They Absolutely Didn't Have to Do This

But they did. They took an overgrown, trash heap wasteland section of the San Antonio River and gave it a radical makeover. They dredged it out, widened the river channel, built elaborate stonework walls and walkways, and secured artists to conceive and install wildly creative, bizarre and even subtle works of art. And now San Antonio has an outdoor linear art gallery that's like nowhere else in the world. The picture above is Donald Lipski's F.I.S.H. under the I-35 bridge, with San Antonio Museum of Art in the background.

They--the city, the county, the San Antonio River Authority, and the San Antonio River Foundation--had an uphill battle to fight. They had to convince a skeptical public that an area of town that, to put it kindly, has seen better times, could become a showplace for the Alamo City. And now, with a lot of corporate support, those governmental entities have done precisely that.

Almost a year ago the River Foundation contacted KLRN to document the creation of what's come to be called the Museum Reach portion of the new River Walk. We've interviewed dozens of people, including all the artists, former mayors, all the movers-n-shakers. And we've spent time along the river shooting beautiful high-def video of all the artists' wondrous creations. We've cruised in River Barges, night and day, to capture the experience of this fabulous new stretch. And we've put all that into a lively, half-hour documentary that we've named Paseo Del Arte: Expanding the San Antonio River Walk. If you'd like a preview, go here. It airs Tuesay the 10th at 9PM on KLRN, and we sure hope you'll watch.

If you watch, you'll see how much neater a town we can be, how much more interesting a society we become...when we do that which we don't have to do, but which will make us all a little happeer.