Monday Morning Report
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The Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council Executive Committee met last week (8/20) in San Marcos to hear an update on the Rail Relocation Now! campaign and proposed legislative efforts to finance the Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Fund. Also on the agenda: a report on recent TxDOT studies on rail relocation projects in the Corridor, related costs and political issues; updates on Amtrak and Union Pacific, and an upcoming meeting of the Transportation Task Force (which will focus on US 281). There were also status reports on various other Council projects, including the Digital Convergence Initiative testbed. Details: council@thecorridor.org.
Mark your calendars: The Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council's Transportation Task Force will meet at 1:30 pm Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at the San Marcos Activity Center. Please contact Sarah@thecorridor.org or call 512-558-7360 for more information and if you plan to attend. An agenda is forthcoming.
Infrastructure
The Texas Transportation Commission is set to hold three public meetings next week - August 25, 28, and 29. The scope and purpose of each meetings is outlined below:
MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2008,
1:30 p.m. CST - The
agenda is
here:
The purpose of the Monday special
meeting is for the Commission to discuss the biennial Legislative Appropriations
Request.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2008, 9:00 a.m. CST - The agenda is here: This is the regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Transportation Commission.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2008,
8:00 a.m. CST - The
agenda is
here:
The Commission will meet Friday morning in a special meeting to
discuss the prospective issuance of Proposition 14 (or State Highway Fund
Revenue Bonds).
That suggestion last week by Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and Speaker Tom Craddick that state pension funds should be used to invest in toll roads brought a quick, negative response from Texas Monthly's Paul Burka: "Investing pension funds in toll roads is an irresponsible - and immoral - idea," says his blog. Read more here.
With motorists traveling fewer miles because of high fuel prices, toll road operators will face more uncertainty over the next few years, says a report by the Fitch bond rating service. Fitch suggests that routine price increases in tolls - some scheduled years in advance - can negatively affect usage and their outlook on fuel prices indicates a long term upward tilt. Details here from Pat Driscoll's Express-News blog.
A traffic stop featuring a speeding car and a dying dog on Interstate 35 in San Marcos last month (8/5) has sparked hyperventilating national media coverage and even death threats against the police officer involved. If you want to know the facts, here's a statement from San Marcos Mayor Susan Narvaiz.
No Place But Texas: New Braunfels is home to the oldest shooting club in the nation (Schuetzen Verein), founded nearly 160 years ago in 1849. About 100 members meet twice a month for target practice and participate in quarterly shooting competitions. Quirky details here.
Economic Development
San Antonio area employers cut 6,400 jobs in July in response to seasonal adjustments in the local workforce. This represents a 0.7% decrease in jobs which helped to bump up the local unemployment rate to 4.8% in July, compared with 4.6% in June. Austin’s unemployment rate rose to 4.4% in July. Meanwhile, the state’s unemployment rate rose to 4.7% in July, up from 4.3% a year ago, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. However, this is still far below the U.S. rate of 5.7%.
URS Corp. has acquired LopezGarcia, an engineering design and environmental planning firm that focuses on the state and local infrastructure market. Dallas-based LopezGarcia provides engineering design, environmental planning, surveying and construction management services for highways, transit systems, airports and public buildings.
Trinity University made the 2009 Edition of The Princeton Review’s “Best 368 Colleges.” The Princeton Review recognized the 139-year-old San Antonio university for its business program, its program diversity and its overall well-roundedness.
A new Best Western is going up in Bastrop. The 60-room Best Western Bastrop Pines Inn is the lodging chains’ first property in Bastrop. Construction is slated for completion in June 2009.
"Come quickly, I am tasting stars!”
-Dom Perignon