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, and thank you for joining us for On the Record.

I'm Randy Beamer, and this week we are starting with the story of a development, controversial development just outside the city limits of the northwest of the city.

That would mean a wastewater treatment plant over the Edwards Aquifer, not the recharge zone, but the contributing zone.

Here to join us to talk about that is Marina Nieto, who is district seven councilwoman.

Thanks for coming in.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

First of all, this development, Guadalupe, the ranch has been in the news before, but now, as a councilwoman.

What?

Where are you in the process now of either, dealing with it and improving it or voting down what you can of it?

Right.

So, last week, I called, I issued a memo asking source and the Edwards Aquifer Authority to give us their position on what that ranch and this development.

I asked them for four things.

One, the potential risk to San Antonio residents drinking water, the, impacts on the Edwards aquifer recharge zone, the impacts on the Edwards Aquifer contributing zone, and, alternative solutions that we could potentially find.

There are a lot of residents concerned with this.

You know, they're talking about building 3000 homes of our Edwards Aquifer contributing zone, having the wastewater treatment plant, which would spill millions of gallons of water into the Lotus Creek.

Now that we know things like forever, chemicals exist and all those kinds of things, it makes us all pretty nervous about this.

People might be confused because SA's, the water system is going to extend water to them, provide water, but not the wastewater service that they provide to the other half million customers.

And they do this in some areas.

Why is that?

Yeah.

You know, that was a board decision made a couple of years ago.

And so because I said, hey, we're not going to treat the wastewater.

Lennar Homes in the development had the option to, do a wastewater treatment plan themselves.

And so that's what they're doing.

And they're right now they're getting their permit from TCE.

Q and we'll see if that's granted or not.

But we have had several thousands of residents in uproar about this because of the potential impacts it could have on residents drinking water.

And now.

To be fair, Lennar says it's a wastewater treatment plant.

There are a number of those, even in the contributing zone and across the city, and that it won't be effluent, that it's going to pollute the rivers.

What do you say to that?

Yeah.

You know, Lennar Homes does say, hey, we're going to make sure that this water is, safe.

And all of the impacts that this wastewater treatment plant could have are safe and up to par.

But, you know, again, there's still a lot of concern simply because of where it's located and where, you know, that water flows into not only are Edwards Aquifer contributing zone, but also our recharge zone.

It's out in the county, but in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the city, the etg.

So what power do you have there?

After they apply for their permit, then they're going to have to come for a pit, a public improvement district, and they will get they will need to get county commissioners court approval as well as city council approval.

And we'll see how how that goes.

You know, I've been talking to my colleagues not only on city council, but also on, on, county commissioners court.

And all of us are, feeling and understand residents concerns and weariness about this project.

Developers historically in San Antonio have had, big influence, some would say outsized influence and are probably looking at this very nervously going, well, if that developer is turned down, what's going to happen to me?

What do you tell them?

One of the things that I've been pushing on is that, you know, Lennar's, in the process of buying this property fair and square.

Right.

And so we're not out to, Gyp them on this property.

We want to make sure that they're made whole.

And we just want to make sure that we look through all options available for for making sure our water is not, impacted negatively.

And this isn't something then you would look at as we would really rather not have sprawl out there and another 3000 homes out there that we would have to extend utilities to.

Yeah.

That's right.

You know, I mean, there is the city of San Antonio has actually bought up a lot of that land out there because of the potential impacts.

Star Edwards aquifer.

This was one of the last big pieces of property that was not bought up, but still does have impacts.

And Lennar Homes did buy it fair and square, are in the process of buying it.

And so, you know, again, we want to partner with them and say, what are the alternatives that we can come up with together?

And now if TC approves and the city say, or the county or both, say no.

Is that it?

They wouldn't be able to or not.

That's not it.

I think that, we're still getting clarity on that, but from my understanding, they could still go to the state and get the approval that they need.

Okay.

Now, I know, you've been working on a lot of things.

So you had the budget.

You just passed that National Night Out or our version of it here was last night.

But in the news, the arena, vote that's coming up in the county.

The last vote, they said, okay, well, we want you to continue talking or negotiating with the Spurs, but that's really on hold until the county voters.

Right?

That's right.

And so what is going on with the city and and you're involved, with what talks about that?

Sure.

So, you know, the Spurs are and the rodeo are in full on campaign mode.

One of the things that we're doing is that we're hosting our community meetings in community town halls.

District seven has two of them.

Next week, on Monday, at city church.

And then on Thursday, we're actually partnering with County Commissioner Justin Rodriguez.

So we're going to have one at the Saint Paul's Community Center at 6:00.

And that those community meetings are just about sharing the facts, right.

We're going to have the city there.

We have Spurs Rodeo.

