That is one reason why now I am turning off anonymous comments. You have to enter an email address to post a comment. When I first started this blog over a year ago, I wanted anyone and everyone to comment. Now we have good commenters like Joanna, Lindsay, and Steiner Res to name a few that have good comments with a proper tone. Let’s not get personal, ugly or name names in the comment section, or they will be deleted.

Now on to the point about whiners and criticism. I also disagree with that moniker. In general people have nice things to say about many of the business in Steiner Ranch. Cups and Cones is universally adored as is Fion except when it first opened. Lakeside is on the whole positive, a few bad experiences here and there, but nothing terrible. The Market when it first opened had some things they needed to iron out and they have worked on it a lot and people have seemed to come around. I think The Market along with Cups and Cones are some of the business that actually read the blog and used some of the feedback to improve.

Let’s not let a couple of bad apples spoil the tone of the blog. I will delete comments that don’t go along with the tone I want this blog to have.

I have been puttering around with this idea for a while, and I have had some time to finally install it. I have used this software before and it is pretty good. I have been getting a lot of questions about things in Steiner Ranch and most of the time I just put it on the main page and see what the responses are. This eliminates the middleman (me) and lets residents post a question on the message boards and see what responses they get right away, instead of sometimes waiting a month while a certain person goes on vacation and doesn’t make any posts. I hope this creates more discussion on the forums, because I think there are many people that can answer the questions that residents have.

I know a lot of people don’t like providing email addresses and registering but the process is extremely simple and it provides some civility to the forums. All you have to do is click the register link at the top of the page and provide a username and email address. The email address is used only to send you a password to log in. I have created some sub forums. There is one for general topics, food, classified ads, businesses, and kids. Check out the above or below link and tell me what you think. I am not going to get rid of the comments as I feel its a good way to get quick communication on a topic, but I am going to monitor them more closely and start deleting some comments I don’t think should be up on the website. Tell me if there are any issues or if you need help using the forum.

http://steinerranchinfo.com/forums/

Another thing I added under the Archives on the right hand side of the blog is a link to my del.icio.us links tagged with Steiner Ranch. I just started and will add more links, so it is not complete, but check it out when you can. I got some links emailed to me about things happening in and around Steiner, so keep them coming. I am usually on top of things, but for example one thing I completely missed was the change of plans for The Venue at Lake Travis. So thanks for the support and the comments and everything. One thing I would like to add is to not get personal in the comments. I know people are passionate about a topic, but there is no reason to get personal. Let’s keep it friendly.

I would also like to highly suggest using Firefox. This site is edited and tested in Firefox and so I recommend it. Get

Because of this I feel this blog lacks information in one of the biggest aspects of Steiner Ranch: kids and schools. I am looking for someone who has information they would like to put up on this blog to the readers on those two topics. If you are interested send me an e-mail at steinerranchinfo@gmail.com

Click on this link to take the survey. I don’t use the pools in the morning and never during the winter, but if you do then get your voice heard. This seems like a reasonable request.

The Steiner Ranch community now has three community centers with swimming pools for our residents’ use, including two lap pools at John Simpson and Bella Mar community centers. The Steiner Stars summer swim team has grown in recent years and now has over 250 members on the team. At this time, approximately 100 of these members also participate in year-round swimming programs using heated swimming pools in other communities in or near Cedar Park. Currently, none of the Steiner Ranch swimming pools are heated and due to the high cost of natural gas and additional maintenance costs, the SRMA Board does not plan to provide heaters for any of its swimming pools.

The SRMA Board has been approached by several swim team groups that would like to use the Bella Mar community center lap pool for their practices during the cold winter months. One group has made a specific proposal that is currently under consideration by the Board. The Board is requesting input from Steiner Ranch residents as we consider and make a decision in the near future on this proposal. Your input will help the Board make a decision, but is non-binding on the Board.

A summary of the proposal from this private swim team Group is as follows: The Group will pay for all costs associated with purchasing and installing a heater for the Bella Mar lap pool, removable pool lane covers that help retain the heat, and will be responsible for all heating costs and all additional pool maintenance costs during the winter months when there is normally very little use of the pools. In return, the Group will get exclusive access and use of the lap pool from October 1st through April 30th each year. During these 7 months, the lap pool will remain covered and the Bella Mar community center pools will be closed, except for the approximately 3 hours per day (estimated to be 4pm to 7pm, Monday – Friday) each week that the swim team will practice. During the times that the swim team is practicing, the Group will make available 2 of the 8 swim lanes in the heated pool for all Steiner Ranch residents’ use. As in the past, the John Simpson and Towne Square community center pools remain open year round for Steiner Ranch residents’ use.

Please use the link below to complete a short survey to indicate if you agree – “Yes” – that the Board should approve this agreement that will provide limited access to a heated lap swimming pool for Steiner Ranch residents, or “No” if you feel that the Board should not approve an agreement that limits or restricts resident access to the Bella Mar community center pool from October through April each year.

Click here to take the survey.

Responses will only be collected until January 14th, so please take the survey today!

I love gmail, you should really try it. Feel free to email me at anytime.

Check out the new site… all the same content/comments, better format so that I can do some new cool things I have been thinking of.

For those new readers (and old), check out the archives and the comments and feel free to contribute. My email is mkreddy(at)gmail.com.