QueQue: H-E-B expanding downtown, Fear of Southtown loafing (times infinity), ICMA nods at SA, Casa Maldonado not so wretched?

Evidently, the rumor mill’s been churning so violently down in Southtown that it’s finally spilled over into the courts. This month popular Southtown icehouse the Friendly Spot filed a petition accusing its next-door neighbors, owners of the Alamo Street Victorian Inn, of working in the shadows to malign the bar. Among the complaints, the Friendly Spot claims the Victorian’s owners have spread rumors via email that the bar hires sex offenders. The petition also asserts that Daniel and Robbie Boone, the Victorian’s owners, encouraged disgruntled neighbors to phone the police to establish “a pattern of complaints” against the icehouse.

Likely the most bizarre allegation in the five-page petition, filed July 14, is that the Boones attempted “to recruit volunteers to film children at the [Friendly Spot icehouse].”

A court hearing scheduled for Aug. 5 could determine whether the Friendly Spot can take sworn depositions and testimony from the Boones, along with owners of the nearby Gardenia Inn and a resident who lives behind the bar, all of whom are named in the petition filed this month.

“I can tell you no such email exists,” Robbie Boone said this week, flatly denying charges of rumor mongering or alleged plans to film the icehouse’s child patrons. “I mean, I think it’s really like a children’s birthday party, you know, where they play a game of telephone. … By the time it comes around the table, the story’s completely different from how it started.”

When contacted by phone about the court petition, Susan Elich, co-owner of the Gardenia, said only: “Sorry. We’re not going to talk about it.”

Friendly Spot attorney William Germany remarked, “What we’ve got here is just a nasty neighbor starting this rumor.”

Though he admitted he hadn’t seen the email, Germany insisted the document exists, and said Friendly Spot “agents” had seen the document — though he wouldn’t clarify as to who exactly qualifies as an “agent” of the icehouse. The petition states, “Petitioner became aware of the email on May 20, 2011, and despite its best efforts has been unable to procure a copy of the email.” It then goes on to say, “Petitioner’s agents have also received harassing phone calls in which employees are directly accused of being sexual predators since the initial email was published.”

Germany said he filed the petition in anticipation of a possible lawsuit.

ICMA nods at SA

Though some may quibble with Mayor Julián Castro’s insistence that San Antonio is the second largest city in Texas (thar’s metropolitan statistical areas, by gum!) and public targeting of national clean-tech dominance, the International City/County Management Association found our recent strides in sustainability worth spotlighting for the rest of the country.