{"id":168371,"date":"2025-08-23T05:27:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T05:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/168371\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T05:27:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T05:27:17","slug":"south-side-neighbors-use-bus-tour-to-show-health-concerns-call-for-change-in-san-antonio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/168371\/","title":{"rendered":"South Side neighbors use bus tour to show health concerns, call for change in San Antonio"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO<\/strong> \u2013 As dozens of people stepped out of a tour bus and lined the side of Quintana Road on Friday morning, Cheyenne Rendon looked to the sky. <\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to the South Side,\u201d she yelled. <\/p>\n

At the same time, a train chugged on Amtrak tracks as multiple fighter jets landed at Kelly Field.<\/p>\n

This loud experience is not one that all people in San Antonio are used to, but Rendon said it\u2019s a clear example of the inequities of living on the South Side. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are targeted not by someone specific, but by all,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re here to speak our lived experience and share with you what we are living with in 2025.\u201c<\/p>\n

Rendon was one of the speakers on the Environmental Justice Bus Tour. Multiple nonprofits put on this experience to give people living south of Highway 90 a platform to share their health concerns. <\/p>\n

For years, KSAT has covered issues like air quality, chemical contamination and equitable infrastructure in neighborhoods like South San<\/a>, Quintan<\/a>a<\/a> and Thompson<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Diana Lopez, the executive director of the Southwest Workers Union, said a bus tour brings people out of the classroom and office, and shows them firsthand what communities are dealing with.<\/p>\n

\u201cTours in general became a tool to use to say \u2018We exist. We\u2019re feeling this. We\u2019re all sick. This is what is across our street. This is what\u2019s across our fence line and we think there\u2019s a connection there\u2019,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The first stop on the tour was on Quintana Road. KSAT reported decades of health concerns because of Kelly Air Force Base<\/a>. The base closed in 2001. The site is now Port San Antonio. <\/p>\n

The tour said communities living near the base have struggled, even since its closure. <\/p>\n

\u201cMost of these houses were built in the 1940s and they were built with no floor sealants,\u201d Debra Ponce, a climate justice organizer for Public Citizen, said. \u201cOver time, cracks have developed in the floorboards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ponce said these residents are worried about the possibility of contaminated water, air and soil. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur neighborhood has been surrounded by industrial activity for years,\u201d she said. \u201cOur community has cancer, asthma and other chronic issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

One man, named Victor San Miguel, said his health has suffered severely growing up on the South Side. <\/p>\n

\u201cAbout 10 years ago, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The past year, I was diagnosed with skin cancer,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve gone through a lot, but I\u2019m not here to ask for help. The reason I am here is so that we can all work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tour leaders set up a memorial of flags on Quintana Road with the names of their neighbors who have passed from health conditions they believe were caused by industry and contamination in the area. <\/p>\n

Community members led the charge to update metal recycling codes<\/a> for the city of San Antonio, after a fire burned at a recycling yard<\/a> in their neighborhood for hours in 2023.<\/p>\n

Fifty-three of the 69 auto recyclers across San Antonio are located in District 4 and District 5. <\/p>\n

District 4 Councilman Edward Mungia sat in on the tour Friday. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is so much happening here, so many different layers of inequity,\u201d Mungia said. \u201cI\u2019m committed to being a partner and solving it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were three main community solutions presented by the tour leaders: <\/p>\n