On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele Dufilho San Antonio is a fast growing, fast moving city with something new happening every day.

That's why each week we go on the record with Randy Beamer and the newsmakers who are driving this change.

Then we gather at the Reporters Roundtable to talk about the latest news stories with the journalist behind those stories.

Joining us now as we go on the Record with Randy Beamer.

Hi, everybody, and thank you for joining us for this edition of On the Record.

I'm Randy Beamer.

And this week, we're going to talk about all things development in San Antonio, as well as looking into real estate and what could be a big change in that industry here as well as across the country.

But first, we are going to get an update on a headline You have seen recently about the Frost Bank Center and the Spurs possibly moving downtown and what that would mean to the Frost Bank Center and that area of the east side.

The man to answer all those questions, maybe clear up some confusion about it, is county commissioner for Precinct four, Tommy Calvert.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Happy holidays.

Glad to be here.

First of all, what are you know, what's behind the headline in terms of whether Judge Sacchi has talked to the Spurs about moving downtown or whether you have talked to different people about what that would mean because it's in your district to the East side and the Alamodome or the Alamo Dome, the Frost Bank Center, as well as downtown, because you also represent downtown as well.

So tell us what's really going on.

How much talk has there been?

Because the Spurs are still going to be there, at least the the lease is, what, nine, 2032?

That's right.

And you expect them to be there in that whole lease?

Yes, we do.

So, you know, we see ourselves as partners and we want to be helpful in thinking about what the future is with the Spurs going forward.

We know that they are part of the soul of this city and the thing we're trying to prevent is a Las Vegas billionaire coming in and trying to take our team to Las Vegas or some other big place.

And so we're going to be cooperative partners and so I represent both downtown and the east side.

And I think we haven't had I mean, for all of us, I think it's quite early.

And sometimes we feel as if the press is getting clickbait on a slow news day because we had not them because it is nine years away.

You'll have a new mayor, you'll have a new city manager, you'll have a new commissioners court.

So it is quite premature.

Some people might see the headline and think, well, the Spurs have talked to Eric Los, they've talked to Sky yourself that they're looking to do to get out of that lease before 2032.

That's not the case.

I think they're looking at their options and I think, you know, there are a variety of options that are on the table for them.

And so they've got to kind of figure out, you know, where does the chess play?

And for us at the county, we're not going to say a whole lot about it because it doesn't make sense until we really have some concrete proposals.

We can we can think and we can do some projections and in terms of finances and so on and so forth.

But those conversations, I think without the community input, are going to fail in terms of the economic development to get community support for what likely would be public money for a $1 billion project downtown to replace the Prospect Center.

Do they have to strike while the iron is hot and one banana?

You would think the next couple of years it's going to be the hottest iron they could get right now and that they will use that leverage to push for money now rather than later and to build it now.

The Frost Bank Center was built with the communities money through the venue tax and it is a community arena venue.

So the first loyalty is about a long term investment and the kind of amenities that we will have in our community.

And we need places for concerts and ballgames and different events as an arena would have.

So, you know, let's just think about it in a level way that these are the kinds of things we will have as a, you know, one of the largest counties in the United States.

But I think going forward, we have to bring in the local community to deal with the traffic issues that are going on.

It is completely incorrect that economic development isn't happening on the east side.

It's happening everywhere but around the Coliseum.

And that's because the traffic pattern put together by APD puts cones that puts you out like you're at a hazmat event.

Unfortunately, people cannot get to the restaurants and bars nearby.

George Gervin himself told me he has a restaurant in the Willow Springs Golf course.

He said, Tommy, nobody could get to my restaurant because the cones and the sapd pushing people away.

We have small business people at the A&E across the street who want to have coffee shops and restaurants and bars.

I've put $500,000 in this budget for a business accelerator for restaurants and bars, for the restaurants that have endured through the years of crime and blight.

And the lack of economic people might think, okay, they come off by 35, they go down AT&T Center Parkway.

If it's still a call that and there's not much as they see except for parking to the right, maybe some industrial and industrial to the left as well as a golf course, there is more than that that they're not seeing that they could turn off of if they didn't.

Well, yeah, I mean, they can't literally get there because the cones block you from getting into, you know, ball hogs, barbecue restaurant or George Garbanzo place or the Indy which has restaurants and some of these are coffee shops of the AT&T they're in every direction.

