SAN ANTONIO | City and Metro News Thread

[kingkirbythe....]

‘Miserably hard’: Double-digit rent increases leave more San Antonio residents struggling to keep up

https://www.expressnews.com/business...t-17408291.php

After divorcing last spring, Lindsey Warren rented a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house for herself, her three children and their dogs.

She said renting was her only option because she has a low credit score. The costs “shocked” her.

She spent $4,500 to move in and is paying $1,868 a month for rent, insurance and pet fees.

As high inflation pushes up other living costs, Warren said she is struggling to keep up. She works for FedEx and supports her children on her income alone.

“It has been miserably hard,” she said.

Rising rents are making it hard for residents across the San Antonio metropolitan area to find affordable apartments — and rates continued to climb in July, according to the latest data.

Real estate brokerage Redfin pegged the median asking rent in San Antonio at $1,476 last month, up 21.1 percent from a year ago.

That increase landed San Antonio in 10th place among metros with the fastest-rising rents year-over-year last month. Redfin ranked Cincinnati first with an increase of 31 percent; Nashville second at 26 percent; and Pittsburgh third at 24 percent.

Realtor.com’s estimate for median July rent in San Antonio was lower at $1,418, up 13.4 percent from a year ago.

...

In other large Texas metros, rents last month were higher than in San Antonio.

The median asking rent was $2,491 in Austin, $1,737 in Houston and $2,218 in Dallas, according to Redfin. Realtor.com reported median rent of $1,853 in Austin, $1,450 in Houston and $1,703 in Dallas.

Redfin said year-over-year rent spikes in each of those metros outpaced San Antonio; Realtor.com said increases were higher in Dallas and Austin, but lower in Houston.

[kingkirbythe....]

Houston-area entertainment business to open location in former Burkes at Wonderland of the Americas

https://www.expressnews.com/sa-inc/a...s-17416408.php

A family-focused entertainment business is moving into Wonderland of the Americas, the once-thriving shopping mall in Balcones Heights that now houses a hodgepodge of medical offices, discount stores, mom-and-pop shops and events.

AR’s Entertainment Hub plans to open a roughly 56,000-square-foot location in space formerly occupied by Burkes Outlet at the Northwest Side property — across the street from a Dave & Buster’s.

It will include mini golf, skating, laser tag, bumper cars, arcade games, virtual reality games, party rooms, an indoor playground, and food and beverage options, owner Archie Wright said.

He and his business partner aim to open it this winter. It will be AR’s Entertainment Hub’s second location, with the other in Baytown near Houston.

Wright said he likes Wonderland’s “community feel” and that its location at the intersection of two major highways is also appealing.

[kingkirbythe....]

An economic ‘regional win’: semiconductor supplier to build factory in Seguin

https://sanantonioreport.org/seguin-...manufacturing/

Seguin will soon be home to a steel tube factory to supply local semiconductor manufacturers, thanks to the efforts of a regional partnership of economic development organizations.

Japan-based Maruichi Stainless Tube Co.’s subsidiary in Texas expects to begin construction on its Seguin manufacturing facility in early 2023, and to begin operations in early 2024. An estimated 106 new jobs will be created in the plant’s first two years.

Maruichi produces stainless steel pipes and tubes for use in a variety of industries, but this plant will focus on supplying semiconductor manufacturers.

Semiconductor manufacturing facilities are multiplying across the state.

Samsung is building a semiconductor plant in Taylor, outside of Austin, and Texas Instruments is working on its own outside of Dallas. In San Antonio, Tower Semiconductor was last year considering an expansion to its local facilities.

“There’s a huge supply chain ecosystem that goes into these facilities,” said Josh Schneuker, executive director of the Seguin Economic Development Corporation (SEDC).

[kingkirbythe....]

Almost half of San Antonio-area homes experienced price cuts amid cooling real estate market

In total, four Texas cities landed in Redfin's top 20 markets with the highest percentage of price cuts.

https://www.sacurrent.com/news/almos...arket-29802034

The Alamo City area's once-scorching housing market is continuing to cool.

According to a new report by online broker Redfin, 44% of homes on the market in the San Antonio-New Braunfels metro underwent a cut in asking price in July. That's nearly double the percentage of homes with price cuts during July 2021.

Other big Texas metros experienced similar price reductions.

In Austin, 46% of listed homes tallied price cuts in July, and around 45% in Dallas and Fort Worth experienced reduced asking prices. Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio were all among the top 20 U.S. cities with the highest percentage of price reductions for the month, according to Redfin.

