 Well, I first want to talk a little bit about process again. In preparation for tonight, I was a professor, so I tend to do a little research before I speak, and I just went to the Texana collection and saw the master plan that the Center for the Department of Parks and Recreation had done a master plan for Brad and which part in 1979. And what I'm saying is that consistently as we go to neighborhood meetings, we are presented with plans, but the people didn't have any access to making that plan. We're tired of coming to put little dots because already you put a dot into areas that somebody has decided this is what you like or not. Rather than saying what do you want and then go through the process. I would use the 30 dots because those are dots that are usually consultants that come usually in this case, perhaps not. Usually from out of town who don't know the history and culture of San Antonio tell us what the history and culture is going to be and what we need. So I think the process is all wrong with those dots because immediately those five areas are five areas that already have been predetermined. Rather than asking first the community and then making these things the community wants. So that's a process. And the other thing is that when I looked at the 1979 plan, it was another plan that was shelved at the Texana collection just like all the plans, maybe even this plan because maybe it won't go anywhere. And so again, the process is sort of like back up something. The point I want to make a following. San Antonio, like many cities in the United States, is a minority majority city. The majority population of the city, over 60%, is Latino and Mexican American. And so that, this is a majority population. And this community has specific needs and specific aesthetics and ways of looking at the world. And those things should be, number one, really thought about in terms of all the plans for the park. For example, we're used to Pazas and Atios and Paraguay. This is a place of conviviality. This is a place where people gather. This is a place where people make a sense of who they are as a community. And so to limit access to this is to sort of tear us under that thing that binds the people together. So it should be free access, total free access and ways that people can not have limited access. And also mobility is very important. Can the proposed trams accommodate elders, being capacity people, families. In doing the research, I read a little, I read in the Express News, this is an article by Michael Contania of April 1979 after the, when they were proposing the first plan for Brackenridge Park. More than 30,000 people joined into Brackenridge Park Easter Sunday. Some bringing entire dining room sets from home. Barbecues, grills, mattresses, and stereo speakers to celebrate the biggest Sunday in the city park. We always get together, a lot of people said, all the family, this were all kinds of, you know, all kinds of people, Anglos and Mexicans and all kinds of people say we always get together, all the family. It's not only a religious celebration for us, it's like forming a community. And so I think that that's very important. So what I'm saying, not limit access, make sure there's mobility, the trams, how are the people going to bring these stereo's and the barbecues, the mattresses and everything else and the dining room table. The other one has already been made. When I go through almost every day, because I go to the gym on St. Mary's, and I go through it, I see that the golf course, the city I think has seven golf courses already. And I read there that the golf course, even though it's under the parks and recs, is kind of different. It's positioned in a different kind of way. But I look and I see seven or eight, usually elderly guys playing there when there's 40 and 50 people in the park. So I think it's really an exclusive way and that area should come back to the park and part of the park. We talk about sort of one of the points was the culture of the layers of the culture, the layers of culture in the park. Indeed, Breckenridge Park has a lot of layers of culture, particularly layers of culture for the Mexican American community. This was when I was growing up, the Orrutia State was right there on Broadway. It was raised down. Now the Orrutia Park, which has been privatized, which is across from Incarnate Word, it's very interesting because if you go to the park, you can hear in and see pre-Columbian copies of Goya Shao Kee. You can see copies of statues of Guatemal. You can see almost the whole pre-Columbian history of Mexico in statues right there. But schools don't have access to it because it's closed, it's private. So that's what I mean. There's a park here where they're going to build a grand entrance to the park. Well, that grand entrance should be reflective of the majority culture of the city, which is not only the majority culture, but the historic basis for this city is the Mexican city. And so that culture should be reflected in all the culture of Canada. Thank you. Thank you. You have to have Sanchez, followed by Marion Kesterman. I'm here with the Esperanza piece in just a second. Thank you. My name is Graciela Sanchez. Like many people who have told stories, my family also went to and continues to go to Breckenridge Park. We were a family of six kids, two parents, and then the grandparents. And so when we went to Breckenridge Park, we never went to the zoo because we couldn't afford to take six kids, two parents, and two grandparents. We didn't use the train because of the same reason. We didn't rent the pavilions, and we definitely never rode over those sky rides. It all cost money. What didn't cost money was using the park. And so we parked before you got into sunken gardens, and we walked across just like everybody else with the lawn chairs, with the ice chests, with the walking with the fancita across. We threw whatever we could up to the tree so we could collect the pecans so the mom could make her apple pies. Not apple pies or anything. Pecan pies. And we watched the playing of the polo games and always wondered about those people, and stole a few balls that came into our area. But it was ours, it was free. And that's how we always got to participate in the culture of this city, anything that was free. And that's how you survive when your father's making $12,000 a year and he's raising the