August 20, 2024 • 51 mins
Ever wondered how a city's natural treasure can be rejuvenated to its former glory? Join us as we sit down with Charles Blank, executive director of RiverAid San Antonio, to reveal the essential blueprints for a cleaner, swimmable, and fishable San Antonio River. We promise you'll gain a fresh perspective on the vital roles of community participation, cutting-edge technical expertise, and solid infrastructure investments. Charles takes us through the river's rich history and ecological importance, illustrating its significance as a lifeline for the city's identity.
Get inspired by the heartfelt commitment of local San Antonio residents who are rolling up their sleeves to protect their beloved waterways. We explore childhood memories of fishing and outdoor adventure that fuel this passion, driving the impactful efforts of organizations like RiverAid San Antonio (RASA). Discover their hands-on initiatives like volunteer cleanups and public education campaigns aimed at reducing litter and promoting green infrastructure. You'll be moved by the emotional rewards volunteers experience as they witness tangible improvements in their local environment.
Lastly, dive deep into the strategic and collaborative actions necessary for sustainable waterway management. Charles Blank shares his vision for tackling pressing issues like E. coli contamination and sediment overloads through collective action and strategic partnerships. Learn about the logistics behind successful cleanup events and the crucial role of volunteerism in alleviating the burden on local government resources.
Together, we'll reimagine a future where the San Antonio River Basin thrives, creating a cleaner, healthier environment for generations to come.
⚫ Learn more about Cory Ames and Ensemble Texas at EnsembleTexas.com
⚫ Follow Cory on Instagram @ensembletexas and YouTube @CoryAmesYT
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ABOUT CORY AMES:
Cory Ames is the founder and CEO of Ensemble Texas, a media organization promoting environmental, economic, and cultural resiliency across San Antonio and Texas. He’s passionate about connecting people to the natural beauty and rich history of the region, whether through video, podcasts, or long-form storytelling. With years of experience as a Texas Native Plant educator and content creator, Cory uses his platform to inspire sustainable living and amplify the voices of local businesses and environmental advocates.
Cory lives in San Antonio with his wife and two kids. He enjoys working in the garden, getting outside to explore the city’s natural spots, and playing hoops when he can. When he’s not producing content for Ensemble Texas, he’s likely planning his next adventure in Texas’ great outdoors.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If we can make clean water, recreation-worthy water,
accessible to San Antonio.
I think that a lot of othercities are going to be envious
of a city of our size figuringout how to do that.
But we can only achieve thatdreamer's vision with careful
(00:24):
growth, a lot more peoplegetting involved and, honestly,
technical knowledge that we hopeto invite into our community
over the next couple years.
I want water contact on SaladoCreek.
It's a lofty goal and we can'tget there without investment.
(00:45):
I mean, this would be somethingthat the city would have to
invest in infrastructure, butwhat price could you really put
on our next generation beingable to be around water and not
treat it as radioactive, beingable to be around water and not
(01:06):
treat it as radioactive?
At the end of the day, we willbe whatever the San Antonio
River needs us to be and we'llcontinue to grow this until our
vision is secured A San AntonioRiver that's living in harmony
with the population around it.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Our San Antonio River is just over 240 miles long.
Its headwaters start right herein Barrett County, and the
river flows through fouradditional counties until it
finally joins the GuadalupeRiver just 10 miles from the San
Antonio Bay on the Gulf ofMexico.
The river's natural mineralwaters are fed from the Edwards
Aquifer below, and it's home toan incredibly diverse collection
(01:44):
of wildlife like the Guadalupespiny softshell turtle.
The Edwards Aquifer below, andit's home to an incredibly
diverse collection of wildlifelike the Guadalupe spiny
softshell turtle and thewhooping crane on its winter
migration route.
The San Antonio River is thereason San Antonio became San
Antonio.
It was the lifeblood for thecity's earliest residents and a
refuge for the many indigenouscultures who came before, and as
such to me, I can't help butwonder does our relationship now
(02:08):
to our river, our waterways, asa city fit that same sort of
designation?
San Antonio wouldn't existwithout its river.
So I question do we celebrateit like we should Appreciate it?
Do we get to?
Do we get to enjoy it as weshould appreciate it?
Do we get to?
Do we get to enjoy it as weshould?
Is this all that's possible forour San Antonio community and
(02:30):
its relationship to its river,something to avoid at various
times in eyesore, or can it besomething much more, not just
clean but pristine, inviting atestament to what it means and
has meant to this region?
Can it be a place where we swim, fish and play?
(02:51):
Of course, because it was, andthankfully there are people
trying to get it back to thatpoint, that condition, right now
, but they can't do it alone.
I'm Corey Ames, your host, andI'm thrilled to welcome you to
this episode of Ensemble Texaswhere together we'll challenge
what we believe is possible forour relationship to our city's
(03:14):
waterways and reimagine thepotential for not just a clean
but pristine San Antonio RiverBasin.
Let's embark with my guesttoday.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I'm Charles Blank.
I'm the executive director ofRiverAid San Antonio.
We're a 501c3 nonprofit that'sdedicated to promoting and
facilitating stewardship of theSan Antonio River Basin, and we
do that through volunteeropportunities and, most
importantly, communityengagement.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
How long have you been in San Antonio and what's
that experience been like foryou thus far?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
So my family moved here in 96.
I was about four and a half, soSan Antonio is pretty much the
only city I've ever known reallyknown, and I've grown here.
I've watched this city growtremendously since we moved here
.
But really what I see for SanAntonio, and why I decided to
stay, is we're at this juncture.
(04:12):
Right now we have two pathslaid out in front of us, and one
is learning from these citiesthat have already developed and
a lot of the times, in the wrongway the urban sprawl, the lack
of green infrastructure and wecan learn from those lessons and
use the technology.
We have to become a smart city,or we continue the plan of
(04:33):
yesterday, which is urban sprawl, which is something San Antonio
has been really, really good at.
So I think a lot of people inthis city who grew up here
probably felt the same call Idid about a decade ago when we
realized this growth was infront of us.
If not you, then who?
If you're not going to stayhere and make sure San Antonio
(04:55):
gets developed, grows,progresses in the right way,
then who?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I'm always super curious about this particular
character of folks that live inSan Antonio.
Many are born and raised A lotof people grew up here and then
have this willingness andwanting to stay here and then,
not only that do something, Ithink, in service of the San
Antonio community.
So I'm interested to learn fromyou if you could say more.
Why do you think that is andwhy do you think that is for you
(05:23):
in particular?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
If you grow up here or you spent any amount of time
here you've heard small town,big city, and I think San
Antonio more than any othermajor city of its size you can
really feel a connection withthe city, with the different
communities in town.
If you endeavor to actually getaround this city, it's hard not
to fall in love with it.
And at this pivotal growthpoint, I think a lot of people,
(05:53):
when they were deciding what todo with the rest of their life
at 25, made the same decision Idid, which is I'm going to stay
in San Antonio and make sureit's the San Antonio I want it
to be.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And so where does the connection come to you,
specifically for San Antonio'swaterways?
What's the origin story of thatmotivation, that connection for
you?
How did we like?
Where was the earliest inklingof what maybe became the passion
for Rasa?
Speaker 1 (06:21):
The earliest inkling of my passion for the
environment and specifically ourwaterways was early memories
with my dad fishing.
Probably one of my earliestpassions in life was getting out
on a pristine river with my dadwatching and learning about the
(06:42):
life of the fish and all theother animals just as intricate
as our lives and just as worthyof protecting, and that really
grew into a lifelong love forthe outdoors.
And during COVID, when therewasn't the response that there
usually was, which even in thepast has been wanting a response
(07:05):
from government staff and it'snot because they're not doing
their jobs correctly or they'renot trying, it's because we're
overtaxing our tax dollars,right, we don't have enough
staff to take care of ourwaterways.
And during COVID that becamevery, very apparent that there
was a vacuum in this city.
It became very, very apparentthat there was a vacuum in this
(07:25):
city and those memories from ayoung boy of pristine rivers and
realizing that I want to raisechildren here and I would like
our kids to be able to play inthe creeks.
And it's something that mostpeople, even scientists in our
community, would kind of laughat because they can't see the
(07:46):
vision.
But the vision is there, youknow green infrastructure,
behavioral changes and action,of course, which is something
we've been very good at to date.
We can change San Antoniotogether Again.
If not you, then who?
You get involved with RASA, itbecomes more likely that your
(08:08):
kids in a decade can play inSalado Creek, that your kids can
go swimming at Davis Lake onthe San Antonio River.
But that's going to take a lot,a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I'd love to hear if you could get nitty gritty for
us on River Aid, San Antonio.
What's the core function andservice of the nonprofit?
So?
Speaker 1 (08:25):
we've always seen ourselves as wanting to be the
conduit for anyone in SanAntonio looking to protect our
river and our river basin right,because it's not just our river
, it's our creeks and the landattached to them.
And we serve to be that conduit, not only to offer volunteer
opportunities for people whowant to act and get involved,
(08:48):
but also the conduit toinformation, to knowledge and to
the awareness of how we can bebetter stewards of our river
through everyday actions.
You know, cleaning up afteryour dog, using the right type
of pesticides, when you care foryour long, even native,
plantings, ripping up that long,not using impervious cover all
(09:13):
these things affect our riverand it's just knowledge keeping
people from acting, which will,of course, equal a healthier
river acting, which will, ofcourse, equal a healthier river.
