Incarnate Word, Zoo in Turf Battle! (San Antonio, San Diego: houses, purchasing, college)

[Azure110]

Originally Posted by dvlpr

The UIW's proposal (at least what was revealed in the article) is ludicrous. A 50-year lease for $1.1mm with serious limitations on the city's use of the funds? That's an insult. If the city wants to utilize the site to create revenue (not saying I agree with that), it could get multiple times that number for a ground-lease on the open-market (and do whatever the hell it wants with the proceeds).

I might be able to get behind the idea if UIW would utilize the site for:

1. Designed and constructed to be compatible with the architectural styles contained in Brackenridge Park;
2. Reasonably accessible to the public;
3. Free of any surface parking lots.

But it's pretty clear that UIW wants to be able to use this portion of the park for it's own purposes simply because the city isn't currently utilizing it to UIW's satisfaction. Wonderful logic.

If UIW needs to expand, they should do it the way other urban campus' do. Eliminate surface parking lots, construct garages and/or subgrade parking facilities, and increase density on their existing campus land holdings.

The bottom line is that we (the City of San Antonio) own this asset, and it should be used in a way that benefits the all the citizens of this city. But there's no reason we should feel pressure to negotiate with any private company, or be lectured to by any private interest on how (or when) we choose to utilize that asset.

dvlpr has some very good points here. Good post.

[Dopo]

Zoo,
San Antonio already has very little public places for people to use.

If the 1979 agreement says that the land is for the Zoo and the city doesn't respect that.
Then we need to go out and start taking land from anybody that bought it before 1979.

[Bo]

If UIW has too much money and not enough land, maybe it should try harder to buy adjacent land from private owners?

[TexasRedneck]

For me, the bottom line is that the city made a promise, and they should keep it. Period. No extraneous justifications or discussion. Their word should be their bond. Yeah, I'm old fashioned that way!

[ShaneSA]

ATT&T and Incarnate Word are slowly and methodically invading Brackendridge Park for buildings. The Witte is also trying to invade and take land from the park. It needs to stop. The Witte already voided an agreement by taking land from the park to build a parking garage. Little by little it keeps invading into the park. Peoplke say a bit here and a bit there and then a bit more. Keep the park as it is and let the zoo expand and stop the garages and buildings.

[TXEX06]

UIW can keep expanding into malls and strip centers if you wants expansion so bad. The land would be much better served going to the zoo, which it was promised to. I'm sure the residents of San Antonio are just itching for a fencing studio for a private university, and a weak "art museum."

[getgoing2010]

I guess Agnese likes to sit in his penthouse overlooking his kingdom and this strip of property has caught his attention.

[Snowglobe]

Originally Posted by Bowie

If UIW has too much money and not enough land, maybe it should try harder to buy adjacent land from private owners?

I wish UIW had "too much" money--if they did, perhaps they would cut the tuition and fees, pay their employees more, provide less expensive health insurance, and fund the needs of some of the departments more.

UIW is always looking to expand. Dr. Agnese is a businessman and is always looking for opportunities.

I vote for the zoo to get this space. However, I got the impression from the article that the zoo people were having to scramble to come up with a plan to put the space to use. If the understanding was for them to get this area all along, why didn't they already have a plan?

[alane7]

I'd be happy if the city would give back even half of what they took from the Sisters in order to build 281 back in the 60s.

[TexasRedneck]

I sense an undercurrent of resentment for UIW in a lot of these posts....

UIW is a long-standing member of the community, and has done a lot for the educational prospects of the citizenry. They've been pretty good "neighbors" and corporate citizens, and have done a lot in terms of return to the community. Rather than bash them, focus on the issue at hand - and that's whether the city has a prior commitment.
I don't blame UIW for trying - it makes business sense. They're probably looking at that unused land and thinking "Hey, if THEY aren't going to use it, WE can!" Frankly the city is historically a very poor steward of public lands/facilities. If you doubt that, just look at the parks they operate, or the SA Botanical Gardens. Since they've taken it over, it's become overrun with "deferred maintenance" that they then have to come back and repair as an "emergency repair" that ends up costing them more than it would have in the first place had they just stayed on top of things.