A friend of mine, Victor Landa, once told me the best way to get to know someone is to share tacos with them. So, to get a better handle on the candidates of District 1 I shared tacos and other food with the four main candidates. We met over breakfast and lunch the past couple of weeks, all in preparation for a series of detailed blog entries to be published in the coming week. During those meetings I found that this slate of candidates is really providing voters in District 1 with a difficult choice of who will represent them on San Antonio’s city council. But what really came out is how important this race is when looking at the future of San Antonio.Back last July I wrote about what might make a good D1 candidate. The entry was in preparation for the upcoming election and before any of the candidates really had committed to the race. Yes, Chris Forbrich had announced but he never really stopped campaigning after his loss in 2009. The entry showed how dynamic and diverse the district really is. In reality, the entry doesn’t even come close to showing the challenges and issues facing the district, holding some of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. In many ways District 1 probably reflects the future of San Antonio more than any other district.
In January, as the race began to shape out, I followed up with another entry looking at each candidate from a cursory level. At that point I started seeing the field being strong with no clear frontrunner. It was evident this was going to be a fun election for District 1 voters and the city. Just looking at the candidates you could see each had strengths and weaknesses. If you put the strengths from all the candidates you’d have the super candidate. You see more of this when you read the blog entries on each candidate.
Scott Stroud recently wrote in the Express-News about the race and how good it was shaping out to be. “The caliber of the four main contenders is the best in any City Council race, let alone the district that encompasses downtown, in many years. Any of them would enhance the discourse at City Hall,” said Stroud. What is even more interesting is that this is a fresh slate of candidates since the incumbent, Mary Alice Cisneros, is terming out and no one on her staff is running for the office.
I won’t get into the details about the upcoming entries at this point but there are some key takeaways that perked some interest when looking at this race and the district. One candidate pointed out that while there has been so much focus on the urban core and the areas surrounding downtown, the district extends north all the way to Loop 410 at the airport. Many residents in the area north of Hildebrand sometimes feel neglected while their neighbors to the south get all the attention.
With the upcoming bond election in 2012 there will be opportunities for the districts to propose many infrastructure projects. District 1 will have its share of projects but those projects may be more expensive than others due to the issues of an aging infrastructure. If you think about it District 1 has infrastructure that is the oldest in the city. Just putting a shovel in the ground opens up an entire can of worms. It can be considered both an opportunity and a challenge.
While I’ll try to provide as much about the candidates as I can, each has more depth than I could ever be able to cover. The best way to know who they are and what their positions are is to dig into the information yourself. You can read about each at their websites listed below, attend one of their meet and greets listed at their sites, or attend a candidate forum. I’ll try to keep track of those forums and post them in the Upcoming Events calendar on the right side of my site.
Voter turnout for municipal elections is always abysmal with as little as 8% showing up to vote for their council member. Just think about it. As few as 8,000 out of 90,000 people pick who will represent them on city council where decisions personally affect you more than any other level. If you live in District 1, I strongly encourage you to get engaged and vote. After all, you’re helping shape the future of the city.