President's Letter
Hello MVHA Neighbors!
Let me begin by apologizing for the late receipt of the Spring Vistas; its was COVID’s fault yet again! A paper shortage delayed the printing by 3 weeks. Please note the Home Tour has been rescheduled to October 22. Your MVHA Board continues to be very busy!
MVHA Board Members wanted! Past President Chris Berry is chairing the Nominations Committee. You must be a resident of MVHA, up-to-date on your annual dues, able to attend monthly meetings on the 2nd Tuesday @ 6 pm and participate on a committee. Please contact Chris if interested: chrisberry.mvha@gmail.com or 210-268-6278.
Third Thursdays: Big THANKS to Kathy Kennedy and Judy Warren for the awesome Fiesta inspired TT at the beautiful home of Linda & Michael Daniels! The May TT in partnership with Landa Conservancy, Jazz Band and awesome Masshole Lobster Rolls was just amazing with over 150 people!
Summary of MVHA Strategic Planning: Set fiscal goals, develop plan to achieve; review areas of investment. Capture oral histories of our neighbors. Define membership benefits. Add “Ask the expert” to Third Thursdays. Conduct short walking tours of homes. Preserve architectural character and protect land use. Maintain historic relevance. Crime, property and speed bumps. Pay attention to VIA Advanced Rapid Transit on San Pedro corridor. Complete report is on MVHA website.
Sidewalks District 1 Council office reached out to see if we had any priorities for sidewalks. Traffic & Safety Chair Peter Hugill surveyed the entire MVHA and produced a prioritized(sic) Sidewalk Report which we submitted at the end of March. The Report can be found on the website. Thanks Peter!
Block Captains Welcome and shout out to all the new Block Captains, Thank you! For info please contact Chair Robin Teague, teaguecr@sbcglobal.net or 210-827-9420.
Landa MVHA Office Break-in After midnight on June 7th a homeless man broke in to the MVHA Office and ransacked everything. When Library Staff arrived about 9 am, he tried to chase them off; SAPD responded immediately. Burglary charges were filed and the Landa is changing the door locks, so if you need access to the office let me know.
The Woodlawn Project is getting back on track! Cappy Lawton hosted CP Bravo and several of your board members and neighbors. CP Bravo is very supportive and has pulled together Parks, Public Works and other key City Dept leadership for a meeting with Cappy and MVHA Board members later this month.
St. Mary’s Strip Traffic Report Meeting was well attended; findings included significant increase in the number of cars Thursday thru Saturday nights, 650 to 800+, and 3-4,000 people on the Strip. Solutions proposed included 1) Working with Tripoint to allow parking on weekends; 2) implementing “Resident Parking Only” zones during certain hours; 3)Building a parking lot on the Strip on lot that is currently construction site. The construction has pushed parking all the way up to East Huisache, and on Easter weekend revelers were relieving themselves in the park and shots were fired. We requested the “Resident Parking Only” be extended up to Mulberry and it was approved. More to come.
MVHA hosted the VIA Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) Community meeting on June 2nd, which was very informative; the ART Plan is in a very preliminary stage, so now is the time to weigh in on it.
You can view the presentation, maps, renderings and make comments here: www.KeepSAMoving.com. After the meeting, I received email from Leith Negley sharing her concerns about the project. Both VIA and CP Bravo’s office assured us that this is a preliminary plan and can be changed especially because of her points. Leith shared with me that VIA had called her to say they were moving the proposed bus stop on her corner to another location!
At the June Brackenridge Park Final Community Meeting , it was announced that there would be two more meetings. The trees continue to be an issue. Four arborists reviewed the 100+ trees recommended to be cut down, they disagreed with including a heritage tree, but found several more they suggest taking out. Go to: https://www.sanantonio.gov/ParksAndRec/News-Events/Capital-Project-Updates for meeting videos and updates.
Attended Neighborhood Leaders Meet & Greet, June 8, at SA Botanical Gardens to meet new Director of Communications & Engagement for the City of San Antonio, Alanna Reed and her staff. Through a reorganization at COSA, Neighborhood Organizations are now under the Communications & Engagement Dept at the City: https://www.sanantonio.gov/comm/Neighborhood-Engagement. Alanna and her staff are interested in actively engaging and supporting neighborhood groups in City processes. Here is an easy link to the NA page: https://www.sanantonio.gov/comm/Neighborhood-Engagement/associations-organizations#303764388-neighborhood-associations. The City is in the early stages of re-modelling their website and you can get a sneak peek at www.sa.gov. There was also a very good presentation by the 3-1-1 Director, basically call 3-1-1 for everything!
Thanks to District Councilperson Mario Bravo & Anisa Schell, MVHA hosted a very informative Homelessness 101 Workshop Saturday June 11th by the San Antonio Regional Alliance for Homelessness. Your MVHA Board has heard numerous concerns from neighbors about homeless people living in Monte Vista alleys and other places and brought to CP Bravo; we heard a lot of good info; the handouts and materials are on the MVHA website. To sign up for CP Bravo’s newsletter go to https://mailchi.mp/sanantonio/sign-up .
I included a lot of links here; you can go to the website to pull up Vistas with hotlinks www.montevista-sa.org. Please send me your compliments and complaints. Happy Summer!
Toni VanBuren, MVHA President
210-834-1321 or tonivb.sat@gmail.com
(Schreiner Place)