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Today was a pretty cool day. One of those days where there’s really no agenda or plan, just kicking back with a friend taking in what comes at you. It was a Ferris Bueller Day in my terms. In fact, short of the 1961 Ferrari 250GT Spyder California (Cameron: Less than a hundred were made. My father spent three years restoring this car. It is his love, it is his passion. Ferris: It is his fault he didn’t lock the garage.) you could say it had all the trappings. You need these kind of days. They re-energize the soul, albeit in a strange, chaotic manner. But even in the agenda-free experience things are gleaned which still connect you with the community around you, possibly even more than a planned outing. So where was my Wrigley Field, my Sears Tower, my “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte?”
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After meeting a friend for an early morning meet up at Starbucks where I had to show off the Starbucks Mobile Card, we headed off the Pearl Brewery for a morning of Pearl Fit Fest to check out the happenings and make connections for a future Fiesta project (more to come later). Most people waited just like us, letting the weather warm up a bit after our Friday blizzard San Antonio style. On the way I had to look over and check out the progress on 1221 Broadway, Ed Cross’ rescue of the Bladerunner eyesore we’ve endured for a decade. Looking good and encouraging to see siding going up on the walls. Looks like Cross will make the mid-2011 opening date he planned for.
Wandering through the complex we ran into Darryl Byrd, CEO of Silver Ventures, Inc. and tri-chair for Mayor Castro’s SA2020. I congratulated him for a successful series of public forums where attendance was at capacity at almost every session. But you can’t spend time with the head honcho of one of the hottest developments in San Antonio without finding out more. Byrd told me the Pearl Can Plant Apartments were on target for opening in 2012, providing more residential space in the Pearl Brewery complex. After that expect construction on another site to be called Pearl Can Plant East Flats just east of the first development (I guess the name says that).
That’s the kind of development really needed to push River North into the residential segment the mayor desires for downtown living. Granted it’s not in the true core but it’s in an area I’ve started calling the “first ring” or, as some refer to it, the Center City. However, looking at the situation today the question around development is will residents cross the freeway boundary and intermix between Pearl Brewery and River North.
Currently the only easy, non-threatening linkage is the Museum Reach of the San Antonio River. VIA wants to put a streetcar up and down Broadway but at $30+ million a mile that’s going to be a hard sell without some economic motivation. At one of VIA’s SmartWaySA public forums I approached Keith Parker, president and CEO of VIA, about the matter and asked what would compel VIA to take on this project without rider demand or system improvement. His answer, economic development, seemed kind of chicken and egg to me. So we spend $90 million to help make development more attractive while the overall system needs help. I’m not sure I’m there yet but I’m open.
Wandering around we hit a lot of fitness and health booths that promoted various organizations and causes. One that really seems interesting is the Mayor’s Fitness Council, a new initiative Mayor Castro is promoting to help San Antonio improve it’s fitness profile. This ties in with that Fiesta teaser I mentioned but I can’t share more info just yet. Trust me, I think you’ll like what’s in store this year, especially if you’ve avoided Fiesta because it just seemed like a big Mardi Gras.
What really made the day fun was running into so many people who are helping create change in San Antonio, including State Rep. Mike Villarreal, Janet Holliday, and the folks from the city’s Office of Environmental Policy promoting a bike friendly San Antonio and their soon to be released Bike Share program.
Yep, a true Ferris Bueller Day. Now I have to figure out how to roll the miles back on the Ferrari.
