REPORT ON EROC PRIORITIES MEETING 1/15/2026
Malcolm Yeatts
At the request of Monique Cooper, Policy Advisor for Councilmember Velasquez, EROC Contact team members reviewed progress on EROC priorities. These priorities were originally discussed at the December 2024 meeting at the Good Shepherd on the Hill Church and presented at the bi-annual EROC General meetings in 2025.
Attending the Zoom meeting: Monique “Mo” Cooper, Policy Advisor for District 3, Gayle Goff, Lee Anne Landry, Ed Miller, Malcolm Yeatts
EAST RIVERSIDE COMMUNITY CENTER: A goal of the EROC Contact Team is to have an East Riverside community center. We have made presentations about the need for a community center at City Council, the bi-annual EROC General Meetings, the Parks Board, the 2026 Bond Task Force, and the City of Austin Equity Action Team. Mo told us that Councilmember Velasquez has decided that the East Riverside community center would be the top priority for the District 3 requests to the 2026 Bond Task Force recommendation to City Council. This Councilmember request will carry more weight than the Parks Department decision to ignore the needs of the East Riverside area.
PARKS: Mo will ask the Parks Department about their decision to place Parks Department staff in the former Youth Hostel instead of opening it for use by citizens. Mo will inquire about updates to the Parkland Dedication Fee database, so that we can monitor how much money is in this account, and how it is being spent. Mo will investigate how the abandoned property adjacent to Heritage Oaks Park can be acquired by the city.
PUBLIC SAFETY: Mo announced that the Henry Sector police are now doing Directed Patrols. Directed Patrols mean that APD patrol cars will be cruising neighborhoods when they do not have any calls. Henry Sector is still under-staffed, so we are not sure what the impact of this policy will be. If you notice more police patrols in your area, please post on the EROC email list. Sunny Nair, the owner of the La Quinta at Oltorf and I-35, has offered an office for APD patrols. After Councilmember Velasquez expressed enthusiasm for this offer, APD accepted the offer and will use the office. We discussed the complaint about the lack of transparency with 311 Service Requests about transient camps. These 311 service requests are sent the Homeless Strategy Office, but no feedback is given to citizens on the status of the request. The Homeless Strategy Office has promised a public database of actions will be available later this year.
GROVE DEVELOPMENT: One goal of the EROC Plan is to increase affordable owner-occupied housing in the East Riverside area. There is an opportunity for more affordable houses with the City of Austin project to redevelop the former Tokyo Electron property. Mo will enquire about the plans for housing in this development. This development may also be an opportunity for more parkland and recreational facilities. EROC residents need to attend the Grove project open house on Saturday, 1/24 to advocate for these improvements to the East Riverside area.
NAVIGATION CENTER: Mo said that the purchase of the building for the navigation center has already been approved by City Council, so Councilmember Velasquez is not going to oppose it now. Our focus needs to be on having the city provide better enforcement of the camping ban and increased police patrols and response times. We have asked Councilmember Velasquez to support the EROC request for zero-tolerance enforcement of the camping ban around the navigation center, and increased APD patrols.