Big Plans for Toddlers in San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO—When rumored vice-presidential contender Julian Castro was still mayor of San Antonio in 2011, he asked its 1.4 million residents to think about what they wanted to see in their city in 2020. The question was both imaginative and practical, but the effort to get it answered was monumental. In two rounds of city-wide open forums—some with attendance numbering in the hundreds—residents came together at community centers, schools, and other venues to discuss issues like education, parks and recreation, transportation, workforce development, and other matters inherent to the needs of a growing city.
Kathy Bruck, a former educator in a local district and the current CEO of , recalls her own reticence at the idea of a mayor asking an entire city to tell him what it wanted to see almost a decade down the line. “This is crazy, how are they going to
