The Saga Continues...........

My irritations with AT&T were eased after the takeover by SBC, and although I thought adopting the AT&T moniker was a poor choice, the service for both phone and DSL has been rather good even though pricey. Then the out-of-the-blue announcement on June 27 that the corporate headquarters will move to Dallas stunned the entire populace - most especially hizzoner the Mayor and the City Council, who had no inkling that such a plan was in the works.
Several units of the company will stay here, but the distinction of being home to the industry's behemoth vanishes. The reasons given? More direct flights from DFW and Dallas has more tech companies.

There is moaning and groaning going on by the promoters of "growth" who wonder what we could have done to prevent it, aand secondly how we can replace the loss. Please! There are bound to be more reasons for the move than those offered, and we'll never be privy to the whole story. The CEO, Stephenson, who replaced Whitacre has had his own agenda since taking over the reins. The firm was just another Baby Bell when it arrived here from St. Louis more than fifteen years ago, and the acquisitions that put it on top came along with local encouragement. Loyalty is not a trait held in high regard by the big boys.

As for replacing the departing headquarters with another biggie or a cluster of mid-sizers, let's go slow. San Antonio is already number eight in size of U.S. cities, and we need to be aware that growth has already stretched our water sources critically. Rampant building has threatened Camp Bullis and by extension the historic Fort Sam Houston. The closure of those installations would be a monumental loss. We don't have to copy-cat other places to be tops - the city is unique and special as it is.