Adam earned a B.S. in Urban Studies from the University of Minnesota in 2004, and an M.A. in History from the University of Missouri – Saint Louis in 2009. During graduate school, he served as co-founder and co-president of the UMSL Graduate Student Association. He also served in other leadership positions at the University with the Student Government Association, Phi Alpha Theta, and The National Association of Graduate and Professional Students. In addition, he was appointed to the UMSL Graduate Council by the Graduate School Dean.

During and since school, he has had varied jobs in varied fields… transportation planning, law, logistics, the airline industry, archiving / library work, and museum work. Adam currently holds two jobs right here in the neighborhood, at the Steves Homestead Museum and at the Institute of Texan Cultures. He’ll be taking a break from that this summer however. He’ll be working for the Denali Education Center (in Alaska) as a program coordinator from May until September. He’ll be arranging Elderhostel “Road Scholar” tours of Denali National Park. His plans are to return to San Antonio in October.

Adam has many, diverse interests:

• He enjoys traveling and has recently visited Denver, San Francisco, and Alaska. He has traveled out of the country to the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Mexico, and Canada, and he has visited 45 states.
• Adam also enjoys history — he wrote his master’s thesis on electrification in the railroad industry between 1880 and 1930.
• He loves trying new foods and posting photos of his meals on Facebook.
• He also enjoys learning about city issues such as transportation and urban planning.

One of Adam’s fondest and most memorable experiences happened right after he finished high school. He went to school in Ormand Beach, FL to become a Major League Baseball umpire. He completed the five week course (and received a Golden Mask Award), but didn’t pursue it as a profession. The experience provided him with a new appreciation for the game of baseball, its rules, and the umpires. He finds it fun to watch “a game within a game” as the umpires position themselves on the diamond or use hand signals that might not always be familiar to the crowd (or the announcers for that matter). And, he learned from Jerry Lane — a Major League umpire — that a coat hanger and a plate brush can be used to pry open the window of a Plymouth Neon when you lock your keys in the car.

Adam is frequently at the weekly neighborhood Happy Hour at La Frite. Be sure to say hello the next time you see him there. And Adam, we look forward to seeing pictures from your upcoming summer visit to Alaska!

Originally published February 22, 2012 in the Lavaca & Friends Happy Hour update.

A San Antonio native, Roland is a self-employed locksmith with 27 years of experience. He was born and raised in San Antonio and has lived here his entire life. Like so many San Antonio natives, he has been a die-hard Spurs fan since childhood. His other interests include fishing, walking and bird-watching (in fact, every room in the Brackenridge House is named after a bird!). When he is not doing handy-work in the B&B (or locksmith work), you’ll often find him walking along the San Antonio river, watching the Spurs, or feeding the birds.

Lily was born and raised in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, and attended the Universitat Autónoma there. She had family in San Antonio, so when she finished school in the early 1990′s, she moved here to live with them and improve her English language skills. Initally, her plans were to live in the US for a short time, but she met Roland, and her plans changed. She began working for multiple Bed & Breakfasts in the area. She did housecleaning, cooking, and was an “Inn Sitter” for B&B owners when they vacationed or needed a break. One of those B&Bs was the Brackenridge House. Over time, she spent more and more time working there, and less and less time working at other establishments. Eventually, that turned into a full-time position.

Outside of work, Lily enjoys making jewelry, gardening and cooking. She is passionate about trying new recipes and preparing dishes that are as attractive as they are delicious.

Roland and Lily were married in 2003 and bought the Brackenridge House In 2011 when the prior owners retired. They love the Bed & Breakfast business because they have guests from all over the world. The quaint setting and relaxing atmosphere encourage a friendly environment in which they can really get to know their guests and learn about different parts of the world.

Roland and Lily come to the Lavaca & Friends Happy Hour when they can, so say hello the next time you see them. Or feel free to get in touch with them if you’d like to see the Brackenridge House (info@brackenridgehouse.com). It may be a good place for out-of-town family and friends to stay when they visit!

