New Article on San Antonio's future (gated, live, professionals)

[smitty12]

City manager is promoting San Antonio's core strengths - San Antonio Business Journal:

Talks a lot about redevelopment and new urbanism.

[Dreadlockd]

Very good article, and on point.

San Antonio needs to figure out how to be a big boy city like other great urban centers. Thing is the dichotomy of people who live here; young hip professionals & traditional small towners, then you sprinkle in the rest and the city is just in a large state of confusion about how it wants to grow. San Antonio needs to reclaim it's city back from the hands of tourists and those who profit off them. We can have a city that caters to both.

I thought this was a very good point, that affects not only San Antonio, but a lot of other cities where suburban flight has/or is taking place.
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"We need to decide if we want to be a big city or a great city," Krier said.

"I will tell you," he added, "that there are people in the development community who want too much, who over-reach. There are a lot of great, responsible developers ... who get it. But the entire development community does not."

The risk of uncontrolled suburban growth, Sculley warns, is that it will "just continue to creep."

And that creep could continue to impact the inner city, resulting in more flight and blight.
Eventually, says Sculley, "the deterioration (of the inner city) will reach the outer areas."
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To me this is how I perceive the vast amount of "gated" communities. I use the word gated lightly because the majority of these communities are open to the public (no pass code to enter or security guard manning the entrance), but a gate or brick wall around the community gives a false sense of safety and comfort and reinforces that "have & have not" mind set. As people have commented here on this board, they feel the bad elements are spreading into the "nicer" areas. This is what happens when you don't reinvest in blighted, under served communities.

The recent progress in the city's revitalization is a move in the right direction, which is very promising. Hope there is a lot more to come.