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You know how sometimes, in the middle of a fight, you miss the forest for the trees? We did that on Vista Majority of San Antonio’s chambers backing SAWS rate hike plan, San Antonio Business Journal Ridge. Check it out: San Antonio Water System has yet to explain — or remedy — the loss of 32 million gallons per day of water in the SAWS system. Meanwhile, at the behest of the real estate lobby, the San Antonio City Council is about to vote on 50%+ rate hikes mostly dedicated to purchase 44 million gallons per day of NEW water — Vista Ridge.* San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor needs to have her phone ringing off the hook today before the vote tomorrow — as well as appropriate City Council members. Here’s the number:   210.207.7040 Click on the picture to read “San Antonio Water System is being backed by six local chambers” in the San Antonio Business Journal. Is it not time — long overdue — for a united movement of rural, suburban and urban Texans to cut off the perpetual hogs at the public trough? Please share this message today by forwarding this message or using the share buttons on this page. We’ll be at the Council meeting at 114 W. Commerce tomorrow at 9 am. You can also watch online at:  http://sanantonio.gov/tvsa.aspx PS The rates are spread out over 5 years. Just note that SAWS has yet to say what their plan is after 2020. #SanAntonioChamberofCommerce #VistaRidgeWater

Do not let the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce get away with it! This Thursday, the San Antonio City Council will vote on 50%+ water rate hikes (SAWS) mostly for Vista Ridge “the San Antone hose”. If you agree it’s time for a SAWS ratepayer revolt, pass this message on to anyone you know in the SAWS service area. Even if they don’t vote for San Antonio City Council, they have a right to complain. If you live in San Antonio or are a SAWS ratepayer: Do this today or tomorrow before the San Antonio City Council votes on Thursday for this inexcusable 50%+ water rate hikes and “water grab” in Burleson County some 142-miles away.  We do not want to pay to drain our neighbors and we must refuse to pay for this developer giveaway to build in dry areas over the sensitive zones of the Edwards aquifer – our own drinking water supply. Call 210.207.7040 right now . Insist that Mayor Ivy Taylor (and your council member, if you live in the city of San Antonio) delay or stop Vista Ridge (the “San Antone Hose”) when they vote on the 50%+ rate hikes for Vista Ridge on Thursday. Note:  Vista Ridge is some of the most expensive water in Texas and San Antonio doesn’t need that much water. Therefore, SAWS is looking to become a water broker in the region WITH YOUR DOLLARS! More Background : The “San Antone Hose” is set to hose the 400,000+ ratepayers of San Antonio Water System as a $3.4 billion giveaway to real estate developers to bring water to dry areas OUTSIDE San Antonio. The Chamber of Commerce wants to tell the world San Antonio will never have drought restrictions — and ratepayers will pay the price for water hungry businesses to move in. Vista Ridge is just one more way developers continue to offload the costs of growth onto the backs of current residents. That’s right, you’re paying for the infrastructure (roads, schools, water, etc.) for the newcomers. The lack of transparency on Vista Ridge is abominable. SAWS continues to withhold all kinds of information, a breach of open and ethical government. Most San Antonians we know believe a $3.4 billion project that carries so many risks to ratepayers and neighbors across the region, should have been put to a public vote. More here on Costs of Growth . Want more information? Watch the video on our home page, sign the petition next to it and call or get your friends in the SAWS area to call San Antonio City Hall right away! LIV Home Page- StopWaterGrab.org One thing SAWS did right. They left an exit provision in the contract that allows them to leave Vista Ridge for pennies on the dollar . We’ll be back soon with other things you can do to help — regardless of what happens on Thursday. We also need funds – see the DONATE button? ==> Now, get after it, Texans! PS We are continuing our petition drive, so keep those signatures going from our home page or in person. Thank you all. #CostsofGrowth #SanAntonioChamberofCommerce

