Comments from the Chair
City Planning Commission
I encourage you to contact City Council to urge them to appoint Planning Commissioners that represent our community, not just the land development industry. See the article below — Take action to end developer control of the Planning Commission.
There were several well qualified, non-developer applicants for six open positions, any of whom would do much more to represent our whole community than those developer/real estate interests currently serving. COSA Governance Committee, chaired by Mayor Taylor, selected one person of broader community appeal, and five of the usual narrow developer/real estate background that dominates the Planning Commission as it makes so many critical decisions regarding our city’s development.
As Councilman Ron Nirenberg stated, the Governance Committee missed an opportunity to provide more balance to the Planning Commission. If the approved “slate” of nominees are approved by the full City Council, we can expect business as usual.
COSA Bond Issues
Committee hearings are currently taking place, and I urge all to look carefully at these plans to take on over $800 million in city debt. There are many details that merit vigorous public discussion and debate. See the Community Bond Committee Meetings Schedule.
One hundred & twenty-eight million dollars are scheduled for drainage and flood control. I am especially concerned about the continued focus on concrete channels and quick drainage rather than the “slow down, spread out, and sink in” approach to storm water that is integral to low impact development (LID), and could be integral to meeting our future water needs (instead of Vista Ridge Pipeline) if only we could get our city to think forward.
Instead: “We need to keep water in channels, instead of people’s property, Director of Transportation & Capital Improvements Mike Frisbee told the audience Thursday. “We need to control that flow and (focus) on safety issues. Drainage improvements also free up a lot of land for development.” (The Rivard Report, October 14, 2016).
That thinking is not what SA Tomorrow originally called for before its gutting by the Planning Commission, and it is not what we need now. That money should be spent much more carefully for our long term goals, not just more sprawl.
SAWS
By the time this is published, it is expected that the SAWS Board of Trustees will have once again voted to lower the bar for the new Vista Ridge (VR) contractor Garney Construction to reach “financial close”. The original Vista Ridge contract, formally referred to as the Water Transmission and Purchase Agreement (WTPA), was signed in the fall of 2014 by SAWS and Abengoa, a Spanish construction and finance company that SAWS assured us was the perfect partner to build VR.
This contract had a number of requirements for Abengoa to meet in order to reach “financial close” (i.e. lock in the deal for the 30 year life of the project). The deadline for financial close is May 2017. After Abengoa went into bankruptcy proceedings its 80% stake in this agreement was sold to the pipeline construction firm Garney, last spring. At that time SAWS substantially reduced requirements for financial close, and now it is again easing financial close requirements.
Those requirements were originally put in place and lauded by SAWS as providing San Antonio complete protection from any financial risk from VR. Last spring SAWS was able to make these contract “amendments” without COSA exercising its fiduciary responsibility to review and approve the new contract. SAWS said it was not a “new” contract, and COSA accepted this assertion, despite our vocal opposition.
The question now is whether COSA will once again shirk its fiduciary responsibility to protect San Antonio and again refuse to reopen the contract review and approval process for the VR contract. This contract has undergone huge changes, and should be reviewed and voted on again by City Council. The financing remains byzantine, and the company relationships largely unknown.
In particular, Garney, unlike Abengoa VR, clearly states it has no intention of operating VR for 30 years. It will complete construction and sell out operations to some unknown buyer, which could include SAWS, another foreign company etc. SAWS ratepayers have no idea what this will mean to our service.
Now is again time to protest to COSA against this opaque exercise in “Public Private” partnership. As we have seen with the TX 130 Tollway, the Alamodome, the Convention & Visitors Bureau, etc. these “public private” partnerships most often mean loss of public transparency, loss of public control, and loss of public funds (Abengoa “lost” $120 million in slightly over a year).
Once again we ask SAWS and COSA to enter into a real public dialogue about our water future, not a series of staged events promoting a path already fully laid out by the Chamber of Commerce, Pape-Dawson, San Antonio Economic Foundation and San Antonio Board of Realtors. Community citizens and leaders of our whole city should be allowed and invited to participate in a ground up process to build our water future. We already have a good model in SA Tomorrow to do this, at least if the process is not hijacked once again by the Planning Commission.
by Terry Burns, M.D., Alamo Group Chair
Birding the Amazon
In this special presentation titled Amazon River Cruise: Peru, you will see many exotic birds including Macaws, King Vulture, Horned Screamer, Paradise Tanager, Turquoise Tanager, Yellow-rumped Cacique and Toucan.
Tuesday, November 15th
6:30 p.m.
William R. Sinkin Eco Centro, 1802 North Main Avenue
Map
This month, our General Meeting speaker is Christine Turnbull, President of the San Antonio Audubon Society. She has led riverboat cruises in Peru and traveled extensively, including doing field work in Alaska. Ms. Turnbull was a Peace Corps volunteer in Central America and has organized non-profits in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, where she spent 12 years at Massachusetts Audubon Society.
