Tuesday night Mayor Julian Castro hosted the first virtual town hall in San Antonio, a fulfillment of a campaign promise. For the first time it turned out great thanks to the hard work of Trinity University, several members of his staff, and his campaign office. During the hour session moderated by Elaine Wolff of the San Antonio Current people could e-mail, chat or tweet up questions for the mayor to respond to. A limited audience at Trinity was also provided the opportunity to ask questions. Hopefully we’ll see more of this type event as Mayor Castro works to bring more transparency and accessibility to city government through online resources. He is becoming one of the most connected mayors San Antonio has ever seen. Read more…
Today Scott Stroud wrote in his column in the Express-News about how Mayor Julian Castro is facing big challenges barely into his first year in office. First Castro is faced with the decision over CPS’s future investment in the South Texas Nuclear Project, an issue that has been controversial since it was first introduced by CPS. In a time when San Antonio is experiencing strong growth making sure there will be a reliable energy source for the future has created the need for a critical decision. Now, after meeting with the Express-News editorial board, Castro appears ready to take on the next infrastructure need of the city – water. But these aren’t the only issues Castro is ready to tackle. High on his list are transportation, education, and development of the urban core of the city. So will Castro’s legacy as mayor be investments in San Antonio’s infrastructure? Read more…
Today an article in the Express-News disclosed that Mayor Julian Castro, in response to a request for open meetings by the Express-News, postponed the upcoming executive session with CPS to allow them to determine what items could be discussed in open session and what required executive session. “There cannot be even the perception that any portion of this process isn’t as open as it should be,” Castro said. One word sums up that move in my mind – COOL! Castro has demonstrated a strong desire to hear the public during his first year in office. He’s learned a lot in the four years since leaving city council and those lessons can help lead to great movements in our city. The question is if the public can learn to discuss the issues in a civil manner. Read more…
This morning I woke up to a Facebook wall post from Mayor Julian Castro saying “It’s been 25 years since Target ’90, the last time San Antonians came together to answer the question, ‘What kind of city do we want to be?’ It’s time to envision our city’s future together again–and to act on it.” Wow, he’s a busy mayor. You see, he had just spent 5 hours the night before listening to public citizen commentary about the CPS’s planned expansion of the STNP. Oh, did I mention that message came in around 6 a.m. this morning? Yes, we have an active and engaged mayor. What is interesting is that this very idea is what essentially kicked his campaign off over a year ago through an editorial piece in the Express-News. But how do we get a plan after 20 years? Read more…
Last week Julian Castro took off as mayor of the city of San Antonio. Castro enters office after winning the mayoral race without having to face a run-off, carrying 56% of the vote. Castro’s win makes him the first mayor to win the election outright in over 15 years. While that might indicate Castro has some latitude in establishing his own agenda, he also follows two very successful terms of Mayor Phil Hardberger. Hardberger’s administration is being touted as one of the most successful in recent San Antonio history, marking four years of notable city projects, public exposure, and changing the face of city government. So what does Castro face as he takes office? What issues could help define Castro’s term as mayor? Read more…
Today the Express-News announced that columnist Jaime Castillo has joined Mayor-elect Julian Castro’s administrative team as the director of communications and senior policy analyst. According to the article “Castro said he asked Castillo to be part of the team because of his knowledge of city issues and his solid reputation in the community.” Personally I agree with this assessment and feel Castillo will make a great addition to the Castro team. However, this announcement will most definitely be met with quite a bit of skepticism and controversy. Throughout the Castro campaign Castillo wrote many pro-Castro opinion pieces that appeared in his column in the Express-News. Some may view Castro’s decision as payback for Castillo’s favorable views on Castro. Read more…
Last night the 2009 San Antonio municipal election culminated with the election of Julian Castro as the city’s next mayor. Castro led from the start with 56.8% of the early vote, ending the night with 56.23%. Trish DeBerry-Mejia ended the night with 28.98% and had 28.3% of the early vote. Diane Cibrian only garnered 8.13% and had 8% of the early vote. With these kind of results it appears early voting could be a solid indicator of how elections will end since the early vote tracked with the final results. What is disappointing is that only 11.61% of registered voters turned out for this critical election for San Antonio, registering the lowest turnout for a non-incumbent mayoral race over the past decade. Read more…
Today WOAI reporter Mireya Villareal provides a glimpse into the budgetary and spending habits of our city council members in all the districts. The report highlights mostly issues with the travel budget, with some council members exceeding their budget by almost $10,000 in the case of mayoral candidate Sheila McNeil. As you look at these budgets you notice that none of them exceeded their planned budgets for 2008. But when you look deeper you find that several significant line items were grossly exceeded, leading one to believe the item was abused for other purposes, travel being the most significant. So is there an issue with how our council members manage their offices? Read more…
