Off the Kuff Rotating Header Image

Ivy Taylor

May runoff results

Jun 11th, 2017
by Charles Kuffner.
1 comment

I know I’ve been all about the Pearland and Pasadena runoffs, but this is easily the big story from yesterday.

Ron Nirenberg

With little more than 75% of precincts reporting, Mayor Ivy Taylor conceded victory to Councilman Ron Nirenberg (D8) just after 9 p.m. on Saturday, June 10.

Nirenberg received 54.43% of the vote to Taylor’s 45.57% so far. Exactly 5,266 votes separated the two in the early voting results. That margin has grown to more than 8,080.

“There are many issues obviously that differentiate my vision from Mayor Taylor’s – on transportation issues, on diversity issues, on public safety issues – and I think that the voters have made some clear choices about the direction that they want to take the city,” Nirenberg said. “This is a brand new Council so we want to get that everyone together and start working on a unified direction for the city.”

It’s been a fierce runoff over the past month with negative mailers and television ads coming from both sides. An incumbent upset is not unheard of, but relatively rare in San Antonio.

[…]

“In terms of specific issues, the things I’ve been talking about are getting modern transportation strategy put on paper so we can start developing it,” Nirenberg said. “Part of that will be voter approval of a mass transit system for San Antonio.”

You can see vote totals here. What Nirenberg says all sounds fine, but when I think of Ivy Taylor, I think of her vote against San Antonio’s non-discrimination ordinance, and more recently her vote against the SB4 lawsuit. Suffice it to say, I am pleased by this result. Congratulations, Mayor-elect Nirenberg.

Coming closer to home, results were mixed in Pasadena.

Pasadena City Council member Jeff Wagner beat businessman John “JR” Moon Saturday in the heated election in Pasadena to replace outgoing Mayor Johnny Isbell,

Wagner is closely aligned with Isbell, who has tightly controlled the city politics for decades but could not run again because of term limits.

“Voters in Pasadena don’t seem to be ready for change,” said University of Houston political scientist Brandon Rottinghaus. “It’s hard to persuade voters about change in a local election.”

[…]

Besides the race for mayor, Daniel Vela lost to Felipe Villarreal who were both vying for an open city council seat representing District A.

“It was going to be a tight race, either way,” Villarreal said. “I’m glad I got the better part of it.”

Vote totals are here, at least until the canvass. Villarreal was trailing after early voting, then won on Runoff Day by a 2-1 margin, which put him over the top. He was a Project LIFT candidate, so winning that race takes a bit of the sting off of the Mayor’s race result, and keeps Council at the previous mix, meaning new Mayor Wagner has four allies and four skeptics serving with him. We’ll see what he does with the voting rights lawsuit appeal – he had said he’d put it before Council, but as things stand he won’t get a majority to favor continuing the appeal. At best, it’ll be a 4-4 tie, which puts the ball back into his court. And it should be noted that despite Prof. Rottinghaus’ pessimism, the anti-Isbell forces were ten votes in May away from having control of Council. It’s not quite progress yet, but it’s not a step back either.

Pearland, alas, was less positive.

Pearland Mayor Tom Reid was leading challenger Quentin Wiltz in early returns Saturday in an election runoff over who will lead the fast-growing south Houston suburb.

And in the race for a newly created City Council position, Woody Owens was leading Dalia Kasseb in early returns.

The runoff elections reflected a city grappling with change in a suburb that has grown significantly in recent decades, with new and diverse residents moving to master-planned communities built on the west side of town.

Vote totals are here, though as of nearly 10 PM all there was to see were the early vote numbers. Both Reid and Owens were over 60%, so unless something shocking happened yesterday, they won easily. Turnout was higher for this race than it was for May – indeed, more votes were cast before yesterday than for the May election – so it seems the forces of the status quo carried the day. Unfortunate, but there it is. Thanks to Quentin Wiltz and Dalia Kasseb for running honorable campaigns and providing a base to build on for next time.

San Antonio files “sanctuary cities” lawsuit

Jun 3rd, 2017
by Charles Kuffner.
1 comment

Here they go.

The cities of San Antonio and Austin announced on Thursday they have joined the fight to stop the state’s new immigration enforcement law, Senate Bill 4, in federal court.

[…]

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed the suit Thursday on behalf of San Antonio City Councilman Rey Saldaña and a trio of nonprofit groups: La Unión Del Pueblo Entero, the Worker’s Defense Project and the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education.

