{"id":462647,"date":"2026-10-11T03:10:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T03:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/462647\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T03:10:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T03:10:07","slug":"proposed-bond-could-fund-long-awaited-south-zarzamora-street-improvements-texas-am-university-san-antonio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/462647\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed bond could fund long-awaited South Zarzamora Street improvements | Texas A&M University-San Antonio"},"content":{"rendered":"

A proposed $400 million to $500 million bond could fund improvements to South Zarzamora Street and other infrastructure across San Antonio, with community stakeholders discussing the project Aug. 24 at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.<\/p>\n

Approximately 20 stakeholders attended the public meeting at Patriots\u2019 Casa to discuss proposed infrastructure improvements starting in 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The proposed bond would fund maintenance of existing structures, such as roads and storm drains, along with vacant-lot cleanup across San Antonio. The projects were selected through community workshops and comment cards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Salvador Hector Ochoa, president of A&M-San Antonio, expressed optimism about the proposed bond\u2019s potential impact on the university.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was very nice to have this forum with critical stakeholders not only from our university, but from our critical partners: the hospital, the school district and different parts of the city, and for them to hear us about what our concerns and needs are,\u201d Ochoa said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jessica Loudermilk, chief of staff and vice president of strategic communications at A&M-San Antonio, said \u201cgrowth is only going to continue here\u2026 so it\u2019s going to be really important that we have the infrastructure to support that.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are no set boundaries for the project, as it is intended to improve the entire city of San Antonio. However, this meeting focused on how the project would address issues along South Zarzamora Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cCity Council will work on appointing a total of 163 residents to the different bond committees covering the proposed bond categories: streets, bridges & sidewalks, drainage & flood control, parks & recreation, facilities, and affordable housing. The bond committee members will serve in an advisory role and meet from October to December 2026 before presenting a list of recommendations to City Council in January 2027,\u201d Rosana Galaviz, director of communications for San Antonio City Council, said in an email Oct. 5<\/p>\n

Safety was also a recurring concern, particularly regarding road repairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nonie Cabana, an adjunct professor of management and marketing, urged attendees to address the safety risks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am serving my students, majority of them scared to exit University Way \u2026 It is paramount that we should not wait until we\u2019ve lost a life,\u201d Cabana said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to San Antonio City Council data, 129 crashes resulting in two severe injuries and three fatalities occurred along South Zarzamora Street between I-410 and Apple White Road from 2021 to 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat just goes to show you that it is a dangerous intersection,\u201d said David Kolovson, chief strategy officer for Rifeline, a communications firm focused on community outreach in Central Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ochoa emphasized the importance of improving the area as the university grows to ensure students can travel safely to and from campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

District 4 Councilmember Edward Mungia explained that a bond allows the city to borrow money for large projects and repay the debt through property taxes. Mungia said the proposed range is a small bond for a large project such as this one, so the possibility of raising taxes to direct more money toward renovations is not off the table.<\/p>\n

In an interview, Mungia clarified how the bond would affect residents\u2019 taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, because values have declined across the city of San Antonio, we\u2019re seeing less taxes come in, which is why we\u2019re talking about the budget and raising taxes to cover the budget gap we have \u2026 basically when you go to vote you would see a variable tax rate on there saying if values don\u2019t naturally increase by a certain percentage, then the city would raise the tax rate on the debt side to match that,\u201d Mungia said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said the proposed bond does not guarantee a tax increase. The city could raise the tax rate on the debt side if property values do not naturally increase enough to fund the proposed projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mungia also expressed a desire for students, staff and nearby residents to benefit from improvements to South Zarzamora Street, saying the cost would be worth the benefit to the community.<\/p>\n

Residents of District 4 can vote on the proposed bond in May 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city has not yet launched a web page for the 2027 bond program committees, but there should be one coming online soon similar to the one developed for the 2022 Bond Program Committees<\/a>. There is a webpage with a general overview of the proposed 2027 bond program that will be updated as the process is underway,\u201d Galaviz said in an email.<\/p>\n

For more information on how bonds work, see the guide below.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Residents can share their opinions at a community meeting from 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Oct. 17 at St. Claire Church, 7701 Somerset Rd.<\/p>\n

To contact Mungia, email the San Antonio City Council District 4 office at CouncilDistrict.4@sanantonio.gov or call 210-207-0880. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A proposed $400 million to $500 million bond could fund improvements to South Zarzamora Street and other infrastructure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-462647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}