Serving the University of Texas at San Antonio Community
Three's the
charm
•page 12
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T^lgg^* Q.y^^ Independent Student Newspaper
August 25,1992
Candid
campus
•pages 7 & 9
Dirt flung at UTSAarchaeologists during Alamodome dig
Uncovering
tiistory step by step
By Stephen Cavazos News EdHor
The University of Texas at San Antonio's Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) came under intense media scrutiny in the final phases of its study of the Alamodome currently un- da constmction in downtown San An¬ tonio. At issue were the perceived high costs associated with the state required historical surveys, which were being perfOTined by UTSA.
Opposition to the archaeology sur¬ vey arose when the city'sadministration realized that no survey would have been jequired of the Alamodome site had it l)een a completely private venture. The Texas Antiquities Code requires that any development constructed using pub¬ lic dollars be studied for significant his¬ torical importance.
During a City Council meeting held
completed over 400 archaeological projects successfully, using a floating staff of 20 people. During the project more than 20 UTSA students gained valuable experience in the field as well as in the lab. "We helped to educate and bain a lot of students here," said Eaton. We still have them (students) in the lab... and they have important responsibilities of writing up sections of the final repori. "We do 'contract archaeology,'" explained Eaton. "We satisfy the re¬ quirements of the state and federal gov¬ ernment in regards to cultural resource management and the environmental impact statements. They came to us be¬ cause we had done hundreds of projects in the San Antonio area. We are the experts on the history of San Antonio. Not only that, but we were cheaper than anybody else."
Kenny Wright, who served as Field Director for the Alamodome archaeol-
"Ttie thing ttiat bothers me is those people who were the most negative and created the most problems have never called me up and said, 'Explain to me what you're doing and why you do it.'"
"Jack Eaton, Acting Director Center for Archaeological Research
The Alamodome has risen steadily against the dowmown skyline, but underneath It's a different story.
November 7. 1991, Councilman Weir Labatt expressed his views. "I just can't imagine bow it's required that we spend over a half-million dollars to do archae¬ ology work on a site that can't possibly have that kind of historical significance. It just blows my mind." Labatt said. Mayor Nelson Wolff in a television news bl jadcast said, "We have found nothing that we have seen so far that was historically significant on the Alamodome site. To me it'sjust another way of a state agency getting money out of a local effort."
Jack Eaton, Acting Director for the CAR feels that the blame was laid un¬ fairly. In the last decade the CAR has
ogy survey was disappointed by the at¬ titude displayed about the importance of the project. "We would be lacking ethi¬ cally as archaeologists if we blew off this area without investigation. We have a responsibility to the citizens of Texas to investigate this, because it's going to be destroyed," Wright said.
"It (the study) was not expensive compared toother similar projects... this was made very, very clear to the city council," said Eaton. "We kept our costs to a minimum, but it costs a certain amount of money to do this. Our team included architects, oral historians, geo- morphologists as well as archaeologists. "All of that was in our budget. That's
why there was a misconception about how much archaeology was costing," explained Eaton. 'The thing that both¬ ers me," Eaton continued, "is those people who were Ihe most negative and created the most problems have never called me up and said 'Explain to me what you're doing andwhy you do it.' What they did is they made up their minds that this is a boondoggle and blasted (us) in the press.
"We're a state institution so our files are wide open. We were conU'acted through the Alamodome Office. Every¬ thing we did is documented through the Alamodome Office. The problem was they had no effective communication between the Alamodome Office, the City Council and the Mayor's Office," Eaton stated.
The project was completed in four phases, each of which requires a sepa¬ rate budget, as well as the completion of the prior phase in order to determine the cost for the next phase. 'The cheapest, most economical way to proceed with a project of that magnitude is to go with the phased research plan," said Eaton. "The Dome office was told by the Texas Antiquities Committee that this project would cost between $750,000 to $1,000,000 because that's what these kind of projects cost." The cost for the historical survey will be slightly over $500,000.
"We were more than $100,000 cheaper than a .similar project in Austin, the Convention Center, which was a smaller less complex project. Nobody complained about that one.   But you
heard about this one because Ihe people who were yelling the loudest especially Larson and Labatt. did not want the Alamixlome project. They said it was a boondoggle and ihey fought against il from the very beginning." .said Eaton.