Yesterday in a great analysis piece on the expected outcome of the San Antonio mayoral race the San Antonio Mayor blog speculated about whether Cibrian could finish in second place. That sparked a series of comments that made me start thinking a little about the situation and what the campaigns might do. Prior to that entry a lot of us gave our predictions for what the final Castro result would be. San Antonio Mayor put him at 57% and I put him at 55%. Regarding second place there was a lot of debate about what the strategy should be for Cibrian and DeBerry-Mejia. You see, if Castro wins with anything above 50% this race is over. There is no run-off. So both Cibrian and DeBerry-Mejia have to drag Castro down below 50% to even have a second chance at this race. Read more…
This week marks the home stretch of the San Antonio mayoral race, one that started as early as last July when Julian Castro wrote this opinion piece to the Express-News published on Independence Day. Diane Cibrian entered the race around the middle of November with a statement to the Express-News. Trish DeBerry-Mejia jumped in around the same time with hints at her run as early as the November election. Sheila McNeil probably took the longest of any candidate I’ve seen to jump in when she entered at almost the last hour before the filing deadline. Finally, after 6+ long months of campaigning we are in the last week of early voting capped off with the general election next Saturday, May 9th. So where have we ended up in this race for the center seat? Read more…
After the mayoral race is over it will be time to roll up our sleeves and get to work on the future of San Antonio in the post-Hardberger era. A lot was accomplished by Mayor Hardberger and the next mayor will have even more challenges to deal with such as balancing a budget in a tough economy, addressing the needs of the BRAC expansion, transportation, and a host of other issues. While it’s pretty obvious who I’m supporting for mayor that doesn’t mean I’m going to give him a free ride. I supported him because I feel he has the ability to move San Antonio forward and will solicity help to make that happen. To help facilitate that discussion I plan to host a series of blog entries focused on the various issues with open comments for each. This will give people an open thread to provide their input. Of course this won’t happen until the dust settles and we have our next mayor. I’m encouraging others to participate in the comments. Of course “rules of the road” will apply which are clearly listed in the Guidelines section of the blog. I’m not censoring the comments, just making sure they stay on topic and don’t stray or develop into a bashing. That’s not the intent of this series. Look for the series very shortly after the election is complete.
First day figures came out for early voting yesterday and it appears San Antonio is once again headed for a dismal turnout for the municipal elections. According to the yesterday’s figures early voting on the first day was only 198 votes more than in 2005. At 3,598 the number increased by only 6% from 2005. This is pretty low considering the fact that in 2005 48% of the voters voted early compared with 60% in 2007. In the 2008 Presidential election 79% of the voters voted in early voting. So with trends indicating more voters tend to vote early a 6% increase doesn’t track well to top 2005 numbers. Read more…
Tonight SA4Mayor.com is hosting a virtual town hall being broadcast from SAC RTF Hall at 6:30 p.m. It will feature the major mayoral candidates in a forum debate hosted by Gilbert Garcia and Patricio Espinoza. Questions will be fielded through Twitter #sa4mayor, on chat through the website or in person at the hall (limited seating). The virtual town hall is being hosted by SA4Mayor.com and the San Antonio Current. Tune in tonight for another lively round, especially with the recent controversy between Diane Cibrian and Trish DeBerry-Mejia regarding city contracts. If you wish to discuss you can use this thread as an open forum for comments. Unfortunately I’ll be in and out due to some work commitments. If it’s the last of April it must be Fiesta and election time.
Last week the San Antonio City Clerk’s office released the campaign finance reports filed by the candidates in the upcoming municipal election, as reported by the Express-News. The reports were filed for the 30 days out from the election and will be our next to last look at the campaigns until after the election. The last report will come eight days before the election but this report gives a very good indication of how the candidates are doing going into the home stretch of the election. What is interesting in the mayoral race is the strength or weakness of the candidates at a time when the most money will be spent with media buys. Read more…
Today the final campaign finance numbers came in for the city council elections. In an article by Greg Jefferson in the Express-News the numbers listed for the Castro campaign seem to indicate a large advantage over both DeBerry-Mejia and Cibrian. As of March 30, Castro maintains a campaign war chest of almost $300,000 while DeBerry-Mejia has a little over $60,000 and Cibrian has a little over $75,000. What is even more telling is the difference of money raised compared to money spent. Only Castro raised more money than spent. Both DeBerry-Mejia and Cibrian experienced a deficit in spending compared to funds raised. Read more…
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