Our rural-urban media release hit BIG that Texans are uniting to stop the California water model via the “San Antone/Vista Ridge hose” — hit 156 media outlets across the country, totaling an audience of 153 million. Our fave was the Boston Globe’s Finance page. We hit practically every TV news outlet in central Texas too! On Monday, the first city in the “forced donor” area — Smithville (Bastrop County) — uanimously passed this resolution against Vista Ridge . The next night, a similar resolution was passed in Castle Hills, an independent municipality surrounded by San Antonio! There is definately push back happening in San Antonio, now that the message of 50% rate hikes for Vista Ridge (stair stepped over the next 4 years) is out. Note: No one knows yet what happens after 2020! Next Thursday, November 19, the San Antonio City Council is slated to vote on the City’s water rate structure and rates for Vista Ridge. But, from last night’s hearing, the air in San Antonio has the smell of a ratepayer revolt .  Am I dreaming? Very Important Vista Ridge Events! ► This Saturday in San Antonio, LIV is running a phone bank to generate calls from San Antonians to their Council members and Mayor to stop Vista Ridge. Please come! Details here . ► Next Mond ay at 6:30 pm, the San Antonio Tea Party is co-sponsoring this event with LIV on Vista Ridge, “What does Vista Ridge Mean for the Ratepayers of San Antonio?” Spread the word from here and show up San Antone! LIV filed 5500 signatures against Vista Ridge with the City of San Antonio — 3300 of those were from Burleson. Hundreds were from Milam, Brazos, Lee, and Bastrop. Bexar County sign ups online are picking up steam, thanks to a mention from San Antonio Firefighters! Keep pushing it all from our home page . How you can help most now. Get more signatures on the petition! Take them to your chuches, local businesses and post it on Facebook. Print them from here or send folks to our home page to watch the video and sign it online. Get your city to pass a resolution against Vista Ridge. We’ll help you — contact us! Contact us to volunteer. We need admin and petitioners. ⇔SPECIAL THANKS to the lovely 50 people who showed up on Tuesday from the affected Vista Ridge counties — Austin, Bastrop, Brazos, Burleson, Caldwell, Hays, Lee, Milam, Robertson, Travis and Bexar counties. Very special thanks to Andy Hovorak and Becky and Gabbo Goetsch of Burleson County and Gary and Dorothey Gerdes of Lee County for your leadership this week! We must tell you, from the bottom of our hearts, how much this all-volunteer organization appreciates you all. Thank you for your participation, your dollars that you give without us asking, and for your big hearts for our big Texas! #BostonGloveFinancialNews #TeaParty #VistaRidgeWater