Originally published January 25, 2012 in the Lavaca & Friends Happy Hour update.

President’s Statement

Curtis Bowers – Outgoing 2011 LNA President

Let me first say it has been an honor to serve as your LNA President for 2011.

2011 has been a great year for Lavaca. We’re beginning to see the frameworks of important projects that will positively affect or neighborhood for years to come. You’ll see an update on a couple of these projects (HemisFair and Victoria Commons) in a moment.

For me personally 2011 has been a year of beginnings for me as I became a father in February and opened a new business in September. I could not have taken on these endeavors and continued to serve as President if it weren’t for such tremendous support by our 2011 board. I applaud you. And a huge thank you goes to my wife for continually making the time in her schedule to allow me to serve you this year.

2011 has been a year of increased communication for LNA. It began with a mass first class mailing to every address in Lavaca to update our membership directory. With the help of Hugh Donagher, Jim Feuerstein, and Scott Martin we completely revamped the lavaca.net website and have continually updated it with new content and information. Jim’s LNA eblasts and Jane Gennarelli’s happy hour emails have been a great tool for us to get out our message and to gain new friends and neighbors.

A special thanks to Jane and Jim for beginning the happy hours as a way for us neighbors to gather and catch up outside of the formality of a LNA meeting. And thanks to Syeira Budd for continuing the Lavaca Crawls as another wonderful way for neighbors to gather to see and show off their unique Lavaca homes.

2011 was a year of inaugural annual events for LNA. Margie Rodriguez and Syeira organized the LNA garage sale officially establishing it as a LNA event separate from the King William Association event. I’m looking forward to seeing how this event grows each year. And who could forget the best National Night Out LNA has ever had. I think the success and participation in this year’s event truly sets a new benchmark and beginning to this annual event. Thanks to Jose Cruz, Jim Feuerstein, Gail Mulcahy, Dwight Mulcahy, Jane Gennarelli, and Tanner Neidhardt for all of the planning and execution of that wonderful evening.

Thanks to Joan Carabin, Paula Haley, and Mike Moran for organizing and hosting the District 1 Candidate Forum. It was such a successful event. Their vision for the round-robin roundtable meet the candidates was genius. A political blogger friend of mine that attended went out of his way to tell me how much he enjoyed the format and that he had not seen anything else like it.

Also a huge thanks goes out to Joan and Paula for organizing the hand delivery of both the National Night Out flyers and tonight’s event flyers. Not only did they save us a lot of money on postage but they ensured every door received a flyer. That was a huge service, twice. And also thanks to the San Antonio Housing Authority for distributing the flyers to their residents.

I also want to personally thank our past board members and presidents who served as my council and source for advice for dealing with neighborhood issues within the framework of the past ten plus years. Their knowledge and understanding of our neighborhood association’s history was a huge help to me. Thank you Joan Carabin, Bob Carabin, Penny Boyer, Michael Berrier, Darryl Ohlenbusch, and Tanner Neidhardt to name a few.

Thanks to each of you neighbors and members who help to keep Lavaca the best neighborhood to live in in San Antonio.

And lastly, thank you to Jose Cruz for preparing the brisket we are eating tonight. It is divine.

Although she studied social work, Jane’s career has been in the business world — specifically in applying technology to the practice of law. Today, she owns her own small consulting and products company with her business partner and friend, Jim Feuerstein.

Jane’s traveled a lot — for both business and pleasure — and enjoys going to new places, both inside and out of the US. She has especially enjoyed her trips to Europe and thinks that there’s no better vacation spot than Italy. She last visited there about 10 years ago, and is hoping to make a return trip soon.

