Now that the Tricentennial is in the rear view mirror, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff has an aggressive agenda ahead for the coming year, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Three significant priorities were outlined in his State of the County speech, delivered to the North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.
Key is a plan to join San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg in putting forward a vigorous mass transit program for the city.
"We need a consumer and choice driven public transit system, focused on mobility,innovation, frequency, efficiency, and decongestion," Wolff said.
Like Nirenberg, Wolff said it is time to 'leapfrog' old fashioned and politically unpopular light rail in favor of newer forms, most notably the so called 'trackless trains,' which are coming popular in China. Much like an articulated bus, 'trackless trains' operate on designated street lanes rather than on rails, but other than that, look like and work like trains. The lack of rails ends the need to spend years tearing up the streets for construction projects, which was one of the factors that killed the 2001 light rail proposal.
Another major initiative floated by Wolff would change the face of downtown, by establishing a new school in the central city in conjunction with UTSA.
"Build a stand-alone National Security Cooperation Center and a School of Data Science in the downtown area," he proposed.
Wolff said he has met with new UTSA President Taylor Eighmy, who has proposed major expansions for the downtown campus, and called Eighmy a 'visionary.'
Wolff said the school would work closely with Tech Bloc and USAA, both of which have extensive tech assets downtown, as well as with the 24th Air ForceCyber Command at Lackland AFB and the cyber security centers at Port San Antonio and Brooks.
Another new proposal from Wolff was medical, a Women's and Children's research and treatment hospital, in the University Health System complex in the medical center."It will be the only women's and children's hospital in our city, and the project will be built without a tax increase."
Wolff also proposed a Veterans Relocation Center to help insure that military members who are leaving the service remain in San Antonio.