DEEP BENCH

San Antonio's Brackenridge Park plots year of fun for milestone birthday

Brackenridge Park is celebrating its 125th birthday.

Photo courtesy of the Brackenridge Park Conservancy.

As public spaces go in San Antonio, Brackenridge Park is a relative ingenue. Although it is celebrating a ripe 125 this year, it still rings in under grand dames like San Pedro Springs Park (295 years old) and Main Plaza (293). Still, a century-plus of serving locals is a huge reason to party.

Brackenridge Park Conservancy, the nonprofit stewards of the land are marking the milestone with a year-long slate of events, fundraisers, and community get-togethers culminating with a birthday bash.

The newly launched programming includes activations for all ages. Children can discover an early love of reading during the Literacy in the Park series in partnership with the San Antonio Public Library or let their hair out during a Where the Wild Things Are-themed event. Older guests can enjoy a polo exhibition held in conjunction with First Tee and the San Antonio Polo Club.

Easter, as always, will be one of the most popular holidays at the park. This year, the conservancy is amping up the experience by providing a professional photographer to take free snaps of locals wearing their Sunday best.

The year will crescendo with Brack Bash on November 16. In celebration of the park’s heritage, the festival will bring back some historical activities including paddle boats, pony rides, a vintage car show, and more. And before the finale, Alamo City traditions like Parktoberfest, Family Fish Day, and the Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival will fill up the calendar.

The happenings coincide with the work of a stakeholder advisory committee er advisory committee, reconstituted by City Manager Erik Walsh, which maps out the park’s future for the next 125 years. The committee is currently reviewing feedback from community meetings.

“We want to spend this year celebrating the park and everyone who has contributed to the story of this land,” said Brackenridge Park Conservancy board chair Lukin T. Gilliland Jr., via a release. "Just as important, we want to bring San Antonio together to envision Brackenridge Park’s next 125 years.”

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Vehicle News

What to know about new car inspection requirements in San Antonio

Texas Department of Motor Vehicles

Texas is changing requirements for vehicle registration.

Beginning January 1, 2025, Texas vehicle owners will no longer need to obtain a safety inspection prior to vehicle registration. House Bill 3297, passed during the 88th Legislature in 2023, eliminates the safety inspection program for non-commercial vehicles.

We'll all be free, free, free of the oppression of the safety inspection process. However …

Under the new law, the $7.50 fee that drivers had to pay as a safety inspection fee has not gone away. It now appears on your registration notice under a new name: "Inspection Program Replacement Fee."

This name change comes courtesy of the legislature, who want to keep collecting this fee because the funds go to state programs such as construction and expansion of state highways — funds they previously collected from the Safety Inspection Fee.

And while the safety inspection is gone, state law will still require that drivers in 17 counties must pass an "emission inspection" on vehicles that are 2 to 24 years old, in order to get your vehicle registered. In Bexar County, the new requirement will go into effect in 2026.

But what does an "emissions inspection" mean?

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) details the following changes:

Safety inspection out, emissions testing in
Until December 31, 2024, safety inspections are required for vehicle registration in all 254 counties. Beginning January 1, 2025, noncommercial vehicles in Texas will no longer be required to have an annual safety inspection. Instead, vehicles will have to get an emissions inspection on gasoline-powered vehicles that are 2 to 24 years old.

What is no longer going to be "inspected"?
Texas Transportation Code §548.051 specifies the list of old-school inspection items which will no longer be checked. Moving forward, they will no longer be checking: tires, wheel assembly, safety guards, safety flaps, brakes, steering, lighting, horns, mirrors, windshield wipers, sunscreening devices, and front seat belts in vehicles on which seat belt anchorages were part of the manufacturer's original equipment.

What will still be inspected are listed as "Items 12–15": exhaust system, exhaust emissions system, fuel tank cap, and emissions control equipment. These will be part of the emissions inspection process in 17 counties.

Those 17 counties where this is relevant include:

Austin: Travis and Williamson
DFW: Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, and Tarrant
Houston: Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, and Montgomery
El Paso County

In Bexar County, emissions inspections will be required beginning on November 1, 2026.

Where will emissions inspections be obtained?
Emissions inspections can be obtained at DPS-certified vehicle inspection stations in the 17 emissions counties. These will be the exact same inspection locations we've been going to all along, when it was called a safety inspection. Emissions inspections are not available in the other 237 Texas counties.

DPS offers an inspection station locator online.

What is the estimated cost of an emissions inspection?
Vehicle owners will pay an emissions inspection fee of $2.50 annually to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) at the time of registration. The actual fee you'll pay at the inspection station (as listed on TCEQ’s website) will be $25.50. Just like the former "safety inspection" fee.

In short: There is little that's changing about the entire inspection process, except they won't bother making you honk your horn.

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