Jane is a knitter — and has been for about 30 years. She pretty much always has a project in the works. For the past few years, she has coordinated family and friends’ handicraft efforts and prepared shipments of knitted and crocheted baby sweaters and blankets for The Baby Pack Project, an organization that provides clothing to infants in need in South Africa. She has also knitted donations for the Seton Home, here in San Antonio. If you knit or crochet and would like to join Jane in these efforts, click here to send her an email and let her know!

Jane moved to San Antonio from the northeast in 1994. She lived in the suburbs on the north side of town until she moved to Lavaca in 2007. Jane loves living in Lavaca. She and business partner Jim started the Lavaca & Friends weekly happy hour, and she authors the weekly Lavaca & Friends newsletter.

Of course, no bio of Jane would be complete without a mention of her much-loved rescue dog, Micky. Jane adopted Micky in 2008, and she can’t imagine life without him. “He made my home complete,” she says.

Micky takes Jane out for walks in the neighborhood every day. Next time you see them out for a stroll, stop and say hello!

Originally published December 21, 2011 in the Lavaca & Friends Happy Hour update.

Click to download

A full slate of candidates has been nominated and circulated via the LNA newsletter. If you’re not a subscriber, you can view the newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/hFqjY

The Artisan Park homeowners have been especially concerned about the part of the development that will be going in behind their townhomes. Originally, SAHA had planned to fill that entire area with additional townhomes. However, the initial phase didn’t sell out and the market has since turned down. So SAHA is now talking about putting rental units in that space, with some ownership units around the edges.

The Board of the Lavaca Neighborhood Association recently discussed the issue and asked me to speak with SAHA and ask some questions about that part of the development.

Following is the email that I drafted for the Board on Thursday, reporting on my conversation with SAHA’s Brad McMurray.

(Note: I ran my first draft of this email past Brad McMurray, to ensure that I hadn’t misunderstood anything. He did point out a couple of errors, which I corrected. So, while this is my distillation of the conversation, Brad feels it accurately represents what he told me.)

There’s a discussion of Victoria Commons ongoing within our private neighborhood social network, NextDoor Lavaca. You can also find SAHA’s latest presentation regarding the planned development here on the Lavaca Neighborhood Association web site.

- Jim Feuerstein

******************

Thursday, December 8, 2011

I spoke with Brad McMurray of SAHA on Wednesday morning to ask some of the questions raised by the Board at our meeting Tuesday evening. Brad and I spoke for slightly more than an hour, and this is a distillation of that conversation. In addition, Brad called me just before 5PM today (Thursday) to tell me that a developer has been selected, so I’ll include that update, too.

WHY THE MOVE FROM FOR-SALE TOWNHOMES TO MULTI-FAMILY RENTALS

There are essentially three reasons for the change in approach:

1. Financing. SAHA won’t be able to get financing to build for-sale townhomes. “Unless you have cash — and we don’t — you need to get financing.”

2. Market. Outside consultants have reported that there isn’t sufficient market for the for-sale townhomes. The market demand is for smaller rental units.

3. Experience. The existing townhomes didn’t sell, and that experience provides real-world information about what works and doesn’t work. In addtion, SAHA’s attempts to refinance the existing townhomes served to further emphasize the financing issues.

The plans that SAHA is proposing were based on an analysis of both financing and market realities. SAHA engaged outside consultants to do that analysis. Two consultants were hired to do separate, independent analyses, and a local expert was hired to challenge those analyses. The current plans were based on the results.

SAHA also faces some limitations imposed by its obligation to provide affordable housing. For example, Brad said, it might be possible to develop and sell less-dense luxury units, but that is outside SAHA’s mandate.

However, Brad told me that SAHA is looking at development of ownership units along Refugio and Santa Clara, possibly including both sides of Santa Clara all the way to Leigh, thus pushing the multi-family development further back.

If these ownership units are built in the near-term, they will very likely be rented initially and made available for sale at a later date. If they are built later, it’s possible that — with changes in the market — they could be built for immediate sale. In either case, however, SAHA is planning to build the units with eventual ownership in mind. That means, for example, that the units will have more square feet, more bedrooms, higher-quality finish, designated parking near the front door, and clearer individual identities than units intended only for rental.

