09-11-2012
 
What is this petition all about?

On August 2nd, 2012, San Antonio city council voted to sell land north of the historic Hays Street Bridge to a developer so that he can build a brewery there, attaching to the bridge so as to use a significant portion of its deck for the placement of tables and chairs. Hays Street Bridge is the last FREE unobstructed view of downtown left, and the city’s actions have in effect sold this view and the public right of way to a private owner.

The city argues that the land sale that makes the bridge takeover possible is legal, since 803 N. Cherry is “surplus” rather than park land. We disagree with this argument. A long paper trail of city documents suggests that for many years, city and neighborhood plans classified the land north of the bridge as park land. Moreover, community activists worked for many years to get the bridge and land donated to the city for development as a park. They raised almost $200,000 in local matching funds required to obtain the federal money needed to restore the bridge. In accepting the land, the bridge, and the funds raised through community efforts, the city also implicitly accepted community expectations that this land would become park land and part of the city’s hike and bike greenway system.

According to Texas state law, if a city wants to sell park land, there has to be a public election first. If not, we can challenge the sale through a petition process requiring signatures from 1500 registered voters living in San Antonio city limits. By signing this petition, you are saying:

• NO to the sale of the land to brewery developer;

• NO to a public process that favors the interests of private developers over community;

• YES to people being able to vote on whether the land should be sold or kept as public land

The land was donated for the wider public benefits that come from having community access to open space, parks, and historic structures in our neighborhoods. Please sign if you agree with these ideals, and oppose the way the city does business when it comes to land use decisions!

08-10-2012
Whose bridge? Our bridge!

By now, many people have heard that last Thursday, City Council voted in favor of selling the land North of the historic Hays Street Bridge to Eugene Simor, developer of a proposed microbrewery.

In addition to the land sale, Council voted to give Simor an incentives package worth $794,000 (not including Inner City Reinvestment Infill Policy fee waivers); they also approved one-time licensing agreements that allow Simor to use 23,191 square feet of land beneath the bridge for events, to place tables and chairs on the bridge deck at an area of 1190 square feet (approximately 11 feet by 108 feet), and to attach a skywalk to the bridge approaches.

With space on top, underneath, and on either side of the bridge under private control and surveillance, what the City’s vote amounts to is the privatization and corporate gatekeeping of an historic structure and public right of way.

While this outcome was expected, if disappointing, one interesting detail to emerge at the meeting was Councilwoman Taylor’s confirmation that, according to records maintained by Taylor’s predecessor Sheila McNeil, the land North of the bridge had in fact been intended for development as a park for the community up until the developer pitched his proposal to the city. While Taylor’s admission of this crucial detail validates what the Restoration Group and their allies have maintained, it is all the more shameful that the city went forward with the land sale and incentive package, even while formally expressing gratitude to the work of the Restoration Group for their work in securing the donation of both the land and the bridge to the city--not to mention the $189,000 in local matching funds used to acquire federal funding to restore the bridge to its present condition.

For this reason and others, we continue to maintain that the actions of the City in this case continue a long history of corporate welfare and land grabbing, an appropriation of public resources for the private gain of a single corporate entity.

Moreover, this appropriation was made possible because the Restoration Group was excluded from the planning process, as was a broad segment of long-time Eastside residents who do not echo the City’s preferred, narrow understandings of “development,” as do San Antonio for Growth on the Eastside and those members of the Dignowity Hill Neighborhood Association who benefit politically and economically from trickle down development strategies.

In the long term, it is important to understand the kind of social forces and political dynamics that produce these kinds of struggles over land use, so that we are better prepared with the arguments and analysis we need to mobilize community to resist. It is important to understand contemporary struggles over land use decisions in the context of colonial histories of settlement and displacement—a “continued relocation of native people from their homelands,” as Susana Almanza, Sylvia Herrera, and Librado Almanza argue gentrification represents. To those ends, we intend to continue using the bridge as a public space to further these conversations through performance, film, and culture as much as through community organizing. In fact, one of the most beautiful things to emerge from the lead up to the vote was the creative energy unleashed by publics of all kinds—neighbors, cyclists and pedestrians, artists, youth and elders–who came together to insist that, in the words of the banner hung before the Council vote, we “keep business off OUR bridge.”

