This report was updated at 2:50 p.m. to include info on an Aug. 27 open house.
Citing the disruptive nature of previous meetings, the proposed final draft of the Alamo interpretive plan will be unveiled 6:30 p.m. Aug. 30 behind closed doors, District 1 Councilman Roberto Treviño told the Heron. A location has not been announced.
The meeting is that of the Alamo Citizen Advisory Committee, which will view the plan in executive session. Afterwards, the members of the community will have an opportunity to view the plan and ask questions.
“The public meetings, the people that have attended, have attended with one goal in mind which is to disrupt the citizens advisory committee meeting and so … I’m requesting that we hold an executive meeting before and then we’ll open up to the public toward the end,” Treviño said.
The public can also participate in an “open house and tour” at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 27 at the Menger Hotel, 204 Alamo Plaza, although few details were immediately available about what that will entail.
Alamo Citizen Advisory Committee meetings are not subject to the Texas Open Meeting Act, but have previously remained open to the public.
About a month ago, several public meetings on a plan for revamping Alamo Plaza prompted outrage from various group over historic Fiesta parade routes, road closures and — most notably — moving the Cenotaph memorial. The plans being presented Aug. 30 are not necessarily new, but additional renderings, some adjustments, and recognition of feedback from the community, will be presented, Treviño said.
The meeting, he said, will include a rendering showing why the Cenotaph has to move — because it blocks views of the Alamo and doesn’t fit with goals to recreate the original compound footprint with an open feel. After a contentious public input meeting at Jefferson High School last month, Treviño said keeping the Cenotaph at its current location was not an option. In the plan, the monument would move about 500 feet south to a location in front of the Menger Hotel.
Several groups, but primarily This is Texas Freedom Force and the Alamo Defenders Descendants Association, object to moving the Cenotaph and have hosted rallies and protests in opposition of the proposal. They’ve likened it to moving the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and other historical war monuments.
Treviño said the Aug. 30 presentation will show how the Alamo master plan has evolved since the process began earlier this year.
“It’s going to be a balance of those,” he said.
But not every idea from the public will be incorporated into the plan, he said.
After the Citizens Advisory Committee, Treviño said its members will write a letter of recommendation to the six-member Management Committee, which will ultimately decide if the plan should be sent to the Executive Committee for a final vote.
The Management Committee is composed of Treviño; City Manager Sheryl Sculley; Alamo Endowment board members Ramona Bass and Gene Powell; and Bryan Preston and Hector Valle of the Texas General Land Office.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Texas General Land Office Commissioner George P. Bush are the two members of the executive committee and will also vote on the process.
“I think we’re very close,” Treviño said.
Ultimately, the City Council will vote to permanently close Alamo Street, to relocate the Cenotaph and to create a lease agreement with the State of Texas for the city-owned portions of Alamo Plaza. The state lease will allow state and Alamo Endowment dollars to be spend on the entire plaza.
Featured photo: Protestors air their concerns over the Alamo interpretive plan in late June. V. Finster | San Antonio Heron
Previously published
» Explaining the impacts of a two-way Losoya Street
» Treviño: Keeping the Alamo Cenitaph in place is not an option
» Despite Treviño’s firm stance, Cenotaph activists are not done with their fight
» Saturday’s protestors to Alamo planners: Come and take it
» Cenotaph process are most frustrating for those opposed to Alamo plan
Contact Jolene Almendarez: 210-550-0087 | jolene@saheron.com | @jalmendarez57 on Twitter
Our public officials refuse to listen to the voice of their voters. So we vote them out of office next election
Vote ’em out! You CAN do it! I’ve seen it! BTW, this is Lori Houston’s baby. She has been working on it for years.
They will destroy it if they try to move it!!! It was not made to be moved!!! This is their ultimate goal! They knew they wouldn’t get away with tearing it down, so the whole “It will be moved 500 ft. “ was born! Do not move it, not one inch!!!