SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Public Works Department held an open forum meeting Friday to address ongoing construction project concerns on the St. Mary’s Strip.
During the meeting at the Rumble Bar on North St. Mary’s and Ashby streets, Public Works Director Razi Hosseini explained to residents and business owners the $11.4 million multi-phase project endured minor setbacks but remained on track to be completed by September 2023.
“Late October — we are going to open two lanes of traffic where we have closed it,” Hosseini said.
He said people would see more visible progress by the end of the year, particularly on North St. Mary’s just south of East Ashby street.
However, business owners say the ongoing project is killing their profits.
“People are going to lose jobs because revenues are down. These are real things that are happening to real people here,” said Chad Carey, president of the North St. Mary’s Business Owners Association.
One of Carey’s colleagues, Alan Johnson, the owner of The Amp Room, said decreasing staff has already become a reality for his establishment. “Before the construction, we’d have four servers on and three full-time bartenders. Now, we’re down to one cocktail server and one bartender,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the additional 365-day wait for project completion comes as a concern for himself and his neighbors.
“This sidewalk was laid three weeks ago. They tore it up on Tuesday to re-do it, and it’s because something was done improperly,” he said.
Representatives of San Antonio’s District 1 office have scheduled a meeting to address parking concerns in the “nightlife district” area. The meeting is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8, at San Antonio College Victory Center.
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