San Antonio's Downtown Skyline: Nice or Ugly? (Austin, Anthony: credit, how much)

[IrishSA]

Originally Posted by Dopo

I haven't gone to La Cantera,
but from what I saw, I would think more mexicans go to San Marcos outlets to shop.

I went there on Jan 1st and it was packed with cars with mexican license plates.

BTW, it was a little shocking for my midwestern wife (we've been here 2 months)
to see 2 german looking kids speaking spanish with a mexican accent

Ha yeah, Not everyone from Mexico is one color. A few friends ive had from Mexico had green eyes blonde hair.. From what i understand the lighter skinned mexican nationals tend to be better off.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by Dopo

I haven't gone to La Cantera,
but from what I saw, I would think more mexicans go to San Marcos outlets to shop.

I went there on Jan 1st and it was packed with cars with mexican license plates.

BTW, it was a little shocking for my midwestern wife (we've been here 2 months)
to see 2 german looking kids speaking spanish with a mexican accent

Dopo.....just avoid any large shopping mall, outlet or shopping center that has designer or higher end merchandise during Mexico's national holidays. North Star Mall is a long time fav....and La Canterra and the Rim are giving them a run for their money. And yes, the San Marcos Outlets are just as packed. Check your calendar for Holy Week and make sure you've done your shopping for the week! Worse than Christmas because it's packed into one week of wild and frenzied spending....total insanity.

[Eleanor Rigby]

I second that... I had to make a run to the Apple store at North Star last week, and it was absolutely full to the brim of Mexican Nationals buying everything in sight. Seriously, I saw people clinging to piles of iPod Nanos like they were Moscow housewives in a bread line in 1972. The poor dazed sales clerk told me that none of the staff could figure it out, because it wasn't like anything was on sale, but it was turning out to be their second biggest sales day of the year after Black Friday. We're talking a random post-Christmas Tuesday here.

[firstclassflyer]

Originally Posted by Eleanor Rigby

I second that... I had to make a run to the Apple store at North Star last week, and it was absolutely full to the brim of Mexican Nationals buying everything in sight. Seriously, I saw people clinging to piles of iPod Nanos like they were Moscow housewives in a bread line in 1972. The poor dazed sales clerk told me that none of the staff could figure it out, because it wasn't like anything was on sale, but it was turning out to be their second biggest sales day of the year after Black Friday. We're talking a random post-Christmas Tuesday here.

Yup...electronics and clothing...the 2 major things that are more costly in Mexico. Even with the dismal exchange rate for the Mexicans (>13 pesos to the dollar recently) it's still a deal here for certain things.

[satbah7]

Many buildings are deemed historical. We probably lost alot of buildings when the Capitol when to Austin many moons ago. Companies and government usually to the capital city.Bigger ones go to cities in regions of the country. Ie:New York LA .Not much land in the core of city because of the old buildings. The older buildings look nice and have some charm if they cleaned up nicely.With railings and collumns.There's companies and for that matter people with big money to build their own skycrapers.ATT had a chance to do that when they where headquartered globally here. Maybe the city will build another Tower next to one at Hemishere with the stimulus money from the government.

[imaterry78259]

SA downtown definitely needs more height

[scuba steve]

Originally Posted by satbah7

... Maybe the city will build another Tower next to one at Hemishere with the stimulus money from the government.

Maybe they'll make it more artistic... or space needley.

[SweethomeSanAntonio]

Originally Posted by imaterry78259

With that said I am glad that Hispanics have overcome the crap they had to endure to rise to social prominence in SA.

San Antonio DT need a radical inprovements. Austin, Seattle,Bellvue, Washington, Tampa, Jacksonville, Cleveland, Indy, minneapolis all put SA downtown to shame. I guess the Conversation Society thinks this is still 1930.

San Antonio has a better downtown than all those cities, D.C ( D.C. no skyline)and possibly Minneapolis also have vibrant downtowns. Bellevue, Wa, what a joke, a few new tall towers, but a downtown with no infill or density, a downtown with a inch of character.
Jacksonville and tampa are ghost towns. Jacksonville has a smaller skyline than San Antonio, San Antonio has more taller buildings. Tampa has a few more modern glass buildings but the infill and density is weak in comparison with S.A.

San Antonio's downtown skyscrapers are spread out rather than being grouped together like many cities that may appear to have a bigger skyline.

[tony78201]

our skyline looks boring. I would like to have some neon lighting on at least one building, like the buildings in dallas, and austin.

[L3XVS]

San Antonio's skyline is not pretty or progressive, but it does reflect the Spanish/Mexican influence of the city.