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.

Join us now as we go on the record with Randy Beamer.

Hi, everybody.

Thank you for joining us for On the Record.

I'm Randy Beamer, and this week we are starting with some good news about one of San Antonio oldest and most historic parks.

Talking about Woodlawn Lake Park here to tell us all about it.

Is Marina there?

Vito, who is district seven Council.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

This is some great news because it is.

I understand the biggest single grant for a San Antonio park ever.

Yeah.

So this is the largest federal grant that a single park in San Antonio has received in San Antonio's history.

So this is huge.

This is really big deal.

We received $3.25 million in federal funding from the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership grant.

We were one of 54 parks chosen throughout the nation.

And we are so excited to bring this to our community.

It was a partnership with, you know, my my team spearheading the efforts, but we partnered with the San Antonio Parks and Rec department.

We partnered with the San Antonio River authority, National Park Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and several local and federal elected officials.

So a lot of people know Woodlawn Lake Park and those who have been there for a number of years.

We've seen some improvements, bridges and whatnot.

But this is, I don't want to say a makeover, but a lot of new things.

Yeah.

This is this will allow us to get the upgrades that, this park desperately needs and also deserves.

You know, Woodlawn Lake is one of the most utilized parks in the city on a daily basis, and it needs some TLC.

And so we're so excited that that the community who has been asking for so many updates to the park, can now get them.

And what are some of those?

So we're talking about fishing and education.

Yeah.

Things.

Right.

So I think that the thing that the upgrade that we're most excited about is we're going to get a splash pad right by the pool.

That woodland like pool is constantly packed.

And so to have another option for people to cool down in the summer is great.

We are also going to get some terrace seating, where that where the boat dock is.

And this will be kind of stone style seating similar to what you see at the Pearl.

We're having a tree planting on December 7th.

The park is going to get 475 new trees, which we're so excited about.

A little.

Shade.

Yes, we need some shade.

I mean, Woodlawn Lake has a 1.3 mile trail, and it is used at all parts of the day.

And so to be able to provide some shade on that trail is really going to be the point.

A lot of people in San Antonio may go out there only say 4th of July.

It's the biggest city party.

And so they know the part, say by the boat dock, but maybe not as much by people don't go to the, the, education center out there as well as the pool, but those are historic.

And are those going to get some, some upgrades, right?

Yeah.

So, so with some of these major updates like the splash pad and the terrace seating, we are going to be updating, you know, the restrooms and making sure that the pool is kept up and, and all the other pieces of the park, the playgrounds are updated.

You know, like I said, it is a very heavily utilized park, constantly.

And so we need to give it some TLC.

It's not going to get and I ask you this only because of the 4th of July because it's the issue.

But parking.

That's one thing you probably won't be getting or this is related to that at this time.

Yeah that's a great question.

It will not have extra parking at the park.

We have to be bullish on the green space we have.

And so we do not want to take away any green space we have for more parking spaces.

People don't realize also how big that park is.

Yeah.

And how huge how well used it is during the year.

What, do you know what kind of fish they can find out there?

Do you ever go fishing?

Well, you know, actually, the question.

I don't know the answer.

It's a great question.

We actually just hosted our first fishing event at the casting pond that went on Lake, and we.

It was a summertime activity, and we had a great attendance, much bigger crowd than we were anticipating.

And so, it was awesome because we wanted the opportunity for kids to come out and learn how to fish, get off their devices, make some memories with their parents or grandparents, aunts and uncles.

And it was really, really well attended.

We're going to make it an annual event.

And there are other, what is it?

Ducks and geese.

There's a lot of ducks and geese, but also to, you know, San Antonio has so many beautiful birds in general.

And right now with the migration happening, you can see some pretty cool birds out there.

What's your favorite part.

Of what's on Lake?

Oh, wow.

Well, I mean, I run around it all the time, so I just I love just running and being by the water.

It's really nice.

And how would you describe it to people who haven't been there.

What do you what do you sell?

The park.

What are you.

