City Of San Antonio: Governance Committee Commends D6 Councilwoman's Request To Eliminate Park Fees For Veterans Organizations

Press release from the City of San Antonio:

Wednesday, February 16, 2022

CONTACT: Victor Landa, 210-884-3429
Victor.landa@sanantonio.gov

SAN ANTONIO (February 16, 2022) –The City Council’s Governance Committee today unanimously commended a revised Parks Department policy, which supports the proposed changes by District 6 Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda to eliminate city park and pavilion fees for veterans groups.

There are more than 200 thousand veterans and about 102.7 thousand military retirees in San Antonio – totaling 20 percent of the city’s population. The majority of them, 37.8 percent, live in District 6. Many San Antonio veterans belong to one of the city’s 12 Veterans of Foreign Wars posts or 8 American Legion posts.

Veterans’ organizations had been required to pay the same fee as the general public for reserving park space and pavilions for their events.

“This change in park charges was requested because a VFW group specifically asked about facility rental fees,” said Councilwoman Cabello Havrda. “Outdoor spaces can be important for anyone, but they are especially important for our Veterans who use the outdoors to cope with PTSD. Eliminating these fees demonstrates public acknowledgement and gratitude for their long-standing military and community-based contributions.”

This policy change also provides an opportunity to collect contact information which can be used to provide more services for those who have provided so much to our city.

“San Antonio is known throughout the world as Military City USA and this change in fees is another example of the respect and appreciation we have for our military veterans.”

This press release was produced by the City of San Antonio. The views expressed here are the author’s own.