The city of Austin’s city attorney will file a motion to intervene and join the plaintiffs Friday but will use its own attorneys and introduce certain Austin-specific claims, a spokesperson for Austin City Councilman Greg Casar said.

Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton are the named defendants in the litigation.

During a press call late Thursday afternoon, Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF’s president and general counsel, said the lawsuit contains “arguments against each and every provision in SB4.” Specifically, the lawsuit alleges the bill, if enacted, would violate the First, Fourth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

“All of those multiple constitutional claims basically relate to the illegality of empowering each and every police officer, sheriff’s deputy, booking agent and other law enforcement figures in the state of Texas to decide on their own, without any guidance or restriction from their duly elected superiors and appointed police chiefs … whether and how to enforce federal immigration law.”

CM Saldaña had been pushing for this since SB4 was signed, and it was reported earlier in the week that the suit would be filed on Thursday/ Here’s more on Austin’s role in this.

Austin plans to file a motion to intervene, bringing “Austin-specific issues to the table,” City Council Member Greg Casar said on a conference call.

“Soon after Gov. Abbott signed this disgraceful law, community groups announced a summer of resistance against SB 4, calling on elected officials to file challenges against the law in court,” Casar said, refering to Senate Bill 4. “City leaders have responded swiftly. Upon filing suit against the State of Texas tomorrow morning, El Paso, El Cenizo, San Antonio and Austin all will have responded to the community’s call.”

The lawsuit alleges SB 4 violates the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. It names the State of Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton as defendants.

As the story notes, Austin City Council had previously voted to pursue litigation, so this is the culmination of that vote. This lawsuit joins with the other lawsuits already in progress. MALDEF attorney Saenz is quoted in the Trib story saying that the Austin/San Antonio suits will likely be combined with the El Cenizo/Maverick County one at some point, but until then and before the September 1 implementation date there’s plenty of time for motions and discovery.

San Antonio’s decision to file suit was a bit contentious as Mayor Ivy Taylor did not want to get involved, at least at this time. That stance has become an issue in the Mayoral runoff.

Taylor’s move gives her an 11th-hour wedge issue in her mayoral runoff campaign. Her challenger, Councilman Ron Nirenberg, supports the lawsuit and Taylor is banking on the idea that North Side conservatives will remember that when they go to the polls.

Nirenberg said in a Thursday statement that he hopes the lawsuit “will bring a fast and final resolution on the constitutionality of the law so our local law enforcement can move forward with the job of protecting the people of San Antonio.”

Taylor was joined in her anti-lawsuit stance by North Side council members Joe Krier and Mike Gallagher. Like Taylor, Gallagher suggested that the city should work in coordination with the state’s other major cities before committing to litigation. Krier said the council should have voted in an open session, with full transparency and the chance for public discussion.

I agree with that point. That’s how Austin handled it, with a May 18 council vote to file suit over SB 4. By definition, City Council makes policy and deciding to participate in this lawsuit is a major policy move. In the words of former New York Jets head coach Herm Edwards, “Put your name on it.”

Saldaña agrees with the calls for transparency, but said San Antonio was running out of time because Austin and other cities are looking to S.A. to decide how they should proceed against SB 4, which goes into effect on September 1.

“The question that I posed to the mayor and the manager (Sheryl Sculley) and our city attorney was, ‘What is the best way to move quickly?’ And they said, ‘Let’s first discuss this in executive session and see what folks have an appetite for.’ But it kept getting stalled and several weeks passed from the time I originally proposed this,” Saldaña said.

“The people who are most in favor of getting it up for a (public) vote are just trying to delay the action that we’re taking. And Councilman Krier was one of them.”

Saldaña pointed out that Krier had no objections in 2014 when the council made an executive-session decision to file lawsuits against the police and fire unions over the city’s collective-bargaining agreements.

Here’s a list of statements by the Mayor and Council members following the vote to file suit. The runoff concludes June 10, so we ought to have some feedback on the political effect shortly. In the meantime, all eyes remain on Houston and Mayor Turner. ThinkProgress and the Current have more.

May 6 election results

May 7th, 2017
by Charles Kuffner.
2 comments

First and foremost, the HISD recapture re-referendum passed by a wide margin. The Yes vote was at 85% in early and absentee voting, and it will finish with about 84%; I started writing this at 10 PM, when 437 of 468 HISD precincts had reported. Turnout was over 27,000, with over 14,000 votes on Saturday, for about four percent turnout. Still not a lot of voters in an absolute sense, but more than I thought based on the EV tally.

