Chick-fil-A

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

Members of the Granite Shoals City Council left one of their meetings Thursday, Aug. 10, to attend the very first Know Your Neighbor block party.

Know Your Neighbor is a program being conducted by the Granite Shoals Faith Alliance, with the support of Chick-fil-A and Lowe's. The small gatherings, with lots of fun for the kids, are designed to create cohesion in the city's neighborhoods.

With just one neighborhood involved each time, children have the bouncy castle all to themselves, and adults have time to keep an eye on them, while enjoying hot sandwiches, courtesy of Chick-fil-A.

As promised, a picnic table, painted bright turquoise appeared, compliments of Lowe's. One will stay as a neighborhood gathering place after each party as part of the national front yard revival campaign, The Turquoise Table.

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

A presentation by the Granite Shoals Faith Alliance and discussion of a new social media initiative aimed at drawing neighborhoods together captured the interest of the Granite Shoals City Council Tuesday, July 11.

“We at the Alliance have been working for the past two years to bring our city together,” said Ray Keesler of Abundant Heart Ministries. “This is a way to bring neighbors together block by block.

“We were delighted when Alan Williams of Chick-fil-A came along and offered a simple, fun way with the Know Your Neighbor program.”

Alliance members Jackie English of Christ Redeemer Church and Mike Mitchell of Granite Fellowship Church were also at the meeting where they made it clear they were supporting the new program, not an a church program, but as willing workers to bring the program together.

Local first responders will be taking advantage of plans by Panda Express to come to Marble Falls.

Training will be going on during the next several weeks in an abandoned building in the 2000 block of US 281 North, next to Chick-fil-A, so citizens don't need to be alarmed by an increase in first responder traffic there.

“The building is slated for demolition to make way for the new Panda Express,” said Marble Falls Fire Chief Russell Sander. “This provides area fire departments an excellent opportunity to train firefighters in a commercial building and practice some skills that normally require special facilities to complete.

“No actual fire will be used during this training.”

Sander made his comments in a press release to alert residents they would see increased Marble Falls Fire Rescue and other first responser activity around the building at various times.

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

At least three of the new commercial construction projects underway around Marble Falls are taking shape—the Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) Northwest Operations Center, the new Bealls store and Chick-fil-A.

PEC held a ceremonial groundbreaking March 7, 2016 for the Co-op’s Northwest Operations Center at 4302 US 281, across the highway from Resource Parkway in Marble Falls. The center, expected to open Summer 2017, was conceived after an extensive facilities study and research into growth trends throughout PEC’s service territory.

The $15 million project includes an 18,000-square-foot, two-story building in a total 27,000-square-foot facility. The central architectural feature, a massive arched roof has been taking shape at the hands of steel workers.