The Cilantro Diaries Podcast

Lorenzo Gomez, Dax Moreno

Hosted by Lorenzo Gomez III, The Cilantro Diaries Podcast is a fresh, unfiltered look at the future of San Antonio—and the stories shaping it. Join Lorenzo as he sits down with city leaders, changemakers, creatives, and everyday doers to explore what’s next for the Alamo City. From bold ideas in urbanism to the art of storytelling and the craft of writing, this show dives deep into the people and perspectives moving San Antonio forward. Part city guide, part writer’s room, part leadership lab—The Cilantro Diaries is where culture meets change.

  1. Sep 25

    Learn From Austin, Don't Become Austin — David Adelman | Ep. 12

    San Antonio vs Austin is the wrong fight. The better question is what to learn from Austin, and what never to copy. That is the heart of my conversation with David Adelman, founder of AREA Real Estate. David went to school in Austin, watched it go all in on downtown, and then spent nearly two decades building San Antonio's urban core, with projects like 1221 Broadway, The Creamery, The '68 at Hemisfair, the Burns Building, and St. Paul Square. We recorded at River Camp, his project on the edge of Southtown, just south of Blue Star. In this episode we go deep into: What Austin got right: downtown housing, a city that contributed land, and a university that seeded the jobs to pay for itWhat Austin got wrong: you cannot move, and why San Antonio should plan for transit nowWhy being "too spread out" makes it so hard for San Antonio's districts to feel as fun1221 Broadway, the tangled eyesore no bank would finance, until a congressman walked into HUDRiver Camp, kayaks on the honor system, and why this stretch is San Antonio's active riverDowntown's double edged sword: why convention and tourism make it so hard to build for localsThe '68 at Hemisfair, the civic project he expected to lose money on that became one of his bestWhy San Antonio's economic development is too splintered, and why the best pitch is getting people here to see the placeTwenty bars in one night: what the price of a beer, the music, and the volume tell you about who a place is forThe Hemisfair arena worry nobody talks about: fans stuck on 281 at tipoffWhy San Antonio is a city where you can contribute, not just consume, and his favorite corner in River NorthAt its core, this is a conversation about building a city people want to live in, invest in, and build their lives in, without losing what makes it San Antonio. Send it to anyone who flinches every time someone mentions Austin. If this episode helped you see San Antonio a little differently, subscribe to the channel. It genuinely helps. And if you want to go deeper, join me on Patreon for first look at upcoming guests and to support the show directly: https://www.patreon.com/LorenzoGomezIII sanantonio, sanantoniovsaustin, austin, sanantoniodevelopment, sanantoniorealestate, urbandevelopment, downtownsanantonio, rivernorth, southtown, hemisfair, economicdevelopment, davidadelman, arearealestate, lorenzogomez, cilantrodiaries 0:00 Intro0:46 From leasing apartments to calling himself a developer8:22 1221 Broadway, the eyesore nobody would finance14:45 River Camp, Lone Star, and the active river22:35 Downtown's double edged sword26:48 The '68 at Hemisfair and the ground floor retail bet33:48 Never use the A word: what Austin got right40:58 Too spread out: why Austin feels more fun45:55 What Austin got wrong, and how we move49:05 Jobs, and merging the chambers53:12 Sell the place: bring them here1:03:35 Twenty bars in one night1:10:38 The price of a beer, the Pearl, and a locals strategy1:14:13 Lone Star, the Pearl, and the Hemisfair arena1:17:49 What San Antonio does well, and its storytelling problem1:23:04 His spot: Jones and Avenue B in River North

  2. Sep 14

    The Transparency Tour: Why Project Marvel Money Cannot Fix Your Sidewalk — Sukh Kaur | Part 5