And so you don't have that in the Victory Park where the Dallas Mavericks play.

You don't have that in Las Vegas, which is where the strip is.

And the sphere is 18,000 and U2 plays.

I just went there, took some video, and you don't have the kind of directional coning away of the area like you're at a hazmat event like you do in San Antonio.

I don't even think you have it at the Alamo Dome, quite frankly.

And you don't have it at the the the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

You have like 24 restaurants, bars and the Grammy Museum and hotels in that area.

And as you know, that area is less dense.

So I think the first way to get economic development is to stop the blockade of traffic so that people can meander in the neighborhood.

So you want to get that development going now, no matter what happens eventually to the prospect?

Well, the first thing you expected that in 2032, it won't be home to the Spurs in in a week I'll have a meeting with the Councilperson and the state rep to brief them.

And it's not only about getting the traffic cones removed by LAPD, but it's also about we have to begin to think about what might happen if they move downtown.

And and so we're going to have our own plan and it's going to be community centered and we're going to have certain things that we you know, I don't think we want like an Astrodome carcass left over.

I think that's one of the starts.

But the coliseum grounds is 180 acres, and we would certainly make a lot of revenue at the county off that hundred and 80 acres.

But I think there's also still a great shot at the Spurs staying there, because when you take the Willow Springs golf course out of the floodplain, you then have 400 acres of green space between the Coliseum and Bredbury mansion that could have hotels, restaurants.

And if you take it out of the floodplain with an $80 million tunnel for a plan, I have called it would be a tunnel, go through there and then that land would be used for the waters.

That's correct.

It would be it would be usable and developable.

And I've offered the ownership of the Spurs first dibs at that.

So we haven't left that particular conversation yet.

I think they need time to weigh it.

One of the things we going to have to do is fair tax policy.

I don't believe that gentrification and rising tax rates should force people who are good residents of the Eastside out of the neighborhood.

And that's one of the reasons why I put I had the opportunity to begin that tunnel right away, but we didn't have the right tax proper tax policy in place to protect the residents.

I think we can do something with Hart in terms of development and and not just push people out by higher taxes.

And I think the Spurs could be a part of that.

How far away is that?

How would that be funded?

An $80 million tunnel?

Yeah.

So we have a capital improvement program at the county.

There's also the bonds coming up for the city of San Antonio in the future.

So it would be, I think, dual effort, but I think we also have to to look at other other options that they're weighing.

And and we do want to keep the spurs in San Antonio.

So we're going to be good partners.

And you have talked to County Judge Peter Sacchi.

Some of the stories when I when I heard that you haven't when I talked to the judge, he didn't the impression I had was this story was ahead of its skis.

And so we actually went to the Coliseum and talked to, you know, talked about thinking about a variety of options and so we did that together.

So I don't know if the paper just was kind of ignoring my leadership in that meeting or I don't really know.

And we're not probably going to find out as much as we would like to in terms of the public, because some of it you say is negotiations, and that has to be done kind of behind closed doors.

Well, first of all, people hear that and they go, wait a minute, I want to know what's going on.

First of all, under the law, we have a contract with the Coliseum, obviously with the Spurs.

And so when you start doing things on the side, that's called tortuous interference.

And we know where the courthouse is.

So we don't want to get into that.

We want to honor the contract and we want to know what our options are, but we don't want our contract interfered with.

So I think that we will have a very healthy, good spirited conversation.

We don't blink an eye with respect to the enhancements, but I think they could be in a variety of places.

But I obviously would love to see the economic development that was promised finally realized.

And that's why we're putting in things like the accelerator.

And that's why I have I have been the bootleg developer of the East Side, getting it to change for the better.

But we still have to get fair tax.

But do you have to have development on the east side in around the Prospect Center happened before you could get public buy in for any public money for a downtown?

I think.

I think I think it should work that way.

I think that is a very logical thing that if you're if you're if you're thinking about going downtown, if you're the Spurs from a political standpoint, they need to work with us on getting those cones removed with the APD, and they need to help the small businesses in the area and hire people from the area.

What's next?

What's the timeline?

We're about out of time here.

But in terms of what we're going to hear about officially with you, the Spurs downtown businesses, real estate, I think what's next is the business accelerator for restaurants and bars at the A&E.

