On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele Dufilho.

San Antonio is a fast growing, fast moving city with something new happening every day.

That's why each week we go on the record with Randy Beamer and the newsmakers who are driving this change.

Then we gather at the reporters roundtable to talk about the latest news stories with the journalist behind those stories.

Join us now as we go on the record.

With Randy Beamer.

Hi, everybody, and thank you for joining us for On the Record.

I'm Randy Beamer, and this week we are starting with Councilwoman Misty Spears of District nine.

Back from a couple of trips recently, one to Taiwan, one to Washington, D.C.. City council is already talking about budget and talking about police budgets.

Coming up, a lot of things on their menu right now.

Thank you for coming in.

First of all, the trips to Washington, D.C., and Taiwan specifically.

Let's start with Washington, D.C.

what came out of that?

I have heard different things about how receptive people were in Washington to what San Antonio would like from Washington.

Well, this is my first essay to DC trip, and I was assigned to the military.

Emphasis.

I'm on the military Transformation task force, so I spent most of my time at the Pentagon, and I would say they're very receptive to San Antonio.

We are definitely a gem of a city for for the military.

As we all know, our military city, USA.

And they are interested in what we're talking about, which is how do we support the veterans and their families for active duty and their families.

How do we, show our support for military overall?

And we really shared what our goals are for San Antonio missions that were interested in, potential growth and in technology here that we have a goal for the for the city of San Antonio, both at the state level and the federal level.

And, so it really went well for us.

And what about the missions that we could get here?

You know, we talk about you worry about base closures, base consolidations.

We lost some missions from Fort Sam.

What could we get?

What are you looking at?

Well, I'm not saying too much.

We are being very targeted and thoughtful in what missions we want to have here, because you want to have the ones with the most impact.

And that's what we're really focused on.

We are looking, as you saw, that the Da is going to, purchase the land at South Beach for us to do another veteran's hospital.

And that's truly exciting because we have the need here in San Antonio, and there's a lot of other projects in the pipeline and that we're pursuing.

And, we're very hopeful for San Antonio to get those missions.

And the land is at South Beach there, at the beach.

Where are we talking about?

It's it's a piece of land over on the south, I think.

South east side.

And, it's available, and it's something they've targeted as a big enough and can meet the need for the, the VA to grow and expand there.

And we definitely need it because we, we serve a lot of the counties and in the area.

And, we can be more excited about it.

And that's just the first piece of the puzzle of the first $30 million.

Yes.

But you think the rest of it's going to happen in the next few years?

Absolutely.

I don't think they would make that kind of investment without guaranteeing we're going to get to the finish line.

So what about, Taiwan trip?

I know there is a group from Taiwan that came here and visited San Antonio just last fall.

What did you find there?

So what happened in the fall and in the summer?

Actually, I was part, I was at the, dinner hosted by the mayor and the summer with the with the group called team ups, the Texas Electron Electric and Electronic Manufacturing Association.

It's a big organization for Taiwan.

And they came and that out of that I was a sign the city of Chang, which is a sister city for us in Taiwan.

And they invited us back out, to come and see what they have going on.

And we eagerly accepted.

And we went to talk about San Antonio.

It was meeting after meeting after meeting, we found that we have shared vision and shared goals of what their focus is in Taiwan and what we are focused on here in San Antonio.

And the mayor sat on a panel at a smart city summit, which was wonderful for our city and for visibility there.

And Chang in Taipei, we met with, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

We met with many other leaders in their government, but we also were with these wonderful companies that were really interested in San Antonio because of what we have to already offer here.

You know, we're focusing on AI technology, quantum technology, biomed.

We're focused on space and advanced manufacturing.

And that correlates to what they're focused on and also defense and cybersecurity.

And their focus is the same.

It's defense.

They have a huge semiconductor industry.

They are focused on AI as well.

And the quantum and we couldn't be more aligned.

Are they focused on expanding some of their companies to San Antonio specifically, or did you get that far yet?