We want to answer residents questions.

And we just want to provide them with the information on what they're voting on for proposition AB.

And I have seen supporters or heard supporters and opponents both claim that the other side is spreading misinformation.

What are the things and misconceptions that you want to get across at those meetings as you see them?

Yeah, one of the big things is people think it's going to be a property tax increase.

You know, there's that it's not it's very much a tourist tax.

You know, if you're downtown renting a hotel room downtown renting a car, that's going to be the, the increase, in tax.

But you know, we're also battling with the ballot language, right.

The ballot language is wonky.

And I think one of the first lines it says is this is a tax increase.

Well, you know, it's very much, in the downtown area where the tax is going to be.

Increased, say that by state.

Law, they do have to say that by state law.

But, you know, this is not going to impact your bill at H-e-b.

This is not going to impact your property tax for most of San Antonio's.

You're not going to see or feel this at all.

What is it going to mean for our downtown?

Because a lot of people are, looking ahead to downtown, are we do we need that as a tourist, or local development and, and what am I going to get out of if I live out in district seven?

Yeah.

You know, I think that, thriving cities have thriving downtowns.

And, you know, our downtown needs some help.

And so, you sure you can say, hey, if I live all the way out, super far in district seven and I hardly go downtown.

Maybe you're not going to see or take advantage of it, but I'd also offer that if you have kids or grandkids, you're going to want them to have a city to come back home to.

Right.

And and the job opportunities, and really, the economic growth that this will create is huge.

And it's one that we need to take advantage of.

Do you think this will be the only vote people might wonder, why is the city councilwoman coming out now?

It's a county vote.

Will there be another vote as the mayor wants on the city stone?

Well, in the term sheet, what it says is that if the county vote passes, our city funding of 489 million is contingent upon that passing.

So, you know, I'm really hopeful that there's not another vote.

I think that that would cause a lot of confusion.

And, you know, the term sheet outlines when when this county vote is passed, then that city funding is going to come to you.

And finally, you're looking ahead at the budget next year.

How do you feel about the projected budget shortfall and how are you going to deal with.

Yeah, you know, I'm just urging my colleagues that we need to focus on our core services that the city provides.

You know, police officers, firefighters, streets.

There's no other nonprofits or groups who do streets, right.

And so the city really needs to focus on what we're good at and what we'll charter to do.

And then I feel that when we focus on that foundation level, then everything else can, can, thrive.

Well, thanks very much for coming in.

Marina Alvarez, thank a veto.

District seven.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You might have seen some headlines recently about Our Lady of the Lake University out on the West Side Historic University here, but it's had to cut some degree programs.

What does that mean, though?

We're going to talk now with Doctor Abel Chavez, who is the president of Our Lady of the Lake University.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Thank you.

Randy.

Now, this is something you had looked at in terms of cutting programs, moving emphasis in that for for some time.

And really you you announced this months ago but had to enact it now.

So it was while you were seeing the headlines.

What what are the misconceptions out there?

What did you change and why?

Well, and the thrust was not cutting programs.

The thrust was was really, ensuring that every one of our students has and will have the resources to be successful, at our university.

And so all we did was put action to our words and our belief in our students, and that is that that's really the the reality of, every institution of higher education today and tomorrow.

That's the reality of every business, today as well.

And so one of those pathways that the, that the group, which was a combination of faculty and staff, they determined that there were a number of programs that were not serving our students, to, to, to that point.

And so this group, used a holistic, series of metrics to make that, that determination.

But again, I want to stress that it did not start with we need to eliminate programs.

That was not the point of the exercise.

The point of the exercise was, how can we ensure the maximum, investment in our students to drive them to success?

And some of those programs we're talking about degree programs.

There are still courses in some of these, subjects, like chemistry, math, theology.

But you're not having degree programs, so there's just not enough interest in students applying to the university or just students in general these days to continue those as degree programs.

Well, and one of the guarantees that we've made to every one of those students of, of, of those affected programs is that they will have the opportunity to finish at Our Lady of the Lake University with the same set of holistic resources.

As a as a Catholic private institution, we receive $0 from from the state.

We truly depend on having a, a sound university operation, to to offer the set of programs that we.

Do and the accreditation, you have to be accredited and all of those programs so that that costs money.

No.

Many how many students you have.

Right.

That's that that is true.

And accreditation looks different across degree programs.

And and so there's several details there for sure.

But our promise is that every one of our students will be able to finish our promises that every, every student matriculated at Our Lady of the Lake University across our undergraduate programs, our masters, our doctoral programs will have a robust set of of of of programs and resources to also help them, finish.

What are the programs that you see on the rise that you would like to expand?

And some of those programs that that are not getting the interest in that you're kind of phasing out, I guess.