Rural Conservatives and Urban Progressives Deliver Petition to San Antonio to Stop Vista Ridge Water Project and “California Water Model” Coming to Texas It’s not every day that rural conservatives unite with urban progressives, especially in the quintessential red state of Texas. The League of Independent Voters of Texas is bringing them together, across party lines, to protect what is becoming the most precious and disputed resource in the West — groundwater. Rural Conservatives and Urban Progressives Deliver Petition to San Antonio to Stop Vista Ridge Water Project and “California Water Model” Coming to Texas.  Rural and urban Texans United on the steps of San Antonio City Hall — Stop Vista Ridge Water Project. “SAWS’ plan to use Vista Ridge water to become the regional water broker for unbridled growth in central Texas could backfire, leaving San Antonio ratepayers holding the bag for water they may not need for the foreseeable future.” Austin, Texas (PRWEB)November 10, 2015 It’s not every day that rural conservatives unite with urban progressives. This is especially true in the quintessential red state of Texas. A 30 to 60-year plan for massive transfers of groundwater to San Antonio from distant aquifers in rural Burleson County, has ignited a populist movement uniting central Texans across partisan lines. The Vista Ridge Water Project , a public-private partnership between San Antonio Water System (SAWS) and the private consortium of Abengoa, S.A. and Austin-based Blue Water Systems, will deliver enough water for 375,000 future residents. The 30-year contract’s $3.4 billion price tag was passed unanimously by the San Antonio City Council more than a year ago. But as the Council prepares to vote on a 50% water rate hike by 2020, the first year of Vista Ridge, ratepayer concerns are adding to concerns already raised by some Council members. SAWS’ reluctance to discuss future additional rate hikes is understandable, according to Michele Gangnes , a volunteer board member of the League of Independent Voters of Texas and a municipal bond attorney by trade. Gangnes said, “SAWS’ plan to use Vista Ridge water to become the regional water broker for unbridled growth in central Texas could backfire, leaving San Antonio ratepayers holding the bag for water they may not need for the foreseeable future.” The San Antonio Express News reported on September 21 that San Antonio Councilman Ray Lopez complained that only San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor had access to a draft water policy report critical of Vista Ridge. SAWS’ summarily dismissed the draft as flawed after it was leaked to the press. The Rivard Report , a San Antonio based independent media outlet, then raised concerns about how the peer-reviewed final report was “fixed” to seemingly support the views of the project’s strongest advocates. City Councilman Ron Nirenberg has also questioned the project’s regional impact and the potential for San Antonio to reverse its national reputation as a leader in water conservation. Burleson County water will travel to San Antonio through a 142-mile pipeline. Local landowner, Gabbo Goetsch, a bronc-riding cowboy, has lately been riding his neighbors to fight Vista Ridge. Goestch said, “It’s easier to blame the officials who have not protected us from water profiteers, but we ordinary citizens have to take responsibility, too. My water lease came with the land, but I didn’t think that much about it when I bought some 8 years ago. I would love to get out of this lease, based on what I know today.” Goetsch was referring to a report by respected hydrologist and former Edwards Aquifer Authority board member, George Rice. The Rice Report used state-approved modeling to predict water level drawdowns of up to 400 feet over multiple counties from Vista Ridge alone, irrespective of baseline or other proposed pumping from the aquifers. The drawdowns would violate currently established regulatory limits, requiring cutbacks at some point in the contract. Goestch came with a busload of rural Texans carrying thousands of signatures on a petition urging Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a host of state officials and the San Antonio City Council to “Stop San Antonio’s Vista Ridge water project and all other efforts by the Texas real estate lobby and its political allies to employ the ‘California water model’ in Texas…a proven disaster”. The bus was greeted by a cross-denominational group of clergy, and a host of social and environmental justice organizations and leaders, including Maria Berriozabal. Berriozabal, a popular former San Antonio City Council member, said, “We have been fighting for years to protect our own great Edwards Aquifer as the source of our drinking water. Now Vista Ridge may kill two aquifers with one stone. San Antonio residents could be forced to pay for some of the most expensive water in Texas, drained from our rural Texas neighbors and used to build over the Edwards’ recharge zone.” Vanessa Quezada is one of the organizers of the event for Mi Agua, Mi Vida Coalition. Quezada, of the Kickapoo Nation, brought together a group of clerics to lead the group in prayer following a traditional Native American sage and smudging ceremony. Quezada said, “This event held special meaning for me because my people have lived in harmony with our lands for thousands of years. Water is life. The veins of Mother Earth must be protected. The future generations depend on the actions we take today.” The event was sponsored by the League of Independent Voters of Texas and San Antonio based, Mi Agua, Mi Vida Coalition. LIV recently released a 17 minute in-depth video on Vista Ridge, “I Oppose the San Antone Hose” featured on their website at http://www.StopWaterGrab.org , and is the sponsor of the “Stop Vista Ridge and Make Growth Pay for Itself” petition. ### The League of Independent Voters of Texas is a non-partisan, nonprofit, all-volunteer organization whose mission is to organize Texans in the fight for what is uniquely Texan — a people tied to our land, our water, our clear blue skies and the democratic republic for which we are supposed to stand. Mi Agua, Mi Vida Coalition is on Facebook. PS Many thanks to our many new friends in San Antonio for organizing, participating and attending this great event! LIV #VistaRidgewaterproject

We are very pleased that the San Antonio Firefighters and Tea Party question Vista Ridge, as they raise their own concerns! This couldn’t come at a better time than on the heels of the “fixing” of the now infamous water report – read it here in the Rivard Report . There’s a last minute rush on bus seats for the Tuesday, Nov. 10th, media event in San Antonio. Contact us now and don’t miss out! The bus schedule and other details, including parking if you’re coming on your own are here . Read this media advisory we put out on Friday. San Antonians Unite to Question Vista Ridge! A San Antonio phone bank will take place all day on Saturday, November 14th . Reaching ratepayers is now critical and our best shot on Vista Ridge. Join us and bring a cell (and laptop, if you can). Details here. The San Antonio Tea Party is co-sponsoring this event with us on Monday, November 16th, 6:30 pm at the Lion and the Rose Pub (the one near the Palladium). Share this event from this page here . Urban and rural Texans are faced with far too many wallet and water grabs, not to mention the breaches of the public trust in how government, at all levels, is conducting the people’s business. Keep sharing the 17-minutes Vista Ridge video and asking friends to sign the petition. Let’s keep kicking up our heels together, Texas! #RivardReport #SanAntonioFirefighters #SanAntonioTeaParty #VistaRidge

