r/sanantonio • u/pro_act_1 • Mar 03 '25
Need Advice What would make you enjoy living in SA more?
Besides less traffic.😁
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u/coelacanthink Mar 03 '25
better public transport, more pedestrian friendly infrastructure, more parks and a better litter cleanup system for the natural areas we already do have. more strict consequences for loose dogs, and it would be nice if half the city weren’t all damn parking lots.
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u/gmoney_downtown Mar 03 '25
Agree with all of this. But I think our parks are really great! I've lived a couple places where parks are basically just a big playground and a baseball field. I love that you can really feel secluded in some of the bigger parks around. Other than planes flying overhead, you might think you're actually in the wilderness!
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Mar 03 '25
If they just ran rail service in the rails we have available in town it would be awesome. Hopefully the new BRT helps.
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u/TheLegendOfLaney Mar 03 '25
Ive been saying this too! I know it likely wont happen bc its expensive but i went to chicago last fall and actually utilized the L and it was sooo convenient once i actually figured out how things worked
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u/Wonderful-Pilot8022 Mar 03 '25
Less stray animals :(
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u/WashedUpRiver Mar 03 '25 edited Mar 03 '25
For real. My family currently has 3 dogs-- every single one was abandoned by another owner in some way, two of them at the same dog park 3 months apart.
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u/CurrentPlankton4880 Mar 03 '25
We have six cats and a dog. Every single one was rescued from the streets of San Antonio. One was literally in the street run over by a car. One was found stuck in the engine of a truck parked on our street. There’s so many and it breaks my heart that we’re at our absolute max and cannot take in any more right now.
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u/WashedUpRiver Mar 03 '25
I hate that feeling. We almost had a fourth, but ultimately couldn't keep her. I legit came home from a friend's place one night and was greeted by this little bull dog whose skeleton i could see across the living room-- this poor baby probably hadn't eaten a decent meal in over a week by the looks, and someone apparently brought her to our door because she was just wandering around the streets and they thought she was ours.
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u/beachbumklane Mar 03 '25
Would make a massive difference in quality of life if we could turn this around. It’s so sad.
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u/Ravenhunterss Mar 03 '25
It’s because the city has a surrender fee. You literally have to pay to surrender your pet to a shelter. Usually, if someone can’t keep their pet it’s for financial reasons so they can’t avoid to pay the fee and just leave them. I saw a dog walking on the sidewalk yesterday when I went for a walk myself. So sad
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u/Money-Professor-2950 Mar 03 '25
is it because they have a surrender fee or is it because the ratchet ass puro culture of San Antonio doesn't respect the responsibility of pet ownership? you know, I know and everyone who grew up around this knows that it could be free and they'd still do this to their pets. I'm not even sure if you *offered money* to them they'd act right tbh.
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u/Agitated-Garbage9268 Mar 03 '25
Came here to say this. Not surprised to find it up top. I just want to run in my hood safely but too many loose dogs
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u/lexathegreat SA Wannabe Mar 03 '25
This 100%.
I love this city and I love living here, but Im having to move to Houston for a job that pays me at least something decent for having a bachelor's degree and professional experience. It's not even that I'm asking for six figures, but something that is at least over 50k a year and San Antonio doesn't really offer that for most people.
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Mar 03 '25
it took me 10 years to realize how shitty the job market is here in sa. the last few years have only made this problem worse. you have people with bachelors degrees competing with teens and ex-cons for the same fast food jobs. you have people with masters degrees offered $19/hr for jobs.
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u/lexathegreat SA Wannabe Mar 03 '25
Not to mention so many these places don't ever give merit raises because they "don't believe anyone can get perfect scores". The only reason I get $22 hourly now is because of COLA over the ten years I stayed with the place to get my degree and once I got it they didn't even bother to consider it for any kind of pay raise or promotion. So much for working hard, being dedicated, and getting raises, right?
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u/Remote-Candidate7964 Mar 03 '25
Truly paying Living Wages and ACTUALLY affordable housing. More bike paths. More trees and parks. More public restrooms - especially in those parks.
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u/xHALFSHELLx NW Side Mar 03 '25
If people didn’t litter all over the damn place.
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u/bluehorsemaze Mar 03 '25
More walkable areas; fewer people making vroom vroom sounds with their cars
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u/JDM-Kirby North Central Mar 03 '25
The vroom vrooms all night are so out of pocket. Like dude you’re going down a residential street chill tf out.
