Read or listen to the City Council Runoff Forums for District 1, District 5 and District 9 on Texas Public Radio: The Source. All forums are moderated by David Martin Davies.

Scroll down to see the questions from the Runoff Candidate Forum with Roberto Treviño and Mario Bravo, then click on the link to jump to that spot in the video with the candidates’ answer. The Forum was webcast by NOWCastSA. Special thanks to the sponsors of the event: Mary Johnson, Christina Wright, Cynthia Spielman from Tier One Neighborhood Coalition, Tobin Hill Community Association, Killen, Griffin & Farrimond, Lynn Knapik, Jim Bailey, and Irby Hightower. 

Two 100-year-old storied homes in San Antonio’s Tobin Hill neighborhood are being demolished after a city councilman invoked an ordinance under the city signage code to block landmark protection sought by the community and the city Office of Historic Preservation. The clash between the community, the developer and the city bureaucracy erupted at the July 17 Historic Design and Review Commission (HDRC) meeting, prompting the panel to initiate a survey of the remaining historic and significant buildings in Tobin Hill.

By Charlotte-Anne Lucas and Jolene Almendarez This morning, District 1 Councilman Roberto Treviño will continue to fight a land use category that community leaders say will destroy San Antonio neighborhoods by allowing incompatible, high-density, four-story apartment buildings next to single-family homes.

Under the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan, the City of San Antonio will be asking residents to help define the land use and zoning in their neighborhoods and communities. To help neighborhood residents prepare to participate, this hands-on workshop was created by Chrissy Q McCain, Director of Land Use and Neighborhood Planning for City Council District 1. “We want to empower people with as much information as possible,” explained District 1 Councilman Roberto Treviño. “We’ll be working with you, not around you."

Leaders of the Westside Neighborhood Associations Coalition told the mayor, city council members and state representatives that they are being disrespected and treated like “guinea pigs” in the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan process.

Updated: District 1 Councilman Roberto Treviño said the San Antonio Planning Department is “not going to take another step forward” on the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan without including the neighborhoods as true partners in the process.

Updated: Board members of the Alamo Trust, which manages the daily operations of the historic Alamo, met in public for the first time, giving a peek inside closed-door meetings, and getting an earful from passionate preservationists. Watch complete video here or scroll down for an article with quotes and links to context.

By Cynthia Spielman and Cosima Colvin Neighborhood Plans are civic engagement and grassroots democracy at its most local level. They were created by ordinary people who care about their community and were willing to work, to participate and to engage with their neighbors in a real partnership with the city under the 1998 Community Building and Neighborhood Planning Program.   We spent hundreds of hours planning, facilitating and attending meetings. We talked to one another, and sometimes struggled with ideas until we finally came to a consensus.

In direct contradiction of a city ordinance and the promise of the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan, city staffers are systematically eliminating long-standing neighborhood plans designed to protect the character and future of San Antonio’s urban core communities. The news came as an unwelcome surprise to city council members at the Comprehensive Plan Committee’s April 19 meeting where they were being briefed on the $1.05 million SA Tomorrow Year Two consulting contract that is up for approval in May.