And I think several years down the road, we begin to really more concrete when we really kind of know what the leadership's going to look like at the city and the county in about three years time.

I think it's when those conversations get a little bit more cute.

Well, thanks very much.

Keep us up to date on whether or not it's I don't want to say clickbait, but all the stories involving the Spurs, the Frost Bank Center, how many times can we get that?

We'll keep it real.

You got it.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

Commissioner, Precinct four.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Now we're going to talk business all around San Antonio and a group that you've heard about for a long, long time that is kind of retooling its branding and what it is going to do for San Antonio for all of us.

Joining us to talk about that now is the brand new president and CEO of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, Jeff Webster.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Glad to be here.

And I should mention, former city councilman years ago, nine years ago, District ten, as well as you've worked for a number of engineering firms, you are part of the Mobility Council of San Antonio.

And tell us about the difference now.

The Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce used to be named that up until about ten, 11 years ago dropped the greater.

Now it brought the greater back.

What's the new focus of the greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce?

A lot of changes in different changes here.

No, You know, there's been a lot of changes in the chamber world here in San Antonio, period.

But the Greater San Antonio Chamber really is kind of what's old is new, and what's new is old was the phrase I would kind of apply to it.

We're doing the things we've always done or we're just going to brand it back to what we were doing.

There's a phrase the greater chamber head, which I always loved, is we're doing things that other people think just happen.

And what I mean by that is sometimes you don't have to worry about who gets credit or what you're doing.

It's doing things on the betterment of our business community, the betterment of our city, trying not to make sure that the elected officials create impediments to success and economic growth here in our community.

And there are all these changes in San Antonio area chambers, the South and West Chamber.

They combine into South Texas.

I'm not sure even the name in Austin, one of their part of their chamber split off there is also now greater ATX, which is not a chamber, which is probably confusing here for a lot of you.

Why so many changes to chambers and why do you need to retool it?

What was it missing?

When you look at Chambers of Commerce has always been the question what's the relevancy today?

And I think that's a very fair question.

Things have changed of how the communication of message used to be done with the chambers.

It was always in a breakfast or a coffee.

Now, these things were done in breakfasts and coffees at City Hall, the county commissioners office.

The new element is social media.

What do you communicating on social media?

So many of our young entrepreneurs get their news and information off social media, and I think a lot of the chambers of business organizations have missed that element.

The rise of young entrepreneurs, free enterprise, new businesses, it's exploding.

So one of the misconceptions that some of those potential members have, as well as the rest of us about Chambers of commerce, what you do and what you don't do.

Well, I'll give an example.

Just this week, CPS is doing the rate increase conversation.

So we've been working with CPS and the city behind the scenes talking about excess revenues at the city, how that gets spent in the future.

This rate increase, that the commitments will be toward resiliency and investment and making sure we all had that wonderful winter storm a few years ago.

We don't have those same experiences and trying to make sure that our utility here has appropriate investments to protect us and protect the resiliency for what we need.

Now, that works for us as a consumer.

It also works for our business community.

When Greater SAT and Gina and her team are out recruiting businesses to come to San Antonio, John is the head of the Greater Genesee to that.

They're able to talk about surety, surety of power, surety of resiliency, of power.

We've got Robert Quintin Sauls.

What they're doing at this rate increase is trying to make sure I mean, CPS is trying to make sure our resiliency saw the some things with Vista Ridge surety of water.

We are a growing community, but if we're not protecting at the core water and power, we're going to have problems.

There are some still some groups here.

You still have the greater Senate or yes, San Antonio Hispanic Chamber and the North San Antonio Chamber, which was there were talks to merge that group into yours.

But they said no, they wanted to stay focused on what they were doing.

They have 1200 members and they wanted to be more of a main street business.

How do you see yourselves different than those groups?

Well, you know, it's an interesting combination.

I've been involved over the years with virtually every one, you know, Hispanic chamber.

I've been involved the greater chamber have been involved in the North Chamber, and they're all just a little bit different.

And the greater chamber historically has been the leader and out front on the big issues, the big tactics.

We've got a great mix of small businesses, medium and large businesses here, our community.

But given the history, I would I would love you.

I should bring it sometime.

The pictures you go down the hallway back into the 1800s with the chamber.

This chamber has been leading the way for a long time.

