collective bargaining agreement<\/a>. Other venues might allow for security at less cost.<\/p>\n\u201cThere are certain things that we didn\u2019t have any choice about by remaining at La Villita,\u201d Buech\u00e9 said. \u201cBecause of that, our exploration necessarily included the possibility of having NIOSA at other locations where we could potentially reduce some of the overhead cost, and we have studied some of those locations.\u201d<\/p>\n
In late September, the city accepted the Conservation Society\u2019s request to end its 10-year lease of the venue, with nine years remaining in the contract.<\/p>\n
Sibley said the organization has already looked at other venues that could provide better accessibility in terms of parking, overnight accommodations and public transportation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
More space is another criteria \u2014 one that can handle 20,000 people a night \u2014 for the sake of guest comfort and safety.<\/p>\n
There is hope, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entire task force is committed to doing the very best job we can to identify how we can bring A Night In Old San Antonio back,\u201d she added. And, \u201chow we can bring other fundraising activities forward, so that we have the opportunity to continue the mission of the San Antonio Conservation Society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meeting attendees also sent questions to Buech\u00e9 via online chat, asking about the board\u2019s accounting expertise, what\u2019s included in direct expenses and how beer sales and attendance is reconciled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They asked how costs could be reduced and the economic impact of NIOSA, whether the board had sought event sponsors and had considered raising prices.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Abbi Power, who spearheaded the effort to bring the petition, said she left the meeting feeling \u201cincredibly frustrated\u201d over tech issues during the meeting and some questions left unanswered.<\/p>\n
She said her phone was \u201cblowing up\u201d with messages from other members similarly frustrated that they couldn\u2019t view the slides or participate in the chat, and were not sure why.<\/p>\n
Organizers said the slides would be made available on the group\u2019s website by Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Power said the group of concerned members have talked about next steps.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe generally accept that NIOSA 2027 is probably not going to happen so, therefore, our intention is to address issues with leadership of the society, be that removal or reorganization or something, because these people are not representing what we feel is the majority of the members of the society,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Longtime society member, volunteer and former officer Frederica Kushner, who tuned into the meeting, was more resigned saying [suspending NIOSA] is something that should have been considered before now. But, \u201cpulling the plug on it has been very, very upsetting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Trish DeBerry, president and CEO of Centro San Antonio, the organization charged with activating downtown, said there\u2019s a \u201chuge opportunity\u201d in reviving such a nostalgic event for 2027, even if it looks a little different.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, you go dark for a year, there\u2019s somebody that fills the void in another event that people are like, \u2018Well, maybe I didn\u2019t miss as much as I thought I would.\u2019 That\u2019s the danger for me,\u201d DeBerry said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After abruptly suspending its traditional Fiesta event a month ago, leaders of the Conservation Society of San Antonio…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[122018,21154,51316,7185,34182,82,84,83,92,3028],"class_list":["post-468657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-betty-bueche","tag-centro","tag-conservation-society-of-san-antonio","tag-fiesta","tag-niosa","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-top-story","tag-typedaily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468657","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=468657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}