So our purpose is to facilitateand promote stewardship of the
San Antonio river basin in allterms.
(09:34):
Um, and we will always growinto the next facet of the
mission.
Right now we're very focused onmitigating right Our volunteer
cleanups.
We do two to three a month andwe run them very effectively.
We pull out several tons everytime.
At the end of the day, we willbe whatever the San Antonio
(09:55):
River needs us to be.
Year after year, our board willreevaluate, decide on new
development and we'll continueto grow this into.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
our vision is secured a san antonio river that's
living in harmony with thepopulation around it curious if
you could say more about whatwhat that vision looks like and
maybe it ties into maybeaspirations that you've shared
in this conversation thus far.
You know your kids being ableto to enjoy the, the creeks and
rivers that the san antonio areahas to offer.
(10:25):
But tangibly, as you're lookingat an organization, what are
some of the measurements orparticular milestones that you
feel like y'all are charting tomanifest what that vision is for
RASA?
Speaker 1 (10:39):
First goals were, as we just touched on, mitigation,
getting those numbers up,getting that average per cleanup
number up.
You might be asking oh well,why do you want more trash?
Because that's the reality thatwe're living in right now and
we will get to a point wherewe're looking for a goal of a
(11:00):
downtick in trash, but we haveto have a much higher yield and
smarter infrastructure in placefor us to be looking for those
types of results.
Right now we need to focus ongrowing our yearly yield
recovered, which we have donehealthily, year after year, and
(11:22):
in three short years we've had400,000 pounds of trash removed.
And now there are spots alongthe greenway that are
unsaturated of litter and, yeah,you might see one or two pieces
, but the state of our creeksand our greenway a couple years
ago it was hard press where youwould go anywhere on the
(11:45):
Greenway and not within 100yards see a swatch that is
saturated.
I say saturated and there'sactually a scientific protocol
threshold for that with the EPAand it's if there's more than
three to four pieces of trash inan average car length that's
saturated with litter.
(12:06):
And since our program started,the majority of the greenways,
the creeks that we operate onare noticeably cleaner.
There are, in fact, portions ofthe city that are cleaner than
they've been in decades and havestayed that way since we
cleaned them two years ago.
I'm talking about Olmos Basin,a specific area of that
(12:27):
floodplain, where actually BlueHole, which is on the Headwaters
campus, the headwaters of theSan Antonio River.
It used to backflow a littlebit into a wooded area in Olmos
Basin and when we found it, thisarea had so much garbage that
high school kids were makingVery interesting art
installations back there andthey were probably pretty upset
(12:49):
about it.
But we cleaned about 10,000pounds out of there over a three
month period and to this day,if you go there, two years later
, it's still clean, it's stillclean, it's still clean, it's
still clean.
So we're going to be seeingmore and more of that as we
build to critical capacity withour tactical cleanups, with our
(13:12):
volunteer program and at thesame time now the next goal is
infrastructure is proactivesolutions.
So what we're looking at toachieve that is litter booms
solutions.
So what we're looking at toachieve that is litter booms.
First and foremost, we have onegoing in at Comanche Park under
the county's supervision andone going in at Martin Luther
(13:32):
King Park, both on Salado Creek,which is by far a high-field
creek.
Could you describe what thoseare?
Of course, so a litter boom isa lot like the floatable buoys
you see in a pool to section offthe deep end or keep lanes,
except it goes a little bitunder the water and it's
(13:53):
designed to just catch the lot.
Smarter, it's going to enableus to put these in choke points
with low flow, because there isengineering that comes into play
with these, but it's going toenable us to come, service this
(14:15):
boom and in two hours get whatcould have taken those two
contractors five or six hours tocollect half of that and the
other half downstream to thegulf possibly.
Um, so these litter booms, alongwith the tactical cleanups the
30 a year that we hold thosevolunteer cleanups we're gonna
(14:36):
start seeing the vision.
That's actually like one of myside things yeah, fish stuff.
Yeah, aquaponics andaquascaping Stuff, like that.
So this is going to be ourfirst site on Comanche Creek
(15:15):
with these litter booms fromOsprey Initiative, and Osprey
Initiative works with theirmanufacturer to get these
tailor-made for each site.
So here we're going to have aJ-hook style boom that will
allow us to detach the boom fromone side and have all the load,
all the litter, all thefloatable waste float to this
side, where our team of twocontractors will come service
(15:37):
this area.
Now we'll be able to get ayield that might take 10 or 15
people hours to get just in 45minutes with two people.
So these booms are going toenable us to work much, much
smarter and if we strategicallyplace these around our city,
we're going to have a handle onthis situation that we didn't
(15:57):
think possible years ago.
So this site in particular willset the precedent that these
systems are indeed worthinvestment, and our waterways
are definitely worth investment.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
I'm Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert and I
am a proud supporter of River 8, san Antonio.
The county actually gave$25,000 to help with the
cleanups all year round inPrecinct 4 rivers and streams.
When you have a buildup oftrash in waterways that can lead
to flooding.
We saw in the flood of 98, alegal fill in Salado Creek which
(16:33):
poured into neighborhoods likemy own, where my father had to
break through the fence line tosave his neighbors.
While we might think of theplastic as just a little thing I
mean there are people who areillegally dumping cars and all
kinds of other things alongSlotto Creek and imagine if
RiverAid hadn't been picking upthousands of pounds of plastic
over the years that they haveand the other community efforts
(16:56):
we would probably have someserious problems.
We're really excited about theinnovation of not putting
Band-Aids on our river solutionbut getting a more permanent
solution to help our rivers beclean with these new booms.
So we're working to try to getan EPA grant that would help
fund this and other countyfunding.
What Charlie and River 8 isdoing is, through their
(17:18):
volunteers, bringing atremendous amount of awareness
about this issue.
So they now have guardians ofthe rivers who are helping maybe
change the trajectory ofsomeone's volunteerism forever,
because they recognize this is aproblem.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
So Comanche Park is really a flagship park for San
Antonio and Bexar County, soit's really important that we
protect this park.
It's one of the most highlyrented parks, used parks not
only for recreation butcelebrations, right.
So we don't want scouts to bedown at this memorial pavilion
doing a workshop and come downto the waterway and see it just
(17:55):
sprawled with litter.
We also have some of our bestbiological filtration on Salado
in this stretch when we have 10to 15 of these litter booms
(18:23):
installed in our city and areoperating.
Our volunteer cleanups at thecapacity we do right now, and
basura bash are once a year 1500to 2500 volunteer event where
everyone's going to see anoticeable difference and they
might not realize it's becauseof riverhead san antonio
volunteers, but I assure you it,100 is.
So there there's lots of goalsthere, there's stages to this
(18:45):
mission, but right now we arestill very much in mitigation
grassroots manpower.
But we're at the cusp of, youknow, pushing into
infrastructure, staffing up,grabbing contracts with the city
to actually clean bodies ofwater, like Woodlong Lake, which
(19:05):
enables us to get upstreameffectively of Alizon and all
the Westside Creeks.
So we're putting togetherreally a comprehensive action
plan and it's going to take sometime to get the city to buy in,
to get the county to buy in,but they already have, and now
we need our businesses, ourfoundations, to buy in.
This year is critical for us.
(19:27):
We have a pretty substantialbudget set out compared to our
grassroots strategy of the lastthree years, but it was always
our intention to grow now andwe've put ourselves in this
position where, if we can meetthis budget, we can grab some of
these contracts with the cityand bring in earned revenue that
will actually sustain ournecessary staffing.
(19:49):
So there's many stages ofaction and we need everyone to
get involved.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
I'm really interested , charles.
What was it like for you tovisit a site like Olmos Basin
the first time after cleaning up, maybe a year or so later, to
realize that the mitigationeffort had really substantial
effect?
Like walking that site lookingat it.
You recall that yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
I absolutely recall the feeling.
I have goosebumps right nowjust thinking back on it.
I mean you instantly want toshare it with everyone who was a
part of it.
Many people were called when Iwas walking through those woods.
I'm sure many of them will belistening to this.
But yeah, it's great to seebecause it's a huge problem and
(20:37):
so often we go to these sitesand any of our regular
volunteers know we go to thesame hot spots, you know, three
times a year and we've pledgedto do that because we understand
the nature of this problem thatthe trash will come back If it
rains.
It's going to come back becausethe behaviors haven't changed.
I think you got to hold on tothose feelings throughout the
(21:00):
year and I certainly do.
When anyone you know says, oh,didn't we come here three months
ago, I said yeah, butdownstream from here 300 yards.
We haven't been there intwo-plus years because we've
been cleaning this.
You can always get upstream andthat's the thing about this
mission.
(21:20):
Once we have San Antonio reallylocked in, this template set in
, we're going to keep pushingwherever the water takes us
upstream, downstream, hill,country, gulf.
We're talking about litterbooms and I'll mention that we
actually are in talks to servicea litter boom in Laredo, again,
(21:41):
you know, realizing that All ofthis problem is tied Anything
coming down Zacate Creek, goinginto the Rio Grande and Laredo,
you know it's going to end up inthe Gulf and this then it
becomes much, much bigger of aproblem to to solve.
So we're going to continue todevelop in any way we need to to
(22:05):
solve this problem and thisproblem continues to get bigger.
