Monday Morning Report
November 12, 2007

Internal

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. Please call to RSVP at 512-558-7360 or email council@thecorridor.org. Details here.

Infrastructure

US voters gave the up-or-down to several locally initiated transit projects earlier this month. Here's a summary: 

• San Francisco voters approved a ballot measure required a transit agency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; enabling the agency to keep 80% of the money it receives from parking revenue, rather than distributing half of it to the general fund; and remove a charter-imposed salary cap.

• Voters in Mecklenburg County, N.C., opposed the repeal of the existing half-cent sales tax that funds Charlotte Area Transit System services, which soon will include light rail.

• Voters in two of three northern Utah counties approved a sales tax increase that will help fund 35 road and transit projects in Weber and Davis counties, and commuter-rail expansion in Box Elder County.

• Voters in Washington state defeated Proposition 1, which called for boosting sales and car-tab taxes to add 50 miles of light-rail lines and expand commuter-rail service, and expand Seattle-area highways.

Williamson County commissioners this week will meet for the first time in two years in the historic county courthouse following a $9 million restoration project.

San Antonio will host the 2007 'Texas Homeland Security Conference'  Mon-Friday Dec. 3-7 at the Henry B. Gonzales convention center. Representatives of law enforcement, border and port security, transportation and cyber security, firefighters, emergency medical personnel, Texas Military Forces, voluntary organizations and the private sector will be on hand. Sponsored by the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and the Division of Emergency Management, those attending will hear from a variety of professionals and on the State's homeland security goals of prevention, protection, response and recovery. Details here 

Economic Development

Gov. Rick Perry announced a $7.5 million Texas Enterprise Fund grant to Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple to increase critical research initiatives in Bell County. Low down in story after a re-cap of Temple's Bioscience District, here.

Silver State Helicopters is moving its headquarters from Las Vegas to New Braunfels. It will move 159 people over the next 14 months and hire another 100 for its headquarters at New Braunfels Municipal Airport.

Cedar Park voters approved $60 million bond package. Approximately $35 million will go toward road projects. The remaining bond money will go toward construction of a new fire station, parks and an addition to the police department.

After closing on 6,700 acres in Bastrop last year, Coast Range Investments LLC a San Francisco firm, has amassed 3,200 additional acres north of the city of Bastrop, making it the largest private landholder in Bastrop County. The group will eventually put anywhere between 1,000 to 4,500 homes on the land.

Texas A&M University representatives have been talking with the Avery family - owners of more than 1,000 acres in Williamson County about securing a potential site for its medical school. The site is planned near Seton Medical Center Williamson and Texas State University's Round Rock Higher Education Center.

The University of Texas at San Antonio's (UTSA) flexible MBA program was ranked third in the Southwest and 26th in the nation in a Business Week analysis of programs nationwide. The University of Denver ranked first in the Southwest, followed by Southern Methodist University, UTSA, the University of Houston and the University of Texas at Austin.

Round Rock Mayor Nyle Maxwell will not seek re-election after his term ends in May 2008. Maxwell, who has served as Round Rock's mayor for six years, wants to spend more time with his family.

Jim Walker will assume the role of chairman for Envision Central Texas in 2008. Other ECT officers elected include chair-elect Travis Froehlich, VP of strategic planning for Seton Family of Hospitals; Frederick Steiner, dean of the UT School of Architecture; Betty Voights, executive director of the Capital Area Council of Governments; and, Cid Galindo, principal of The Galindo Group.

The San Marcos City Council named Assistant City Manager Collette Jamison to serve as interim city manager while the Council begins a search for a permanent replacement for outgoing manager Dan O’Leary.  Details here.

Seguin began the process of preparing a comprehensive master plan during a public planning meeting held 10/31 with over 300 residents attending.  Mesa Design Group, Dallas, was hired by the city to conduct research and to create the plan.  See the press release details here.

Thought for the week:

“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”  -Albert Einstein

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© 2007 Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council