The San Antonio River: Increasingly famous for more than just its over-commercialized watercourse

San Antonio River before the River Walk

The River Walk in San Antonia, Texas, has been called an over-commercialized watercourse by some London thinkers such as the popular newspaper columnist Larry Cornies.

His description of the San Antonio River looping through the city core is quite accurate. The loop, once known as the Great Bend, is no longer so great. It is simply a watercourse, a highly managed canal, cutoff from the main river by flood control gates. It is a water route made redundant by a bypass channel in service for almost a hundred years.

As the postcard from 1916 shows, even before the great flood of 1921, and the subsequent flood control measures, the Great Bend was being tamed. The card shows what is now the busiest section of the River Walk. Restaurants and other businesses line the canal today.

It is interesting to note that the same battle is being waged today in London, Ontario, that was once fought over the Great Bend, the looping watercourse through downtown San Antonio.

Architect Robert Hugman realized the loop, isolated from flooding, could be developed for commercial use. He came up with an imaginative plan he called "Shops of Aragon and Romula" inspired by cities in Spain. Opposing Hugman was the professional city planning firm Harland Bartholomew and Associates of St. Louis. These out-of-state experts, hired by the City Plan Committee, wanted the Great Bend to be natural, pastoral, a linear park with no commercial development at water level. The Great Depression put both plans on hold.

By 1939, it appeared Hugman's River Walk plan had won. Hugman was hired and arched bridges in white limestone, concrete walkways and an outdoor theater all shortly appeared. At the same time, riverside plantings disappeared along with the water in the loop. Hugman had the channel drained temporarily. Hugman's work as called a "desecration of the beauties of San Antonio" and, less than a year into the project, Hugman was fired, leaving much (but not all) of his dream unrealized.

The River Walk languished for almost three decades before gaining solid traction in 1968 with the hosting of the World's Fair in San Antonio. The Walk was linked by a new quarter mile long channel to the fairgrounds.

San Antonio Channel: Mission Reach at Ashley Rd (Planned)

But do not assume that Hugman's dream, his over-commercialized watercourse, is the clear winning vision for the San Antonio river. Outside the protected loop, river development appears to be is taking a turn towards the green. The latest Master Plan aims to restore some of the waterway to a more natural state while maintaining flood control benefits.

The Hugman and the Harland Bartholomew dreams may yet co-exist with the support of the U.S Army Corps of Engineers. The army engineers have taken the initial steps aimed at restoring the ecosystem of the river.The army corps brags:

The Mission Reach project occurs along eight miles of the San Antonio River and . . . includes restoration of pool-riffle-run sequences, river remnants, off-channel pools, sinuosity, and aquatic and riparian vegetation. Recreation is included as an ancillary, non-disruptive component of the restoration . . . The re-establishment of native herbaceous plants, grasses and wildflowers is planned along with the planting of approximately 20,000 (native) trees (and shrubs) along the riparian corridor.

Read more about the San Antonio River Improvements Project on the SARIP webpage.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Wealth Gap (HBO)

John Oliver's take on native advertising

When I worked at The London Free Press I saw how some newsfolk lived in fear of offending important advertisers.

I was promoting a story involving the big car companies. I was rebuffed again and again until someone in charge finally admitted that the paper was not going to instigate a negative story concerning the car companies.

Their advertising dollars bought more than just space in the paper; it bought a small amount of what I call editorial insurance.

Renovation is not restoration

Contrary to media reports, the construction work completed at the former Century movie theatre site has not created a showpiece of restoration. The movie theatre auditorium was demolished more than two decades ago, restoration was unlikely, if not impossible. Why? Restoration reveals, recovers or recreates a heritage period in a structure's life. This didn't happen.

Why is this important? Because one of the goals of the London Plan is heritage preservation. Hopefully the London planning department has higher standards when it comes to preservation and restoration than the local media.

Auditorium, now lost: Ontario Archives

Long entrance foyer to former theatre.

Is a San Antonio-style River Walk possible in London?

River Walk, San Antonio, Texas            Photo: Billy Hathorn

According to The London Free Press, Austin,  Texas, "turned a stretch of its river into its famed River Walk of cafes and shops . . . ."

The paper is right but it is not the whole story. It was almost a century ago when a loop in the San Antonio River was bypassed by a channel. Robert Hugman, a young architect, devised an imaginative plan for the loop isolated from the main river by flood control gates. Inspired by cities in Spain, Hugman began construction of what he called "Shops of Aragon and Romula." This loop, separated from the river for years, was developed over the intervening decades into the River Walk famous today.

The main River Walk is a loop isolated from river by flood control gates.

The River Walk is a lot of things, including a success, but it is not anything like the Thames River in London, Ontario — unless you are thinking of odours.

Both rivers, the Thames and the San Antonio, have suffered from odour problems in the recent past and sometimes from a similar cause: untreated sewage overwhelming treatment facilities during periods of heavy rain. Raw sewage mixes with storm water and both are then discharged untreated into to the river.

According to an EPA release, the San Antonia sanitary sewer system dumped more than 23 millions gallons of raw sewage into local waterways between 2006 and 2012. A 1.1 billion dollar upgrade has been announced to remedy the problem.