In Pasadena, Council Member Jeff Wagner led the Mayor’s race with about 36% of the vote. He will face Lone Star College Trustee JR Moon, who had 18%, in the runoff. Wagner was the closest candidate to outgoing Mayor Johnny Isbell, and he also had the most money in the race, so the status quo didn’t do too badly. Pat Van Houte, Gloria Gallegos, and David Flores, who basically represented the anti-Isbell faction, combined for about 33%, but it was evenly split among the three of them. We’ve seen that before in Houston elections.

Of the TDP-endorsed Pasadena City Council candidates, three were unopposed, one (Felipe Villarreal) will be in a runoff, two (Oscar del Toro and Larry Peacock) lost by wide margins, and one (Steve Halvorson) lost by nine votes out of 805. There could be a recount in that race. Halvorson trailed by 41 in absentee ballots, led early in-person voting by 11, and led Election Day by 21, but it wasn’t quite enough. If Villarreal wins his runoff, the partisan balance on Council will be what it was before. Turnout was around 7,500 votes, in line with the 2009 election with the Election Day total being less than early in person voting.

In Humble ISD, candidates Chris Herron and Abby Whitmire both lost, getting 37 and 38 percent, respectively. I don’t know how that might compare to previous efforts, since there’s basically no history of Democratic-aligned candidates like those two running. I’ll have to get the precinct data and see if I can tease out Presidential numbers for the district.

As for Pearland, well, as of 10:30 PM there was still nothing more than early vote totals for Pearland City and Pearland ISD. Who knew I’d feel a pang of longing for Stan Stanart? High school student and future rock star Mike Floyd was leading his race for Pearland ISD 1,755 to 1,681, and in the end he cruised to a victory with 54%. I don’t know why the results aren’t refreshing for me from the Brazoria County Clerk website, but there you have it.

In the Pearland Mayor’s race, incumbent Tom Reid was leading with over 52% in early voting, but challenger and TDP-endorsed Quentin Wiltz had a strong showing on Saturday and forced a runoff.

While longtime Pearland Mayor Tom Reid had more than 50 percent of the vote during early elections, support for Quentin Wiltz poured in on election day, and both Reid and Wiltz will face a run-off election on June 10. Reid secured 48.85 percent of the vote and Wiltz earned 45.64 percent of the vote, according to the unofficial results posted by the Brazoria County Clerk’s Office. A third contender for mayor, Jimi Amos, received 5.51 percent of the vote.

“We have run a very positive campaign and it shows. People came out because they believe in the same message. It’s time to work; we’ve worked extremely hard, a lot of people know it doesn’t stop here. We have to continue the momentum and see where it takes us. I’m just a guy who has been active in his community who really cares about where this community is going to go,” Wiltz said about his campaign, which is entering a run-off election in June.

Nice. There were a couple of races of interest for Pearland City Council as well:

Incumbent Gary Moore also won his re-election bid on May 6. After securing 58.65 percent of the early votes, Moore came out with 55.32 percent of the total votes, beating out contender J. Darnell Jones. Moore will serve his second term on city council; he was first elected to serve in 2014 when he beat out then-incumbent Susan Sherrouse.

[…]

The most contested race of the election cycle is Pearland City Council position No. 7, which had six contestants running for the newly created council position. Because no contestant secured at least 50 percent of the vote, a run-off election will be held in June.

Shadow Creek Ranch resident Dalia Kasseb secured 40.78 percent percent of the vote. Kasseb will run against Woody Owens who received 21.05 percent of the vote.

“We’re going to keep at it keep sending our positive messages, keep talking to people and hearing their voices. We’re going to keep talking about the real issues and keep everything positive. That’s the main thing I want my campaign to be,” Kasseb said. “People in Pearland want diversity; they see that change coming in the future, and I’m going to keep fighting to make sure the voices of Pearland are going to be represented in council.”

If elected in a run-off, Kasseb would be the first Muslim elected to public office in Pearland and Brazoria County.

Wiltz and Jones were Project LIFT candidates. Dalia Kasseb was not, but as that second story notes she received support from the Brazoria County Democratic Party and had done a lot of campaigning in tandem with Wiltz. My guess is there was at least one other Democrat in that race, and I won’t be surprised if she gets a TDP nod for the runoff.

Last but not least, there will be a runoff in the San Antonio Mayor’s race, with incumbent Ivy Taylor facing Council Member Ron Nirenberg. I wasn’t following that race very closely.

