Program for sidewalk repair in our neighborhood, and to allocate up to $20,000 of our funds for this project.

    Over the past year, the NSCNA Board of Directors has followed that directive. We’ve asked our Traffic Committee to prepare a prioritized list of locations and obtain cost estimates from the city. At our general meetings, we’ve given updates to our members about the status of that effort.

    During our September general meeting, we shared the list of locations that we’d sent to the city for cost estimates. At that time, I said we expected to have a response from the city before our November meeting.

    Over the past year, the most common concern we’ve heard from members is whether we’d get a “good deal” for our money, especially in light of all the repairs the city made around the neighborhood last December/January. The board discussed this issue and wanted to make sure our membership was still in support before committing the funds to this project.

    Therefore, at the September general meeting, I announced that we would have a vote during the November general meeting to reconsider authorization of the project. A “vote to reconsider” is the way for a parliamentary body to review a decision it has previously made. That is how we could determine, once we had a more specific idea of what would be feasible with our funds, whether the neighborhood still supported this project.

    As expected, the City of Austin has responded, and we will report that information at our November meeting. Members will have an opportunity to discuss and ask questions. Then we will have a vote to reconsider authorization. This will give members a chance to say whether they want to proceed with this program, or stop and save the association’s funds for something else.

    The Board of Directors discussed this information during our meeting last Wednesday. After consulting with city staff, we do not believe we would get good value for our funds. We unanimously passed a resolution recommending that members reconsider authorization for this project.

    I hope everybody who has an interest in this topic will be able to attend our meeting Tuesday evening (November 1), at 6:30 pm at Pillow Elementary. I’m confident that if everybody concerned has an opportunity to participate, we’ll reach an outcome that is positive and widely supported.

    You will need to be a registered NSCNA member to participate in the vote. Dues are just $15 per household. You can join right now at https://www.nscna.org/join or in person at the Tuesday meeting.

    Chip Rosenthal
    President, NSCNA


  • Today, the Austin American-Statesman is reporting that a new entertainment venue called “The Goodnight” will be operating in the space that Fudrucker’s vacated earlier this year. At the same time, the Alamo Drafthouse will be expanding its lobby.

    The Goodnight will open this spring in the Village Shopping Center, 2700 W. Anderson Lane, filling a 16,000-square-foot spot vacated by Fuddruckers earlier this year.

    A few doors away, Alamo Drafthouse Village is in the middle of renovations that will enlarge the theater’s lobby.

    For more information, see the article at the Statesman: In North Austin, Alamo Drafthouse expands, boutique bowling alley on the way