San Antonio City Council approved a measure Dec. 13 that would reward developers for building housing as expensive as $360,000, after city staff spent months in private meetings with for profit and nonprofit developers, but did not hold a single public hearing.

Commentary by Jim Bailey, member of the Housing Policy Task Force

By Tony Garcia with Cynthia Spielman

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."

When the Mayor's Housing Policy Task Force members briefed the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan Committee in June, only one recommendation was different from similar housing studies over the last 30 years: Implementation. (Scroll down to watch complete video or click on each speaker’s quote to watch their remarks.)

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.

Tier One Neighborhood Coalition members met to learn about proposed changes to San Antonio's Land Use categories. More than 40 people from about 22 neighborhoods came to the meeting at San Antonio College. As part of the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan, city planners have proposed new land use categories that they say should be applied consistently, across the city.

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.

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.