Photo Credit and Photo Copyright

The photographs of San Antonio and Dignowity Hill used within this blog are the property of Juan A Garcia East Light Images. All rights are reserved to the owner. Copy and use of these pictures is forbidden without written permission. Contact Juan at jagarciatx@gmail.com for permission.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Good Stuff on the Eastside

The Hays Street Bridge opened up again after 28 years of being closed. Kudos to the Hays Street Bridge Restoration Group for their vision and tireless efforts to save the old lady.

A couple of articles appeared in the newspaper this week regarding the impressive progress the police department has made in lowering and preventing crime in District 2. Problem oriented policing seems to be making a considerable dent with the bad guys in our neighborhoods and businesses. This is truly encouraging as public safety is a key piece in sustaining revitalization.

I recently attended a meeting of business owners of the New Braunfels Street corridor. The biggest topic of discussion was the gate closure at New Braunfels and Grayson streets. The gate has been closed since 9-11 and has adversely impacted many of the businesses along this stretch of New Braunfels street. Not sure if the gate will re-open anytime soon but I was encouraged by the willingness of the business owners to work together for a common cause.

In the meantime we need to explore creative ideas to bring traffic to that corridor. At the last Ft Sam Houston Avisory Board a proposal surfaced that VIA should look at developing a trolley loop route from Walters street through New Braunfels street to bring much needed customers down to New Braunfels street. I like that idea and it could be an effective and creative way to partly address a continuing frustrating situation.

We still have a lot of work in front of us but it feels like the momentum is starting to swing around for the Eastside.

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