The bigger your solution is,the more of the problem you can
get to, and then you need togrow your solution and we're
down to keep pushing that battletill we can.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Let's jump in then to the topic of the viability of
earned revenue for RiverAid SanAntonio.
It seems super sensible andobvious to me anyways, that
keeping the waterways cleanaround San Antonio is beneficial
for the city tourism residents.
We want the waterways that weget to enjoy in recreation, or
(22:41):
if we're at the Pearl or walkingin Southtown along the River
King William, you hope that it'sclean, that it looks healthy
and that it is healthy.
So what seems to be thepotential and viability of
earned revenue for River 8 SanAntonio?
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Yeah, I mean we think it's a very viable avenue for
us.
One because we know that thecity, through their partnership
with us, believes in thismission and knows how effective
we are.
But, more than that, we knowhow much money has gone into
developing this greenway rightOver a quarter of a billion
(23:17):
dollars and that number hasgrown since it was reported has
been invested in this greenwayand it's great.
It opens up access to nature,but also opens up nature to
access, so we have to be carefulabout how we utilize it and we
need to protect that investment.
(23:38):
As a city, we know that the cityunderstands that.
They're starting to show thatbecause we've shown that we're a
partner that can take on thechallenge, because we've shown
(24:00):
that we're a partner that cantake on the challenge really not
only of acting when they needus to act when they put an RFP
will be very, very important forus, not only because it's
another way we can solve thisproblem, but then it can support
our volunteer program, whichreally, at the end of the day,
is going to launch our biggestchallenge of our mission, which
(24:23):
is the societal change.
Right, if we can't support ourstaffing, we can't support our
volunteer program, we can'tbuild our community of
knowledgeable riparian soldiersready to, if not act, then
change their behaviors.
We know that city staff seesthe vision that we see.
(24:43):
City staff sees the vision thatwe see.
We talk to them about it andyou know we plan, we plan.
So I'm very excited about whereParks and Recreation and the
county, who are working with us,now decide to take our
partnership, and we're willingto go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
the problem is I'd love to hear specifically about
the cleanups process.
How do you all select sites?
What's the recruitment effortlike?
And then, in execution, on siteon the day of cleanup, how does
that process go?
Speaker 1 (25:19):
So I'll start with recon site selection.
So we're always focused onmaximum impact.
We have a ethos where we'renever going to hold an event
just because a particular personwants it to be in one place or
it's the prettiest spot.
We go where we can have themost effect that week.
(25:42):
So that's actually whyfrustrating to some of our
volunteers we actually wait toidentify our sites two weeks
before because we want to ensurethat we can get a haul that's
at least close to simpatico, toour average, which is over three
thousand five hundred pounds Acleanup.
(26:04):
In that three hour cleanup with,you know, twenty five to sixty
people and in that three hourcleanup with you know, 25 to 60
people.
So I peruse the greenway and,you know, get get off trail and
really think like the water flowRight, you've got to go with
the meanders, you have to go upinto the floodplain, find those
(26:24):
hotspots that are going to.
You know, ensure that we'remaking the most out of the hands
, the hours that people aredonating, because you don't want
people to come down and youknow, have 30 people out there
cleaning for three hours and youonly come up with a couple
hundred pounds of trash andthey're looking at the pile,
(26:44):
like what did we do here today.
So we ensure that every timeyou walk away from a ribbed
cleanup, you can look back andyou'll see a pile of trash
bigger than the vehicle you camein and you will leave with a
feeling that you did somethingwith your community, something
that you couldn't have done byyourself.
That's why we host our cleanupso consistently, because we know
(27:09):
how daunting this problem canbe if you're alone.
So we want to ensure thatnobody feels alone facing this
problem.
I think it's really importantthat every time we hold an event
, we're accomplishing as much aswe could together.
So with planning, it's reallyall about where the rain, where
(27:32):
the storms have taken our trash.
But there's also seasonalconsiderations.
You can't be on the west sidein the dead heat of the
summertime.
You can't be on northern Saladowhen it's been too rainy
because you'll be underwater.
But we try and get all aroundSan Antonio.
(27:55):
Anywhere in 1604 is kind of ourconcentration right now.
We're eager to always adopt newspots.
I can't be in every offbeattrack along the Greenway, so if
you do know a site, you canreach out to us at
rasariveraidsanantonioorg andgive us some GPS coordinates, a
(28:17):
photo, and we can select thatsite.
Then we go on to recruitmentright.
We post it on our social media.
We blast our email chain, whichis a couple thousand people,
social media, we blast our emailchain, which is a couple
thousand people.
And we also rely on local groups, local businesses, to organize
their own teams, because there'snothing like a good group
coming in together that alreadyknows how to work together can
(28:39):
tackle those big mattresses,those trash cans, sometimes
those dumpsters even in HomosBasin, sometimes those dumpsters
even in Homos Basin andoperation.
You know, I got to give a shoutout Our cleanups don't just run
because of our staff or ourvolunteers.
They run because of our citypartners at Solid Waste, at
(29:02):
Parks and Recreation.
Solid Waste, at almost everysingle cleanup is hauling all
(29:35):
our recovered trash to thelandfill, aside from that which
we recycle.
Pull, for instance, 10,762pounds of trash on Earth Day in
2023 at Salado Creek, just 100yards from Churchill High School
, one of our most prominent highschools here in San Antonio.
So that's what a RASA weeklooks like, and you can be a
part of it too.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
And so two to three cleanups every single month
seems like a certainly asignificant amount.
What's the volunteer experiencelike?
Anecdotally, what do peoplereflect back to you?
You know, what are theylearning while they're on the
ground in these cleanups, like,what have you found over the
past couple of years doing thesecleanups that people experience
(30:09):
most, or surprised by, orsomething in the participation?
Speaker 1 (30:13):
You know, the number one reaction absolutely if you
haven't been down to an eventwith us before is shock at how
bad the problem is If you'veonly seen our photos and videos
on Instagram and never been down.
Photos don't do it justice.
You really can't pick up everylittle tiny plastic white bag on
(30:33):
an iPhone camera, as good asthey are.
Beyond that shock of theproblem, I think that people are
genuinely surprised at how funand casual we're able to keep
the mood while also operatingvery, very, very efficiently and
(30:53):
safely.
Um, you know, we get straightto work after making sure that
everybody knows how we'reoperating and how to operate
individually safely.
Um, and from there we let theexperience help us educate and
make aware of those people whohaven't been down with us.
(31:16):
And it's as simple as one of ourregulars going next to that
person, helping them with theuntangling of a bag from a tree
and talking about how it gotthere, how we could fix it,
which is a more complicatedproblem than you'd think.
When people come down and theyknew there was a problem, they
(31:38):
learn that it's worse than theythought.
And then they also learn thatthey have more power than they
thought to actually fix it thatthere's something they can do to
actually fix it.
Bring a reusable bag to thestore.
Better yet, keep some extras inyour car.
Give them to your friends, youknow, give them to your friends
and talk to them.
Have a two-minute conversationwith your friends about how
(32:00):
illogical it is to be usingthese plastic bags which, by the
way, city of San AntonioRecycling just announced this
month, they are no longerrecycling plastic bags.
So, we really need to talk aboutthese problems, but it's these
experiences of people comingdown realizing what it feels
(32:21):
like to be a part of thissolution and then taking that
home.
People come down to ourcleanups and realize they can be
a part of something reallymeaningful for San Antonio.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
And what about for you, charles?
What do you feel like you havelearned about San Antonio's
waterways and perhaps likewiselike community engagement around
the issue?
Over your couple of years withRASA, what's changed for you
personally, in your ownunderstanding?
Speaker 1 (32:49):
The biggest change for me personally and I think I
can speak for a lot of peoplewho have gotten truly involved
with River at San Antonio overthe last three years was that
this is not our government'sfault.
Mark and his Greenway team atParks and Recreation it's like
eight guys eight contractworkers or eight staff members
(33:15):
to service all the Greenway, andthat's not just picking up
trash, that's mowing, andeverything in between is to get
to a solution.
We need to make sure that weunburden government of this
problem Not that we're amicrophone to shove this in
(33:36):
their face and say this needs tobe solved that we are very
careful about how we operate tonot rely too much on the tax
dollars that already aren'tenough to solve this problem.
So that was the biggest thing Ilearned and I think it was the
most valuable lesson for me,outside of River Aide, honestly,
(33:56):
even, but for River Aideespecially, and I think that's
why we have such a strongpartnership with city
departments.
But there's so many lessons tobe learned still, this this has
been the biggest challenge of mylife founding this org and
running this org but it's uh,it's been the biggest learning
(34:16):
experience and the biggest joy.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
So there's a lot of lessons left to learn, but I
know there's going to be a lotof people learning them with me
and acting on those lessons isthere something that we might
not expect, like outside of thesolid waste that we can, you
know, see, uh, intangibly pickup ourselves, you know, in, in
the most utopian way of thinkingabout it?
What are the you know, threatsto water quality, uh, to the
(34:40):
waterways that that we may notbe keen to, as, just, you know,
the average, average person?
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Sure, I mean, the biggest one is E coli.
That's the biggest threat tohuman contact when we're talking
about water quality.
That's the reason why it'sunsafe for us to get even into
the lower parts of the SanAntonio River after there's been
a bit of biofiltration thanksto the Mission Reach project,
(35:05):
which restored eight miles ofour river.
