San Antonio native to lead the Corps of Cadets

No one jumping in on this thread. Maybe it's lame, but I thought the II thread could highlight all things good about SA to counter-balance the other one that mocks our great city.

I'll jump in.

Did you read that idiot writer claiming Austin is the home of the breakfast taco?

Good ****ing Lord. Do they ever leave their little bubble?

Another Texas Monthly/Austin circle jerk. No surprise here...

***attempts to get thread back on track***

I gotta ask the most San Anto of questions about Ms. Sorio -- anybody know which high school she went to? I'll also note that the Express News still hasn't covered this.

quote:

---

Originally from San Antonio, Sorio grew up in Germany. After her mother died, Sorio decided to only consider universities in Texas in an effort to alleviate some of the costs of college. She said her father's service in the Air Force inspired her to join as well, leading her to consider schools that boast strong ROTC programs.

---

I don't know if she really spent much time in San Antonio.

Gotcha - some of the other stories I've seen just say "from San Antonio," leaving out the Germany part.

Scratch that, curiosity got the better of me and I googled around.

It appears Our Lady of Atonement in Helotes. (PDF)

6th Annual Twisted Taco Truck Throwdown Sets Date

May 7 from 4 p.m. until midnight at VFW Post 76.

quote:

---

No one jumping in on this thread. Maybe it's lame, but I thought the II thread could highlight all things good about SA to counter-balance the other one that mocks our great city.

---

Probably be a shorter thread...

Six Finalists Chosen to Lead Alamo Master Plan

quote:

---

Powell said the project is attracting national and international firms and individuals, some of whom have worked on other World Heritage projects.

"We have attracted players from all over the world to play for the Spurs, and we regard the team and all its members as just like us," Powell said. "We don't think about them any differently than people that are from here. We can attract the same kind of talent locally and from all over for this project."
A draft of the master plan is expected to be finished by November.

Powell serves as chairman of the Endowment's Remember the Alamo Foundation. Ramona Bass of Fort Worth, who grew up in San Antonio, serves as vice chair. The foundation also includes James Dannenbaum and Welcome Wilson, both of Houston. The foundation members are charged with raising between $200-300 million in private funds over the next three years to augment state funding, which totals $30 million to date and is expected to grow, and an undetermined sum the City will include in its 2017 Bond, which will go before voters in May 2017.

"Ramona Bass just finished raising $250 million for the Fort Worth Zoo," Powell said. "She told me, 'If I was able to raise that much money for our zoo, imagine what I can help raise for the Alamo.'" Powell said he expected much of the private funding to come from outside San Antonio and even outside Texas.

---

But this... this bothers me:

quote:

---

...a major milestone in an ambitious plan to better preserve the Alamo, redevelop the surrounding Plaza properties, and weave a more comprehensive story about the region's indigenous culture, the city's origins as a Spanish colonial outpost, and development of the Mission

---

The Alamo is not about, nor has ever really been about anything other than the battle. The push to include the "other stories" just waters down the purpose of this effort. There are 4 other Missions whose sole purpose is to tell the before story. It does not need to be included here.

I agree, The Alamo is about the story of the men that died there and their stated goal of independence.

It's them trying to be all inclusive, but it's misplaced here and inappropriate for the site.

New Siclovia Route Announced.

I'm glad they're sticking to the wider streets downtown. Last year the southern route was a bit of a cluster **** with the crowds.

This is a very good route and should be a fun ride.

Jazz in the park.

Thursday, March 10th at 6:30 at the Tea Garden.

Siclovia is this Sunday, and the weather is looking great.

I'm not interested in watering down the Alamo story, but I am interested in presenting it in a context that doesn't include wax museums and t-shirt shops. I don't find those establishments charming or unique to San Antonio.

Seems one of the obvious things they could do is close Alamo street at Houston and Commerce and cut Crockett off at Bonham and Losoya - make it a true plaza. The vehicular circulation is a nightmare anyways. Maybe convert Crockett between Losoya and Alamo to a paseo.

It'll be interesting to see what rolls out in November.

The Floodgate Clears HDRC

I'm looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.
Hopefully we get see some prelim designs for the new Frost Tower soon too.

With aquifer levels high, Blue Hole flows again

[url=http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/With-aquifer-levels-high-Blue-Hole-flows-again-8112091.php#photo-10317586][/url]

quote:

---

With aquifer levels high, Blue Hole flows again[url=http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/With-aquifer-levels-high-Blue-Hole-flows-again-8112091.php#next][/url]

• 

Eddie Gutierrez knew about the Blue Hole growing up and heard it referenced in classes at the University of the Incarnate Word.

It was only while visiting the spring on the campus Monday that he saw firsthand how the clear, cold water rises from the depths of the Earth and pours itself across a once-dry streambed.
The Blue Hole "was just some San Antonio lore that you'd hear," he said. "You don't understand the story of what it was."

Since it began flowing again this spring, the Blue Hole has drawn a small but steady stream of visitors. From a parking lot, they cross a bridge over the San Antonio River and follow the path that runs between a gazebo and a sand volleyball pit. They stand around a circular rock wall, roughly 8 feet across, and peer into the depths. Minnows dart in the upper reaches, but the deeper levels fade into darkness.

Once known as part of the San Antonio Springs, the main spring and its confluence with Olmos Creek are considered the headwaters of the San Antonio River, called Yanaguana by the Native Americans present at the time of the Spanish conquest. The Spanish christened the river "San Antonio" 325 years ago Monday.

The springs are flowing again thanks to the heavy rains that recharged the Edwards Aquifer over April and May. The level of the aquifer in the San Antonio Pool reached 686 feet above mean sea level June 6, the highest since 2007.

Thanks to human development and pumping of the aquifer, much of what the Blue Hole used to be has been lost. Early visitors often remarked on its clear water bursting forth from the earth like a fountain and the surrounding tapestry of plant and animal life. When landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted visited the spring in 1857, he called it the "first water among the gems of the natural world."

"The whole river gushes up in one sparkling burst from the earth," Olmsted wrote. "It has all the beautiful accompaniments of a smaller spring, moss, pebbles, seclusion, sparkling sunbeams, and dense overhanging luxuriant foliage. The effect is overpowering. It is beyond your possible conceptions of a spring."

The three friends were among those peering into the water. Afterward, they planned a stop at San Pedro Springs Park, where another historical spring has begun flowing again.

---

Couldn't get a picture but I saw a truck on Wurzbach Parkway near 281 that had www.whatatool.com on the back window with Longhorn stickers on either side.

I thought, well, at least he's honest.