You know, there's a lot of people were in our bubble.

Sure.

East, west, south, north side.

Yeah.

You know, I think one of the beautiful things is, is obviously the walking trail we are working right now with the city's transportation department to put a complete bike path around with on lake.

You know, right now it only has like around a 60% complete bike path.

And which drives me nuts a little bit.

But you can go right there to the alisan, trail and, and go down all the way to San Pedro Creek again, it's by the water.

It has these huge, beautiful cypress trees, which is really relaxing also too.

I mean, you get a chance to interact with wildlife.

We have dogs right now.

We have egrets, turtles and fish.

And so it's just nice for people to disconnect and, be out there for a little while with some fresh air.

We've seen, some of the other waterways in San Antonio, including the linear parks.

And the river is south of town, brought back to its natural state.

I understand that this is part of that.

There's going to be some kind of rain garden, and to get part of it back, to say what it was like when it was built.

Absolutely.

One of the top complaints that we hear from residents is we all get so frustrated when there's trash in the lake, you know, and, and so some of those rain gardens and some of the other upgrades are going to help the filtration system.

So that way the trash does not end up in our lake.

And what else are you looking forward to?

In terms of this kind of grant for the city, does this mean there will be more across the city or.

Hopefully, you know, I mean, again, this this, initiative was spearheaded by my team and we said, hey, if there's federal money on the table, we're going after it.

And so hopefully some of my other council colleagues will start looking for similar opportunities as well.

And now, obviously there are a lot of different groups in this.

Were there things targeted that you wanted that the Park Service wanted?

Who decided what was in this?

That's a great question.

You know, we actually have been working with the Woodlawn Lake Neighborhood Association, Jefferson Neighborhood Association, Monticello Neighborhood Association to say, what do you all want to see?

And this has been our laundry list for years, and so it's nice to see it finally come to life.

And the input from those other groups.

It's great to see the river authority.

We were talking before about people don't know this was built.

It was a drainage.

Project, right?

That's right.

And an important one as well.

But you have to update you.

We have to update it.

And yes, it is a drainage project, but it's also beautiful and and and again, a place where people can interact with nature and get some fresh air and, and a place for people to disconnect.

And so it needs updates and, and also to, you know, it's an urban park and it is so heavily used.

And so we need to make sure that it is well taken care of.

And there's some plaques and things out there that kind of tell what's around.

Yeah.

I mean, one of the things people don't realize is right next to the Woodland Lake Gym, there's a little plaque, on the ground, and it's it marks the center point of Bexar County right there.

Yeah.

And, yeah, it's pretty cool.

And now, briefly, I know you've been working on a lot of things now that the budget is done, but, celebratory gunfire, which is like two words you shouldn't hear together.

But that has been an issue off and on.

And so you want to deal with it?

That's right.

Yes.

One of the things that not only district seven, I partnered with Councilwoman Terry Castillo in District five, but it is a problem that we're hearing all over the city, and that is the increased amount of gunshots in neighborhoods.

Obviously, we know that it's heightened around celebrations around July 4th, around New Year's, but it is a persistent problem year around.

So, the councilwoman and I teamed up on this to really bring some awareness that that shooting guns up in the air is illegal.

That is.

When the bullets go up, they come down.

They come.

Down, hit people in San Antonio.

They have hit people.

And so one of the other things that we were seeing is that residents keep hearing the gunshots and they get so frustrated by it that they stop calling it in.

So, what we're proposing is a public service announcement to let people know when it's illegal just to be shooting guns, to the dangers of it, but also, who to contact when they are hearing, gunshots again and again so that police can target that.

Area and raising awareness.

This will be especially around the 4th of July, as you said, and New Year's coming up.

Right.

As well as the random gunfire, you hope that it brings awareness to that as well.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

And so we're just kind of tackling this problem from from multiple angles.

Are you getting a break after the budget or is it just as busy as ever?

It's just as busy as ever.

I'm not sure council members get breaks.

All right.

Yeah.

Thank you very much for your time.

