Traffic signs along Brenan Avenue signal shared roads

By Mason Hickok Editor-in-Chief

Among several ongoing initiatives underway at UTSA, the Office of Sustainability has begun work to encourage alternative transportation efforts on campus. As a result, Brenan Avenue, which connects Brackenridge Avenue to the Loop 1604 access road, will see significant changes in the coming years.

Brenan Avenue used to sit on the Main Campus’ exterior, but now, it more or less divides the campus. While primarily a two-lane road, it grows to four lanes as it bends between Alvarez Hall and Laurel Village. The current proposal, put forth by the Office of Sustainability, would eliminate vehicle traffic on Brenan Avenue and reserve space for pedestrians and alternative transportation methods such as bicycling, skateboards and scooters. In addition, the Office of Sustainability placed signs along Brenan Avenue warning drivers of pedestrians and bicyclists.

Last semester, the Sustainability office hosted several place-making events to garner public opinion on the proposed changes to Brenan Avenue. feedback is being utilized to help inform future university placemaking opportunities, and Brenan Avenue is included in these areas.”

Assistant Vice President for Campus Planning Josh Gerken described some of the reception.

“The workshops had a great turnout from UTSA students, faculty and staff, and we were able to identify numerous themes from these conversations,” Gerken said.

Gerken further explained what the next step in the Brenan Avenue proposal process would look like.

“Our next step is to present this information to university leadership and share opportunities for promoting safety and walkability on Brenan Avenue,” Gerken said. “Our goal for this year is to utilize the remaining grant funding for the installation of additional features in order to emphasize pedestrian safety.”

“Some of the most common ones for future placemaking included space types for all kinds of people for socializing and studying, relaxing spaces with comfortable amenities with a wide choice of food and drink, and shady, cool green spaces that are more rural feeling. This

Dr. Greg Griffin, an associate professor of urban and regional planning at UTSA, described the need for a democratic approach to decision-making around sustainable projects.

“What I envision [and] hope for is a future that is fundamentally democratic,” Griffin said.

Continued Grant

There is no application, and the 15 scholars will be selected at random from first-generation Latino students who have demonstrated financial need.

The Hector and Gloria López Foundation was started by its namesakes — Hector and Gloria López. Upon their passing, the couple left nearly all of their assets to the foundation for “the purpose of educating first-generation Latinos [in] Texas.”

Sergio Rodríguez, their nephew, who was in charge of running their ranching business, took over the foundation after their passing and serves as the foundation’s CEO.

“Last year, the Hector and Gloria López Foundation began our journey to support colleges and universities who were intentionally — and I say that very purposefully — serving first-generation Latino students,” Rodríguez said. “This grant continues the legacy of my aunt and uncle — Hector and Gloria López.”

“We are investing in communities like San Antonio, El Paso, South Texas, the Rio Grande Valley and Austin. Our foundation is perpetual, and our goal is $11 million in annual giving,” Rodríguez added. “We are Latino founded, Latino led and 100% Latino-focused in our giving.”

According to Rodríguez, while Texas has the secondlargest Latino population in the country, only 39.9% of Latinos

Texas

On Friday, a Texas appellate court ruled that the Public Utility Commission overreached its authority during the February 2021 winter storm by raising the cost of electricity to the maximum. Although the price of electricity in Texas fluctuates according to demand and production, the state’s electricity market monitor estimates that Texas overcharged retail electricity providers by $16 billion for the power used during the storm, according to The Texas Tribune.

U.S.

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a new law on Friday allowing a privately funded “monument to the unborn” to be constructed on the Capitol grounds. The monument, which will be designed with input from anti-abortion groups, will mark the number of abortions performed in the state before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. According to Associated Press News, a similar law was passed in Tennessee in 2018, but the monument has yet to be installed.

