Neighbors heard about a victory for the Neighborhood Conservation District plan, got a preview of the Midtown Master Plan Process and heard about the Brackenridge Park Community Cat Project at the June 20, 2017 meeting of the Mahncke Park Neighborhood Association. MNPA Board Secretary Camis Milam said she attended the June 19 meeting of the Zoning Board of Adjustment and testified against three of the five variances sought by the DSW Construction Co., which proposed building 45 two- and three-story town homes near the southeast corner of East Mulberry and Tendick.

Bexar County Appraisal District officials gave Mahncke Park Neighborhood Association members a rundown on rising property values and a roadmap for protesting their valuations at the May 16 meeting. Most importantly, protests must be filed by May 31 and can be done online or in person. Watch the complete video here or scroll below the video for links to jump directly to key points in the presentation and the Q&A with residents. The meeting began with a presentation by Lynn Bobbitt, Executive Director of the Brackenridge Park Conservancy.

These are the top 12 stories of  2016 curated by NOWCastSA Managing Director Charlotte-Anne Lucas: 

Editor's Note: This column was originally published in the October 2016 issue of LOCAL community news. It has been republished here with the permission from the author and publication.  With a divisive, nasty national election right round the corner it’s hard to focus fully on a local election that’s more than six months off. But the City of San Antonio bond election coming up next May is likely to affect most folks in and around the city as much, if not more than, the winner of the presidential cage fight.

Catch Up and Get Ahead with the Edge for the week of August 15. This week: the City responds to criticism of the Brackenridge Park draft master plan by backing off and listening, Westside residents plan for the future the Lower Fredericksburg Road Corridor, City Council passes the SA Tomorrow plan, and the deadly results of unsafe ozone levels.

Watch the graduation ceremony of the G. W. Brackenridge High School Class of 2013 here on this page with your computer or mobile phone Sunday, June 16 starting at 2 p.m. or replay the video later.  Leave your comments for Brackenridge grads in the blue box on the right -->> Click here to see other San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) graduation ceremonies live or later.

REPLAY VIDEO: NOWCastSA webcast live from the groundbreaking ceremony of San Antonio's multi-use pet center in Brackenridge Park on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 11 a.m. Named in honor of the longtime head of the Petco Foundation, the Paul Jolly Center for Animal Adoptions will feature a large adoption area for dogs and cats, as well as a spay/neuter clinic and an event pavilion that will both carry the Petco name.

Artist Diana Kersey's ceramic panels on the Mulberry Avenue Bridge at Brackenridge Park whimsically depict the life cycle of the Texas Gulf Coast Toad, from mating to egg, to tadpole to toad again. Kersey was commissioned to do the public art under the city's Public Art San Antonio program, and she chronicled the process on her blog, dianakersey.blogspot.com

When Ramona Garcia sang the National Anthem at the first of San Antonio Independent School District's high school graduation ceremonies Saturday morning, her grandfather was watching and listening on his computer 250 miles away. "Thanks for webcasting the Graduation of Highlands High School this morning," wrote Ramona's grandfather, Otto Perryman, in an email. "I am disabled and was unable to travel to San Antonio to see the graduation, and appreciate you allowing me to watch it from my home in Fort Worth."

REPLAY THE VIDEOS:  Watch archived video all eight graduation ceremonies from the SAISD high schools in the video player here. Please join the conversation and celebrate the accomplishments of these young people by watching the video, participating in the chat and coming back for another replay.