But even that's not enough tofilter out all this E coli,
which, of course, can make youvery, very sick.
And this comes from, you know,pet waste, this comes from
sewage breaks, this comes fromthe unhoused population,
(35:33):
population, um, and it willalways be there until our city
creates enough breathing roombetween these problems and our
water, with green areas, blueinfrastructure, green
infrastructure.
If you have a parking lot righton the edge of a creek, uh yes,
it's going to make it much moreprone to runoff contaminants.
But guess what?
If the city invests for a lidfeature there, you can actually
(35:53):
treat, you know, a quarter inchof rainfall to an inch of
rainfall.
The investment is worth it.
It is worth it.
So you know, beyond that,beyond E coli contamination,
things like sediment fromconstruction sites that aren't
secure, stuff like mowingexcessive grass clippings, our
(36:18):
river's more fragile than werealize, any overload of
nutrients, you know ammonia,phosphorus, nitrogen they can
throw the city out of whack.
So there's a lot more toconsider other than just litter,
and there are ways to educatethe public, to make sure that
the population of San Antonio isletting the city know this is
(36:41):
what we care about.
We're aware of thesetechnologies.
Why don't we have morestormwater treatment?
Why aren't we mandatingpermeable surfaces in our new
parking lots, on our floodplains?
And these are questions weshould all be asking our city
council members and we shouldall be asking our county
(37:03):
commissioners, and we do haveadvocates there, but they can't
act unless the people are behindthem.
So we have to educate ourselveson these and we need people to
lead the way towards thesechanges.
(37:25):
Today we're here on WoodlongLake after another rain event
and we do these cleanupsroutinely.
But today it's an ad hocresponse to that rain, which
brings a deluge of trash downinto Woodlong Lake from all over
the city northwest.
When it rains it will bring allthis litter, it will bring all
the grease, it will bring allthe E coli and other
(37:48):
contaminants.
So we're getting out here oncea month at the very least.
We're hoping this year toestablish a system here at
Woodlawn Lake that will bepassively working with us so we
can provide a smarter service,and these systems will catch
floatable waste as it streamsdown Zarzamora Creek and makes
(38:09):
our work here at Woodlawn alittle bit easier.
This service is contracted byCity of San Antonio because they
know that we need to protectnot only our flagship parks but
the creeks that are connected tothem and flow into our river.
It's great to see the city buyinto this mission, especially
this year when we have such bigplans about how we can work
(38:31):
together with them, with ourvolunteers, with the citizens of
San Antonio, to make sure thatWoodlawn doesn't look like this.
To really execute this missionproperly, we need the city, we
(38:57):
need the county and we need thepopulation to buy into this on a
governmental level contribution, support but we need expertise
and we're confident that we canfind the partnerships over the
next couple years to build theresources, to build the plans
that we need to actually protectour San Antonio River and every
waterway connected to it.
(39:17):
But it's gonna take a lot ofwork, a lot of education and a
lot of new relationships beforewe get to that point.
So, riveraid's volunteer base.
You know we consider ourselvesvery lucky.
We have a special group ofpeople that really, when you
look at our volunteer cleanups,about 25% of those folks that
(39:39):
come on any given day areregulars.
They know the drill, they knowhow to lead and they know how to
get the job done safely andvery effectively.
These people are 100% committedto our mission.
Most of these folks not onlyget out here on Woodlawn Lake to
help us run these contractorservices, but they're the people
(39:59):
leading the charge, setting theexamples at our volunteer
cleanups that enable us toaverage pulling out 3,500 pounds
last year.
I think they do it becausethey've wanted to do it for a
really long time and theyfinally found a community that's
willing to do that with themand you'd be surprised at how
(40:22):
powerful that can be and howthat little spark can change
things for a city, even thislarge, for a lake this critical
to our city.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
It could change everything so Should we be
(41:22):
surprised?
Encountering a piece of trash?
Is that available for us atsome point in the future?
Encountering a piece of trashLike is that available for us at
some point in the future?
Like what's in your head?
Speaker 1 (41:33):
and your organization's head as to what
is actually possible for SanAntonio.
I think if I'm talking to apragmatist, someone who's
cautious about theirexpectations, I can tell them we
can secure a vision of SanAntonio where you can take a two
mile walk along a Creek andyou're not going to see but a
few dispersed pieces of trashthat guess what.
You can easily pick up on yourwalk and then it's pristine.
(41:56):
That vision is within threeyears of of development,
progress and action of thismission.
We can get there Now.
If I'm talking to theRastafarian, to the dreamer, to
the people that throw in everyweek, if not every day, to this
mission, I want water contact onSalado Creek and you know it's
(42:23):
a lofty goal and we can't getthere without investment.
I mean, this would be somethingthat the city would have to
invest in in infrastructure.
But what price could you reallyput on your kids, your
grandchildren, your, yourstudents, our next generation,
(42:46):
being able to be around waterand not treat it as radioactive?
You know, it's a shame to me tothink that folks who don't have
the luxury of leaving our cityhave never swam in a river, and
people might laugh and thinkthat doesn't exist.
(43:07):
It does.
It does.
And I think that if we can makeclean water, recreation, worthy
water, accessible to San Antonio, I think that a lot of other
cities are going to be enviousof a city of our size figuring
out how to do that.
But we can only achieve thatdreamer's vision with a lot
(43:31):
careful growth, a lot morepeople getting involved with
this mission and, honestly,technical knowledge that we hope
to invite into our communityover the next couple of years as
we finish the mitigation phaseof our waste problem, our litter
problem in the city.
But RiverAid's loftier goalsare beyond just solid waste
(43:53):
management, which is one of thebiggest looming threats to our
river and, most importantly, onethat we can solve with action
and a few changes.
And, as I said, this other goalof you know, actually water
quality improvements.
That's going to take a muchbigger machine, but we're up to
the challenge to grow towardsthat.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
So what's next for RiverAid San Antonio?
You mentioned a criticalfunding period here immediately.
What's on y'all's mind movingforward here in the near term?
Speaker 1 (44:24):
Right now we have the John and Florence Newman
Foundation, who's put up acapacity building match
challenge, and that matchchallenge means that any dollar
amount donated's future and SanAntonio's future, our mission's
future, and if you believe inthis vision, contribute, come
(44:57):
down, volunteer, ingratiateyourself into this community,
because we want you to be a partof it.
We need you to be a part of itany way you can.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
Not everything seems sensible to have a price tag
attached to it.
But maybe some things which inone context seem invaluable, not
worth any sum of money, anycurrency at all, might benefit
from it.
Getting into water, feeling asense of refuge and relief and
(45:37):
comfort, being near water,enjoying and recreating in and
on water, it's something sohuman, almost seemingly a basic
human right, something justabout invaluable.
And, on the inverse, assumingthat body of fresh water isn't
safe to jump into, let alonetouch, absolutely forget about
(45:59):
drinking it, that seemsextremely inhuman, dystopian
almost.
We and our next generations ofSan Antonians both deserve and
can have better.
We all already value water,value our San Antonio River, I
know that.
But do our actions align?
(46:20):
Do our actions as a city andcommunity align with that value?
Talking about the San AntonioRiver and the preciousness and
effects and impacts of itswaters the excitement of what
can be I can't help but bereminded of this phrase I
absolutely loved from thenarration of the nature
(46:43):
documentary film about Texas'sdiverse landscapes deep in the
heart.
This film was narrated by theone and only Matthew McConaughey
.
At one point in the film,commenting on the volatility of
Texas's weather patterns, thepace and intensity of which our
storms can sometimes move.
Mcconaughey says water rarelycomes peacefully to Texas and on
(47:07):
the inverse.
Since it seems so hard to gethere in one shape or another, I
can't help but feel we should doanything and everything but
peacefully let our water go.
We must push to make it andkeep it pristine.
Because we can, we must supportthose doing the work.
Because we can, we must seekout every opportunity to keep
(47:33):
ourselves, friends and familyeducated.
Because we can, we must findand invest in the most
innovative ways to trulycelebrate the water that makes
this city what it is.
It's not just about a futurewhere we have the river, but
it's about creating a futurewhere we and our generations to
(47:53):
come get to enjoy it, as itseems so human to do.
The question I believe we takeaway with us here is not what
would it look like if we as acommunity were to actually value
our San Antonio River and thehealth and vitality of its
watershed, because I believe wealready do.
It's innate, it's alreadywithin us.
(48:13):
The question instead is whatcan it look like if our action,
investment, advocacy andstewardship finally aligned with
the value we, as a city andgreater community born of this
river already possess.
All right y'all.
(48:55):
That's a wrap.
Thank you so much for listeningto or watching this episode of
Ensemble Texas.
I just want to extend an extrathank you to my guest today,
charles Blank of RiverAid SanAntonio.
Truly a young but ambitiousorganization that I am grateful
to share a city with, and sincethe organization's founding in
2021, rasa has engaged over52,000 volunteers and has bagged
(49:20):
over 1.4 million pounds oftrash.
Antonio's cornerstone programis their watershed cleanup
program, which you heard muchabout already today, where, at
least for 30 Saturdays each year, rasa staff organizes high
impact cleanups at litterhotspots throughout the
waterways of San Antonio.
(49:40):
Rasa also recently inheritedthe tradition of Basura Bash, an
annual volunteer event, nownearing its 30th anniversary,
which each year draws thousandsof participants to remove dozens
of tons of trash from ourcity's waterways.
