SAN MARCOS — What began at a barbecue joint on San Antonio’s East Side only months ago progressed Friday to hosting its inaugural event with representation from 13 counties covering over 11,000 square miles and a population of 5.4 million.
In the Student Union at Texas State University-San Marcos, a spectrum of disparate needs coalesced around a single goal: collaborating as a mega region under the banner of the Central Texas Alliance.
On issues ranging from light rail to water, civic, business and academic leaders met to form a consensus and commit to working together.
Formed earlier this year to support the Austin-San Antonio corridor, the Alliance seeks to enable the region’s leaders to act with one voice. The upcoming 90th Texas Legislative Session was on all their minds.
A year ago, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros published “The Austin-San Antonio Megaregion: Opportunity and Challenges in the Lone Star State,” with authors Robert Rivard and David Hendricks.
The book outlines how projected growth will put demands on housing, energy and water resources, mobility infrastructure and the workforce along the I-35 corridor.
Texas is considered the fastest growing economy and population in the nation. The Austin-San Antonio corridor, with a population of 5.3 million, is on target to add 3 million more residents by 2050, according to census data.
As a region, Austin and San Antonio are catching up to Houston in the share of jobs, said Roberto Coronado, senior vice president and senior economist of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
Unlike other major metropolexes in the state, the rapidly growing region is not served by one entity that works to develop consensus around priorities for the region, despite previous attempts. Until now.
“This was a concept in a book in February,” said the nonprofit’s CEO, A.J. Rodriguez. After an unexpected meeting with Cisneros while at Reese Bros Barbecue, he accepted the charge to lead the Alliance.
Convening people from the region was one of his first tasks. Today, he said with satisfaction, it’s “200 people eating breakfast tacos together in the geographic middle of the region. We are finally actually doing it.”
The Alliance is modeled after the North Texas Commission and the Greater Houston Partnership, and was founded by Cisneros, former HUD Secretary and four-term San Antonio mayor (1981–89).
The leaders from those organizations and others like it offered advice and insights for the Alliance to be successful.
Taylor Landin of the Greater Houston Partnership said it takes patience and discipline, vision and strategy.
“A lot of the problems that you guys are facing … are no different than any other problems that are facing other mega regions in the country,” he said. “You’re not going to solve the water issue overnight. You’re not going to solve the education issue overnight.”
The concept of a regional approach to problem-solving has been circulating for years, through efforts such as Target 90, Opportunity Austin and the Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council, which was focused on transportation before it dissolved, Rodriguez said.
Thad Rutherford, Southstar president and CEO, and a founding steering committee member, said the time is now right to form an Alliance and collective “stubbornness” will help it to advance.
Joining officials from across the region for the day were well-known local leaders like the CEO of San Antonio’s NBA team, a county judge candidate and recent mayor, a former longtime city manager, the city’s aviation director and the heads of the San Antonio Water System and Port San Antonio.
During a mini-workshop at the meeting led by Sandy Hentges Guzman, CEO of the Austin Area Research Organization, attendees ranked the importance and difficulty level of 20 issues.
Completing the Interstate 35/State Highway 130 corridor was high on the list as was building a dedicated high-speed passenger rail line connecting San Antonio and Austin.
“I think we’re making good progress,” on studying light rail, said Travis County Judge Andy Brown.
Two options have emerged, ranging in cost from $1.9 billion to $13 billion, depending on whether existing rail lines are used, he said. Another study of the economic impact and ridership is in the works, he said.
“If we wait another 30 years, the cost of this will be insane,” Brown said. “I think today is the day to act on this, and I’m so excited that this group is doing that.”
The San Antonio Report asked several attendees what they took away from the event and here’s what they had to say.
Sarah Carabias-Rush, president and CEO, Greater:SATX: “I think today’s conversation was a continuation of one that I think our regions have been having for a long time, and bringing together this group today to really start to advance those things is important. The growth is coming. That’s not going to change, right? So we need to take control of how we manage that.”
Patrick Rose, founder and president, Corridor Title of Austin: “It’s really important that whatever ends up coming out the other end of this process today and the coming months, by way of advocacy priorities, that it represents consensus among the 13 counties, and that’s hard to do. The question is now where do you put finite time with the capital and that you try to not do too many things too quickly.”
Keith Lutz, Medina County Judge: “I think we’re all better off together. All of us have so many common issues that are problematic for us. [The issues for Medina County are] water and transportation. But that truly is this whole region. That’s a problem everywhere.”
Denise Davis, attorney and board chairwoman of the Austin Chamber of Commerce: “I was surprised to see rail was such a priority among attendees,” over completion of the Hwy. 130 corridor. “But Austin really wants high speed. Our business community is being very supportive.”
Garry Merritt, CEO of the Great Springs Project: I was really happy to see … the open space protection, the land conservation component of [the Alliance priorities], because we represent the trail, yes, but we also really work on conservation of open space over the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer. The importance of us participating is to help people to recognize how important this open space is for the benefit of all Texans, and especially in Central Texas.”
Aaron Demerson, president and CEO, Texas Economic Development Corporation: “Looking forward to what’s next. If it benefits this region, it benefits our state. Texas is growing. The state’s growing in big, big ways. So we want to make sure that whatever is next, we want to be ready for it. Planning like this, setting that vision, is important.”
Rene Dominguez, president and CEO, VelocityTX: “I [came] expecting to see infrastructure in terms of utilities and workforce, but [what I thought was interesting was] the idea of resilience and the impact of these disasters we are having, and the need to really bump that up the priority list in terms of disaster response and use innovation to really solve some of those issues.”
After the event, the alliance next plans to develop its full governance, a board of 100 members who will come to a consensus for the legislative agenda, Rodriguez said.
“Its about picking a lane and staying in it,” said Jeff Hahn, principal, Hahn Agency and founding steering committee, following the issues prioritization exercise. “And I think we found ourselves some really interesting lanes to work on here.”
Co-chairpersons of Central Texas Alliance are Jenna Saucedo-Herrera, head of corporate impact at the San Antonio-based financial services firm USAA, and Gary Farmer, president of Heritage Title Company of Austin.
“This is an entity which will focus on strategy and vision, pick the right policies and pursue them together, awareness and education — educating the public so we can generate public support, convening for impact,” Cisneros said. “There are real possible options … and we’re here to get them done.”
Disclosure: A.J. Rodriguez is immediate past chairman of the San Antonio Report board of directors.
