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A new Centro San Antonio program is aiming to make San Antonio cooler than it’s been.
Jacqueline Lucio said the coolness that we need isn’t a matter of beautification. It’s all about temperatures.
“It's hot, and in order for us to ensure that those who live, work and play downtown, are comfortable and safe doing so, we need more shade. We need to expand the shade canopy,” Lucio said.
This Centro initiative is called "Trees Everywhere" and aims to plant a hundred trees downtown every year for the next ten years.
A thousand trees planted over the next decade will make a real difference in both appearance, and temperatures.
Lucio notes that it can be easier to plant in a park, but parks already have trees. It’s downtown that suffers from not enough shade because there aren't enough trees to affect temperature.
“Planting downtown in a concrete jungle is different than planting in a suburban area or in a grassy park,” she said. “So we want to make sure that the trees that are being planted are thoughtfully chosen, and we're doing that, working very closely with the urban forestry team that has extensive knowledge and expertise in that area."
Centro San Antonio continues to position the city as a place where art and nature co-exist, remaking downtown in a way that each effort elevates the other. Centro’s Jacqueline Lucio says a tree initiative will add 100 trees per year to the city’s canopy. And not just any trees.
“It's critical that we plant trees that are native or native adapted, so that we can ensure their survival and success,” she said.
The initial planting area downtown will be a bit less than a square mile. The plan is to plant the trees in areas that have little shade now.
“That really encompasses the area that that we focus on every day. So Centro, as a downtown place making organization, really exists to promote and advocate for the downtown public improvement district.”
