August 2009 
There are 6 blog entries for August 2009.
Austin's City Services Rank Above the National Average
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 at 9:28pm. 1018 Views, 0 Comments.
According to a survey conducted by the ETC Institute, Austin's residents rank the city's services at above the national average. The survey considered a number of different services, including:
• Curbside recycling
• Drinking water quality
• Parks
• Swimming pools
• Youth athletic programs
The survey was conducted by taking a random sample of 1,293 households throughout the city and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8%. When compared to cities with populations of over 250,000, Austin ranked particularly high for its "overall quality of customer…
Austin Housing Market Fairing Well in Troubled Economy
Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 9:24pm. 692 Views, 0 Comments.
Although home sales are still down in the Austin area, the figure are steadily showing signs of improvement. Furthermore, prices of homes in the Austin area continue to hold steady, which is one reason why Forbes.com has named Austin as the city most likely to make the fastest economic recovery.
According to the Austin Board of Realtors, a little more than 2,100 single-family home sold in the Austin area in June. This represents a 4% decline when compared to June of 2008, but the year-to-year gap continues to close each month.
Unlike much of the housing market around the…
Austin Traffic Not as Bad as Other Cities
Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 9:22pm. 681 Views, 0 Comments.
A recent survey conducted by the ETC Institute found that 45% of Austin's residents were not happy about the traffic flow on major streets. Yet, another study conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University found that traffic may not be as big of an issue as many seem to believe.
According to the university's "Urban Mobility Report," Austin residents spent approximately 22.7 million hours on the road in 2007, which places it at 32 out of 90 metro areas in terms of traffic. This puts the city behind other Texas metro areas, including Dallas-Fort Worth,…
Barton Springs Pool to be closed for repairs
Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 1:02pm. 599 Views, 1 Comments.
The Watershed Protection and Development Review Department is reporting that the city of Austin may be closing the popular Barton Springs pool for a period of time. Apparently, the pool is in need of receiving some critical structural repairs and, in order to successfully make these repairs, the pool will need to be closed for up to eight months.
The process of repairing Barton Springs is still in its early stages, as the Watershed Protection and Development Review Department is still to determine just how much the repairs will cost and how long the pool will need to be closed.…
Austin Housing Market Shows Improvement
Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 12:49pm. 503 Views, 2 Comments.
Although Austin has been ranked by Forbes.com as the city that is most likely to experience the fastest economic turnaround, it doesn't mean the city is quite ready to proclaim that all is well. In fact, home sales still remain down year-over-year, but they are showing improvement when compared to earlier this year.
According to the Austin Board of Realtors, a little more than 1,700 homes were sold in May 2009, which is down by 19% when compared to May of 2008. In addition, the median price for single-family homes declined by 1% when compared to one year ago, resulting in a…
Texas Listed as the #1 State for Businesses
Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 12:45pm. 674 Views, 1 Comments.
According to Directorship, which is a publication with a mission "to provide corporate boardroom's and governance committees with the best intelligence on the U.S. business environment," the state of Texas has once again been named the number one state in the country for businesses.
The publication selected Texas as the number one state for businesses largely because of the state's proven ability to attract Fortune 500 companies, but also because of its affordable cost of living, its solid economy and its pro-business tax climate. The magazine also cited some real-life examples…
