Alamo draft plan

A first draft of a site plan, to be updated in coming weeks, calls for four major proposed changes to Alamo Plaza that have generated passionate reactions. The project's design team is expected to present a second draft plan to the public in July.

PROPONENTS SAY:

Removal of traffic, particularly on Alamo Street, would improve safety, expand space for interpretation and enhance reverence in the historic plaza. Northbound traffic could be redirected elsewhere.

Demolition of buildings constructed long after the 1836 battle would make room for a modern museum and space for outdoor exhibits and replicated historic features and points of interest.

Relocation of the Cenotaph to a dignified focal point in the Plaza de Valero to the south would restore open space in the mission-fort footprint for period demonstrations and other activities.

A new museum would tell the entire story of the Mission San Antonio de Valero and Alamo compound, including its later use as a U.S. Army depot and restoration as a Texas shrine.

CRITICS SAY:

Closure of streets would clog northbound lanes on other streets and cut off Alamo Plaza as a gathering place and heart of mobility and commerce downtown.

Razing buildings would destroy icons of the post-battle eras of San Antonio history at the Alamo, eliminate functioning indoor space and add to the cost of the project.

The Cenotaph should remain where it is, inside the sacred mission-fort footprint, where it is most readily recognized as a monument to the 189 known Alamo defenders.

A new museum threatens to commercialize the Alamo, downplay the battle's significance and ignore the Woolworth Building's importance as site of the first peacefully integrated lunch counter in the South.