MEDIA ADVISORY FOR Tuesday, November 10, 12:00 pm For more information contact: Linda Curtis, 512-657-2089,  info@IndependentLeagueTX.org San Antonio, Texas Rural and Urban Texans Join Forces to Stop San Antonio’s Vista Ridge “Water Grab” It’s not every day that rural conservatives unite with urban progressives, but that is what will happen on the steps of San Antonio City Hall next Tuesday. Landowners organized by the League of Independent Voters of Texas are traveling by bus to San Antonio from Burleson, Milam, Lee, Bastrop, Hays, Kendall and Brazos counties. They will carry with them thousands of petition signatures asking the Mayor and City Council of San Antonio to stop the Vista Ridge “water grab” and to “make growth pay for itself”. The rural citizens will be met by San Antonio based, Mi Agua Mi Vida Coalition, which opposes San Antonio’s plan to implement a 50 percent rate hike on San Antonio ratepayers for water to be used for development outside the city and over the sensitive Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. Faith leaders from various religious affiliations will lead the event in prayer and song in a show of mutual respect and to question the morality of harming rural Texans’ most important resource. WHO:  Rural Texans, urban Texans and San Antonio faith leaders WHAT:  Media conference to protect our most precious resource WHEN:  Tuesday, November 10th, 12:00 pm WHERE:  Steps of San Antonio City Hall, 100 Military Plaza The goal of this event is to reach out to the broader San Antonio community and to decision makers through the media. This includes the San Antonio City Council, in the runup to a Council vote on November 19th on the City’s water rate structure and rate hikes for Vista Ridge. The League of Independent Voters has released its 17-minute video “I Oppose the San Antone Hose” (now on it’s home page at  www.StopWaterGrab.org ) with an action request for citizens to sign the petition. ### The League of Independent Voters of Texas is a non-partisan, nonprofit, all-volunteer organization whose mission is to organize Texans in the fight for what is uniquely Texan — a people tied to our land, our water, our clear blue skies and the democratic republic for which we are supposed to stand. #Texaswatergrab #VistaRidge

San Antonio’s Vista Ridge Project – click on it for a more detailed map Rural and urban Texans will stand united on the steps of San Antonio City Hall next Tuesday, November 10th at noon. We will join in prayer, song and ceremony to deliver petitions to stop the Vista Ridge water grab. Rural Texans oppose this raid on their aquifer, San Antonians do not want to pay for it with 50%+ water rate hikes. San Antonio votes on their water rates on November 19th. This is an important media event — rural and urban Texans will join hands across the region to protect our resources and affordability. We hope you will hop on the bus, get into one of the vans or drive with us in your own vehicle to meet our friends in San Antonio. Sign the petition we’re taking with us here. If you live in San Antonio, call Mayor Ivy Taylor and your city council member now at 210.207.7040 to say No Water Rate Hikes for Vista Ridge! Need a ride? Call us at 512-213-4511. Or email us here . The event is from 12 to 1 pm on Tuesday, November 10th (though we suggest you show up at 11:30). Details here. Click on this flier to learn more. Use it to invite your friends. Please watch the “I Oppose the Hose” video and sign the petition to be delivered to San Antonio City Hall on our home page. Our Sunday 6 pm conference call will focus on this event. Contact us for details. Many thanks to Charlotte, Carolyn, and Mary Liz for your administrative support these last few weeks. We need more help from others!

Do not be scared by the man in this picture, nor the rest of them behind the curtain. Watch the video and sign the petition You’ll feel a lot less scared. Promise! All Central Texans — we REALLY need you in San Antonio at High Noon on Tuesday, November 10th. We have a bus coming from Burleson County and vans from other counties. Click here to reserve a seat. If you’re tired of SAWS (San Antonio Water System) trying to be the water warlords of central Texas at your expense, you must be at this event. Conservative rural Texans will meet urban progressives — in an unlikely coalition — to join hands in prayer and across the 142-mile Vista Ridge pipeline. We will deliver thousands of signatures to the San Antonio City Council urging them to do the right thing and stop the SAWS horror show, otherwise known as Vista Ridge. Happy Halloween, stay safe this weekend and please share our video and plans with your friends across Texas. #SanAntonioCityCouncil

Watch Oppose the Hose new video! After two months of previews by audiences from Bryan-College Station to San Antonio, this NEW and IMPROVED “I Oppose the San Antone Hose” video is now available online. Watch the 1-minute trailer, immediately followed by the 16-minute video exploring how Vista Ridge promises to bring the “ California Water Model ” to Texas. SHARE IT here on Facebook ! AND sign the petition to Governor Greg Abbott Notice:  Petition Deadline — November 8, 11 days before the San Antonio City Council votes on making their ratepayers pay for Vista Ridge! MARK YOUR CALENDAR! High Noon Press Conference on the steps of San Antonio’s City Hall on November 10. All affected citizens — come deliver petitions!  Details forthcoming. Have fun and share, dear Texans. Don’t let this happen to us.