World

In Paris and other cities in France, protests broke out after President Emmanuel Macron instructed his prime minister to invoke a special procedure and abandon a parliamentary vote on an unpopular pensions bill last Thursday. Macron’s overhaul would increase the retirement age by two years to 64, which the government claims is necessary to keep the pension system afloat. According to Reuters, approximately 1.3 million protesters rallied against the measure.

in Texas have some sort of college degree compared to 70.1% of non-Hispanic White people. Rodríguez also referenced the state’s 60x30 plan, which “calls for 60% of working-age Texans to receive a degree, certificate or some kind of post-secondary credential by 2030.”

“To reach that goal and close that gap, at least 285,000 Latinos must complete a degree or certificate each year,” Rodríguez said. “And in 2021, only about 132,000 completed that

Continued Sustainability

degree or certificate and fewer than half — 52,000 — were baccalaureate degrees. That’s a very sobering statistic. We have to do better than that, and we have to work hard to ensure that Hispanic serving institutions like [UTSA] are leading that way.”

Given this shared goal to serve Latino students, the partnership between UTSA and the Hector and Gloria López Foundation came about when

Paquet-Durand Ford explained that the event is one that universities commonly partake in. It provides opportunities for representatives from the university to engage with state lawmakers.

“Part of it is kind of teaching students the legislative process [and allowing them to] witness that first hand,” Paquet-Durand Ford said. “As a state school, we do rely on funding from the state. And so, it’s the opportunity to really put a face to the name [and] for legislators to have the opportunity to see who these students are. Because, ultimately, that’s what it’s all about. There’s a lot that goes into it, but at its core, it’s all about students.”

The event was planned by the Office of the President and the Governmental Relations Department at UTSA in collaboration with Student Affairs and Student Activities. Applications for the event were released and interested students had the opportunity to apply within a certain time window. The organizers also reached out to certain departments to have students from these departments apply specifically.

“They wanted to get a wide, diverse range of students, and that was taken into account,” Paquet-Durand Ford said.

Paquet-Durand Ford, along with the SGA Vice President Shaca Sweet, was requested to go as student body representatives. Apart from this, around 10 SGA members were selected to go, and many of them attended because they were a part of other on-campus activities and organizations.

During the event, UTSA was recognized by the Texas House in HR 266 and by the Texas Senate in SR 211. Both bills recognized Feb. 22, 2023, as UTSA Day.

Paquet-Durand Ford was recognized on the House floor, along with President Eighmy and UTSA’s two legislative scholars. She also had the

Rodríguez met with Eighmy to learn more about UTSA.

“[Rodríguez] wanted to learn more about us, who we are, what we’ve been doing and where we were going as an institution,” Eighmy said. “He wanted to understand our deep commitment to the trajectories of the students we serve, especially from South Texas, and he wanted the impact of this opportunity to be profound for the students that it would benefit.

“Here we are today, one of the proud recipients of this grant from the Hector and Gloria López Foundation and it’s so transformational for the students it will impact, but it speaks explicitly to who we are as an institution, what we do as an institution, who we serve and how we go about doing it,” Eighmy added. At the event, Provost Espy also talked about the importance of “classroom to career experiences” like undergraduate research, study abroad and industry internships. Students who benefit from the grant will also be provided the opportunity to participate in these careerrelated experiences.

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“An approach that says people should decide what these best solutions are, and that we need to work together to figure it out.”

Griffin expanded on the different approaches that could be explored regarding transportation. “For a lot of people, that means different things,” Griffin said. “I am interested in health [and] the environment, so that points us toward small, lightweight vehicles, sometimes electric. That might be bicycling, walking [and] scooters, that sort of thing. But we also have to recognize that does not suit everybody’s needs.”

Last fall, the Office of Sustainability launched its BeakCycle bike share project. A grant from the Texas Department of Transportation aided the program’s launch. Currently, there are 21 BeakCycle racks across the Main Cam- pus. For Griffin, bike share programs in partnership with universities allow for greater accessibility.

“I’m excited about the prospects for bike sharing that the campus sustainability office and others have offered and envisioned as a good solution, particularly for the university,” Griffin said. “Bike sharing solves multiple problems at the same time.”

