A fight over Brackenridge Park between a Native American group and the City of San Antonio now heads to the Texas Supreme Court.
It began with a bond issue San Antonio voters approved in 2017. The bond included funds to refurbish part of the park, including renovating the old pump house and the elimination of some trees.
The trees are the nesting spaces of the large white cormorants in the Lambert Beach area, near the Brackenridge Conservancy’s headquarters building. Hundreds of the migratory birds nest there each year. The large, fetid mess they leave on the ground under them is considered a health hazard, particularly for children.
San Antonian Gary Perez spent every Easter in the area as a child with his family, celebrating at Brackenridge Park. “And then as I grew older, into my 20s, I learned that it was also a holy place,” he added.
The realization came as he examined his own roots and found this place’s sacred importance to him. “I'm with the 'Hoosh Chetzel' Native American Church for the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas,” he explained.
Once he learned more of his ancestry, his world view evolved too. “Here's what indigenous peoples believe: There is an upper world, a middle world and an underworld, and all of those places are represented at the park, at the bend of the river,” Perez said.
This belief put him at odds with the city and the Brackenridge Conservancy, which is trying to use the bond money in the way it believes San Antonians would have them use it: by lessening the detrimental effects of the birds and fixing parts of the park's infrastructure that may need repairs. Supporters argue that those repairs include cutting down some trees — including large ones — and reinforcing weakened retaining walls.
“Some of [the trees] do need to go because they're dead or they're falling over. But most of them are healthy oak trees, and some of them are heritage trees, and do provide a lot of shade,” he said.
Perez and the city are at loggerheads over the matter, and they've gone to court. He lost that first case, then appealed, and that first decision was vacated by the Fifth District, setting up a date with the Texas Supreme Court.
“Dec. 4 is Wednesday, and we will be at the State Capitol at 9 a.m. to hear our attorneys argue on behalf of our case,” he said.
Brackenridge Park Conservancy is awaiting the court’s decision.
The city attorney's office said in a statement that the city recognizes that Perez and Matilde Torres, the plaintiffs in the case who are both members of the Native American Church, "contend that the City of San Antonio will be in violation of that provision" to observe "the proper standard of review for applying the Religious Services Protection in the Texas Constitution, Article 1, Section 6a" if the planned work on Brackenridge Park is carried out.
However, the statement continued, "the City contends that the rehabilitation and repair of crumbling walls is imperative to protect the public health and safety of park patrons."
A panel of judges will hear the arguments on Dec. 4 and decide if the case will receive a hearing or if the city will continue with plans to remove the trees.
