Many longtime San Antonio residents describe their hometown as one of the biggest cities that no one knows.
They say this as a point of pride, and it speaks to the rapid transformation of this South Texas behemoth: In four decades, the home of the Alamo and Riverwalk has doubled in size to a current 1.5 million people, making it the seventh largest city by population in the United States and second in the state to Houston.
With a population that is 60 percent Hispanic, San Antonio offers reminders of its past, like the Mission San Juan Capistrano from 1731, and glimpses of its future, seen in the new shops and residences going up in the upscale Pearl District. But as the city adds an average of 25,000 people a year, partners in the public and private sectors are taking a hard look at entrenched problems to ensure that this 300-year-old community expands into the next century on solid footing and in a way that benefits everyone.