This Alamo battle is about truth and history …

I first visited Texas and San Antonio in 1979, when I was a sportscaster covering the Spurs playoffs. I immediately went to the Alamo. I have loved the heroic story and wore a Davy Crockett coonskin hat as a kid. I fell in love with Texas on that visit and months later was hired in Houston. I could never have imagined that one day I would be lieutenant governor and in the middle of a fight to save the history of the Alamo.

I want San Antonio to think even bigger and partner with the state to create a historic district — like the Boston Freedom Trail — to tell its many stories.

But since the Texas Historical

Commission voted last month not to move the Alamo Cenotaph, the future of the Alamo Redevelopment Project could be in doubt. If the Alamo is not rebuilt to tell the story as the fort existed in 1836 and if a world-class center is not built for millions to visit San Antonio, it would be the fault of one member of the City Council and others who want to erase history.

Councilman Roberto Treviño, chair of the Alamo Management Committee, or AMC, recently told the media that the Alamo Cenotaph “represents the story that has been well recognized all these years as mythology” and said it “perpetuates a lie.”

Meanwhile, George Cisneros, a member of the Alamo Citizens Advisory Committee, called the Cenotaph “a white establishment icon” and said “everybody knows that’s not the story.”

What part of the story is a lie?

Did nearly 200 Texians not die there on March 6, 1836? Did William Travis, Jim Bowie, David Crockett and their volunteers not fight bravely against overwhelming odds? Did the battle of the Alamo not lead to Texas’ independence?

Regarding the “white establishment icon”: What about the brave Tejanos who died at the Alamo — inscribed on the Cenotaph — and the revolutionary leadership of Juan Seguín, who continued to recruit troops after the Alamo fell, and Lorenzo de Zavala, who helped draft the Republic of Texas Constitution and served as its first vice president?

The Historical Commission stopped plans to move the Cenotaph by a vote of 12-2, and

29,000 Texans asked them not to move it. Only 1,600 supported moving it.

I am committed to fighting back against those like Treviño and Cisneros who want to erase the history of the Alamo battle. They have threatened to blow up the Alamo Redevelopment Plan if we do not follow their direction.

I can’t let that happen. The Alamo is the pride of San Antonio, but it belongs to 29 million Texans who all have a stake in it. The state has almost $140 million invested in the Alamo Redevelopment Project. That legislative investment was made with the understanding the project would focus on the 1836 battle.

I told the Historical Commission that the Legislature would vote to fund the entire Alamo redevelopment if it has the right plan. First, we need Mayor Ron Nirenberg to replace Treviño on the AMC and appoint a lead negotiator who doesn’t want to erase history and understands the Alamo story is not a lie.

While the mayor decides if he wants the project to continue, the Legislature should know how dollars allocated to redevelopment have been spent and how much remains from the original state funding. To get some answers, I would ask the state auditor to begin a review of the Alamo Redevelopment Project.

I believe all Texans want a restoration of the battlefield that would stand for generations so their grandchildren would know that in 1836 a few hundred Texians gave up their lives for Texas, liberty and freedom. That story of heroism and bravery continues to inspire us today, and we must stand up to those who believe it is all a lie. We cannot allow them to erase our history.