family, and we survived. And that's what this park has to continue to be. You say right now there are no fees, but we know that the city already charges fees for the pavilion. It already cost a lot of money. Not add to that the parking fees that were of these parking lots, we know it's going to cost. We see the prices of downtown parking lots just going up and up and up. We don't need parking fees added to a working class community of San Antonio. That is, again, the most economically segregated city in this country. Destination, you're talking about even a destination, a destination for whom? We all know that it's there. We don't need to be told that it's there. We know that it's there. And we don't need some gated, some little sign that tells us to go there. That's just the waste of money. And I always hate when I hear that. I guess one thing, well, and the grand lawn, as everybody's talked about it, we need shade. We need more trees. That's what I've loved about it. And the types of trees, right? They're mesquite trees that go up and go sideways and horizontal. So little kids can climb on them. This is not Central Park. We don't need to be Central Park. I love Central Park. I've gone to, you know, use it in many ways, but we don't need the lawn. As people have said over and over, let's put the money in restoring second garden theater. We've used it, but it costs so much to use it because it just needs to be restored. So let's put the money there. I love the idea that you talk about restoring, preserving, and protecting. And what I hope you restore, preserve, and protect is the Mexican-American and working-class people that use this park. As people have said, we lost main plaza, and that idea was to copy the millennium part in Chicago, by putting all those water spouts that you're not even allowed to use anymore or walk around them or use them like they do in Chicago. We lost Travis Park most recently. We were losing Hammersfield Park with all these boutique hotels and condos that are coming up. But I think everyone here before me and during your laticas that you've had are saying loud and clear, we will not lose Bracken Ridge Park. We have said so many important things before me, and eloquently, eloquently. So I'm just going to speak to... Oh, Mary and Hespenbaum? Sure. But I'll say just a few points to elaborate my take on some things. Process is hugely important, not only the kind of quirky way we got to where we are today, but following up in terms of the information that we'll be going to City Council. Well, City Council are not park planners. And what you'll be giving them is kind of like this group says this, this group says that, and this group says this. And what I think is really important is that parks and recreation comes back to the people having synthesized this. And then we have public hearings because this master plan, I read it and reread it and I wasn't really sure what the end point would be because it kind of contradicted each other. We were getting barriers and then we were getting blurring of the and no few places and we were restoring the history and then there are the weasel words protecting the, what was it, respect and enable culturally significant uses like Easter camping. I've been in marketing all my life. I've spun things and I've really worked a lot with weasel words and that's what it sounded like to me instead of just saying explicitly we will make sure that this can continue and in fact everybody can have picnic areas all the way, all year long. So it seemed like this was becoming an event. Also, and I have to say something about the Easter picnic-ing. I am not someone who grew up in San Antonio but the first park I came to when I moved about 30 years ago was Breckenridge and it was so comfortable. It was a place where people just lived lives and I remember hearing on the news the first Easter I was here about the camping. I thought it was crazy and beautiful. This was my new city and it was unique and fabulous and I think I can only say as an outsider who's grown to love my new place that those who have lived here for their whole lives and who have lived here generations and generations and generations, this park has to reflect what the original and the most significant contributors to the city have to say. And again, this process, this is not an understandable plan. I've come here as a mother. I'm not asking for anything special. I just want to think San Antonio is a service industry city so most of these people in the city get the minimum wage and they have the support of family of six and all we can do is go to the park. Sometimes our AC is the only thing we have in the car and we drive through the park. And I'm just coming here to make people aware that we enjoy driving through the park. We drive stopping when we have the next $20 in our pocket to buy a box of chicken and a gallon of punch as a family. And I'm just a simple mother of four. Thank you. So it was the philosopher Plato who said if you're not active in your own politics you run the risk of being governed by others who are less talented. So that's why we're here. So I think this plan has myriad flaws. It appears to be driven by developers. In fact this plan is a developer's dream and we do know that these developers have lobbyists and they do lobby and pay city council members. So that's a major defect that we need to be aware of. So I'll make this quick. This process reminds me of the Hemisphere Plan where it was driven by developers and they put together this plan and it sounded really great and then all of a sudden they got in control and the plan was thrown out the window and next thing we know we've lost Hemisphere Park and they're building hotels on our park. That was supposed to be for the people forever because that was taken away from the people to build Hemisphere with the provision that it would be a public park for the people forever and now Parks and Recreation has lost control of Hemisphere and there's nothing you can do about it and I wish you could get it back but I don't think you can and so they're building their private hotels on our park so you lost Hemisphere recently you lost the Reptile Gardens it's gone and you can't get that back and then right next to it was the headwaters of the Asseciamadre it's gone can't get that back and did you get any money for us for that? and so anyway we're kind of losing some