Early voting for May elections begins tomorrow

Apr 23rd, 2017
by Charles Kuffner.
1 comment

Tomorrow is the first day of the nine-day early voting period for the May 6 election. I’ve generally not paid a great deal of attention to these May elections, but it’s safe to say that This Time It’s Different, and not just because I myself have an election to vote in. The people who live in the following political jurisdictions in Harris County have a reason to vote as well: City of Humble, City of Pasadena, Houston Independent School District, Humble Independent School District, Northgate Crossing Municipal Utility District 2, Northwest Harris County Municipal Utility District 28, Oakmont Public Utility District, Harris County Water Control & Improvement District 91. You can see the locations and schedule for Harris County early voting here.

Note that there are other elections within Harris County that are not being conducted by the Harris County Clerk. This means that they have their own polling places and early voting schedules, which may or may not include Saturday the 29th and Sunday the 30th. Among them are:

Pasadena ISD – a list of their candidates with a link to their 30 day finance reports is here.

Katy ISD – see their list of candidates here.

San Jacinto College – locations and schedules are here, list of candidates is here.

City of Katy, which also has some charter amendments. Here’s some information about their candidates for Mayor and City Council Ward B. There was no election held in Katy in 2015 because no one filed to run against any of the incumbents, so they decided not to bother with it.

Other elections of local interest are in Fort Bend County and Brazoria County. For Fort Bend, note that the different locations have different hours, with some of them being open each day while some others are not. Check the links before heading out.

And of course there’s the HISD recapture re-vote. I am voting for recapture and recommend you do the same. The No vote last November accomplished what I hoped it would. Now is the time to move forward.

So there you have it. There are other elections around the state, the most interesting of which is surely the San Antonio Mayor’s race in which incumbent Ivy Taylor is seeking a second full term, but these are the local races of interest that I know of. Most of these elections get comically low turnout, so your vote counts for a lot if you actually go an cast it. We’ll see if it really is different this year or not.

NCAA lays down a marker on anti-LGBT legislation

Aug 1st, 2016
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

Hope the Lege is paying attention, because they can’t say they haven’t been warned.

RedEquality

The NBA and NCAA may have just dealt a preemptive, one-two knockout punch to anti-LGBT bills in the upcoming Texas Legislature, which convenes in January.

First, the NBA announced plans to move the 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte over North Carolina’s House Bill 2, which restricts restroom access for transgender people and prohibits cities from enforcing LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances.

Then, the NCAA responded to HB 2 by saying it will quiz prospective championship host cities about whether they protect LGBT people against discrimination. Texas cities hosted three of the last six men’s basketball Final Four tournaments, and the event, with an estimated economic impact of $75 million, is slated for San Antonio in 2018.

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and other GOP state lawmakers have indicatedthey plan to push legislation similar to HB 2 in next year’s session. However, Rice University political scientist Mark Jones told the Observer that even if such a bill were to clear the Patrick-led Senate, he believes it would die at the hands of moderate Republican House speaker Joe Straus.

“In the House, it’s difficult to see any HB 2-type legislation making it out of committee,” Jones said. “The speaker isn’t going to let something through that would have a negative impact on Texas businesses and could result in the cancellation of sporting events.”

A spokesman for Straus, who represents San Antonio, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. A spokesman for Patrick, who previously railed against“threats” of backlash from corporations and sporting events over anti-LGBT legislation such as HB 2, didn’t respond to multiple phone calls and emails.

In defense of anti-LGBT legislation, Patrick has pointed out the men’s Final Four was held in Houston in April despite voters’ decision to repeal the city’s Equal Rights Ordinance last November. But the NCAA Board of Governors didn’t adopt new diversity guidelines for host cities until after the 2016 Final Four, and Jones drew a distinction between voters repealing a nondiscrimination ordinance and legislators passing an anti-LGBT bill.

[…]

Jessica Shortall, managing director for Texas Competes, said the announcements from the NBA and NCAA are part of a growing pattern in which the corporate sector not only sees LGBT discrimination as incompatible with its values, but is increasingly willing to stand up against LGBT discrimination.

“This trend isn’t going away, and it will continue to have deep effects on municipal and state economies,” she said. “The sports community is sending strong and unified signals on this topic, and that’s something that has to have the attention of economic development professionals who work to secure lucrative bookings, as well as of everyday citizens who care about economic health and jobs in their communities.”

The Current covers the local angle.

