VIA plans Bus Rapid Transit station for shoping center Bexar County is destroying

While Bexar County has been plotting the destruction of hundreds of jobs and dozens of businesses at Northwest Center, VIA Metropolitan Transit has been going forward with plans to build a Bus Rapid Transit stop at the shopping center.

Supporters of Bus Rapid Transit claim that such stations inspire nearby development such as shopping centers. In this case the shopping center exists but Bexar County has decided to destroy it in the name of flood control without considering the impact on jobs and the community and without examining flood water retention systems that would allow the center to continue to exist.

County could boost economy while preventing destruction of jobs, businesses and buildings of Northwest Center

The county plans to tear down Northwest Center on Fredericksburg Road in order to put in a retention pond to control flooding.  Hundreds of jobs will be lost and the quality of life of thousands of residents along Fredericksburg Road will be affected negatively.

Flood control officials apparently don't know about the work of San Antonio based Aquabank Inc.   This company's innovative rainwater and gray water storage solutions would save Northwest Center, the jobs and prevent flooding. 

Below the asphalt or concrete of commercial parking lots is base material.   The base material supports the surface and stabilizes it.  Aquabank Inc uses the voids in the base material to store rainwater and gray water. 

If Aquabank's technology was applied to the center the area under the parking lots could be transformed into large water storage tanks.   All the flood waters that the county rightly worries about could be stored and more probably for less than the cost of condemning the center.

I only hope that the officials responsible for this will become educated to this alternative and change course.  Call your county commissioner and Judge Wolff without delay.


County says businesses need to be out by September 1st

Remember our San Antonio mayor and city council infamously as "The Nuclear Eleven"

From Eric Lane:
The “Nuclear Eleven” is how this City Council should forever be remembered if they vote “Yes” on the proposed two new nuclear power plants.

It looks like City Council and the Mayor will be making the ultimate decision regarding the two new nuclear power plants proposed for STP.  But that decision will have a much vaster impact.  If they vote “Yes,” this City Council will, as we all know, for the first time in 30 years give the green light to restarting the nuclear power industry in this country. The implication is that they have studied this issue thoroughly and completely and have decided that nuclear power is in the best interests of San Antonio, South Texas, Texas, and, by extension, the United States.

Since there will be no public vote, these eleven folks have taken it upon themselves to make that ultimate decision.  If they vote “No,” other than upsetting a few very large business interests, most people will carry on with very little concern.  CPS will go back to the drawing board and come up with alternative energy scenarios.  And a huge, potential monstrosity will have been averted. 

If City Council votes “Yes,” then they should be held accountable for that vote.  It won’t be good enough to simply disappear into the political ether.  Why?  Because by voting in the affirmative they are guaranteeing San Antonio that we have nothing to worry about by going nuclear.

If there are cost overruns, if water becomes too scarce to run the nuclear plants, if uranium becomes too expensive or we become dependent on foreign uranium, if nuclear waste cannot be protected for the next 100,000 years, if there is an accident, a security breach, radiation leaks or any other number of potential risks, then this City Council and this Mayor should be held accountable by being remembered forever as the “Nuclear Eleven.”  They should not be allowed to hide in the fog of memory. 

It would be the height of irresponsibility to vote in the affirmative if City Council cannot guarantee there will be no problems.  The time to stop a problem is before it starts.  Not after.  If anything goes wrong the “Nuclear Eleven” should and will be held accountable.  From the day of any cost overrun, incident, or problem, their names, their political careers, their legacy will be forever tied to the Council vote on the nuclear power plants.

It won’t matter if the vote is 6 to 5, this City Council and this Mayor will forever be known and remembered as the “Nuclear Eleven.”

Eric Lane

Chair

Consumer Energy Coalition

P.O. Box 100806

San Antonio, TX 78201

Martinez Creek restoration subcommittee to meet Monday May 4 at Bihl Haus

One of the great things happening in our area is the restoration and improvement of the westside creeks: Martinez, Alazán, Apache and San Pedro.

The Martinez Creek subcommittee will meet at Monday, May 4 at 6:30 PM at Bihl Haus Arts, 2803 Fredericksburg Rd.

The Alazán Creek subcommittee meets Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at 6:00 p.m at the
Crockett Elementary Library, 2215 Morales Street.

The whole Oversight Committee meets Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. at the offices of the
San Antonio River Authority, 100 E. Guenther.

The San Pedro Creek subcommittee meets Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. at UTSA Downtown in Louis Kahn room- rm 3.340 of the Monterrey Building, 301 S. Frio Street.

The Apache Creek subcommittee meets Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. at El Progreso Community Center, 1306 Guadalupe Street.

The public is invited to attend these meetings to learn more about the projects and to get involved in the process of planning the changes that will improve our quality of life for many generations to come .

Change is on the way to Martinez Creek and you can help!

Within living memory in the river city of San Antonio, most of our creeks and rivers have been little more than drainage ditches with names.

Dating back to the vision of Mayor Howard Peak, we've seen work on Leon Creek, the Medina River, the San Antonio River and Salado creek to remake them into linear parks and green spaces. Now, the San Antonio River Authority has brought that process to the creeks of the westside: Apache, Alazan, Martinez and the downtown portion of San Pedro Creek (which those knowledgeable in San Antonio history may recall was in the west or Mexican end of downtown in the days of segregation.)

At Earth Day in Woodlawn Lake Park, Saturday April 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Woodlawn Lake Gymnasium ,SARA will be hosting an Imagination Station where we will be encouraged to envision the future of the creek. We will be given the chance to imagine parks, hike trails, bike trails and recreational facilities.