All Blog Entries by James Brinkman

In keeping with the "green" movement that has long been going strong in Austin, Enterprise Rent-A-Car has recently decided to designate two of its locations in the city as "hybrid branches."  Although these branches will still have non-hybrid vehicles for rent, they will be home to a much larger concentration of hybrid vehicles than what is found at other Enterprise Rent-A-Car branches.

Austin isn't the only city that will enjoy the option to select a hybrid vehicle from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, as the company is planning to add almost 5,000 hybrid vehicles to its national fleet.  The decision to focus on hybrids at two of Austin's branches, however, can in response to the overwhelming demand for eco-friendly alternatives within the city.

"The ability to…

When you are selling a home in Texas, you will need to be aware of Title Insurance and how it affects you.  In the state of Texas, the sale of title insurance is regulated.  As a result, the premiums of this insurance are determined by the sale price of the property.  This means title companies cannot discount the premium cost.  Although many sellers are upset by the need to purchase Title Insurance, mostly because they feel it benefits only the buyer, it is actually beneficial for you to have this insurance in place as well.

Having Title Insurance in place helps to protect you from legal issues that may arise when you sell your home.  By having the insurance in place, you can enjoy peace of mind in knowing that you are protected.  To better understand…

 

A recent article in the Statesman demonstrates Austin’s commitment to creativity within the city.  According to the article, a new “Create Austin Cultural Master Plan” was recently presented to the City Council after completing two years of planning.

 

As part of the master plan, a private nonprofit alliance would be formed in order to provide a variety of services to the creative community in Austin, including offering legal services, insurance coverage, and marketing resources.  The plan also calls for consolidating the cultural functions of the city into one municipal department.

 

Developing the plan involved getting input from numerous private and public sector leaders.  They then developed the plan, which provides a ten year plan for

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Austin has been so successful at building up its economy that leaders from other parts of the nation are visiting the city in order to learn its secret to success.

On June 5th, a group of around 300 community and business leaders from Lexington, Kentucky visited the city to learn more about how the city is developing its economy.  The visit was arranged by Commerce Lexington Inc, which is a business and recruiting organization.  During the three day visit, these leaders met with Austin officials and take tours of key points of interest.  The purpose was to take a closer look at Austin’s successes as well as the challenges Austin has had to face in certain areas of development.

The Lexington leaders and officials were mostly interested in the success

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Although the nation is quite concerned about the possibility of a recession and despite the fact that many are struggling to keep or to find a job, the city of Austin appears to be doing white well.  In fact, according to a story published by Daily Texas Online, the overall availability of jobs in the Austin-Round Rock area has actually increased by 16,800 since last May. 

While the increase in employment opportunities is down when compared to the growth seen from May 2006 to May 2006 – which saw a 38,700 job increase – it is still encouraging to see that growth has taken place over the past year as well. 

In all, Travis County has seen an increase in employment opportunities each month.  According to the Texas Labor Market Review, the county has

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Austin residents are always looking for ways to make their city safer.  To that end, a group of organizers from Safe Kids Austin recently staged a demonstration at Garrison Pool located in South Austin.  The purpose of this demonstration was simple:  to remind parents and children to be safe while swimming in one of Austin’s many area pools.

 

According to researchers, drowning is the second most common cause of accidental death in children ages 1 to 14.  With so many taking time out of their days to cool off in the pool, organizers of the event don’t want to see a tragedy occur.

"What we see unfortunately is older children who may not have strong swimming skills and even after hours are getting into areas around water - unsupervised - and that

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Although the housing market has slowed down a bit in Austin when compared to last year’s market, the city still continues to go strong when compared to other cities around the country.  In fact, according to the Austin Business Journal, the construction of new homes in the area actually went up by 22% when comparing the first and second quarters of 2008.

According to Residential Strategies Inc, which is located in Dallas, area builders started construction on 2,814 homes during the second quarter this year.  Despite being 19% less than the number of homes started in the first quarter of 2007, that is still significantly more than the 2,303 homes that were started during the first quarter of 2008.  In addition, while the annual number of new home

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