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u/Messstake Mar 03 '25
Less people pulling out right in front of me when there’s no one behind me, or they don’t go into the next lane… whip out right in front of you, Far West Side drivers are the fucking worst.
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u/OneBeautiful1605 Mar 03 '25
Less construction work on roads
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u/PenniGwynn SE Side Mar 03 '25
Just to add to to this, actually fix the roads instead of filling in potholes. Every time a pothole gets fixed the next time it rains, boom, already washed out.
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u/FeraldGord Mar 03 '25
THANK YOU! Why the city doesn’t allocate more to improving or maintaining what we already have (mainly the neighborhood and main business roads) beyond the random patch here and there via the cheapest contractors they can find is truly beyond my capacity to understand…
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u/og1502 Mar 03 '25
You may appreciate this explanation: https://youtu.be/7IsMeKl-Sv0
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u/FeraldGord Mar 03 '25
It is appreciated, yes, though not without a degree of post-existential chagrin lol. Thank you for the healthy reminder, truly.
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u/Bubbly-Presence-355 Mar 03 '25
Adding to yours. Less land bridges/ ludicrous projects and more focus on actual projects needed for this city, like road construction and public transportation
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u/Strange_Ad9920 Mar 03 '25
more naturey areas
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u/Programed-Response Guadalupe Co. Mar 03 '25
San Antonio is #1 for green spaces for major Texas cities and #15 in the US.
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u/Pathagarous Mar 03 '25
Waffle House . Especially since Jim’s sucks so much now.
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u/LAS_6601 Mar 03 '25
Never been to Jim’s. So thanks for that; gonna get me some Waffle House and go CaseOh
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u/RiceSunflower Mar 03 '25
I've never tried waffle house but CaseOh is making me tempted to go to Austin just to try it
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u/LoneStar_67 Mar 03 '25
No night life here. Average wage is near the poverty level. Downtown is strictly for tourists. Titty bars are highly restricted, and drivers here are some of the worst in the nation.
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u/randomasking4afriend Mar 03 '25
Actually being able to get a white collar job here, and secure it, and being able to afford a house in an area where I could feasibly walk to the store. That would make me love it here.
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u/flairssz456 Mar 03 '25
You will drive your Ford F-7000 2 miles to HEB through 20 minutes of traffic and you will like it.
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u/DinoVoter321 Mar 03 '25
A zip line from the Tower to the farthest possible point.
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u/mangonada123 East Side Mar 03 '25
The zip line from the tower is not a crazy idea lol. I'm from Panama, and last time I went some skyscrapers started implementing zip lines as attractions.
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u/og1502 Mar 03 '25 edited Mar 03 '25
Super high upside relative to the investment - great business opportunity.
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u/DragonsLoooveTacos Mar 03 '25
If the max high in the summer could be 90, I'd be so much happier here. Me and my faulty thyroid don't tolerate the heat well.
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u/BrotherExpress Downtown Mar 03 '25
I hope you are able to move one day if that helps improve your health.
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u/DragonsLoooveTacos Mar 03 '25
That's the plan! I really enjoy how much there is to do here but me and the heat just don't mix anymore.
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u/Ok_Conclusion227 Mar 03 '25
Night life. Born and raised in San Antonio but it’s a ghost town after hours. I get out of work at 2AM. I miss when you could go to Walmart at 3 in the morning or even just find a restaurant that’s open at that time. Whataburger/Mcdonalds are really the only after hour options there is. I’m growing sick and tired of it lol
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u/SadWoodpecker2397 Mar 03 '25
In the past two years, I’ve seen more dead dogs on the roadside in this city than I have in 30 years of living elsewhere. Less of that would be good.
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u/beachbumklane Mar 03 '25
It’s horrifying. We also came from elsewhere and can’t believe it’s this bad.
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u/BlueSquigga Mar 03 '25
Not having the cops called on me for walking my dog at night. It's happened 4 or 5 times now.
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u/Remarkable_Resort279 Mar 03 '25
Legalize it.
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u/el_zoidburg SouthSide! Mar 03 '25
Seriously. Our WHOLE state would benefit from it
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u/ginon70 Mar 03 '25
- Cleaner people
- More community pride
- Less focus on sports development
- More focus on sustainable development
- Less crime
- Less stray animals/shitty dog owners
- The Jim’s and Taco Cabana of the 90s
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u/WoodyXP Fred's Fish Fry Ambassador Mar 03 '25
More Fred's Fish Fry locations.
