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In two weeks San Antonio will begin the process of planning for the city’s future with the kickoff of SA 2020. It’s an initiative being led by Mayor Julian Castro and involving many of our city’s leaders. But what makes it even more important is that it will also involve the citizens of San Antonio in helping shape the direction of San Antonio for the next 10-15 years. This will be an exciting six month journey as we come together as a city, bring our ideas and dreams for what we want San Antonio to look like in a decade and beyond. It’s a chance to help shape one of the fast growing major cities in the nation into an even greater place to live and work.
Mayor Castro kicked his campaign off in 2008 with a call for a strategic plan in an editorial to the Express-News on July 4th. After I visited Kansas City for the NCAA basketball tournament I saw how a good city plan can help reshape and rebuild a city. The last master plan developed for San Antonio was completed and published in May, 1997. That plan superseded a plan developed under Mayor Henry Cisneros in the ’80s called Target 90. So you can see we are due for another plan to be developed and implemented.
In an editorial this past summer Jan Jarboe-Russell talked more about why Castro is moving forward with a new plan. It all came after a conversation with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood about investigating construction of a new transit system for San Antonio. LaHood asked Castro at that time what the priorities of San Antonio were before looking deeper into a new transit system. That’s when it became pretty obvious San Antonio was lacking the necessary information to help move not only transportation but many new initiatives forward.
On Sept. 25th at the TriPoint YMCA starting at 9 a.m. Castro and a host of others will kick off the process facilitated by the non-profit group JCCI. You can participate by signing up for the event and joining the SA 2020 Facebook page. It will be your chance to be a part of the future of San Antonio and to help make your mark for decades to come.
