It’s been two years since the 2010 Census and cities in Texas are either finished with or are finishing their realignment of council districts. Houston and Dallas are done, Fort Worth and El Paso are in the final stages, and Austin and San Antonio are in the middle of their processes. San Antonio’s redistricting will most likely just involve a shifting of boundaries, primarily to accommodate the increased population growth to the north, specifically the northwest side. The same is true for most of the other districts in Texas, except for Austin. Austin is going through a much larger discussion about moving from 7 at-large districts to a different make-up, primarily focused on geographic districts but with some hybrid options offered as well. So in this discussion, you have to ask what really is the best type of city council make-up.
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Yesterday the City of San Antonio released its latest schedule of food truck locations and vendors, highlighting some of the changing dynamics of the program downtown. Gone are the City Hall Hall Annex, Hemisfair Park, and the never really started Maverick Park. Added are Main Plaza, the Weston Center, and Travis Park. The vendors seem to be the same set of vendors launched under the first round of the pilot. This pilot is expected to last through Oct. 31st when the city will evaluate it one more time. Yea, I had to put that emphasis on the the statement because it really feels like the CoSA is overanalyzing this issue. I’m beginning to wonder if this issue will get so piloted and analyzed everyone will hope it goes away, or at least the city will hope so. So why is this so hard to implement in San Antonio when other cities around the nation have active downtown food truck environments?
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What would the results be if you started teaching recycling and sustainability early in a child’s life? What if activities at the school focused on daily sustainable living? Things like recycling paper, plastics and food. Reducing consumption at every point of the school day. What if the students had their own community garden and spent time each day helping take care of that garden? What if food from the garden were a part of the daily school lunch or snacks? What if you taught the kids more about nutrition in a way they could see in concrete terms from dirt to plate? Would it be a way to change the behaviors of generations to come? Could it be a way to make sustainable living a natural part of that child’s life for years to come? Read more…
Our first day in Portland has been very interesting, especially from a transit point of view. As some may remember, we’re here to enjoy and learn from the Portland Rose Festival, a sister festival to Fiesta San Antonio. They have one of the greenest festivals in the world so we want to see how they do it and possibly carry those ideas to Fiesta Verde to get us further along. However, as you might expect from my viewpoint, I’m looking at a lot more things in Portland. For one, I’m exploring their transit system and its impact on daily life in Portland. If you look at daily boardings, it’s number four behind Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, not bad for a city the size of Portland. There has to be something behind this system to make it work so well. There are other things I want to explore such as walkability and bike activity. But transit is definitely high on the list, especially since San Antonio keeps using it as a benchmark for our proposed system. Read more…
Tomorrow a group of the Fiesta family will be traveling to Portland, OR to attend the Portland Rose Festival, a citywide festival not quite as large as Fiesta San Antonio but similar in many ways. For me, it’s both a chance to enjoy the great city of Portland and to learn how they do sustainability and recycling. You see, the Portland Rose Festival is one the greenest festivals in the nation. So when the opportunity arose this year, I jumped at it and decided to travel with the Fiesta team to Portland. Not only will I be observing but I volunteered to help with the parade clean-up, knowing the best way to learn is to get your hands dirty, literally. However, I’m starting to discover that there’s much more to this festival than just being a green one. Portland seems to have a different outlook on life and fun, in a way that really kind of makes me want to bring some of it back to San Antonio. Read more…
It’s been two years since the 2010 Census and cities in Texas are either finished with or are finishing their realignment of council districts. Houston and Dallas are done, Fort Worth and El Paso are in the final stages, and Austin and San Antonio are in the middle of their processes. San Antonio’s redistricting will most likely just involve a shifting of boundaries, primarily to accommodate the increased population growth to the north, specifically the northwest side. The same is true for most of the other districts in Texas, except for Austin. Austin is going through a much larger discussion about moving from 7 at-large districts to a different make-up, primarily focused on geographic districts but with some hybrid options offered as well. So in this discussion, you have to ask what really is the best type of city council make-up.
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