DENSITY ISSUE

There are several issues relating to density that I raised with Brad, and he responded:

There are multiple reasons for the increase in planned density.

First, rentals generally require higher density than for-sale units, due to the need to provide resources and staffing. Those fixed costs need to be spread over more units.

Second, SAHA’s mandate includes invigorating the neighborhood. Higher density is required to support some other parts of the plan, including, for example, retail development, parks and parks programming, and a potential business incubator facility. (Brad pointed out, however, that the retail study hasn’t been completed yet, so SAHA doesn’t yet know exactly how the density / retail equation will work out. It’s currently just a general observation: population density supports retail.)

Third, this is part of a bigger picture of downtown development, and higher residential density is a goal of the city.

TRAFFIC AND PARKING

SAHA has commissioned a traffic study which looked at possible bottleneck points. The study isn’t complete (it’s expected before year-end), but preliminary results were available at the November meeting. That study didn’t look at traffic within the Refugio / Artisan Park area itself, only at possible choke-points in the overall neighborhood. Those results were positive and Brad says that, to some extent, you can assume that those results have some meaning for the interior of neighborhood as well.

At the same time, he recognizes that more residents will mean more traffic. To reduce the impact in the immediate area, SAHA is trying to get approval to break another street out into Leigh, thus providing another exit from the immediate neighborhood.

Brad also acknowledges that managing parking is an issue and one that’s not easily resolved as San Antonio develops downtown, urban residential living. SAHA plans to provide code-level parking, but does not plan to create a “suburban-style” development with parking to support two or three vehicles per family. Parking will be aimed at urban living patterns.

SAHA is participating in the City’s process to establish a car-share program, hoping to establish a car-share “pod” in Victoria Commons. Brad says that this is the City’s program, not SAHA’s, but that SAHA hopes to be a partner in the program. In addition, SAHA wants to include bike-sharing and street-car access in an overall “urban” approach to transportation.

According to Brad, the current plan for the streetscape is to emphasize front doors, windows, and gardens, while parking is moved out of view.

STATUS

SAHA recommended a developer to the board this afternoon, and that recommendation has been approved. The selected developer is McCormack Baron Salazar, an organization that — Brad reports — specializes in urban development and revitalization and infill development. He says that the company has done 29 “Hope VI” projects.

Here’s their web site: McCormack Baron Salazar

Now that the developer has been approved, there’s still a contract to be negotiated. Once the developer is in place, SAHA will work with that developer, with Artisan Park residents, and with Lavaca generally to refine the Master Plan with input from all of those parties.

Thus far, Brad says, the plans we’ve seen represent “conceptual massing” — that is, ‘coloring in’ blocks of space with a general concept of what will be developed there. The developer (1) will move to real ‘plans’ and (2) may disagree with the concepts as they stand.

Brad said that a key criteria in selecting the developer was their willingness to solicit and incorporate community input and their experience in doing so.

SAHA hopes to have a final master plan to present to the City in January, but getting the developer involved and getting the developer’s input could result in a delay. Still, Brad hopes that they’ll reach that point by the end of January, since the goal is to break ground on the commercial development (at Labor and Cézar Chávez) in 2012.

POSITION

Brad says that SAHA is trying to do what’s best for the neighborhood as a whole and is trying to do what will work financially and in the market. With that in mind, he says, SAHA is willing to listen to the Artisan Park residents, consider their input, and compromise where possible.

This isn’t José’s first home in Lavaca — he grew up here and attended the Bonham and Brackenridge schools. He lived in St. Albans and Essex Junction, Vermont, and in Chicago before migrating back to our corner of San Antonio.

