Welcome to the St. Mary's Gateway District

by Nicolette Good, Associate Editor, and Candace Kuebker, Executive Editor

On warm summer afternoons, Jason rode his bike along St. Mary's sidewalks like they were an extension of his own driveway one block north of the University.

"St. Mary's was right there," recalls Jason Cox (B.B.A. '98). "It was part of the family, and it actually felt like part of our house."

University Park, the neighborhood that shares a fence with St. Mary's, had the right ingredients for years of many fond memories.

The Councilman’s office constructed new bike lanes to promote a bikeable community.

"We never locked our doors. Everyone just looked out for one another," Jason says.

When he visits his parents at home now, Jason still senses the neighborhood charm he witnessed as a child. But a newcomer might tell a different story.

Renters have replaced many of the original longtime homeowners; stray dogs rummage through morning trash in search of breakfast; and white picket fences are tagged with graffiti painted by school kids.

Now Jason's mother, Jo Cox, does more than watch out for kids playing in the street, thanks to a powerful partnership among St. Mary's University and key players committed to revitalizing the neighborhood her family has known for decades.

The seeds of neighborhood revitalization were planted in 2002 when St. Mary's helped found the University Park Neighborhood Association (UPNA), of which Jo was its first president and current vice president. Ever since, the UPNA has held monthly meetings on campus where it can tap into the intellectual capital of St. Mary's faculty, staff and students.

A few years later, while President Charles L. Cotrell, Ph.D., drafted St. Mary's strategic plan, Vision 2012, he had revitalization in mind. Vision 2012's goal to extend boundaries calls St. Mary's to become more active in community outreach, development and improvement. So in March 2007, Cotrell led the formation of the Neighborhood Revitalization Project with a Task Force that would collaborate with neighbors on infrastructure and quality of life improvements, commercial transformation and housing rehabilitation.

The Task Force's greatest boon is its diversity of talents, resources and expertise. Chaired by Ramiro Cavazos (M.P.A. '03), president of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (SAHCC), its members include longtime University Park residents like Jo Cox, passionate individuals from the University and city government, and experienced community activists. Partnerships have been the hallmarks of the Project's success. With a nearly $600,000 three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), St. Mary's hired Revitalization Project Director Steve Nivin, Ph.D.

Augmented by grants from the city, St. Mary's Alumni Association and foundations, the HUD grant helped Project partners plant trees, hold public meetings and small business summits, publish a semiannual newsletter for the Phase 1 area, and survey neighbors about desires for commercial redevelopment.

In 2009, things really started moving when the on-campus Neighborhood Center opened in the AT&T Center for Information Technology. It's now a place where residents and business proprietors access home ownership and credit counseling, home repair assistance, and economic development resources.

At the intersection of Cincinnati, Tulane and Stonegate, this one-time traffic island is the Project’s first pocket park. Completed in April, it offers a beautiful green space for residents.

In the Catholic and Marianist spirit, St. Mary's asked the community first-hand what was needed. A Task Force committee surveyed nearby residents while the SAHCC – in conjunction with a University class project – conducted surveys of businesses along Culebra and Bandera Roads' commercial corridors. Another class donned their economist hats to gather consumer habits and commercial interests of University faculty, staff and students.

In 2010 alone, the Revitalization Projecthas seen tangible signs of its progress. A pocket park in University Park was completed in April, with the help of the city, UPNA, District 7 Councilman Justin Rodriguez and Preferred Landscaping and Lighting. This green space serves as a model for future parks that will entirely transform the street view.

Major infrastructure improvements near completion on Woodlawn Ave., Culebra Road and Bandera Road have already put a new face on the area. In addition, the Office of the Councilman is installing bike paths, crosswalks and a turning lane on NW 36th Street into the campus—projects that will make the vicinity safer and more accessible.

As the anchor of San Antonio's Northwest side, it is St. Mary's duty to use its resources—time, visibility, skills, talents—to lead efforts that improve the lives of people who live, work, study and play here. Even in its fledgling stages, the Neighborhood Revitalization Project has reached many milestones and is poised to achieve many more.

It just goes to show that when people put their minds and energy together, great things can, and do, happen.