Valence wants to build major plant in Leander

From Austin Business Journal, May 27, 2009...

Austin-based Valence Technology Inc. has submitted a grant application to the U.S. Department of Energy with plans to build a manufacturing facility in Leander.

The company’s proposed facility would manufacture lithium phosphate cathode material, high-capacity advanced cells and battery packs for electric drive vehicles and other uses.

“With significant incentives projected from the state, county and city governments, Leander, Texas, was chosen as the primary site for our advanced battery manufacturing plant,” said Ross Goolsby, Valence’s chief financial officer. “Both state and city officials have demonstrated incredible support for the plan to provide up to 2,700 new, high-tech jobs in the Central Texas region by 2012 and up to 4,000 jobs by 2016. The state of Texas, Williamson County and the city of Leander are projecting and seeking approval of more than $150 million in incentives over a ten-year period.”

Read more...

From Hill Country News, May 27, 2009...

BREAKING NEWS: Proposed facility in Leander to provide 4,000 jobs

Valence Technology, Inc., a leading U.S.-based manufacturer and supplier of lithium iron magnesium phosphate energy storage solutions, announced on Wednesday it plans to open a facility in Leander that would provide 4,000 jobs. 

Read More...

$182M bond sale approved for pipeline project

From Hill Country News, May 27, 2009...

Last Thursday, May 21, was a banner day for those who support the construction of the Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority tri-city water infrastructure project - those opposing the project weren't quite so happy.

In a hearing in Austin, the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) approved the sale of $182 million in bonds to fund Phase 1A of the project, which will include a pipeline along Trails End Road in Cedar Park and a water treatment plant with 17 million gallons per day capacity.

The $182 million bond sale approved on Thursday was part of a $475 million bond package funding several water infrastructure projects, including a $142 million project by the North Ft. Bend Water Authority. The bond sale is set to move forward on June 8 and 9, with a closing on July 7.

Read more...

Major donation to put ‘steam' back in Austin Steam Train

From Hill Country News, May 21, 2009...

Puffs of white smoke will soon fill the air above Cedar Park once again as the Austin Steam Train brings back its original steam engine, which has been undergoing an extensive overhaul. The engine should be back on track sometime in 2010.

The historic engine will return to Cedar Park thanks to a generous $500,000 donation from the family of Austin Steam Train Association (ASTA) founder Arthur Boone, who died in October 2008 at age 87. The Mary Carol Boone Joy Foundation made the donation to ensure the Southern Pacific 786 engine is returned to service. The foundation is named for Arthur's daughter Carol Boone, who died in August 2008 at 48.

Read more...

Open Letter to the Leander HEB

Dear Leander HEB,

I worked in the grocery business for 15 years (Safeway, Kansas City) and so can critique the Leander HEB based on experience as a grocery employee as well as a customer. Overall, our HEB is a well-run store which is easy to shop in. The produce is very good, The meat dept. is good. The overall store is good.

There is, however, one nagging issue which my wife and I encounter almost every time we shop there. It is so irritating that we would gladly shop elsewhere if we had a rival store in our town. The closest alternative is 20-minutes further away on a congested thoroughfare.

The issue is the way that the checkers and sackers handle our groceries. They are so interested in maintaining speed that they short-change us on quality service. It does absolutely no good to provide great products at great prices if your customers can't get home with them in great condition!

We have spoken to indivdual checkers, to the front-end manager numerous times, and to an assistant manager at least once. Yet the hasty, careless checkouts continue.

The checkers are so afraid of not meeting their speed "quota" that everything else seem unimportant to them. This is simply bad management!

The checker training obviously doesn't stress the importance of handling produce, bread, eggs, and certain other fragile products carefully. Either that, or they are made to feel so terrified of not having enough throughput, that they make speed their number one goal.

We have trained ourselves to try and place the most perishable or crushable items on the conveyor last, because if those items go first, they end up under a pile of canned goods, or other heavy items. But this doesn't always help. And, really, should your customers have to do this? Or should your checkers do their job with care?

The fact that we have called attention to this problem to store management numerous times and it still continues tells us that we customers are thought of as a necessary evil, not as a valued customer deserving respect.

Yours truly,

Annoyed in Leander

Leander Candidate Forum Canceled

From Hill Country News, May 21, 2009...

The Leander City Council Candidate Forum is canceled for May 26 at Pat Bryson Hall. There will be no makeup date. Four candidates - Iris Davis (mayor candidate), Mark Kronkosky (place 1 candidate), Cathy Broun (place 4 candidate) and Josh Payne (place 6 candidate) - have said they will not attend. The Leander runoff election will be June 13. Early voting will be June 1-9. Read next week's Hill Country News for more details on why it was canceled.

From a previous Hill Country News article:

"They'll have a candidate forum on May 26 at 7 p.m. at Pat Bryson Hall, but with a new twist. Unlike the traditional forums in the past, this one will have more open debate between the candidates. And the first eight questions of the night will be written by each other's opponents.

Each group will formulate their own questions to ask the other group. For example: a question formulated from the Iris Davis group will be asked to John Cowman, who will have three minutes to answer. Then, Davis will have one minute to rebut his answer. Each candidate will have a question to answer and an answer to rebut. There will be questions from the audience as well as opening and closing comments. As another new addition to the forum, the moderator will have the opportunity to redirect a question or ask an opponent to explain further on a topic."

[RCA] Hmmmmm... all of the challengers opt out of a debate with the incumbents!  Is it perhaps because they felt they would not be able to make a good showing in such a forum?  Is their slience golden, or just an indication of nothing to say? 

