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Monday, July 09, 2007

Saveriver.com tops 20-thousand in first month



T.J. Connolly (photo)



Saveriver.com Website Tops 20,000 Hits
in First Month as public interest in protecting downtown neighborhood and Riverwalk High

(San Antonio, TX) As the General Services Administration (GSA) continues its march towards selecting a site for a new San Antonio Federal Courthouse, San Antonians continue to voice their outrage with the process and a reported site along San Antonio’s historic river. The General Service Administration office in Fort Worth is considering bulldozing a revitalizing downtown neighborhood and building the multi-story high security federal facility on San Antonio’s historic Riverwalk on Dwyer Avenue. San Antonians are responding with a resounding “No!” according to results from a local Website.

Local attorney Carla Morrison, who rescued a dilapidated historic home at 408 Dwyer Avenue and invested over $500,000 renovating it in the late-1990’s, alerted the public to the GSA’s secretive process in selecting a new Federal Courthouse site. The GSA has been exploring 18 different sites in San Antonio for over seven years, with no public input.

Scott Armey, Regional Administrator for the Greater Southwest Region of the U. S. General Services Administration announced that his agency has not selected a site and that the Riverwalk, if chosen, would not negatively be impacted.

“Some have suggested that courthouse security will necessitate closing water and pedestrian traffic on the River Walk and hurt tourism in San Antonio. We have no plans to cut off the river to tourism and pedestrian access. Also, a variety of security procedures can be utilized that would not have any negative impact on River Walk access,” Armey wrote.

Saveriver.com spokesman T. J. Connolly countered that such a claim amounts to nothing more than bureaucratic “doublespeak”.

“Mr. Armey’s comments speaks volumes as to how the bureaucrats at the GSA in Fort Worth, and for that matter, how San Antonio Federal Judges Xavier Rodriguez, Fred Biery, Royal Ferguson and Orlando Garcia believe they can just come in and bulldoze a revitalizing downtown neighborhood. Their total disregard for what is best for San Antonio is reprehensible,” Connolly said

Armey added that the process followed by the GSA in selecting a site for a new Federal Courthouse is a very public-involved process.

“The process followed in constructing a new federal courthouse is lengthy and complicated. However, through open dialogue with the city of San Antonio and the community, we can realize a beautiful new courthouse that will outlast all of us,” Armey wrote.

Connolly countered that San Antonians will not be misled by Mr. Armey’s “false promises”. “Mr. Armey and the GSA prefer a public process where he and the Federal Judges select the site they want, and then tell the community. That’s not an open process, that’s a rigged process. San Antonians will not stand for that type of action by the Federal Government,” Connolly said.

Please visit
http://www.saveriver.com/ to share your views or read the comments and views of other San Antonians.

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