HOV Lanes, Save Time on Your Commute

The Texas Transportation Institute has just completed its annual Urban Mobility study.  This is a nationwide study that looks at population, freeway and arterial street miles traveled, public transportation, fuel and personal costs to determine how long we spend in "Rush Hour" traffic.  As you all have probably guessed San Antonio has moved up the ladder of congested cities over the years, from a ranking of 34 in 1984 to 32 in 2009. 

But what's really interesting is back in 1988 we actually had more traffic congestion than we have now with a ranking of the 28th most congested city.  So what happened? The number of freeway lane and arterial street miles went up between 1988 and 2009 (48% more freeway lanes and 29% more arterial street miles), but the number of vehicles miles traveled went up by 102% on freeways and 61% on arterial streets.  So we are way behind on building enough streets.  But in 1988 we didn't have the TxDOT "Smart Highway System".  This system of cameras and highway instant warning signs helps TxDOT to manage traffic by letting commuters know about congestion ahead and getting service vehicles and police out to the scenes of accidents more quickly. 

So if the cameras and warning signs can make such a difference, what if we added HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes to the mix.  In Houston (where they need all the time savings they can get) the 2.2 million HOV lane miles save Houstonians 2.8 million hours in traffic, and in Dallas/Ft. Worth/Arlington, where HOV lanes are relatively new, the 390,000 HOV lane miles save 433,000 hours in traffic.  New lanes wouldn't even have to be added to the highways, they would just need to be striped and signs would need to be posted, much cheaper and faster than building new lanes.  Wouldn't you like to save more time on your commute?

For more information on HOV lanes, check out this post.

What the Heck is a Brownfield?

So here is the legal definition of a Brownfield:

With certain legal exclusions and additions, the term "brownfield site" means real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. [as defined in Public Law 107-118 (H.R. 2869) - "Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act" signed into law January 11, 2002]

Throughout the inner cores of cities in the US there are pieces of property that are lying vacant because they at one time had a gas station, a manufacturing facility or some other type of hazardous use performed on them.  Now that the New Urbanists are singing the praises of inner city living, more and more people are looking for places to live.  Unfortunately there's only so many housing units, but there is property that can be developed for housing if it can be cleaned up first, the brownfield.


The Environmental Protection Agency has a program that encourages the cleanup and reuse of brownfields.
The EPA

provides direct funding for brownfields assessment, cleanup, revolving loans, and environmental job training. To facilitate the leveraging of public resources, EPA's Brownfields Program collaborates with other EPA programs, other federal partners, and state agencies to identify and make available resources that can be used for brownfields activities. In addition to direct brownfields funding, EPA also provides technical information on brownfields financing matters.

Funding and grants are provided for anything from coming up with an area wide assessment, to cleanup money, to job training grants.  They also have links to other federal agencies and private groups that offer grants and assisstance.  There is even a National Brownfield Association, a non-profit dedicated to sustainable development of previously undevelopable land.

Some successful brownfield developments are a Senior Citizen housing facility in Houston and and the Evans Avenue redevelopment project in  Fort Worth.  San Antonio's most well known brownfield redevelopment project is the old Alamo Cement Factory at Basse and Hwy 281, now the Quarry Market.  Even part of the San Antonio BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) plan includes the Fort Sam Houston sustainable neighborhood revitalization plan

One way to preserve valuable landscapes while accommodating a growing population is
to redevelop previously used urban lands, sometimes known as "brownfields."
Even with the expense of environmental clean-up, a recycled parcel is often less
expensive to develop than new land, because it is already serviced by roads, utilities,
and other infrastructure. Brownfield development also relieves some pressure to
develop farms and other open space.

In San Antonio, Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones (TIRZ) are used to faciliate brownfield redevelopment. 

The City uses TIF in areas where little to no private sector investment is currently taking place, and where redevelopment would not occur solely through private investment in the reasonably foreseeable future.

TIF allows future ad valorem and sales tax revenue to pay for the construction of public infrastructure improvements.

By leveraging private investment for certain types of development within a targeted area, TIF can be used to finance new and/or enhanced public improvements and infrastructure. These improvements and infrastructure, in turn, attract additional private investment in surrounding areas.

If you are interested in brownfield redevelopment contact the City of San Antonio Housing and Neighborhood Services Department's TIF Unit.

City County Merger? Would it Make Sense?

Lyle Larson, State Representative Elect, R-San Antonio, is proposing a consolidation of city and county government functions.  This is not a new idea, The late State Senator Frank Madla was a proponent of consolidation, but always faced huge opposition. 

So why consolidate?

According to the Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington

The proponents of consolidation argue that fewer and larger local governments will be more efficient and effective than many small governments.  Costs can be held down and perhaps reduced through the elimination of duplicative services, personnel, and equipment. Larger governments may also be able to take advantage of “economies of scale” or lower per-unit costs for government services. Further, a single unified government will be better able to coordinate policies and decisions for activities, such as regional planning and economic development, than several independent governments.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Policy Research Institute did a study that looked at consolidations in seven metro areas in order to determine if consolidation would work for Milwaukee.

