Your Chamber held its monthly Economic Development Council Meeting at the Northside Business Center on Tuesday, June 21st. Council chair Charlie Weil, Vice President at Transwestern, introduced Brenda Hicks-Sorensen, the Director of the Economic Development Department for the City of San Antonio, who talked about the city’s economic development strategic planning process, which is currently underway and aimed at San Antonio’s economic recovery after the pandemic and long-term resiliency. The council then reviewed the most recent state legislative agenda to prompt discussion on potential legislative priorities for the upcoming 88th Texas Legislative Session.
During her presentation, Hicks-Sorensen opened with the significant impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on San Antonio’s economy, a result of its heavy reliance on the hospitality industry. To address some of San Antonio’s economic vulnerabilities, the strategic plan will position the city on a path toward having a more resilient economy, providing direction on how San Antonio can compete nationally and globally, and helping define the role of the EDD in that effort.
Preliminary responses from surveys conducted for the strategic plan showcase what people correlate San Antonio with – terms such as diverse, growing, quality of life, and entrepreneurship. Respondents also added their thoughts on barriers and constraints associated with San Antonio’s growth in specific industries, primarily workforce availability, incentives, and the availability of adequate real estate.
However, a key opportunity unique to San Antonio is the ability to leverage relationships with southern partners, from San Antonio to the Rio Grande Valley and into Northern Mexico. Strategically aligning San Antonio’s strengths with the resources and geographic position of southern partners will create countless opportunities for San Antonians, inadvertently addressing some of the barriers and weaknesses brought forward through the strategic planning process.
A barrier identified by stakeholders providing feedback during the strategic planning process is San Antonio’s either/or investment mentality, a notion that investment or development of one area in the city is contradictory to the development of another. San Antonio needs to understand the investment in one area of the city is a benefit to all of San Antonio. As an example, at last week’s UTSA Tier 1 Designation Celebration event hosted by the Chamber, panelists broadly discussed downtown investment and noted how other major cities across the U.S. utilize a vibrant and interactive downtown to their benefit. Acknowledging that all of San Antonio is in it together will positively shape the direction of our city.
The full slide deck presentation given by Brenda Hicks-Sorensen can be found here.