Inside a small gymnasium Thursday evening, Roberto Rodriguez sat at a small wooden table listening openly as more than 20 community members voiced their support for having the Westside Creeks ecosystem named after him.
Rodriguez, 82, grew teary-eyed again and again as his friends and neighbors showered him with admiration and praise for his decades-long crusade to see the Westside Creeks — the San Pedro, Apache, Alazán and Martínez creeks — restored to their natural glory.
For more than 20 years now, Rodriguez has been a champion of the creeks, working with the San Antonio River Authority, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other local stakeholders to help launch the Westside Creeks Restoration Project.
On Thursday evening at a public hearing inside the Westside Family YMCA, he fondly recalled the creeks in their early glory, recounting how he used to look for crawfish and perch and swim in the “Ojo de agua” as a small boy.
“I remember the bullfrogs — those things were huge,” he said, to chuckles from the room. “All of them are gone now, but hopefully, in the future, we will have them again.”
The creeks in the predominantly Mexican American neighborhoods were essentially turned into drainage ditches in the ’70s, solving issues of catastrophic flooding but also destroying much of the creeks’ habitats, a point Rodriguez noted when he sat down with the San Antonio Report earlier this year.
Westside resident Richard Gray brought to mind an old rope swing that used to sit over an artesian well within the creeks that neighborhood children used to play on. Gray turned to look at Rodriguez directly as he gave his support.
“Now that Mr. Rodriguez has been working tirelessly for so many years, it’s time to recognize him,” Gray said. “There’s no other name that we should use for the Westside creeks, other than the ‘Roberto Rodriguez Westside Creeks Ecosystem.’”
Another attendee, Carlos Martinez, referred to Rodriguez as the Godfather of the Westside Creeks — a nickname that was repeated by several others throughout the evening.
Robert Ramirez, one of the co-chairs of the River Authority’s oversight committee, recounted Rodriguez’s history in relation to the creeks.
Born on the West Side in 1942, Rodriguez had grown up experiencing both the creeks as they had been in their more natural state and some of the damaging floods the area had experienced prior to channelization.
“The water would flow over the banks and come into our houses,” Rodriguez recalled. “It would stink to high heavens.”
He went on to serve two terms on the San Antonio River Authority’s Board of Directors, where his advocacy led to the creation of the Westside Creeks Restoration Oversight Committee in 2008. He retired from the board in 2013, but not before securing a pilot restoration project.
Ramirez noted all 20-plus members of the Westside Creeks Restoration Oversight Committee voted unanimously earlier this summer to see the ecosystem named for Rodriguez.
“It’s not only the natural environment,” that Rodriguez is restoring, Ramirez said, “It’s the social environment also, with an enhancement of the quality of life for Westside residents. So this is a fitting, fitting tribute to Roberto. We couldn’t be more ardent in our endorsement of this.”
A city-led community panel consisting of Councilwoman Teri Castillo (D5), Public Works Director and City Engineer Razi Hosseini, and Westside community resident Lourdes Galvan then voted unanimously for the ecosystem to take Rodriguez’s name.
A lifelong Westsider, Galvan noted the Westside has historically been forgotten by many people, but never by Rodriguez.
“I would say it out loud as I got older — that nothing happens for us, nothing good happens for us on the Westside,” Galvan said. “… But you grabbed everybody to do it, and so you got it done.”
The matter will now head to City Council for an official vote within the next month or two, said Nick Olivier, public relations and marketing manager for the Public Works Department. Olivier also noted there were 20 written comments submitted online in favor of Rodriguez’s namesake. If approved, the “Roberto Rodriguez Westside Creeks Ecosystem,” will become the first official city-named ecosystem.
While the ecosystem of creeks is proposed to be renamed, the San Pedro, Apache, Alazán and Martínez creeks will retain their individual names.
Construction on the Westside Creeks Restoration Project is projected to be completed by 2029.
Following the vote, Rodriguez addressed everyone in the room.
“I stand here before you as your humble servant,” he said, wiping tears away with a tissue, “very grateful and honored by your kind words that everybody here has expressed on my behalf.”