In the short term, the struggle is not over despite Council’s intentions. The license agreements which would permit Simor to use the bridge deck and underside and to attach a skywalk to the bridge’s concrete approaches are still contingent on approval by the Texas Historic Commission, the Texas Department of Transportation, and the Federal Highway Administration. Yet even if these agencies approve, there are still a number of options open to us as a community organizing around the defense of public space and historic preservation in our neighborhoods, and in service of our dreams and visions for what happens to the land we remain intimately connected to–land that the developers, gentrifiers, and land grabbers call “surplus,” “vacant,” “blighted.” Yet we must ask: Surplus to whom? Vacant for whom? For those who favor the sale of land and deep cultural history for short term profit for some, this is perhaps too fine a point. Because we understand it, we know the fight cannot be over.

- Esperanza Peace & Justice Center

07-19-2012
Save Hays Street Bridge!
Land for Public Views, Not Private Micro-Brews!

In 1998, a group of Eastside residents began a process to restore the historic Hays St Bridge. As part of this process, the City of San Antonio in 2007 accepted donated land on Cherry St for use as a community park that would compliment the bridge.

Today, we find the restoration process threatened by the city of San Antonio and the Alamo Beer Company, which wants the city to sell them the donated parkland for the purpose of building a microbrewery and rooftop restaurant/beer garden that would connect to the bridge. The brewery would block views to and from the bridge, and more importantly represents commercial interests restricting what was intended for community access and public use.

Many people assume this is a done deal, but it is not, with your help! The Hays Street Bridge Restoration Group and the Eastside Historical Preservation Group call on all community members who care about preservation of cultural history and public space to help in any of the following ways:

Ask the City of San Antonio to maintain historic gateway and landmark functions of the bridge. This means:
• A Park, Not a Brewery, Should Occupy Land at Cherry and Lamar Sts
• Commercial Business Should Not Be Allowed on the Bridge
• No Temporary or Permanent Attachments Should be Connected
• Views To and From the Bridge Should be Protected and Not Blocked

1. Attend the City Council meeting Thursday, August 2 where council will vote on an incentive package for Alamo Brewery as well as the sale of the city-owned land north of the Bridge originally intended as a park. We need to pack the meeting with bodies to say NO to privatization of public land, NO to gentrification and displacement, and YES to a park and to fair public process. Agenda Item 30. If you can't attend the meeting, Call or email your councilperson!  Contact Info

2. Help collect signatures of family, friends and neighbors for a community petition against the brewery. Contact Ms. Davis at 210.609.9248 for more info, email esperanza@esperanzacenter.org for a pdf, or stop by 922 San Pedro!

3. Request that your local church, neighbhorhood association, or other organizations in your network support and speak out on this issue.

4. Print & distribute flyers. Click here to download.

Contact 210.228.0201 for more information.

Documentation of public process to develop land as a park:

08-11-2012

¿Porque esta petición?

El 2 de agosto de 2012, el concilio municipal de San Antonio votó a favor de vender los terrenos al norte del histórico puente de Hays Street a un promotor de negocios que quiere construir una cervecería en estos terranos, conenctando la cervecería al puente, con el fin de utilizar una gran parte de este para mesas y sillas. El puente de Hays Street es la última vista del centro LIBRE y sin obstáculos, y la ciudad ha vendido esta vista panoramica que está en la vía pública.

