Yet another reason to drink beer during Fiesta: Preserving our quills

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If peculiarities were quills, San Antonio de Bexar would be a rare porcupine. Over all the round of aspects in which a thoughtful mind may view a city, it bristles with striking idiosyncrasies and bizarre contrasts.

Retrospects and Prospects by William Sydney Porter (O Henry)

Often I only hear brief tidbits from longer stories on Texas Public Radio because of the short distance between errands, and some of these are pleas for funds – particularly critical now as Congress is once again picking on the funding provided Public Radio. But even Public Radio’s fundraising requests can be enlightening or entertaining; although I’m certainly happy Ira Glass never has called personally to pin us to the mat about the size of our contribution.

In one of the local pitches the other day, David Martin Davies talked about his visit to the O. Henry House downtown (My apologies possibly, because, for the above reason, I am not positive who was speaking.). He pointed out a few historical inaccuracies, such as the small stone structure should be called O. Henry’s Office and “O. Henry’s typewriter” on display in the shuttered museum was not manufactured until two years after the author’s death. But the typewriter hooked him, and he ended up buying one just like it on ebay for $50. What’s great is not only does the antiquated typewriter work, but the next generation in his family loves typing on the strange piece of machinery not connected to a screen.

Okay, I have probably lost all readers by now. Where does the beer figure into this rambling post?

Davies mentioned on air that the Texas Public Radio spot on the O. Henry House was part of a new series focusing on historic preservation, and this series is made possible by a grant from the San Antonio Conservation Society. The main source of income for the San Antonio Conservation Society is A Night in Old San Antonio, or NIOSA, which gets underway on Tuesday, April 12. So, much as with the prior post about the King William Fair, every beer you drink helps the Conservation Society’s efforts to preserve San Antonio’s distinctive heritage.

Seems O. Henry would have approved, as even he remarked long ago of San Antonio’s party spirit:

…it stands with all its gay prosperity just on the edge of a lonesome, untilled belt of land one hundred and fifty miles wide, like Mardi Gras on the austere brink of Lent….

Retrospects and Prospects by William Sydney Porter (O Henry)

So let the Fiesta begin (even in the midst of Lent), and keep San Antonio quilled.

P.S. Help even more by purchasing one of Kathleen Trenchard’s 2011 NIOSA pins.

April 10, 2011, Update: Paula Allen writes about the giant “party with a purpose.”

Every beer you drink helps make this historic district look better….

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…And not because you are turning into a pifflicated person. Poles are down.

In addition to providing scholarships and supplemental assistance for area schools, the year-round volunteer labor provided by a multitude of volunteers working to stage the King William Fair, which takes place on Saturday, April 16, benefits projects improving the public spaces in the neighborhood, such as the park at Constance and Painted Lady (Crofton) Streets.  

Since this past year’s fair, the King William Association has worked to re-landscape King William Park. While those improvements are obvious, you might not notice the major sidebar project.

What is missing from the picture? The awkward, cumbersome overhead utilities previously framing any view of the historic park.

While the original installation of utility poles in the neighborhood represented a welcome technological advancement – a status symbol testifying to the affluence of the neighborhood – a century-or-so of jerryrigged add-ons marred the view.

The project to convert the overhead utilities to underground has been complex, traversing the terms of three or four presidents and committee chairs and finally involving a funding partnership, forged with the support of Councilwoman Mary Alice Cisneros’ office, of the Community Infrastructure and Economic Development Fund of CPS, the City’s Economic and Tourism Department and the King William Association.

To appreciate what is missing, compare today’s views to the “befores.” Don’t think these photos need labeling for you to judge which looks better – 2010 or 2011?

Hope to see you on April 16, and Viva la Fiesta!

Almost time to walk that walk….

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This is a sequel to “Can’t wait to walk that walk….,” which should be read first if you want to have a better idea of the new stretch of in-the-middle-of-the-river pathways to which I refer.

But first, to continue over-hyphenating before switching to incomplete sentences, this definitely qualified as one of those if-you-don’t-live-in-San-Antonio-I-feel-sorry-for-you mornings. Incredibly beautiful. The sky and river amazingly blue. The water so clear you could see the crawdads scurrying and fish swimming around the baseball left to drown after a home run hit by a Brackenridge Eagle. Don’t think it was Rodriguez. If so, the coach forgot because the only sound interrupting the birds’ songs was the coach barking from above at Rodriguez for forgetting the rest of the team.

The water birds perched upon the power plant spillway found such easy prey they forgot to be territorial over their fishing grounds. A hold-on-tightly-to-your-chihuahua-sized hawk was perched majestically high in a tree by Lone Star, the orphaned younger sibling of Pearl crying out to Kit: “Adopt me, too.” (Please do.) The crayola footbridge shimmered in the morning light, and green (although much of it probably not the much-wanted natives) sprouted all along the river’s banks, an emerald green not there a mere 48 hours earlier.

Which, of course, was the morning I had camera in hand. That morning was overcast. And, unfortunately, aside from one of the removal of the temporary dams that I was able to snap before my smartphone reminded its stupid owner that it needed charging, those are the photos I am posting. But it doesn’t matter because the project linking the San Antonio River Authority to Blue Star is so exciting, even on a cloudy day, and almost ready for walking.

The photograph of the telephone pole sticking straight out of the already-too-narrow sidewalk straddling the Alamo Street Bridge by Blue Star illustrates the obvious need for a project I had no idea was on the funded-horizon until last week’s meeting of the King William Association. Two million dollars from the Venue Tax is funding a new construction phase managed by the River Authority that will transform Alamo from four lanes to two plus a turn lane, allowing for widening the sidewalk. A new stone river crossing will link the two banks of the river, so the pathway on the King William side will no longer be a deadend. This path will be improved and stretch along the river from just below the Alamo Street Bridge to the park at Constance and Crofton Streets. On the Big Tex/Blue Star side, picnic areas will be added, as well as an art walk with several portals featuring seating and sculpture.

Can’t wait to walk that walk either.

Update on March 17: Love the news this morning about the generous donation of land Kathleen and Curtis Gunn have made to protect the missions and to link them to the Mission Reach of the river project. Also had to post the photo above of the first bluebonnets and redbonnets? popping into bloom near the Power Plant on the Mission Reach.

Update on March 23: Biking that walk will soon be an option for those of us who live in lofts with no room to store bikes of their own. Yesterday morning, a city crew was hard at work installing a bike rack for a Bike Share station at Blue Star (see photo above).

Update on April 6, 2011: The dams are removed, and water once again fills the river bed and, for the first time, cascades over the newly laid rocks of the water feature between Guenther and Alamo. Looks about ready for walking to me, but we must be waiting for some sort of speechifying formalities.

Update on April 28, 2011: Significant-sized trees are being planted below Blue Star Arts Complex today….

Update on May 11, 2011: They were carting in the missing pieces of railing this morning…. Must be time to open.

Update on May 24, 2011: Finally got to walk that walk this morning! Paseo del Rio finally is linked to the southside for walks on the wildflower side.