Monday Morning Report
July 30, 2007

Internal

There was a lot of unexpected media reaction to the Council's Transportation Task Force meeting last week where we jointly announced with TxDOT the new $4.6 million IH-35 Corridor Management Plan. Committee chairman Tom Griebel and ITS chairman Bruce Byron had approached TxDOT earlier in the year about expediting the plan and using technologies that could be deployed more rapidly. The result: 40 new cameras, 25 new traffic sensors, at least 11 'dynamic messaging' signs, a linking of the San Antonio Transguide center with Austin's Emergency Management Center, all on-line within a year. Thanks to TxDOT for their speedy response! Meanwhile, for TV coverage go here. For various press reports go here, here and here.

Infrastructure

An appropriations bill passed the US House last week that could bring $500,000 to Cedar Park for the expansion of RM 1431.  Read about it here. 

Developers hoping to build a 400-acre mega-shopping center on the north side of New Braunfels have cleared their final hurdle in creating a $26 million Tax Reinvestment Zone. Comal County commissioners unanimously approved an interlocal agreement paying 85% of all the tax revenue generated from the Town Center at Creekside project to help pay back infrastructure costs. The project is on the east side of I-35, just north of FM 306.

Each year on the first Tuesday of August (8/7) communities across the nation organize block  parties in recognition of “National Night Out” to promote neighbors to get out and meet each other.  Read about the City of Georgetown’s here.  Read about the City of San Marcos’s here.

Economic Development

San Marcos' Central Texas Medical Center has partnered with Johns Hopkins University, one of the most prestigious medical research institutions in the US, to study on infection rates from the intensive care unit environment and central line blood stream insertions.

Hays County, San Marcos and Texas State University-San Marcos have secured the $5.1 million they have been pursuing since 2006 to buy 251 acres adjacent to Aquarena Springs. The city plans to turn the land, which is part of the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, into a city park and greenbelt.

Austin ranked among the top 25 cities for entry-level job seekers in a survey released by CollegeGrad.com. Austin was ranked 18th on the list. Other Texas cities that make up the top 25 were Dallas, which came in No. 6 on the list, and Houston, which was ranked ninth. New York City took the top spot, followed by Los Angeles; Washington D.C.; Chicago and San Francisco.

Five San Antonio hotels have been included on Expedia.com Insiders' Select list of the world's best hotels. Hotels included on the Insiders' Select represent the top 1% of 70,000 hotels worldwide. The Watermark Hotel and Spa is the top ranked hotel in San Antonio, Hotel Contessa is the second ranked hotel, followed by the Marriott San Antonio Rivercenter, the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa and the Radisson Resort Hill Country Hotel.

Cedar Park is (surprise) one of the fastest growing suburbs in the US, according to a new list in Forbes magazine. Out of a list of 100 cities, Cedar Park ranked 11th, with a population rising from 26,926 in 2000 to 52,058 in 2006, a 93% increase. Forbes compiles the list using US Census growth data from 2000 to 2006.

Today, Scott & White will open its new Round Rock hospital, the 72-bed University Medical Campus Hospital. The Round Rock location is Scott and White's first hospital to open outside its home base of Bell County. Temple-based Scott & White broke ground on the 68-acre campus almost two years ago.

A formerly empty field in Lockhart has recently created a mini-industrial boom. At least six businesses have committed to development in Phase II of the Lockhart Industrial Park on Martin Luther King Industrial Boulevard, and other prospects are examining possibilities in the park. Read more here.

Thought for the week:

 “I hope I never get so old I get religious." 

-- Ingmar Berman, who died yesterday at 89.

 This newsletter was sent to you on behalf of council@thecorridor.org. It is available to our members.

If you have a newsletter that you’d like us to link to, please forward to MMR@thecorridor.org

If you wish to unsubscribe from this or other e-mail newsletters, please click here, send an e-mail request to council@thecorridor.org, or send your request referencing the specific newsletter to: Opt-out Request, Monday Morning Report, PO Box 1618, San Marcos, TX. 78667.

© 2007 Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council