La ciudad alega que la venta de terrenos que hace posible la adquisición del puente es legal, porque 803 N. Cherry es tierra "excedente" y no tierra del parque. No estamos de acuerdo con este argumento. Hay muchos documentos de la ciudad que sugieren que durante muchos años, planes de la ciudad y el barrio han clasificado la tierra al norte del puente como tierra perteneciente al parque. Activistas comunitarias también han trabajado durante muchos años para conseguir el terreno junto con el puente donados a la ciudad para el desarrollo de un parque público. Se recaudaron casi $200,000 en fondos locales necesarios para obtener el dinero federal para restaurar el puente. Al aceptar la tierra, el puente, y los fondos recaudados a través de los esfuerzos de la comunidad, la ciudad implícitamente aceptó las expectativas de la comunidad que son: que esta tierra se convertiría en un parque.

Según la ley estatal de Texas, si una ciudad quiere vender la tierra del parque, tiene que ser una elección pública en primer lugar. Si no es así, nosotros los votantes podemos oponernos a la venta de esta con un proceso de petición requiriendo firmas de 1500 votantes registrados que vivan en los límites de la ciudad de San Antonio. Al firmar esta petición, usted está diciendo:

• NO a la venta de terreno público para una cervecería;

• NO a un proceso político que favorece a los intereses de los promotores privados más que los de la comunidad

• SÍ a un voto público para que la gente puede decidir si la tierra debe ser vendida o se mantenga como terreno público

Los terrenos fueron donados para el amplio beneficio público y ese significa tener acceso comunitario a espacios abiertos, parques y edificios históricos en nuestras vecinidades. Por favor firme si está de acuerdo con estos ideales, y si se opone a la manera en que la ciudad hace decisiones de uso de la tierra!

07-19-2012
Rescate el Puente Histórico de la Calle Hays!
Queremos Terrenos para Vistas Públicas, No Para Cervecerías Privadas!

En 1998, un grupo de residentes del lado Este de la Ciudad de San Antonio (Eastside) inició un proceso para restaurar el Puente Histórico de la Calle Hays. En 2007, como parte de este proceso, la Ciudad de San Antonio aceptó la donación de terrenos en la calle Cherry, para darles uso como parque comunitario que complementara la restauración del puente.
 
En este momento el proceso de restauración está amenazado por la ciudad de San Antonio y por Alamo Brewing Company, una compañía que quiere comprarle a la Ciudad de San Antonio el terreno donado para la restauración. En turno, esta empresa quiere utilizar el terreno para construir una cervecería/restaurante conectado al puente. La cervecería bloquearía la vista desde y hacía el puente, y lo que es más importante, la construcción de esta cervecería representa únicamente intereses comerciales, mismos que restringen los planes para el acceso público y para comunidad.
 
Mucha gente asume que éste es un acuerdo cerrado , pero con su ayuda no será así. El Grupo para la Restauración del Puente de Hays Street junto con el Grupo para Preservación Histórica en el Eastside le piden a todos los miembros de la comunidad, preocupados por la preservación cultural del Eastside y el acceso comunitario al espacio verde, que ayuden en cualquiera de las siguientes maneras:
 
1. Por favor, asistan a la primera reunión del Concilio de la Ciudad (City Council) en Agosto. Debemos llenar la reunión con mucha gente que diga NO a privatización de terrenos públicos, NO al encarecimiento y desplazamiento comunitario y SI a un parque y a un proceso público que es justo.
 
2. Por favor, ayúdenos a recoger firmas: de su familia, amigos y vecinos del Eastside para una petición comunitaria contra la cervecería. Póngase en contacto con la Sra. Brenda Davis en el 210.609.9248 para más información o para obtener las peticiones.
 
3. Pida que su iglesia u otras organizaciones a su alrededor apoyen este tema.
 
4. Imprima y distribuya folletos. Oprima aquí para descargar.

Contáctenos en el 210.228.0201 para más información.

PRESS RELEASE: Preserve Hays Street Bridge as Historic Landmark and Public Space!   7/30/2012

Hays Street Bridge issues complex  7/26/2012 | S.A. Express News

QueQue: Beer dreams get upper hand in Hays St Bridge Scuffle   7/4/2012 | SA Current