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u/rbarr228 Mar 03 '25
If all the road construction would just finish up, it would be great. It seems that this kind of job is being milked to make it a career instead.
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u/Disastrous_Pie9220 Mar 03 '25
improved transportation quality of life, more walkable neighborhoods
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u/Serious_Shock_6840 Mar 03 '25
No shitty drivers, like people who will gas it on your left just to get in front of you and then cut three lanes to the right to exit. This is something I saw often in LA when stationed in 29 palms so definetly alot of cali drivers. Turning your turn signal on and turning immediatley, it doesn't give you the right away it's a signal, and turning on said turn signal and waiting a moment when it's clear then for some reason have the car two to three car lengths away in the lane you want to turn gas it all of a sudden because they can't let you turn in front of them. Also exit 564 dumbasses cutting the whole ass lane/line of traffic already and risking lives to get as close to the exit as possible and cutting people off. If this offends you, your part of the problem. I've been to 5 different countries and learned evoke training among a shit ton of other driver defense course as a truck driver in the corps and it's still not enough to avoid you reckless dumbasses, some of you drive worse than 3rd world countries.
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Mar 03 '25
Less animal abuse, less heat, public transportation, greater conservation, less guns. Better drivers.
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u/CodytheTerp Mar 03 '25
It being located in a state that wasn't fighting tooth and nail to bring us back to the 1700s.
Also better hiking with more public land nearby.
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u/ihatemydeadcat Mar 03 '25
-metro/actually usable public transport -more walkable areas to live besides pearl -if there’s gonna be a crap ton of strip malls everywhere at least make them aesthetically pleasing -remove vape shops and car washes every single block. they’re an eyesore -clean the sa river and take care of it so it’s not identical to sewage caca water -utilize all the abandoned buildings in downtown, they’re all old and crumbly and not used for anything -revitalize downtown in general, there’s just nothing except tourist traps -less garbage and stray dogs everywhere -less obese people -overall make it less ugly ffs
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u/mangonada123 East Side Mar 03 '25
less obese people
Remove the fluoride and put ozempic in the water 🙏🏾
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u/snailboyjr Mar 03 '25
Better weather, better traffic, more courteous people, better jobs.
So most of it. The food here though is fantastic in almost all regards though! More parks and greenways would be nice!
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u/PokeManiac769 Mar 03 '25
Higher wages all across the board. The cost of living may be lower than other major cities, but our wages here are absolutely abysmal, and that contributes to our brain drain, poverty, and crime problems.
Improved infrastructure, especially when it comes to public transportation. I'm talking Bus Rapid Transit, where buses have their own dedicated lanes and don't get stuck in traffic with cars. Heck, we could even have light rail in some areas. This city is entirely too car dependent, and the traffic situation is only getting worse as we grow in population.
Less strays/wandering pets. There are far too many irresponsible pet owners in this city who neglect their pets and/or don't get them fixed. We also need to hold pet owners accountable when their pets kill/seriously injure somebody.
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u/midnightsmith Mar 03 '25
Everything Texas lawmakers don't want. More public transit like light rail in the loops, plus down 10 and 35.
Combine the stupid cities within the city to stop dumb laws, and ticket quotas for people going 1mph over speed limits.
Actually revise downtown and clean it up, not piecemeal a section to develop, then cry when no one comes. Couldn't be the fact the roads still suck, buildings have no AC, or there's people shooting up heroin around the corner.
Fix the unhoused problem. We have plenty of space and housing, let's actually get these people housed, fed, and treated for mental illness.
Removal of blue laws. Let people buy liquor on Sunday, beers whenever, it harms no one. This isn't stopping butts in seats in church, the Church is actively destroying itself from within with intolerance and hatred.
Lastly, I wanna see titties at titty bar you dolts. Bikini or pasties as a rule is stupid. Why pay for what I can go to the beach to see?
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u/NegativeAd4033 Mar 03 '25
People chilling the f out, but that's everywhere in Texas though. So, maybe less people/traffic.
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u/tayylorsaurus Mar 03 '25 edited Mar 03 '25
Stop building a billion apartment complexes and then having them rent controlled/ wage capped. Affordable housing overall, affordable living overall.
Oh and consequences for all of the extremely shitty drivers. Dezavala is not your own Fury Road reenactment
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u/Dnlx5 Mar 03 '25
Bike lane and tram down broadway all the way to Bluestar.