To get involved with anythingand everything RiverAid San
Antonio from volunteering at thenext cleanup to donating, you
can go to riveraidorg orlikewise, you can visit our show
(50:04):
notes linked in the episodedescription.
I want to repeat once more whatCharles briefly mentioned in our
conversation.
Until August 31st 2024, theJohn and Florence Newman
Foundation has issued a $25,000match challenge for RiverAid San
Antonio, so donate before thatdeadline.
Again, that's August 31st andyour dollar will go even further
(50:25):
.
To do so, go to payriveraorgbackslash Newman Match.
Again.
That will also be included inour attached show notes at
podcastensembletexascom.
Lastly, if you enjoyed thisepisode, I think you might
really enjoy my newsletter, theSan Antonio Ensemble, where each
(50:46):
week I share with you one story, one thing to eat, one place to
go, to help you get betterconnected to the city we all
love.
My mission is to help all of uslearn more about the city we
inhabit, to help us build aneven better San Antonio, now and
into the future.
Sign up at EnsembleTexascom.
All right, y'all, until nexttime.
If we can make clean water, recreation-worthy water,
accessible to San Antonio.
I think that a lot of othercities are going to be envious
of a city of our size figuringout how to do that.
But we can only achieve thatdreamer's vision with careful
(00:24):
growth, a lot more peoplegetting involved and, honestly,
technical knowledge that we hopeto invite into our community
over the next couple years.
I want water contact on SaladoCreek.
It's a lofty goal and we can'tget there without investment.
(00:45):
I mean, this would be somethingthat the city would have to
invest in infrastructure, butwhat price could you really put
on our next generation beingable to be around water and not
treat it as radioactive, beingable to be around water and not
(01:06):
treat it as radioactive?
At the end of the day, we willbe whatever the San Antonio
River needs us to be and we'llcontinue to grow this until our
vision is secured A San AntonioRiver that's living in harmony
with the population around it.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Our San Antonio River is just over 240 miles long.
Its headwaters start right herein Barrett County, and the
river flows through fouradditional counties until it
finally joins the GuadalupeRiver just 10 miles from the San
Antonio Bay on the Gulf ofMexico.
The river's natural mineralwaters are fed from the Edwards
Aquifer below, and it's home toan incredibly diverse collection
(01:44):
of wildlife like the Guadalupespiny softshell turtle.
The Edwards Aquifer below, andit's home to an incredibly
diverse collection of wildlifelike the Guadalupe spiny
softshell turtle and thewhooping crane on its winter
migration route.
The San Antonio River is thereason San Antonio became San
Antonio.
It was the lifeblood for thecity's earliest residents and a
refuge for the many indigenouscultures who came before, and as
such to me, I can't help butwonder does our relationship now
(02:08):
to our river, our waterways, asa city fit that same sort of
designation?
San Antonio wouldn't existwithout its river.
So I question do we celebrateit like we should Appreciate it?
Do we get to?
Do we get to enjoy it as weshould appreciate it?
Do we get to?
Do we get to enjoy it as weshould?
Is this all that's possible forour San Antonio community and
(02:30):
its relationship to its river,something to avoid at various
times in eyesore, or can it besomething much more, not just
clean but pristine, inviting atestament to what it means and
has meant to this region?
Can it be a place where we swim, fish and play?
(02:51):
Of course, because it was, andthankfully there are people
trying to get it back to thatpoint, that condition, right now
, but they can't do it alone.
I'm Corey Ames, your host, andI'm thrilled to welcome you to
this episode of Ensemble Texaswhere together we'll challenge
what we believe is possible forour relationship to our city's
(03:14):
waterways and reimagine thepotential for not just a clean
but pristine San Antonio RiverBasin.
Let's embark with my guesttoday.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I'm Charles Blank.
I'm the executive director ofRiverAid San Antonio.
We're a 501c3 nonprofit that'sdedicated to promoting and
facilitating stewardship of theSan Antonio River Basin, and we
do that through volunteeropportunities and, most
importantly, communityengagement.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
How long have you been in San Antonio and what's
that experience been like foryou thus far?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
So my family moved here in 96.
I was about four and a half, soSan Antonio is pretty much the
only city I've ever known reallyknown, and I've grown here.
I've watched this city growtremendously since we moved here
.
But really what I see for SanAntonio, and why I decided to
stay, is we're at this juncture.
(04:12):
Right now we have two pathslaid out in front of us, and one
is learning from these citiesthat have already developed and
a lot of the times, in the wrongway the urban sprawl, the lack
of green infrastructure and wecan learn from those lessons and
use the technology.
We have to become a smart city,or we continue the plan of
(04:33):
yesterday, which is urban sprawl, which is something San Antonio
has been really, really good at.
So I think a lot of people inthis city who grew up here
probably felt the same call Idid about a decade ago when we
realized this growth was infront of us.
If not you, then who?
If you're not going to stayhere and make sure San Antonio
(04:55):
gets developed, grows,progresses in the right way,
then who?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I'm always super curious about this particular
character of folks that live inSan Antonio.
Many are born and raised A lotof people grew up here and then
have this willingness andwanting to stay here and then,
not only that do something, Ithink, in service of the San
Antonio community.
So I'm interested to learn fromyou if you could say more.
Why do you think that is andwhy do you think that is for you
(05:23):
in particular?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
If you grow up here or you spent any amount of time
here you've heard small town,big city, and I think San
Antonio more than any othermajor city of its size you can
really feel a connection withthe city, with the different
communities in town.
If you endeavor to actually getaround this city, it's hard not
to fall in love with it.
And at this pivotal growthpoint, I think a lot of people,
(05:53):
when they were deciding what todo with the rest of their life
at 25, made the same decision Idid, which is I'm going to stay
in San Antonio and make sureit's the San Antonio I want it
to be.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And so where does the connection come to you,
specifically for San Antonio'swaterways?
What's the origin story of thatmotivation, that connection for
you?
How did we like?
Where was the earliest inklingof what maybe became the passion
for Rasa?
Speaker 1 (06:21):
The earliest inkling of my passion for the
environment and specifically ourwaterways was early memories
with my dad fishing.
Probably one of my earliestpassions in life was getting out
on a pristine river with my dadwatching and learning about the
(06:42):
life of the fish and all theother animals just as intricate
as our lives and just as worthyof protecting, and that really
grew into a lifelong love forthe outdoors.
And during COVID, when therewasn't the response that there
usually was, which even in thepast has been wanting a response
(07:05):
from government staff and it'snot because they're not doing
their jobs correctly or they'renot trying, it's because we're
overtaxing our tax dollars,right, we don't have enough
staff to take care of ourwaterways.
And during COVID that becamevery, very apparent that there
was a vacuum in this city.
It became very, very apparentthat there was a vacuum in this
(07:25):
city and those memories from ayoung boy of pristine rivers and
realizing that I want to raisechildren here and I would like
our kids to be able to play inthe creeks.
And it's something that mostpeople, even scientists in our
community, would kind of laughat because they can't see the
(07:46):
vision.
But the vision is there, youknow green infrastructure,
behavioral changes and action,of course, which is something
we've been very good at to date.
We can change San Antoniotogether Again.
If not you, then who?
You get involved with RASA, itbecomes more likely that your
(08:08):
kids in a decade can play inSalado Creek, that your kids can
go swimming at Davis Lake onthe San Antonio River.
But that's going to take a lot,a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I'd love to hear if you could get nitty gritty for
us on River Aid, San Antonio.
What's the core function andservice of the nonprofit?
So?
Speaker 1 (08:25):
we've always seen ourselves as wanting to be the
conduit for anyone in SanAntonio looking to protect our
river and our river basin right,because it's not just our river
, it's our creeks and the landattached to them.
And we serve to be that conduit, not only to offer volunteer
opportunities for people whowant to act and get involved,
(08:48):
but also the conduit toinformation, to knowledge and to
the awareness of how we can bebetter stewards of our river
through everyday actions.
You know, cleaning up afteryour dog, using the right type
of pesticides, when you care foryour long, even native,
plantings, ripping up that long,not using impervious cover all
(09:13):
these things affect our riverand it's just knowledge keeping
people from acting, which will,of course, equal a healthier
river acting, which will, ofcourse, equal a healthier river.
So our purpose is to facilitateand promote stewardship of the
San Antonio river basin in allterms.
(09:34):
Um, and we will always growinto the next facet of the
mission.
Right now we're very focused onmitigating right Our volunteer
cleanups.
We do two to three a month andwe run them very effectively.
We pull out several tons everytime.
At the end of the day, we willbe whatever the San Antonio
(09:55):
River needs us to be.
Year after year, our board willreevaluate, decide on new
development and we'll continueto grow this into.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
our vision is secured a san antonio river that's
living in harmony with thepopulation around it curious if
you could say more about whatwhat that vision looks like and
maybe it ties into maybeaspirations that you've shared
in this conversation thus far.
You know your kids being ableto to enjoy the, the creeks and
rivers that the san antonio areahas to offer.
(10:25):
But tangibly, as you're lookingat an organization, what are
some of the measurements orparticular milestones that you
feel like y'all are charting tomanifest what that vision is for
RASA?
Speaker 1 (10:39):
First goals were, as we just touched on, mitigation,
getting those numbers up,getting that average per cleanup
number up.
