THE FUTURE IS HERE

San Antonio suburbs may see Amazon drone delivery as Prime Air expands

Prime Air is expanding to almost 500 U.S. cities.

Photo courtesy of Amazon

By the end of 2026, more Texans will be able to get ultrafast deliveries through Amazon’s Prime Air drone delivery service. On Wednesday, August 19, the company announced a major expansion to nearly 500 cities and towns in the U.S., a sixfold increase from its current footprint.

Although Amazon did not release the cities it is targeting in its expansion plans, it almost certainly includes Texas. The state, which ranks among the biggest states for ecommerce activity, is currently home to four of the nation’s 11 Prime Air sites, including San Antonio, Waco, Richardson, and Houston suburb Richmond.

For drone deliveries, the company tends to target areas unencumbered by skyscrapers and major airports, which could mean area suburbs like New Braunfels and San Marcos will join the mix. Each facility covers a delivery area of approximately 175 square miles.

Prime Air deliveries must be five pounds or less and fit into a large shoebox, but Amazon says more than 60 percent of its most ordered items are eligible. The list includes groceries, cosmetics, medications, clothing, and small electronics like Apple AirPods and Ring doorbells. There are plenty of niche items, too, such as guitar strings and juice for fog machines.

Orders arrive as quickly as 30 minutes, with most packages dropped around 60 minutes after checkout. Prime members will enjoy free delivery on orders $50 or more and a $2.99 fee for orders under $50. Non-members pay $4.99.

According to Amazon, customers should have little worries about orders being damaged or drones being entangled in trees. Shoppers see and confirm their delivery point when placing their first drone delivery order and can select a new area at any time. More fragile items — like eggs — are not available through the service.

Amazon also sends a notification to customers if there is no safe delivery space and does not fly at night or under severe weather conditions. The retail giant says noise is minimal with sound levels similar to idling delivery trucks.

Amazon did not give a timeline for the expansion, but Texas will not be in its first stage. Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Idaho, and New York will be the next states on its list. All future sites will be subject to regulatory hurdles like zoning changes, but the company is confident it will be serving tens of millions of new customers by year-end.

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COUNCIL NEWS

San Antonio City Council strikes down call for Spurs arena vote

Rendering courtesy of the City of San Antonio.

After months of spirited debate, the fate of San Antonio's Project Marvel is now in the hands of Bexar County voters.

Following a contentious two weeks that saw Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones at odds with some local leaders, San Antonio City Council waved off a proposal that would have sent a $489 million piece of Spurs arena funding to voters in November.

The tight 6-5 vote came after more than two hours of public comments from both sides of the issue. Marina Alderete Gavito, Ivalis Meza Gonzalez, Sukh Kaur, Misty Spears, Phyllis Viagran, and Marc Whyte voted against the measure. Jones was joined by Teri Castillo, Ric Galvan, Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, and Edward Mungia in support.

At issue was the city’s contribution to the funding structure for the $1.3 billion arena, which also includes a 311 million from Bexar County and $500 million from the Spurs, with the franchise handling cost overruns. In August 2025, council approved the term sheet in a 7-4 vote, and Bexar voters approved the county’s contribution the following November.

In calling for a public vote in late July, Jones argued that the city's financial picture has drastically changed since last fall, pointing to an affordability crisis, a bond capacity coming in lower than projected for 2027, and a two-year $157.7 million budget deficit. With a property tax increase on the table, she argued that San Antonians should have a separate vote from the wealthier northern Bexar County voters.

City Manager Erik Walsh pushed back on that framing in a council memo sent Friday, August 14. Stating that he wanted to correct "misinformation" before the vote, he wrote that “the city's arena contribution would not be funded with proceeds from a general-obligation bond election, existing General Fund revenue or residential property taxes."

Legally, the city’s share does not require a public vote. The revenue bonds

The city's share doesn't legally require a public vote, since the revenue bonds behind it are designed to be repaid through Spurs lease payments, private development lease revenue, Hemisfair-area property taxes, and hotel tax from the state instead of general fund dollars or residential property taxes.

Still, infrastructure needed to create the sports and entertainment district along Cesar Chavez Boulevard will have to be covered, in part, by a bond program. Walsh has said council will get an update on the broader project in October, including a cost and revenue study, a downtown access and mobility study, and progress on a public-facing tracking dashboard.

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