http://muellerfever.com/ Mueller Fever: Last 35 Posts en Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:41:34 +0000 http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=75&page#post-121 Sun, 04 May 2008 13:52:42 +0000 rodruoff 121@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>Solar PV panels that light up art exhibits are fine. But this is a pretty minor component of being green as a community. </p> <p>It would be interesting to challenge folks to think about how renewable energies can be used in Mueller to generate significant quantities of power. Here is a company saying that within 12-18 months they will be producing electricity from solar PV at 5 cents per kilowatt-hour. It is simply an example...and they tout that it is sufficiently "modular" that it can work in small spaces- that is, doesn't have to be a gigantic power plant, to function. Why not put the roofs on the hangars to good use? </p> <p><a href="http://www.sunrgi.com/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.sunrgi.com/index.html</a> (picture is right on home page; note that you'll probably want to have a look at:</p> <p><a href="http://www.sunrgi.com/technology.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.sunrgi.com/technology.html</a> (then go to left side for links such as</p> <p><a href="http://www.sunrgi.com/increased-light-gathering-area.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.sunrgi.com/increased-light-gathering-area.html</a> and so on. </p> <p>Not advertising for this particular vendor. But between Austin Energy, the Clean Energy Incubator at the Austin Incubator:</p> <p><a href="http://csievents.org/Summit2007/spk/JSerface.html" rel="nofollow">http://csievents.org/Summit2007/spk/JSerface.html</a></p> <p>and others, we can probably relatively quickly get some advice about putting Mueller to wise use in terms of on-site renewables like solar. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=74&page#post-120 Sun, 04 May 2008 13:46:09 +0000 rodruoff 120@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>Google "Peak Oil", simply as one example. But motivations for being more self-sufficient on water, food, energy, sustainability issues--those (or I should say "those) are topics deserving of extensive discussion. </p> <p>Here, I refer to food. It is sensible for those in Mueller to consider connecting closely with local farmers. In addition to having a farmer's market at Mueller, the community might consider possibilities such as bulk buying through entities such as:</p> <p><a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/greenling-organic-delivery-austin-2" rel="nofollow">http://www.yelp.com/biz/greenling-organic-delivery-austin-2</a></p> <p>(not favoring any one vendor over another, I found this as my first hit on my web search)</p> <p>If my family buys from such a type of vendor, we get one price. If 50 families buy for delivery by them on the same day...perhaps we get another price. The point is that it is likely that a Farmer's Market (which I wholeheartedly support for Mueller!) will not supply everything. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=73&page#post-119 Sun, 04 May 2008 13:39:29 +0000 rodruoff 119@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>Oak trees are pleasing, yes. </p> <p>I'd be interested in seeing fruit trees planted that also afford good yields of food, and are hardy in the Austin area. The pecan trees supply pecans...that is nice. </p> <p>As a newcomer to Austin, I can't claim any expertise in what fruit trees might work here. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=63&page#post-118 Sun, 04 May 2008 13:36:01 +0000 rodruoff 118@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>Here is a wonderful web site on community gardens and why they can strengthen community:</p> <p><a href="http://www.wordpress.peakmoment.tv/conversations/" rel="nofollow">http://www.wordpress.peakmoment.tv/conversations/</a> (community gardening in Oregon...and so on. Some very good discussions/presentations)</p> <p>Note Richard Heinberg's talk about the possibility for "fifty million farmers" in the USA:</p> <p><a href="http://www.richardheinberg.com/museletter/175" rel="nofollow">http://www.richardheinberg.com/museletter/175</a> </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=66&page#post-117 Sun, 04 May 2008 13:33:21 +0000 rodruoff 117@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>I like Farmer's market as well. But I wanted to point out that there is a significant amount of roof area that might be put to good use for solar energy generation. Here is a company talking solar energy from their product at 5 cents/kilowatt-hour: </p> <p><a href="http://www.sunrgi.com/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.sunrgi.com/index.html</a> (Nice use of plastic Fresnel lenses!) </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=72&page#post-116 Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:39:52 +0000 catatony 116@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>Looks like some model/pricing information from Phase II is available on Meritage's site. They added different versions of the 4 models they had in phase 1. Basically, it looks like they added different facades. </p> <p>Haven't had a chance to check on the other builders. Anyone else have any info on them? As of yesterday, Mueller's site seemed to have no new information about phase II. Interesting that the builders seem to be ahead of Mueller in release phase II details. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=72&page#post-115 Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:00:24 +0000 catatony 115@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>Does anyone have an update on phase II release dates for models and pricing? According to January Livewire, "Construction on the approximately 360 houses that will make up Mueller’s second phase is slated to begin this summer with move-ins targeted for early 2009." Seems like the "quiet period" is creeping a bit long? </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=63&page#post-114 Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:38:48 +0000 catatony 114@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>I'm very interested in the possibility of a community garden - does anybody have any news or a contact? </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=69&page#post-113 Sat, 19 Jan 2008 10:38:17 +0000 Jon78701 113@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>I can't find the article in the Statesman to link to, but Austin is buying the land. The city will build a municipal court and a police substation there. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=69&page#post-112 Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:40:00 +0000 Garreth 112@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>the new one will apparently be 3 star green certified by Austin Energy. I wonder what will become of St. Johns... </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=66&page#post-111 Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:38:57 +0000 Garreth 111@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>A farmer's market is a great idea, as is the potential performance space idea. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=70&page#post-110 Fri, 14 Sep 2007 08:11:52 +0000 riddle 110@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>Sherri G, there are two ways the parking rules could be enforced: in response to complaints (i.e., neighbors calling in the HOA to settle gripes with neighbors) or proactively by the HOA management company.</p> <p>It's common in the 'burbs for HOA managers to pay people to drive around with digital cameras and rulers looking for weeds. Literally. Of course the residents pay for this "service" and the management company pockets a nice cut off the top.</p> <p>As distasteful as neighbors ratting on neighbors may be, to me it sounds preferable to the second option. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=71&page#post-109 Fri, 14 Sep 2007 07:58:10 +0000 riddle 109@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>A question I've been wondering about myself, since it may affect me. </p> <p>One consequence I suspect we could see is the shrinking of the window for people who want to buy "affordable" units, i.e., the income range which is low enough to qualify for an affordable house but high enough to qualify for a loan. I wonder whether people at the City have thought about that and are prepared to enlarge the window somehow? </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=70&page#post-108 Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:47:19 +0000 ret1ree00 108@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>In case some are not also monitoring the Yahoo group, we thought we'd pass along the following:</p> <p>Want to invite all current, new and potential Mueller neighbors for a meet up on Sunday, Sept 16th, from 3 - 5pm at Genuine Joe's coffee shop up on Anderson Ln, see link below for directions.</p> <p>Will be great to meet some new neighbors and talk about how to best organize to get some of our ongoing questions and concerns<br /> addressed. Hopefully we'll get some scoop on the HOA task force<br /> which is supposed to start meeting this month and how we can get<br /> some representation on it.</p> <p>I forgot it was ACL next weekend and am sure some folks will be at<br /> that but hopefully we will still get a good turnout.</p> <p><a href="http://www.genuinejoe.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.genuinejoe.com/</a></p> <p>Thanks,<br /> Karen Z </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=71&page#post-107 Thu, 13 Sep 2007 07:50:43 +0000 sherrig78753 107@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>Any thoughts on how the subprime mortgage mess might affect Mueller? Mortgage companies are becoming much more stringent in their loan requirements even for people with good credit. Given the huge number of loan defaults, this is a good thing. I'm just wondering if some of the people who prequalified for a Mueller home might find that they don't qualify any more. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=70&page#post-106 Thu, 13 Sep 2007 07:27:24 +0000 sherrig78753 106@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>It seems obvious to me that the parking restrictions as written will not work at Mueller. I can certainly understand the HOA not wanting the streets filled with broken-down cars, but most traditional neighborhoods also have driveway parking, so parking violations can be corrected by moving the vehicles into the driveway. We're not going to have that luxury at Mueller. Not that I'm complaining about the lack of driveways -- I think it'll motivate residents to actually use their garage for parking, not storage.<br /> &lt;br&gt;I just think this rule is going to have to change. If not, it will surely be unenforceable, because lots of people will have no choice but to park on the street. We're currently a 3-car family, with our third car being an old truck my husband is restoring. In a few years, my daughter will be old enough to drive and will most likely have a car.<br /> &lt;br&gt;<br /> Looking at the posts on the Yahoo group site and talking with other pioneers, there seems to be a lot of concern about this issue. I'm wondering if its time for pioneers to create a neighborhood association group so we can be represented as this project moves forward. Judging from Catellus' response above, they're just going to quote the "rules" to anyone that raises a concern individually. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=70&page#post-105 Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:41:17 +0000 thewrightsATX 105@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>How are they going to enforce that, especially the 30 minute resident rule? Will we have parking permits that identify us Mueller residents? Maybe we can ammend this through the HOA task force. Thanks for posting! </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=70&page#post-104 Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:13:43 +0000 ret1ree00 104@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>Have posted this info on the Yahoo and muellercommunity.com sites as well:</p> <p>We received the following message today from Jessica Guerra at Catellus:</p> <p>Thank you for your interest in Mueller and your question regarding<br /> parking on residential streets. I apologize for my delayed response; we finally got an answer from our lawyers regarding this issue. We will be following the community covenants as they are stated now. Street parking is addressed in the community covenants as follows:</p> <p>Street parking will be allowed for residents' guests for up to 72 hours.<br /> Residents may park on the street for a period up to 30 minutes unless there is an emergency.</p> <p>As you may imagine, these guidelines promote clear access for<br /> residents through the streets but also permits parking for their<br /> visitors and occasional overnight guests. I hope this answers your<br /> question and please let me know if you have any other questions.</p> <p>Thank you,<br /> Jessica Guerra<br /> Marketing Administrative Manager<br /> Catellus Development Group<br /> 4550 Mueller Blvd.<br /> Austin, TX 78723<br /> Phone: 512-703-9200<br /> Fax: 512-703-9201<br /> <a href="mailto:jguerra@catellus.com">jguerra@catellus.com</a> </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=66&page#post-103 Sat, 01 Sep 2007 01:04:57 +0000 marsh4802 103@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>I would so love to see them use it for a farmer's market at least one day a week. I'd also like them to use it as an outdoor venue for music and movies, while making use of the lake park, so families can come and picnic and listen to music, etc. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=67&page#post-102 Fri, 17 Aug 2007 07:36:36 +0000 sherrig78753 102@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>The trail goes around the edge of the development. It starts at IH-35 and ends at the Austin Film Society. You can see it on the map. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=65&page#post-101 Thu, 09 Aug 2007 10:46:48 +0000 name 101@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>this swimming pool will have a male/female bath house, a ramp to walk/run down to the pool, and then there's the deep end, nearest the bathhouse. the deep end is really only like 4 or 5 feet deep, as its the lap lane area, but still... the kid area is further away. i think that could have been designed better... </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=69&page#post-100 Thu, 09 Aug 2007 10:42:37 +0000 name 100@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>looks like the developer is proposing a home depot at 51st and 35, just north of barbara jordan. i guess that means they will be closing the one at st. johns... less than .5 miles away... </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=68&page#post-99 Wed, 08 Aug 2007 22:14:13 +0000 riddle 99@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>Not technically part of Mueller but planned jointly is the adjacent Rathgeber Village, a campus for several nonprofit social service agencies. According to a <a href="http://www.hope4kidz.org/news/texas/TX_05052007.html">May 2007 Statesman report</a>, the village will include several buildings for the Austin Children's Shelter, a Scottish Rite Learning Center for children with learning disabilities and new facilities for Family Eldercare and the People's Community Clinic.</p> <p>Personally I think Rathgeber Village will be a wonderful feature of Mueller and provide much-needed services to Northeast Austin and the region as a whole. At the same time, I wonder how much synergy there will be between Rathgeber and the other features of Mueller. It's at the furthest point from the other major social service agency at Mueller, the Dell Children's Hospital. It's also quite far from the planned neighborhood retail and from Mueller's hypothetical transit line (currently envisioned as a streetcar). Presumably Rathgeber clients will either drive or arrive by bus; hopefully Cap Metro will divert some routes that way.</p> <p>Rathgeber's nearest Mueller neighbors will be single-family housing and a bunch of playing fields. Having done some time as a soccer dad, I can tell you that playing fields on a Saturday morning can generate more spillover parking than anything short of Eeyore's Birthday Party, and designated parking for the Mueller playing fields will be conspicuous in its absence. I know I'd be worried if I were buying a house in the westernmost blocks of Mueller. Will Rathgeber Village have excess parking capacity that it can share with soccer families on the weekends? Or will Saturday actually be a busy day for Rathgeber's working clients? I suppose time will tell. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=66&page#post-98 Tue, 07 Aug 2007 11:49:52 +0000 bookgrl 98@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>Oooh...farmer's market. Yes! </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=67&page#post-97 Mon, 06 Aug 2007 08:29:47 +0000 jkijana 97@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>Does anyone know where the hiking and jogging trails are supposed to be? </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=66&page#post-96 Mon, 06 Aug 2007 08:26:41 +0000 jkijana 96@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>I think the hangar should be used as the site for a farmer's market/craft bazaar. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=60&page#post-95 Sun, 05 Aug 2007 23:36:08 +0000 riddle 95@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>It has not been a pretty experience, but after much stumbling about in the underbrush of bbPress, the maps are now working. At least for me. I hope you'll let me know whether they work for you. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=66&page#post-94 Sun, 05 Aug 2007 23:30:25 +0000 riddle 94@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>Personally, I think they should offer the hangar to Waterloo or Threadgill's to operate an ice house/ beer garden. I think it would be a delightful use of the space.</p> <p>Any other ideas? </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=65&page#post-93 Sun, 05 Aug 2007 23:27:46 +0000 riddle 93@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>Mueller is supposed to have three swimming pools and one of them is planned for completion during "Phase 1b," which means the tail end of the first batches of houses sold through the prioneer program. I'm thinking that means late 2008, but I'm not sure.</p> <p>I've heard the pool described as "junior olympic" or "half-olympic" but I'm not sure what that means. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=64&page#post-92 Sun, 05 Aug 2007 23:24:45 +0000 riddle 92@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>Chipotle, Starbucks and a salad bar are all open or coming soon in a small set of buildings on the hospital side of the "regional retail" center. I believe I heard that a Which Wich is going in there as well.</p> <p>Any other restaurant news? </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=63&page#post-91 Sun, 05 Aug 2007 23:21:24 +0000 riddle 91@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>I believe I heard that an agreement had been reached to place a community garden along the thin strip of park between Phase 1 and Airport blvd. Is that true? </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=62&page#post-87 Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:40:45 +0000 riddle 87@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>While prowling for maps at MuellerAustin.com, I stumbled into this lovely <a href="http://www.muelleraustin.com/progress_gallery.html">Progress Gallery</a> of aerial photos. Part of Mueller is starting to look like the master plan! </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=61&page#post-86 Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:36:45 +0000 root 86@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>bbPress supports tags. I'm inclined to think that the Mueller Fever user community will understand or use them much. Nor do I think that tag-based syndication of this site's content is likely to be useful (e.g., for Technorati). The tags take up important real estate on the topic page and add to an overly long sidebar.</p> <p>So I'm thinking of suppressing them. Do we have any defenders of tags in the house? </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=60&page#post-85 Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:00:22 +0000 riddle 85@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>For anyone geeky enough to wonder about what's gone into developing this site, here's a quick rundown.</p> <p>The bulk of it was built with <a href="http://bbpress.org/">bbPress</a>, the open-source forum tool spun off from WordPress. I chose bbPress because it had a number of features I want, was designed on the familiar model of WordPress and has an active development community. However, it is not as mature as WordPress and I quickly discovered some <a href="http://bbpress.org/forums/topic/hierachical-forums-do-not-seem-to-work?replies=18#post-8453">bugs</a>. The good news is that the bbPress developers rapidly responded with fixes; the bad news is that they haven't formally been released yet so I had to dig them out of their code base and install them piecemeal. Good for my PHP skills but bad for rapid development of the site!</p> <p>I also found a number of other issues with bbPress that I felt compelled to hack. For example, I had to modify the breadcrumb feature to show the ancestry of subforums, and it took some detective work to figure out how to add non-forum pages (maps and news) that use the forum templates. And I spent a long time restyling the CSS and futzing with graphics in PhotoShop. I'm still not satisfied, especially with the banner, but further futzing will wait on getting more functionality to work.</p> <p>Besides bbPress, I added the standard Flickr photo badge you see in the sidebar, modified to mix the most recent photos from the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/366485@N23/">Mueller pool</a> with randomly selected past photos for variety. The news page uses <a href="http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=_o7CYWvw2xGYrNNGqGIyXQ">Yahoo Pipes</a> to merge (hopefully) Mueller-related items from a wide range of sources and Patrick Hunlock's wonderful client-side <a href="http://www.hunlock.com/blogs/Yahoo_Pipes%2d%2dRSS_without_Server_Side_Scripts">javascript to pull the JSON feed into the page</a>.</p> <p>The most important non-bbPress feature is still just in demo mode: the Google Maps mashup is not yet integrated with the forums. When it's done, you'll be able to tie a topic to a point on the map. My next step is to roll up my sleeves and learn about writing bbPress plugins that talk directly to the database. </p> http://muellerfever.com/topic.php?id=55&page#post-79 Sat, 28 Jul 2007 16:13:17 +0000 riddle 79@http://muellerfever.com/ <p>The Businesses forum and its subforums are for discussions of businesses located at Mueller or serving the Mueller community.</p> <p><em><strong>Please do not post ads!</strong></em></p> <p>Exceptions: </p> <ul> <li>Businesses moving into the neighborhood are encouraged to post Grand Opening announcements.</li> <li>Garage sales and charity events are welcome in the Community forum.</li> <li>And of course employees and owners are welcome to participate in general discussions just like any other members of Mueller Fever.</li> </ul> <p></p> <p>I realize that these guidelines are subjective and they may evolve over time. If you have questions or concerns, please contact me (riddle@io.com) or post to the <a href="http://riddle.whsites.net/bbpress/forum.php?id=15&#38;page">About Mueller Fever</a> forum.</p> <p>Thanks! </p>