Here in San Antonio, City Council approved adding gender identity and sexual orientation to its non-discrimination ordinance three years ago, and has since hired a diversity and inclusion officer and built a dedicated website that’s supposed to be a one-stop shop for non-discrimination complaints. Part of the NCAA’s new bidding policy for championships includes a non-discrimination ordinance requirement. However, the NCAA announced in 2014 that San Antonio will host the NCAA Final Four in 2018 — two years before the association’s policy change.

That doesn’t mean that San Antonio won’t be required to prove to the NCAA that its policies don’t discriminate and provide “an environment that is safe, healthy, and free of discrimination, plus safeguards the dignity of everyone involved in the event.” Last week, the NCAA announced it was sending questionnaires to all cities interested in hosting future NCAA championships but it’s also sending one to San Antonio, along with other currently awarded host sites, as first reported by the San Antonio Business Journal.

Mayor Ivy Taylor’s office didn’t respond to our request for comment on whether the mayor, who voted against the non-discrimination ordinance in 2013, thinks the city’s rule will pass that bar. However, it likely will. In basic terms, the NCAA wants to know whether a community even has a non-discrimination ordinance, whether it regulates bathrooms or locker rooms, and whether it has provisions that allow for the refusal of accommodations or services to any person.

Where it’s going to get hairy for San Antonio is that the questionnaire also wants to know whether state law clashes with the NCAA’s new criteria.

The NBA’s message to North Carolina was pretty clear. Like a child who’s been denied candy as an afternoon snack, Dan Patrick can pout and stamp his feet all he wants, but these are the rules of engagement. If Patrick and his brethren in zealotry want to propose legislation that would limit the ability of private companies to treat their employees with equality – because nothing says “party of small government” and “promoting a healthy climate for business” like that would – then he should go right ahead. This is all in character for Dan Patrick, who doesn’t handle entities that disagree with him well. Whether he likes it or not, he knows what the consequences for his behavior will be. What he does from here is entirely up to him. The Press has more.

San Antonio to re-revisit its rideshare requirements

May 21st, 2016
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

Just when you thought it was all over…

Uber

With Transportation Network Company (TNC) tension looming from Austin and Houston, the City of San Antonio is preparing its push to renegotiate with ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft. And one of the officials taking the lead on the talks believes they’ll be a model for other municipalities to follow.

“It’s important that we move forward and set the example. And I think we’re about to for the entire state and possibly the entire country,” said City Councilman Roberto Treviño at a meeting of the City Council Governance Committee. Treviño has spearheaded much of the City’s negotiations with TNCs.

Lyft and Uber left San Antonio in March 2015, after City Council mandated that drivers undergo fingerprint background checks. After a spring and summer without the services, a 9-month pilot compromise was struck to bring them back: The checks were made voluntary, with the City footing the bill for those who wished to undergo them. If a driver submitted to a fingerprint background check, they’d receive a special designation on the app’s screen.

The deal was portrayed as a win for consumer choice and TNCs alike. But few drivers have undergone the voluntary checks. There’s also no way to specifically hail a driver with a fingerprint background check, so passengers who want one must repeatedly hail a ride, then cancel it until they’re picked up by a fingerprinted driver.

Councilman Joe Krier said he hadn’t heard of “a single … bad experience with Uber or Lyft” from constituents. But Councilman Mike Gallagher expressed concerns over if citizens understood how to identify whether a driver has passed the fingerprint check.

“I almost wonder if we need to strengthen the ordinance with something that says ‘Caution: Driver has not passed fingerprint background check,'” Gallagher said.

See here for the background. If you live in San Antonio, there are a couple of public meetings scheduled to discuss this; see the link at the top for more details. One such meeting has already happened, and there’s also an online survey you can participate in. The operating agreements with Uber, Lyft, and GetMe expire in the next few months, with the GetMe one the lasting until October, but it looks like they will all be allowed to go through then. For all the sturm und drang in Austin, I’d say this is the situation to watch. if SA and the TNCs can come up with an agreement that is broadly acceptable to all, including the cab companies, then that could serve as a starting point for Austin and Houston, if they are inclined to redo their own ordinances. If not, well, that will add to the impetus for the Lege to butt in. We’ll see how it goes. Texas Public Radio, San Antonio Magazine, and the San Antonio Business Journal have more.

Our long national breakfast taco nightmare is finally over

Mar 12th, 2016
by Charles Kuffner.
2 comments

At long last, peace in our time.

With an escalating culinary battle threatening to destabilize the region, the mayors of Austin and San Antonio met Thursday morning to announce a taco truce.