San Antonio’s Vista Ridge Project – click on it for a more detailed map Vista Ridge is having a really bad hair week — read this from yesterday’s Texas Tribune! Tomorrow’s Bastrop event is canceled due to the preoccupation of Bastrop citizens with the fire. Everyone is pulling for you, Bastrop! Tuesday night, October 20 — Burleson County and parts nearby —  come to the Caldwell Civic Center at 6:30 pm. Share this event on Facebook from here. Now is the time to render Vista Ridge bald — as in the bald-faced claims of San Antonio Water System’s CEO, Robert Puente, about how Burleson countians support Vista Ridge. We’ll be showing the NEW and IMPROVED video, “I Oppose the San Antone Hose”. Wednesday, October 21, 7 pm, Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District meets at Giddings City Hall at 7 pm . Public comments will be taken. End Op LP is NOT on the agenda . Next Saturday, October 24, from 10am-5 pm, downtown Elgin, Texas . We need your help collecting signatures at the Hogeye Festival in Elgin. Reply to volunteer or just call us – details here . Next Sunday, October 25, 6 pm, join our every other Sunday conference call. We need volunteers now more than ever. If you live in the Bastrop area, we need help with central administration. So, step up and call us! #Bastropfires #HogeyeFestival #VistaRidge

Bastrop County Water Contract Negotiations Continue http://www.twcnews.com/tx/austin/news/2015/10/8/bastrop-county-water-contract-negotiations-continue.html By Jeff Stensland, Time Warner News Thursday, October 8, 2015 at 04:24 PM CDT For More Information: • Read the full report BASTROP COUNTY—Developers along the Interstate 35 corridor are still trying to get water rights from Bastrop and Lee County. Area property owners oppose the deal, saying their aquifer would be depleted faster than it can recharge. The water would serve communities between San Antonio and Austin. The situation includes a company wanting approximately 50,000 acre-feet of water a year. One acre foot of water is roughly a foot of water covering a football field, including the end zones. The Lost Pines Conservation District met in private Wednesday night. Board members say this is the same contract they’ve discussed for two years, but have not yet approved. Property owners worry this deal could compromise their future water supply. “Everything from agricultural prosperity to the opportunity for other businesses, and everything from private endeavors all the way through any industrial endeavors that we might have out here. They all depend on water,” said Bastrop County resident Grant Crump. This fight follows the approval of another water contract for the San Antonio area. That contract taps a different aquifer, but a study by a groundwater scientist found they’re both connected. “What is really unbelievable is that they are going to use our water in a slow recharge aquifer to go build over the Edwards Aquifer and its recharge zone,” said Linda Curtis, League of Independent Voters. Property owners contested this case. On Friday, a judge will determine if they have a say in the deal. #EndOpLP #ForestarRealEstateGroup #VistaRidge

In the morning, District Judge Carson Campbell heard arguments by landowners asking the court to stop the permit negotiations between Lost Pines Groundwater Conservation District and End Op LP until their appeal for party status (a seat at the table) is heard. The court will rule tomorrow — Friday. In the evening, in front of 150 folks from four counties over the aquifer — Milam, Burleson, Lee and Bastrop — Lost Pines took no action — good news. Even better news is that we — the people — started telling the world about the plans underway to drain the aquifer for no less than 3 mega-permits — End Op, Forestar Real Estate and San Antonio’s Vista Ridge totalling at least 141,000 acre-feet of groundwater per year. Click on this video above to watch the FOX-TV News Report. More coverage coming too! What I loved most was seeing these folks extending their hands from across the aquifer chanting “Stop the Water Grabs” , as Lost Pines went into executive session. We must go to the Governor — and state and local officials NOW — with this letter petition .  Keep getting this out! There’s lots more ways you can help. Contact us or be on Sunday’s conference call at 6 pm. (Reply for details.) We also want to hear your ideas. In the words of 6th generation Texas landowner, Darwyn Hanna — we will not submit to WATER BANKRUPTCY. Keep checking in for upcoming events here. Next stop is Lockhart on Saturday. PS Do you know a landowner facing the pipeline for Vista Ridge? Help us get them to Lockhart on Saturday. PPS We need a Spanish translator to call us. #VistaRidge #watergrab