Bee Cave mayor: Boom continues with new events, potential roads
Happy New Year! We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are ready for exciting things to come in 2023!
Our “Bee Cave on Ice” skating rink that ran from Nov. 4 through Jan. 3 was a huge success with thousands of skaters from around the greater Austin area taking advantage of our open air, real outdoor ice rink, surrounded by the Hill Country Galleria’s massive Christmas tree and the beautiful holiday market in the Central Plaza.
The ice-skating season may be over, but we are so excited for what’s on the horizon. If you loved it when the Zilker Hillside Theatre staged its summer musical here in 2021, you are in luck because Bee Cave is no longer just a temporary home to Broadway-style and quality musical productions. We are the new home to Magnolia Musical Theatre, founded by the former executive artistic director of the Zilker Musical Theatre, Andrew Cannata. In December, the City Council voted to contribute $100,000 to the 2023 production "Beauty and the Beast," which will be free for you to enjoy for several weeks this summer in the Central Plaza in the Hill Country Galleria. Before that, we’ll have many other exciting events as well, including the Books and Bees Festival on April 1 and the Texas Special Olympics returning for the second year in a row for its Winter games. Come and join us Feb. 17-19 to volunteer or just cheer on the athletes as they compete in various sports.
While we love our events, we are continuing to make some infrastructure decisions as our city grows. At the end of this month, the City Council will hear the results of a traffic impact study conducted by the engineering firm Rodriguez Transportation Group to gauge whether it makes sense to add new roads to our thoroughfare plan, which would run from the shopping strip of Texas 71 where Summermoon Coffee is located down to the Shops at the Galleria. To get feedback from residents and drivers who live in the surrounding area and who use Texas 71 every day, City Manager Clint Garza has been going to neighborhoods, holding Q&A sessions to give folks a chance to look at the maps and voice their needs and concerns. City staff also posted on our website an FAQ sheet and a video to answer most of the questions they have been receiving about the roads. The council will only be deciding whether it’s necessary to add these roads to our thoroughfare plan, which is a blueprint of current and potential future roads. If approved, more studies would then be conducted to consider the look, design, feel and cost of these new access points.
We are also kicking off the New Year with another mayor’s business roundtable, where we invite Bee Cave businesses owners and managers to come to City Hall for a casual, frank discussion about what issues businesses are facing and what solutions there may be. We’ve had so much great output from these roundtables, from job fairs that our city now hosts on a regular basis to help our businesses find staff to raising funds for gas cards to help employees get to work during the holiday season. One idea that came out of a roundtable and is rolling out this month is a “78738 worker appreciation card,” with discounts at restaurants and retail shops around the area for anyone who works within the city limits of Bee Cave. It’s one way we can differentiate ourselves from other regions and show real appreciation for the folks who choose to work in our town.
We are ready for a new year of community events, partnerships and opportunities to discuss the future of our beautiful little city and we look forward to continuing making Bee Cave the best place in Texas to be(e)!
Kara King is the mayor of Bee Cave.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Bee Cave Mayor King: Boom continues with new events, potential roads
