To the Editor:
Lisa Wong has been instrumental in creating the vibrant, cultural Southtown arts community. She has placed the highest bid for the Texas Highway Patrol Museum, and she deserves to own the property.
We have not been told the reason Paul Covey has, for now, been awarded the contract on the building. We can do the math – $1.69 million (Wong’s bid) is greater than $1.6 million (Covey’s reported bid). If the auction process does not award the contract to the highest bidder, it erodes our entire economic system.
Wong’s first Rosario’s location opened on South Alamo at a time when it was virtually dormant. Placed near the intersection of Beauregard, it pumped rockin’ salsa music into the streets and her signature gourmet cuisine into the neighborhood. It was a dramatic and effective demonstration of Southtown viability.
When she moved her restaurant into its current location, she directed an outstanding renovation. She did that even though she does not own the building. Her restaurant is one of the busiest in a neighborhood that now – thanks to her models of success – boasts many of the best eateries in the city.
Wong will give the Texas Highway Museum building the best, most enduring and classiest treatment it can get. We have signed Sen. Leticia Van de Putte’s petition on Change.org (http://www.change.org/petitions/senator-leticia-van-de-putte-lisa-wong-rosario-s-deserves-a-fair-shake) and we urge all of our neighbors and friends to join us in this fight for justice. Lisa Wong placed the highest bid, she deserves to own her own building.
–Al Rendon
Rendon Photography & Fine Art, 733 S. Alamo
Rendon is a professional photographer and the owner of Rendon Photography & Fine Art, a photographic fine arts gallery located in historic Southtown, San Antonio. He was born and raised in San Antonio and has lived and worked in the neighborhood for about 10 years.
