Losing Ground

The article Losing Ground in the San Antonio Express News is informing in many ways. Being a citizen here in San Antonio I still I miss a lot, and reading this article informed me of many problems that would have went by unnoticed tome. The particular article that I read reviewing Losing Ground and explaining exactly how every thing was done and allowed me to understand how they came about this article and what it meant exactly. They calculated how often developers file last-minute plans in an attempt to avoid looming ordinances, the Express-News turned to a city database of 8,200 plat applications filed between 1990 and April 2005, and broke down the number of plans by month to look for spikes in filings. The database also helped show how much money the city lost in fees from developers who filed plats before an Oct. 20, 1997, drainage ordinance hit the books. The drainage fees are based on land use, acreage and number of residential lots. That information is noted for each plat in the database. This article informs one on how money is being spent and allows the citizens to understand how developers go about doing their business. The Express-News also examined Texas databases that track political campaign contributions and lobbyist activity. While the real estate industry as a whole has given generously to the Texas Legislature, the newspaper considered only interests that have supported vested-rights legislation. The newspaper confirmed that support by reviewing witness lists for legislative hearings, or in some cases, learned of the support through interviews with lawmakers. Lobbyists are requited to provide only a payment range for the clients. The Express News did much to inform I have a new understanding of what all of this means. Losing Ground is a large problem and it is happening everyday.

Work Cited:
Losing Ground: How we did this report. Environment/Water. Google.com. 10/16/2005.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/environment/stories/MYSA101605.15A.vested.how.2c8e400.html
4/6/2008.