Viva San Antonio

As an adopted San Antonian (or Houston refugee), I’ve come to enjoy life in the Alamo City.

The latest San Antonio Business Journal includes a supplement called All About San Antonio. The supplement contains all sorts of factual information regarding our fair city. I encourage you to pick up a copy. If you study the information, you will find a number of things that are positive. Unfortunately, there are a few items that are not that great.

Very few people outside of San Antonio realize that we are the seventh largest city in the country. In fact, we are larger than Dallas, which is eighth. Take that AT&T!

Here are some other interesting tidbits. The number of homicides has remained the same over the last three years. You would never know that by watching the six o’clock news. Theft is up 25% over the same period. So I guess you can expect to be burgled, but not shot.

The median priced home in 2008 was $151,000 in San Antonio versus $197,000 nationally. The median family income was $57,000 here and $64,000 for the nation. Our per capita personal income was $34,937 which was 189th in the country. Unemployment is just under 8%, which is well below the national average. In other words, people are working, but they are not being paid very much. So, while call center employment growth is good for the employment numbers that the mayor brags about, it really doesn’t put much money into the economy.

This trend will probably continue as long as the available quality of education is substandard. Companies with big paying jobs are not going to invest in communities that provide poor education for their families…..it is just that simple.

Of the sixteen school districts listed in the article, three districts were rated “Unacceptable” and seven districts were rated as “Acceptable”. “Acceptable” means that the district met no more than the minimum standards (good job Alamo Heights-you meet minimal standards). “Acceptable” is nothing to shout about. There were six recognized districts. Of this group, three were at the military bases. HEY, MAYBE DISCIPLINE MAKES A DIFFERENCE IN EDUCATION ………

The substandard schools were in the predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods. Hispanics have the highest drop out rate in Texas. Hispanics have the smallest percentage of kids going to college in Texas. If you are Hispanic, and you want your kids have income that is 189+th in the country, and their kids to have income that is 189th, then continue with your current attitude toward education.

In 2040, San Antonio is projected to have a population of 2.5 million people. Of these, 1.5 million will be Hispanic. That is 61% of the population. That would be 1.5 million people in our beautiful city making far below the national income median.

So my charge to my Hispanic friends is: “Get off your butt and make a difference unless you want to live in McAllen North!”