Monday Morning Report
October 29, 2007

Internal

 

Please join us for our Austin General Membership meeting (held jointly with the Capital Area Transportation Coalition) on November 28, 4:00 pm at the Austin Club. TxDOT Commissioner Ned Holmes will be the guest speaker. Call 512-558-7360 to RSVP or email council@thecorridor.org. Details here.

 

Jerry Keys, former chairman of the Corridor Council and a longtime Executive Committee member, has recently joined Dan and Jane Matheson in a new Austin-based law firm, Matheson/Keys PLLC. His new contact information: 512-681-3730 or jkeys@mathesonkeys.com

 

Infrastructure

 

Austin mayor Will Wynn called for a November 2008 election last week to build a Central Austin passenger rail system connecting the airport, downtown and the University of Texas, along with the Triangle and Mueller developments in near North Austin. Detail here.

 

Pat Driscoll's transportation blog at the San Antonio Express-News has an interesting take on last week's record high oil prices, linking to a new German study that claims oil production peaked last year and promising plenty of market disruptions over the coming decades. Read more here.

 

The Alamo Regional Mobility Authority board in San Antonio will let three private groups submit plans to rebuild US 281 north of Loop 1604 by 2012 into a tollway with free access roads. The three teams include 29 different construction, engineering and public affairs companies. Fluor Enterprises Inc. of Irving and Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Inc. of Atlanta lead the Cibolo Creek Infrastructure team; Zachry Construction Corp. of San Antonio and Texas Sterling Construction Co. of Houston lead the other teams. The Alamo RMA and TxDOT are nearing completion of financial plans and the market valuation required under SB 792 for these projects. Details here

 

The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority has approved $3.6 million for the development of their Crestview Station for the Austin-Leander commuter rail project. Also, the first of six rail cars they've ordered arrived in Austin last week. 

 

Economic Development

 

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke will speak Nov. 6 in San Antonio at a two-day conference on microfinance put on by Accion Texas, an Alamo City-based microlender that is the largest lender of its kind to small-scale, high-risk business owners in the US. Details.

 

Don't forget Veteran's Day: San Marcos has a cool 5-day citywide celebration honoring military veterans coming up Nov. 6-11 (see details here) And the San Antonio Chamber has its 37th Annual ‘Celebrate America’s Military 2007’program Nov. 1-13. For more information, contact Vickie Levrie at 210-229-2119 or email events@sachamber.org. Details here.

 

Austin's city council preliminarily approved phase 1 of the North Burnet/Gateway master land use plan around the Domain luxury shopping center. The final plan will allow developers to build denser than anywhere outside of downtown and up to 30 stories in areas closest to planned commuter rail stops.

 

The University of Texas San Antonio will begin construction next month on a new $82 million, 150,000 sq. ft. engineering building. The building, which will create additional research and teaching laboratories as well as academic support facilities for the university, is slated for completion in August 2009.

 

Bee Cave opened its new city hall last week in the Hill Country Galleria development, a 1.3 million sq. ft. lifestyle center that includes retail, office and apartment space.

 

Communities

 

Round Rock is sponsoring a ‘Rockin’ Around the Holidays Bazaar’ Arts and Crafts show on November 11th from 9am to 4pm at the Clay Madsen Recreation Center on 1600 Gattis School Road. Admission is free. For more information call Dawn Moonan at 512-218-3216.

 

"Ten Day Salute to Sausage"! On Nov. 2, New Braunfels’ 47th Annual Wurstfest begins.  The gates will be open and admission is free from 4-7 pm on Friday, Nov. 2. Opening ceremonies will be held at 5 pm on the stage in the Wursthalle. For more information call 1-800-221-4369, e-mail info@wurstfest.com or visit the web site at www.wurstfest.com.

 

 

Thought for the week:

 

“Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.”  -Sophia Loren

 
 

 

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© 2007 Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council