Each consolidation is different.

• In Nashville-Davidson County, Tennessee, the governments are completely merged, except for a few smaller municipalities within the county that remained separate.  However there are two taxing districts, one for the urban areas and one for the less populated areas and services are divided accordingly.  
• The Jacksonville-Duval County, Florida governments are partially merged with several independent authorities and boards, such as the Electric Authority and the Public Beaches Hospital Board.  
• Indianapolis-Marion County, Indiana, has multiple tiers and layers, with some services consolidated and some run independently by the county or the city. 
• Lexington-Fayette County, Kentucky has a true consolidation of all city and county services, and all services are provided for all citizens across the county.  
• In Louisville-Jefferson County, Kentucky, the Board of Aldermen and the County Fiscal Court were replaced by a Mayor-Council form of government, but 85 incorporated cities (22% of the county population) within the county remain independent.  Also some county officials still maintain their offices, such as the sheriff and the county attorney.  
• Miami-Dade County, Florida is not a formal consolidation, but more of a federation, although the governments are independent of each other, they are closely linked.  The merger links activities such as transportation, airport facilities, and sewer and water facilities while leaving policing and fire protection up to individual municipalities.  
• Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, which is more similar to San Antonio in that it was not in crisis, like several of the other cities that consolidated, and the idea had been batted around for several years before it was implemented.  The city and county governments still exist but they are highly linked in service functions, with like services merged, such as Public Works. 

But does Consolidation truly promote efficiency?? According to Chris Pineda of the Government Innovators Network at the Harvard Kennedy School

In theory, consolidation should produce economies of scale which allows cost savings to be achieved – average costs are reduced when spread out over a wider set of users. The reality is that this may not always occur—but why? Why do city-county consolidations not always produce cost savings and, in some case, actually lead to higher costs? To help local and state officials grappling with this issue, we have summarized recent literature on the causes of diseconomies of scale in city-county consolidations and listed useful online resources.

What Causes Diseconomies of Scale in a City-County Consolidation?

• Labor intensive services. Consolidated city services that are labor intensive and require replication from one neighborhood to the next cannot always achieve economies of scale and may in fact result in diseconomies of scale. Labor intensive services can include: police, general fire protection, public works, and parks and recreation services. [based on studies by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington]

• Bureaucracy growth. According to some economists, diseconomies of scale in consolidated local governments occur because bureaucrats and politicians become removed from day-to-day contact with residents. When these officials are “out-of-touch” with citizen concerns, there may be no incentive to cut costs, or to stop increased spending. [based on a study by the Cato Institute]

• Merging personnel-related costs. In city-county consolidations, personnel-related costs may actually rise as two pre-existing personnel systems and benefits packages merge. One explanation is that the wages and benefits of employees are equalized to the highest level of comparable employees. Similarly, existing employees may have job security as part of the merge agreement. [based on a study of Athens-Clarke County by Campbell and Selden, University of Georgia]

• Merging service quality costs. When pre-existing delivery systems are merged in a city-county consolidation, an “averaging up” effect may occur with service levels and standards for equipment and facilities. These increased service quality costs then become ongoing expenditures. [Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington]                                                                                                              

• One-time transition costs. Consolidating city services may require one-time operating and capital expenses that can quickly add up. One-time transition costs can include: merging and upgrading computer systems and consulting fees to resolve conflicting rules and regulations. [Campbell and Selden, University of Georgia]

But it would still be nice to make our local governments more efficient, so here are some alternatives, proposed by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, study that could work for San Antonio.

• Increased Citizen Responsibility for Themselves and Others
• Functional Consolidation Among Governments
• Efficiency Gains Within City and County Government
• Regional Government
• Regional Cooperation On Selected Services

Increased Citizen Responsibility, basically means we act in a volunteer capacity to improve our neighborhoods, for example, through neighborhood watches and/or organizations.  Functional Consolidations could include mergers of police and sheriff departments, public works and procurement (to name a few).  Efficiency gains would include internal audits of government agencies to find ways to lower costs.  A regional government, that say included all the counties that contain the Edwards Aquifer and recharge zone, could more easily implement environmental and water policies.  Regional cooperation however may be more palitable, leaving local authority for local issues, while addressing regional issues in a more coordinated manor.  We could even implement more than one of these recommendations, such as more citizen involvement, greater efficiency within government, some functional mergers and regional cooperation. 

I'm all for efficiency in government, but before we rush off into something, we need to take a closer look.

Bike Sharing In SA-You're kidding right?

Bicycle Sharing has become the In Thing for cities wishing to project a green image.  Portland, Oregon was the first city in the US to start a program back in 1994.  Its program was simple (take a bike, use it then leave it for someone else to use) and free but ended in failure due to vandalism and theft.  Bike share programs are much more sophisticated today and although they aren't free, the fees are affordable.  San Antonio kicks off its pilot program, "B-cycle" on October 13, 2010 at the MPO Bike Night event.  But what exactly is bicycle sharing and how does it work?