You might be asking oh well,why do you want more trash?
Because that's the reality thatwe're living in right now and
we will get to a point wherewe're looking for a goal of a
(11:00):
downtick in trash, but we haveto have a much higher yield and
smarter infrastructure in placefor us to be looking for those
types of results.
Right now we need to focus ongrowing our yearly yield
recovered, which we have donehealthily, year after year, and
(11:22):
in three short years we've had400,000 pounds of trash removed.
And now there are spots alongthe greenway that are
unsaturated of litter and, yeah,you might see one or two pieces
, but the state of our creeksand our greenway a couple years
ago it was hard press where youwould go anywhere on the
(11:45):
Greenway and not within 100yards see a swatch that is
saturated.
I say saturated and there'sactually a scientific protocol
threshold for that with the EPAand it's if there's more than
three to four pieces of trash inan average car length that's
saturated with litter.
(12:06):
And since our program started,the majority of the greenways,
the creeks that we operate onare noticeably cleaner.
There are, in fact, portions ofthe city that are cleaner than
they've been in decades and havestayed that way since we
cleaned them two years ago.
I'm talking about Olmos Basin,a specific area of that
(12:27):
floodplain, where actually BlueHole, which is on the Headwaters
campus, the headwaters of theSan Antonio River.
It used to backflow a littlebit into a wooded area in Olmos
Basin and when we found it, thisarea had so much garbage that
high school kids were makingVery interesting art
installations back there andthey were probably pretty upset
(12:49):
about it.
But we cleaned about 10,000pounds out of there over a three
month period and to this day,if you go there, two years later
, it's still clean, it's stillclean, it's still clean, it's
still clean.
So we're going to be seeingmore and more of that as we
build to critical capacity withour tactical cleanups, with our
(13:12):
volunteer program and at thesame time now the next goal is
infrastructure is proactivesolutions.
So what we're looking at toachieve that is litter booms
solutions.
So what we're looking at toachieve that is litter booms.
First and foremost, we have onegoing in at Comanche Park under
the county's supervision andone going in at Martin Luther
(13:32):
King Park, both on Salado Creek,which is by far a high-field
creek.
Could you describe what thoseare?
Of course, so a litter boom isa lot like the floatable buoys
you see in a pool to section offthe deep end or keep lanes,
except it goes a little bitunder the water and it's
(13:53):
designed to just catch the lot.
Smarter, it's going to enableus to put these in choke points
with low flow, because there isengineering that comes into play
with these, but it's going toenable us to come, service this
(14:15):
boom and in two hours get whatcould have taken those two
contractors five or six hours tocollect half of that and the
other half downstream to thegulf possibly.
Um, so these litter booms, alongwith the tactical cleanups the
30 a year that we hold thosevolunteer cleanups we're gonna
(14:36):
start seeing the vision.
That's actually like one of myside things yeah, fish stuff.
Yeah, aquaponics andaquascaping Stuff, like that.
So this is going to be ourfirst site on Comanche Creek
(15:15):
with these litter booms fromOsprey Initiative, and Osprey
Initiative works with theirmanufacturer to get these
tailor-made for each site.
So here we're going to have aJ-hook style boom that will
allow us to detach the boom fromone side and have all the load,
all the litter, all thefloatable waste float to this
side, where our team of twocontractors will come service
(15:37):
this area.
Now we'll be able to get ayield that might take 10 or 15
people hours to get just in 45minutes with two people.
So these booms are going toenable us to work much, much
smarter and if we strategicallyplace these around our city,
we're going to have a handle onthis situation that we didn't
(15:57):
think possible years ago.
So this site in particular willset the precedent that these
systems are indeed worthinvestment, and our waterways
are definitely worth investment.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
I'm Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert and I
am a proud supporter of River 8, san Antonio.
The county actually gave$25,000 to help with the
cleanups all year round inPrecinct 4 rivers and streams.
When you have a buildup oftrash in waterways that can lead
to flooding.
We saw in the flood of 98, alegal fill in Salado Creek which
(16:33):
poured into neighborhoods likemy own, where my father had to
break through the fence line tosave his neighbors.
While we might think of theplastic as just a little thing I
mean there are people who areillegally dumping cars and all
kinds of other things alongSlotto Creek and imagine if
RiverAid hadn't been picking upthousands of pounds of plastic
over the years that they haveand the other community efforts
(16:56):
we would probably have someserious problems.
We're really excited about theinnovation of not putting
Band-Aids on our river solutionbut getting a more permanent
solution to help our rivers beclean with these new booms.
So we're working to try to getan EPA grant that would help
fund this and other countyfunding.
What Charlie and River 8 isdoing is, through their
(17:18):
volunteers, bringing atremendous amount of awareness
about this issue.
So they now have guardians ofthe rivers who are helping maybe
change the trajectory ofsomeone's volunteerism forever,
because they recognize this is aproblem.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
So Comanche Park is really a flagship park for San
Antonio and Bexar County, soit's really important that we
protect this park.
It's one of the most highlyrented parks, used parks not
only for recreation butcelebrations, right.
So we don't want scouts to bedown at this memorial pavilion
doing a workshop and come downto the waterway and see it just
(17:55):
sprawled with litter.
We also have some of our bestbiological filtration on Salado
in this stretch when we have 10to 15 of these litter booms
(18:23):
installed in our city and areoperating.
Our volunteer cleanups at thecapacity we do right now, and
basura bash are once a year 1500to 2500 volunteer event where
everyone's going to see anoticeable difference and they
might not realize it's becauseof riverhead san antonio
volunteers, but I assure you it,100 is.
So there there's lots of goalsthere, there's stages to this
(18:45):
mission, but right now we arestill very much in mitigation
grassroots manpower.
But we're at the cusp of, youknow, pushing into
infrastructure, staffing up,grabbing contracts with the city
to actually clean bodies ofwater, like Woodlong Lake, which
(19:05):
enables us to get upstreameffectively of Alizon and all
the Westside Creeks.
So we're putting togetherreally a comprehensive action
plan and it's going to take sometime to get the city to buy in,
to get the county to buy in,but they already have, and now
we need our businesses, ourfoundations, to buy in.
This year is critical for us.
(19:27):
We have a pretty substantialbudget set out compared to our
grassroots strategy of the lastthree years, but it was always
our intention to grow now andwe've put ourselves in this
position where, if we can meetthis budget, we can grab some of
these contracts with the cityand bring in earned revenue that
will actually sustain ournecessary staffing.
(19:49):
So there's many stages ofaction and we need everyone to
get involved.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
I'm really interested , charles.
What was it like for you tovisit a site like Olmos Basin
the first time after cleaning up, maybe a year or so later, to
realize that the mitigationeffort had really substantial
effect?
Like walking that site lookingat it.
You recall that yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
I absolutely recall the feeling.
I have goosebumps right nowjust thinking back on it.
I mean you instantly want toshare it with everyone who was a
part of it.
Many people were called when Iwas walking through those woods.
I'm sure many of them will belistening to this.
But yeah, it's great to seebecause it's a huge problem and
(20:37):
so often we go to these sitesand any of our regular
volunteers know we go to thesame hot spots, you know, three
times a year and we've pledgedto do that because we understand
the nature of this problem thatthe trash will come back If it
rains.
It's going to come back becausethe behaviors haven't changed.
I think you got to hold on tothose feelings throughout the
(21:00):
year and I certainly do.
When anyone you know says, oh,didn't we come here three months
ago, I said yeah, butdownstream from here 300 yards.
We haven't been there intwo-plus years because we've
been cleaning this.
You can always get upstream andthat's the thing about this
mission.
(21:20):
Once we have San Antonio reallylocked in, this template set in
, we're going to keep pushingwherever the water takes us
upstream, downstream, hill,country, gulf.
We're talking about litterbooms and I'll mention that we
actually are in talks to servicea litter boom in Laredo, again,
(21:41):
you know, realizing that All ofthis problem is tied Anything
coming down Zacate Creek, goinginto the Rio Grande and Laredo,
you know it's going to end up inthe Gulf and this then it
becomes much, much bigger of aproblem to to solve.
So we're going to continue todevelop in any way we need to to
(22:05):
solve this problem and thisproblem continues to get bigger.
The bigger your solution is,the more of the problem you can
get to, and then you need togrow your solution and we're
down to keep pushing that battletill we can.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Let's jump in then to the topic of the viability of
earned revenue for RiverAid SanAntonio.
It seems super sensible andobvious to me anyways, that
keeping the waterways cleanaround San Antonio is beneficial
for the city tourism residents.
We want the waterways that weget to enjoy in recreation, or
(22:41):
if we're at the Pearl or walkingin Southtown along the River
King William, you hope that it'sclean, that it looks healthy
and that it is healthy.
So what seems to be thepotential and viability of
earned revenue for River 8 SanAntonio?
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Yeah, I mean we think it's a very viable avenue for
us.
One because we know that thecity, through their partnership
with us, believes in thismission and knows how effective
we are.
But, more than that, we knowhow much money has gone into
developing this greenway rightOver a quarter of a billion
(23:17):
dollars and that number hasgrown since it was reported has
been invested in this greenwayand it's great.
It opens up access to nature,but also opens up nature to
access, so we have to be carefulabout how we utilize it and we
need to protect that investment.
(23:38):
As a city, we know that the cityunderstands that.
