Progress to Regress!

Human life requires food, oxygen, and water. The San Antonio City Council seems to think these variables of life are never going to run out. The city seems to think that polluting the major source of drinking water and cutting down a majority of trees which in turn takes away our supply of oxygen is not only acceptable but not a big deal. The series “Losing Ground” by the San Antonio Express News was an informative article on how the aquifer and the environment are being treated in San Antonio.

The problem is the “vested rights” law; the law stops cities from imposing new restrictions on a real estate project once a developer files virtually any kind of plan for it. This usually means that any sketch of a plan a developer introduces to city hall can be exempted from San Antonio Water System rules and regulations. Not to mention several ordinances can be ignored as well. So, why ruin the city due to these laws? Political aspects between the developers and the city are more than responsible for these intolerable transgressions. Developers put up the argument that if the city does not progress it will regress. The city seems to get caught in between the loop holes of what is right for the city and what is right for the cities economy. It is all about the money developers promise to bring in and the time the city does not want to spend standing over the shoulder of the construction of “progress.” So, the city might as well exempt them from any mandatory care for the environment and then no ones to blame. Unfortunately, our aquifer is being damaged and overridden with pollutants that will contaminate and ultimately destroy.

Another huge issue in this subject is the lack of knowledge that is put out to the citizens of San Antonio. I for one am enormously grateful for this particular series in the S.A. Express News. It gives people or even classes a chance to learn something new and dreadfully disturbing about what is going on with our city. What is great about the articles is that they are not being vague about the details. Each article involves specific cases with both sides of the story: the city and the developer. For example, in 1995, the City Council unanimously approved an ordinance to control and “limit development over the aquifers recharge zone.” However, “Since then, four out of five requests for exemptions over the recharge zone have been granted, according to records at the San Antonio Water System.” That is a ridiculous ratio to have if SAWS is really trying to save our water. It’s hard to blame the developers only, when they could be controlled if our government was stronger.

So what is the problem? Still a question unanswered in my mind. There is just too much greed and corruption in our city. There has to be something fishy going on in City Hall if council members are still allowing the deliberate destruction of our natural resources. They are fully aware of the consequences but are not paying full attention to the reality of this situation. This article is telling us the future of San Antonio’s water supply and we all refuse to see it.