There are several bike sharing programs in Europe and other cities in the US to draw inspiration and lessons from.  There's even a bike sharing blog.

In Paris, Velib (short for velo (bicycle) and liberte (freedom)  has been running for three years now and is very popular.  Velib has three subscription options that allow you to use the service for one day, one week or one year.  To subscribe you must have a major bank card (Mastercard, Visa or American Express).  The charge to rent the bike for 1 day is 1€ ($1.34), a week 5€ ($6.67) and a year for 29€ ($38.69) for a year's subscription.  The service encourages short term usage by making the first 30 minutes of use free and then charging additional fees that escalate over time.  They also encourage uses to park bikes in docking stations at the top of hills, like Mont Marte, by adding an additional 15 minutes of free use.  The bikes are sturdy, have a guard to protect clothing from the chain, have a large basket to carry purses, brief cases, etc., and a security chain in case you have to park it somewhere other than a docking station.


Bicing in Barcelona is another bicycle for hire system that has also been running for about 3 years.  Similar to the Velib system, it is also meant for short to medium length trips.  However the system caters exclusively to commuters who live in the city (to keep from competing with local tourist companies that hire out bicycles), subscriptions are only given out on a yearly basis for 30€ ($40.02).


Pamplona had a bicycle sharing (n'Bici) program when I was there in June 2009 (inagurated in 2007). The Ayuntamiento (City Hall) website described the program as something like checking out a book out from the library.  You could go to city hall to get your card issued and then swipe it at the n'Bici docking stations.  Now it's no where to be found on the Ayuntamiento site and I'm wondering if the last festival de San Fermin (the running of the bulls) was it's downfall.  Bicycle theft and vandalism is a common problem for bicycle sharing programs and things get pretty rowdy around festival time.

Nice Ride in Minneapolis charges a subscription plus a trip fee.  The first 30 minutes are free to encourage short rides.  Subscription prices go from $5.00 for 24 hours to $60.00 for a year.  Lydia Kelly of the San Antonio Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) was recently in Minneapolis and she said she saw elementary school students using the Nice Ride bikes to go home after school. 

In order to discourage theft most of the bikes used in these programs are heavy, three gear models that are meant for short term rides over fairly easy terrain.  San Antonio Bike Share, a non profit organization which will be maintained and operated by Bike World bicycle shops, will use bikes provided by B-Cycle, a company that provides bikes for over one hundred cities in the US.  There is no word yet on the fees for the SA program but it will have membership fees for access to the bikes and usage fees based on the amount of time the bike is used.

Criticisms of bike sharing programs include vulnerability to theft, damaged bicycles that are unrideable, no place to carry purses, bags, etc, and not enough bicycles.  The San Antonio program solves the theft problem by using bikes that have GPS chips installed in them and by making sure that VIA bus drivers don't allow the bikes to be put on their bike racks.  Some bicycles used in sharing programs have a button you can push to alert the company that the bike is damaged.  B-Cycle bikes don't appear to have this feature, their demo video just says to put a damage bike back on the docking station.  I'm not sure how they would know which ones need repair.  The B-Cycle bikes do have a basket in the front to hold items you have with you, they also encourage you to use a helmet, but it has to be your own, there are no helmets to share (probably a good idea, I don't want to get head lice!).  The San Antonio program is starting with 194 bikes in the downtown area, but I haven't been able to find out where the docking stations will be.  The Streetsblog was critical of the San Francisco program because it was starting with only 50 bikes, but San Francisco has a much more friendly bicycle culture than San Antonio, so the criticism is justified.

The unfriendly bike culture in SA is likely to be the biggest obstacle to the bike sharing program, as most of you cyclists out there know, bicycling in San Antonio can be hazardous to your health, sometimes even deadly.  The Bike Map put out by the MPO rates most of the streets in the downtown area as fair when it comes to cycling conditions, but they obviously need some work.  Streets to avoid downtown are Commerce between Alamo and Frio, Frio south of Dolorosa, Dolorosa/Market between Dwyer and Cameron (Spanish Governor's Palace),  San Pedro north of Main, Alamo from Commerce to HemisFair Plaza, Durango east of Alamo and west of IH 35 and Cypress street.  I'd definetely get a bike map from the MPO before venturing anywhere on a bike, even on the streets considered fair you have to be on guard.

