Nelson W. Wolff - Transforming San Antonio: An Insiders View to the AT&T Arena, Toyota, the PGA Village, and the Riverwalk Extension

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TRANSFORMING

San Antonio

FOREWORD BY

HENRY CISNEROS

Trinity University Press

SAN ANTONIO

Published by Trinity University Press

San Antonio, Texas 78212

Copyright 2008 by Nelson W. Wolff

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Jacket design by Erin Kirk New

Book design by BookMatters, Berkeley

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wolff, Nelson W., 1940

Transforming San Antonio / Nelson W. Wolff; foreword by Henry Cisneros.

p. cm.

SUMMARY: Bexar County judge and former mayor Nelson Wolff gives an insiders view of four major developmentsthe San Antonio Spurs AT&T Center, Toyota, the PGA Village, and the River Walk extensionthat are transforming the city Provided by publisher.

Includes an index.

ISBN 978-1-59534-127-3

1. Urban renewalTexasSan Antonio.

2. City planningTexasSan Antonio.

I. Title.

HT177.S36W65 2008

307.3'41609764351dc22 2008000991

12 11 10 09 08 C 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

For my loving grandchildren
Nicole, Tayler, Jordan, Sydney, and Dillon

CITIES FUNCTION MUCH LIKE living organisms. They have life histories. They grow in specific locales for reasons of geography, economics, and culture. Over decades they are spurred by opportunities that propel them forward and are buffeted by forces that set them back. The ebb and flow of city growth can be described as phases of life.

San Antonios history can be generally characterized by observable phases of surge and plateau. The areas first phase began with the birth of the pueblo as a military and religious outpost. The site was selected by a Spanish expedition inspired by what chroniclers called an oasis of clear flowing water and cottonwood shade amid the heat and parched earth of what is now South Texas. Those characteristics had made the San Antonio River basin a focal point for the nomadic indigenous people who camped along the riverbanks for hundreds of years. The Spanish located five missions along the river and organized the administrative center of a region that extended to what is today Wyoming. San Antonio served this role from 1691 to 1810, during which its character, physical patterns, architectural themes, and cultural spirit were formed.

After the tumultuous events of the Mexican Revolution, which expelled Spain from North America, and the Texas War of Independence, which resulted in the Lone Star Republic and eventually the state of Texas, San Antonio entered a phase as the largest and most important city in Texas. It was a commercial center for ranching, for trade, and for military suppliers during the Civil War. By the end of the nineteenth century it was regarded as one of the fast-growing, fast-living cities of the new West, on par with New Orleans and San Francisco for modern conveniences and civic achievements. The city was noted nationally for its gas streetlights, trolley cars, quality hotels, and civic spirit.

In the 1920s and 1930s, with Houstons emergence as a national petroleum center and Dallass evolution into a regional financial capital, both cities surpassed San Antonio in population. But San Antonio ushered in a new phase as host to important military facilities. Because of its many days of good flying weather annually and the imperatives of World War II, the city would eventually house seven military bases. Military and civil service wages and federal contracting expenditures rippled across every sector of the economy and for more than half a century provided a foundation as the citys largest economic sector. Because of the military leaders who were posted at the citys bases, San Antonio developed a national reputation. The careers and lifelong memories of such American notables as Theodore Roosevelt, Douglas MacArthur, Charles Lindbergh, and Dwight Eisenhower were shaped by their time in San Antonio.

In the postwar years it was clear that federal expenditures could not sustain the needs of the areas diverse and growing population. City leaders defined a new phase by wisely investing public and private resources to build the citys tourist attractionshighlighted by a worlds fair, HemisFair 68and to attract the University of Texas Health Science Center to the fledgling South Texas Medical Center. The citys leaders launched a well-organized economic development effort through the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, matched it with city governmental capacities, and opened the doors to a broader and more inclusive concept of economic opportunity. These leadership commitments effectively added two major componentstourism and the biosciencesto the regions economic engine and created a public consensus on progress that is still with us today. The citys amenities expanded to include the San Antonio Spurs, the Alamodome, River Walk extensions, new parks, university expansions, and downtown improvements.

Now, in the first decade of the twenty-first century, San Antonio is prepared to enter another phase. The new platform builds on the accomplishments of the last thirty years. And because those accomplishments add up to a critical mass, a measurably higher order of capabilities, they are pushing the city to a new level. Higher goalspossibilities once unthinkableare now achievable. The city is home to the largest telecommunications company in the nationAT&T; home to the nations largest petroleum refineryValero; headquarters for the nations largest radio broadcast companyClear Channel Communications; site of the automotive manufacturing complex with the worlds largest physical footprintToyota Manufacturing of Texas; home to USAA, one of the nations largest mutual insurance companies, with a headquarters building that has the largest office square footage west of the Pentagon; and headquarters for H-E-B, one of the nations largest grocery chains and largest privately owned companies. In addition, the health care and biosciences sectorcomprised of biomedical education, research, clinical care, pharmaceuticals, and medical equipment companiesemploys over 100,000 people.

These economic bulwarksalong with other major businesses headquartered here, such as KCI, Tesoro, Rackspace Managed Hosting, and Frost Bancsharesmake possible cultural amenities, public improvements, entertainment offerings, educational facilities, and philanthropic gifts that together raise the citys overall quality of life. Because of the sheer magnitude of these cumulative investments, the city is poised for a new surge that will make it one of the nations most consistently growing cities in the new century.

Nelson Wolff is precisely the right person to describe the public decisions and private investments that define this new potential. His natural skills as a historian and writer alone make his narrative insightful and valuable. But his extraordinary abilities as a leader and his temperament as a unifier have made him the only person who has in succession been the principal decision maker for the city and the county as economic advances like AT&T and Toyota and community amenities like the AT&T Center, the PGA Village, and the River Walk extension were formulated. He has been in the perfect position to help guide these decisions and now to share their inner workings with the rest of us.

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