District seven Councilwoman Marina Alvarez.

Thank you.

Thanks so much.

Both on the east side, at least.

Plans and hopes for that.

We have James Norton, who is the CEO of San Antonio's for growth on the east side.

Sage has been around for a while.

Thank you for joining us.

Thanks for having me, Randy.

Good to be back.

Now you've been around here for.

About six months.

Six months in January 2024.

And we talked to you a while back when you were you came in and you've had some challenges, right, right off in terms of funding as well as people understanding what you're doing and what you're trying to do.

Tell us where you are in what you want to do right now because you're expanding.

That's right, that's right.

At Sage, our mission is to promote the economic development and culture vitality of San Antonio's east side.

And so one of the things we want to do from the job is just provide clarity.

What to say to actually do we support our small businesses?

We knew that to do this work of economic development, you have to build trust in the community.

Our staff goes door to door meeting with business owners, having a conversation, getting a sense of how is business going?

What are you struggling with?

Maybe it's challenges with credit.

Perhaps the challenges with keeping their employees, or it might be anything as simple as I want to get to know my community better.

Our job as the East Side convener is to help build a relationship, understand our businesses and then support them with the services they need.

And you're growing the area that's right for serving.

Why is that?

That's right.

Traditionally, we had a service area of about 22mi² that matched the same designation that the Obama administration does.

It is the promise zone which allowed for greater federal resources.

That designation was from 2014 to 2024.

That area roughly, is what we would think of as that near.

Central east side.

Probably going from about on the Alamodome, probably up a little bit past, to about, I-35 and then on the west edge boundary, going from I-37 21 to about, 410.

Includes the, the old AT&T.

Center Alamodome.

That's exactly right.

What our community has said is now that the promise of designation is over.

We still believe that those services have to continue.

However, so many of the residents who used to live in the core East side due to issues with gentrification or affordability have moved further north, further east, further south.

But still, there's a demand for services we needed to expand because the community asked us to do it.

But as they're moving, that's the, we would think, residential issues.

Yes.

Not small business issues, but it's the same or they're related.

How is that?

They go hand in hand because every corner of our community wants the same thing that every other San Antonio wants a place to live and work and worship and play.

And so as folks are moving further east, they still want to know what are some good restaurants to go to, or am I going to go to church?

I want a venue for me, for my kids to play.

Those are all resources that we want to support, primarily by supporting our businesses.

But it's been tougher in the past year, especially because you've lost some resources for a while from the city.

There's a gap.

You're not sure what what's happened to sage in that time and for the foreseeable future?

That's exactly right.

Historically, Sage has been funded by the city of San Antonio through the General Revenue Fund.

This year, we knew there's going to be some challenges due to the budget deficit.

We recognize the city as a partner, but we also recognize you can't just depend on one funding source.

And so we've spread the love.

We are now working to look for funds from the federal government, state government, our local banks and even some of our partners and foundations right here in the community.

We've used these funds to look from right back to Eastside Community support businesses, who in turn are getting additional training, support and sometimes access to credit to be able to grow and expand their business.

A lot of people don't get out of their bubble in San Antonio, may not go to the east side, may see along, say 410 on the east side.

Industrial areas that are now included.

And how do you help those businesses that are small, local businesses?

Some aren't.

How do you help a whole different kind of business as you expand?

Well, that's a great question.

We see as a collective in that for those who live on the East.

The east side is home.

They've seen these businesses and it's a mix of small businesses manufacturing, industrial at the same time.

The East Side wants to be welcoming, inclusive.

We know that there's been a history of a false perception that perhaps East Side wasn't the place to go or it wasn't safe.

We know is that the East Side is just as safe as any other part of town.

But those perceptions have persisted for years, and that negative perception, unfortunately, has impact the commercial viability of businesses.

As a nonprofit, Sage not only focuses on the East side.

Will we do go to our friends on the North, south and west side and say, come on down.

But this is open not just to shop and spend your dollars, but also to think about making investments on the East side, growing businesses on the East side.

All right.

