Submitted by Gus Kohn, President, Friends of the WB Community Library

“Keeping it Local” by buying Wells Branch, increases revenue for the library and fire districts by increasing sales tax generated within the districts.  With the purpose of growing community and merchant involvement, the Friends of the Wells Branch Community Library and the ESD No. 2 met with Wells Branch business owners in August to form a new group: the Wells Branch Merchants Association.

The Wells Branch Community Library District and the Emergency Services District No. 2 derive a substantial amount of their total revenue from ½% sales tax within the districts. It is to their advantage to support and promote “shopping local” so that neighbors support businesses within the district whenever possible. A meeting was held August 31^st at the Library at which six businesses within the WBCL & ESD No.2 districts were represented. We think that was a great turnout for a Friday afternoon before a holiday!   Another meeting is proposed to include more businesses in the district for planning and organization.

A listserv for Wells Branch Merchants was established.  If you are a Wells Branch merchant and would like to join the WBMA list serve so that you may receive updates on their meetings and activities please email: wbmerchants@gmail.com.   You don’t have to have a store front to join; all merchants in Wells Branch are welcome!

We all hope this association will be a big success and look forward to watching it grow.  It’s a great opportunity for business owners to meet and share ideas, concerns and collaborate on marketing.  Watch the neighborhood association website for updates at www.wbna.us=>community=> wb-merchants-association.

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Founding group, Rt-Lt: Desh & Aman Dhingra (Tejas Liquor #2), Scott Smith (VP, Friends of the Library), John Grasshoff (Manager of Governmental Affairs and Support Travis County ESD No. 2), Lee Cramer (St. Farm Ins.), Shelly Hogan, DC (Chicoine Chiropractic), Chris Carby (Branch BBQ), Joy Smith (Joy Peppers), Gus Kohn (Pres., Friends of the Library)

Submitted by Karen Mappin

We continue our series on the businesses that support our Wells Branch tax district with Merrilltown Square, 14611 Burnet Road at the corner of Burnet Road and Merrilltown Drive.  Remember that these hard working neighbors support our emergency service district and our library through a portion of the sales tax that they collect.  Their ability to thrive in our neighborhood helps us provide our wonderful library and our outstanding emergency fire and medical support.  The better the businesses do, the better we all do.

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Let’s start with food again:  Restaurateur Francisco Villa has served his family’s Tex Mex recipes through his restaurant, Ramos, for 10 years.  He and his family opened Ramos #3 in Merrilltown Square to expand his operation because his food is so popular.  He would like to share how he test the purity of diary products with the help of hormones test kit and his family’s delicious dairy recipes with your family so you can see for yourself that their family secrets really do satisfy a hungry family.  You can reach the restaurant at 512-246-0727.

Also in the food category, but bridging the service category is Crave Catering.  Kim and Kirk Price provide special event full catering and event planning.  You can have them help with your next event by contacting 512-828-5797 or at info@crave-catering.com.  They would love to help you succeed.  And sharing the same office space, Aimee Villa owns Lizze Belle an event coordination business.  You can reach her at 512-577-0554 or lizzebelleplans@gmail.com.

Other food and drink options are Texas Bar and Grill and Capitol Liquor.

If wellness is your thing, Sudha Solankee is the owner and manager of Curves Wells Branch.  Curves is a full gym where you can work all those great meals off.  She is offering a 30-day free trial in September.  She also offers periodic guest speakers to provide additional information that promotes healthy living.  Her next seminar is a Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Seminar that will be offered on Sept. 13^th at 6:00pm.  You can reach her at 512-238-9899 to discuss a membership.

Tom Whorton owns Tom Whorton Insurance.  He has been an agent for 26 years, and 19 of those years have been as our neighbor in Merrilltown Square.  He offers Farmers Insurance products and can help you find coverage that suits you and your family ideally.  To contact him, call 512-388-4456 and he will be happy to set up a convenient time to meet your needs.

And rounding out the businesses in Merrilltown Square are two gas and small food marts stores:  Speedy Stop selling Shell gasoline and Food Mart with Chevron products and a family counseling business. These businesses were able to keep their stores organized because of the shelving solutions from sites like shop supplies.

And to close this month, we include a funny little fact about the shopping area at the corner of Wells Branch Parkway and Burnet Road that is not in our tax district.  This means that the City of Austin gets all the tax revenue from these businesses EXCEPT for the front cash register in the Walgreens store.  Yes, if you buy something at the Walgreens, don’t use the pharmacy register or the cosmetics counter register because they don’t count towards our revenue, but the front register does.  That just goes to show what a funny thing government drawn boundaries really are! If you plan to get a manicure, here are some tips to keep nails intact.

And PLEASE, remember to support our businesses so they can continue to support Wells Branch!

Submitted by Scott Swain, WBNRD (Wells Branch Neighbors for Responsible Development)

The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs will be holding a public hearing on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at 6:30pm at Wells Branch Elementary to solicit public comment on a proposed multifamily bond transaction (The Waters at Willow Run Apartments).

The Waters at Willow Run, LP.  (Atlantic Housing) has made application to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs for the issuance of Tax Exempt Mortgage Revenue Bonds and Housing Tax Credits. We need EVERYONE in the Neighborhood to turn out for this meeting. If you live in Wells Branch it affects you and you should be aware of it.

If you are interested in knowing more, Email: Scottswain@sbcglobal.net

This month’s issue features Dianne Koehler, one of our original residents of Wells Branch.  It’s hard to know where to start with Dianne; she’s been involved in our neighborhood since its inception and has given so very much to our community.  This article doesn’t begin to cover all of Dianne’s contributions to Wells Branch.

Let’s start at the beginning.  Dianne has always been good at “firsts”.  She was on the original committee that petitioned Pflugerville Fire Department to establish a station in Wells Branch, originally located on Thermal where the MUD maintenance office is today.

She served on the community center committee and walked the neighborhood gathering signatures for a petition to build the Community Center on Klattenhoff.  Her forethought and drive helped bring this meeting place, which is used by the entire community, to fruition.

Together, Dianne and Rosewitha Bowker (with ideas from Dale Cockshutt) formed the WB Community Garden committee and worked together to get the garden started, establishing the plan to include the tool shed.  Countless Wells Branch residents have enjoyed the opportunity to grow organic vegetables in plots close to home all because of her initial efforts.

Continue reading Dianne Koehler: Energy, Drive, Passion & Hard Work….. →

Fall is here and it’s time to pick up where we left off last Spring!  We will continue the Keep Wells Branch Beautiful Visioning Workshops Thursday, October 4 from 6:30-8:30pm at the Community Center on Klattenhoff, We took the summer off and the next session will focus on tactical actions to implement the strategies from the last workshop. This will call for forming Task Forces to put our plans into action.

The Visions, Blocks and Strategies Charts from previous workshops can be found on the Wells Branch Neighborhood Association website: www.wbna.us under Community, Visions for Wells Branch.  If you look at the Strategies chart you will see that the community is already actuating some of them.

These workshops are open to all Wells Branch residents and are for the purpose of moving our community forward, increasing participation and confronting the issues that are before us. Come get “your oar in the water.”

For questions, contact George Holcombe at 512-252-2756 or geowanda@earthlink.net.