Redfin's report comes out three months after a Moody’s Analytic study reported that real estate in the Texas triangle — which encompasses Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin — is overvalued by a minimum of 30%. Specifically, the San Antonio-New Braunfels metro was overvalued by 35.5%, while Austin-area homes were overvalued by 61%, according to the analysis.

Nationally, the markets Moody once reported as being among the most overvalued are among those experiencing the most significant percentage of price cuts, Fortune magazine reports.

[kingkirbythe....]

City Council OKs ordinance to reduce demolition of old homes, moves to save shotgun houses

https://sanantonioreport.org/san-ant...shotgun-homes/

Among San Antonio’s aging housing stock, there are more than 700 so-called “shotgun” houses, many in need of major repair.

On Thursday, City Council voted to commit funds to rehabilitate three of them while also passing an ordinance to reduce the wholesale demolition of old homes.

The council approved a transfer of $302,000 from the city’s Neighborhood and Housing Services Department to fund the San Antonio Affordable Housing (SAAH) Shotgun Pilot Program, providing money that will go toward repairs on three of the narrow homes, all on the near West Side.

When completed, the homes will be available for rent to households that make up to 60% of the area median income.

In 2021, a team that rehabilitates owner-occupied houses for Neighborhood Housing Services of San Antonio completed repairs at a dilapidated home at 222 Furnish Ave. in the Lone Star District. But the nonprofit has since terminated the contract it had with the city.

SAAH will complete the pilot program initiated by the Office of Historic Preservation (OHP), which commissioned a study in 2019 to look at how rehabbed older buildings could meet the affordable housing needs of San Antonio. Among the study’s recommendations was to repair homes rather than demolish them or build new dwellings.

Three-fourths of all housing in San Antonio consists of homes built before 1965, according to OHP. Over the past 10 years, more than 1,500 homes built before 1960 houses were demolished. Such housing, often providing shelter for low-income residents, is increasingly vulnerable to demolition

[kingkirbythe....]

Schlitterbahn slides into 24th straight year as world’s best waterpark

https://austin.culturemap.com/news/t...erpark-austin/

Texans already knew that Schlitterbahn is one of the state's best waterparks, and the company's flagship waterpark in New Braunfels is on a bit of a hot streak.

For the 24th year in a row, Amusement Today has named Schlitterbahn New Braunfels the world’s best waterpark as part of the publication’s Golden Ticket Awards program.

“For our park to have won this award again for the 24th consecutive time is humbling,” says Darren Hill, vice president and general manager of Schlitterbahn Waterparks & Resort. “This Golden Ticket represents the greatest reward for the hard work and efforts of our associates who each day strive to provide a safe, friendly, unique, and fun environment for our guests.”

Presented each year, the Golden Ticket Awards recognize excellence in the amusement park industry. Winners are determined based on polling done by Amusement Today, an Arlington-based publication that covers news about amusement and water parks.

Sandusky, Ohio-based Cedar Fair Entertainment owns and operates Schlitterbahn New Braunfels, which opened in 1979. Sitting on the banks of the spring-fed Comal River, the park features 51 attractions on over 70 acres. The attractions include various river rides and waterslides.

“We’re all about making people happy, and it’s always a tremendous honor and a privilege when our commitment to serving our guests is recognized and celebrated,” says Richard Zimmerman, president and CEO of Cedar Fair.

[kingkirbythe....]

Old ‘Laredito’ structure called unsafe, may face demolition

https://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...o-17452228.php

The San Antonio River Authority wants to tear down one of the few remaining structures of Laredito, San Antonio’s old Tejano district of the 1800s and early 1900s.

Listed as the A.W. Walter House, the old two-story landmark is in an area once known as “Mexican downtown.” Ownership of the building at 836 S. Laredo St., just a block from the Bexar County-funded San Pedro Creek Culture Park project, has been passed back and forth between the city and the river authority for 30 years.

The river authority was scheduled to present its case on demolition to the city’s Historic and Design Review Commission on Wednesday, but the agency requested more time.

“The structure is in an unusable and unsafe condition and (the) river authority intends to demolish the structure as soon as possible in order to alleviate the unsafe condition,” the authority said in a project description submitted to the city’s Office of Historic Preservation.

[kingkirbythe....]

