Things are going to be just fine in the Highland Lakes

Despite what you might see about the national economy being in a tailspin, the situation in Marble Falls is not nearly so gloomy as national financial forecasters would have us believe.

True, the housing market has slowed down, and many contractors and developers who normally build residential subdivisions are reduced for the moment to basic handyman work. But that’s not forever, and in the meantime the old guard who have lived here for years will tell you what goes down must go up.

And yes, there are some Marble Falls’ businesses that have closed of late, most notably restaurants and some entertainment venues. But in most cases those closures can be traced to the aftereffects of the flood of June 2007, health concerns on the part of the owners or legal action.

A true litmus test of the prosperity of the region is the explosion in commercial property, sales taxes going up and governmental investments in long-term infrastructure.

Consider, for a moment, the many building projects under way in Marble Falls, the capital ventures and the expansions.

This region may not be completely immune to the Wall Street bailout and the subprime crisis, yet these financial doldrums have not brought the region to a nail-biting crossroads where wrack and ruin are just a turn around the corner.

From Wall Street to Main Street, the presidential candidates banter, yet our Main Street, which is not perfect, is still a thriving hub for shops, tourists, culture and the arts.

Meanwhile, there are more than a dozen community banks in a 15-mile radius that have remained safe from the mergers, closures and takeovers affecting Wachovia, Washington Mutual and the like. The people who work in these local banks are our neighbors, our church mates and the parents we see when we take our kids to the same schools.

They’re local and they care.

Consider as well all the development under way and the most recent additions to the Marble Falls business landscape.

Hundreds of jobs are being created in this area thanks to new business ventures and construction.

A LaQuinta Hotel has just opened across U.S. 281 from a thriving Starbucks coffee shop. Two more hotels are coming — a Comfort Suites Inn and a Motel 6.

A Kentucky Fried Chicken/Long John Silver restaurant opened on U.S. 281 North. There’s a new Subway owned by local businessman Dennis Reed next to the Showbiz  Cinema 8. Quizno’s is open for business, too. A Lowe’s is going in north of the Walmart, promising to bring 75 jobs to the area. The Aladdin furniture showroom has opened its doors in an expanded facility on U.S. 281 and the Sears store moved and took on additional floor space.

Treaty Oak Bank put up a “come on in” sign across Lake Marble Falls not too long ago; the Granite Mesa nursery home is going up behind The Home Depot. Rental space is available at the artsy-looking office complex at 281 and First Street, and new clients are expected to move in soon.

Restaurants such as Texas Nation are taking over the defunct Cecil & Co. Seafood and Steaks spot on Main Street, and the oven at Noon Spoon on Broadway is fired up for diners. Naturally, a line extends out of the door every Sunday morning at the Blue Bonnet Cafe and the critics continue to rave about homegrown Russo’s restaurant.

The sales taxes reported for August in Marble Falls are nearly a percent over what they were the same time in 2007; in terms of taxes culled from shopping, the home of the Mustangs is on a par with or even better than Bee Cave, Bastrop, Belton, Boerne, Fredericksburg and Harker Heights.

These figures are nothing to sneeze at.

Meanwhile, government entities continue to spend money on construction projects, with the subsequent revenue spinoff benefiting local developers and contractors.

The Marble Falls Independent School District continues its massive, bond-funded drive to renovate or rebuild many campuses. And the city has voted to extend water lines, waste-water lines and build a water tower at Lake of the Hills Regional Medical Center south of the city at Texas 71 and 281. That anticipated medical complex promises to bring hundreds of jobs, new shopping districts and dwellings to the area

You see, things aren’t really so bad here.

So wipe that frown off your face and turn off those nasty financial reports on CNN. You live in the Highland Lakes and things are going to be just fine.