January 7, 2008 23:52 - Two shops in one
By Bill Peterson
BUDA – What do you have when your restaurant is on Main Street and your coffee house is on the other side of railroad tracks running through the middle of town?
If you're Richard Skanse, you have a decision to make. Skanse made it recently, he and his family did the heavy lifting to implement the decision, and now Skanse has both of his businesses under one roof on Main Street.
The Coffee Nut, Skanse's three-year-old coffeehouse and bookstore on Railroad Street, is closed. The coffee portion has been moved to Constantine's Pizzeria, Skanse's lunch and dinner restaurant on Main Street.
Skanse used to spend his entire days at The Coffee Nut before opening Constantine’s in September 2006. Then, he started spending his entire days at Constantine's.
"I missed The Coffee Nut," Skanse said.
The coffee business and the restaurant business are two very different enterprises because of their clientele. Skanse said the coffee business is heavy in the morning, then slow but steady through the day. The restaurant is busy at lunch and dinner times, but so slow in between that Skanse closed it from 2 to 4 p.m.
By combining the two, Skanse expects to maintain a good flow of traffic through the day. After opening the combined operation on Sunday, Skanse kept Constantine's open from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday.
"I was surprised by how busy it was," he said.
Skanse moved the trolley he used as a coffee stand at The Coffee Nut over to Constantine's and shifted some tables around. Though he feared losing significant capacity at Constantine's, Skanse really only reduced it from 42 seats to 35. In addition to making more available to customers under one roof, Skanse also reduces his rent costs and can use his labor more efficiently.
With more efficient use of labor, Skanse now hopes to hire more of it as he looks for cooks and wait staff. Up to now, he has generally handled the kitchen by himself, which becomes a problem when a large order for pizzas comes over the phone. Considering he cooks every pizza to order and needs about six minutes to prepare each one for the oven, he said extra sets of hands would make a big difference at busy times.
The menu at Constantine's will include coffee drinks, sandwiches, pizza and, now and again, live music. Constantine's also is starting to make its own gelato. At some point, Skanse said, he would like to find homes for his other enterprises, such as the books and costumes he used to sell out of The Coffee Nut. He can't fit all of it under one roof. Someday, he'll probably need another one.
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January 8, 2008 22:34 - Street life
The Hays Highway
KYLE – If you've been to Center Street in the last week, you notice the difference.
The streetscaping project is mostly finished. The roadwork is done, the construction debris is cleaned up and traffic is about as smooth as can be expected. All that remains is a couple finishing touches. Within the next couple weeks, the city will install trees along the street and benches along the sidewalks.
The streetscape includes newly cut sidewalks, a new pavement of the roadway and crosswalks in-laid with red brick. A new traffic signal is up at the intersection of Center Street and Burleson Street. As of late Tuesday night, the light was just flashing, but it soon will control traffic. So, take note, the days of driving straight through that intercection are all but finished after close to a year.
Just as importantly, the construction inconvenience is gone and business on Center Street can proceed as normal.
"Hopefully, we won't see another one of these for 50 years," Kyle City Manager Tom Mattis said.
There are a couple down sides.
First, as Mattis put it, "When you do something brand new like that to make it look really pretty, now the side streets look really bad."
No word on how, exactly, the city will address the side streets as of yet.
Second, the scene isn't as attractive as it could be. The city managed to move some utilities underground, but not the telephone wires, so the street still has telephone polls and wires running along the side. The problem of persuading Verizon to bury telephone wires has stymied city officials for at least seven years, going back to earlier streetscape proposals.
Mattis put the price tag for burying the telephone wires at around $500,000. Councilmember Dan Ekakiadis asked Mattis if negotiations to bury the wires are on-going.
Said Mattis, "If you mean by negotiations, "Am I trying to come up with some leverage to make them take them down," (the answer is) yes."
Unlike other utilities, telephone companies aren't required to secure franchise agreements with the cities in which they operate, Mattis said. Without such agreements, cities lack the basis for pushing such changes.
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January 9, 2008 23:06 - County seeks civic center manager
The Hays Highway
The Hays County commissioners are so happy with Barry Nelson's consulting work as the Hays County Civic Center's manager that they're working out a way to spend less for his services.