San Antonio home sales continue to decline as market cools

https://sanantonioreport.org/san-ant...-sales-august/

San Antonio’s frantic homebuying market appears to be over. For the fifth month in a row, the number of home sales in the San Antonio area has dropped year-over-year, according to August figures released this week from the San Antonio Board of Realtors (SABOR).

But would-be homebuyers who were waiting out the overheated market may have to wait a while longer. While price increases have moderated, and there have been slight decreases in recent months, home prices remain at highly elevated rates compared to last year.

In August, the median home price was around $339,200. That’s 11.5% higher than in August 2021, but slightly lower than July.

Adding to the challenge for buyers is rising interest rates.

[kingkirbythe....]

COMMENTARY By building casitas, homeowners can generate wealth, help solve shortage

https://sanantonioreport.org/san-ant...sing-shortage/

San Antonio is in a growing housing crisis. The City of San Antonio’s Strategic Housing Implementation Plan (SHIP) has identified that 95,000 residents in Bexar County do not have housing that meets their current needs or budget and calls for the production or preservation of over 28,000 affordable homes over the next 10 years.

It would be a mistake if all of these new homes were developed by the same slate of builders currently developing single-family homes on greenfield sites out past Loop 1604 and massive rental apartment complexes in the inner city. In order to keep pace, we need to be thinking creatively about generating a greater variety of housing types, diversity of housing locations, and expanding our definition of who we consider a housing developer.

Accessory dwelling units (ADUs), small housing units built within, attached to or on the same property of a single-family home (otherwise known as casitas, mother-in-law suites, or granny flats) are a unique strategy for housing development because they empower everyday people to engage in the production and preservation of housing. Unlike typical, market-rate housing development, which is driven by developers focused on maximizing investor profits with little concern for community needs, the decision for a family to build an ADU is often made on a micro-scale in response to specific household goals.

[kingkirbythe....]

Overnight parking battle heats up in San Antonio nightlife districts

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/lo...t-17462256.php

'Our streets': St. Mary's Strip residents, businesses hit stalemate over parking

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/lo...P-CP-Spotlight

‘A waste of time’: St. Mary's Strip parking town hall gets heated

https://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...l-17464365.php

San Antonio releases parking study for St. Mary's Strip after heated townhall

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/lo...P-CP-Spotlight

[kingkirbythe....]

Power plant owned by San Antonio utility CPS Energy one of nation's biggest toxic polluters, study says

CPS discharged 72,494 pounds of toxic chemicals, including chromium compounds, into Calaveras Lake and stormwater in 2020, according to data it filed with federal regulators.

https://www.sacurrent.com/news/power...-says-29962333

CPS Energy’s Calaveras Power Station ranks 10th in the nation for the toxicity of the material it releases into waterways including nearby Calaveras Lake, according to a new study based on federal data.

The report by comes as CPS Energy faces increasing pressure to close down J.K. Spruce, its coal-burning power plant at Calaveras. Spruce is the city-owned utility's dirtiest power-generating facility and one of the region's largest sources of air pollution.

"There are many reasons why we need to close the Spruce coal-fired power plant," said Luke Metzger, executive director of the Environment Texas Research and Policy Center, one of the groups behind the report. "We hear about its significant contribution to the climate crisis, we hear about its significant impact on global air quality, we hear about the leaking coal ash ponds — and today is just the latest evidence of direct discharges of toxic chemicals into a water body used by thousands of people. It's alarming."

CPS Energy officials had no immediate comment on the report. However, the utility has said it plans to close the coal plant's older Spruce 1 unit by 2028 and that it's considering transitioning the newer Spruce 2 unit to cleaner-burning natural gas.

Calaveras Lake is a popular fishing and recreational spot. As Metzger and other environmental activists held a press conference Wednesday to discuss the study, people fished from the shore several yards away and a boat cut through the water in front of CPS's power plant.

Environment Texas' report is based on 2020 data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Industrial facilities self-report to the regulatory agency how much toxic material they release into surface waters. CPS told the EPA it discharged 72,494 pounds of toxic chemicals, including chromium compounds, into Calaveras Lake and stormwater that year.

Calaveras Power Station's discharge level was 1,000 times higher than that of a typical power plant, Metzger said.

CPS Energy’s report to the EPA doesn’t say what kind of chromium the plant discharged. However, the federal agency's toxicity modeling assumes some of it is hexavalent chromium or Chromium-6, a chemical linked to cancer, gastrointestinal problems, respiratory disorders and infertility, according to the report.