trust or I am losing some trust in the competency and in the process and I feel like it's kind of disrespectful to the people to not ask us it feels like we're being dismissed you put together this plan and then ask us to put some dots on some board for a plan that's already looks like it's already been put together by some developers and we are the stakeholders and this is our money and this is our park thank you hi, my name is Joseph Kelly I've only been using an average park for about the last 30 years but as a Comanche relatives of mine and relatives of people in this room have been using this park for maybe about the last 15,000 years when people come to that park celebrate Easter the 4th of July that isn't just about Easter it isn't just about 4th of July it is about a native history as native religions were suppressed instead of being able to do their traditional ceremonies and traditional holidays instead it became Easter and became 4th of July so as this plan goes forward as we take the streets out as we make it harder for people to go into that park and celebrate these holidays you're pushing back on that history because these people who come out for Easter and camp who come out for the 4th of July and come out for all these different holidays their families have been doing that for 15,000 years at least aside from that when you look at this map on the back page here all these little circles with 1A, 3B, all that it might as well be a map of known archeological sites in Braggridge Park there's the work for the drainage ditch along the golf course on both sides of that about 1 or 2 feet down below the surface of the soil there are known archeological sites that have never been able to be properly investigated partly because it would interfere with people playing golf at the golf course so I find it funny that there's all this discussion here about restoring and preserving the cultural and historical features of the park but nothing is mentioned about the first people to use this park beyond that these are sacred places the San Antonio River Braggridge Park these are places that were continuously occupied for thousands of years a place like the Blue Hole which you want to start to connect into all of this that's a sacred place you know others will go to church on Sundays to talk about God but there are others of us who go into these parts to talk to God and it's shocking that there's just there's no consideration there's nothing interstated about that other people have touched on these things and it's a shared cultural history and you can't let that go thank you I'm Leslie Kelly I'm disabled I'm also from Angie don't duck to the front just cover and in this whole plant I see nothing at all about any sort of considerations for people with disabilities and that's Andrew Peterson earlier if it works why fix it all I have to say is that I'm here representing some of the voices of AARP so much has been said and I would imagine that if you spoke to each individual volunteer and staff person from AARP that are here you'd hear agreement but I'm also here to talk a little bit about an effort that we're involved with that closely aligns with this AARP has been partnering with a world health organization on age friendly livable communities and San Antonio, two years ago under Mayor Castro wanted to become part of this so I've been working with AARP to develop a plan and the plan is inclusive of many of the things that these consultants address so let me begin with the strengths and then segue to the weaknesses because there is some good in what is written but it's very clear that that there are some significant weaknesses and if we as a community can go back to the drawing board and improve on the process and make it a participatory process then we might have the kinds of outcomes and results that the population really wants so I'm going to begin with a three arts I think we're very supportive of restoring the river banks and the channel and the historic buildings that's an investment it's building up the assets of our community whether we're talking 15 years or 500 years clearly and I've heard this stated before the second art we want a removal of the invasive plants because we want to be able to move around and not be burdened by things that couldn't hurt us and so sure that's a second art and we would support that and the art where you speak of renovation we're very supportive of what you want to renovate because it's for the greater good it's for the common good it's for the community and we support that the eight spring principles support that an accessible inclusive area that many people can come to even though AARP is an advocate for the 50 plus age group we're family advocates too we're community advocates too we want to be supportive of all of those things that bring us together we are a nation we are a community we want to move away from divisiveness into inclusiveness into united efforts participatory efforts so yeah we want the renovation of the something garden and other things we want improvements and we want access because by making things accessible and that has been stated earlier we're bringing more people in and we're mobilizing our community so that we can get to know each other new and different conversations emerge new and different ideas emerge if we sit and interact with each other there are two things that really bothers and that's those things that start with the word close and those things that start with the word reduce because we don't want to reduce vehicular traffic we want to increase all kind of traffic so that more people have access to the beauty of our community and by closing those streets we're doing just the opposite of what this whole project intended and that's that to make it available accessible affordable for all of us in this community and so AARP supports the idea of making Reckon Ridge Park a better park but we cannot support the idea of closing streets and reducing the vehicular traffic thank you I just have a couple of comments and being gone from San Antonio for over 32 years six years maybe six years or so and what I've seen here is that a lot of the projects that I've been involved with that I've seen happen the Convention Center for Women surprised the hell out of me I thought I was going to walk into the Convention Center and get an infusion of the culture and the status of