Clandestino
02-22-2005, 12:25 PM
Web Posted: 02/22/2005 12:00 AM CST
Greg Jefferson
Express-News Staff Writer
The Alameda neighborhood on the South Side has little to show for having been part of San Antonio for the past 33 years.
(Lisa Krantz / Express-News)
'It's impossible. It's a big problem.' Mary de Jesus Rodriguez says of the city's plan to buy out her Alameda neighborhood.
Its pockmarked roads have no curbs or sidewalks, the streetlights are few and far between, and residents say some homes don't have access to natural gas. One homeowner described her neighborhood as forgotten.
Right now, it is very much on the mind of the city, which wants to buy out nearly 100 home and business owners in order to donate 400 acres to the Texas A&M University System for a four-year campus.
But some residents don't trust city officials, and others fear the price their properties could fetch wouldn't be enough to buy comparable housing.
"I know it's poor, I know it's humble, I know they see it as in the way," said Alejandro Hidalgo, 35, a Marine Corps veteran whose two-bedroom home is on Santa Rita. "But it means something to me."
About three weeks ago, Hidalgo and his neighbors received letters from the San Antonio Development Agency, representing city officials, saying the city might seek to acquire their properties.
In cases where owners refuse to sell, the city could move to condemn the property, exercising its right of eminent domain.
The pocket of houses and businesses is in the southwest corner of South Loop 410 and U.S. 281 (Roosevelt Avenue), near the city's police training academy.
Alameda is a mix of small, neatly kept properties, manufactured housing, and decrepit homes, some with yards cluttered with debris. Its businesses include at least two salvage yards and repair shops.
Locating an A&M campus there could help revolutionize a part of the city that's seen few benefits from San Antonio's economic expansion.
If the Legislature approves $80 million in tuition-revenue bonds for first-phase construction, the campus would open in fall 2009. Plans call for expanding it over 20 years to accommodate 25,000 students.
City Councilman Ron Segovia touched on the project's promise at a meeting of about 60 residents and business owners last week.
"What A&M will do for the city, for the southern sector, is going to be awesome," Segovia said. "In the end, we're not going to satisfy everybody. But look at the whole picture."
That's the rub for some property owners there. When officials begin talking about improving their part of town, the key component of doing so is clearing them out of their homes.
The city annexed Alameda and Villa Coronado, the neighborhood just across U.S. 281, in 1972. Both are far from thriving, but at least Villa Coronado has streetlights, sidewalks and a park with a community gymnasium.
Assistant City Manager Jelynne Burley said the difference is Villa Coronado was designated as an urban renewal district, giving it access to federal dollars for public improvements, and Alameda wasn't.
City money hasn't flowed to Alameda, either. Several residents said efforts to secure the basics have been fruitless.
"We've been asking for sidewalks and speed humps — police cars just fly through here," said Alma Guerra, who's owned her home on East Chavaneaux for 23 years. "We don't have hardly any street lights."
When it rains, she said, pedestrians have to trek through the roadside mud.
"Maybe if we'd gotten some of this stuff," Guerra said, "our property would be worth more."
Segovia explained the predicament to residents last week.
"Curbs, sidewalks, infrastructure come with development," Segovia said. "But it's hard to get that without development."
Guerra lives on monthly disability payments, but her expenses are low and her house is paid off. She dreads the prospect of taking on a new mortgage for a comparable house.
Hidalgo worries rising land values, propelled by the Toyota truck plant set to open nearby in 2006, will put similar properties out of reach.
He paid $29,000 for his house in 1992 and he doesn't think that amount would cut it today.
"It was cheap then, but you're kicking me out today," he said. "I'm not saying no. All I'm saying is at least make it comfortable enough to start a new life, to relocate."
At least some of his neighbors feel the same.
"I don't know that I've had anyone who's said, 'We're not going to sell,'" said Burley, who's leading the city's effort to land an A&M campus. "Everybody has their own definition of fair market value. But I am encouraged that they want fair market value — and we want to pay it."
At last week's community meeting, several homeowners said the city's offers should factor in increases in their land's value that future development would bring.
"My main thing is a fair offer," said Jody Sterner, a mechanic for Harlandale School District who's lived on East Chavaneaux for 12 years. "A minimum of $80,000 — minimum.
"That land's going to become prime land."
One business owner said he wants his offer from the city to include college scholarships for his grandchildren. That's extremely unlikely.
"We have to value the property at what it's valued at today," said Steve Hodges, head of real estate for the city's Public Works Department.
He said appraisers will weigh nearby home sales over the past two or three years, as well as a property's condition and improvements made to it.
Sterner contends such an approach — looking at the market's past performance — will hurt Alameda homeowners.
"No land was bought in the area to bring the value up," he said.
City officials expect to spend more than $13 million to acquire the properties, clear the land and pay legal expenses. They have hired three independent appraisal firms to negotiate with property owners.
The city's aim is to have the land in A&M's hands by December 2006.
The companies' first steps will be to secure residents' permission to enter their homes and businesses for the appraisals. Burley said she hopes to have some "right of entry" agreements signed by mid-March.
Hodges said owners most often accept city offers on their properties, citing San Antonio's drive to acquire 120 flood-prone properties in five neighborhoods. In the past year, 97 owners have agreed to sell.
The city is trying to condemn only three of the properties.
"When we first had public hearings," Hodges said, "it was very traumatic."
"Fear and apprehension" are natural at first, he said, but they melt away as property owners learn more about the process.