“As St. Paul admonishes us, let us not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with breakfast tacos,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said. “We will have guac in our times.”

Adler and San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor sought to bring to a close a weeks-long feud between their cities over which has the better breakfast tacos, proclaiming peace with the signing of the “I-35 Accords” and declaring each other’s tacos similarly delicious.

As the history books will show, the Great Breakfast Taco War of 2016 was first ignited by a provocative article in Eater Austin from writer Matthew Sedacca, headlined “How Austin Became the the Home of the Crucial Breakfast Taco.”

Soon thereafter, a petition on Change.org to exile Sedacca from Texas quickly gained over 1,700 signatures, describing the Eater article as a “churlishly negligent treatise.” Sedacca’s “wild inaccuracies, which dangerously approach libel,” the petition reads, “have already stirred the ire of many South Texas communities and further discord may loom on the horizon.” Competing op-eds in the cities’ respective newspapers only further escalated the conflict.

But, proclaiming March 10, 2016 as “Breakfast Taco Day,” Adler and Taylor sought to put aside their differences and embrace their mutual appreciation of the popular morning meal.

“What we must do and what we will do is lead,” Adler said alongside Taylor at Austin’s downtown Hilton hotel. “And that means celebrating the fact that there is more that unites our tacos than divides them. Let us break our fast with the tortilla of hope and the egg of peace.”

And so possibly the dumbest controversy ever – okay, maybe the dumbest one of 2016 so far – comes to an end. Now go and eat whatever breakfast taco you like best. It’s all good. The Rivard Report has more.

Uber returns to San Antonio

Oct 23rd, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

They’re back.

Uber

The ink had barely dried on the signed operating agreement when ride-hailing firm Uber restarted operations in San Antonio Tuesday, ahead of competitor Lyft, which agreed to a deal in August but has yet to implement services here.

The Uber smart-phone application went live Tuesday at about 3:30 p.m., just as the company and the city of San Antonio sent out separate media releases.

“I am pleased to announce that Uber is returning to San Antonio,” Mayor Taylor said in a prepared statement.

Taylor said the “city of San Antonio is committed to providing safe transportation options, and we are excited to welcome Uber, a company facilitating more than one million safe rides a day, back to town. This operating agreement provides consumer choice when it comes to personal safety and allows for innovative transportation options to move around San Antonio.”

She also lauded the service for creating a way for people to earn extra income on their own schedules.

Uber and Lyft ceased operations here on April 1, when a local ordinance took effect that required drivers to first pass a fingerprint background check conducted by the city. The two companies maintain that their third-party criminal checks, based on drivers’ Social Security numbers, are superior to the fingerprint background check used by the city.

Under the operating agreement reached with the city — a nine-month pilot program — drivers must pass their company’s background check. But they can also opt to voluntarily do the city’s check, and then note that they’ve passed it in their driver profiles. Consumers can then decide whether they want their drivers to have gone the extra mile.

See here, here, and here for the background. As the story notes, Uber had been operating in the suburbs (unlike Lyft), so it was easy for them to turn on service in San Antonio proper again. Lyft is also returning to San Antonio, though there’s no timetable for that as yet. Removing the mandatory fingerprint requirement for drivers to get a permit has been both companies’ goal; Uber operates in Houston despite that requirement, while Lyft does not. I’ve been asking the Mayoral candidates whether they think Houston should revisit its vehicles for hire ordinance in the interviews I’ve been doing, so be sure to listen to them to hear what they think. The city of Austin is in the process of finalizing its rideshare requirements, so we’ll see if they follow the Houston model or the San Antonio model. The Rivard Report and the Current have more.

San Antonio implements Vision Zero

Sep 27th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

Good for them.

Tuesday marked the official launch of San Antonio’s Vision Zero, a multi-national awareness and educational initiative that calls for zero traffic fatalities. It’s a lofty goal, but proponents of the plan say these deaths, especially those of pedestrians, are preventable accidents that can be systematically addressed with infrastructure and safety education.

Last year 54 pedestrians were killed while walking in San Antonio, an average of one death per week. To pay tribute to those individuals, 54 people stood on the steps of City Hall as Mayor Ivy Taylor, Council members, and City staff launched the initiative.

“We suffer human losses because of culture and public policy decisions that have resulted in the built environment we have today,” said Councilmember Shirley Gonzales (D5), who has long advocated for more City investment in complete street, or multimodal, infrastructure and led the Council’s backing of Vision Zero.