I think the historical nature of the North Chamber started really to advocate for the medical foundation area, the medical medical city, part of town over there on the Hill.

And is expanded.

And they do a great job.

And I wouldn't have been involved if it didn't.

But we're really tackling every day the big issues and protecting what's happening with our city and the county.

It's great to have partners like our North Chamber and Hispanic chamber and the Asian chamber.

There's several chambers and somewhat, I would call it no different from all the school districts we have in town.

And nationally.

Some of the same things are happening, but also some, I guess you would say, of the MAGA.

Republicans, even here in Bear County, have have really disparate as Republicans, as chamber Republicans, almost like running those Republicans and saying that that is not a good thing.

You know, they look down on that.

What would you tell people who who have heard, oh, they're chamber Republicans, which isn't what we used to hear.

It used to be establishment business, whether or not it was a Republican or not.

Right.

CHAMBER Well, you know, I think that's always thought it was an interesting kind of analogy because when I talk to folks and you ask them, do you like having a job in San Antonio, do you like our quality of life in San Antonio?

Do you like our security of power and water?

You know, the biggest thing we've got, San Antonio, is our quality of life.

We are different.

If you take the top ten largest cities, the quality of life we have is very different.

This is such a family oriented town and I think to apply to, say, the Mogga group.

Well, I would ask you, are are you against making things better or are you against public safety or are you against the growth and the jobs for that next generation?

You know, the chambers here try and create a place for businesses to grow our community, to grow a safe community.

And we're going to do those things.

And I don't think it's ties into either party.

We've got involvement in our chamber from both parties and the changes is being evolving and being part of example, the social media side of it.

That's not traditional chamber area and sharing those messages in our stand, you got, you know, 180 words or you got 3 minutes on a reel and those kind of things to communicate a message.

Before we started talking on camera here, you were saying that one of the things that you do and is not just to maybe point the city in the right direction, but to keep them from doing dumb things.

I think that was how you put it.

Tell us about that.

Well, you know, as a former elected official, I can I can say sometimes the city with good intention or a county or even a federal agency comes with rules and regulations that don't always wind up with good outcomes.

The intent was good.

It was to prevent or help.

But then also that came with long delays in getting permits cost and getting permits, losing projects because you're difficult to do business with.

There are communities in Texas that have a hard time growing because their city or county is very difficult to do.

Business with.

We don't want to be that community.

We're not going to lay down, but we don't want to be.

And finally, real quick, are you going to get into issues like whether the Spurs should move from the AT&T or Frost Center to downtown, if there should be tax money in that kind of thing?

Absolutely.

We'll be involved in all the big subjects here in town because it's important, because it's about economic development.

When I was wrapping up my career at city Hall, the councilman was right as the new arena conversation was happening.

So I've been involved in this for the last 20 some odd years, so I understand what that development means to downtown or the north side or the south.

Deja vu all over.

It is deja vu, but it's about economic development.

It's the quality of life for the Spurs, the economic development.

Well, good luck with all that.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Jeff Webster, new president and CEO of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.

Thanks.

Thanks, Randi.

Appreciate it.

On Reporters roundtable this week, we're talking some potential changes in the real estate industry after a big lawsuit and now some copycat lawsuits targeting some people in San Antonio.

Joining us to tell us all about that is Madison Esler, staff writer for the San Antonio Express-News, focusing on business.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Now, you wrote this story recently on the National Association of Realtors being sued and a big judgment against them that I guess, is kind of on hold, 1.8 billion and then some copycat lawsuits.

Tell us about that and how it could affect could down the road affect San Antonio?

Yes.

So in the wake of this big 1.8 billion verdict against the National Association of Realtors, two sellers in north Texas have filed a pretty similar lawsuit against the San Antonio Board of Realtors and a bunch of other real estate associations and brokerages here in Texas.

And the crux of that lawsuit is really a long standing practice involving sellers paying the commissions of both buyers, agents and sellers at 3% each.

So you have 6%.

That's kind of standard has been standard.

And they say these days, especially with the web, you can find a seller you shouldn't have to pay.

Yes, they're saying they're paying too much and that these real estate groups and brokerages have essentially conspired to inflate what they're paying.

They say in a more competitive market wouldn't be paying as much.