Eaton concluded, "We're still doing projects for city departments, like San Antonio River Authority, because they still have full confidence in us. They know that we had to go under the gun wrongly. That's what bothers me most. We have people down there, on that city council, who are charged with the im¬ portant responsibility of managing this important, internationally famous his¬ toric city of San Antonio, but they dont want to pay for history when its being destroyed...now that's sad."
Phase I was the archival and historical background to leam all about Ihe history through deed records and archives both here and in Austin. Also included was the architectural survey. Oral historians also canvassed the area searching forthe residents who had lived there Ihe longest who could remember and record their recollection of Ihe area.   •
Phase II was based on Ihe findings of Phase I and required field testing and monitoring of areas that old records in¬ dicated there might have been poten¬ tially historical sites. Field crews were monitoring the beginning of the destruc¬ tion of houses on ihe site.
Phase III consisted of construction monitoring and demolition moniioring. Once a hou.se w;ls destroyed, Ihc field crews had an opporiuniiy lo dixumeni Ihe foundation and underlying ground area. As a culminaiion of ihe three pha.scs the field crew was now able lo select Ihe sites ihai had known or poicn- tial historical significance tor further sludy as required by Ihe sialc ot Texas.
Phase IV allowed nuu^uiion ot the se lected sites. This involved lull excava¬ tion and dcxrumenlalion of ihesc siies notably buildings of the I K4()s through 186()'sera.
Phase V allows for Ihe completion of the field work and assembly of all Ihe related documeiitation. artifacts, oral historian reports, architects surveys and geornorphologist studies. Currently ongoing. Phase V will allow for a multi- volume report diKumeniing the history of the Alamodome area. Il will be re¬ viewed by cily and state agencies before being published.
Campus   apartments   offer university living to students
By James Sanchez Staff Writer
The beginning ofa new school year is the beginning of a new experience for 370 UTSA students who moved into University Oaks Apartments during the last week.
For many of the students this is the first time away from home and the po¬ tentially rattling situation was made
easier by apartment General Manager/ Housing Director Deborah Delgado and her staff who were waiting to help stu¬ dents at 7 a.m. on August 18, Moving-In Day.
Construction on the 13 building, 440 bed space complex, which began last winter, was completed earlier in Ihe month with only the surrounding land¬ scaping still to be completed. Already fmished, accwding to Delgado, are the
swimming pool, Jacuzzi, basketball and sand volleyball couris, and clubhouse. All of this is part ofthe reason Charles Lauter, sophomore, decided to move into University Oaks. "This is my first time away from home and I wanted to be a part of a close-knit community and hopefully The Oaks will provide that." John Paul Brown, Sr. has his own rea¬ sons for moving to University Oaks. "I used to live in the dorms and there is no
privacy there. Here I can study in peace. Plus it's on campus and since I have no car, I can walk to class. Also, the dorm doesn't have a pool like this," said J.P. Brown.
Oscar Brown, Jr. had a unique reason for coming to UTSA and University Oaks all the way from West Germany three weeks ago. He said. "I did it for a girl. She was going tocome here so 1 did too, but now I don't have a girlfriend. I'm glad I came here, though. I love the school and apart¬ ments. They're perfect for me. It's a real community atmosphere."
The only point of dis¬ contentment around the com¬ plex, however, is the lack of security. J.P. Brown ex¬ plained, " I would like for there to be more security be¬ cause they' re lea ving the front gate open 24 hours a day un¬ til everyone gets their, secu¬ rity card. Anyone can come in, it's a litde scary." Frances Hage, Jr. said, "I don't really think about it. Someone can climb over the gate and get into your apanment if they really wanted to, but it doesn' t bother me."
Students interested in renting can choose from a nine or twelve month lease
Prized possessions   re carefully moved into their new home.
on a four, two, one bedroom or effi¬ ciency unit plan. For example, a full year lea,sc on a one bedroom single oc¬ cupancy apartment costs $430 a month or $1545 a semester. A one bedroom apanment at a nearby apartment com¬
plex. Chase Hill, costs $335 a month. J.P. Brown concluded. "It may co.st a little more to live here bul I definitely think it's worth it. This is going lo be a great experience."
A crush of eager tenants await the keys to their new apartments at University Oaks
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