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.

Joining us now as we go on the Record with Randy Beamer.

Hi, everybody.

Thank you for joining us.

For On the Record this week.

I'm Randy Beamer.

Several very important topics we're going to talk about this week, starting with the growth in the Hill country and a brand new report out from the Texas Hill Country Conservation Network.

Joining us is Kathryn Romans with that group, as well as executive director of the Hill Country Alliance.

Thanks for coming in.

Thank you.

And recently or I say recently in the past few years, we've talked about how many more million people are going to be between here in Austin and up in the Hill country.

Three more million people in the next few decades.

But you're looking at the natural resources and the impact of that growth.

How scary is that?

I guess in that bottom line, it's yeah, it's a big job.

Absolutely.

But then we've got new visionary resources that are really going to help emphasize the importance of investing in the protection of those resources now while we can, before we find ourselves covering them up with pavement and rooftops.

How do you do that?

So the Hill Country Conservation Network is a coalition of nonprofits, agencies, individuals and businesses that have really come together, recognizing that we need to collaborate.

We need to share a big vision for the Hill country that puts the protection of natural resources right up there alongside the growth that we're seeing.

And now the Hill Country Alliance has basically been about that for, you say now nearly 20 years.

But the new report specifically outlines what the new report looked at natural resources across the board, from water to land to biodiversity to things in our urban areas, like, in fact, of urban heat island and our night skies.

Absolutely.

And so we pulled together a team of more than 80 individuals that served on an advisory committee.

We worked with consultants that are experts in mapping.

And what we did was we went out to the public.

We surveyed residents of the Hill country close to 3000 responses to really inform what are our top priorities for protection in the region.

Water, unsurprisingly, came up as number one.

Folks are concerned about water quantity as well as water quality.

We asked residents if they'd be willing to pay more to protect those resources, and overwhelmingly folks said yes.

85% of our respondents said yes, they would be willing to put money into protecting those natural resources.

So in the end, we had a report that has maps that cover all of these natural resource concerns.

That looks regionwide as well as specifically in urban areas along the I 35 corridor at what some of the top priorities really are for Hill country residents and how we can start working towards protecting those.

Now those are, I would say, current Hill country residents, but, you know, we're inviting as many jobs as we can get and and developers.

Did you talk with developers because they may have different priorities and how do you work with developers who want to build, build, build and, you know, more lights or whatever that would threaten or at least affect current residents?

Absolutely.

Builders are a really important stakeholder group and we are not about saying no to development.

We need new housing, we need places for folks to work.

We need those jobs.

And so it's really about how do we channel growth and get the kind of growth that we want to see for the whole country, growth that's respectful of our water resources, growth that considers our dark skies and protecting our view of the Milky Way at night.

Developers are absolutely willing to entertain and recognize the shortages that we're already seeing in terms of water resources and developers here are talking about density and things like that.

And how is that not the same kind of development that we think of in the Hill country or we think of three or four or five acre lots or bigger lots, that kind of thing?

Sure.

The development we're seeing in the Hill country is largely happening outside of existing incorporated areas.

So it's happening in our unincorporated counties where we just have fewer tools to channel and direct what that growth looks like.

And so we're all about raising awareness, working with county commissioners, courts to do what they can to invest in natural resource conservation, because, of course, they have fewer tools than our cities do, for sure.

And now we've had people on here talking about, you know, say, San Antonio water system is supposed to, wherever their area is, supply water, but not necessarily sewer.

So some of the sewage system from some of the developments can go into the creeks and rivers, and that's been controversial.

How can you affect that?

We've been working on multiple fronts on that issue, specifically treated wastewater in the whole country.

We have pristine creeks and rivers that are largely without naturally occurring phosphorus.

So when we put wastewater into those systems, it can have a really huge ecological impact.

There are so many alternatives that we've been promoting using land application, reusing water on site.

If we start thinking about new development as not only being a draw or a drain on existing water supplies, but as something that can actually create new supplies of water through the reuse of treated wastewater.

For example.

So we can really reframe this challenge as an opportunity if every new rooftop was collecting rainwater, for example.

That's new water supply that can help alleviate our footprint on existing strained resources versus tougher sell, maybe with treated wastewater.

Treated wastewater absolutely has its challenges.

We're working with the TC ACU and at the legislature to remove hurdles to using treated wastewater, But we have great examples.

The city of Austin has some public buildings that are reusing treated wastewater on site, and that can have a huge impact in offsetting our overall water demand.

Recently, Parks and Wildlife talked about they're going to have two more access points to rivers up there.

And you say that's a good thing.

That's a fantastic thing.

We are an increasingly urban state.

We need places for especially urban residents to connect to natural resources.

