The single most controversial part of the ambitious plan to 'reimagine the Alamo has been shelved, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Planners and Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, whose office owns the Alamo, have decided to table the idea to build a plexiglass wall completely around the Alamo Plaza."I hope it remains under the table," Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said.
The Philadelphia company that led the master plan for Alamo Plaza came up with the idea of the wall to mark the location of the old Alamo Mission Wall and to give visitors a 'sense of place' when they entered the area through a gate to be build on the south end, at the same location of the gate in the wall that was built in 1724.
Wolff said the wall would stand as a a 'barrier' between the City and the Alamo, as well as being historically inaccurate and 'create a potential safety hazard' in case of an emergency.
"It does close the street north and south," Wolff told News Radio 1200 WOAI's Michael Board. "If they do close the street, I wish they would do it in a way that allows emergency vehicles through there."
The wall was met with almost overwhelming opposition when it was included as part of the master plan.
"Bexar County Historian and Historic Preservation Specialist Betty Beuche spoke at a recent City Council meeting and encouraged City Council to move ahead with the Master Plan, but opposed the construction of the proposed barriers," Wolff said in a letter to Bush. "We were encouraged to hear that Mayor Ron Nirenberg agrees."