Bicycle rules of the road for automobiles and bicycles are not very well known in SA, so FYI

• A cyclist shall never ride against the flow of traffic
• A cyclist must obey all traffic signs, signals and rules of the road (this means stop at red lights and stop signs, no rolling through)
• Every bicycle in use at night time shall be equipped with the following:  a lamp that emits a white light visible at a distance of at least 500 feet and a type of red reflector on the rear approved by the Department of Public Safety (it doesn't appear the the B-Cycle bikes have these features, at least from their website)
• Persons riding side by side shall not impede the normal and reasonable flow of traffic;  Persons riding side by side on a laned roadway must ride in a single lane
• Bicycles may be ridden on roadway shoulders, except where expressly prohibited by law
• A motorist must allow 3 feet of clearance when passing a cyclist (you have to give this much to other cars to avoid clipping them, so why not to cyclists as well)

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who tries out the SA bike sharing program to see what you think, or even if you are driving near them downtown.  Drop me a line.

How will San Antonio look 10 years from now?

The kickoff event for SA2020 is this Saturday.  If you want a say in San Antonio's future get involved.  Register for the free event here.

Build San Antonio Green

Heather Gayle Holdridge, the Sustainability Coordinator for Lake|Flato Architects, wrote an interesting article  awhile back about green buildings and their importance to the greater sustainability effort in San Antonio.
Buildings represent

almost 75 percent of electricity consumption in the country, and here in San Antonio, consumption climbs to more than 90 percent. Buildings are also major users of our potable water supply. Research has shown that building greener buildings would do more for the environment than any other single measure. There is no way to conserve water and energy faster, more significantly or more inexpensively.

So I decided to see what's happening in the green building sphere.

The City of San Antonio is getting on board.  The city approved its first contract for a green friendly fire station.  The San Antonio Housing Authority incorporated sustainable features such as solar panels and improved insulation in its new San Juan Square Apartment project.

The Fountainhead Business Park II received the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver Certification in SA in July.  Genzyme, the sole tenant, made it easy for Grubb & Ellis to retrofit the building to meet standards for lighting, recycling, and use of green building materials and cleaning supplies.

Northside ISD just opened its first green school, Martin Elementary School, which in not only the first school to be built within Loop 410 since the 1980s, but also LEED certified.  Among other features, it has light sensors, concrete paving instead of asphalt to lower heat, window shades for west facing windows and a learning garden.

The Pearl Brewery Complex's Full Goods Building has the largest solar array in SA on its roof and is a joint venture with CPS Energy.

Source:  San Antonio Express-News

YouthBuild Construction Corp. teaches high school dropout how to build green buildings.  Their home building project on the east side is underway to meet LEED standards and they plan to sell the home for $72,000.   And Lennar Homes has become the first national builder in San Antonio to agree to meet LEED standards for all of its new home construction.  The city's Office of Environmental Policy has a Green Contractor Rebate Program for participating builders and remodelers. 

So what can you do to make your property more green?  Hire a Home Energy Auditor.

The average cost of retrofitting a house once it has been audited is $8,000 to $10,000, according to Von Schrader, and it is not always advisable to go with the lowest estimate. "Work done correctly often costs more," he says.

Fortunately, there are programs to offset the costs. Some state energy programs and utilities offer rebates, which require accredited home-energy auditors and contractors to do the work. A federal energy tax credit of $1,500 is available until the end of this year.

 Check out the rebate programs offered by CPS and SAWS.

The State of the Air in SA

The American Lung Association has posted its State of the Air City Rankings.  Cities were rated by the amount of ozone in the air, year round particle pollution and short-term particle pollution. The 25
Worst Cities were slightly different for each category.  Luckily, San Antonio didn't make any of the lists, but that doesn't mean we have nothing to worry about.  The ALA gave SA a failing grade for the 34 orange ozone action days it logged during the reporting period.  Orange means unhealthy for sensitive populations, like people with asthma, lung problems and the elderly.

Morning Edition's story on heat waves and air pollution reported that

Ozone and fine particles are the two types of pollution that trigger Code Red and Orange days. Both are formed out of exhaust from power plants, cars and a lot of other things. With ozone "the two bad chemical actors are oxides of nitrogen and hydrocarbons," Edelman says. "When they're exposed to heat and sunlight, a chemical reaction takes place which releases ozone." And when people breathe it in, it irritates their lungs, which are as fragile as the inside of eyelids.

Children are particularly susceptible  because their air passageways are much smaller than adults.  Asthma attacks are brought on by inflammation of the lungs which is caused by breathing in harmful irritants, so children with asthma are at higher risk on ozone action days and are not allowed outside. 

Breathing in ozone and particulate matter can also cause asthma symptoms in otherwise healthy children.  This study published in the Lancet by R. McConnell, et.al. found that

In communities with high ozone concentrations, the relative risk of developing asthma in children playing three or more sports was 3·3 (95% CI 1·9–5·8), compared with children playing no sports. Sports had no effect in areas of low ozone concentration (0·8, 0·4–1·6). Time spent outside was associated with a higher incidence of asthma in areas of high ozone (1·4, 1·0–2·1), but not in areas of low ozone. Exposure to pollutants other than ozone did not alter the effect of team sports.

The good news for Texas is that air quality is improving.  The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has tips on what you can do to improve the air.