And so creating new parks is going to be a huge need and opportunity to invest in natural infrastructure.

We'll have an opportunity this November as voters to vote to approve $1,000,000,000 for new state parks statewide.

And of course, we'll be working hard to bring some of those dollars to the whole country to open up new recreation points.

Is there a plan if that passes or is that still long down the road?

Absolutely.

Texas Parks and Wildlife is working hard, and I know they've got ample opportunities.

And it's a matter of prioritizing where those dollars go for maximum conservation value and, of course, maximum benefit to the public because we've got high demand as a state.

And I love transportation because I know that's an issue, say, in the Burnie area.

We've had people on talking about that.

How do you, you know, reconcile developers and cities and counties and what they need to do for sure.

When we talk about growth in the whole country, we like to say it'd be one thing if every new person was moving to downtown San Antonio or downtown Austin, but we are growing outward as a region.

And so thinking about how we create transportation alternatives for folks to get to work, get into the hill country, get to places to recreate in play without needing to hop in their car every time is really important.

Every almost to a t, every hill country community has a text highway running through it.

And so as we think about building out highways, that has huge impacts for our quality of life, for the character of our road.

And you're working with texts that are absolutely text that is an important partner for sure.

And we're working with them on multiple fronts on how we grow as a region to how we think about roadway footprints in the hill country.

All right.

Well, thanks very much.

We're out of time.

I'd like to talk about this more, but people can find out more about this report at our TSX Hill Country dot org.

Our hill country dot org.

Catherine Romans, thank you very much.

Executive director of the Hill Country Alliance.

Check it out.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

The city of San Antonio just released what they are calling a Smart Cities road map.

And if you wonder what that is, the man to tell us all about, it is Brian Dillard.

He is the chief innovation officer for the city of San Antonio.

Thanks again for coming in.

Thank you for having me.

Now, we talked about this about a year ago and then a few months ago when you were taking a survey, because this is really based on community input.

What is a smart city's road map for San Antonio?

Right.

So Smart cities all in general is how do we utilize emerging technology and data uses in order to improve public services for our residents?

So our Smart Cities road map is designed in a way that it's community driven.

You know, smart cities kind of started off being vendor driven.

That was private sector pushing out solutions that may have applied to city needs or not.

We transitioned into a government driven model of it for a little bit there, but then we realized we really should be co-creating.

So this road map is the last eight months of not only taking in resident input but city staff input on what do we actually activate on that we're projecting for for the next five years.

Did any of this change during COVID?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

A lot more uses of data change when it came to COVID, obviously digital inclusion.

So our digital inclusion program within the city of San Antonio and specifically the Office of Innovation, it actually spun out of smart cities because they really exposed the differences in San Antonio to where for sure people had access, right?

Absolutely.

Access to information, access to transportation, access to health care.

All these things are becoming more placed into a digital economy.

And we don't want to get lost behind the curve on those items.

So now you have five challenges and three strategies.

Is that right in this road map?

That is correct.

So our five challenges, our five guiding principles are accessibility, connectivity, efficiency, information, and then safety.

And we operate those within our business strategies.

And these is what came from city staff was around data business operations and then resident engagement.

So if those correlate, then that's what we execute on when it comes to projects.

And how about the strategies?

So our strategies are all about access to information, access to public services, access to transportation, and then safety and environmental quality.

And now those are maybe the 30,000 feet kind of thing.

And what are we getting down to or what are you getting down to right now?

So some examples of what we're executing on.

I know a lot of folks are paying attention to traffic issues when it comes to San Antonio.

We're growing very rapidly.

How do we utilize data to optimize our traffic signals?

So right now you use Waze or Google Maps or Apple Maps and it'll tell you how to get somewhere quickly.

How do we pull in that data into our traffic signal system and then optimize that, use an automated approach to timing those signals where folks are traveling.

Some people might think that's already being done, but it's really not.

It is not not in an automated fashion and not using that big data scale now, but that's already there.

I mean, that technology has been around for a while.

Is it just costly?

Is it just very hard to do?

What is it?

It needs a strategic focus.

So in the past, you know, we've always been putting out fires when it's traffic, traffic accidents, we respond to them, but we don't have necessarily time to step back and look at the bigger picture.

That's where innovation comes into play.

That's where the smart cities road map comes into play.

What about public safety?

Because people wonder, okay, is this mean we're going to have more police in this particular area because we've done that recently?

Right.

So this is all about how do we utilize the services we already have in a more efficient and effective manner.

So for fire, if I have a fireman going into a building that could be structurally compromised, how can I utilize some type of technology, maybe a drone or a robot to go in and explore that structure and assess before we send in a human body?

Those are the type of things we're looking at, at public safety.

