Council OKs naming trail system after former mayor

Local officials have a history of naming public places after the living. Think parks, stadiums and theaters. Click ahead for some recent examples. Local officials have a history of naming public places after the living. Think parks, stadiums and theaters. Click ahead for some recent examples. Photo: William Luther, San Antonio Express-News Photo: William Luther, San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close Council OKs naming trail system after former mayor 1 / 29 Back to Gallery

San Antonio's Greenway Trails were renamed Thursday for the man who originally conceived the sprawling string of linear parks.

The City Council unanimously approved naming the Howard W. Peak Greenway Trails System after the former city planner, zoning commissioner, District 9 councilman and mayor who envisioned the hike-and-bike trails that follow creek ways around the city.

Humbled by the gesture, Peak thanked the council for the honor along with others, including the city's parks and recreation director Xavier Urrutia. But his gratitude went “especially to our citizens and visitors who have helped fund the bulk of the cost to build the system to date,” he said.

Peak said when he was a councilman, he'd “grab as much money” as he could from bond programs and such to build trails, “but in any one of our lives, it was never going to get to be a connection across the city if we didn't do something more.”

In 2000, when Peak was mayor, he called a four-proposition sales tax election for a 1/8-cent increase that would fund several initiatives, including the development of a trail system along the Leon and Salado creeks.

The trails initiative, which was coupled with a plan to purchase undeveloped land in the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, was the only proposition to pass voter muster in an otherwise abysmal election for local proposals, including the failed effort to bring light rail to San Antonio.

With voter approval — and a portion of the sales tax to fund it — “our construction moved quite quickly after that,” Peak said.

Voters reapproved the sales tax in 2005 and 2010, allowing the city to continue expanding the trail system. Peak told the council that some 50 miles of trails have been completed or are in design and construction. Ultimately, about 110 miles of trail would line the Leon and Salado creeks with an additional 20 miles along tributaries, Peak said.

“My goal was, and is, to utilize the creeks that wind through San Antonio — the Salado and the Leon — so that we would have a ring of trails around the city for walking, biking and running,” he said. “We're well on our way; many people are on the trails every day, enjoying the setting of the creeks and becoming fit and healthy, something we all know is important for our citizens.”

John Linkhart, a board member of the Hardberger Park Conservancy, quoted the 19th century naturalist John Muir as he discussed the importance of the city's trail system.

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“Something that's always resonated for me is John Muir's comment that going to woods is going home,” he told the council. “I think the reality is many people don't have a chance to go to the woods, and that's what city parks are about. And I think it's to the credit of any great city to provide that for its citizens.”

He likened the city's parks and greenbelt trails to a pearl necklace.

The parks are the pearls,” he said. “And the creek-way system is the string that ties many of them together.”

Linkhart said he couldn't think of a better way to acknowledge the former mayor's leadership, political understanding and wherewithal than to name the trail system after him.

He told a story of when former Mayor Phil Hardberger was approached about the idea of lending his name to what was then Voelcker Park.

“He paused and said, well, he'd consider that but didn't want to have to die in order for that to happen. I guess I want to reassure Mayor Peak that at least to date, it's not a requirement that one die in order to have something named after him.”

Councilman Ray Lopez, too, noted that the city doesn't require death as a prerequisite for naming.

“I'm also glad we're allowing people who are still alive and vibrant and being able to contribute and participate to have things named after them,” Lopez said.

jbaugh@express-news.net