Tips for Citizens: 10 Things You Can Do

• Share a ride to work or school.
• Avoid morning rush-hour traffic.
• Walk or ride a bicycle.
• Take your lunch to work or school.
• Combine errands into one trip.
• Avoid drive-through lanes.
• Postpone refueling until after 6 p.m.
• Don't top off your gas tank when refueling.
• Postpone using gas engines such as lawnmowers until after 6 p.m.
• Keep your vehicle properly tuned to keep exhaust levels low.

Tips for Business and Industry:
Small Steps, Big Solutions

• Shift work schedules to allow employees to avoid morning rush-hour traffic.
• Allow employees to work at home (telecommuting).
• Offer bus passes.
• For employees who rideshare or use public transportation, provide a guaranteed emergency ride home.
• Carpool to lunch and meetings.
• Schedule meetings that don't require driving (meet on site or make conference calls).
• Offer free drinks at your cafeteria to encourage employees to eat at work.
• Postpone fueling fleet vehicles until after 6 p.m.
• Postpone working with mowers, bulldozers, backhoes, tractors, and other two-cycle engine activities.
• Delay painting, degreasing, tank cleaning, ground maintenance, and road repair.
• Postpone routine flaring or venting of hydrocarbons.
• Postpone the loading and hauling of volatile organic compound (VOC).
• Postpone VOC-producing activities such as chemical treatment and catalyst preparation.
• Switch loads to fired heaters or boilers with low nitrogen oxide burners.

To find out the daily air quality forecast check out the AirNow website.  Looks like it's gonna be a Good day in SA.

Customer Satisfaction, Almost Guarenteed

Back in 2008 the City of San Antonio conducted its first customer satisfaction survey.  The city fared fairly well on that survey, but there was definitely room for improvement.  The results for the 2010 San Antonio Community Survey are now in.

Overall, the residents surveyed were very satisfied with city services, even more so than in other large cities.

The City of San Antonio is setting the standard for customer service among large U.S. cities. Among nearly 40 services that were assessed on the 2010 survey, the City of San Antonio rated above the U.S. average for cities with more than 250,000 residents in all but one area: animal care services.

When compared to other large central U.S. cities, San Antonio’s satisfaction ratings were highest in 5 of the 10 major city services assessed; the City also scored above the average for large central U.S. cities in all 10 of the major city services assessed.

But, as most of you probably would agree, respondents weren't so happy with street repair and maintenance.  Surprisingly, even though San Antonians aren't that happy with Public Works, the satisfaction rating is actually 11% higher than the 2008 survey, so things are starting to improve.

The City of San Antonio is moving in the right direction. While satisfaction ratings in most U.S. cities have decreased during the past two years, the Composite Customer Satisfaction Index for San Antonio increased significantly. The results for the City of San Antonio improved for 28 of the 32 City services that were assessed in both 2008 and 2010. The decreases were not statistically significant in three of the four areas that declined. The only significant decrease involved the City’s on-line payment programs (-6%).

In my post about the city's website, I mentioned the fact that the on-line payment service was glitchy, often sending me messages that the site was unsafe to use.  So hopefully, the survey will get the city moving on improving this service.

Stray animal control is another sore point in the survey. This is the only major service that San Antonio rates lower than the national average.  However, even this service showed improvement from the 2008 survey.

The percentage of residents who thought stray animals were a “major problem” in San Antonio decreased significantly from 38% in 2008 to 28% in 2010.

Improvements in satisfaction with services from 2008 to 2010 shows that City Manager Sheryl Sculley and her staff take the surveys seriously and are dedicated to improving relationships with the community. It's nice to know that the city is finally starting to think of its residents as customers instead of just money machines.  Look for the next survey in 2012.

What is Zoning?

Zoning is a method used by cities to regulate growth. The broadest form of zoning divides up land generally into residential, commercial, and industrial uses.   But usually, cities break down their zoning into details so fine, they can regulate the size of the lots, the height of the building, the density of residents, you name it.


Zoning began in Europe in the 1870s as part of more comprehensive land planning.  The U.S. started to adopt zoning ordinances in the 1920's and by the end of the decade 60% of all cities had such an ordinance.  San Antonio, wishing to stay up with the times, began to think about zoning in 1923.  According to the
San Antonio Remembers Blog on January 18, 1923

Local real estate men are planning to have a city ordinance adopted which will divide the city into definite business, industrial, wholesale and residential districts.

Many times, zoning was used to set aside more desirable property for wealthy residential neighborhoods, if the uses were separated then a wealthy land owner with a large house would never have to worry about a Mom and Pop store being built next door.  Land uses became very segregated.  Funny thing is, zoning was actually used in the south to ensure racial segregation.

The first to pass an ordinance zoning a city into white and black residential areas was Louisville. The Supreme Court struck this one down (Buchanan vs. Warley, 1917) though not for any of the reasons that would seem obvious to us today. The justices found the ordinance violated the Fourteenth Amendment, by depriving sellers of property of the right to select their buyers.