Another Alameda community meeting is planned for 7 p.m. tonight in the gym at Villa Coronado Park.
Greg Jefferson
Express-News Staff Writer
The Alameda neighborhood on the South Side has little to show for having been part of San Antonio for the past 33 years.
(Lisa Krantz / Express-News)
'It's impossible. It's a big problem.' Mary de Jesus Rodriguez says of the city's plan to buy out her Alameda neighborhood.
Its pockmarked roads have no curbs or sidewalks, the streetlights are few and far between, and residents say some homes don't have access to natural gas. One homeowner described her neighborhood as forgotten.
Right now, it is very much on the mind of the city, which wants to buy out nearly 100 home and business owners in order to donate 400 acres to the Texas A&M University System for a four-year campus.
But some residents don't trust city officials, and others fear the price their properties could fetch wouldn't be enough to buy comparable housing.
"I know it's poor, I know it's humble, I know they see it as in the way," said Alejandro Hidalgo, 35, a Marine Corps veteran whose two-bedroom home is on Santa Rita. "But it means something to me."
About three weeks ago, Hidalgo and his neighbors received letters from the San Antonio Development Agency, representing city officials, saying the city might seek to acquire their properties.
In cases where owners refuse to sell, the city could move to condemn the property, exercising its right of eminent domain.
The pocket of houses and businesses is in the southwest corner of South Loop 410 and U.S. 281 (Roosevelt Avenue), near the city's police training academy.
Alameda is a mix of small, neatly kept properties, manufactured housing, and decrepit homes, some with yards cluttered with debris. Its businesses include at least two salvage yards and repair shops.
Locating an A&M campus there could help revolutionize a part of the city that's seen few benefits from San Antonio's economic expansion.
If the Legislature approves $80 million in tuition-revenue bonds for first-phase construction, the campus would open in fall 2009. Plans call for expanding it over 20 years to accommodate 25,000 students.
City Councilman Ron Segovia touched on the project's promise at a meeting of about 60 residents and business owners last week.
"What A&M will do for the city, for the southern sector, is going to be awesome," Segovia said. "In the end, we're not going to satisfy everybody. But look at the whole picture."
That's the rub for some property owners there. When officials begin talking about improving their part of town, the key component of doing so is clearing them out of their homes.
The city annexed Alameda and Villa Coronado, the neighborhood just across U.S. 281, in 1972. Both are far from thriving, but at least Villa Coronado has streetlights, sidewalks and a park with a community gymnasium.
Assistant City Manager Jelynne Burley said the difference is Villa Coronado was designated as an urban renewal district, giving it access to federal dollars for public improvements, and Alameda wasn't.
City money hasn't flowed to Alameda, either. Several residents said efforts to secure the basics have been fruitless.
"We've been asking for sidewalks and speed humps — police cars just fly through here," said Alma Guerra, who's owned her home on East Chavaneaux for 23 years. "We don't have hardly any street lights."
When it rains, she said, pedestrians have to trek through the roadside mud.
"Maybe if we'd gotten some of this stuff," Guerra said, "our property would be worth more."
Segovia explained the predicament to residents last week.
"Curbs, sidewalks, infrastructure come with development," Segovia said. "But it's hard to get that without development."
Guerra lives on monthly disability payments, but her expenses are low and her house is paid off. She dreads the prospect of taking on a new mortgage for a comparable house.
Hidalgo worries rising land values, propelled by the Toyota truck plant set to open nearby in 2006, will put similar properties out of reach.
He paid $29,000 for his house in 1992 and he doesn't think that amount would cut it today.
"It was cheap then, but you're kicking me out today," he said. "I'm not saying no. All I'm saying is at least make it comfortable enough to start a new life, to relocate."
At least some of his neighbors feel the same.
"I don't know that I've had anyone who's said, 'We're not going to sell,'" said Burley, who's leading the city's effort to land an A&M campus. "Everybody has their own definition of fair market value. But I am encouraged that they want fair market value — and we want to pay it."
At last week's community meeting, several homeowners said the city's offers should factor in increases in their land's value that future development would bring.
"My main thing is a fair offer," said Jody Sterner, a mechanic for Harlandale School District who's lived on East Chavaneaux for 12 years. "A minimum of $80,000 — minimum.
"That land's going to become prime land."
One business owner said he wants his offer from the city to include college scholarships for his grandchildren. That's extremely unlikely.
"We have to value the property at what it's valued at today," said Steve Hodges, head of real estate for the city's Public Works Department.
He said appraisers will weigh nearby home sales over the past two or three years, as well as a property's condition and improvements made to it.
Sterner contends such an approach — looking at the market's past performance — will hurt Alameda homeowners.
"No land was bought in the area to bring the value up," he said.
City officials expect to spend more than $13 million to acquire the properties, clear the land and pay legal expenses. They have hired three independent appraisal firms to negotiate with property owners.
The city's aim is to have the land in A&M's hands by December 2006.
The companies' first steps will be to secure residents' permission to enter their homes and businesses for the appraisals. Burley said she hopes to have some "right of entry" agreements signed by mid-March.
Hodges said owners most often accept city offers on their properties, citing San Antonio's drive to acquire 120 flood-prone properties in five neighborhoods. In the past year, 97 owners have agreed to sell.
The city is trying to condemn only three of the properties.
"When we first had public hearings," Hodges said, "it was very traumatic."
"Fear and apprehension" are natural at first, he said, but they melt away as property owners learn more about the process.
Another Alameda community meeting is planned for 7 p.m. tonight in the gym at Villa Coronado Park.