The Paisano Vol. 46 Issue 4

Page 1

Austin City Limits retrospective see page 7

New farmer’s market possible on campus see page 5

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

September 13, 2011

Volume 46

UTSA: Heavy hitter on SA’s water supply

Issue 4

D.A. drops trespassing charges against football fans

School cited as second highest consumer of water

Morgan Kennedy

news@paisano-online.com

Joshua Morales

Texas has experienced a severe drought with record losses totaling $5.2 billion in agricultural revenue, according to Reuters. More specifically, San Antonio is getting closer to hitting new lows in rainfall while The University of Texas at San Antonio was recently recorded as the second highest consumer of water in the city. According to recent San Antonio Water System (SAWS) studies, the university consumed 14 million gallons in June alone—UTSA had the third place on a ranking of institutions that consumed the most water in San Antonio. Interestingly, UTSA moved to second the following month, with about 17 million gallons of water. In 1917, San Antonio hit its record for lowest amount of rainfall with only 10.11 inches of rain. Currently, San Antonio is at 6.57 inches and the year is almost over. The San Antonio Water System updated the water conservation plan for the city back in 2009. “Year round restrictions remain in effect if the Edwards Aquifer level is above 660 feet mean level at the monitored well,” said the report. Stage one begins when the level drops below 660 feet. Stage two is triggered when the Aquifer level reaches 650 feet. Some restrictions in stage two include landscape watering with an irrigation system only once a week from 3-8 a.m. and 8-10 p.m.

See WATER, Page 3

Burk Frey/ The Paisano

news@paisano-online.com

Limited parking options force students to park farther and rely on the shuttle service.

FEE INCREASE TO SAVE SHUTTLE SERVICE? Students can vote Sept. 13 and 14 on ASAP Ryan Branch

news@paisano-online.com On Sept. 13 and 14, students will be able to vote on a referendum to increase the transportation fee from $20 to $40 per semester. The vote, available on ASAP, is a student-led initiative proposed by the Student Government Association (SGA). If the fee is approved, students are told they can expect more routes, less waiting time and larger transit-style buses similar to the ones used by the VIA Metropolitan Transit. If the vote passes, it will go to the UTSA Board of Regents for final approval. Xavier Johnson, president of the SGA, said, “Parking has always been an issue on campus. The reason the transportation initiative was put to a student vote is because it is the most cost-effective option. Surface spaces are expensive because we are over the aquifer, and the permit rates for

parking garages are out of most students’ price range.” According to the SGA, The current transportation fee was initiated by the “Students for Transportation Reform” in 2007 to pay for the current shuttle system. The initiative was successful, and the shuttle system was separated from the parking and traffic committee. The fee first showed up on students’ tuition bills in the fall semester of 2008. Since then, shuttle ridership has increased 81 percent from 972,000 in 2008 to 1,625,000 in 2010. Currently, the shuttle system has two on-campus routes and four off-campus routes that operate on class days from 7 a.m. to 9:55 p.m., Monday-Thursday, and 7 a.m. to 5:55 p.m. on Friday. On-campus route 13 services the East campus lot to and from the Arts Building.

The families of the 40 passengers and crew killed when Flight 93 knifed into a rural Pennsylvania field a decade ago Sunday were praised for helping to inspire a new generation of Americans while keeping the memories of their loved ones’ dedication and courage burning brightly. At a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, nearly 5,000 people listened as the names of the passengers and crew who were killed were read aloud while bells tolled. Afterward, a choir sang as those in the crowd including family members, first responders, politicians and nearly 1,000 people who came to participate listened intently. “Over the past 10 years we have heard this place compared to many other places’’ including the Alamo and Gettysburg, Gov. Tom Corbett said at the newly dedicated national park that marks the site where Flight 93 crashed. “But the truth is that this place is like no other because the deeds aboard Flight 93 were like no other.”

UTSA’s downtown campus has a new address. On August 8, 2011, just weeks before the fall semester began, the City of San Antonio went ahead with plans to change historic Durango Boulevard to César E. Chávez Boulevard. On March 31, 2011, a City Council Request (CCR) was made by then Councilman Philip Cortez to change the street name to honor Chávez, a farmer and civil rights activist whose actions founded the National Farm Workers Association, later called the United Farm Workers of America. In a 1969 Time Magazine article, Father Bernardo Kenny, a Sacramento, CA priest with a very large MexicanAmerican congregation, stated that Chávez “focused attention on the problem of the farm workers, and he made the Mexican-Americans proud to be Mexican-Americans.” The San Antonio Conservation Society was not opposed to honoring Chávez, but was opposed to the street

news@paisano-online.com

See FLIGHT, Page 2

name change on the grounds that the city had not followed proper procedure. Nancy Hamner Avellar, president of the society stated, “The city council has the authority to make name changes of streets if they choose.” She went on to say, “From the very beginning, we protested the process they used. They were using a new ordinance that had not yet gone into effect.” Since the CCR was made on March 31, the city should have followed the procedures of the old ordinance, which included the number of council votes required to pass the CCR. The society was also concerned about the historical loss. “Although later on some people claimed that the street’s name was not historic, we do have substantial proof that it was,” Avellar said. One of Cortez’s supporting reasons for the name change was that “there was no Mr. or Mrs. Durango that we named the street after.” In fact, Durango Boulevard received its name back in 1882 and was named after the Mexican state Durango. “At that time there were a number of

city street

Burk Frey/ The Paisano

Sheila Alvarado

See CHARGES, Page 2

See TRANSPORTATION, Page 2

Victims’ courage praised at Flight Citizens oppose name change to Downtown Campus about to undergo address change 93 memorial Associated Press

Fans went wild when, on Sept. 3, UTSA played a historic first game. Excited San Antonio football fans -56,743 of them- filled the Alamodome, setting a new record for attendance at an inaugural NCAA game and proving fan dedication. Roadrunner pride soared as the team closed with a 31-3 win against Oklahoma’s Northeastern State RiverHawks, while fans rushed onto the field in celebration. Being on the field without proper authorization is considered criminal trespassing. Among the hundreds of students and fans that rushed the field, Ryan Stanley and seven others were arrested and summoned to appear in court. In response to his fellow classmate’s imprisonment, former Student Body President Derek Trimm created a Facebook group called “True Fan: The Legend of Rowdy Ryan and the Runners of Eight,” in order to gain student support. Before Ryan Stanley was released from jail, there was already 1,000 group members, many of whom were surprised and disturbed by the unnecessary violence some police officers showed while arresting the “Runners of Eight.” The Facebook group ordered tshirts and opened a PayPal account in hopes of raising money to help pay for the court fees and $800 fines that the “Runners of Eight” had been charged.

Part of Durango Boulevard has been changed to honor Mexcian-American workers’ rights advocate César Chávez.

streets in San Antonio whose names were changed to honor Mexico,” according to Avellar. It is believed that during the late 1870s, the United States had suffered during a general economic depression while San Antonio had survived quite well, mostly due to the good trade with Mexico. The street name changes were also

beneficial for San Antonio-Mexico relations since there were so many waves of Mexican immigrants at the time. Street names like Durango, San Luis and Vera Cruz—all states in Mexico—were meant to help make areas more familiar for the immigrants in their new city. See STREET, Page 3


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