This is somewhat ironic because the Fourteenth Amendment was one of the amendments put into the Constitution after the civil war to end slavery.

In San Antonio it was done more subtly by zoning less desirable land (near industrial uses or unattractive property) on the east side and west side for higher density (apartments or single family houses on very small lots) and for very low density on the north side (think Alamo Heights.)  This not only segregates people by race but also by class, and is still practiced to some degree today.

Many traditional African American neighborhoods throughout the south suffer from high pollution levels due to zoning.  In the 1920s zoning was considered scientific.

Washington got its zoning plan past the courts in the 1920's with the help of a local doctor who testified that flies from grocery stores might bring disease to children, and therefore by no means must shops be allowed to locate near homes.

So the children of upper class families were normally protected from dangerous uses, while lower class families had to settle for what they could afford.

In my next post I'm going to talk about how zoning changed the ways people conducted business in cities.

Texas Cities, the Shape of the Future

Joel Kotkin, an urban geographer and Forbes contributor, wrote an article back in March about the remarkable growth of Texas cities in the midst of the Great Recession.  He sees the Texas city as the urban landscape of the 21st Century.

Texas cities tend to sprawl out, have multi-modal business centers and aggressive annexation policies.  OK, so what does all this mean?  Well, I'm sure all of you have noticed that San Antonio covers a large area, so much so that it is hard to convey to children that even though you've traveled for 20 miles, you are still in San Antonio.  Multi-modal business centers are kind of like mini-downtowns, the Medical Center, the 281 corridor and the IH-35 corridors each have their own business culture, and many times people who work in these areas live near them as well.  

So what does aggressive annexation have to do with all this?  Annexation is the process cities use to extend their boundaries.  In Bexar County there is a lot of unincorporated (hasn't chartered as a town or city) land area.  The city government absorbs this land mass in two ways.  First it extends the city limits down a major thoroughfare or highway, such as IH-10 or FM 471.  This is called a finger, because it's long and skinny.  All of the land within a 5 mile radius is considered to be in the ETJ or Extra Territorial Jurisdiciton of the city.   All property within the ETJ is subject to City of San Antonio zoning and development ordinances, so the city controls how the land will be used.  Once the surrounding property meets a certain population density, the city annexes the area by extending the city limits around it.  Then the area is subject to San Antonio property taxes.  By extending the city boundaries the city expands its tax base and it's population.  This is why even though San Antonio's population is quite large compared to a city like Boston, it's surrounding area (all of the little towns around it) is actually quite a bit less populated.

Kotkin says that

To reshape a city in a sustainable way, you need to have a growing population, a solid and expanding job base and a relatively efficient city administration.

So, Texas cities increase their population not only through annexation but through job growth.  Of the four largest cities in Texas, San Antonio is the slowest job generator, but we still out perform places like Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. 

OK, I know a lot of you think our city is run inefficiently, but look at our government compared to say Chicago.

The New Yorker, for example, recently published a lavish tribute to the city and its mayor, Richard Daley. But as long-time Chicago observer Steve Bartin points out, the story missed--or simply ignored--many critical facts. Mistaking Daley's multi-term tenure as proof of effectiveness, it failed to recognize the region's continued loss of jobs, decaying infrastructure, rampant corruption and continued out-migration of the area's beleaguered middle class.

Not to mention the fact that Chicago is in financial distress. The pension funds for city employees is severely underfunded, and just 2 days ago their bond rating (the rate at which the city borrows money) was downgraded.  In an earlier post, I talked about San Antonio receiving the highest bond rating based on the savings cushion instituted by City Manager Sheryl Sculley.   Not only is the city of Chicago losing population, the towns surrounding it have declined as well. 

They're headin' south.

Where do Your Property Taxes Go? School Districts in SA

Now we come to the government entity that receives the lion's share, or about half of your property taxes, your local school district.  There are 13 different school districts that lie within or partially within Bexar County. (There are three military school districts but these are supported by the U.S. Government.) Each district has its own taxing rate.

Alamo Heights ISD                            1.162
East Central ISD                                1.3195
Edgewood ISD                                  1.42
Harlandale ISD                                  1.479
Judson ISD                                        1.463
North East ISD                                  1.4029
Northside ISD                                   1.3375
San Antonio ISD                               1.2497
Schertz-Ciobolo-Universal City ISD   1.42
Somerset ISD                                   1.228     
South San Antonio ISD                     1.4338
Southside ISD                                   1.3689
Southwest ISD                                  1.2432

How do they figure your taxes?  Take the appraised value of your home as determined by the appraisal district then subtract any exemptions you may have (homestead, over 65) to arrive at the taxable value of your property. Next move the decimal place on the tax rate of your school district two places (i.e. change 1.162 to .01162, the tax rate is a percentage) and then multiply it by the taxable value.  If you don't want to go through all this rigmarole visit the Bexar Appraisal Website.  Type in your name, last name first and click search.  To find out information about your tax bill click View Details. You can find out your approximate tax bill by clicking on the taxing jurisdicition tab.