Well, we definitely know they're interested in San Antonio because we went out there and that face to face connection, you really can't replace that.

And getting to talk to them directly and show our interest and and genuine desire for both of us to thrive.

The mayor signed a trilateral MoU with another sister city, Kumamoto, Japan, and our sister city, Taiwan, and then San Antonio to really intentionally focus on innovative technology for our cities and to bring those businesses both ways to Taiwan and here to San Antonio.

And, they have a requirement in there, and they're to invest $2.8 billion in the America.

And we're going to get some of that money here.

As I mentioned before, we started here that there was a study came out of, South by Southwest.

I don't know how accurate which group it is, but they said San Antonio is one of the least prepared cities to thrive in the next, number of years because, they rate us on automation, readiness, climate resilience, governance and foresight, population renewal and social cohesion and education.

We were, marked off for, for not being, having the workforce at this point any way that you would want for that kind of, industry.

What would you say to that?

I think that's completely false.

I think we're the sleeping giant, and we have a council and a mayor who are keenly focused on these very areas.

The mayor's extremely focused on our education.

I'm on economic development and workforce development, and our office just presented an AI accelerator certification program to build scaffolding within people who are already in workforce or emerging and workforce.

We're working alongside our higher education.

We have UT San Antonio and all of our private institutions.

Saint Mary's Incarnate Word and Trinity don't want to leave anyone out, but all of them are interested in this and already working in these spaces.

We also have, the Veterans Accelerator small business that we're, certification that we're rolling out as well.

And that's to encourage veterans and active duty in the future, skills that they want to acquire and their and their next, venture after they either leave the military or their families, which is important to know.

We've got to support their families as well.

So I think workforce is something we've captured.

We know what we need to do.

We're leading in that space.

We have all the advanced manufacturing jobs that we already have, and we're going to be scaling that up even more here locally.

One of the other things that you're working on right now early in the budget is police.

It's one of the things you prioritized early.

Tell us about that.

And how many more officers do you think we will get at this point, and where the money will come from?

Public safety has been my number one.

Number two is infrastructure and economic development.

And those are the things I'm trying to execute on.

Public safety is number one for me.

Early on in budget or when we finished budget last year, we talked with City Manager's office about indicating early on what our priorities are for next year's budget.

And that's exactly what the intent, the intent was behind this resolution that Councilman Elder, I took a veto and Councilman Y and I brought together forward for council to consider, because we want the city manager and our city and our colleagues to know this is what we want to do, because we only added 40 officers and we were supposed to do 65.

We are behind the eight ball on this, and we're going off of a study that's now a few years old.

We've seen tremendous growth.

I hear from my residents on the daily that they feel less safe than they did five years ago.

Whether that is true or not, it is their perceived reality which is which is which is how it is.

So we're focused, keenly focused on meeting those needs.

And there's a holistic approach to this.

It's not just adding officers, it's also the other measures we can take in our community to improve safety across all of San Antonio.

Well, thanks very much for your time, Mr.

Spears.

Councilman, district nine.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Monday, South Alamo Street next to HemisFair, is finally supposed to reopen after a number of years of construction.

If you haven't been down to HemisFair, there is a lot going on there, a lot to see, and a lot of the works here to talk about that is the new CEO of HemisFair Park's Redevelopment Corporation, Melissa Robinson.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Thank you for having me.

I was just down there last night taking some pictures.

I do this every few weeks downtown, and it is surprising to me, I think, how many people in San Antonio haven't been down there for fear of construction.

What do you tell them that they're missing?

If they haven't been down to HemisFair in a while?

Oh, they're missing so much.

They're missing culture.

They're missing a place for their families to come and play.

They're missing out on great restaurants.

They're missing out on, new the new hotel that opened up and all the wonderful festivals we have.

And so I understand that it's been challenging with some of the construction.

There's plenty of parking downtown.

