This is the final in a four-part series on a symposium held at San Fernando Cathedral, “San Antonio: Looking Back on 275 years, Looking Forward to 300.”

    SAN ANTONIO • More than 80 community leaders participated in a unique symposium on March 3 at San Fernando Cathedral Hall, invited by Archbishop José H. Gomez and Mayor Phil Hardberger to develop a moral vision for San Antonio’s next 25 years, the 300th anniversary for both city and cathedral.

    Initiated by the archbishop, with the assistance of Father David Garcia, rector of San Fernando Cathedral, and Father Virgil Elizondo, former rector of the cathedral and noted theologian, the symposium had former mayor and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros as moderator, with Juan Sepulveda of The Common Enterprise facilitating the “Kiva Process” style.

    Posed to three panels of six participants each were three questions relating to the San Antonio community: What should we stop doing? What should we keep doing? What should we start doing? Each panel addressed one of these questions, with each panelist being allowed 90 seconds to present their thoughts, followed by a second round of responses limited to 90 seconds each. Tables of six throughout the room then focused discussion on the topic, jotting their thoughts onto index card-sized Post-its, which were transcribed into booklet form for participants.

    The third and final panel addressed “What should we start doing?” and, in addition to specific recommendations for the future, contained a predominant belief in the urgency of setting these in motion. Panelists included: Phyllis Siegel, CEO of Biomedical Development Corporation; Elisa Chan, former president and current board member of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce and owner of an engineering firm; Lionel Sosa, marketing expert now heading the Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together think-tank; Rev. E. Thurman Walker, pastor of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church; writer and film maker John Phillip Santos; and Elaine Wolff, editor of the San Antonio Current.

    Noting that on the 300th anniversary of San Antonio she would be “89 years young,” Siegel envisioned a typical day in that future, in which she would still be living in her own home (albeit with infrared sensing devices monitoring her health and many of her activities), taking daily walks in a lovely park near her home, working at least three hours a week for pay and discussing with friends the news of the day, “not limited to the obituary columns.” She pointed out one out of five people will be over 60 years old in 25 years, accounting for the largest segment of healthcare expenditures.
    “To ensure human dignity for these citizens,” she said, “I propose that our goals include increasing access to healthcare while lowering costs. And we can do this if we modify our current healthcare technology to empower consumers, the users of healthcare, and if we have public facilities that promote healthy lifestyles, including consumer friendly transportation alternatives.”

    Chan observed that education is the foundation for a lot of things. “But I think what we need to start,” she said, “is to create a sense of urgency,” adding, “that is something we need to do right now.” She also felt we should continue to appreciate the many opportunities our community offers and the diversity of cultures it has.

    Sosa commented on San Antonio’s compassion and “family spirit,” noting that many Chicanos from Los Angeles and elsewhere wish they could live here. “They see a soul that is not present in other cities,” he said. “Now how do we transfer that soul into something that makes that connection with the poor that all of us are so concerned with?” He pointed out we are the eighth or ninth largest city in the country, yet economically remain somewhere between 37th to 39th. He attributes this to “almost the expectation that that’s part of who we are,” a mind-set that we need to change. “We need to all of us agree,” he said, “that we are going to ramp up that connection with the poor by helping them not be poor.” This can be accomplished, he said, by having higher expectations for our youth, starting with an educational system that encourages this.

    Rev. Thurman also saw education as a key factor. “I think our education that just seeks to help our students pass a test doesn’t really help us become that kind of community we need to be,” he said, advocating the teaching of critical thinking skills and exposing students to areas and ideas “beyond their comfort zone.” “If we want to continue to have a compassionate community,” he said, “then we need a kind of creativity in the educational system that will provide curriculum that will give credits for compassionate things that are done by students in the community.”

    John Phillip Santos, noting he had “decamped” from Manhattan to return to San Antonio, envisioned the city as a beacon in the future. “We are to America’s future what Plymouth Rock was to America’s past,” he said, observing that San Antonio is the birthplace of what America is becoming, “the great Mestizo republic that we have always been destined to become” and “a nation of all cultures.” Reflection on what we as a city will become should be the civic responsibility of all San Antonians, he said, and by doing so dissolve “micro-partitions” of the city that separate us. “We need to stop building those partitions,” he said, “start building bridges to the rest of the world and across communities.”

    “One of the great things about an event like this,” said Wolff, “is that you realize things you think we need to start doing are already happening.” Currently, she said, when major development takes place in one part of town, those in other areas of San Antonio feel they have somehow lost out, when a gain anywhere in the city should be seen as a gain for the entire city. She further stressed the need for a better transportation system, such as light-rail, and for a performing arts center downtown, citing “the tremendous talent within this city.”

    In round two of panelist observations, Siegel found “very poignant” the issue of the sense of urgency needed to do what is necessary to make our vision for San Antonio a reality. Regarding education, she suggested focusing on skills, not just education in the general sense. “Our joke at the office is not a joke,” she said. “It’s, ‘Everyone wants to teach microbiology; no one wants to train our lab techs.’”

    Chan touched on inclusiveness, saying, “I hope that in 25 years when we talk about ethnicity, about minority, it’s more in a positive connotation.” She stressed fostering positive communication and discussion between ethnic groups and welcoming ideas from people with different cultural backgrounds. Education, balanced growth and developing national relationships she noted were also important for the development of our city.

    Sosa, noting that young Latinos will be an even bigger percentage of the city in the future, urged that we “look at them all as potential contributors to this city,” as givers rather than takers, and train and encourage them to be all that they can be, rather than devaluing them or causing them to devalue themselves.

    “We need more mixed housing,” stated Rev. Thurman, who pointed out this will foster diversity and inclusiveness. He added, “If we want our young people to appreciate diversity we need to get them out of the classroom and get them visiting various parts of our city.”

    Santos, calling San Antonio already a “great city” that continues to manifest a greater and greater diversity, noted it is still struggling to achieve its ultimate destiny in that regard. Artists will play an important role in this, he said, helping us to envision the transformation of all we are doing. He spoke of the important role our “galaxy of universities and colleges” can play in this. “We need to catalyze these discussions in those seats of learning,” he said, “and connect those seats of learning to our community, so that they’re not just taking place in an ivory tower.”

    Wolff remarked on what a beautiful place downtown San Antonio has become. “The investment that people have made has really started to pay off,” she said. However, more business development is still needed in the city center, she observed, and investment in this area would help with other issues we are facing, such as the urban sprawl westward over the recharge zone and the transportation problem. She strongly encouraged more investment in the arts. “The arts alone, of course, can’t support the economic life,” she said, “but they do so much for the quality of life that people enjoy.”

    Following comments and suggestions from non-panelist participants regarding what had transpired that day, Mayor Hardberger and Archbishop Gomez offered observations of their own.
    “Substantively,” said the mayor, “I learned how much we have a community of interest here, how many things resonate with, I believe, everyone in the room.” He added that he felt confident that, in time, he fully expected to see some fruition of the thoughts that had been expressed. Particularly urgent, he believed, was the need for quality education and skills training. “Every day that goes by, every month, every year that we let people drop out of the system, that’s a precious resource and very hard and expensive to reclaim.”

    The archbishop noted the challenge to himself and all Catholics to practice their faith, as evidenced by the issues discussed — family, education, community, compassion and the environment. The collaboration and ideas put forth by those present, he said, were an encouragement to him in his mission as archbishop to bring hope to people.
    “I hope and pray that we can continue our conversation,” he said, “and that it will be an open conversation, where we can listen to each other and learn from each other; that we can really make San Antonio a better place and a city which really would be a model and example for the whole country.”