Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce

Pathway to a Great City

“WHAT DOES SAN ANTONIO NEED TO DO TO BECOME A GREAT CITY?”

The genesis for “Pathway to a Great City” was a speech given in 2005 by Chairman of The Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce John T. Montford, who stated that San Antonio needs to decide if it wants to be just another “big city” or a “great city.” Capitalizing on those comments, 2007 Chamber Chairman Brenda Vickrey Johnson made “Pathway to a Great City” a top priority for 2007. She created a Blue Ribbon Task Force, which met throughout the year and heard from various community leaders.

This outlines the Task Force’s recommendations for a variety of projects and initiatives that San Antonio plans to carry forward between 2007 and 2018, when San Antonio celebrates the 300th anniversary of its founding.

With the business community as an essential partner in the undertaking of this initiative, San Antonio is on a pathway to become not just another “big city” but a “great city.”

QUALITY OF LIFE
GREAT CITIES provide enjoyable and safe environments for their citizens. Increasing our quality of life requires:
Attracting capable young professionals, specifically young Hispanics

Aggressively promoting health and fitness
Incentivizing crime prevention
Promoting our status as an international city and a center of the American West
Recruiting another professional sports franchise

GOVERNANCE
GREAT CITIES develop, support and foster productive and effective leaders. Improvements in governance have the potential to produce a significant positive impact for our community, provided we:

Recruit and support highly qualified and experienced candidates for city, county and state elections
Place strong emphasis on Charter reform
Provide guidance and encouragement for our elected officials or volunteers named to serve in key state leadership roles
Explore ways to appropriately consolidate city and county services to eliminate duplication and reduce costs
Develop a more aggressive annexation policy
Strengthen our “management bench”
Cultivate the next generation of business leaders

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS
GREAT CITIES are known for their parks and vibrant cultural and entertainment centers. Expansions and improvements to parks and historic centers should include:

Fully developing Voelcker Park
Redevelopment of Hemisfair Park
Main Plaza West and San Pedro Creek
World-class cultural entertainment centers
Other improvements which would highlight our many cultures and western heritage and provide more access to historical sites and monuments

EDUCATION
GREAT CITIES produce and depend on an educated workforce. Improving our educational status requires that we:

Move UTSA to Tier 1 status and improve the national medical rankings of U.T. Health Science Center at San Antonio
Support comprehensive Division 1-A athletics
Involve more businesses and parents to reduce the high school dropout rate
Encourage support for magnet schools, academies, trade schools and career training facilities
Support Texas A&M San Antonio, as well as our broad range of private universities
Expand the Educational Partnership program so that every high school graduate in need is provided assistance with college tuition
Increase support for the Alamo Community College District’s workforce development efforts

INFRASTRUCTURE
GREAT CITIES thoughtfully plan ahead for infrastructure needs.Planning for future water, mobility and energy needs requires that we:

Implement our long-term water plans
Develop a long-termcomprehensive transportation system
Consider non-traditional means of financing transportation projects
Consider a process for a new or secondary airport by 2010 and achieve more direct flights to major hubs
Maintain our highly competitive utility rates
Actively pursue additional capacity to meet future energy demands

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
GREAT CITIES proactively attract and retain valuable
businesses and employees. To expand and retain our city’s business and employee base, we must:

Place special emphasis on the development of the manufacturing sector
Actively urge post-BRAC implementation
Support growth of the Health Care and Bioscience industry
Invest in the development of a capable and properly educated workforce
Retain local higher education graduates

Download the brochure here.

Blue Ribbon Task Force Members:

CHAIR: JIM GOUDGE | BROADWAY NATIONAL BANK