At the second town meeting for the residents of the City of Sandy Oaks to meet the candidates running for office, KSAT 12’s Myra Arthur interviewed people on the topic of whether or not the Committee to Incorporate Sandy Oaks (CISO) did a good enough job announcing the vote to incorporate.
Arthur first interviewed Catherine Rendahl who said “There are many people who don’t even know we’re a city yet.”
Later, Arthur interviewed Pedro Orduno, Charmain of CISO and one of the people responsible for the incorporation of the City of Sandy Oaks. Orduno stated “the May 10th election was in the newspapers, it was on TV, it was on radio, there was big signs everywhere, it was a historical event.”
City of Sandy Oaks Does Not Include Sandy Oaks
The primary problem with the way CISO announced the vote for incorporation has to do with the name “Sandy Oaks.” Before the creation of the city there was already an area named Sandy Oaks.
Waterwood is the name of the community that is located at the East side of I37 at the Priest and Mathis exit. It now makes up the majority of the new City of Sandy Oaks.
2.5 miles away from Waterwood is the community of Sandy Oaks, which is located at the corner of Hardy and Campbellton Roads. Also at this intersection is the Sandy Oaks Volunteer Fire Department.
At no point in time did the Committee to Incorporate Sandy Oaks propose boundaries for a new city that included the community known as Sandy Oaks.
When Pedro Orduno and CISO announced the vote for incorporation in newspapers, on TV, and on the radio, the announcement only included the name “Sandy Oaks.”
KSAT 12 News Covered Incorporation In Wrong Location
People in the newly created city aren’t the only ones confused. When CISO filed paperwork with the City of San Antonio to be released from their Extraterritorial Jurisdiction back in 2012, KSAT 12 News did a short news segment about it.
First, news anchor Steve Spriester showed a map of the original 9 square miles that CISO was requesting San Antonio to release. Here is a map of that area:
Then KSAT 12’s Paul Venema reported that he went to Sandy Oaks to talk to residents about incorporation. But Venema went to the corner of Hardy and Campbellton Roads, the location of the community of Sandy Oaks that was outside of CISO’s requested 9 miles.
Venema interviewed two people, a woman named Stacy Smith, labeled as a Sandy Oaks resident, and Charles Metzger, labeled as the former fire chief of the fire department. Both of them stated that the incorporation of Sandy Oaks was a good thing because it would bring more money to the fire department.
But Stacy Smith is actually Stacy Metzger-Smith and is the president of the fire department.
No one else was interviewed. No one inside of the future City of Sandy Oaks was interviewed.
Committee to Incorporate Sandy Oaks Chose The Name Of A Location That Already Existed
The easiest comparison for someone familiar with San Antonio is that of The Dominion. The Dominion is the community North West of San Antonio where very rich people live (Spurs, George Strait, etc). If someone were to say “The Dominion is incorporating into its own city”, then most people in the San Antonio area would understand that to mean the location that everyone refers to as “The Dominion”, not a 2nd location that someone decided to randomly name The Dominion.
Before incorporation, when a student at a Southside ISD school said “I’m from Waterwood”, no one took that to mean “Sandy Oaks”, the community 2.5 miles away from Waterwood.
When someone went to a business at the corner of 1604 and 37 and said “I’m from Sandy Oaks”, then people understood that person to be from nowhere other than the community of Sandy Oaks on Hardy Road.
It may be a long time until everyone in the Waterwood area realizes that the City of Sandy Oaks means them, and not the other community that they have in mind when they hear “Sandy Oaks.”
Just for clarification: If you are driving down I37 and want to reach the City of Sandy Oaks, then exit Priest and Mathis. If you want to reach the original community of Sandy Oaks, then exit Hardy Road 2 miles away.
Comments are closed.