After an 18-month search, the Brackenridge Park Conservancy has appointed a new full-time CEO in New Orleans-born Chris Maitre. He brings with him 13 years of experience managing New Orleans’ historic City Park and 27 years of experience working in nonprofits.
Maitre comes at a time when the conservancy, city and community are launching renewed efforts to fund and develop projects aimed at reversing decades of decline at the 125-year-old Brackenridge Park. Maitre replaces Terry Brechtel, the interim CEO and former city manager who has led the Brackenridge Conservancy for the past year and a half and who played a key role in shaping the park’s latest plans.
Efforts to restore the historic 343-acre Brackenridge Park began in 2008, with the launch of the Conservancy.
Discussions around the city’s proposals to update the park have been contentious for several years. Neighboring residents and special interest groups have pushed back against plans that they said would affect flora and fauna and increase noise levels, and that didn’t take into account native peoples’ history and use of the park. Debates over those plans even led to a lawsuit.
Updates to the declining park were approved by voters as a part of the 2017 municipal bond. The first phases of those renovations are underway. Any plans included in a second phase will be evaluated and approved through a newly approved guiding principles and a new criteria tool.
We sat down with Maitre to ask him about his new role and how he sees himself fitting into Brackenridge Park’s future. Here’s what Maitre said:
Q: You are from New Orleans and did a lot over there for City Park. Why were you interested in this role here in San Antonio?
A: My maternal grandfather spent his teenage years here. There’s a significant population of Canary Islanders here. His family was the Ruiz’s, and they moved here when he was a young boy to San Antonio, and he lived here for his formative teenage years. Long story short, he basically raised me, and he would tell me about his memories of the city and Brackenridge Park as he and I were creating our own memories in New Orleans’ City Park. I learned to fish in City Park, but he would regale me with stories about how he first learned how to fish in Brackenridge Park. He unfortunately passed away when I was just entering college. Given his context to my life, this means a lot to come back and be a steward and take care of a park that he endeared so much.
Q: How familiar are you with Brackenridge Park?
A: My kids and I would — as I had my own family — would come visit San Antonio for family vacation. We would do the zoo, we would do a lot of the things here, and we would take in the River Walk downtown, which is great — but then we would also go see it in its true nature. Most recently, about two years ago, my son graduated from Lackland Air Force Base, so guess where we came to revisit some of our past trips? So I know Brackenridge and I am so happy to be leading the Conservancy’s mission to reimagine and reinvigorate Brackenridge Park.
Q: Are City Park and Brackenridge similar and in what way do you see them being different?
A: I think similar in that they’re both very iconic. They both mean a lot to all the folks that live in those respective cities. All great cities deserve a great urban park, and Brackenridge is San Antonio’s just as City Park is New Orleans’. Part of what a conservancy is supposed to do is to make sure that this park stays vibrant, stays well preserved, but also can progress with the different needs that the community wants. The biggest difference for me — I will say that Brackenridge is a special place in terms of how often people come here to celebrate each other, and family milestones. I’ve not yet been in the park during an Easter weekend but I hear it’s magical, so I’m excited to be able to see that in person.
Q: What are your goals as the new CEO of the conservancy?
A: I would say, first and foremost, to really make sure people understand why we’re here as a conservancy. We’ve been around since 2008 but we haven’t really had a good footprint … we’re young for a conservancy, right? Some conservancies have been around a long time, and we’ve got a lot of work to do ahead of us, but I’m excited about it, and I wouldn’t have come if it was a fully formed conservancy and just needed a maintainer — I definitely want to be able to grow and develop it into what you see at City Park, but make it San Antonio’s. The Reconciliation plan has come and gone — now we’ve got to work within that plan. We’ve got a couple of projects that we’ve got slated that have some community input element, and we’re going to get out there and bring it to the community, but also focus on the preservation.
Q: Are you concerned about coming into the role right now?
A: No, I mean the Reconciliation Plan — that’s a great name for it, because it’s truly what it was, right? It’s asking, how do we bring forth new projects? How do we make sure that development doesn’t add more concrete in the park? How can we make sure that the park itself can continue to endure and have this lasting legacy for generations to come? When you look at the projects that the Conservancy and the rest of our park partners have in motion, the reconciliation has really given us a great framework for how to answer those questions. Last thing we want to do is destroy anything that is what people love about this park, and I think the plan did a much better job of listening to the community on that.
Q: Have you heard from any of the tree and bird advocates? Do you have any concerns about pushback some projects have received?
A: I’ve only been here about four weeks, but I do know there’s some great trees in this park, and what park wouldn’t have trees — it’s got a great canopy to it, and so I can understand the people’s passions. As a conservation person first, a conservancy person second, the last thing I want to do is go remove something that’s unnecessary — but I think it sounds like it was vetted fairly well. I think the folks that were making those decisions listened and did a really good job. I’m kind of just taking it all in, doing my own research — I was walking through the park, and I heard these loud thunder claps, I thought ‘What is going on?’ And I saw all these signs, then I hear this bottle rocket go off, and I’m like ‘What is going on?’ and then I read ‘Oh, they’re chasing away birds.’ Then I see the playground closed, and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s really unfortunate,’ and then I got the full story about the amount of birds and the amount of health hazards created by them, and I was like, ‘Well, that’s a new one to me.’ I’ve never experienced the bird mitigation issue.
Q: How are you going about making sure that cultural aspects are included in the plans moving forward?
A: I’m meeting with very influential folks from the Hispanic population, and I intend to meet with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. I met with the Mexican Consul General just last week, we had lunch. I wanted to talk to him about what his population is doing, and get his folks to the park and see it as a safe space. I’ve got to do a lot more research and investigation and I’m looking for a couple of different folks to meet with about it.