Bringing West Side into the 21st century
Westside Development Corp. takes the initiative to make it work
To view the six-page development study, click HERE.
The buzz phrase for the day is "A Call to Action." That's what the Westside Development Corp. (WDC) wants to get across as it undertakes a massive revitalization of San Antonio's West Side.
The results of an extensive market analysis by the city of San Antonio Chief Economist Dr. Steve Nivin to examine the demographic and socioeconomic trends of area encompassed by WDC were released Thursday morning at the Guadalupe Theater.
While a number of recommendations were laid out, the area's infrastructure was not mentioned at the mid-morning press briefing.
However, Nivin was quick to point out the issue was indeed addressed: "This falls into my use and recommendation of broad definition amenities. The amenities are what make an area livable and workable and infrastructure is in the recommendation to be considered."
WDC Board of directors President Chris R. Martinez said infrastructure is one of the basic fundamentals that WDC needs to look at, adding there are so many aspects that need to be addressed and talked about and brought to the table.
"It's about bringing in the community to identify those areas to help them talk with their city council persons and their elected officials to put those on bond programs and infrastructure improvements," he added.
One of the reasons infrastructure in the area is so important is that when it rains the main thoroughfares on the West Side become extensions of Elmendorf and Woodlawn lakes.
At the same, Martinez said that one of the things WDC is doing in regard to infrastructure is trying to team with the San Antonio River Authority (SARA) because it has a West Side Creeks program and is talking about redoing the West Side creeks. Martinez said SARA has money set aside and they're going to try and focus on Woodlawn Lake and the tributaries coming down.
"It's something we need to help push. It's not going to relieve the flooding on 36th Street, you can't even get to (San Antonio) Port Authority when it rains. It's not going to relieve that, but you can't address the whole big picture, we need to start on one spot and work our way down," he said.
Education is also a priority in the analysis, an area that Dr. Henry Flores, dean of the graduate school at St. Mary's University, sees as a must for the area.
He said there's a clear linkage in national research between educational levels and income levels. "The higher your education the more money you're going to make throughout your lifetime. The higher education, the better types of jobs you qualify for. The better the education the more attracted investments are to that particular community."
But keeping people in the area after they get their education is something they have to deal with and they hope to do that by attracting businesses to the Westside that can provide the area with larger scale employment, management and ownership opportunities.
Business attraction is seen as the catalyst to move things forward. Flores said there's a secret that needs to be out. "One of the principle characteristics of the West Side that people were totally unaware of the amount of entrepreneurship that goes on. Little small businesses scattered throughout the West Side. That's been the mode of economic activity on the West Side for generations."
He said what needs to be done now is to take that characteristic and expand it and make it more sophisticated at different levels, hopefully that will bring folks in.
Martinez said he is well aware that attracting businesses to the area can help: "That's one of the steps about acknowledging the type of businesses we can bring in. some type of manufacturing business. Some type of business that's ‘hands on.'"
One way WDC hopes to attract business, Martinez said, is to utilize and set up an agreement like the WETC, the Westside Education and Training Center, a partnership between the Edgewood Independent School District and the Alamo Community College District, "We need to partner with that and get the community trained beyond what their current position."
Martinez said WDC is promoting jobs that are going to have a higher median income than what you see on the Westside now which is $9,000. He said the Westside doesn't even meet 50 percent of the San Antonio median income and the jobs we're looking to bring in are above that $9,000 median.
Martinez said they want to make a policy state that calls for a livable wage and hiring within our immediate target area. "If you're going to come in and ask us for economic help, from an economic point, you need to have a livable wage and hire from the community."
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Westside Development study touts need for jobs, education
The Westside Development Corp. study released today has opted for a balanced approach for "long-term" economic development in the city's largely impoverished Latino quarter.
The study makes 13 recommendations based on existing conditions. They include increasing cultural events and festivals and building on the existing cultural and arts heritage of the West Side.
The recommendations are:
- Improve education and workforce development by creating an education and workforce development task force, and building a joint use facility focused on arts, education and service
- Pursue mixed use developments,
- Implement an artist relocation program,
- Develop an artisan village,
- Engage in an effort to attract companies from appropriate industries
- Pursue attraction of appropriate retail, especially within mixed-use developments,
- Pursue development of an incubator or business park focused on the creative industry near the downtown area
- Encourage the universities in the area to get more involved in economic development
- Create more festivals and events,
- Develop livework spaces for artists and creative businesses
- Enhance and develop the amenities of the area
- Develop housing programs, and
- Work with Metro Health and other healthcare providers to improve the health of the WDC population, including the creation of Health and Wellness Centers.
Many of the recommendation focus on creating markets within the area, based on current demographics and economic realities.
The summary also describes a number of longstanding problems on the West Side, which provide ample impetus to creating economic development.
Problems discussed include:
EDUCATION
More than a third of the population has less than a ninth-grade education
More than half - 57 percent - lack a high school diploma
Only 2.3 percent have a bachelor's degree
Only 1.5 percent have an advanced degree
ECONOMIC WELL-BEING
Per capita income is $9,925. (For San Antonio, it is $21,850, for North Side, $42,335).
32 percent of the people are below the poverty line
44 percent have a net worth of less than $15,000
Unemployment rate for the area is nearly 13 percent.
HEALTH
Of the 2,079 births in the area in 2006, 72 percent were funded with Medicaid
63 percent of births were to single mothers
53 percent of births were to mothers with less than a high school education
32 percent of deaths are to people under the age of 65, nationally it's 17 percent
HOUSING
77 percent of houses were built before 1969
The study also lists types of industries that might be good to attract to the area. These included:
- Industries that need a large pool of manual labor
- Those not dependent on foot or auto traffic for sales
- Deal primarilyi high-volume production
- Jobs that can't be easily automated
- Jobs where Central U.S. location is advantageous
- Low-power consumption operations
- Government contracting
- Jobs using trade skills or specialized construction trades
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