At its August 23, 2010 meeting, City Council considered calling a special election to amend the city charter to include the right of initiative and referendum and make minor changes to the recall provisions to make the charter consistent with state law. At the meeting several citizens expressed concerns about not having enough opportunity to provide input and the generality of the agenda caption for the item. Attorney Frank Garza, who assisted the City in preparing the proposition, confirmed the legality of the caption. The City Council, however, in response to citizen concerns voted not to call the election at this time and provide further opportunity for citizens to review and comment on the proposed amendment to the city charter.

The proposed ordinance to approve the charter amendment and staff presentation is provided below. Please provide any comments or pose any questions you may have on the issue to City Secretary Jennifer Reyna at jreyna@alamoheightstx.gov or 832-2209.

Click below to view:

Proposed Charter Amendment (Ordinance)
Staff Presentation

Many streets in the City of Alamo Heights are very narrow ranging in width from 23 – 28 feet. These narrow roadways can be difficult to maneuver when cars and trucks are parked on both sides of the street across from each other. The picture above is a common situation found on residential streets and illustrates how narrow the remaining portion of a roadway can become when vehicles are parked directly opposite each other. To help make our narrow streets safer and to provide clear lanes of traffic for emergency vehicles please follow these recommendations:

• Do not park directly across from another vehicle parked on the opposite side of the street

• Always park with the right side wheels parallel to the curb and not facing on-coming traffic. The dark compact SUV in the above illustration is illegally parked.

Remember this can become a very dangerous situation for EMS units and fire apparatus responding to emergencies and may actually delay an emergency response if the emergency unit cannot pass due to vehicles parked on the streets.

Please contact the Alamo Heights Police Department at (210) 822-6433 for information regarding the parking of vehicles, boats, trailers, RV’s etc. on streets.

The Capital Improvement Project for E. Castano Ave has been completed and the street has been re-opened, just in time for the start of the school year.

The next event is on Saturday, August 21st and the feature movie is “Up”. Please come join us for a night of family fun!

The City of Alamo Heights wants to hear from our business community. Please tell us how we can help you as a business owner, commercial property owner or as a representative of one of our Alamo Heights businesses by taking a few minutes and filling out the following survey. We appreciate your input!

Click Here to Take Survey

The City's Proposed FY 2011 Annual Operating Budget was presented to City Council on Monday, August 9. A Public Hearing is schedule for September 13 and will be considered for adoption on September 27.

Click here to view Proposed FY 2011 Annual Operating Budget Document and PowerPoint Presentation.

During the quick moving thunderstorm last Monday night, the Alamo Heights Fire/EMS Department conducted a high water rescue utilizing the Quint Ladder Fire Apparatus. They received an emergency call concerning a vehicle stuck in the Olmos Basin area in 4 feet high rising waters. The fire crews were able to extend the Apparatus ladder approximately 85 ft to perform the rescue avoiding personnel entering the rising waters. Two individuals were rescued with no injuries to both fire personnel and the occupants of the vehicle.

Click here to view photos.

Beginning March 29th the Alamo Heights Police Department will begin enforcement of the new twenty-five mile per hour speed limit (25 mph) on residential streets.

Warning citations will be issued for thirty (30) days in order to provide an extended awareness period.

Streets not affected by the new speed limit are Broadway (30 mph), North New Braunfels Avenue (30 mph), Austin Highway (35 mph), and Jones Maltsberger Road (35 mph).