Remember the Alamo again: Group seeks to revive the site

AUSTIN, TEXAS – Limestone is missing from the facade, tree roots push up through sidewalks and windowsills are rotting on the only building generations of Texans have been told never to forget.

"We want people to think about the Alamo again," Rebecca Bridges Dinnin, its director, said in her San Antonio office, sitting beneath the red, white and green flag of the Texas Revolution.

While Texans are no strangers to tattered public works, with billions of dollars needed for roads, parks and state buildings, the Alamo's decay is goading business leaders and public officials to act. They're seeking millions to revive the fort, which has been the state's symbolic heart since a bloody 1836 defeat there rallied Texans to wrest independence from Mexico.

On March 12, Texas fired the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, a private organization that has managed the site, after waning gift-shop sales and allegations of mismanagement.

State Sen. Jose Menendez, a Democrat, wants to ask voters to approve spending as much as $250 million to restore the complex. A new endowment board, which includes billionaire and former Minnesota Vikings owner Red McCombs, met this month to consider ways to boost fundraising for the Lone Star State's most famous monument.

"Almost all Texans look at San Antonio as a second home, and that's because of the Alamo," said McCombs, 87, who helped start the Clear Channel Communications radio-station chain.

During a tour, Richard Bruce Winders, the Alamo's curator, pointed to the eroding foundations of the chapel, the main attraction. A study released in February by researchers at Texas A&M University revealed that water damage has eroded almost three inches of the limestone facade since 1960.

The Texas General Land Office, run by Commissioner George P. Bush, son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is asking the Legislature for $1.5 million for the Alamo's two-year budget and an additional $5 million for preservation projects such as replacing rotting beams, upgrading storm drains, caulking windows and adding wireless Internet service. That's up from a total of $1.5 million during the prior two years.

The request would use $620,000 to pay for temporary storage of former Genesis drummer Phil Collins' collection of Alamo memorabilia and artifacts, which includes Jim Bowie's knife and one of Davy Crockett's rifles. The British musician, who was made an honorary Texan, agreed to donate the collection as long as the Alamo builds a museum to display it, said Dinnin, the Alamo's director.

"Texans need to see some of these things," said Dinnin.

Originally called San Antonio de Valero Mission, the Alamo was built in the 1700s by Spanish Catholic missionaries seeking to convert the natives.

It was later turned into a military garrison. In 1836, it became the site of a 13-day siege during an attack by Mexican troops led by Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The defeat inspired soldiers who went on to win victory over Mexico with the battle cry, "Remember the Alamo." Texas joined the U.S. in 1845.

The group came under scrutiny as upkeep lapsed. Because of a slide in gift-shop sales, which almost entirely sustained the Alamo for decades, it had a $225,000 deficit in 2011.

That year, the Legislature voted to give control to the Land Office, which oversees oil royalties, education funds and public beaches. The Daughters of the Republic continued to oversee daily management through a contract with the state.

In 2012, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who became governor in January, issued a report criticizing "organizational dysfunction, failures to prioritize historic preservation, and internal disagreements." The Daughters of the Republic's contract was canceled last week.

Ellen McCaffrey, president of the Daughters of the Republic, said it's being unfairly blamed. "The state Legislature and the governor and all the officials of the state for decades paid no attention to the Alamo," she said. "They ignored it."

McCombs said he and other supporters want to restore the Alamo complex to its original scale. That would require San Antonio to turn over a plaza that covers much of the Alamo's 4.2-acre footprint.

Lori Houston, who helps oversee development for San Antonio, said it's premature to discuss any changes.

A busy street runs through the plaza, where shops hawk T-shirts and coonskin hats.