You may wonder how Alamo Heights can get away with such a low tax rate.  It has some of the highest appraised property in the city and it's a small district.   Also, why there is such a diversity in the size of districts?  Back in 1949, Bexar County was split up into independent school districts, mostly by population.  Nowadays Northside is the 4th largest district in student population in the state and has housing property values that range from the mid $30,000s to millions of dollars, but back in 1949 it was in the boonies where very few people lived, in fact the population was so sparse that part of the district extends into Bandera and Medina Counties.  But now Northside is growing so fast because of its desirability as a school distrtict, the varying property values and the large availability of vacant land for housing.

You probably can figure out some of the places your tax dollar goes: teacher and administrative salaries, new schools, new classrooms, technology, science equipment, gym and sports equipment and school books.  You might also want to add in security.  Most large school districts have their own police force to protect the students and to control drug use and violence.

Along with property tax money, school districts also receive federal assistance, usually based on the number of low income students they have.  Usually, the poorer the district, the more federal assistance they recieve.

School Financing in Texas has had a checkered history.  Probably the most fought over legislation was the Robin Hood Plan, or robbing the rich school districts to give money to the poor ones.

On May 28, 1993, the legislature passed a multi-option plan for reforming school finance. Under the plan, each school district would help to equalize funding through one of five methods: (1) merging its tax base with a poorer district, (2) sending money to the state to help pay for students in poorer districts, (3) contracting to educate students in other districts, (4) consolidating voluntarily with one or more other districts, or (5) transferring some of its commercial taxable property to another district's tax rolls. If a district did not choose one of these options, the state would order the transfer of taxable property; if this measure failed to reduce the district's property wealth to $280,000 per student, the state would force a consolidation. This plan was signed into law by Governor Richards on May 31, 1993, and was accepted by Judge McCown. The action guaranteed that schools would receive funding for the 1993–94 academic year. Many poorer school districts still challenged the constitutionality of the new law, however, and Judge McCown set September 1, 1993, as the deadline for them to file their complaints. In January 1995 the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the options plan was constitutional but that the legislature still needed to work on equalizing and improving school facilities throughout the state.

So, everything you always wanted to know about property taxes, but were afraid to ask.  My next series will explain everything you always wanted to know about Zoning.

Where do Your Property Taxes Go? Military Affairs

A Recap of City of San Antonio revenues and spending. So $1,074.42 of your property taxes goes to the City of San Antonio.

The City of San Antonio receives revenues from several sources: Property taxes (25%), Charges and fees (20%), Revenues from Utilities (17%), Grants (usually federal) (15%), Sales Tax (14%), Hotel/Motel Tax (4%), Other Taxes (Short Term Rental Tax, Bingo Tax, etc) (2%), Fines (Library Fines, Traffic Tickets) (1%), Miscellaneous (1%), Intergovernment (0.6%), Permits/Licenses (0.4%)

The 2010 Budget for the City divides general fund expenditures in the following ways: Police (36%), Fire/EMS (26%), other services (Aviation, Community Initiatives, Historic Preservation, Solid Waste Management, Military Affairs, etc) (11%), Convention, Tourism and Culture (9%), Streets and Infrastructure (7%), Environmental (5%), Parks & Recreation (6%), Agencies (4%), Library (3%), Health (1%), Municipal Courts (1%), Neighborhood Services (1%), Economic Development (0.5%), Animal Care (0.5%). I will take you through each of these items in separate posts. If you feel that you have a better way to spend the money you can post your suggestions on the online Budget suggestion box for the 2011 budget.
(For links to all items in the CSA budget, see past posts.)

What do you know, almost done with the City of San Antonio.  There are other areas where money is spent but these are the largest budget items.

So, Military Affairs coordinates and facilitates the city's support for BRAC or the Base Realignment and Closure.  If you want to get a contract to work on the realignment, this is the place to go.  Military Affairs also helps military families relocate to San Antonio.

When military bases close, military assets are moved to other bases in the area to increase efficiency and reduce expenses.  In SA Fort Sam is the beneficiary of most of the assets and construction is taking place on the base to accomdate them.

Many of the former bases have been converted to civilian use for municipal airports (Bergstrom in Austin), housing developments, office parks and industrial parks.  Kelly AFB is now known as Port San Antonio.
As I talked about in an earlier post, the Port San Antonio airport will be used to handle industrial flights.  It also has a Railport for train traffic, existing buildings for office space, lots of land to build new office buildings, warehouses and even assembly buildings.

The entire former AFB (1900 acres) is designated as a Foreign Trade Zone which gives companies the ability to bring foreign parts into the base, destroy damaged peices, and assemble them and then pay the duty on the assembled parts once they leave the port.  Often the duties are lowered on an assembled product than its parts and no duty is paid on the damaged pieces.   