Metzger said he's not aware of any studies that show pollutants from CPS Energy's discharge are being passed on to humans who eat fish from the lake. He called on city leaders to conduct such an analysis and apply more scrutiny to the utility's pollution record.

"We think there needs to be more aggressive action to tighten the permits of the Spruce power plant and prevent them from dumping such high amounts of pollution, given this new evidence," he added.

[kingkirbythe....]

Land-use policies, redevelopment incentives work against mobile home residents

https://www.expressnews.com/sa-inc/a...k-17476557.php

At least nine mobile home parks have shuttered in San Antonio since 2014, according to a 2020 report by three researchers at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.

Heather Way, Carol Fraser and Lizbeth Parra Davila attributed the closures in part to local land-use policies and city and federal incentive programs that promote redevelopment of mobile home parks.

They also said many parks are in gentrifying areas and are often in poor condition. Seven of those nine parks shut down due to problems involving code enforcement.

One of the closed parks mentioned in the report is Mission Trails.

In 2014, developer White-Conlee sought to replace mobile home units at 1515 Mission Road occupied by about 300 residents with about 360 upscale apartments.

Residents, activists and community members sought to stop the plan. They said they didn’t want to move, didn’t have the financial resources to move and didn’t have anywhere to go.

Despite their pleas, the City Council voted 6-4 to approve a zoning change that allowed the project to proceed, and families were displaced.

In their report, the researchers said more investors are buying parks. At the time of its release, about a quarter of the 88 parks in the area were owned by out-of-state entities.

“While some mobile home parks are still owned by smaller, local mom-and-pop operations in San Antonio, mobile home parks are a growing investment vehicle for large private-equity funds,” they wrote.

The researchers outlined 10 suggested policies for preserving the parks, including zoning and land-use protections, giving residents the right to buy their homes, and mandating relocation notices and plans when a park is to be redeveloped.

[kingkirbythe....]

San Antonio’s Spruce power plant among nation’s most toxic polluters, analysis of EPA data shows

https://www.expressnews.com/business...r-17478056.php

On a recent morning at Calaveras Lake, the J.K. Spruce Power Plant ’s smokestacks provided the backdrop for dozens of anglers fishing for red drum and catfish from the shoreline. Out on the water, others were casting from boats.

According to a new analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data, CPS Energy’s coal-fired Spruce plant discharged more than 72,000 pounds of toxic chemicals into the lake in 2020, including thousands of pounds of chromium compounds linked to cancer and respiratory issues.

The advocacy group Environment Texas called attention to the data in a report this week that ranked pollution from Spruce among the most toxic of any facility in the country. CPS released more than 5,600 pounds of chromium compounds into the lake in 2020, according to EPA’s log of the self-reported data, as well as thousands of pounds of other heavy metals such as nickel, copper and zinc, among others.

...

Chromium risks

A number of scientific studies on chromium in waterways show that “exposure can induce a variety of adverse effects in fish,” according to a 2009 study published by the National Institutes of Health.

A rough estimate based on research studies suggests 5,600 pounds of chromium dumped into Calaveras Lake — which has a surface area of 3,600 acres with a maximum depth of 45 feet — would not be lethal to fish or surpass the World Health Organization’s recommended threshold of 50 micrograms of chromium per liter of drinking water.

But it’s not clear how much chromium CPS may have discharged into the lake over the years — and the utility also dumped tens of thousands of pounds of other metals such as manganese and barium into the lake in 2020.

In addition to water pollution, the coal plant emitted 5.9 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That made Spruce the sixth-highest emitter among more than 230 electric power plants in Texas .

[forward looking]

Sure,plausible deniability. Why these dangerous chemicals dumped into the lake won't harm the fish, even, so far as Metzger knows. So harmless.
Dallas had an enormous mess to clean up at their coal fired generating plant after the EPA shut it, down.
A pollution nightmare far, far, worse than the one going on here at Calaveras.

CPS discharged 72,494 pounds of toxic chemicals, including chromium compounds, into Calaveras Lake and stormwater in 2020, according to data it filed with federal regulators.
Metzger said he's not aware of any studies that show pollutants from CPS Energy's discharge are being passed on to humans who eat fish from the lake.

[Rynetwo]

Does the article compare power output to pollution? I don't have access to the Express News nor will I pay them, but logically speaking, if it produces power for more people it may have more pollution.