They're starting to show thatbecause we've shown that we're a
partner that can take on thechallenge, because we've shown
(24:00):
that we're a partner that cantake on the challenge really not
only of acting when they needus to act when they put an RFP
will be very, very important forus, not only because it's
another way we can solve thisproblem, but then it can support
our volunteer program, whichreally, at the end of the day,
is going to launch our biggestchallenge of our mission, which
(24:23):
is the societal change.
Right, if we can't support ourstaffing, we can't support our
volunteer program, we can'tbuild our community of
knowledgeable riparian soldiersready to, if not act, then
change their behaviors.
We know that city staff seesthe vision that we see.
(24:43):
City staff sees the vision thatwe see.
We talk to them about it andyou know we plan, we plan.
So I'm very excited about whereParks and Recreation and the
county, who are working with us,now decide to take our
partnership, and we're willingto go anywhere.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
the problem is I'd love to hear specifically about
the cleanups process.
How do you all select sites?
What's the recruitment effortlike?
And then, in execution, on siteon the day of cleanup, how does
that process go?
Speaker 1 (25:19):
So I'll start with recon site selection.
So we're always focused onmaximum impact.
We have a ethos where we'renever going to hold an event
just because a particular personwants it to be in one place or
it's the prettiest spot.
We go where we can have themost effect that week.
(25:42):
So that's actually whyfrustrating to some of our
volunteers we actually wait toidentify our sites two weeks
before because we want to ensurethat we can get a haul that's
at least close to simpatico, toour average, which is over three
thousand five hundred pounds Acleanup.
(26:04):
In that three hour cleanup with,you know, twenty five to sixty
people and in that three hourcleanup with you know, 25 to 60
people.
So I peruse the greenway and,you know, get get off trail and
really think like the water flowRight, you've got to go with
the meanders, you have to go upinto the floodplain, find those
(26:24):
hotspots that are going to.
You know, ensure that we'remaking the most out of the hands
, the hours that people aredonating, because you don't want
people to come down and youknow, have 30 people out there
cleaning for three hours and youonly come up with a couple
hundred pounds of trash andthey're looking at the pile,
(26:44):
like what did we do here today.
So we ensure that every timeyou walk away from a ribbed
cleanup, you can look back andyou'll see a pile of trash
bigger than the vehicle you camein and you will leave with a
feeling that you did somethingwith your community, something
that you couldn't have done byyourself.
That's why we host our cleanupso consistently, because we know
(27:09):
how daunting this problem canbe if you're alone.
So we want to ensure thatnobody feels alone facing this
problem.
I think it's really importantthat every time we hold an event
, we're accomplishing as much aswe could together.
So with planning, it's reallyall about where the rain, where
(27:32):
the storms have taken our trash.
But there's also seasonalconsiderations.
You can't be on the west sidein the dead heat of the
summertime.
You can't be on northern Saladowhen it's been too rainy
because you'll be underwater.
But we try and get all aroundSan Antonio.
(27:55):
Anywhere in 1604 is kind of ourconcentration right now.
We're eager to always adopt newspots.
I can't be in every offbeattrack along the Greenway, so if
you do know a site, you canreach out to us at
rasariveraidsanantonioorg andgive us some GPS coordinates, a
(28:17):
photo, and we can select thatsite.
Then we go on to recruitmentright.
We post it on our social media.
We blast our email chain, whichis a couple thousand people,
social media, we blast our emailchain, which is a couple
thousand people.
And we also rely on local groups, local businesses, to organize
their own teams, because there'snothing like a good group
coming in together that alreadyknows how to work together can
(28:39):
tackle those big mattresses,those trash cans, sometimes
those dumpsters even in HomosBasin, sometimes those dumpsters
even in Homos Basin andoperation.
You know, I got to give a shoutout Our cleanups don't just run
because of our staff or ourvolunteers.
They run because of our citypartners at Solid Waste, at
(29:02):
Parks and Recreation.
Solid Waste, at almost everysingle cleanup is hauling all
(29:35):
our recovered trash to thelandfill, aside from that which
we recycle.
Pull, for instance, 10,762pounds of trash on Earth Day in
2023 at Salado Creek, just 100yards from Churchill High School
, one of our most prominent highschools here in San Antonio.
So that's what a RASA weeklooks like, and you can be a
part of it too.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
And so two to three cleanups every single month
seems like a certainly asignificant amount.
What's the volunteer experiencelike?
Anecdotally, what do peoplereflect back to you?
You know, what are theylearning while they're on the
ground in these cleanups, like,what have you found over the
past couple of years doing thesecleanups that people experience
(30:09):
most, or surprised by, orsomething in the participation?
Speaker 1 (30:13):
You know, the number one reaction absolutely if you
haven't been down to an eventwith us before is shock at how
bad the problem is If you'veonly seen our photos and videos
on Instagram and never been down.
Photos don't do it justice.
You really can't pick up everylittle tiny plastic white bag on
(30:33):
an iPhone camera, as good asthey are.
Beyond that shock of theproblem, I think that people are
genuinely surprised at how funand casual we're able to keep
the mood while also operatingvery, very, very efficiently and
(30:53):
safely.
Um, you know, we get straightto work after making sure that
everybody knows how we'reoperating and how to operate
individually safely.
Um, and from there we let theexperience help us educate and
make aware of those people whohaven't been down with us.
(31:16):
And it's as simple as one of ourregulars going next to that
person, helping them with theuntangling of a bag from a tree
and talking about how it gotthere, how we could fix it,
which is a more complicatedproblem than you'd think.
When people come down and theyknew there was a problem, they
(31:38):
learn that it's worse than theythought.
And then they also learn thatthey have more power than they
thought to actually fix it thatthere's something they can do to
actually fix it.
Bring a reusable bag to thestore.
Better yet, keep some extras inyour car.
Give them to your friends, youknow, give them to your friends
and talk to them.
Have a two-minute conversationwith your friends about how
(32:00):
illogical it is to be usingthese plastic bags which, by the
way, city of San AntonioRecycling just announced this
month, they are no longerrecycling plastic bags.
So, we really need to talk aboutthese problems, but it's these
experiences of people comingdown realizing what it feels
(32:21):
like to be a part of thissolution and then taking that
home.
People come down to ourcleanups and realize they can be
a part of something reallymeaningful for San Antonio.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
And what about for you, charles?
What do you feel like you havelearned about San Antonio's
waterways and perhaps likewiselike community engagement around
the issue?
Over your couple of years withRASA, what's changed for you
personally, in your ownunderstanding?
Speaker 1 (32:49):
The biggest change for me personally and I think I
can speak for a lot of peoplewho have gotten truly involved
with River at San Antonio overthe last three years was that
this is not our government'sfault.
Mark and his Greenway team atParks and Recreation it's like
eight guys eight contractworkers or eight staff members
(33:15):
to service all the Greenway, andthat's not just picking up
trash, that's mowing, andeverything in between is to get
to a solution.
We need to make sure that weunburden government of this
problem Not that we're amicrophone to shove this in
(33:36):
their face and say this needs tobe solved that we are very
careful about how we operate tonot rely too much on the tax
dollars that already aren'tenough to solve this problem.
So that was the biggest thing Ilearned and I think it was the
most valuable lesson for me,outside of River Aide, honestly,
(33:56):
even, but for River Aideespecially, and I think that's
why we have such a strongpartnership with city
departments.
But there's so many lessons tobe learned still, this this has
been the biggest challenge of mylife founding this org and
running this org but it's uh,it's been the biggest learning
(34:16):
experience and the biggest joy.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
So there's a lot of lessons left to learn, but I
know there's going to be a lotof people learning them with me
and acting on those lessons isthere something that we might
not expect, like outside of thesolid waste that we can, you
know, see, uh, intangibly pickup ourselves, you know, in, in
the most utopian way of thinkingabout it?
What are the you know, threatsto water quality, uh, to the
(34:40):
waterways that that we may notbe keen to, as, just, you know,
the average, average person?
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Sure, I mean, the biggest one is E coli.
That's the biggest threat tohuman contact when we're talking
about water quality.
That's the reason why it'sunsafe for us to get even into
the lower parts of the SanAntonio River after there's been
a bit of biofiltration thanksto the Mission Reach project,
(35:05):
which restored eight miles ofour river.
But even that's not enough tofilter out all this E coli,
which, of course, can make youvery, very sick.
And this comes from, you know,pet waste, this comes from
sewage breaks, this comes fromthe unhoused population,
(35:33):
population, um, and it willalways be there until our city
creates enough breathing roombetween these problems and our
water, with green areas, blueinfrastructure, green
infrastructure.
If you have a parking lot righton the edge of a creek, uh yes,
it's going to make it much moreprone to runoff contaminants.
But guess what?
If the city invests for a lidfeature there, you can actually
(35:53):
treat, you know, a quarter inchof rainfall to an inch of
rainfall.
The investment is worth it.
It is worth it.
So you know, beyond that,beyond E coli contamination,
things like sediment fromconstruction sites that aren't
secure, stuff like mowingexcessive grass clippings, our
(36:18):
river's more fragile than werealize, any overload of
nutrients, you know ammonia,phosphorus, nitrogen they can
throw the city out of whack.
So there's a lot more toconsider other than just litter,
and there are ways to educatethe public, to make sure that
the population of San Antonio isletting the city know this is
(36:41):
what we care about.
We're aware of thesetechnologies.
