Business

The San Antonio River Authority has been conducting workshops throughout the San Antonio River Watershed area and is working on a holistic watershed master plan for Wilson, Karnes and Goliad counties. 

SARA officials said its new best practices handbook is another element in providing residents and community leaders with ideas that have worked for other communities going through sudden and rapid growth associated with oil and gas exploration.

Businesses in agriculture are paying close attention to the water situation over the next few weeks as warmer temperatures approach, but other businesses with lesser water demands have little to worry about.

The overwhelming approval Wednesday of a bill setting aside state funding for water projects sparked conversation about water restrictions in metro areas. Some lawmakers argued that the money would benefit only rural communities.

The San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau is kicking off a new campaign to increase occupancy at area hotels during Fiesta week.

Krystal Jones, senior brand manager for the bureau, said locals often don’t try to book hotels, thinking they’re booked up long in advance.

"Fiesta, of course, is a busy time, and a lot of locals come and enjoy Fiesta. And automatically you think there might not be room at the hotels but we do have availability. We sit at about 70 percent," she said.

San Antonio economists told members of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that San Antonio recovered from the recession faster because it didn’t suffer as great an impact as the rest of the nation, or even Texas.

Keith Phillips with the local branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said metropolitan statistical area's in Texas have recovered all of the jobs lost in the recession, and San Antonio suffered the least: