City Councilmember Roberto Treviño (D1) took about 350 people on a tour through San Antonio’s urban core and its most anticipated projects Tuesday afternoon, soaring high above Hemisfair construction, the Tobin Center, the future site of H-E-B’s Flores Market, and more – all while they sat in their seats during the third State of the Center City luncheon at the Westin Riverwalk. The annual event is hosted by Centro San Antonio and the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
The half-hour tour came courtesy of a video with clips from Joeris General Contractors‘ drone – yes, a small robotic hover craft equipped with a video camera – and interviews with City and institution leaders.
(The Rivard Report has requested a copy of the video, one will be provided once completed.)
Geekdom Director Lorenzo Gomez told the audience about the startup incubator and co-working space, a “YMCA for geeks,” and its renovation of the Rand Building to accommodate for Geekdom’s expansion. David Kinder, chair of the San Antonio Symphony board, described the Tobin Center’s top notch acoustics.
Treviño said he has plans to establish a City-sponsored arts and culture awards at the Tobin Center.
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff shared the County, City, and private partnership vision of San Pedro Creek.
“The birthplace of our community is along the San Pedro Creek and we’ve let that deteriorate into a ditch,” Wolff stated in the video.
From Main Plaza’s Saga to the Pearl, from the new public safety headquarters to the Convention Center construction, from the Zona Cultura initiative to the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio renovation and expansion – the video was essentially a promotional video for a “City on the Rise.”
“We couldn’t capture just everything,” Treviño said after his presentation. “This could be a three-hour presentation.
We wanted to show that we’ve got great people here, we’ve got great things going on – but not everybody knows what the next person is doing, so we’re going to start bringing people together.”
Treviño said a priority of his office is to create a culture of collaboration and transparency in City Hall by leading by example.
“My office is creating for the first time (administrative) office management and operating procedures,” he said, in hopes that these documented processes will encourage continuity in elected officials’ offices as people transition in and out of positions.
The end game is to get everyone to collaborate, he said.
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