Why don't we have morestormwater treatment?
Why aren't we mandatingpermeable surfaces in our new
parking lots, on our floodplains?
And these are questions weshould all be asking our city
council members and we shouldall be asking our county
(37:03):
commissioners, and we do haveadvocates there, but they can't
act unless the people are behindthem.
So we have to educate ourselveson these and we need people to
lead the way towards thesechanges.
(37:25):
Today we're here on WoodlongLake after another rain event
and we do these cleanupsroutinely.
But today it's an ad hocresponse to that rain, which
brings a deluge of trash downinto Woodlong Lake from all over
the city northwest.
When it rains it will bring allthis litter, it will bring all
the grease, it will bring allthe E coli and other
(37:48):
contaminants.
So we're getting out here oncea month at the very least.
We're hoping this year toestablish a system here at
Woodlawn Lake that will bepassively working with us so we
can provide a smarter service,and these systems will catch
floatable waste as it streamsdown Zarzamora Creek and makes
(38:09):
our work here at Woodlawn alittle bit easier.
This service is contracted byCity of San Antonio because they
know that we need to protectnot only our flagship parks but
the creeks that are connected tothem and flow into our river.
It's great to see the city buyinto this mission, especially
this year when we have such bigplans about how we can work
(38:31):
together with them, with ourvolunteers, with the citizens of
San Antonio, to make sure thatWoodlawn doesn't look like this.
To really execute this missionproperly, we need the city, we
(38:57):
need the county and we need thepopulation to buy into this on a
governmental level contribution, support but we need expertise
and we're confident that we canfind the partnerships over the
next couple years to build theresources, to build the plans
that we need to actually protectour San Antonio River and every
waterway connected to it.
(39:17):
But it's gonna take a lot ofwork, a lot of education and a
lot of new relationships beforewe get to that point.
So, riveraid's volunteer base.
You know we consider ourselvesvery lucky.
We have a special group ofpeople that really, when you
look at our volunteer cleanups,about 25% of those folks that
(39:39):
come on any given day areregulars.
They know the drill, they knowhow to lead and they know how to
get the job done safely andvery effectively.
These people are 100% committedto our mission.
Most of these folks not onlyget out here on Woodlawn Lake to
help us run these contractorservices, but they're the people
(39:59):
leading the charge, setting theexamples at our volunteer
cleanups that enable us toaverage pulling out 3,500 pounds
last year.
I think they do it becausethey've wanted to do it for a
really long time and theyfinally found a community that's
willing to do that with themand you'd be surprised at how
(40:22):
powerful that can be and howthat little spark can change
things for a city, even thislarge, for a lake this critical
to our city.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
It could change everything so Should we be
(41:22):
surprised?
Encountering a piece of trash?
Is that available for us atsome point in the future?
Encountering a piece of trashLike is that available for us at
some point in the future?
Like what's in your head?
Speaker 1 (41:33):
and your organization's head as to what
is actually possible for SanAntonio.
I think if I'm talking to apragmatist, someone who's
cautious about theirexpectations, I can tell them we
can secure a vision of SanAntonio where you can take a two
mile walk along a Creek andyou're not going to see but a
few dispersed pieces of trashthat guess what.
You can easily pick up on yourwalk and then it's pristine.
(41:56):
That vision is within threeyears of of development,
progress and action of thismission.
We can get there Now.
If I'm talking to theRastafarian, to the dreamer, to
the people that throw in everyweek, if not every day, to this
mission, I want water contact onSalado Creek and you know it's
(42:23):
a lofty goal and we can't getthere without investment.
I mean, this would be somethingthat the city would have to
invest in in infrastructure.
But what price could you reallyput on your kids, your
grandchildren, your, yourstudents, our next generation,
(42:46):
being able to be around waterand not treat it as radioactive?
You know, it's a shame to me tothink that folks who don't have
the luxury of leaving our cityhave never swam in a river, and
people might laugh and thinkthat doesn't exist.
(43:07):
It does.
It does.
And I think that if we can makeclean water, recreation, worthy
water, accessible to San Antonio, I think that a lot of other
cities are going to be enviousof a city of our size figuring
out how to do that.
But we can only achieve thatdreamer's vision with a lot
(43:31):
careful growth, a lot morepeople getting involved with
this mission and, honestly,technical knowledge that we hope
to invite into our communityover the next couple of years as
we finish the mitigation phaseof our waste problem, our litter
problem in the city.
But RiverAid's loftier goalsare beyond just solid waste
(43:53):
management, which is one of thebiggest looming threats to our
river and, most importantly, onethat we can solve with action
and a few changes.
And, as I said, this other goalof you know, actually water
quality improvements.
That's going to take a muchbigger machine, but we're up to
the challenge to grow towardsthat.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
So what's next for RiverAid San Antonio?
You mentioned a criticalfunding period here immediately.
What's on y'all's mind movingforward here in the near term?
Speaker 1 (44:24):
Right now we have the John and Florence Newman
Foundation, who's put up acapacity building match
challenge, and that matchchallenge means that any dollar
amount donated's future and SanAntonio's future, our mission's
future, and if you believe inthis vision, contribute, come
(44:57):
down, volunteer, ingratiateyourself into this community,
because we want you to be a partof it.
We need you to be a part of itany way you can.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
Not everything seems sensible to have a price tag
attached to it.
But maybe some things which inone context seem invaluable, not
worth any sum of money, anycurrency at all, might benefit
from it.
Getting into water, feeling asense of refuge and relief and
(45:37):
comfort, being near water,enjoying and recreating in and
on water, it's something sohuman, almost seemingly a basic
human right, something justabout invaluable.
And, on the inverse, assumingthat body of fresh water isn't
safe to jump into, let alonetouch, absolutely forget about
(45:59):
drinking it, that seemsextremely inhuman, dystopian
almost.
We and our next generations ofSan Antonians both deserve and
can have better.
We all already value water,value our San Antonio River, I
know that.
But do our actions align?
(46:20):
Do our actions as a city andcommunity align with that value?
Talking about the San AntonioRiver and the preciousness and
effects and impacts of itswaters the excitement of what
can be I can't help but bereminded of this phrase I
absolutely loved from thenarration of the nature
(46:43):
documentary film about Texas'sdiverse landscapes deep in the
heart.
This film was narrated by theone and only Matthew McConaughey
.
At one point in the film,commenting on the volatility of
Texas's weather patterns, thepace and intensity of which our
storms can sometimes move.
Mcconaughey says water rarelycomes peacefully to Texas and on
(47:07):
the inverse.
Since it seems so hard to gethere in one shape or another, I
can't help but feel we should doanything and everything but
peacefully let our water go.
We must push to make it andkeep it pristine.
Because we can, we must supportthose doing the work.
Because we can, we must seekout every opportunity to keep
(47:33):
ourselves, friends and familyeducated.
Because we can, we must findand invest in the most
innovative ways to trulycelebrate the water that makes
this city what it is.
It's not just about a futurewhere we have the river, but
it's about creating a futurewhere we and our generations to
(47:53):
come get to enjoy it, as itseems so human to do.
The question I believe we takeaway with us here is not what
would it look like if we as acommunity were to actually value
our San Antonio River and thehealth and vitality of its
watershed, because I believe wealready do.
It's innate, it's alreadywithin us.
(48:13):
The question instead is whatcan it look like if our action,
investment, advocacy andstewardship finally aligned with
the value we, as a city andgreater community born of this
river already possess.
All right y'all.
(48:55):
That's a wrap.
Thank you so much for listeningto or watching this episode of
Ensemble Texas.
I just want to extend an extrathank you to my guest today,
charles Blank of RiverAid SanAntonio.
Truly a young but ambitiousorganization that I am grateful
to share a city with, and sincethe organization's founding in
2021, rasa has engaged over52,000 volunteers and has bagged
(49:20):
over 1.4 million pounds oftrash.
Antonio's cornerstone programis their watershed cleanup
program, which you heard muchabout already today, where, at
least for 30 Saturdays each year, rasa staff organizes high
impact cleanups at litterhotspots throughout the
waterways of San Antonio.
(49:40):
Rasa also recently inheritedthe tradition of Basura Bash, an
annual volunteer event, nownearing its 30th anniversary,
which each year draws thousandsof participants to remove dozens
of tons of trash from ourcity's waterways.
To get involved with anythingand everything RiverAid San
Antonio from volunteering at thenext cleanup to donating, you
can go to riveraidorg orlikewise, you can visit our show
(50:04):
notes linked in the episodedescription.
I want to repeat once more whatCharles briefly mentioned in our
conversation.
Until August 31st 2024, theJohn and Florence Newman
Foundation has issued a $25,000match challenge for RiverAid San
Antonio, so donate before thatdeadline.
Again, that's August 31st andyour dollar will go even further
(50:25):
.
To do so, go to payriveraorgbackslash Newman Match.
Again.
That will also be included inour attached show notes at
podcastensembletexascom.
Lastly, if you enjoyed thisepisode, I think you might
really enjoy my newsletter, theSan Antonio Ensemble, where each
(50:46):
week I share with you one story, one thing to eat, one place to
go, to help you get betterconnected to the city we all
love.
My mission is to help all of uslearn more about the city we
inhabit, to help us build aneven better San Antonio, now and
into the future.
Sign up at EnsembleTexascom.
All right, y'all, until nexttime.
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