So it would be the word.

You know, Randy, what's exciting is that the congregation of divine Providence, they founded, which is the order of the sisters who founded, the university, 130 years ago.

They founded and the university and their and their vision for the university was really around three, core ministries, education, service, the community and community health.

And certainly we offer a, a, a robust set of academic programs at all three levels undergraduate, master's and doctoral.

Around that, those three ministries.

What's exciting is that here in our city of San Antonio, community health or health is is one of the industry sectors that, that, that will continue to play a prominent role in shaping our city.

And so there's quite a bit of very exciting conversations, that, that, that we are beginning to engage on, at Our Lady of the Lake University about what programs can we offer around those three ministries that that are differentiated, and that can create a sustainable pathway for our university going forward.

So community health overall, another set of, of another and industry sector, that that's really moving our city forward is, is cyber.

We have a very strong undergraduate program in computer information systems and security and a master's program in also security and cybersecurity.

And and so our students, our faculty are certainly tackling, many complex challenges around cybersecurity, for local businesses, for local industries here in our in our city of San Antonio, that is also, another program.

Is it tough maybe gets a word out because there are a lot of, headlines that we've seen about UTSA merging with UT Health Science Center and Bio Sciences there, as well as cybersecurity and and their thing downtown.

But you have to remind people or let people know, hey, we're here, we're doing this.

We're part of the community.

Selling that and getting the word out is that is that as tough as one might think?

Or I would think anyway.

Look, we are we are blessed to have, a number of institutions of, of, of higher education in our city offering our student One of the choices that we offer is that is that the president will see you, the president will know you.

And that's the same for every one of our faculty and staff.

They will see you as a student, Randy.

And now as a private university, about 2100 students, people might just assume, oh, that's got to be way expensive.

I can't afford that.

But you have to also tell them there are a lot of, ways to go there and ways to get, help to go there.

They might not realize.

Yeah.

So, you know, completing the Fafsa for a incoming undergraduate student that is a very strong start.

We are, we get to serve a, a student body who, who who, who, who might, be eligible for a full Pell, which is, you know, over $7,000 Pell.

Pell, which is a federal, moneys, plus b the Texas equalization grant, that that ranges from 35 to maybe $5,000.

And then plus with our merit, scholarships, which are, which are, very competitive for a student from, let's say, who has A40 GPA in high school, that student will have a $20,000 scholarship guaranteed from Our Lady of the Lake University.

Recently, though, there have been, you know, there's headlines about federal cuts, Hispanic serving institutions, grants.

They're being cut and affecting schools like yours.

Also, it just seems those headlines paint a bleak picture.

Is that a misconception?

You think, for a bleaker picture, for getting money for the university, for getting scholarships and things like that?

Are we getting a misconception just from headlines?

Look at.

It.

Absolutely.

Forces us to rethink, our, our university and how we go about attracting, resources for our students.

But that is something that, I'm committed to.

My leadership team is committed to, the board is committed to the congregation.

Every faculty and staff member is committed to.

Well, thank you very much for coming in.

Doctor Abel Chavez, president of Our Lady of the Lake University.

If you haven't been out there, it's an incredibly beautiful campus.

Elmendorf Lake there.

Thanks for coming in.

Thank you.

Randy, I look forward to hosting you on campus.

I'll be there.

Thank you.

On our reporters roundtable this week, a couple of big stories in the news right now involves the sores rate increase.

They're not sure exactly how much they want to increase the rates, but they will be asking for that, as well as the construction of convention centers across the state and how improvement of the convention center here could play into that, how they would compete.

Joining us to talk about that is Jasper Kenzo Sundin, who is a business reporter for the San Antonio Report.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Thank you for having me.

Happy to be here.

The savings rate increase, that, I guess, is a story that saw us, didn't really want to have out there while we were talking budget.

The city was talking budget.

But what are they looking at doing now?

We don't know how much size is going to increase rates.

They're still figuring that out on their end.

Size is currently conducting its own kind of internal rate study.

They're trying to figure out, how much exactly folks are using, where and when folks are using water and wastewater services.

And they'll use that information to determine how much they want to increase rates and how and why did they need the money?

Where are they?

The different reasons.

And there are several sources trying to put in $3.2 billion worth of upgrades before 2030.

It's roughly 600 million a year through the end of the decade.

What they're saying is most of that's going to come upgrades to treatment plants, and they're worried about potential permit violations, potential federal oversight.

If things do go wrong at these plants and they really just want to get ahead of that.

So I was just saying, hey, it's going to be more expensive down the road if we have regulation come into play, if we have these various violations, then if we get ahead of this and just put in a lot of upgrades now and then, a lot of water mains and sewage systems, older infrastructure that has to be replaced.

