Councilwoman Marina Alderete said they have received multiple calls about the incidents. She said she has been working on making sure this doesn’t happen again.
SAN ANTONIO — Two bodies have been discovered within three weeks in Woodlawn Lake, leaving people questioning how safe the park is.
However, investigators insist both are isolated incidents with no suspected foul play.
On Monday, SAPD got a call about a naked man in the park. When officers approached the man, they said he jumped into the lake and drowned.
On March 25, a 61-year-old woman who took shelter in a drainage ditch was swept away by floodwaters into the lake. Her body was discovered by a jogger at the park.
District 7 City Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito said she has looked into both incidents.
“We do get calls anytime anything happens at Woodlawn Lake,” Alderete Gavito said.
She met up with us Tuesday outside her district at an area known as Laddie Place.
“It’s a drainage channel that we see a lot of unsheltered people try to take shelter in,” Alderete Gavito said.
She said in 2023, a man was swept away by floodwaters, similar to what happened in March. She said the woman who died recently was staying not far from this ditch.
“When I was out here maybe a year and a half ago, it was night and day difference. There was a huge homeless encampment here,” Alderete Gavito said.
Since the 2023 incident, she partnered up with District 1 Councilwoman, Sukh Kaur and came up with the Laddie Place Project.
The first part of the project included installing fences around the area to keep people from setting up encampments.
“This is phase 1. Phase 2 we’re going to fence off the drainage channel so hopefully we do not have unsheltered individuals take shelter in the drainage ditch because they end up on Woodlawn lake,” Alderete Gavito said.
The councilwoman said she has talked with park police to see if they can increase their presence. However, they are on patrol 24/7 at the park. She said she does believe the park is safe.
“Isolated incidents. Yes they’re close together, yes it feels uncomfortable. I understand that but again, I use it daily and never came across anything,” Alderete Gavito said.