Sunday, when I was wading through my feeds, I found an interesting one from a fellow blogger, Charles Kuffner in Houston, highlighting an NPR story about SAWS water conservation and reclamation efforts. Charles didn’t say much in his piece but ended it with an interesting point about how San Antonio has taken an adverse situation and made the best of it. “The point here is that while San Antonio’s population has been growing, the amount of water available to it is finite. Either you make the best use of what you have, or you suffer for it. San Antonio’s good choices mean that the city can continue to grow and prosper,” said Kuffner. He’s right about how our city, specifically SAWS, seems to be taking some very critical steps to make sure that even in drought conditions our water source will never be compromised. That’s a key thing employers consider when evaluating new business locations. If the water system is ever in question then business operations will most likely be disrupted. So how do these efforts stack up in the overall picture?
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How fitting that on the three days prior to the big announcement about new energy we’ve had record-breaking heat and sun. Yes, today San Antonio seemed to be on the cusp of a new era in the city’s economy. As CPS CEO Doyle Beneby and Mayor Julian Castro took the stage opposite each other, they were flanked by executives from five new energy companies who not only announced new initiatives and investments for San Antonio’s energy economy but the exciting news that three were relocating their headquarters to San Antonio. As Mayor Castro said in his remarks “We make announcements today that truly define the nexus between sustainability and job creation.” So what’s in this brighter and greener future for San Antonio?
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Small businesses make up a large part of the business environment in America, representing over 99.7% of all employer firms and employing over half of all private sector jobs according to the Small Business Administration. Small businesses are just about everywhere you look, from consulting firms to taco stands. So, with such a substantial footprint in America, how green are these small businesses? In reality, probably not very green since small businesses don’t have the capital to invest in green or sustainable technologies. In many cases, small businesses are working hard to meet payroll and try to expand the business. After all, most small businesses are the first step to bigger things for their owners. But are there options for a small business to “go green” and is it worth it?
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Today was a pretty cool day. One of those days where there’s really no agenda or plan, just kicking back with a friend taking in what comes at you. It was a Ferris Bueller Day in my terms. In fact, short of the 1961 Ferrari 250GT Spyder California (Cameron: Less than a hundred were made. My father spent three years restoring this car. It is his love, it is his passion. Ferris: It is his fault he didn’t lock the garage.) you could say it had all the trappings. You need these kind of days. They re-energize the soul, albeit in a strange, chaotic manner. But even in the agenda-free experience things are gleaned which still connect you with the community around you, possibly even more than a planned outing. So where was my Wrigley Field, my Sears Tower, my “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte?” Read more…
Today was the last public forum for SA2020, Mayor Julian Castro’s long-range planning exercise to help shape the future of San Antonio. About 1,000 people gathered at the TriPoint YMCA this morning, giving up a Saturday morning to help finish the process. During the past four months over 4,000 people have come to various public venues to define a vision, establish measures and map out a path to helping San Antonio build a brighter future. Today was about commitment and identifying who could help implement that vision as the process moves deeper into the community. So what did we experience over the past four months? Read more…
This Saturday the last public forum for SA2020 will be held at the TriPoint YMCA starting at 8:30 a.m. If you’d like to be a part of this important forum you can register to attend at the SA2020 website. So far the public has participated in four public forums with capacity crowds at every one of the forums held in various parts of the city. People from all ages, races, economic and cultural backgrounds, and business interests have engaged in group dialogue to help shape the future of San Antonio. Every session has been productive with everyone’s voices heard and documented. Now it’s time to finish the job by “bringing it all together” as the SA2020 website states.