Well, thanks very much, James Norton, who is CEO of San Antonio, owns for growth San Antonio for growth on the east side.

Thanks.

Thanks, Randy.

Wonderful to see you again.

Good to see you.

On reporters roundtable this week, we are talking a possible Spurs arena downtown and more, as well as what the support for a project like that would be a project called Project Marble.

Here to tell us all about it is Metro editor for the San Antonio Express-News, Greg Jefferson, who is also a columnist.

That's right.

At times.

And you just recently wrote about this, and part of it was the UTSA new Center for Public Opinion Research and a poll.

Yeah.

So they released the UTSA center for Public Opinion Research, released their third poll, last week on a Monday and found pretty tepid support for, just the concept of moving, the Spurs from the Frost Bank center on the east side to downtown to HemisFair.

And we're talking to tepid.

It was, 41%, 40 oppose, 36% or so support it.

That's right.

The others didn't know or don't have an opinion.

Yeah.

That's right.

And now tell us about that Project Marvel, because you guys really.

It's.

Into it more than anybody.

It's interesting.

So we've been reporting for the last 14 months on the city's talks with the Spurs, concerning, building an arena for the NBA franchise at HemisFair.

In the course of that reporting, we learned that this is actually part of a much larger project, and it's known within City Hall by its code name.

They have code names are big pride.

Yeah, it's City Hall, it's Project Marvel.

Yeah.

So they're like at the highest levels of city government, there is a comic book nerd.

Yeah.

Right.

That's right.

Yeah.

That's right.

But so it looks, it looks to us as though a new Spurs arena would be the centerpiece of what is, like I said, this much larger project, and we know that it involves, upgrades, really significant upgrades at the Alamodome.

An expansion of the, Henry B Gonzalez Convention Center as well as the possibility.

And I think this is unlikely, but there's a possibility that the city could be pursuing a second convention center hotel.

So this would be in addition to the Grand Hyatt, which is already kind of built out of, the convention center.

And another.

Possibility.

It is a land bridge.

That's right.

Across 281.

Yeah, yeah.

The idea is, yeah, I mean, you it it and there are no specifics.

We don't know the details of where this would.

You know what exactly would it would connect.

But you know, we're talking about this.

It's kind of this nexus of activity around, you know, between in this this corner of downtown with, you know, the Alamodome on one side, the convention center on the other, and then you've got HemisFair and that at the center of that, you would have the Spurs arena.

And that would be in the area of the Institute of Texan.

That's right.

Which the site.

Yeah.

I mean, we're, we're the institute is today.

That's where the Spurs arena probably will be.

I mean, assuming, you know, the the demolition of the ITC is and stopped.

So the only thing that really makes sense in terms of a land bridge is to connect the Alamodome footprint to, to HemisFair, so that that's a pretty big land bridge.

It's big, but it would be a great thing for downtown to make it more walkable, because right now it's a little bit of a barrier there, too.

Yeah, you can make it underneath, but it would also connect maybe more to Saint Paul Square.

That's right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I mean, it's it's possible, you know, we've heard that the city is also they're not really taking anything off the table in terms of connections from the Alamodome to to HemisFair.

So, you know, they could be looking at upgrading, you know, the, you know, the the passage under to anyone what's in place now kind of beefing that up or ultimately going with the library.

And so the polling is basically about the Spurs.

Yeah.

Arena.

But for these other things you think there's more it's more of a possibility because it's more for the city in general.

That's right.

Yeah.

I mean when we say Project Marble, I mean, you know, we had we found, an email from Assistant City Manager Laurie Houston, just about 14, you know, that she wrote it about 14 months ago.

She was kind of spitballing the dollar amount for Project Marble, and it was somewhere between 3 and $4 billion, which sounds.

More.

Yeah, this is in this.

This includes, you know, in in what we were able to uncover through an open records request.

You know, this includes, some private development kind of woven around all of these city assets.

So, I mean, it really does become kind of this sports and entertainment district village, almost.

But, I mean, it's it's such a big project that it helps to kind of look at it in pieces.

