2021 Board Nominations

For President:

Larkin O’Hern, East Myrtle: Resident in Tobin Hill since 2018. Larkin was first elected to the THCA Board in 2019 and as President of the Board in 2020. He and his wife Rachel bought a home in Tobin Hill in 2017 and (finally) moved in early 2018! After spending eight years in the Army bouncing from place to place, they were ready to put down roots and loved the community feel of Tobin Hill, its proximity to downtown, and mix of historic preservation with exciting potential. When not working, Larkin enjoys strolling along the Museum Reach, biking the Mission Extension and reading whatever book is up next for the THCA Book Club.

Resident Board Member Nominees:

Paula Starnes, East Magnolia: Resident of Tobin Hill. Paula is a native of San Antonio and grew up on the southside. She bought a house on East Magnolia 30 years ago after renting for 8 years in Tobin Hill. She graduated from Texas State University with a BA in management. She currently serves on the board for the Tri Point YMCA and the zoning committee for the Tobin Hill Community Association. She is an active member of the League of Women Voters.

Paula has been active in women’s organizations in San Antonio and at the state level for over 40 years. In addition to being the previous President of the San Antonio NOW (National Organization for Women) chapter and founding member of the Rape Crisis Center, she worked in IT for most of her career and spent the last 15 years working for a local financial real estate firm which buys mortgage notes, makes investor loans and manages real estate.

Joe “Joey” M. Salinas III, Home Ave: Resident of Tobin Hill since 2006.  Joey has been a member of the Tobin Hill Community Association Zoning and Development Committee since 2020.  As a 6^th generation Texan with a family seat in Fredericksburg Texas since its founding in 1846 and growing up within a ranching and construction family, Joey has been around historical construction and architecture since birth.  The family construction company hails back to 1946 in Fredericksburg Texas and has worked on many notable homes including the late President LBJ historical ranch home, Lady Bird Johnson’s personal home in Austin, and a plantation in Georgia dedicated to the Boy Scouts of America and also to include many historical churches and public buildings throughout Texas.  Joey has also been an Associate Broker with Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty since 2005 and has worked in all historical neighborhoods and ranches in and around San Antonio.  Joey is currently obtaining his MBA with Rice University and also active in both political and organizational committees for Tobin Hill and its pursuit of persevering its heritage and integrity.

Business Board Member Nominee:

Lynn Knapik, Broker/Owner, Lynn Knapik Real Estate LLC. – Lynn is both a business owner and resident of Tobin Hill, and has lived at the Pearl since 2010. While a previous connection to Pearl that began when her family moved to San Antonio in 1972 for a job at Pearl is what brought her to the neighborhood, she became an active member of the THCA due to the desire to connect with residents in the area. Lynn has served on THCA’s Historic Preservation Committee for a number of years and is happy to do her part to help preserve the character of the neighborhood. From the beginning of moving to the area, Lynn found a passion for community involvement, starting with the Midtown Brackenridge Master Plan Initiative in 2010; on to SA2020, attending all of the community meetings; eventually be invited by Mayor Taylor to serve on the Midtown TIRZ in 2013. She remains today as a TIRZ board member. During Mayor Nirenberg’s recent Mayor’s Housing Task Force, Lynn served on the Neighborhood Working Group.

Until COVID put many activities on hiatus she was also serving on a SAHA “Move to Work” task force and was a Reading Buddy with second graders a Hawthorne Academy for 6 years. Having moved a house from Alamo Heights to Bandera, TX in 2002, taking it down to the studs, adding on to it, restoring every window and door and so much more over two years of hands-on labor, Lynn came to truly appreciate older homes and the craftsmanship that went into building them and properly restoring them. She has participated in the Historic Home Specialist classes provided by OHP at COSA, even consulting on the classes. She also sponsors the OHP annual Historic Homeowners Fair. Lynn is a promoter of historic neighborhoods, SAISD and recently helped the neighbors in the E French Place Historic District and Terry Court and save their pocket park from “going to the dogs!”

The 2021 Board Member election will be held virtually at the Annual meeting in January. Members eligible to vote in THCA elections will be limited to those individuals registered as members at least sixty (60) days preceding the election. THCA Board members are elected for two-year terms and are staggered so that half are elected or re-elected in even-numbered years and half are elected or re-elected in odd-numbered years. No member may serve more than four (4) consecutive years on the Board. 

To find out more about the Tobin Hill Community Association, read our Bylaws here.