[forward looking]

I think, you are right Rynentwo.
I believe, a plant will operate at maximum capacity whenever possible though. If, excess energy is produced an electrical plant can sell it to other entities, or so I have picked up. My eldest son is the manager of an electrical energy plant. So. This is the closest I can come to an answer to your question without asking him. I know that if the plant is partially down for any reason, and not operating at its' full capacity, lets say for preventive maintenance etc., the company is "losing money" every minute the plant is partially shutdown.
The Texas electrical grid has bigger electrical fish to fry than this because the problem that caused outages all over the state in the middle of winter still has not been addressed. The State needs to connect our state electrical grid to the National grid in a far better way and is dragging its' feet. This has been the problem from the beginning of that crisis. Offhand I would mention that the energy interests here in Texas probably do not even want to connect to the Natl. electrical grid...
I mean-who wants to lose control of this captive money maker? I really do not know the answer to this...
Phil (son) also mentioned that the Govt. is shuttering these Coal plants left and right all over the place because they are such terrible polluters. Coal fired plants produce so much waste and are so terribly messy. The coal interests are, of course fighting these Govt. shutdowns, with "Tooth and Nail". I would venture a guess that the Calaveras plant is not far from this judging from its' ranking as one of the worst of polluters in the nation.
Gas fired energy plants are far less polluting than coal however release copious amounts of waste gases into the atmosphere and do not create nearly the mess as coal fired plants and are contrarily- as neat as a pin, on site. Plus. Texas has all the natural gas it needs but pumps it up north, as fast as possible. Go figure?
Nuclear is by far, the cleanest but then again this only adds to the nuclear stockpile waste in the form of used up Rods which must be stored in a safe underground bunker somewhere afterwards. Nuclear waste. Nimbys hate this and will fight any move toward this "tooth and nail" through the legal system.
I know Michigan has had to shutdown one nuclear plant because of age and obsolescence. This Palisades nuclear plant is scheduled to re-open in twenty years, though. These nuclear plants are terribly,terribly expensive to build brand new, from start to finish. Then again there is nuclear waste to dispose of. I know Texas has built some of these, downstate. How many I don't know.
Small strides are being made in nuclear fusion which will make these old energy sources moot points, or so it is said. This is the solution for the future, it is hoped. There is no nuclear mess to dispose of in this method but as of right now it is still way too expensive to be an alternative source for producing energy. It still costs more energy to produce nuclear fusion in a lab than the energy produced from fusion itself but there is a quite notable improvement in research as of late.

Originally Posted by Rynetwo

Does the article compare power output to pollution? I don't have access to the Express News nor will I pay them, but logically speaking, if it produces power for more people it may have more pollution.

[Keep-SA-Lame]

Chromium in waterways is bad, actually.

[Rynetwo]

Originally Posted by Keep-SA-Lame

Chromium in waterways is bad, actually.

Right, but with all the power bill increases and rapid growth how do we keep the lights on? Texas is already a leader in solar and wind so CPS is not just relying on this one power source.

Unless there is actual mismanagement or purposeful neglect I'm not sure what CPS can do.

[kingkirbythe....]

New report shows dire reality for S.A. renters whose cost-burdened housing carries a city's shame

Medical expenses, child care, bills? Nearly half of San Antonio renters are forced to make tough choices when the first rolls around.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/sa-inc/...s-17483760.php

Renters in every City Council district across San Antonio earn less than homeowners, and nearly half of them spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, according to a report by a nonprofit focused on housing equity.

The report published in late September by Texas Housers — which advocates for low-income Texans having access to decent, affordable homes in quality neighborhoods — shows that 52 percent of renters in District 2 on the East Side are considered cost burdened, meaning more than 30 percent of their income goes to housing. Meanwhile, over 28 percent of renters in District 5 on the West Side spend over half their income on rent, the highest concentration of renters deemed severely cost burdened.

“If you’re spending too much on housing costs, that may mean you sacrifice on child care. It may mean you don’t have the money to put food on the table … or medical issues that you’re putting off because you have to pay the rent first,” said Mia Loseff, South Texas regional director at Texas Housers, which conducts housing research, advocacy and tenant organizing, and has offices in San Antonio, Houston and Austin.

[Restless One]

The Alamodome getting another upgrade:

https://www.kens5.com/article/news/l...8-52147719e6c4

"This $16.88 makeover is part of $23.2 million approved by the city for Alamodome improvements in this year's budget, the news outlet reported. An additional $109 million in renovations are being planned through 2028."

Everything is about improving the concourse and suites, but the inner aesthetics are rather boring. The video boards are soooo 2000. #birdsup