When it comes to the dumping of raw or partly treated sewage into a local river, London is one of the worst offenders in the province according to a Free Press story from 2013. One London politician, since voted from office, told the paper there just wasn’t enough money available to solve the issue at that time.

Like I said, London isn't San Antonio. Apparently, the Texas city has the money to fix their sewage problem.

Corruption is Legal in America

Truthiness reigns in newsrooms

The London Free Press article claims the reflective markers found on fire hydrants in London, Ontario, are shaped like the Maltese cross. One look at a picture of a Maltese cross confirms this isn't true. Without a doubt, the blue marker shown is not shaped like the Maltese cross. What cross, if any, inspires so many of the firefighter emblems in North America? The answer: the cross of St. Florian.

The cross of Saint Florian, used by firefighters, is often confused with the Maltese cross; although it may have eight or more points, it also has large curved arcs between. The cross of St. Florian is widely used by fire services to form their emblem. -- Hudson, New Hampshire, Fire Department and others and others.

When I read the questionable reference to the Maltese cross in the paper, I immediately contacted the paper. I posted my correction as a comment below the story. All comments must be vetted before being published. I thought the comment would make the newsroom aware of the confusion and the story would be corrected

London Professional Firefighter Association

Why did I believe the cross was misnamed? Because, I used to work at The Free Press and I used to visit local fire halls to take pictures for the paper. It was on one of those assignments that I learned it was a common myth that the firefighter symbol is the Maltese cross. Simply not true, a London firefighter told me.

Think about it, he said, the Maltese cross is sharply pointed. The cross in question is gently curved. The London symbol is based on the cross of St. Florian, the patron saint of firefighters, he said.

And the London Fire Department is not alone in using the cross of St. Florian. Numerous fire departments across North America use a form of this symbol. Even the International Association of Fire Fighters is on board.

Which cross do you see in the IAFF emblem?

The funny thing is many of the fire fighting organizations don't know their St. Florian cross from their Maltese cross. It is a common error.

I believe the London firefighter. Despite the claims of others, I'm sure he is right. The reflective markers in use in London are not the Maltese cross but the cross of St. Florian.

Admittedly, there is a connection between the Maltese cross and firefighters. There are badges in use that are decorated with the true, sharply pointed Maltese cross or a clear derivative. Many of these are in use in Canada.

Did the newspaper remove the questionable history lesson from the article? No. And they didn't post my comment either. Somewhere there is a London firefighter shaking his head.

Left to right: Maltese cross, reflective marker in London, cross of St. Florian

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Why is the wrongful identification of a firefighter symbol worth a blog post? Because this is about more than one very small mistake. This post touches on a very big problem affecting newspapers and all other media outlets: truthiness.

Mark-A-Hydrant reflectors in shape of cross of St. Florian.

This is a word coined by comedian and former host of the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert. A news story with the quality of truthiness rings true. But being truthy doen not mean it is necessarily facty.

Something that has truthiness seems true, it feels right, it may even have the support of some trusted sources⁠—but dig deep and it will become clear that the statement is not true. In fact, it might be complete balderdash.

"Facts" that are actually balderdash crop up all too often in the media. Once an error is reported as truth and then reported again and again in newspaper article after newspaper article, repeated on television newscasts and radio reports, the error takes on a patina of truthiness.

For an example, think of the UFFI scare. Today it is known to have been balderdash. Yet, the myth is stronger than the truth and even newspapers that have carried the opposing view at one time or other, still fall back on the myth. Colbert was quite right: truthy wins over facty.

I contacted the paper on the weekend about the neither-here-nor-there error of misidentifying the cross of Saint Florian. The common error is still in the story and it is in my Monday morning paper. Sad, but no big deal.

Newspaper columnist admits fear and anxiety overblown.

But the UFFI error is a big deal. At the time the original UFFI story broke, I had proof the story was wrong. On one assignment a scientist from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment told the reporter I was with that my take on UFFI was correct. The scientist backed me up.

Did folk at the paper look at my documents? No. Did the professional journalists examine any of the evidence I gathered? No. The adherence of the media to truthiness and not fact financially damaged thousands of innocent people across North America.

Some months back the local paper ran an article on rebranding. The article illustrated the strength of rebranding with a story on rebranding in action. The illustrative story was nothing more than truthiness.

When I confronted a reporter from the paper about this, the reporter told me that the illustrative story didn't have to be true; it only had to illustrate something that we all know to be true. Stephen Colbert would be proud.

Truthiness causes big problems and that's the truth.

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Addendum:

If you are thinking of sending a comment and getting into an argument over the correct name for the cross that inspired so many of the firefighter symbols in North America, please click the link and read the post titled The Maltese vs. Florian cross: Which one is correct?

FireRescue1states The Florian cross is often confused with the Maltese cross. But it is the Florian cross that is used by the majority of fire departments in the States.

Whether it is claims about UFFI or claims about the symbolism of a cross, it seems a claim does not always need to be true. Far too many journalists believe a good story should never go unreported but it can go unquestioned.

I will leave the last word to the American Township Fire Department:

• Look at the shape of the ATFD patch. Many call it the Maltese cross when in actuality it is known as the cross of Saint Florian, the Patron Saint of Fire Fighters.