And also that they feel pressured to accept higher commission out of concern that perhaps buyers brokers might not show their houses to clients, which of course, would affect their ability to sell their home.

And when people here headline $1.8 billion against national Association of Realtors, it's basically on hold right now.

Yes, the lawsuit here in Texas is working its way through the court.

Yes, exactly.

Yes.

The 1.8 billion verdict could potentially triple, but they are appealing it, as are some of the other defendants.

And so it remains to be seen how things will shake out.

But it could have quite a few effects on the industry.

There are concerns among buyers, sellers and agents just about what this will mean for typical practices.

And one of the defendants here is a San Antonio Board of Realtors, as well as some specific individual realtors realty companies.

Yes, that's correct.

Yes.

The San Antonio Board of Realtors hasn't commented yet on the case.

They've said they're still reviewing it.

But another defendant in the case is essentially the same group in Dallas, Fort Worth.

And they have said we agree with any practices.

We think that this benefits buyers and sellers and they've basically told their members, you need to explain how these transactions.

Well, that's the thing.

What are their arguments in defense of the practice?

They say that the way that this is structured benefits both the buyer side and the seller side because there are services that both are getting in this transaction.

And they also point out 6% is standard, but it's negotiable here in Texas.

It doesn't have to be 6%, but that is the typical structure.

And on the other side, the arguments now with more people involved in the Web and being able to find things on the Web, that argument is, yes, we shouldn't have to pay because I as a buyer, don't need a representative.

Yes.

Yes.

Because a lot of buyers are doing at least some of the work themselves.

Agents, of course, argue against that and say, well, we provide a lot of services from negotiating with sellers or buyers, depending on which side they're on, to dealing with things that might come up in the buying or selling process, title issues or showings or the like.

But a lot of buyers are handling that on their own.

And so one of the facts of this case, depending on how it shakes out, is that more buyers could forgo representation and negotiate themselves or commissions could be lower.

This doesn't really have anything to do with what you hear sometimes from realtors as they want to emphasize that name, that they have to go through an accreditation process, whereas others called real estate agents.

People who aren't don't have that accreditation are different, but they get the same generally that same 3% and 3%.

Yes, that's correct.

So it would affect them.

But there's really no difference between those.

They're suing the realtors, basically, they're suing the real estate groups and brokerages, not the individual realtors, but the real estate groups and brokerage.

Do you have any idea of the timeline of this kind of lawsuit, how long it would take to work, how long that 1.8 billion would be actually levied against a neighbor and how that would shake out.

It's unclear at this point with the 1.8 billion verdict how long that appeals process will take and with a local case, too, that's still very much winding its way through the courts.

And some of the agents I've talked to have said that because of that, they're basically in a wait and see type of position.

So as you're keeping an eye on this, you also have a story recently about Toyota and what's going on.

A little controversy around the Toyota plant in south San Antonio.

Tell us about that.

Yes, a landowner on the south side near Toyota's plant is suing both the city and Toyota essentially over development around the plant.

A 2003 agreement that Toyota and the city hashed out involves a buffer zone, a three mile buffer zone around the plant that essentially discourages residential development and other uses that Toyota might deem incompatible with its plant.

This land owner wants to sell part of his land to a developer to build affordable housing.

But the city said, no, you can't rezone your land to allow for that development.

They want suppliers or they have always reserved that area.

Thought of that as having suppliers because their just in time philosophy is having suppliers just in time.

That's why they want want them there, right?

Yes, Yes.

There are quite a few suppliers around Toyota's plant, but single family homes have also been built within that buffer zone, actually by this landowner.

And so his contention is that this basically this agreement basically gives Toyota veto power over what can be developed around the plant.

And he's saying, I would like to build this at a time when the need for affordable housing is really increasing in San Antonio.

Well, we can read all about it.

Madison is later in the San Antonio Express-News, staff writer who focuses on business.

Thank you very much.

And before we leave, we also wanted to congratulate one of our own right here and call in on the crew, Mauro Castro, who is also the winner of three Latin Grammy Awards.

Congratulations.

Wow.

Okay, Now don't don't get too big ahead now that you have won the Latin Grammys.

Congratulations to Muro Castro.

And thank you very much for joining us for this edition of On the Record.

You can see the show again or any shows always.

You can download the podcast at KLRN.org And we'll see you next time on the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele.

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