As Fiesta San Antonio prepares to sweep through the city with its annual festivities, local businesses and pedestrians are facing hardships navigating an urban landscape marred by construction. While the historic celebration draws near, downtown San Antonio's vitality is partly obstructed by the hum of machinery and the maze of cones and barriers.
"I've been here 22 years," Rene Fernandez, owner of Azuca, told FOX San Antonio. His restaurant, placed in the midst of the construction turmoil, relies on the annual uptick in traffic brought by Fiesta, yet this year he raises a flag of caution, "I think I want to talk just a little bit about, safety," he said. Despite the impending festival, the ongoing development shows no signs of halting, leading Fernandez to witness "families, dodging cars" as they navigate the disrupted streets of Southtown.
Not far from Fernandez's eatery, another local establishment reels from the construction convulsion. Kuenstler Brewery General Manager Danny Alarcon emphasized the struggles patrons experience just trying to reach them. "It's hard to get there. So we just come here instead," customers lament, as Alarcon relayed during an interview with FOX San Antonio. Alarcon's story is not unique, as many downtown businesses brace for the impact on their bottom line due to the construction.
In response to these grievances, San Antonio's District One Councilwoman Sukh Kaur, whose district includes the construction-heavy Southtown, claims regular interactions with the city's Public Works team to mitigate the concerns. According to a statement obtained by FOX San Antonio, Kaur said nearly $1,500,000 of ARPA funds have been allocated to support affected businesses and insists that efforts to expedite construction are key, "At the end of the day, the thing that businesses tell me most is they just want the construction to be done," she explained.
Yet the story holds, another dimension when considering the firsthand experience of newcomers to the city such as nine-year-old Emi Lees. According to a KSAT interview, Lees and her parents encountered a confusing gauntlet of closed sidewalks and detours near iconic landmarks like the Tower of the Americas, "It’s a little bit scary with all these cars honking and driving all over the place," she said. Razi Hosseini, director of the Public Works Department, urges people not to worry and recommended public transport for navigating these disruptions during the city's celebrations, as per KSAT.
While city officials and Public Works devise plans for stickers and signs to guide festival-goers, the sentiment among those affected is a mix of resilience and calls for more immediate solutions. The current state of downtown San Antonio offers a prelude to a Fiesta shadowed, by construction sites, yet the spirit of the city and its entrepreneurs gives a sense that, despite obstacles, the show must indeed go on.