If we're having an incident somewhere within the city, how do I get a drone out there to look quickly rather than that resident waiting for a police officer to make it through traffic to get to that location?

How about placing people, officers, that kind of thing?

Right.

So I think the data that we get back from all of these really needs to be utilized.

So within the city.

Eric Walsh, our city manager, has tasked us to be a data informed decision making organization.

We are starting to move mountains with that right now.

We have a lot of data coming into the city, a lot of data going out, identifying what that looks like and how to utilize it better.

That's where the decision making comes into play.

When it comes to public safety, people might wonder, okay, that's great, but does that mean more resources are going to go to the north side and places that are growing?

And so we've talked about equity funding, places that are forgotten.

Maybe Southwest Side's different areas might think they're going to get less in terms of resources.

I think that's to be determined.

But that's the whole point of this is we're not basing it off of anecdotal evidence now.

We are basing it off the data that is proven out and you're coming up with the data, but it's still up to city leaders to decide to act on exactly this, correct.

What they do.

And now the road map is this online.

Can we see this?

How does it work?

It absolutely is.

So we have a website Smarter Together essay, AECOM.

You can go there.

If you're a vendor, there's a pathway for you.

If you're a resident is a pathway for you.

If you're a city staff member, there's another pathway to identify how you can tie in, how you contribute and work with us to make tomorrow better.

What is different maybe, than you expect there?

Any surprises in this or any changes from that government driven model, a vendor driven model?

What's really striking, I think, the level of understanding that the resident has when it comes to the risk of all this.

So we hear about it all the time.

Now, as we're talking about smart cities, our residents are well aware of what the risks are.

It's our job to mitigate those risks.

It's our job to speak proactively about those and educate our residents even more on the actions we're taking.

How do you encourage things like access?

How does how is that going to be done?

Because that's a private endeavor, but the city can encourage that in some way.

Absolutely.

So we're doing that with our digital inclusion programing already.

We have a contract.

The AT&T, we did a joint RFP last year with the county we've settled in.

We are now connecting over 22,000 households.

That's not only households to business locations as well with fiber to the premise.

Now that is not where it stops.

It doesn't stop at infrastructure.

At that point.

We need to push digital adoption and digital literacy.

If I provide the internet to the home, it doesn't mean you're going to utilize it and you may not even know what to use it or how to use it.

Getting As we grow into the digital economy, we have to become more focused on equipping our residents.

And your background, as you mentioned just before, is in cybersecurity.

So you know a whole lot about this and where it's going because you came into this knowing more than your average person.

But where are we going with the roadmap and what's next down the road?

I think increased capabilities for not only the city of San Antonio and Bear County, but our residents, the way we're going, the technology is coming.

It's all about empowering and engaging our residents and making sure they know where they fit into this cosmic infrastructure.

What can you do about, you know, if you find out data about traffic in this area, that kind of thing?

Is it just you get that information in the city council and they decide how to get that money for roads or what.

So there's tangent to this.

So we work directly with the departments that are responsible for it.

We work with city management and yes, we inform City council, the mayor on what decisions at least put the information out there for them to make those decisions as we move forward.

One of the things that we have right now is a light our technology and what light our is is it's light radar.

So instead of putting a surveillance camera up on a corner to identify near-misses or traffic accidents, instead we have this light.

It doesn't capture private information, but it tells us we know that near misses we see all the time police calls for traffic accidents, but we don't get the calls for near-misses.

We don't understand how active these corridors are every day.

This type of technology brings in that data to make the list.

How many of these do you have and where are they?

So those are two to be deployed soon.

So don't make any promises on the air, TBD.

Yes, sir.

To be deployed.

Yes, sir.

All right.

Well, thank you very much.

You can check that out at the city's website Smarter Together S.A.. All right.

Brian Dillard, chief innovation officer of the City of San Antonio.

Thanks.

Thank you, sir.

On Reporters roundtable this week, we are talking rail from San Antonio to Austin, something that has been talked about for at least the 40 years that I've been here and at least since 2003 with the transportation district.

But right now, looking into this is Michael Carlos, staff writer for the San Antonio Current.

Thanks for coming in.

It's great to be back.

You had a interesting article about a possibility of the rail district that could come back or there's a push for that.

Where where are we on that and who's behind it?

So, you know, San Antonio in Austin, there's some of the fastest growing cities in the country, and they exist in this unique sweet spot where it's it's too close for regular commercial flight, but it's just far enough away for driving back and forth to be a real pain in the you know what?

So back in 2003, there was this push to examine whether a commuter rail service between the two cities was was feasible.

And it was called the Texas or the Lone Star Rail District.

I remember that.

And after 13 years and some $20 million, a passenger rail was never put into service.