José is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute and a chef by profession. He has been cooking professionally since 1997. He operates his own business — José’s Vegetarian Catering — and has been cooking part-time at La Tuna Grill since 2008 (If you’d like information on José’s Vegetarian Catering, you can reach José at cruzjosealfredo@gmail.com). José has generously provided culinary delights at more than one neighborhood event!

Tiffany grew up in Austin and has lived in Texas all her life. She did her pre-college education at the Liberal Arts Academy of Austin, and then went to UTSA. She graduated from there with a degree in Art History. She is fluent in Spanish and has been working for the City of Helotes since 2005.

They met in 2001 through mutual friends and were married earlier this year at the home of Tiffany’s grandparents — a breathtaking ranch in the Hill Country outside of Austin.

They share their home with Duke — an adorable Continental Toy Spaniel whom they adopted from the Humane Society in 2004. Duke enjoys treats, walks, belly scratches, and hanging out with José and Tiffany. You can tell at a glance that Duke is a very happy, healthy and much-loved family member (and he looked great in his tux at their wedding)!

Tiffany and José enjoy gardening, home improvement, good wine, reading, and bicycle rides. They are active in the neighborhood. José is currently a Director of the Lavaca Neighborhood Association. He was chair of the recent LNA National Night Out Block Party, and both he and Tiffany worked hard to make that event such a success. When asked how they feel about Lavaca, they responded “We love our neighbors and our neighborhood!”

Originally published December 7, 2011 in the Lavaca & Friends Happy Hour update.

The neighborhood association that donates the most pet food will win a brunch — sponsored by District 1 and held at the field office at 1310 Vance Jackson Road.

Food will be collected from now through Saturday, January 14th. On January 14th, Animal Care Services (ACS) will be at the D1 Field Office coordinating free pet licenses for District 1 residents, giving free rabies vaccines to the first 250 pets, and offering pet sterilization/neutering for $5.

Bark of Southtown has generously offered to be a collection point for donated food. Drop off your donations there (1032 S St Mary’s street), and we’ll get them over to the District 1 Field Office.

Her education included Middle Eastern and Latin American studies, music, languages, and engineering. According to Rebecca, she has used everything she studied. After graduating from UT, she moved back to Washington DC and returned to George Washington University for a publications specialist certificate. Rebecca then began her first career, in editing and publishing.

Because so much of Rebecca’s work could be done over the internet, she got to a point where she could work from anywhere. She decided to move back to Texas, this time to San Antonio. She told her realtor “I want a neighborhood with sidewalks that go somewhere”. She found Lavaca, and it was just what she was looking for. She bought a home on Lavaca Street in December of 2003 and moved in the following month. She has since sold that house and is currently living on the north side of San Antonio. She owns property in Lavaca, however, and plans to move back here.

Rebecca continues to do some editorial and publishing work, but she has started a second career. In the past four years, she has been working in real estate. She started with an agent’s license, and this past year got a broker’s license, and is moving into commercial real estate.

Rebecca keeps busy outside of work. She is a member of the Herb Society and loves botanical things — with a special interest in tropical and subtropical fruits. She’s taken trips to pursue that interest — to South America, Central America and Sri Lanka.

She also loves music. Her mother — who Rebecca calls “the real musician in the family” — taught her to play the piano. One of Rebecca’s most prized possessions is her mother’s baby grand piano. Next on her to-do list is learning to play the accordion. She’s looking to buy a used one and is hoping to take lessons soon. Her favorite San Antonio event is the annual International Accordion Festival, which takes place every October in La Villita.

Rebecca enjoys seeing the world. She’s traveled throughout North America, Central America, South America, and Europe, and she’s visited the Middle East, South Asia, and New Zealand. One of her favorite trips was to Pakistan to ring in Year 2K, where she saw spectacular fireworks and spent much of the New Year’s celebration on a fishing boat. She found the people she met there to be very hospitable and welcoming.

Rebecca, we look forward to having you back in Lavaca and hope that happens soon!

Originally published November 30, 2011 in the Lavaca & Friends Happy Hour update.