I believe this is just indicative of the lack of insight into the city's issues which is generally exhibited by the city council challengers.  One challenger was recently heard to ask when the city council has its meetings.  When told, he replied, "I guess I better go attend one of those meetings so I'll know what's going on."

Cantwell, Broun to run off for Place 4

From Hill Country News, May 14, 2009...

Michell Cantwell won nearly 47 percent of the vote in her bid for reelection for Place 4, but she was only five percentage points ahead of challenger Cathy Broun. The two will run off against each other on June 13.

“Certainly, I would have preferred that my reelection could have been confirmed on May 9, rather than the continuation of the campaign and another election on June 13,” Cantwell said. “I was greatly disappointed in the low voter turnout of approximately 1,100 voters overall in a city with over 12,000 registered voters.”

Read more...

Early voting starts June 1 for Leander Mayor, City Council positions

From Impact News, May 15, 2009...

In Hutto, voters will head to the polls to determine who will serve in the place 4 seat vacated by Mayor-Elect David Begier. Neither Ray "Coach" Gavit or Michael Smith were able to earn the majority of votes to win the seat outright.

In Leander, the runoffs will determine the mayoral race, as well as three City Council positions: Mayor John Cowman faces Iris Davis for that position; Place 4 incumbent Michell Cantwell squares off with Cathy Broun; Place 6 incumbent Dave Siebold faces Josh Payne; former council members Mark Kronkosky and Andrea Navarrette are running in the Place 1 special election.

Read more...

Capital Metro: No Opening Day For MetroRail Yet

From KEYE, May 13, 2009...

Capital Metro says they are committed to opening the new MetroRail when it is ready, though there is no set date as to when that will happen yet.

The Capital MetroRail has been making progress in the last two months according to their spokesperson. Throughout construction and testing, their main goal has been safety.

The original release date was March 30, but due to incidents in February where two Veolia rail supervisors operating MetroRail trains entered a section of track without prior authorization during system testing, the date was postponed.

Read more...

beat the heat at hamilton pool

From Being Savvy Austin, May 11, 2009...

Remember those amazing Spring days we had? Unfortunately, it appears those are gone and we are starting our LONG summer. Luckily, there are plenty of ways in Austin to beat the heat, and we visited one of them last week: Hamilton Pool.

I hadn't been in ages, and certainly not since my son was born, and I wasn't sure if we'd see any impact from the construction runoff that polluted the Pool. I'm glad we made it out, as it was a great morning. Do call ahead before you go, especially after a rainfall, to make sure high bacteria levels haven't closed the Pool.

Read more...

Reminder: Postage Rates Up 2 Cents Today

First class U.S. postage is going to 44 cents today.

--RCA

Leander to have 4 runoffs for city council

From Hill Country News, May 11, 2009...

For Leander Mayor, incumbent John Cowman will face challenger Iris Davis, who beat Vic Villarreal for the second spot.

In Place 1, Mark Kronkosky and Andrea Navarrette will meet in a runoff.

In Place 4, incumbent Michell Cantwell will runoff against Cathy Broun.

In Place 6, incumbent Dave Siebold will runoff against Josh Payne.

In Place 2 - the only race with just two candidates - incumbent Kirsten Lynch defeated carl wake.

The runoff is scheduled for June 13.

The following are the total votes (and percentages) in each race:

Read more...

Strategy For Filing a Tax Protest

It seems rather apparent that property in Overlook Estates has been conspicuously over-assesed by Williamson County.  Here are some things to consider before filing your protest:

·         Protest deadline is May 29.

·         The statement you received in the mail has none of the detail behind the assessment.  You should (must) go to the Williamson County  web site to view the numbers behind the assessment.  Click on "Search", then click on "Address Search."  Enter your address.  For Scenic Path, just enter "Scenic".  For Overlook Bend, enter "Overlook Bend".  When the property is displayed, click on the property id.  Next, you will want to click on the "Datasheet" link at the top of the page.  This will open a PDF with the pertinent details. Pay close attention to the section entitled "Improvements."  Here you will find out how the assessment value was derived.  Be sure and look for obvious errors.  Ours, for example, lists a swimming pool valued at $44,000, but we have no pool.  Note: The datasheet will have 2008 data.

·         Check your home's value on Zillow.com.

·         Get comparable listings and sales from a local realtor.  Do not accept listings from Grand Mesa, with their costly canyon views as "comparable," and don't let the tax office tell you that they are comparable!

·         Hire your own property appraisal.  This would typically cost a few hundred dollars, but could be well worth it in the long run.

·         Check for news articles and web sites that give an analysis of real estate sales trends and local property values.  Today, for example, I noticed an article in The Impact News which stated that Williamson County's appraised home values have declined.  That being the case, a good question to ask at your protest would be, "Why did Overlook Estates appraised values increase dramatically?"

·         When you have your "day in court", ask questions: How do you justify such a large increase when property values all over the country are falling, and Williamson County appraisals, in general, have declined?; How did you arrive at your appraisal valuation?

·         I have heard that Williamson County has a new appraiser.  Might not someone new, who is unfamiliar with area property be inclined to make errors in judgment?  Another good question.

These are the ideas that occurred to me.  What else can you think of?  Please post comments for all to see.

--RCA

The Limited expanding to Lakeline

From Austin Business Journal, May 7, 2009...

Women's apparel retailer The Limited has opened a new store in Lakeline Mall and is expanding its size at Barton Creek Square mall.

The Limited recently opened the doors to its new 5,532-square-foot store at Lakeline Mall, on the lower level between the two Dillard's spaces.

Read more...