There is also a Commission on Veterans Affairs.

The Commission's mission is to serve the City Council in an advisory capacity on issues affecting the City's military population, both active and retired. It serves as the community's liaison and advocate for veterans' affairs; advises the City Council on issues affecting San Antonio veterans and their families; and makes recommendations for improving services.

The City of San Antonio has a long standing relationship with the military.  It is the largest employer in the city and the city works hard to keep them here.

What Makes a Government Website Great?

In 2006

The National Policy Research Council (NPRC -- www.nprcouncil.com), a nonprofit think tank, examined the Web presence of the 50 states and all 38,987 counties, municipalities and townships in the U.S. An exhaustive search found 11,227 official state and local government Web sites. Trained NPRC reviewers visited each Web site to assess points for 25 features in seven categories: usability, citizen responsiveness, accessibility for disabled visitors, information tools, online procurement, job opportunities, and interactive permits and payments.

Out of all those websites they chose Montgomery County, Maryland's website as the best for counties over 500,000 residents and City of Fresno, California's website as the best city website with a population over 500,000.  This year Montgomery County, Maryland was named the best county website by the Digital Counties Survey sponsored by eRepublic and the National Association of Counties.

The NPRC generally gave the best scores to

Web sites on which a wide range of services could easily be found on the home page instead of being buried several pages deep, said Robert McArthur, the NPRC’s e-government project director.

 According to McArthur, one problem with many government Web sites is that they’re organized by department, whereas most users want to accomplish a task — like paying a water bill — without necessarily knowing which department is involved. “The best Web sites offered on the home page a menu of all government services regardless of department,” he said.

Another problem uncovered by the NPRC study is outdated information on official government Web sites. “Either maintain its currency and accuracy, or shut it down,” McArthur said. “Bad information is worse than no information.”

The best websites also have suggestion boxes that allow users to propose fixes to improve the government site.  Response time to citizen requests was another factor in how much the site was actually used.

So how does the City of San Antonio's website stack up? It's pretty good,  the main page has this drop down menu

I want to...

• Apply For ......
  • Job Vacancies
• Check Status of .....
  • Transguide Traffic
  • SAPD Traffic Data
  • Street Closures
• Find/Learn About .....
  • Boards & Commission Agendas
  • Community Survey Results (Resultados de la encuesta comunitaria)
  • City Council Agenda
  • Council Committee Agendas
  • Brush Collection
  • Crime Data & Stats
  • Election Information
  • Ethics/Lobbyist
  • Health Profiles
  • Landowner's Bill of Rights
  • Municipal Elections/Campaign Finance
  • Your City Government
• Pay For .....
  • Garage Sale Permits
  • Municipal Court Payments
  • Online Building Applications
• Report .....
  • Code Compliance
• Request Help With .....
  • Citizen Request
  • Pot Hole Repair
  • Other Services
• Visit .....
  • Alamodome
  • Airport
  • Arts or Culture Organization
  • Convention & Sports Facilities
  • Golf Courses
  • Library
  • Parks or Recreation Facility
  • Visit San Antonio
• Watch .....
•  Council Meetings Online
• Public Access Television (PATV)
• Transguide
• TVSA

 To get a list of the entire services offered, users can click on Request Help With... Other Services for a quick reference guide that overall is written in fairly plain language.  There are a few links that require some explanation, I don't even know what they mean, so I'm pretty sure the average citizen wouldn't know.  Both CRAG and Brownfields take you to the Housing and Neighborhood services page but there is no reference to either one once you reach that page. 

Another problem I noticed under Find/Learn About was when I clicked the link to Boards & Commision Agendas the link page said I was unauthorized to view the page.  If this list of links is meant for the general public then a restricted link should not be on it.

Yes I know, boring old me I checked all the links to see if they worked.  Under Pay For... the Municipal Court Payments doesn't always work, sometimes I get a page load error and sometimes I get an invalid security certificate warning.  There is a link to make suggestions for the budget on the scrolling link but no suggestion box for users of the website, in fact under contact us you can send an email for technical problems only.

The department links are somewhat spotty, some are better are than others, and there are some dead links that need to be cleaned up.  Response time for online 311 (complaints for dumping, junk cars, drainage problems, etc.)  is good, two of the city engineers came out the same day I posted a complaint about drainage problems.

In 2007 the Culture and Policy Institute at UTSA conducted a Community Survey.  They found that

City-wide, many participants had no opinion about the City's web-based payment services (40% no opinion), ease of obtaining garage sale permits (53% no opinion), obtaining other permits (61% no opinion), and the City's job training programs (46%). This suggests that many residents are either unaware of the existence of, or have had no experience with, these services.

There's no visitor counter on the main page, so it's hard to know how much traffic the website receives now, but the city has Facebook and Twitter feeds that may help to raise community awareness.  If you ever use the city website, write me a comment about your experience.