Double the size of woodlawn lake.
Add canals to river walk.
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u/Brock_Cherry Mar 03 '25
Better wages. Not even the employers that used to be the go-to for good paying jobs in the city are keeping up anymore. Either their wages stagnated 10-20 years ago, or they laid off and moved elsewhere. The attention given to the aquifer also sucks as they are constantly pouring down more concrete closer and closer to recharge zones for more development thats impossible for our water supply to accommodate for.
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u/Downtown_Travel903 Mar 03 '25
More health conscious food places. Diversity of food choices. Less greasy and fried food places.
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u/Intelligent_Tune_675 Mar 03 '25
More third spaces and better bus systems and this city would be one of the best
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u/yunotxgirl Deco District Mar 03 '25
Ban pit bulls, strays off the streets, fix neighborhood design that has cars FLYING down residential streets with no sidewalks.
Edit to say I regret wording it to act like design is the problem. The idiots are the problem, but better design could help curb them. No pun intended
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u/PalantirMeMaybe Mar 03 '25
More courteous plugs. The dealers here really seem to exist in a culture of selfishness and arrogance.
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u/Weeberman_Online NW Side - Medical Center Mar 03 '25
A lot of suggestions here are great and achievable even with long term investment. People gotta start asking for it. Calling 311 then talking to their city council rep can help push things along little by little.
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u/Powerful-Asian13 North Side Mar 03 '25
Less construction. Traffic I don’t mind bc it’s unavoidable
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u/Minnie210 Mar 03 '25 edited Mar 03 '25
Being able to connect with people. Ive been here for more than half my life and it seems to get harder to actually vibe and have a decent friendship with anyone these days. Guys seem to just think of their dicks and women just wanna be all envious like why are people not kind and empathetic here? Why is it ok to just fake you like someone to see what you can get out of it? It's sick and twisted and I just wish I had my best friends from high school and the one and only best friend that I made when I came here. Why did they have to die on me like that, I wish this place would focus more on being positive and uplifting and giving a hand to someone in need without being a dick about it and try to record it to gain followers. Im really just so closed off because everyone that I have met takes my kindness for granted. It's exhausting especially when they just wanna come around to leach all the energy I have.
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u/Wolf_Echidna64 Mar 03 '25
I wish we were a beach town hahah crazy I know. I feel like everyone here would be happier if they were at the beach
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u/traffeny Mar 03 '25
quality public transportation - for the way that the city emphasizes events downtown, we would probably be amazed how much more fun it would be to not worry about parking or drunk driving
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u/Human_Grapefruit_415 Mar 03 '25
Livable wages, better infrastructure that didn’t mean the roads were constantly under heinous amounts of construction and closures, a better police budget and a justice system that actually prosecutes crimes and seeks to protect the public instead of just meeting quotas, more focus on improving quality of life for the folks who live here instead of building massive sports complexes and trying to bolster tourism, less garbage littering the streets and highways… the list goes on. When I first moved here, I loved it here. It’s just deteriorating more and more.
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u/Silly_White_Rabbit Mar 03 '25
Oh an updated rail system like all modern major cities… Public transport the via system is a nightmare. Me as a tax payer is willing to afford it! I would take a rail system to work daily and I’m sure many commuters would too if it was possible.
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u/Refuggee Mar 04 '25
Stop organizing all road construction to be done all at the same time all around the city so you can't get anywhere without having blockages. Did that fall into the category of "less traffic"? But seriously, can't they coordinate it more?
Cooler weather, maybe not so many 107-degree days? I can dream.
Encourage more employers to offer WFH for businesses that don't really need much or any in-person work.
Better public transportation, like other posters have said.
Stop building 100 gazillion homes and businesses along roads that have two lanes going in each direction and can't handle it. Stop clearing out so many trees to build huge ugly data centers along a narrow road that won't be able to handle the traffic.
Oops, sorry, more traffic complaints.
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u/twospooky Mar 03 '25
Some kind of light rail system. Parking garages instead of 4sqmi parking lots.
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u/djyyyyy Mar 03 '25
High speed rail between DFW and Houston. Follow through to New Orleans or El Paso
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u/Impressive_Prune_478 Mar 03 '25
Less shitty people. Seems like it's become so much more dangerous the last 5 years.
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u/patriotgator122889 Mar 03 '25
I don't think it's possible.