    San Antonio has $489 million for Project Marvel and cannot spend one dollar of it on your sidewalk. That is not a dodge, it is the law. Councilwoman Sukh Kaur represents District 1, the district holding the new baseball stadium, half the sports and entertainment district, and the sharpest economic divide in the city. In this episode of The Transparency Tour, Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito and I sit down with her to answer the question everybody is actually asking: if the city has a deficit, why can it not just reach into the big pile of money downtown? The Transparency Tour is a mini series made in partnership with the office of Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito, District 7. In this episode we go deep into: - Why District 1 is not just downtown: Monte Vista, King William, the old hill suburbs up north, and the widest wealth gap in the city inside one short drive - What residents actually call the office about, and why a crosswalk can be harder to get than a stadium - Why there is no single city budget: the general fund, the five year bond, TIRZ money and PFC money all move under different rules - Where the city's $489 million for the sports and entertainment district really comes from: hotel and rental car taxes inside a three mile circle around the convention center - Why that money cannot pay for police officers, firefighters or sidewalks, even with six votes on council - What a TIRZ is in plain English, and why both teams have to cover the gap if the new value never shows up - Why delaying the baseball stadium by a year was the better financial deal for the city - The street ranking system Councilwoman Kaur says she has major issues with, and the consultant study landing this fall - What the city actually spends on housing: $37.7 million in affordable housing investment, $15.7 million of it out of the general fund - The $500,000 missing middle housing pilot, and the quick build bulb out near Bonham Academy This is the fifth stop on the Transparency Tour, our walk through the City of San Antonio budget in language people actually understand. Send this to the person in your life who is sure the city is sitting on a piggy bank. If this episode helped you see San Antonio a little differently, subscribe to the channel. It genuinely helps. And if you want to go deeper, join me on Patreon for first look at upcoming guests and to support the show directly: https://www.patreon.com/LorenzoGomezIII sanantonio, sanantoniobudget, projectmarvel, sportsandentertainmentdistrict, district1, sukhkaur, cityhall, missingmiddlehousing, sanantoniodevelopment, transparencytour, marinaalderetegavito, lorenzogomez, cilantrodiaries, CilantroDiariesPodcast

  3. Sep 10

    The Transparency Tour: Inside SA's Police & Fire Budget — Chief Salame & Deputy Chief Casanova | Part 4

    Eight out of ten San Antonio fire calls are not fires. That is the first surprise in the biggest slice of your city budget. Police and fire together are the largest single expense the City of San Antonio has, and most people have never seen what is inside it. In this episode of The Transparency Tour, Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito and I sit down with San Antonio Police Chief Jesse Salame and San Antonio Fire Deputy Chief Ramon Casanova to open the books in plain English. This conversation was recorded in August 2026, when Chief Salame was serving as acting chief; City Council confirmed him as chief on September 10. The Transparency Tour is a mini series made in partnership with the office of Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito, District 7. In this episode we go deep into: - Why the fire department runs ambulances all day and fires are the smaller part of the job - What is actually inside a police budget beyond salaries: vehicles, fuel, cloud evidence storage, lab contracts - The collective bargaining agreement explained in plain English, and why the timing of it lands inside this budget - Why San Antonio does not have the recruiting problem other big city departments have - What SAFFE officers are, and why a neighborhood officer who knows the block changes the call - SA CORE: what happens when a police officer, a paramedic, and a mental health clinician show up together - How San Antonio stacks up against Houston, Dallas, and Austin - The technology in the dispatch center that most residents have never heard of This is the fourth stop on the Transparency Tour, our walk through the City of San Antonio budget in language people actually understand. Send this to the person in your life who is sure they already know where their tax money goes. If this episode helped you see San Antonio a little differently, subscribe to the channel. It genuinely helps. And if you want to go deeper, join me on Patreon for first look at upcoming guests and to support the show directly: https://www.patreon.com/LorenzoGomezIII sanantonio, sanantoniobudget, sapd, safd, publicsafety, sanantoniopolice, sanantoniofire, cityhall, transparencytour, marinaalderetegavito, lorenzogomez, cilantrodiaries, CilantroDiariesPodcast

  4. Sep 9

    The Transparency Tour: Why Your Street Has Been Torn Up for Months — Mike Shannon | Part 3