San Antonio and I got read it by this giant cheese grater and I don't know if you can sell it to somebody for a million dollars go ahead and sell it because that thing doesn't add any value to the culture that's here in San Antonio the Reckon Ridge Park the Reckon Ridge Park has been with this city for a number of years and I still I've heard everybody talk I still don't know the problem that we're trying to fix what we did what a council did they blessed us that they anointed a work plan and we're spending money like crazy and I got involved with the main street closure and again there was a lot of community input don't close the street but guess who won American and in this case I think I've referred to process and then you mentioned something about the committee and I'd like to have a name for that committee on the website so I can know who to talk to instead of just going directly to the council people but this project is like every other project that I've seen here lately it's like the gentleman said you're telling me to put dots on where you think I should put dots not on the input that you got from me initially and this process is going to happen whether we want it or not it's going to happen the way you guys want it you see this thing I got around with it I put it in the car now I put it out of the car and put it on the trailer there and set it up on the leaves and the books and it's on now if we do this parking garage thing you know 20 feet I'll get out of garage with 20 feet and this track forget it look I'm 83 years old I don't have much time left and I don't have time to waste dealing with this obstructions leave the park alone we can do the parking we can do the rainings ditches you can do some ecological things but nature has been the builder of the best parks in the world if you notice next to my name I put a question mark but I want to share something with you I came here in 1955 I was 13 years old that was 61 years ago and the first place my mother was working at Breckenbysch Park making $3 an hour and work for free there during the summer I remember the population that we seem to be forgetting the military that was our best customers that we had and I remember we had a people watermelon box that I used to throw in watermelons in Salem and they were our best customers on Saturdays and Sundays that's where I learned how to speak English they stand there and I said what would you like as long as they said hamburger or hot dog or soda I knew what they wanted but they said can you give me instructions on how to get to the park I said just a minute please and I would go anyway what I'm getting along to is that I have very pleasant memories later on I had the opportunity to work with the San Antonio Independent School District and just where I landed at the Alamos stadium working there we used to, partners and I used to be around so I used to take the kids to the sunken gardens and get these sensitivity sessions feeling nature and just walking around the idea of the park not smelling it and enjoying it it's just a beautiful place to be what I'm trying to say what I wanted to say to you is that nobody has ever mentioned that where Josque is the villain that area there will build a swimming pool if you remember back in the 30s and the dressing rooms I think they're still there to turn into gardens and nobody has ever talked about the possibility of turning that area back into the swimming pool and you know that because I mean us Mexicans are going over there enjoying the head out of it and I'm not sure whether they want us there there's a lot of stuff that I can say about this place and it brings very pleasant memories and I learned a long time ago the visual I'm mucho trecho so I'm here to mean what is said versus what is done there's a lot of big gap in there so some one another I'm sorry but I just don't trust the establishment to do what they say they're going to do and even if you do what you say you're going to do I just don't like it thank you Melia Valdez Valdez and I'm actually a staff with this and I'm proud to say that because it's there where I can speak my own mind as far as what I think is true I actually live in the west of San Antonio in those modest little park beautiful park and I invite everybody when I do these talks to come join me on Saturday or Sunday to be a part of a community to see this beautiful park shine okay Casano Park 1728 San San Mota okay in fact that park doesn't have a covered playground where kids burn their hands on the paper in fact the permitted hasn't not been restored since forever in fact there's only one bathroom for three acres of park in fact lifeguards not enough lifeguards who are pregnant not enough hours for that pool to be open and in fact not very friendly staff what does that have to do with park in which park we got 345 acres and we only have three acres okay we need to be fixed that doesn't need to be fixed because it's really beautiful and great I want to invite Ms. Battle to come out and enjoy or preserve or whatever we need to do on the side of that park because we do need to be fixed earlier before you started the talk you said somebody got awarded money somehow what does that money come from okay that's a question and unfortunately early this year we had overdols in that park in March we had a team walk around with the debt feeders in the purse I've become a part of a volunteer ambassador program for that park and they asked me if you do this you'll get credit to Yusuf William but I should be giving credit for the long history that I have there with my family protecting that park Haley Johnson followed by Richard Montorra Hi I live about a five minute walk away from Racka Ridge Park and I can tell you it is an absolutely lovely park but I'm proud to be able to go there and I've never seen an issue with attendance there in fact on Saturdays or Sundays you're hard pressed to find a picnic table let alone a place to sit on the grass people go to that park people enjoy that park and their Chicano, Mexican, Latino families that have been here for generations and generations that are very proud who are these improvements for the tech generation white people that we're trying to get into San Antonio and I think that this is unacceptable I work downtown and I see homeless people on the streets we don't have a wet shelter in San Antonio we have kids that are being