For President:

Larkin O’Hern, East Myrtle: Resident in Tobin Hill since 2018. Larkin was first elected to the THCA Board in 2019. He and his wife Rachel bought a home in Tobin Hill in 2017 and (finally) moved in early 2018! After spending eight years in the Army bouncing from place to place, they were ready to put down roots and loved the community feel of Tobin Hill, its proximity to downtown, and mix of historic preservation with exciting potential. Larkin is a 2008 graduate of the United States Military Academy and holds a master’s degree from George Washington University-which he uses never. When not working at USAA Larkin enjoys “walking” along the Museum Reach and biking the Mission Extension and is a proponent for sidewalk and bike-lane enhancements.

Resident Board Members for Re-election:

Frederica Kushner, East Myrtle: Resident in Tobin Hill. Frederica was elected to the THCA Board in 2018. Research into the history of her home and others in the neighborhood, as well as reading about the American Arts and Crafts movement has helped inform Frederica’s point of view about historic neighborhoods. She worked for designation of the original Tobin Hill Historic District and, more recently, the East French Historic District. She was a member of the Planning Team which produced the Tobin Hill Neighborhood Plan, adopted by the City in 2008. And, more recently, she was a member of the Historic Preservation and Cultural Heritage Working Group which contributed to the SATomorrow Comprehensive Plan, now being implemented by the City of San Antonio. Additionally, Frederica is a member of the Steering Committee of the Tier 1 Neighborhood Coalition, and a past member of the board of the San Antonio Conservation Society who has chaired both their Historic Building Survey and Historic Gas Station Survey Committees. She is also active in the Tobin Hill Community Association as chair of the Historic Preservation Committee, which functions as an architectural review committee.

Anisa Schell, East Mistletoe: Resident in Tobin Hill since 2014. Anisa was first elected to the THCA Board in 2018. Originally from Denver, CO, she and her family moved to San Antonio in 2013. Anisa’s background is in construction estimating and project administration. In 2006, she left her career to stay home with her three children. Since that time, she has served on numerous boards and committees in her community that have ranged from organizing a city-wide event with the Denver Botanic Gardens, to founding a homeschool school co-op that is now serving more than 75 families in San Antonio with over 250 students. Since 2016, along with her neighbors, she helped organize the E. Mistletoe Porch Crawl, an annual event along E. Mistletoe Ave. In 2018 Anisa represented neighborhoods on one of the five Technical Working Groups for the Mayor’s Housing Policy Task Force. She is a member of the Tier One Neighborhood Coalition’s Steering Committee, and is working along side the San Antonio Conservation Society’s Neighborhood Liaison Committee on issues dealing with infill development in San Antonio’s legacy neighborhoods, including Tobin Hill.

New Resident Board Member:

Heidi Patterson, Gillespie: Resident in Tobin Hill since 2019. I am an Army brat, and I grew up in San Antonio after my dad retired here.  I am a registered nurse, and I have worked in the Operating room at Methodist for 15 years.  In 2015 I followed my passion and my heart and opened a CrossFit gym, with the perfect location in the heart of Tobin Hill!  What I didn’t know was that Tobin Hill would take my heart!  One year later we bought and remodeled a triplex on Gillespie street, where we now live. I am super happy to be a resident in the neighborhood in which I have built my business.  Tobin Hill has been really good to my husband and I over the years we have been here, and we’d love to give back to community that has given us so much!

Business Board Member for Re-election:

Malcolm Hartman, Owner – Tycoon Flats (BUSINESS). Malcolm was first elected to the THCA Board in 2018.He is a 6th Generation Texan and absolutely loves his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. He remembers going to watch George ‘The Iceman’ Gervin and the Spurs play at the old Hemisphere Arena and even remembers taking the monorail from the parking area. Wow, what a throwback… Malcolm received a Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas and has been in the restaurant business all his life. His restaurant inspiration came from his mother, who is a gourmet caterer. Malcolm is married to his wife Amber, who is a mother and former elementary school teacher.

While not a resident of Tobin Hill, he and his brother Richard (also a former Board Member of THCA) own and operate Tycoon Flats restaurant on N. St. Mary’s. “It is such a thrill to see and be a part of the continued growth, history and cultural significance of the Tobin Hill area,” Malcolm says.

The 2020 Board Member election will be held at the Annual meeting in January. Members eligible to vote in THCA elections will be limited to those individuals registered as members at least sixty (60) days preceding the election. THCA Board members are elected for two-year terms and are staggered so that half are elected or re-elected in even-numbered years and half are elected or re-elected in odd-numbered years. No member may serve more than four (4) consecutive years on the Board. 

To find out more about the Tobin Hill Community Association, read our Bylaws here.