The combined vacancy rate downtown is 29 percent according to Centro San Antonio, a nonprofit dedicated to helping revitalize the urban center.
Around the city center large historic buildings stand empty. Large urban tracts of land around the city hold broken down buildings, like the abandoned Lone Star Brewery on the Mission Reach -- large empty lots are all that remain of bulldozed houses dotting San Antonio's East Side.
Nearly all parts of the city deal with issues of vacancy and blight. What can the city do to encourage redevelopment? What tools are in the tool box to convince owners to sell off or redevelop these unsightly areas? How can you get that long abandoned and condemned home on your block taken care of? What have other cities done to address this critical issue?
Guests:
- Lori Houston, director of San Antonio's Center City Development office, which overseas many of these programs.
- Danielle Lewinski, vice president and head of Michigan initiatives at the Center for Community Progress, a nonprofit dedicated to stamping out urban blight.
*This segment of The Source airs at 3:30 p.m. on KSTX 89.1 FM -- audio from this show will be posted by 5:30 p.m.