I know that that's sometimes a subject that people you know are concerned about, but there is plenty of parking downtown.

We have a parking garage right in the park that's over 200 spaces.

We also have surface lots in and around the district for you to get down to HemisFair.

So and I know you have, I guess control or authority over some of the land down there, not all over the city has and some of the things in the works is, let's say, first of all, project Marble and Peace.

People ask you about Project Marble.

You say, well, that's not exactly what we're doing or we will be part of that.

How does that work?

So just to just to be clear, so H Park and our organization, is not leading, the negotiations or any of the negotiations related to land acquisitions or business terms with the arena deal or the adjacent private development.

We are obviously a very, you know, concerned stakeholder as it relates to anything that's happening within the district.

And what our job is, is, you know, we created the Urban Parks District, anchored by three great parks.

And Tower Park is on the eastern end of the district, which is where Project Marvel is mostly contemplated.

And so what we are concerned about are the edge conditions and how all of that new development is going to interface with the park.

And so we want to be a part of those conversations.

So at some point when the deal is is made and everything is moving forward, we'll be a part of those conversations and being able to talk to the project teams to really figure out how to make sure that those private developments work well with the public park space.

The most important thing is that we have the space for the community.

HemisFair has been successful because of extensive community engagement in what the community wanted.

Before we ever developed a master plan and actually ever built anything.

And I think it's a testament to our success.

All that community engagement that was done in the beginning really shows up now in the success of HemisFair.

And the exact place where the original convention center was built there, at the corner of Market and Alamo, that is a new hotel.

People are going to go down for Fiesta, wander around and be amazed at that.

I think in La Posa, which is a kind of an event venue slash sculpture that looks like a butterfly, the monarch behind the Monarch Hotel.

Tell them about that.

Yeah.

So that's just a beautiful gift that Zachry has given, the community, this beautiful art sculpture that can be used for event space booked through the hotel.

It also is just a beautiful art piece showcasing in Civic Park.

The monarch is absolutely stunning.

And, you know, we're just very excited that Zachry invested in such a beautiful property in Civic Park.

It's great to have life down in Civic Park, have people down there every day.

In addition to the events that are going on.

So we're really excited that that opens.

So if you haven't been down there to check it out, please come.

And there's the monarch, there's the Great Lawn, I guess you call it between there and the convention center.

South of the monarch and east of the monarch, there are a couple of plots of land along market in Alamo that haven't been developed yet.

What are they going to be?

Yes.

So the plot of land that's along Market Street, in between the convention center, Sauce Plaza and the hotel on the north end of Civic Park.

Is is a phase project, mixed use development consisting of retail, parking and housing.

The first phase of about 35,000ft² of retail, two story, with some underground parking will start construction this summer.

And then the second phase is about three years out, which will, which will have residential and additional retail.

So we're really excited about continuing the development and the growth of that area.

Any more offerings for the community?

Conventioneers.

And, you know, pedestrians at the street level can take advantage of that retail as well as park goers.

That particular project.

And the hotel sits adjacent to the heaviest pedestrian intersection in San Antonio, right at the corner of Market and South Alamo.

And the, the property just to the south.

The monarch there that I guess had been talked about for a certain kind of development.

And right now it's in limbo.

Well, yes, it's always been slated as a mixed use development for housing and retail and parking.

And it's still that's still what it's intended for.

And so right now we're working with the city on reissuing a request for proposal on that project.

And you do have businesses that are open there.

Bombay Bicycle Club doors down there.

It's very busy, the other night, but also because of that construction, a couple of your tenants, well, one had to close and then the other one didn't open because of that.

How is it working now to get people back in those?

Yeah.

So it's it's it's been challenging.

I mean, no question.

And stuff.

But we have great success in the tenants that are there.

They've been there long term.

They want to stay long term.

DOH, Bombay Commonwealth, just to name a few.

In addition to some of the tenants we have in the 68 and new construction with rerouted and and Box Street Social.

We are always issuing new request for proposals for space that we have available.

