I read this from the Current:
http://sacurrent.com/news/recall-dec...-one-1.1249963
Quote:
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San Antonio's central business district saw a dismal 2 percent growth rate over the past two decades, coming in dead last among major U.S. cities like Houston (119 percent growth), Dallas (94 percent growth), Los Angeles (66 percent growth), or Austin (41 percent growth). "There's no other comparable city that has seen less downtown growth than San Antonio," HR&A consultant John Alschuler told members.
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Here is a link to HR&A
http://www.hraadvisors.com/
Looking back to 1990, it does seem that the efforts of the city to invest in downtown have not paid off in any real growth. There have been a number of hotel rooms added during that time, but still all that is there is the riverwalk. You would think that with the number of visitors the city gets there should be block after block of restaurants, bars and shops. Why has this not happened?
Now the city is talking about redeveloping Hemisfair Park (which will cost a lot of money). Does anyone see their current plan as some sort of catalyst for growth? Is this the right place to start (should the money go elsewhere)? Is it addressing any of the real obstacles for growth downtown?