SAN ANTONIO – Enrique M. Barrera Parkway was once Old US Highway 90 up until September of 2015. It was a decision the West Side community says they never wanted to happen.
On Thursday, a unanimous city council vote changed the name again, this time now to be called, Historic Old US Highway 90.
Residents and business owners in the stretch of Enrique M. Barrera Parkway fought to stop the name change in 2015, but lost. Shortly after, a new rule went into effect stating changed street names cannot be changed again for at least five years.
“Words can’t explain the way we felt, you feel like you have somebody kick you in the gut because you did everything right, everything we were suppose to do, we did it and it didn’t go our way,” Javier Gutierrez, part owner of Del Bravos Record Shop said.
Guttierez and others along the highway, like Mike Cooremans, owner of M4 Auto Supply, waited the five years but kept fighting. And their work didn’t go unnoticed.
District 6 Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Harvda said Thursday’s vote was a result of a strong community-led effort, but that more work needed to be done.
“We will offer different avenues to honor councilman Barrera in my district, and maybe outside of my district because he was a really good man,” Harvda said.
According to those happy with the change, the issue with name change had nothing to do with the person it was honoring, as the late Enrique M. Barrera was a former councilwoman and Edgewood ISD trustee. The issue the West Side residents had was they felt like a part of them was being taken.
“Old Highway 90, it identifies us. The name it identifies us here,” Guttierez said.
The other issue is the name change was bad for business. It confused customers, and some saw the new name and thought the store had moved locations.
Others would use GPS and end up on Enrique Avenue that is a quarter mile away from Enrique M. Barrera Parkway. The business owners say they hope the latest change brings their business back.