So for example, the space that was vacated in the parade, a house and we've already issued tenancy for that.

We have a tenant selected.

We just have not announced that.

And then we also have the same thing for an additional property called The Sweeney.

So as funding comes in for us to be able to rehabilitate the real estate and the old structures, we're able to put tenants in those.

And they've been very, very successful.

We've been very blessed to have local partnerships and local offerings.

That the community wants and will continue to deliver.

And, you know, they're going to garden if people have them down there.

That's at the southwest corner of HemisFair.

It has really developed into something special.

Okay.

It's a it's a playground for people as well as kids to get down there.

And you can see tourists just love this kind of place, but you kind of have to get the word out about those kinds of places and the Great Lawn and whatever is that, is that a little tough to get people to realize, hey, come on down, it's your backyard.

You know, we're always working on, you know, communicating through social media and through our marketing campaigns about getting people down there.

But the best way is word of mouth yourself going down there and sharing the good news.

Like this.

Our conversation just really come down and experience it.

Jana Guana has been open for 11 years.

It opened in 2015 and so we celebrated ten years of that park being open, which is absolutely phenomenal.

And we've had over 7 million visitors to the park, both on iguana and Civic Park since it opened, since our inception.

So there are a lot of people that come down there, but it is going to take us continuing that communication and sharing word of mouth and just encouraging it is a place for the community.

It is the centerpiece of downtown and it is for everyone.

And briefly, I know a couple of questions.

People want to know when and how and it's not your jurisdiction, I guess.

But, you know, the old federal courthouse, the round building from HemisFair and the box building, that's, I guess the Social Security and FBI have been in there.

What are going to happen to those?

So the city owns the federal courthouse and Spears training center, facility.

And those two buildings are currently vacant, and they have long term redevelopment plans to potentially do a music venue or something along those lines, which would be wonderful to add additional entertainment.

There could be some additional tenancy in between.

And then of course the Social Security building, that and the adjacent parking lots are part of the whole, arena site and redevelopment site.

And I know they're actively working on acquiring that land so they can move forward.

And that's one of those down the road things.

But people can get down there and enjoy it.

There's parking to the south.

Yes.

I would encourage people to get down there.

Good luck with the job.

I appreciate you coming in.

Melissa Robinson, CEO of HemisFair Park Redevelopment Corporation, or H Park.

Thanks.

Thank you.

On Reporters roundtable this week, we are talking schools and vouchers and San Antonio's biggest school district pulling back on plans to renovate some of its schools because of dropping enrollment.

Here to talk about that is the education reporter of the San Antonio Report.

So she Garcia, thank you very much for coming in.

Appreciate it.

Thank you for having me.

First of all, the Northside School District passed a bond issue, I guess, in 2022, nearly $1 billion.

They called for a number of improvements, renovations, but suddenly some of that's on hold.

And I don't know if that's a good sign or a bad sign in terms of enrollment.

But why do they do this?

What are they doing?

Of course, unauthorized decided to pause bond projects at nine elementary schools because enrollment is very low.

It might cost more to redo these schools or renovate these schools.

And they originally thought, especially if they might repurpose or use these schools differently based on enrollment.

And it's hard for them to tell because this is the first year of the voucher program.

You wrote about that in a separate, definitely related story.

Voucher program in San Antonio was one of the, the biggest voucher, I guess, applications in the state, the area for that, and a lot of it was on the north side.

A lot of it was in the bigger school district.

I'm not surprised to see the largest number of students within the school district who apply for, an education savings account.

We don't know if they're currently enrolled in Northside or not.

And some of those students, how many?

It was one.

A third of the students were enrolled in public schools.

Across a 15.

Their county area school district.

About a third of students enrolled in public schools in the 20 2425 school year.

But we don't know if they were enrolled in those schools this year.

What does that mean for Northside, you think going forward, since this is just the first year of vouchers and people were just kind of throwing darts, trying to figure out how many people would get into the voucher program, how many won't.

