What We’re Watching This Week
Elon Musk says that the Boring Company is working to connect San Antonio and Austin. Musk posted last weekend that the Boring Company is working on a “precursor” Hyperloop tunnel between San Antonio and Austin that could transport passengers back and forth at more than 200 mph. While it isn’t clear exactly what this Hyperloop would look like, be it cars in a tunnel like Vegas or pods in a low-pressure tube (likely), the project would represent the long-requested quick transportation solution between San Antonio and Austin, allowing for a rapid commute back and forth. Details remain scarce, but the company is actively hiring for managerial positions in San Antonio for the project, so Boring is seriously pursuing it. We’re watching to see what the details look like as the project takes shape—and to see whether local leadership plays ball, which is never a given: multiple sources familiar with the abandoned Boring Company airport tunnel project tell The Civic that local political leadership did not want the airport tunnel to move forward. Our column on the project can be read below.
McCombs Enterprises wants to fill what it calls the "hole in the donut" between Pearl and the San Antonio Museum of Art. On Tuesday, McCombs Enterprises presented a development plan regarding the 5.9 acre site next to the Pearl and the San Antonio Museum of Art. The plan puts shops, restaurants, apartments, and offices around walkways and plazas, with dining overlooking the river and a link to the Museum Reach. It also adds a pedestrian bridge and performance seating under the highway, in a space now used for parking. The first phase could be leasing as soon as 2030, with a second phase under construction. For financing, McCombs wants the city to create a Midtown TIRZ subzone, funded only by the project's own new tax revenue, to cover up to $22 million of $43.6 million in infrastructure costs. We're watching whether the city plays ball—this development could be the expansion of a real bright spot for the city.
The new Central Texas Alliance wants the 13 counties from San Antonio to Austin to speak with one voice at the Capitol. The Central Texas Alliance held its launch event last Friday on the Texas State University campus in San Marcos, convening around 200 civic leaders from across the region. Topics included the bread and butter of civic life, including housing, jobs, and transportation. Former HUD Secretary and San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros helped found the organization on the model of the North Texas Commission and the Greater Houston Partnership—the member board will agree on a legislative agenda for the 90th Legislature convening in just a few months. We’re watching because regional coordination is increasingly and inarguably essential for San Antonio going forward, and Central Texas Alliance could be the vehicle for this—but it has to be more than an organization that attaches itself to bills already moving, and more than a way for its sponsors to say “the region supports these pet projects.”
Listen: Civic Editor Philip Reichert joined Eddie Aldrete on Beyond the Bite, Aldrete's podcast on San Antonio business and public policy, to talk about how The Civic came to be, what shrinking newsrooms mean for local accountability, Project Marvel, tensions at City Hall, and the budget vote. Episode 91 is out this week on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts (Apple, Spotify).
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The Reframe
OLLU enrollment dips again as university hires new strategist to bring in students (Express News) → San Antonio might just have more small Catholic universities than it has students for, and OLLU is where it shows. Our Lady of the Lake University has lost more than half of its students since 2015, falling from over 3,300 students to about 1,550 this fall. The school’s answer is a new vice president for enrollment and strategy. All three of the city’s Catholic universities face the same simple facts: there are better schools in town, better schools up the road, and the public schools have gotten cheaper. Look no further than Alamo Colleges, which has seen enrollment surge to 100,000 students, and UTSA, which is approaching nearly half that count itself—UTSA even covers tuition for Texas families making up to $100,000 for those in the top 25% of their graduating class. The question at hand is whether San Antonio can support this many small universities, with little comparative advantage, and what becomes of a heritage, 131-year old institution if it can’t.
If Texas schools must offer voter registration, why are so few teens signed up? (Express News) → You can’t MAKE people care. San Antonio has an apathy problem, not a voter registration problem. According to The Civics Center, a Los Angeles nonprofit, only 35% of Bexar County’s 18 year olds were registered to vote as of May of this year. There are outliers: in Alamo Heights ISD, the number is over 70%. The rules are the same, everywhere—what’s different is student interest. Anyone who wants to vote has ample opportunity to register. Registering teenagers who don’t care won’t make them care, and pushing apathetic voters to the polls doesn’t actually improve civic health. Teaching students what a city council or a school board actually does might move the needle. Anyone who has a reason to vote will vote.
San Antonio needs an SAPD audit for local systemic justice (San Antonio Report) → Audit SAPD, sure. The most important systemic justice that concerns us is whether our tax dollars are working for us. The author is right to cast scrutiny over the SAPD budget: overtime ran double the budgeted amount and the council just approved a huge new contract. San Antonio spends over a billion dollars per year on public safety, and any expenditure on that scale certainly has inefficiencies, or worse. That's reason enough for an independent audit, and the group says new Chief Jesse Salame supports one. So why load it up? The author also wants auditors to make sure grants don't "compromise sanctuary protections." That’s just immigration politics, and it has nothing to do with whether SAPD spends its money well. Every political agenda item bolted onto the audit gives the council a reason to say no. Keep it to the money, starting with the benefit growth we laid out in Public Union Arithmetic.
Boys & Girls Clubs of San Antonio to keep Eastside clubhouse open after donations come in (San Antonio Report) → San Antonio's philanthropic community doesn't get enough credit. Last week, the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Antonio said it would pause its Eastside clubhouse and close its Southside clubhouse for good. By Tuesday, Harvey Najim, Valero, the Malú and Carlos Alvarez Family, H-E-B, and a group of other donors had committed enough financial support to keep the Eastside doors open. In total, San Antonio’s private money maintains a very large constellation of nonprofits and deserving causes—here it even moved faster than City Hall. It can’t save everything, but the civic conversations spend a lot of attention on what our tax dollars fund and not enough on who pays for everything else. The people writing those checks deserve more credit.
The Pick
Our weekly recommendation for what’s going on in San Antonio
Jazz’SAlive at Civic Park
Two stages of national, local and military jazz, with trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra closing Friday at 9 p.m. and ten-time Grammy winner Arturo Sandoval closing Saturday. The San Antonio Parks Foundation's festival is in its 43rd year. Admission is free for all ages. Friday, September 25, 4 to 11 p.m., and Saturday, September 26, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., at Civic Park at Hemisfair, 210 S. Alamo St.
Thanks for another week. Follow us on your platform of choice: X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Story tips and reader notes go to our reporter Jarrett Whitener at jarrett@thecivic.com, and my inbox is always open.
A particular thanks to our Charter members, whose continued generosity allows us to operate.
Enjoy your weekend and see you Tuesday.
- Philip Reichert
Editor, The Civic