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On Saturday the city came out in big numbers to help kick off SA2020, the long range planning effort initiated by the Mayor’s office. It’s an opportunity for San Antonio to plot out a course for its future and what it would like to look like in the year 2020. It’s an ambitious effort and is pulling together people from across San Antonio to help shape that vision. From city leaders to students people gave up a Saturday morning to come listen to speeches and brainstorm about what they would change in San Antonio, what they would keep, and what they would like. Based on the participation and ideas San Antonio is ready to shape itself into a world class city. Read more…
In two weeks San Antonio will begin the process of planning for the city’s future with the kickoff of SA 2020. It’s an initiative being led by Mayor Julian Castro and involving many of our city’s leaders. But what makes it even more important is that it will also involve the citizens of San Antonio in helping shape the direction of San Antonio for the next 10-15 years. This will be an exciting six month journey as we come together as a city, bring our ideas and dreams for what we want San Antonio to look like in a decade and beyond. It’s a chance to help shape one of the fast growing major cities in the nation into an even greater place to live and work. Read more…
This past weekend the Express-News wrote about the possible demise of the River North Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 27, the TIRZ set up to help fund infrastructure improvements within an area that straddles the recently developed Museum Reach of the San Antonio River. The purpose of the TIRZ was to channel any property tax increases resulting from redevelopment in the area back into the area to help improve streets, drainage, and other infrastructure elements. However, the management of the TIRZ and the lack of any redevelopment may have resulted in a situation that questions the effectiveness of it. So does this mean River North may be just a good idea without any chance of redevelopment? Read more…
Today I happened to notice on Ben Olivo’s Downtown Blog an entry with a video of the construction of The Vistana, a time lapse series of photos taken by the webcam perched on the roof of the Christus Santa Rosa Hospital. It’s a great view of how this building that has been lauded as a new start of urban core development came to be, sitting on a half block of property across from Milam Park. At this point the building is at about 96% occupancy and is growing into its own community of urban dwellers, a collection of doctors, lawyers, government employees, military personnel, downtown business owners, and just plain old folks looking to take advantage of living in the urban core. But it’s also a vision of what could be downtown. Read more…
Today Scott Stroud wrote in his column in the Express-News about how Mayor Julian Castro is facing big challenges barely into his first year in office. First Castro is faced with the decision over CPS’s future investment in the South Texas Nuclear Project, an issue that has been controversial since it was first introduced by CPS. In a time when San Antonio is experiencing strong growth making sure there will be a reliable energy source for the future has created the need for a critical decision. Now, after meeting with the Express-News editorial board, Castro appears ready to take on the next infrastructure need of the city – water. But these aren’t the only issues Castro is ready to tackle. High on his list are transportation, education, and development of the urban core of the city. So will Castro’s legacy as mayor be investments in San Antonio’s infrastructure? Read more…
This morning I woke up to a Facebook wall post from Mayor Julian Castro saying “It’s been 25 years since Target ’90, the last time San Antonians came together to answer the question, ‘What kind of city do we want to be?’ It’s time to envision our city’s future together again–and to act on it.” Wow, he’s a busy mayor. You see, he had just spent 5 hours the night before listening to public citizen commentary about the CPS’s planned expansion of the STNP. Oh, did I mention that message came in around 6 a.m. this morning? Yes, we have an active and engaged mayor. What is interesting is that this very idea is what essentially kicked his campaign off over a year ago through an editorial piece in the Express-News. But how do we get a plan after 20 years? Read more…
Monday as I was scanning media around Texas I found an interesting article at the Austin American-Statesman regarding the problem facing the poor and elderly as a result of Austin’s decision to fore go further investment in STNP and opt for renewable energy. It appears that after the cost figures were calculated based on the decision that Austin’s poor and elderly would have a hard time paying their utility bills due to the expected cost increases. Advocates for the low-income residents have been in discussions with Austin Energy to try to plan for how to meet the needs. “We help a lot of people who can barely afford to keep the lights on now,” said Ron Walker, chancellor for the Catholic Diocese of Austin, which calculates electric bills could rise 50 percent in the next five years. What if San Antonio drops investment in STNP? What would happen to our low-income residents and who would pick up the costs? Read more…
Sunday I returned from Netroots Nation 2009 held this year in Pittsburgh at the Lawrence Convention Center. It was my first visit to the Steel City and I can attest it really should consider changing its name to Phoenix since it has risen from the ashes of the bust in the steel industry. Pittsburgh really is a model city for others in America who are wrestling with the changing economy. Looking out across the Allegheny River towards the northern shores I regularly saw people rowing on a river that once was so polluted that it only supported a few species of fish. Now the three rivers of Pittsburgh are models of recovery as is the city. But how did it change its course in history? Read more…
Today in the Express-News Jan Jarboe Russell wrote a great op-ed piece on recent news that Mayor Julian Castro had suggested a reduced investment in the South Texas Project, the nuclear generating facility located at Bay City, Texas of which San Antonio currentlly has a 40% investment in. In the piece Russell says that reducing our investment gives San Antonio more flexibility in terms of its energy portfolio and financial feasiblity. “In terms of the city-wide dialogue, we need to make sure that investments in nuclear and renewable sources in solar and wind not only work for CPS Energy’s bottom-line but also for the city’s long-term economic vitality — in other words, the city’s bottom-line,” said Russell. This makes a lot of business sense with regards to San Antonio’s energy future. Read more…
Sunday, when I was wading through my feeds, I found an interesting one from a fellow blogger, Charles Kuffner in Houston, highlighting an NPR story about SAWS water conservation and reclamation efforts. Charles didn’t say much in his piece but ended it with an interesting point about how San Antonio has taken an adverse situation and made the best of it. “The point here is that while San Antonio’s population has been growing, the amount of water available to it is finite. Either you make the best use of what you have, or you suffer for it. San Antonio’s good choices mean that the city can continue to grow and prosper,” said Kuffner. He’s right about how our city, specifically SAWS, seems to be taking some very critical steps to make sure that even in drought conditions our water source will never be compromised. That’s a key thing employers consider when evaluating new business locations. If the water system is ever in question then business operations will most likely be disrupted. So how do these efforts stack up in the overall picture?
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