According to the ethos of Vision Zero, individuals and roadway design should share the burden of ensuring safe passage. Priority is often given to vehicles, leaving pedestrians and cyclists to fend for themselves in an environment built for tires and steel.

“We have a high number of traffic fatality rates because we have a fundamentally dangerous environment,” Gonzales said.

Aside from infrastructure like better sidewalks and safer street crossings, the City is looking into reducing speed limits to create a safer environment for those walking and bicycling.

“We’ve made and continue to make policy decisions and direct City staff to construct projects that keep everyone and every mode of transportation in mind,” Mayor Taylor said.

See here, here, and here for some background, and here for the city’s official plan. The basic idea here is that the way our streets are constructed now, it’s dangerous for anyone who isn’t in a car, and this is reflected in the number of accidents and fatalities involving pedestrians and bicyclists. This doesn’t have to be the way things are, it’s the way we currently choose to do them. If we do them differently, and think in terms of everyone who uses the streets and not just the cars, we could have fewer accidents and fewer deaths. That seems like a worthy goal, no? I look forward to seeing what kind of results they get, because that is how this will ultimately be judged. The Current has more, and you can sign petitions to bring this to Houston and Austin if you are so inclined. Streetsblog has more.

SA Council approves new rules to allow Lyft to return

Aug 17th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

Close vote, but it counts.

Lyft

The ride-hailing firm Lyft will soon re-start operations in San Antonio in the wake of a controversial City Council decision Thursday that will allow the company to offer rides here during a nine-month pilot program.

The council spent more than three hours listening to public comment and debating among themselves before voting 6-5 in favor of the program.

“A positive vote today is a win for our community because it will expand transportation options in a city where public transportation is limited,” Mayor Ivy Taylor said. “With today’s vote approving this agreement, we are saying loudly that San Antonio is open for business.”

No other city in the country has worked as closely with a so-called “transportation-network company,” or TNC, as San Antonio, Taylor said. The pilot program, she said, “provides consumer choice and works with the technological platform of ride-share companies” and supports the city’s commitments to both innovation and public safety.

Earlier this summer, Taylor directed City Manager Sheryl Sculley to develop a pilot program, and appointed Councilman Roberto Treviño to oversee negotiations for the council.

The deal approved Thursday allows Lyft drivers to voluntarily undergo the city’s fingerprint background check and then post a unique city identification number to their driver profiles on the Lyft smartphone application, which customers use to hail rides. Customers will be able to choose whether they want a driver who has gone through the city’s fingerprint background check in addition to the Lyft background check all drivers go through.

[…]

Councilman Ron Nirenberg pointed out his public safety concerns from a different perspective — epidemic levels of drunken driving in the San Antonio area.

“Insufficient transportation options, which we experience every day, all over this city… increase congestion, cost jobs and it make San Antonio roads more dangerous — even fatal,” Nirenberg said. “And I’m tired of hearing about the fact that people are getting into their automobile when they shouldn’t be because there are no options otherwise.”

Nirenberg said he hopes to have a pilot program for Uber underway soon. It’s unclear how that might happen.

The company submitted earlier this week a slightly different propsal to the city. Rather than identify drivers in its app who have undergone the city’s fingerprint background check, which the city is willing to pay for, Uber wants to notify its users that its drivers don’t go through the city’s background check and solely uses its third-party system.

That likely wouldn’t pass muster with the council, however. Councilman Joe Krier, who was the sixth vote that enabled approval of the Lyft deal, expressed dismay at how Uber has handled itself in San Antonio and in Texas.

Krier said Uber’s approach has been offensive and that he doesn’t respond well to it. The councilman thanked Lyft for its willingness to work with the city to find a resolution.

If Uber ultimately decides to agree to the same methods that Lyft did, it could enter into its own nine-month pilot program without going before council. The council’s approval Thursday makes it possible for other TNCs, such as Uber, to operate here under their own pilot programs as long as their structures are materially similar to the Lyft operating agreement — without going back to the council for an individual vote.

See here and here for the background. This makes San Antonio the mirror image of Houston, in that they now have Lyft but not Uber, and we have Uber but not Lyft. As I suggested before, perhaps this is a situation that might warrant some attention from the Mayoral candidates. Do we want to revisit our rules and try to find a way to get Lyft to operate here, or are we OK with how things are now? The story also notes that Houston and San Antonio are the only cities that require fingerprint background checks for rideshare drivers. I strongly suspect that means we will see another attempt to pass a law providing for state-mandated rules for Uber and Lyft when the Lege reconvenes in 2017. Such a bill made it pretty far this session, and could make more progress next time. As I’ve said before, it would be nice to know what our Mayoral wannabes think about that. The Rivard Report and the Current have more.