It mainly just kind of went money, went towards consultants and lots of plans, lots of plans and all those lots of headlines.

And now Union Pacific at that time that owns the rail line between here in Austin or or whatever there is, they were on board for a while with that.

So they were a partner in it because the idea was that the existing rail line between Austin and San Antonio, which is mainly used for freight, could also be used for commuter rail, which is similar to what's done in the Northeast Union Pacific owns that line.

However, they eventually pulled out of the agreement.

Now the the new there's this new grassroots organization called Restart Lone Star Rail District, and that was founded by Clay Anderson.

He's a recent recent graduate of Columbia University.

He majored in urban planning.

So very intelligent guy.

And what he's doing is trying to call upon elected political leaders to re examine and kind of restart restart the Lone Star Rail district or whatever it takes to do it, because that would be a state affiliate, it's saying.

But you say there's really no way to build back better billions of dollars for rail and other infrastructure.

And so wouldn't necessarily have to get a lot of money from the state.

And there seems to be some city support as well here in in Austin.

Right.

So I think part of why this issue is resurfacing is because millennials and younger people have an interest in rail, and especially with the election of Joe Biden, Amtrak, Joe, he yeah.

And the signing of the Build Back better plan, which allocated $20 billion in federal funding specifically for rail and mass transit.

So if this project was to be looked at again or made possible, both cities could draw on money from that piece of legislation to help fund it, as well as state funding and local funding.

Do you think part of it is a tipping point in the actual traffic on I-35 and the toll roads are?

You know, if you look at the cities between Austin and San Antonio, New Braunfels, San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, every single one of those cities are always named as one of the some of the fastest growing suburbs in the country, and especially since the pandemic.

You know, seems that everyone and their dog has moved to either San Antonio or Austin.

So, yeah, I think traffic is part of it.

People are fed up.

I mean, I don't like driving on I-35.

Do you know?

But and also I don't think it's just as an old guy who goes to the Stones in Austin, you know, when they played there or, you know, a Ute game or whatever, going to Sixth Street, there's a lot of reason you want to take a train or something.

So you don't have to park as well.

And downtown is that I mean, this build or this rebuild, whatever Lonestar they're talking about how many stops along the way?

They're calling for 19 stops.

And that's an important thing to remember because it's not just a rail line connecting San Antonio and Austin.

Their proposal includes starting a port, San Antonio Cali Air Force Base and going all the way north to Georgetown.

But with 19 stops, how long would it take you?

I think that's the thing to get to.

Austin Yeah, it would.

It would be about or from point A to point B, it'd be about an hour or so.

But the idea is that it would connect better connect to the region.

So you're also making stops in New Braunfels or making stops in San Marcus, and that kind of allows more mobility.

You can live in Kyle but work at Port San Antonio or vice versa.

And now you've talked to Union Pacific since the article came out or they reached out to you.

So what's the latest there?

Well, so they they just reached out to say that they're committed to the region and that they're they're putting in several million dollars into improving that existing rail line.

But I am working on a follow up article to see whether they're receptive to the idea of allowing a regular passenger rail service on that freight line that they own.

It seems like, though, we have a whole lot of freight coming through San Antonio to the border and back and up north, and this would be like regular service because there's the Texas Eagle.

Now you say that runs seven in the morning or something like that.

So.

San Antonio.

Yep.

And that's the one thing that would go through Austin.

And it's also the one passenger train right now.

If there were others, how often would they have to be really to be reliable and and efficient enough and often enough to get people to do it?

I mean, it would have to be a regular commuter rail.

So every 30 minutes, every hour at the most I mean, that's that's what exists in other parts of the country, whether it be the Bay Area or Boston or New York, how Union Pacific's going to, you know, be receptive to that idea when there is a lot of freight coming in, mainly from Mexico.

Passing through these two cities is yet to be seen.

But there is demand and there does seem to be some political will.

Councilwoman, have you spoken out in favor of this idea of connecting the two cities, as has a Travis County judge?

And so what do you think the next step is just getting a feel from talking to all these people?

I think the next step is just getting it out there and trying to get the public on board and crystal ball.

Michael?

Carlos, do you think this will happen?

Because people will say, please, let's get some rail between here in Austin.

I think it's more likely than Elon Musk's idea of building a tunnel between the two cities.

Yes.

Or under San Antonio from the airport to downtown.

No, that's true.

I haven't heard much about that.

But that's your next story.

It's not.

But thank you for coming in.

I appreciate it.

Michael Carl, a staff writer for the San Antonio Current.

Check out his stuff at S.A. current dot com dot com or com.

Thanks.

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

You can see this show again or previous shows.

You can also download the podcast at KLRN.org and we'll see you next time on the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele Dufilho