Monday Morning Report
May 14, 2007

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Infrastructure

Piling On: In trying to outdo each other in getting tough with TxDOT, we've now seen the Texas House vote 139-1 to slow down toll roads (HB 1892), 122-19 against indexing the gas tax to increase transportation funding (HB 1886), and vote 118-16 to suspend the State's gas tax for 90 days (HB 1886 amendment). Are these guys driving the same roads we are?  Read  Pat Driscoll's blog.

Guadalupe County's Regional Medical Center unveiled  a plan to secure a $93 million, low-interest loan from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development last week. The loan includes $54.5 million in construction costs for a comprehensive expansion of the city-county-owned hospital. More here

A last-minute question about procedure threw the Temple school board election into disarray Saturday night when the district’s attorney questioned whether there could be outright winners in the races or if a runoff would be necessary to determine the outcomes. It's supposed to get resolved this week.

San Antonio passed a record $550 million bond package over the weekend and re-elected mayor Phil Hardberger. City councilwoman Elena Guajardo lost to challenger Justin Rodriguez.

A mere 70-vote difference in New Braunfels led to District 6 city councilman Ken Valentine being recalled from office. He'll be replaced during a November election.

Hays County voters rejected a $172 million road bond package by a margin of less than 500 votes, but approved $30 million for parks and open space. The road bonds were intended for construction and improvement of FM 1626, RM 12 between San Marcos and Wimberley, FM 110, and Texas 21.

Nikelle S. Meade has been appointed by Travis County to the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA), replacing founding member, Johanna Zmud.  Meade is with the Austin office of law firm Brown McCarroll.

Economic Development

 SB 1105 will make data centers eligible for the Texas Economic Development Act property tax abatements. Data centers provide well paying jobs and bring new wealth into the community. SB 1105 has passed the Senate and has been referred to the House Committee on economic development. Let members of the Committee know of your support for this bill. Email House Committee on Economic Development

The Sematech chip research consortium struck a deal last week to move the headquarters of what it is now calling International Sematech to Albany, N.Y. but will keep much of its core research operations and headquarters in Austin, where it has been based since 1988. Most of Sematech's 400-plus workers in Austin will remain there.

Former basketball superstar Earvin "Magic" Johnson's private equity fund is investing $50 million in the Block 21 project that will bring a W Hotel, condos and other uses to downtown Austin. Stratus Properties is developing the $250 million, 35-story Block 21 project which will feature a 250-room W, 200 residential condos, a new home for the Austin City Limits studio, a 2,200-seat live music venue and the Austin Children's Museum Dell Discovery Center along with retail and restaurant space.

Thought for the week:

“War doesn’t determine who’s right. War determines who’s left.” – Anonymous