And in fact, we see construction.

And when they do the roads like on South Alamo, and they're finding such old utility lines that it's slowing down construction.

Yes.

And that's been a big concern among business owners.

I think some of that infrastructure is so old that it's hard to know where exactly it is.

That was a big area of concern at city council meetings last week where source was discussing these upgrades of, hey, how can how can we make sure this stuff happens faster?

Because it does affect businesses.

I mean, when when there's a road dug up in front of your restaurant, it makes it harder for people to get there.

And leaks also have been a problem with source because of the aging infrastructure.

That was another big thing they talked about.

I they're very proud of, the wor their staffing on catching leaks, and then stopping leaks, saw saw sort of peaks and lost water through leakage, several years ago in 2023.

And they say they've really brought that down mostly through increased hiring.

They just have teams of folks out on the ground looking for leaks.

It feels kind of old fashioned.

And they went before City Council where they kind of laid out that they need this.

What was the reaction in council?

To what they need and just in general, about raising the rates by whatever it is, council members reacted in much the same way.

Probably you or I would react, which is, hey, we're not really sure about people raising rates and paying more money.

3.2 billion is just one of those numbers.

It's hard to comprehend, right?

Right.

That's a lot of zeros after a 3.2.

Yes.

Council members were definitely skeptical, very concerned about low income residents.

But you also, I feel like you rarely see issues on city councils where, both more progressive and maybe more conservative members are aligned and kind of thinking the same thing.

And you definitely saw this here where you had all council members being like, hey, why are we doing this exactly?

Talk a little more.

A lot of questions from council, some skepticism.

Though I think saws laid out their case really well as well.

I don't want to.

I don't want in the timeline on this moving from, right now they're taking comment on it.

And I guess in the in the early next year, they'll lay out what they want and then it'll go from there.

Yeah.

And that's another important point.

So Saws has to come up with a budget for next year by the end of the year.

It's how most budget processes work is, I'm sure you guys talk about a lot on the show.

They're not actually going to have the rate increase in their budget for next year.

They're going forward with an interim budget source did not want to get into the rate increase during the City Council budget season with a new council and, with new board members and new council means new board members for Saws.

So they've held back they're going to put forward an interim budget, defer around $350 million worth of upgrades until later in the decade.

And then early next year, come forward and ask for that rate increase in January and February.

And so that will maybe hit bills towards the end of the first quarter sometime in March.

Moving on to the convention centers story, across the state right now and everywhere across the country, but especially in Texas, they are building massive or expansions to convention centers.

And that's going to effect here.

What did you find on that?

There is a big, big push to improve convention center sites.

Local officials and authorities see it as a home in economically because you're bringing in money from outside your local jurisdiction.

You're getting it spent here.

A lot of times when you're thinking about economics, right, you're thinking about money being spent internally and it becomes more of a zero sum game.

That's a way to to plug in money from the outdoors and bring it into your community.

And so I think at this point, we're just seeing, this, this competitive cycle where it's always going to benefit you to be bigger and better and more modern.

People might have heard Austin is upgrading so their convention center is basically shut down or much of it.

So some we've had some conventions here.

Where else are they expanding and how is that competition going to affect us?

You think Dallas is also expanding Houston as a planned expansion?

Unlike Austin, Dallas isn't shut down.

But the upside of that for San Antonio is that you're seeing, just within the last couple of months, 13 conventions have moved from those other Texas cities here to San Antonio.

Visit San Antonio said that's 112,000 hotel room nights.

Over the next couple of years, they're estimating $102 million in spending from those conventions.

And so that's great.

Through 2029, well, this construction is happening in other places.

Then the concern starts to be, hey, Austin's bringing a new convention center on line.

Dallas is expanding theirs.

Suddenly, San Antonio has to compete with these completely new facilities.

Completely upgraded facilities.

So will these conventions stay here?

So as part of Project Marble, not the arena or the entertainment district, but they're talking about increasing convention space, renovating the Alamodome convention center.

You think that's going to be a push?

It absolutely is.

And you have local officials here talking about that already is a we need to stay ahead of the game.

I think the easiest way to see that is just in the square footage comparison.

When Austin finishes upgrading its convention center, it'll be larger than the Henry Gonzalez Convention Center downtown.

But if San Antonio goes forward with its planned renovation, then it will once again be larger.

And so you just see that back and forth.

Convention Center wars very much so, very much so.

How many feet can we add?

How many feet can we add?

Oh, interesting.

Especially for our business reporter to cover that.

You'll be covering it for years if you stay in San Antonio.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Jasper Kenzo, son Dean, business reporter for the San Antonio Report.

You can see all his stuff right there.

Thanks.

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

You can watch the show again or any previous shows.

You can also download the podcast at 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