Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush is scrapping many of the key parts of that planned Alamo Plaza redevelopment, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Bush's office owns the Alamo and the so-called 'Crockett Block' of businesses across Alamo Street from the Alamo, and he said, in an event at the Alamo sponsored by the conservative group Empower Texans that 'I am the boss' and he will have the final say on all aspects the $300 million plus redevelopment effort.
Bush announced the following 'revisions' to the plan, which was first unveiled earlier this year:
1) The Cenotaph will not be moved to a location along the San Antonio River across from the Convention Center
2) The plexiglas wall that was included in the master plan to deliniate the grounds of the original Alamo mission will not be built
3) Planners were incorrect when they said the renovation will focus on 'ten thousand years of history.' He says it will focus on the 1836 battle.
4) Bush says the General Land Office is in negotiations with the City of San Antonio to take control of Alamo Plaza, which is now city owned space.
5) The Alamo has been threatened by the urban terrorist group 'Antifa.'
First, the Cenotaph. The 1936 monument, which was funded and built by the Daughters of the Republc of Texas to mark the 100th anniversary, was planned to be moved to the San Antonio River across from the convention center, which is where the bodies of the Alamo defenders are believed to have been cremated. Planners said it would provide a 'gateway to the Alamo complex.
'Bush said if the Cenotaph is moved at all, it will only be moved a few yards to the south.
"The only other spot that I can think of is just south of where the south gate is," he said. "That's the entrance of where the Alamo is. So under the master plan, every single visitor, the two million who visit the Alamo every year, would pass it and would understand it."
The planners had envisioned a role in the re-imagined Alamo to stress the lives of the Native Americans who settled along the San Antonio River 10,000 years ago, all the way to the Spanish settlement of the Southwest, up to the development of San Antonio. But Bush says he wants the redevelopment to focus on the Battle of the Alamo.
"We are focused on the Battle of 1836, restoring the battlefield, and restoring the church, which is deteriorating before our very eyes."
Perhaps the most controversial part of the master plan was the plexiglas 'wall' which planners said would allow visitors to get a 'sense of location' on Alamo Plaza, and reconstruct the original mission wall which stood during the battle.
Bush says overwhelming opposition to the wall has led him to scrap it.
"In light of that, that concept in on the table, and is no longer in the process, or in the queue, for the master plan."
Bush also said he would like the City of San Antonio to cede Alamo Plaza to the state, so it can be included in all major master plan decisions, although Bush said he has a good working relationship with city officials.
And, the Land Commissioner offered this chilling detail:
"We have Antifa (which is a group which claims to oppose President Trump, but has been designated as an urban terror group by law enforcement). which has said it is going to rally, and plans the desecration of elements of the Alamo."
Bush stressed he will preserve several other key parts of the Alamo master plan.
He wants to convert the Crockett Block, which includes Ripleys, the wax museum, and other businesses into a world class museum and visitor center, which will include the Phil Collins Collection of Alamo memorabilia. He says the plan is to move the businesses to a still to be determined 'entertainment district' near Alamo Plaza.
Alamo Street will still be closed and a 'main entrance' to Alamo Plaza will be created near the current Corner of Alamo and Commerce.
Bush stressed he hopes to rid the area of the 'carnival atmosphere' which currently exists, which is not only distracting from the gravity of the location, but is leading to vehicle traffic which is damaging the Alamo and the Long Barracks.
While it wont be a plexiglas wall, he hopes to create some form of demarcation area to show where the Alamo mission walls were located.
He plans to invest millions to repair the Alamo and the Long Barracks and stop its deterioration.
The entire plan is set to cost about $300 million, much of that money raised through private contributions. The construction is set to begin in 2018 and should be completed by 2024, which is the 300th anniversary of the establishment of the Alamo at its current location.