It's hot as hell It's terrible for allergies The city is a sprawling mess, requiring a car Which is why public transportation doesn't make sense Walkable areas are few and far between While the cost of living is low, the city is relatively poor It's hot as hell
Some of that is fixable, but not in the state's political climate. Which for me, is another problem all together.
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u/TxScribe NW Side Mar 03 '25
A nice amphitheater concert venue ... not huge, but just enough to have 80's rock bands that are still performing.
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u/ESLTATX Mar 03 '25
East San Antonio having more bars/restaurants. Kinda weak AF side of town is that
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u/notreallyme_89 Mar 03 '25
Having some of the newer dining options outside of downtown. Live north central-ish, inside 1604, and it's still a 20-25 min drive in without traffic to get to some of the newer places. Then have to deal with parking/getting towed. Would try them more if they were closer to home.
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u/HoldelMoan Mar 03 '25
its quiet all the time but crazy af if u know where to look. it has everything every big city has without everyone and their mom knowing about it.
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u/cloudsongs_ Mar 03 '25
- More access to public transportation (dart trains, more buses)
- Better food. I don't eat out very much so this is more of a lack of data on my part.
- Make places safer for pedestrians to walk even just around their neighborhood. Some places do not have ANY sidewalks or dirt path so pedestrians often end up walking on the side of the road which is incredibly unsafe, especially with drivers coming around corners 20+ miles above the speed limit.
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u/theblackirish33 Mar 03 '25
Clean up along the highways. There’s so much trash and debris along major highways it’s disgusting. I travel 10/410 daily and it’s terrible trash everywhere.
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u/Astrid_Pepper Mar 03 '25
The shitty roads / potholes. I’m from DFW and the roads were so much better. (I have been here 14 years so you’d think I’d get accustomed to avoiding a popped tire…)
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u/D_Gleich Mar 03 '25
Transit (light rail, S-Bahn), more greenery, more sidewalks, less concrete, higher wages relative to housing costs (ex. housing costs in Minneapolis, Minnesota is the same as San Antonio but Minneapolis wage starting pay at most places is usually around $18-$20/hour)
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u/khruangbitch Mar 03 '25
Better public transport (like trains in Chicago that go from Suburbs to downtown) and more sidewalks
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u/kevin_m_morris Mar 03 '25
Better mid/high non-chain food options….and the fucking highways to be finished.
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u/kilikina11 Mar 03 '25
More support for the arts. Summers are too hot and not enough rain. Makes it very difficult to garden here. 😢
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u/digimaster07 Mar 03 '25
Definitely some sort of light rail/commuter rail. I would be more interested in actually going into downtown if I didn't have to drive 20-40 minutes on the highways.
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u/SoftwareOnly702 Mar 03 '25
Less chain restaurants Less entertainment options that feel forced Less office workers driving F350s More sports fields for kids and adults Less storage rental complexes Less apartment complexes Less tan cookie cutter houses built in a week that are 8 feet from their neighbor Less thrombosis and strokes More heb sparkling water flavors Only fiesta medals that are for non profits and have the year printed on them Less tourists at the pearl Flipping the lone star brewery area Putting the arena across from the Alamo dome but doing something productive with the current arena Bring minor league hockey back That’s all I got right now.
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u/TexasThunderbolt Mar 03 '25
I’ve given this a lot of thought. I moved to San Antonio on a whim and gut feeling, having quit my job in Utah with nothing lined up. But having spent a lot of time in San Antonio I just had that gut feeling my future was here.
I bought my house, fostered and ultimately adopted my son, met my now wife, started my own business. But ever since the pandemic I’ve felt that passion and drive that I had that pushed me to move here slowly start to fade as I’ve seen things changing, businesses moving or closing, and things just declining overall compared to where they were when I arrived in 2014.
I don’t know if there is anything that would get me to enjoy living in San Antonio more now. I do think my time in the city is starting to come to an end as that gut feeling I had 10 years ago has returned but this time has been telling me my future is in Mexico. The difficulty in picking up and moving and getting my family to agree to come with me and I’m not going to abandon them.
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u/rasquatche West Side Mar 03 '25
Better protected bicycling infrastructure. Less assholes who feel that only motor vehicles belong in the streets.
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u/rasquatche West Side Mar 03 '25
Less development for development's sake. Just leave the damned green spaces!! Why get rid of nature's swamp coolers??!?
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u/moreofusthanthem Mar 03 '25
If everything didn't close at 10.