Take action to end developer control of the Planning Commission
Today four members of the City Council Governance Committee voted for a slate of candidates for Planning Commission that will guarantee the continued dominance of vested interests. District 8 Councilman Ron Nirenberg cast the lone dissenting vote.
Originally scheduled for consideration of the Neighborhoods and Livability Committee, interviews and recommendations for Planning Commission applicants were instead considered by the Governance Committee by command of Mayor Taylor. The slate approved by this Committee includes:
Reappointment of George Peck, who was among the six Planning Commission members who voted to gut the SA Tomorrow Sustainability Plan by removing the Dark Skies and Impervious Cover recommendations, and appointment of Kacy Cigarroa (District 10), Casey Whittington (District 10), Christopher Garcia (District 8), Andrew Ozuna (District 8), and June Kachtik (District 8).
In voting for this slate, the majority overlooked some incredibly qualified candidates who would, we believe, consider what is best for our City rather than what is best for developers and builders. I recommend appointment of any of the following individuals for the six available slots on the Planning Commission to be filled by a vote of the entire City Council:
- Brian J. Erickson (District 9)
- Jack Guerra (District 10)
- Steve Hixon (District 9)
- June Kachtik (District 8)
- Pedro Martinez (District 1)
- Malyya Sindu (District 2)
- Eleanor Sprowl (District 8)
- Barbara Witte-Howell (District 1)
Among the candidates I recommend are some who are incredibly well qualified; we were stunned when they were passed over in favor of candidates with far less to their credit. Except for Ms. Kachtik, it appears that qualifications that most impressed the majority of the Governance Committee were how closely tied these individuals are to the industries they are charged with regulating.
These appointments have extreme importance for all of us. The Planning Commission has authority in shaping the future of our City through governance of the built environment. I suggest that you consider how your City Council Representative voted and/or votes on populating the Planning Commission when you cast your vote next May.
Today, I urge you to send a message to your City Council Representative requesting that they disregard the slate presented by the Governance Committee in favor of selecting from the list of applicants above. Especially important is blocking the reappointment of George W. Peck.
I do not know when these appointments will be up for a vote by City Council. District 1 Councilman Roberto Treviño has submitted a CCR for Reforming the Planning Commission that proposes consideration of an ordinance amending the composition of the Planning Commission to eleven members, excluding ex-officio members, such that each member is appointed by each Council District and the Mayor. The CCR was on the Governance Committee agenda for discussion but was tabled. This proposal is worthy of serious consideration; I will keep you posted.
Please take action by contacting your City Council Representative. This battle is too important to the future of our City to be ignored.
by Annalisa Peace, Alamo Group member and Executive Director of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance
The easternmost protected land in the US
The eastern corner of Maine, on the southwestern corner of the Bay of Fundy (greatest tidal range in the world) is the easternmost corner of the United States. The easternmost incorporated city in the US is Eastport. But Lubec, an unincorporated town, is a tiny bit east of Eastport. It is only a few miles boat ride from Eastport to Lubec though an hour's drive around several bays by road. There is friendly rivalry between the towns at the time of the annual pirate festival. I see this year Eastport pirates invaded Lubec September 3rd, then Lubec pirates returned the favor.
Quoddy Head State Park is a bit east of Lubec and is the easternmost protected area in the US. No camping but that is possible at other Maine state parks not far away. Whale watching is an attraction, as are the trails and the historic lighthouse. The trails go along the coast (two photos below), through forest and to a bog with sub-arctic and arctic plants, including carnivorous ones (insect eating pitcher plants and sundew).
The Maine coast for a ways below Eastport is called the Bold Coast. There is tremendous scenery, particularly at Cutler PRL (Public Reserved Land), which has some great loop trails. The geology is pretty interesting; here's a Maine Geological Survey article with good photos.
by Kevin Hartley, Alamo Group member
Sierrans get out the vote
We had a great phonebank night, filling the campaign office with 5 volunteers making calls. One of them, Keith, was a long-time member who has never come out to an event before. Better yet, he brought out his son and spoke at length with Russell about how he can stay involved and help with next year's municipal races!
by David Alicea, Victory Corps Organizer
Outings: The Call of the Wild
Visit the Alamo Sierra Club Outings page on Meetup for detailed information about all of our upcoming Sierra Club Outings.
Bring your used batteries to the General Meeting
Don’t throw those small batteries in the trash bin where they will end up in our landfills. Bring them to the monthly general meetings where we will have a container for you to place them in. Thanks to Gay Wright for coordinating this recycling effort.
Lions Field events suspended during holidays
Because our “fourth Thursday” Lions Field events conflict with holidays, they will not be held in November and December.
by Barbara McMillin, Speaker Program Chair