2. Closing off Main Avenue faces roadblocks
By Neal Morton
October 27, 2013
Local leaders and downtown dwellers have pressed for an inner-city grocery
store. But they'll get far more than that if H-E-B executes the $100 million
plan disclosed last week for its headquarters.
In addition to doubling its downtown workforce by 2030, the company
anticipates opening an urban market and pedestrian and bike path within a
year of winning city approval. It also wants to construct several mixed-use
buildings and improve public spaces in the area.
H-E-B also is no longer insisting on the city's controversial $1 million
incentive to build the grocery store.
But its proposal to close a portion of South Main Avenue remains, and so do
its vehement opponents.
The street, which opened in 1949, currently bisects the grocer's Arsenal
campus just north of the King William neighborhood. H-E-B insists the
closure would protect employees who cross Main Avenue each day.
3. Company executives also note the Arsenal once served as a military base and
hope historic preservationists support restoring its former boundaries, which
they say the South Main closure would accomplish.
“This is the old footprint of the original Arsenal property,” Craig Boyan, H-E-B's
chief operating officer, said of the master plan. “There was never a Main
street before.”
But many of H-E-B's neighbors, including the King William Association and
San Antonio Conservation Society, already have made their opposition clear,
and some residents created a grass-roots organization dubbed Main Access to
fight the street closure.
“We're not against a store. We'd love to see a thriving grocery market,” said
Eloy Rosales, a 62-year-old resident of the area. “We just don't feel it's a good
idea to close the street. The city should use it as leverage because it's in the
public domain.”
City leaders, however, appear more inclined to support the idea, though they
say they'll wait for the results of a traffic study that will measure the impact of
cutting off public access to Main Avenue.
4. The Case for Rethinking South Main Avenue
by Robert Rivard
The Rivard Report: Posted 10/21/2013
Main Avenue south of downtown San Antonio isn’t Main Avenue anymore. It
hasn’t been for years. It’s a short street, about 10 blocks long, with two
personalities.
The southern reach from S. Alamo to E. Arsenal streets is lined with historic
homes. From E. Arsenal into downtown the avenue is a remnant street with no
residents that dead ends at E. Nueva Street. Unlike its historic surroundings,
this stretch of S. Main wasn’t even built until the mid-20th century.
The block north of E. Nueva Street is closed and used as VIP parking for
Bexar County officials. Then there is Main Plaza, which Main Avenue no
longer passes through. Main Avenue is a real avenue only north of downtown.
People should walk or cycle the length of the truncated avenue, which very
few actually do, and see if the experience changes their viewpoint.
5. H-E-B, of course, wants to close the block of S. Main Avenue between E.
Arsenal Street and E. Cesar Chavez Boulevard. It wants the property for
campus expansion and that means restricting public access. No bike lanes, no
pedestrians, no seniors walking to the nearby Commander’s House Senior
Center. Many, but not all, of the neighbors as well as the King William
Historical Association oppose the closure.
Yet virtually everyone wants to see H-E-B open a vibrant downtown grocery
store. Negotiations are under way between city officials and H-E-B executives
to try to find a compromise acceptable to both sides. Most negotiations end
with both sides compromising. No one gets everything they want. No one
leaves happy.
City officials should consider giving H-E-B its closed block and then turning
the remaining non-residential blocks of S. Main Avenue between E. Cesar
Chavez Boulevard and E. Nueva Street into a walkable extension of Main
Plaza.
6. In Praise of Open Streets and Avenues
Posted on October 23rd, 2013 By Don Mathis
I joined more than 800 members of the community who signed the petition
at www.moveon.org to keep South Main Avenue open. What’s more, if there
was a petition to reopen Main Plaza, I would sign that, too.
To keep a downtown alive, people need a way to get there. Hindering traffic
is not the avenue to a vibrant downtown.
Main Avenue was once a major artery through the heart of San Antonio.
Then portions of it were it closed and it essentially became a VIP amenity at
the Bexar County Courthouse. The street dead-ends for county official
parking. I know our esteemed members of the judiciary need a place to park,
but let them hoof it just as those they call for jury duty.
If Main Avenue was an artery, then Houston Street was a vein. But the city-inflicted
vascular disease has clogged our blood vessels. About a dozen years
ago, Houston Street was narrowed and sidewalks were widened. The one-way
street became a two-way street, which caused additional blockage.
7. To make matters worse, none of the surrounding streets have been adapted
to the closures and impediments of Main Avenue, Soledad and Houston
streets. Now the city wants to close down another portion of Main Avenue
and give it to a multi-billion dollar corporation.
South Main would thrive just as well if the City would adopt a “hands-off”
attitude as opposed to the city’s $1 million incentive payment to H-E-B to
build a downtown grocery store. While the incentive was open for anyone to
apply, H-E-B is now the likely recipient.
Most of us who have a stake in the outcome believe the proposed de facto
trade-off of giving H-E-B the block of S. Main Avenue between East Arsenal
Street and East Cesar Chavez Boulevard in appreciation for a small urban
grocery store is a bad deal.
I know H-E-B has been a good neighbor. And they have received many tax
breaks for the many contributions they have made. But there is no reason to
treat this industry giant as if it were in need of welfare. We should keep in
mind that H-E-B is such a good neighbor because we are such good
customers. It is our money that H-E-B spends to benefit our community.
8. Works Cited
Matthis, Don. “In Praise of Open Streets and Avenues.” San Antonio Express News 23 October
2013: My SA. Web. 26 September 2014.
Morton, Neal, “Closing off Main Avenue faces roadblocks.” San Antonio Express News 26 October
2013: My SA. Web. 26 September 2014.
Rivas, Robert, “The Case for Rethinking South Main Avenue” San Antonio Express News 21
October 2013: My SA. Web. 26 September 2014.
