SAN ANTONIO — A crowd of outdoor enthusiasts showed up for a ribbon-cutting ceremony commemorating the opening of the Howard W. Peak Greenway Trail Saturday morning, but the highlight of the event was a tall, lanky man on a bike who rode up in the middle of the festivities.
The crowd seemed surprised and delighted when former Spurs player Manu Ginobili joined the party, extolling the virtues of a system that now encircles the city with more than 80 miles of lush trails.
To a cheering group of supporters, Ginobili told the crowd: “This is really something worth celebrating!”
The event marked the completion of an important reach of the 86-mile system, the section where the east-side Salado Creek trail was finally directly linked to the Leon Creek trail, which traverses west San Antonio.
“I am a big fan of riding the bike, and when they connected Salado and Leon, I was fired up,” Ginobili said. “I think it’s something very special that we have in this community and I love it because it connects me with the outdoors, trees, wildlife, locals, health and exercise. So it’s a combination of a lot of things that makes a good living."
The partisan crowd was on Ginobili’s side as he called the trail system a gift that brings families together and builds a stronger community.
“Thank you to all the people who have been working for the last 20 years to make this amazing thing happen,” Ginobili said to applause, before mounting his bike and riding off onto one of his favorite sections of trail, as it passes through Eisenhower Park on Northwest Military Highway.
City Councilman Manny Palaez also praised the new development, calling the resource a terrific way to make new friends.
“This is where the word 'community' stops being a noun and starts being a verb,” Palaez said. “I’ve made new friends and I’ve been able to meet some of my neighbors for the first time as we’re huffing and puffing up and down these trails.”
Palaez said while the trails are beautiful, they are proving to be vital assets as well.
“Many people are getting to work on these trails, as opposed to getting stuck on I-10, but it’s also a way for you to fall in love with your city,” he said.
Palaez praised everyone who had a role in creating and sustaining the development, including voters, who overwhelmingly approved a one-eighth-cent sales tax to fund the project over the last 20 years.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg said as a young councilman years ago, the trail system was one of his early favorite projects, one he learned stemmed from the dream of former Mayor Howard W. Peak.
“My first day on council we had 41 miles of trails connected. Today we have 86, and we’ve only just begun,” Nirenberg said.
“We formed a friendship around these parks and how important it was for the future of San Antonio,” Nirenberg said, adding he was proud of the many citizens who have voted with their pocketbooks to support expanding the system. “Some of the biggest turnouts, some of the largest margins of victory recorded in San Antonio have been for this trail system."
Looking forward to the future, Nirenberg said voters will have a chance to continue adding more miles of trails throughout the city.
“You will have the opportunity to continue these trails in the 2022 bonds, so look forward to that,” Nirenberg said, acknowledging that the linear trails are more than just good-looking. The mayor said during times of flood, they help save lives and property.
Nirenberg said, “These are some of the most robust, well-developed, connected trails in the entire United States and we should continue that vision.”
There is extensive information about the Howard W. Peak Greenway Trail System here.