The building housing Travelocity’s San Antonio offices is a concrete island surrounded by a wooded ocean that used to be the home to many critters. We’ve seen raccoons, rabbits, skunks, and several herds of deer in the area since we moved here about three years ago. Little by little that wooded area is disappearing and unfortunately so are the critters.

About two years ago, the wooded area shrank after Bank of America put in a call center on the lots behind our building. No doubt they will meet the same demise most customer service facilities in the US have met and they will be outsourced to India or Manila, leaving this eye sore where trees used to be.

Early last year, they started clearing the area right in front of our building. Speculation in the office ran rampant with most people buying the rumor that they were going to put up a Wal-Mart on the bare plot of land. The general consensus around the office was “screw the critters; I hope they open up a retail shop so I can go shop during my lunch break.”

I didn’t share this view and to me the whole thing seemed symbolic on a much greater scale. This had been happening all over the city for years. Retail parks started popping up seemingly overnight. Little by little those wooded areas that made San Antonio feel more like a town than a huge metropolis were being swallowed up by ugly concrete structures so people won’t have to drive quite so far to the next Wal-Mart. How many Wal-Marts does one city need?

After about 8 months, no work began on the project. We guessed that work stopped because of the economic slow down.  The weeds started growing again but it wasn’t the same. Many trees had been removed and the view became a beautiful sight of Interstate 35 which is especially breath-taking during rush hour. It’s almost two years since they cleared that area and I haven’t seen the deer in months. And I’d rather see them running in those fields that these empty buildings housing the ghosts of prosperous times gone by.