Steiner Ranch Information Blog

A friend and her neighbors (in Steiner) are organizing a bake sale to benefit the Red Cross relief in Haiti.

If baking is your thing, you can donate goods or you can attend the bake sale to purchase donated items.
Baked goods will be accepted this Friday > 4:00 pm. or Saturday a.m.
The bake sale will take place this Saturday (1/30) from 10:00 until about noon at the Town Square Park.

PDF with more details

There have been some recent incidents reported in the neighborhood involving attempted abductions (of women while running) and casing of homes.  Deputy Derrick Taylor of the Travis County Sheriff’s Community Outreach Department has agreed to make a presentation as to what has truly occurred and safety pointers for Steiner residents.  Here is additional information:

What:  Travis County Sheriff’s Department Community Outreach Officer, Derrick Taylor
Where:  River Ridge Elementary Cafeteria
When:  January 26, 2010
Time:  6:30pm

Flyers will be posted at all 22 mailbox locations and possibly the Steiner Ranch entrance marquis.

Attaching a PDF.

Goal_setting_class

According to the Folklore blog:

• Closed: Ski Shores Waterfront Cafe, the 13-year fixture on Lake Austin at 2905 Pearce Road.

Cho Sushi opened up and me, the wife, and the 9.5 month old decided to check it out. We went during the happy hour and had the excellent garlic edamame. It was some of the best edamame that we have ever had. We then went to the sushi and had a couple of the happy hour rolls which were good and had an excellent Texas Roll as well. We are going to try the Steiner Ranch and Bentley Roll next time. Has anyone tried the entrees? Post in the comments what you think of the place.

That is the rumor going around. It would be the south-east corner of Quinlan and 620. I heard they are surveying some residents about what they think. If someone has their email or contact I can tell them about this blog and see if they can see comments here.

My take… the convenience is nice, but I like HEB… unless they do an upscale Randall’s that is like a Central Market it will just be average instead of outstanding. I feel bad for Steiner Ranch Steakhouse, they get a view of the Randall’s parking lot now.

Interesting thread here where I got another hint of the rumor.

Four Points Tutoring is a professional tutoring agency with a staff of local educators who care about their students and are passionate about teaching.  We have what it takes to make a positive difference in your student’s academic career.  Tutors are carefully selected based on their teaching experience, personality, educational background, and credentials.

We serve children in grades k-12 as well as college students in the following academic areas:

• Arithmetic
• Science
• Reading
• Writing
• Grammar
• Social studies
• Test preparation (SAT/TAKS)
• Foreign language/ESL
• Study skills/organization

We offer one-on-one personalized tutoring in your home at a time that is convenient for you. This format helps to eliminate peer pressure so that your student can focus and engage the subject matter. This format works well for after school and homeschoolers.

If you are interested in learning more please contact us at:

Fourpointstutoring@sbcglobal.net

(512) 497-4355

Do you think it helped or hurt? I think it has helped the overall traffic flow. I have not driven during the rush hour of school traffic, but getting in and out of Steiner has been much smoother. It takes the decision making process of “to go or not to go” out of the equation.

From Carol who is in touch with the situation:

The Bull Creek Bridge project has been funded, approved and in the schedule for years. It has been delayed because of a couple of bureaucratic hiccups between TxDOT and the City of Austin. The project was contracted in August and is now underway.

There are state rules and guidelines for bridges such as the one at RM 2222 and Bull Creek, and that bridge has been earmarked for replacement for some time. Remember that RM 2222 is a state highway and is therefore largely under the control of TxDOT. Under state rules, if the bridge is modified, it must be raised to be above the 100-year flood level. That means raising the bridge about 18 feet. This was not an arbitrary decision, it is state-mandated.

2222 CONA met with TxDOT in March of 2005 and requested a series of traffic and safety improvements be made to RM 2222. One of the concerns was the intersection of RM 2222 and Loop 360. As a result of our prodding, TxDOT is making several improvements to the intersection as part of the bridge replacement project. Most of the improvements will not be fully realized until the project is completed, but there will be some relief provided even during the project.

You may have noticed that TxDOT is working on the eastbound right-turn lane onto southbound Loop 360. Before one of the eastbound lanes is closed down next year, this additional right-turn lane will be in place, and queuing will begin farther west. This will help separate out the traffic which is turning onto southbound Loop 360.

Also, TxDOT is adding a second left-turn lane onto northbound Loop 360. Again, the queuing will begin farther west of the intersection, so that by the time the traffic is under the Loop 360 overpass, there will be 4 dedicated lanes, two turning north and two going straight.

As part of the bridge project, there will be a left-turn island at Lakewood Drive, which will help alleviate the back-ups in the left lane of eastbound RM 2222. There will be other improvements to the intersection for westbound traffic.

I realize we are in for two years of pain. I live in Long Canyon, and RM 2222 is the only outlet for our neighborhood. We don’t have any alternate way to get anywhere. I’m certainly not looking forward to the traffic snarls we will experience. But there is simply no way around it. We need the improvements to the intersection at RM 2222 and Loop 360, and TxDOT needs to replace the bridge. At least we will end up with some long-lasting improvements when the pain is over.

Smorgasbord Topic…

All three are coming or supposedly getting better… I got the U-Verse sales pitch and decided to not go with it. I think it costs more than my current setup and while some things about it were better (free long distance, caller-ID, four streams of TV to watch and record), I did not feel it was worth the price increase. Have people been switching away from Time Warner/Dish/DirectTV to U-Verse? They are bombarding us with calls and mails and wondering how it is.

Cell Service has gotten better for Sprint Customers (when I first moved to Steiner I get a lot of dropped calls and bad reception in rooms of my house. Now it is much better. How about AT&T? I am thinking about getting an IPhone soon and was wondering how reception is in Steiner.

Also what do you guys say to people knocking on your door on Saturday mornings trying to talk to you about religion. It has happened every other weekend for the past few months… and I have tried to be polite but I just don’t want to have that discussion with them anymore. Any ideas? Do you think it is ok for them to knock on doors? Doesn’t Steiner Ranch have a policy against solicitors?