Meeting on proposals for the Alamo turns testy
Official urges foes to come to City Council
Nearly 100 people turned up to discuss a proposed Alamo plan at a public meeting that became heated Monday night.
During the meeting at the Darner Parks and Recreation Operations Headquarters, people submitted questions or feedback via text or comment cards. Many were also passionately vocal.
City Councilman Greg Brockhouse urged the audience, some voicing opposition to a proposed relocation of the 1930s Cenotaph or a better interpretation of Native Americans of the site’s 1700s mission era, not to disrupt the speakers. The meeting was held at a West Side location in his district.
“We’re already in the first minute on our conversation, and I’m already hearing booing. It can’t happen that way,” Brockhouse said.
Members of the design team addressed the group, which sometimes jeered as the consultants acknowledged being from outside of Texas.
The plan proposes removal of traffic on portions of Alamo, Crockett and Houston streets; relocation of the Cenotaph about 500 feet south; possible partial or complete demolition of up to five buildings in Alamo Plaza; and construction of a museum on the west side of the plaza.
Some heckled Eric Kramer, principal with Reed-Hilderbrand Landscape Architects, as he explained components of the draft site plan, which could be voted on in the fall by City Council.
People yelled “no” when references were made to relocating the Cenotaph. Others voiced concern about access into and out of Alamo Plaza.
“Is it going to be a public plaza?” one man asked.
“Where are you going to find trees like that?” a woman shouted, referring to rows of upright trees shown in artist renderings that some have said do not look native to Texas.
An hour into the two-hour meeting, Brockhouse urged the crowd to work within the citizen-input process.
“Quantify it. Work together on it. Bring your opposition to City Council,” he said. “This is not representative of what we are when we argue to this extent.”
He handed the meeting over to Leonard Rodriguez, a member of the Alamo Citizen Advisory Committee with lineal connections dating to the 1830s Texas Revolution and Spanish colonial period. Asking by a show of hands or applause, Rodriguez found many opposed to closing the streets and demolishing buildings.
Alamo CEO Doug McDonald spoke about the need for a stateof-the-art museum.
“People say they don’t understand the story,” McDonald said. “We need a bigger space to tell the story.”
The plan is part of a publicprivate project to enlarge pedestrian space and improve the state-owned Alamo complex and city-owned plaza. The city of San Antonio, Texas General Land Office and nonprofit Alamo Endowment are partners in the project, with completion targeted by 2024. A proposal to make structural repairs to the mission-era church and Long Barrack, also included in the project, has not drawn opposi-
tion.
John Hinnant, a sixth-generation Texan, said in an interview that he has problems with the plan, although he supports closing part of Alamo Street to bring reverence to the site. But he hated seeing the meeting turn contentious.
“I am, for the most part, opposed to this entire plan. It’s overengineered, and it’s not necessary,” Hinnant said. However, he added that “I’m seeing the worst example of bad manners tonight.”
More meetings, each set for 6:30 p.m., are set for today at Hardberger Park Urban Ecology Center, 8400 N.W. Military
Drive; Wednesday at Embassy Suites San Antonio at Brooks, 7610 S. New Braunfels Ave.; and Thursday at San Antonio Garden Center, 3310 N. New Braunfels Ave. More meetings are planned for mid-July.
Earlier on Monday, singer
Phil Collins, who has donated his collection of artifacts to the Alamo, was in San Antonio for the unveiling of bronze models depicting the evolution of the mission and military fortress over more than a century. The bronzes, on display in Alamo Plaza, were created by historian and artist George Nelson.
McDonald told people at the meeting that Collins did not object to any specific parts of the plan when briefed on it Monday.
“He believes the site ought to be reverent,” McDonald said.