The astounding Neon Night-Rider and the return of the web

I’ve considered doing a new series just highlighting some of the things happening in while we undergo some growing pains in San Antonio, Texas. This is mostly a positive response to negative feedback on San Antonio, and similarly some positive feedback and commentary on potential problems and concepts to consider. I would like to regularly do this, so I’m starting today.

Today I noticed someone who reached my site by searching an interesting query on when/if Austin is expected to surpass San Antonio in population, which led to my San Antonio vs. Austin article. I tried to dig around more on that subject and couldn’t find hints at it. However, it’s a very real reality that Austin metropolitan area will beat San Antonio’s metropolitan area because of a prevailing attitude in the city to annex and reduce suburban control. Although my belief is that San Antonio is so centered on annexation is simply for increasing revenue, it would be hard to argue that this motive doesn’t preface the other issue of a lack of suburbs, and many of the suburbs we have are landlocked or void of any development curbing growth outside the city proper. Unless you were to go to Schertz or New Braunfels, you won’t see many suburbs over 10,000 people here. That said, it’ll be a challenge for San Antonio metro to grow as quickly as Austin, though the respective city propers are not at all close in population.

But what I would especially like to touch on is this stigma of San Antonio being the poor city. It’s easy to believe that when San Antonio is the hub for South Texas, which is markedly different from Central Texas, North Texas, and parts of the Gulf Coast (Houston). And in my personal life lately has put me on roadways like Interstate 35, 410 East near US 87 (Rigsby Avenue), so I drive through many of the unpleasant areas of town. I do see some bit of change going on, but I’d like to see gentrification efforts continue on the Eastside, and a new kind of master-planned community further east. Most of the eastern portions of San Antonio are grossly undeveloped, and, honestly, nobody has said anything about the area being scenic, so I don’t see any reason for it to remain undeveloped.

Why do I mention this? Well, there are a few existing municipalities that are not San Antonio in this area, so suburban growth can occur while the city itself can also jump in. Also, I’d say most people are growing tired of the cookie-cutter subdivisions that pop up all the time. For a place to gain a young population, a neighborhood of townhomes would be great. And townhomes of the same quality as many homes, but with that East Coast feel to it. Additionally, much of the prosperity of the city lies within two things: business and humans as resources. If we retained the educated population, it would be easier to capitalize on cultural activities that residents often complain they can’t find. While the Southeast side is pretty far from most major area universities, I still believe it’s possible to utilize this rural section. Another good thing is that both I-10 and 410 in this area are easy to expand as far as highways go if we consider right-of-way. Traffic is minor but growing, and this will facilitate an already existing long-term plan to expand I-10 to Seguin.

I’ll add more to this throughout the day.

Tags: economic development, observations, san antonio, urban planning, urban strategies

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