    A leaking water pipe. An 18 wheeler. Santa Anna's left boot. All of them are reasons a San Antonio street is still bad. I sat down with Mike Shannon, the City of San Antonio's Director of Capital Delivery, the man whose department is running about 180 construction projects at this moment: streets, drainage, parks, fire stations, police stations. Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito is in the room, and between them they answered the question I actually wanted answered. Why does this take so long, and where does the money go? In this one we go through: - What Capital Delivery is, and why the pothole on your street belongs to a different department - Why rebuilding one mile of street costs about $20 million - The four to five year clock on a street project, and where the years actually go - Why the urban core is harder: hundred year old pipes, maps that are wrong, and the archaeology - Potholing, the practice of digging first so the design does not fall apart later - Why Bandera Road is not a city street, and what that means when you call to complain about it - The Seeling Channel, phase four of a drainage project that started back in 2007 - What taking a home out of the floodplain actually involves, and why it saves people thousands a year - Where street maintenance sits in this year's budget, answering a question from Dawn on Instagram - More than 4,000 miles of street in San Antonio, and the roughly 400 that are graded failed - What a failed street is, and why the city grades every street A through F like a report card - The contractor scorecard, and the seven or eight companies the city will not hire back And the part that stayed with me: none of this work gets a ribbon cutting. It is the stuff underneath everything else. Send this to whoever is complaining about the construction on their street. The Transparency Tour is a mini series made in partnership with the office of Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito, District 7. If this episode helped you see San Antonio a little differently, subscribe to the channel. It genuinely helps. And if you want to go deeper, join me on Patreon for first look at upcoming guests and to support the show directly: https://www.patreon.com/LorenzoGomezIII sanantonio, sanantoniostreets, sanantonioneighborhoods, mikeshannon, capitaldelivery, streetconstruction, sanantoniodrainage, sanantonioflooding, potholes, sanantoniocitybudget, transparencytour, cilantrodiaries, CilantroDiariesPodcast, lorenzogomez, marinaalderetegavito

  5. Sep 9

    The Transparency Tour: San Antonio's City Budget, From the City Manager — Erik Walsh | Part 2

    Highway mowing, the county jail, your school district, your CPS bill. None of them are in San Antonio's city budget. So what is? I asked the man who runs it. Erik Walsh is the City Manager of San Antonio, which as Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito puts it in this episode makes him the CEO of the city: the operations, the finances, and the personnel of a $4.4 billion corporation with 13,762 employees. Marina is in the room too, and we brought your questions with us. In this one we go through: - What the $4.4 billion is actually split into, and why the general fund is the part council argues over - Why 65 percent of the general fund goes to police and fire, and the policy that keeps it from going higher - What people assume the city pays for that it does not, starting with the grass along the highway - What is really driving the $158 million shortfall, and why San Antonio budgets two years at a time - The $90 million in reductions he proposed, more than he can remember the city making - The property tax proposal priced out: what it comes to per month, and why it still does not cover the increase in public safety costs - Why the city is only about 20 percent of your property tax bill - How CPS Energy and SAWS money reaches the city budget, answering a question from Roger on Instagram - What zero-based budgeting actually found, answering a question from Eddie - The airport, Terminal C, and 18 new gates - The bond explained like a mortgage, and the all-day exam every July that sets the city's credit rating - Project Marvel infrastructure, TxDOT, and what goes on the 2027 bond Council votes on the budget September 17. The Transparency Tour is a mini series made in partnership with the office of Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito, District 7. If this episode helped you see San Antonio a little differently, subscribe to the channel. It genuinely helps. And if you want to go deeper, join me on Patreon for first look at upcoming guests and to support the show directly: https://www.patreon.com/LorenzoGomezIII sanantonio, sanantoniocitybudget, citybudget, erikwalsh, citymanager, propertytaxes, sanantoniocitycouncil, cityhall, transparencytour, cilantrodiaries, CilantroDiariesPodcast, lorenzogomez, marinaalderetegavito

  6. Sep 3

    The Transparency Tour: San Antonio's $4.4 Billion Budget, Explained — Marina Alderete Gavito | Part 1

    What do stray dogs, playground shade, potholes, and your CPS bill have in common? They are all in San Antonio's city budget. I have lived in this city my whole life and I could not have told you how the budget actually works. That is exactly the point. Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito, District 7, agreed to walk me through the whole thing, and I asked every dumb question so you do not have to. This is episode one of The Transparency Tour. In this one we go through: - Where the city's money actually comes from, including the check CPS Energy writes to the city every year - How much of your property tax bill goes to the city, and where the rest of it actually goes - The difference between the whole budget and the general fund, which is the part council really argues over - Why public safety is the single biggest line, and what 500 square miles has to do with it - What the ARPA money was, why it dried up, and what that is doing to the city right now - The property tax increase on the table this year, and why Marina says she is against it - How a budget actually gets decided, and why there is no one person in a back room deciding it Council votes on the budget September 17. This is the conversation worth having before that happens. The Transparency Tour is a mini series made in partnership with the office of Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito, District 7. If this episode helped you see San Antonio a little differently, subscribe to the channel. It genuinely helps. And if you want to go deeper, join me on Patreon for first look at upcoming guests and to support the show directly: https://www.patreon.com/LorenzoGomezIII sanantonio, sanantoniocitybudget, citybudget, propertytaxes, sanantoniocitycouncil, district7, transparencytour, cilantrodiaries, CilantroDiariesPodcast, lorenzogomez, marinaalderetegavito

