Char Miller wrote a guest commentary that appeared in Sept. 18 Southside Reporter. It discusses the city's failed efforts to revitalize the East Side. The commentary centers on the expansion of Fort Sam Houston and how its growth could affect the East Side. I have reprinted some of it here:
"Something called the Fort Sam Houston Growth and Mission Expansion project (recently )cropped up; former San Antonio Mayor Howard Peak called it a “bold concept,” a beguiling mix of improvements in transportation, housing, and commerce.
But (East Side) residents have heard such promises before; they’ve watched as one loudly touted project after another has failed to deliver on its potential. They have good reason to feel like a forgotten people inhabiting a neglected landscape.
When mayors and on occasion county judges have needed space to construct a monument to their civic ambitions, suddenly the East Side is the perfect locale.
Former Mayor Henry Cisneros decided to build the Alamodome on a large tract just east of Interstate 37.
To secure much-needed votes for project funding, Cisneros championed the stadium as panacea for the east-side ailments. He said it would generate lots of jobs in service-related developments that would boost the area’s economy.
It did no such thing; the surrounding streetscape was flattened for parking lots but little else came of the venture.
That failure did not stop Bexar County from making the same claims when it launched a bond election to pay for the East Side AT&T Center.
Its commissioners trumpeted how this facility would generate new work, better housing, and stronger schools. Wrong again: Once more a stand-alone structure with massive parking lots produced no real growth, no enduring change."
Miller teaches at Trinity University, and is a visiting professor of environmental analysis and history at Pomona College in California. He is also the author of "Deep in the Heart of San Antonio: Land and Life in South Texas."
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