Griffin also serves as one of the co-principal investigators with ScooterLab. Murtuza Jadliwala, an associate professor in the computer science department, leads the project. Recently, the project was awarded a $1.7 million National Science Foundation grant to assist with the first phase of the project. The scooters will be available on both the main and downtown campuses.

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State of the City— Week of March 21

opportunity to go on the Senate Floor accompanied by President Eighmy, Chancellor Milliken and two legislative scholars when the aforementioned bill declaring Feb. 22, 2023, as UTSA Day at the Capitol was being read.

Following lunch, PaquetDurand Ford had the opportunity to interact with senators. She was part of a group of eight students who were split into four even groups. Each group was accompanied by a governmental relations person and one of four UTSA vice presidents in attendance. The groups had scheduled meetings with legislators.

“What that looked like was sitting down with the legislator, presenting them with materials about UTSA’s legislative priorities, and above all else, just sharing our experience and asking any questions they may have specifically for students,” Paquet-Durand Ford said.

At the same time, the rest of the students were given packets and lists so that they could walk around the Capitol, giving the materials to all the other legislators that were present in their offices.

Other events that took place during the day included a cybersecurity showcase, miniconcerts conducted by student musicians and a research showcase.

“This was definitely one of the top three moments of my entire presidency,” Paquet-Durand Ford said. “As students, sometimes, it can be frustrating because we want to have our voice heard, and we want to make sure that [the] conversations in higher [education are] really centered around students. So, UTSA Day at the Capitol [was] really about making sure that the conversation is ultimately focused on students, and it was just such an honor and a privilege to be a part of that.”

By Gauri Raje News Editor

Voting and Elections:

Last week, the Texas Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of San Antonio voters getting the chance to vote on a charter amendment, also known as Proposition A. The amendment, proposed by the San Antonio Justice Charter, aims to decriminalize abortion and marijuana, among other topics. The City Council voted to place the amendment on the city’s May 6 general elections ballot; however, this move was legally challenged by Texas Alliance for Life, an anti-abortion group. The Court’s ruling did not address the legality of the proposition — it only stated that the election should proceed as planned with the amendment in question on the ballot. Therefore, any challenges to the legality of the charter amendment will have to wait until after the election has occurred.

Crime:

A San Antonio man and woman were sentenced for their role in a SIM card swapping fraud scheme on Wednesday, March 15, at a federal courthouse in San Antonio. According to the Department of Justice, the individuals in question, 24-year-old Zena Elisa Dounson and 22-year-old Andrew Percy Trujillo, “conspired to access and transfer assets from victims’ cryptocurrency accounts via SIM swapping.” Trujillo was sentenced to 33 months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay “approximately $282,000 in restitution.” On the other hand, Dounson received a split sentence of two months in prison and five years of probation while also being ordered to pay $282,000 in restitution.

A 21-year-old man has been arrested in relation to a deadly car crash that killed three San Antonio natives. Isaac Munoz faces three counts of Failure to Stop and Render Aid – Death, News4SA reports. The incident occurred when Munoz’s Ford F-350 slammed into a Hyundai, killing 23-year-old Matthew Lindsey, 23-year-old Daniella Harris and 24-yearold Spencer Jandreau. Munoz’s bond has been set at $500,000.

Misc:

On Wednesday, March 15, a tree limb unexpectedly broke and fell on a family at the San Antonio Zoo, resulting in seven individuals being hospitalized. One of the family members, an eight-year-old girl, is in critical condition.

Tim Morrow, president and CEO of the San Antonio Zoo, explained that the cause of the breakage is under investigation. The family’s loved ones have since created a GoFundMe to help the family with their medical expenses.

A San Antonio resident has won $1 million after purchasing a Powerball ticket from a convenience store located in the city’s Northside. The drawing for the ticket took place on March 4, and the winner has chosen to remain anonymous.

After being mostly closed for three years due to the pandemic and construction, the Central Library is set to reopen on April 1. The opening will be commemorated with an event, which will begin with a speaking ceremony at 10 a.m., followed by a ribbon cutting.

According to Texas Public Radio, three floors of the library have undergone “major renovations.” Renovated areas include the children’s library and the first and third floors.