Well, even before the state launched, the Texas Education Freedom Accounts, which are the ESAs voucher program.

Northside already saw declining enrollment based on a number of factors.

You know, there was more charter schools going up.

People are moving outside of San Antonio.

Less people are having babies at younger ages.

And so this is kind of just another thing that would affect their enrollment, which has been declining for years.

As you mentioned, people moving out of San Antonio, Castroville, Hondo, those kind of places are booming.

And so the sprawl is is advancing.

Yeah, a lot of school districts.

I won't say a lot, but a couple who are on the outskirts of San Antonio are really feeling the pressure to accommodate more students.

For example, Medina Valley ISD is centralized.

You see them having too many students in schools and having to build new schools quicker.

Whereas school districts more inside San Antonio, like Northside de San Antonio ISD, they're having to close schools because they just don't have enough students.

And we saw Judson just recently talking about getting rid of 500 positions.

They're having money problems after they put down or, rejected a bond issue.

And they're also in the same situation in terms of schools and closures and such.

Yeah.

So, Judson, they didn't go out for a bond issue, but they went out for a tax rate election, which just would have unlocked some more money.

They are losing to, have declining enrollment as well.

The issue there is that they've had this budget deficit for years, and they've kind of delayed taking action in terms of whether that's eliminating positions, closing schools, other cost saving measures.

And the 500 position thing, it can be kind of a scary number, but really what it means is that they're eliminating the budget allocations for those positions.

Really, it'll affect more or closer to 77 people, who currently work in the district.

And there are pockets that might surprise people that are growing within.

You would say the metro area, East Central School District, that is, they're having to build schools.

Is that because they just have more land that is being developed?

Yeah, it's developing rapidly.

A couple of years ago, it was a very rural school district and still is if you drive out there.

But, you know, if you go out there every once in a while, even within one year, you see new buildings popping up, new homes popping up.

Traffic really bad.

And I know because I've been to visit schools out there.

And the voucher program back to that.

This is one of those things that, made a lot of headlines when all these people applied for vouchers.

But there will be, what, maybe a third of them get their vouchers because there's not that much money.

Right now, in that, in that big bag of money for it.

Yeah.

That program, you know, it started with $1 billion from the state.

Really big, but probably less th access to some sort of fund because more than 274,000 applied.

State officials really only expect to pay for about 90,000 to 100,000.

And it's also bringing up, what some of the critics of the voucher program had said would happen is that many of the families who have applied already had their students in private school.

So it's giving those, families generally believed to be largely richer families, the money that they would have been able to spend anyway.

Is that going to be an issue going forward?

Because the legislature is, you know, this was projected to be $1 billion for this year, but several million, and growing it just the next couple, three years.

Well, 77% of applicants indicated that they did attend private school.

In the 20 24, 25 school year.

But there is a prioritization process which is supposed to prioritize disabled students, low to middle income students.

Whether critics of the program, believe it'll hold to those priority lines.

You know, who's to say.

But there is that prioritization process in place.

It just will most likely go to families who are already enrolled in private school before.

And the timeline on this, they still have a couple three months before they'll know, the families will know.

And so it'll be that long.

Also, before the school districts know whether those people will wind up at charter school, private or not.

The state is, looking at applications right now.

They will start notifying families by the end of the month.

But families who do get an award have until July 15th to actually find a private school that will accept their kid, because, again, private schools are not required to have positions for these students.

But to, think about a lot to cover out there.

If you're not busy doing education, I can tell.

Thank you very much for coming in social.

Garcia, who is the education reporter for the San Antonio Report.

You can read her stuff at the San Antonio Report website.

Thanks.

Thank you for having me.

And thank you for joining us for this edition of On the Record.

You can watch the show again.

You can watch any previous shows.

You can also download it as a podcast.

Just go to KLRN.org.

I'm Randy Beamer and we'll see you next time.

On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele Dufilho.