shot like crazy on the east side we don't have safe spaces for these kids to go to we don't have proper after school services we don't have enough places for kids to go but we want to improve this place and I see it as turning our way into this new cool high tech funky Austin-like place we're all going to enjoy so much but no one's going to because we're trying to attract temporary businesses into San Antonio play hate them so we'll give us a little bit of money and we're not thinking about 20 years down the road we're not thinking 30 years down the road the families that have been here for generations are going to be here for generations and we have to serve them first it is such a blessing that we have this money don't take it from the pockets and put it in this park that's already functional beautiful safe and essential market where you can get a lovely meal and French restaurants and all this wonderful stuff is already there and it's happening organically but you go into other neighborhoods and there's not even a proper bus route for people to get around and if you spend this kind of money it's disgusting it's sad this is not what this city is about and we're not ready for it and as soon as tech jides up what's happening in Europe right now I think we're going to hit a crisis they are going to leave here first we're going to have spent all this money on them rolling out the red carpet and they're going to be gone we saw this happen in Flint, Michigan they kept spending money on the city trying to get people to come we've always been Austin's bastard brother and it's kind of nice because they're getting screwed up now let's enjoy our status let's make our community great but let's not waste this kind of money I do this sense of urgency in my gut about things that are changing in San Antonio and it's making me really, really uneasy because I was born and raised here and I don't think that anybody in this room would argue against progress we've been promised progress for decades that never came but I don't want that kind of progress and forget who we are at the expense of our traditions and our identity and I want you all to think about the kind of message that we're sending to kids because many perspectives have been shared here today but there's one group of people in this city that aren't here represented and that's children and as a father of two I think that the most important thing that you heard today was from that mom in the back that mom who has to drive her kids to that part with little to nothing to her name but they don't know that and it turns out to make them feel like they're going to have the best day ever and I work in Austin I drive there every day because I refuse to live there because they have lost culture and they've lost tradition and they've lost identity and so I make it my point to stay here in San Antonio I grew up right here in this neighborhood I want you to think about the message that you're sending to our kids as a poor kid from the Cassianos here's this grand old park that the city is building but when they go to ask mom and dad can we go mom and dad say we can't afford it in Mexico I don't want to send that message to our kids because it's a message that I don't have to give my kids because I am able to pay the fees I can go to that park if I want to I don't care how much you charge but there are families that group like I grew up that hear that message each and every day that you are less valuable that you have less access to the amenities of the city if your parents are working for people thank you thank you there's always a lot of things I have on my list I just want to make sure there's anyone who didn't get the opportunity to speak that wanted to speak or maybe signed no and decided to change or yes ma'am and then move it in the back hi my name is San Antonio I'm actually here representing Senator Postman and this is an office but we don't have an opinion for or against I just wanted to see who's taking notes like if this is the public they're taking it in the back so this will be transcribed so all of these will be compiled from all the meetings and provided to the consultants and then we'll have an compiled report that will be presented when we present to council so the notes will be transcribed as well yes not taped no we're not we'll be able to try and take it and she was first we don't mind any, I'm sorry eventually we can be next as ma'am thanks Gloria on my list and I originally did not sign up to say anything but after hearing all these comments I haven't need to ask a question you had mentioned at the beginning that everything right now is in the planning stages to leave a majority of people who do not believe that and you also mentioned that money has not been allocated for any of these renovations that are being proposed my question is who is the consultant so as I mentioned at the beginning the budget in 2015 I'm sorry 2015 included money for the master plan so that's where the consultants are paid out the city is so this is the park and recreation or what well it goes to the parks and recreation department but the request came directly from the mayor's office and one more question, how much money has already been spent on these consultants I'm not sure how much has been spent I know the full contract was, well the full contract the amount of money we were allocated was $250,000 okay who can I call to find out how much has been spent we can get your information and we can find out where we are spent the day next to the gentleman with the glasses hopefully get your information can get you the contract information Ms. Moore we can talk to you about afterwards but there are so the sign up sheets if you want to put in a request then we can provide you the sign up sheets correct I'm B.T. Richter, Charlie everyone know that we are recording in the back here and I'm with now past SA and we are going to be putting that on the website our YouTube channel so that everyone can watch it and be part of the process thank you then if there's no one else again I ask you and invite you to either you can do comment cards you can go and speak to the staff at the different boards you have specific detail questions we have the IPAS you can check the survey so I appreciate everyone being here today and those of you who stayed I appreciate it thank you and have a good evening be safe travels home