Editor's Note: Cityscrapes is a column of opinion and analysis.
In case you missed Mayor Ron Nirenberg's recent bout of boosterism, San Antonio is now an "intercontinental city" that has "arrived on the world stage."
At least that's what the mayor proclaimed with the announcement that Condor Airlines will begin service next May with direct flights from San Antonio International to Frankfurt, Germany. City leaders, hospitality industry honchos and economic development leaders were ecstatic. With the flights, there's the promise of a flood of German and other European visitors. Perhaps even new foreign investment in our town.
Of course, Condor will only be flying here from mid-May to early September. And there will only be three flights each week. And we'll be joining — and competing against — a host of other Condor destinations in the United States, including Miami, Anchorage, Baltimore, Boston, New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle. Presumably, those cities are already on the "world stage."
It will cost San Antonio to join them there, because Condor isn't necessarily convinced there's a sufficient market here. So the city will be subsidizing the new flights with waived landing and terminal fees and a marketing grant — a package valued at $1.3 million in total. And on top of that, Greater: SATX — the renamed Economic Development Foundation — and Visit San Antonio have committed to using their funds to provide a minimum revenue guarantee to Condor, potentially as much as $2 million.
All that to get a handful of seasonal flights to Europe.
But Jenna Saucedo-Herrera of Greater: SATX was still upbeat: "With each new nonstop flight, our region is better positioned to support and attract new corporate growth that, in turn, develops greater career opportunities for the San Antonians here today and those it will attract in the future."
The goal is admirable, although how much those subsidized seasonal flights from Condor will do to "attract new corporate growth" is open to question. The problem and issue for me is what this deal says about the mindset of San Antonio's business and governmental leaders.
For generations, this city's leadership has looked outward for its economic future. We gave away free land — and limestone — to the Army to get Fort San Houston and its soldiers. In the early 20th century, the business leadership promoted San Antonio as a "Tropical Paradise" and "Charming Winter Resort," with the "picturesque quaintness of 'Spanish town' with its odd, winding streets... its water carriers..." in an effort lure Midwesterners to visit, spend their money and perhaps invest in homes and businesses here.
And, of course, there was Hemisfair: yet another attempt to find civic and economic salvation by luring visitors.
In always looking outward to attract growth and development, in spending on big silver bullet projects — a new auditorium in the 1920s, a new stadium in the 1930s, a new coliseum in the 1940s, a new convention center in the 1960s — and again and again, plus the Grand Hyatt —local business and government leaders have managed to avoid dealing with the real needs and potential here.
Our inability to gain a direct flight to Europe isn't a function of how lovely the terminals and facilities at San Antonio International are, it's a product of the incomes and market reality of this community.
So, if we have subsidies to dole out, and a spare couple of million lying around, why not consider what might enhance and support the quality of life for the region's current residents. I'm sure lots of us have our own ideas, and a broad civic conversation would be a fine idea.
But having watched the new San Antonio Philharmonic be born and flourish in its second season, I personally would love to see some of those dollars, both public and corporate, committed to music and the arts with the goal of putting our talented local musicians and artists — well-funded — on that "world stage."
Heywood Sanders is a professor of public policy at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
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