That is, the commissioners are looking to hire a full-time civic center manager as part of the county staff, and would be happy to have Nelson. The county would save money by paying its civic center manager a salary rather than a consultant's wages.
"He's done a pretty good job," Hays County Precinct 2 Commissioner Jeff Barton said, adding that commissioners believe Nelson will apply for the job.
The county will have to post the job opening, as required by government hiring law. When the process is completed, Nelson is likely to maintain his duties, though in a different capacity.
"I'd say he's the front-runner," Barton said.
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January 11, 2008 15:14 - Sumter's year-end report
The Hays Highway
Hays County Judge Liz Sumter issued a "Year in Review" report to the local media Thursday, saying, "From my vantage point as your County Judge, I am pleased to report that 2007 was a very productive year."
Sumter then pointed to a number of developments, starting with the passage of a $30 million parks bond, the formation of the Citizens Parks Advisory Team, (CPAT) and funding for Dudley Johnson Park in San Marcos and Harrison Park in Dripping Springs.
Other items Sumter mentions include interim subdivision rules to strengthen water availability in new developments, flood control funding for 20 low water crossings and the commissioners court's role in bringing the Seton Hospital and the Lance Armstrong Ride for the Roses event to the Hill Country.
Concerning roads, Sumter said this about how the county's response to the 2007 road bond defeat: "First and foremost, the Commissioners’ Court formed the citizen-based Transportation Advisory Board to develop a county-wide transportation plan that allows for maximum citizen involvement. Equally important, the county has formed the first public-private partnership for road development with Zachery American Inc. with the goal of completing badly needed improvements to FM 1626. The road and transportation challenge remains a top priority for me. The safety of our citizens and the economic wellbeing of Hays County are directly tied to this challenge, and in 2008 I will continue to give this issue my full attention."
Sumter also pointed to the selection of a new government center site off Wonderworld Drive and a consolidation of the environmental health department and the road and bridge department into a department of Resource Protection, Transportation and Planning. The county, Sumter said, also has begun work towards a federally qualified health clinic and countywide water planning.
The judge added that a tax-rate increase, three-quarters of a cent, will fund four patrol officers for Dripping Springs, a medical crisis officer, more and better road repair materials, a web master, a planner and environmental compliance officer and funding for the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District.
Sumter said she kept a busy calendar in 2007, her first year in office. During the last year, she met with citizens groups or attended public ceremonies 135 times. She met 34 times with city councils and independent school districts, attended 115 meetings of various regional committees and boards, participated in 51 workshops with the commissioners court and attended "50 or so" weekly commissioners court meetings.
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January 12, 2008 22:56 - UIL sanctions Mariachi
The Hays Highway
A long-held dream of Hays CISD Trustee Joe Muñoz came true this week, when the University Interscholastic League (UIL) announced that Mariachi will become a UIL-sanctioned state competition starting next year.
Muñoz pushed for a Mariachi program at Hemphill Elementary School seven years ago and has since pushed for it at the higher levels. Today, students participate in middle school programs at Wallace and Chapa. A handful of the students now perform and compete in non-UIL events as sophomores at Lehman High School.
"We are grateful to UIL for this change," said Muñoz, speaking in his capacity as president of the Mexican American School Board Association (MASBA). "This lends credibility for many of the students in Mariachi programs who can go on and get scholarships for college."
Mariachi will be recognized as a separate, independent category of Medium Ensemble in UIL competition. The change will align Mariachi with Show Choir, Jazz Ensemble and other comparable performance mediums in UIL competition.
Hays CISD Superintendent Kirk London predicted that the number of Mariachi programs at Texas public schools will double in five years.
"We all know that those students who participate in UIL are more successful, happier, and do better in school," London said. "This is one more opportunity for our students to get involved. The more students are involved, the better all of our schools are going to be."
Added Muñoz, "Many school districts have not wanted to invest in Mariachi because they have not been UIL sanctioned. It has been perceived much like an after-school activity until now."
The announcement was made Thursday at the kick-off of MASBA’s 10th annual statewide conference in Austin, hosted by Hays CISD. Saturday, Mariachis from districts throughout Texas, including Hays CISD, La Joya ISD and Kingsville ISD, performed at the Hays CISD Performing Arts Center's Gerald Babbitt Auditorium.
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