  7. Aug 21

    Empty Stomach Is a Gang — Chad Carey | Ep. 11

    What do a pig head croquette, a punk rock music hall, and a floor drain that took five months to permit have in common? In San Antonio, they are all part of Chad Carey's war against boring.Chad came to San Antonio in 2001 as a real estate guy, opened one tiny 24 seat restaurant called The Monterey with almost no business plan, and somehow grew Empty Stomach into 18 concepts and 220 jobs. Places like Hot Joy, Barbaro, Paper Tiger, and Little Death. This is a conversation about what he learned building all of it: that the fun business is real economic development, and that the thing most in the way of a great San Antonio is often San Antonio itself.In this episode we go deep into:• Why placemaking, not tech incentives, is what actually keeps young talent in a city• The Monterey, the Brussels sprouts lesson, and why your customers tell you what your restaurant really is• How the Rackspace crowd, Pat Condon, Randy Smith, Pat Matthews, and Lew Moorman, helped fund more places like this• Empty Stomach is a gang, the punk rock ethos, and asking who wrote the rule that said it had to be that way• The Saint Mary's Strip construction that closed businesses, and the Barbaro patio the city made him tear out• A floor drain that cost five months and 20,000 dollars because of one inspector on an ego trip• Why it is not complicated, it is just hard, and what Diego Bernal said about signing up for the job• The concepts the urban core is still missing, from bagels and Indian food to a real dive bar and great breadAt its core, this is a conversation about fun, risk, and whether San Antonio will get out of its own way and let people build the city it keeps saying it wants.If this episode helped you see San Antonio a little differently, subscribe to the channel. It genuinely helps. And if you want to go deeper, join me on Patreon for first look at upcoming guests and to support the show directly: https://www.patreon.com/LorenzoGomezIIIemptystomach, chadcarey, sanantonio, sanantoniofood, sanantoniorestaurants, sanantonionightlife, hotjoy, papertiger, barbaro, saintmarysstrip, smallbusiness, placemaking, sanantoniodevelopment, waragainstboring, sanantoniopodcast, cilantrodiaries, cilantrodiariespodcast, lorenzogomez

  8. Jul 13

    10 Districts, $10 Billion, 10 Years — Andres Andujar | Ep. 10

    What if the next decade isn't defined by one transformational project...but by ten? In this episode of the Cilantro Diaries Podcast, Lorenzo Gomez sits down with Andrés Andújar, former CEO of Hemisfair and one of San Antonio's most influential urban planners, to explore his bold vision for the city's future: 10 districts. $10 billion. 10+ years. From Pearl and River North to the Ballpark District, Hemisfair, Lone Star, UTSA Downtown, and beyond, Andrés lays out a framework for understanding the incredible momentum building across San Antonio's urban core. Together, they discuss why downtown housing is the key to a thriving city, how thoughtful placemaking creates vibrant neighborhoods, and why the next generation of growth should be measured not just in buildings—but in quality of life. Whether you're a developer, entrepreneur, policymaker, or simply someone who loves San Antonio, this conversation offers a compelling look at where the city is headed—and how we can get there. In this episode, we discuss: Andrés' 10×10×10 vision for downtown San AntonioWhy the city needs 40,000 downtown housing unitsThe evolution of Pearl, River North, and the Ballpark DistrictUTSA's expanding downtown footprint and its impact on innovationProject Marvel, Hemisfair, Lone Star, and the next wave of urban developmentThe importance of walkability, public spaces, and the "missing middle" of housingHow great cities are built through long-term thinking, thoughtful design, and public-private partnerships The future of San Antonio won't be shaped by a single project, it will be built district by district. This episode offers a blueprint for one of the most exciting urban transformations happening anywhere in America. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider joining our Patreon. Your support helps keep this podcast independent and allows us to keep bringing on thoughtful, exciting guests who care about the future of San Antonio. https://www.patreon.com/cw/LorenzoGomezIII

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About

Hosted by Lorenzo Gomez III, The Cilantro Diaries Podcast is a fresh, unfiltered look at the future of San Antonio—and the stories shaping it. Join Lorenzo as he sits down with city leaders, changemakers, creatives, and everyday doers to explore what’s next for the Alamo City. From bold ideas in urbanism to the art of storytelling and the craft of writing, this show dives deep into the people and perspectives moving San Antonio forward. Part city guide, part writer’s room, part leadership lab—The Cilantro Diaries is where culture meets change.

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