So the city is absolutely going to make some really significant upgrades to the Alamodome.

I mean, if it's going to stay competitive for NCAA Final Four tournaments, it's got to do that.

So like the one we're getting is.

Exactly, exactly.

And I mean, if they don't make these upgrades, this is you know, this would be the last final for the city has.

So the city will do that.

You know, they are you know, they're facing just stepped up competition for conventions from, you know, across across the country.

But in Dallas, you're having a massive, expansion of Dallas's convention center.

Oh, yeah.

Exactly.

So the city isn't going to sit back and say, okay, well, you know, we're fine at at the square footage we have now, they're just not going to.

Does that make sense?

Not necessarily.

But the city's committed to expanding the the convention center.

So that will happen.

And those are two kind of key components of Project Marvel.

The whole thing could fall away.

There could be no Spurs arena.

But those two projects will happen.

And a lot of the, maybe tepid support is because people assume that taxpayers will pay for this as part of the move downtown, or at least part of that.

That's right.

That kind of thing.

After the Frost Bank move.

Maybe less than popular.

That's right.

Yeah.

The interesting thing about that poll is when you look at the poll question, there's no mention of how this thing would be paid for.

But I think what happened was that you know, a lot of people were responding to the poll, just kind of it's built into their thinking that public financing will be part of a new Spurs arena.

If it comes to that.

And I think that's true.

I think, I think it's extremely unlikely that the Spurs ownership group takes takes, you know, takes command of the whole arena and says, you know what?

We're good.

We're just going to pay for the whole thing.

Well, the, do you think part of that, tepid support is because at the same time, in the same poll and we're in the same era about talking about the missions baseball stadium being built downtown.

And that also got a kind of tepid support, even though technically the tax money would be from the hotel motel tax.

Yeah, it actually did.

It fared better.

The missions Stadium, which is on really on the other side of downtown.

It's in the northwest corner of downtown.

It actually fared a little better in the point.

I think that's because of the way it was financed.

You know, you can there's a there's always going to be a philosophical debate about whether or political debate about whether the city should ever, assist, you know, you know, wealthy team owner to build new stadium or new basketball arena, that's one thing.

But if the city has committed to doing that, it's like, okay, the deal we have, is it fair to taxpayers?

And I think you can look at the missions, the missions agreement, which is really pegged to the start of private development.

Not just the bedrock Stadium.

Yeah.

So development of all kinds.

Yeah.

The important thing about the missions, the missions deal with the city is that the Weston Urban downtown development group, they're, their owners are missions owners, and they are going to, you know, they've committed to building a lot of, you know, private, private development around the stadium and, not not a single dollar in bond proceeds.

Will they get if they don't start actual development around the stadium?

And it's maybe a different thing.

Again, this is spitballing on the Project Marvel because a lot of it is unknown, I think, even to the city.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

I mean, about a year ago, the city was, they were preparing to hire a firm just to figure out how much this would cost.

Yeah, just to come up with a workable estimate.

Do you think that's why we haven't heard as much about it yet?

Because it is.

It's so quiet.

It is.

It's impossible to say.

I mean, we we just don't know, because part of a big part of the city's approach to Project Marvel is to put everybody involved under non-disclosure agreements, which I think is a really odious thing that the city has done here.

And they've done this so that none of the parties involved and we're talking about private developers, real estate firms, real estate consultants, engineering firms, they're unable to share any information, provide any information about this project at all.

You get the sense that the city just wants to have everything totally wrapped up.

And then and then and then once every every eye is is dotted and every cross, then the city will graciously present the project to the to the community when they.

So that way the polling will be accurate, at least for like a month.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well you can find out more about that in, his column, Greg Jefferson columnist, as well as Metro editor, the San Antonio Express-News.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Oh, thank you.

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

You can catch this show again and tell other people about it.

You can watch previous shows.

You can also download the podcast.

Just go to KLRN.org I'm Randy Beamer and we'll see you next time.

On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele Dufilho