COMMUNITY
OUTREACH
PROGRESS
REPORT
May 7, 2018
Community outreach was limited to participation in
TriCentennial and Fiesta events that began in January 2018.
-Everywhere we go we promote Casa Navarro and the Friends of
Casa Navarro.
-For this period,
that has primarily been at San Pedro Creek reviews, Bexar CountyCommissioners’
Court meetings, Canary Island Descendants Association events, etc.
-The City of San
Antonio has not released the expected Request For Proposals for development of
the parking lot in front of Casa Navarro and the land on the east side of the
San Pedro Creek (the old City Annex property).
-The City of San
Antonio intends to place temporary buildings on the old City Annex property to
hold City offices while the City Hall building is renovated.
-The City of San
Antonio has started a view shed program.
They intend to select and develop about five view sheds a year. Five have been advanced by the Office of
Historic Preservation for 2018. The Casa
was not really in the running this year.
We will have to purue a view shed, parking slots and a Motor Coach
load/off-load slot some other way in order to be timely.
-Bexar County has
not released the expected Request For Proposals for development of the 200
block of S. Laredo St (the land surrounding the Casa Navarro site).
-San Pedro Creek
Culture Park Phase 1, Segment 1 (from the mount of the tunnel to Houston St)
opened on May 5, 2018. Phase 1, Segment
2 (from Houston St to Nueva St) will have a final design review in June
2018. The portion behind Casa Navarro
will have a basic design completed, but the anticipated amenities and art will
not be designed yet. Complete designs
for the portion
from Dolorosa St to Nueva St will not occur until the intentions for City and County property adjacent on both sides of the creek are known.
from Dolorosa St to Nueva St will not occur until the intentions for City and County property adjacent on both sides of the creek are known.
-The new Federal
Courthouse is expected to break ground in 2019.
We have not seen the amended designs yet. The footprint is expected to be essentially
the same as we have seen.
-The Centro
Partnership suffered a shakeup due to the resignation of the CEO and the
embezzlement of funds by a financial employee.
Restructuring is in the works, and the employee is expected to be
prosecuted. Centro has a great deal to
do with the future of the Zonal Cultural (which Casa is a part of).
-Local run-off
elections from the Primaries will occur on May 22, 2018. This has slowed some actions down.
-Jorge Cortez is
phasing out of the leadership of the Cortez Family of Restaurants. It is due to age and health. Pete Cortez is taking over the top position,
and the rest of the family is adjusting.
-We need to get
back to work on the plan to reclaim the Navarro land behind the Casa site. Things we placed in limbo when Mr Nau came to
visit Judge Wolff in the summer of 2017.
We were essentially told to sit and wait until contact from Bexar
County. THC never responded one way or
another. We are going to be overcome by
events if we do not move out again on our own.
Rosemary and
Jerry are known as the primary faces and advocates of the Casa and the Friends
group. We need more people who are
immediately recognized as faces and advocates.
We have to show that there are more than two people involved. We started to work on that by having more
people at the last Proclamation session of the Bexar County Commissioners’
Court. And we need to have more, and
more faces at these various sessions.