Lyft to come back to San Antonio

Aug 9th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
2 comments

San Antonio is no longer without any rideshare companies.

Lyft

The ride-hailing company Lyft is poised to return in the “near future” to San Antonio — after the City Council reviews a proposed pilot program next week.

Councilman Roberto Treviño, who spent the summer negotiating a deal with the company, said Friday that Lyft officials have entered into an operating agreement that will provide consumer choice on background checks.

That was a major sticking point when the council passed an ordinance this year requiring drivers from Lyft and Uber, known as “transportation network companies,” or “TNCs,” to pass a criminal history check based on fingerprints.

The companies balked, saying the checks didn’t fit their business models, and left town. Both use a third-party background check based on Social Security numbers. Uber has said its system is superior to the city’s, which relies on what’s uploaded into an FBI database.

“What we’ve done is try to take a different approach regarding the issue of the background checks,” Treviño said. “The big point is really that we’re providing consumer choice, and Lyft has worked with us, has demonstrated that we can include within their existing platform to inform people those that are willing to go through a city background process.”

Under the pilot program, drivers will continue to go through Lyft’s background check. But those who opt to go through the city’s fingerprint check will be issued an identification number from the Police Department and will be authorized to include it on their driver profiles. Additionally, they’ll be able to note whether they’re active-duty military or veterans, officials said.

Uber has not agreed to enter the pilot program. The company did not respond to questions from the San Antonio Express-News.

Under the agreement, Lyft will also be able to legally originate rides at the San Antonio International Airport. The company will pay $1 per ride to the airport coffers, just as the taxicabs do, said Deputy City Manager Erik Walsh, the top city staffer who helped negotiate the deal.

If the council approves the program at its Thursday meeting, the nine-month pilot would begin when Lyft is ready to redeploy here. A spokeswoman said it would be in the “near future” but declined to be more specific.

See here and here for the background. Don’t know why Lyft but not Uber was enticed to return, but that makes San Antonio the mirror image of Houston, in that we have Uber but not Lyft. I suppose it would be worthwhile to ask the Mayoral candidates if they think it’s worthwhile to revisit Houston’s regulations to see if Lyft might be enticed to set up shop here; I for one have no intention of using Uber but might give Lyft a try. They didn’t have anything to say when the Lege was considering bills that would have taken the matter out of the city’s hands, so perhaps none of them have given this any thought. It’s still worth asking about. The Rivard Report and the Current have more.

Deja vu all over again in San Antonio

Jul 10th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

Are you ready for some more municipal wrangling over Uber and Lyft? Of course you are.

Uber

A post-election push to craft city policies to allow ride-hailing firms Uber and Lyft to operate in San Antonio has also prompted the taxi industry lobby to strengthen its efforts to shoot down whatever is ultimately proposed.

Since Mayor Ivy Taylor’s announcement last week that she’s directed City Manager Sheryl Sculley to craft a pilot program for firms such as Uber and Lyft, some council members say they’ve seen an uptick in lobbying from the taxi industry.

Others say taxi lobbyists never stopped — even after Uber and Lyft shuttered operations here when the council adopted regulations that they said made it too difficult to do business here.

[…]

Lyft

Uber officials insist their background checks are superior — and not a barrier to bringing new drivers onto their platform. That continues to be a matter of debate, which the city may be able to settle if the firm provides sufficient data.

But a pilot program that negates fingerprint background checks could be a hard sale for some council members. Councilman Joe Krier says he’s finely attuned to the “list of problems” Uber has had in cities around the world.

“I am not inclined to give up the fingerprint requirement,” he said. “I have not been persuaded that there is an alternative to that that ensures citizen safety.”

Councilman Ray Lopez, too, hasn’t been convinced that there’s room for negotiation there. He said he believes that the taxi industry’s end game is keeping TNCs from operating in San Antonio, and that’s not realistic.

“Their ultimate goal is to keep (the TNCs) out of here,” he said. “That’s not my goal. I don’t think it’s anyone on council’s goal.”

See here for the last update. The main difference between this time and the last time is that now Mayor Ivy Taylor wants to get Uber and Lyft into San Antonio, where before she was at best indifferent and most hostile to them, to the point that it was a campaign issue against her. That didn’t stop her from getting elected, but she changed her tune anyway. We’ll see how it goes this time.

San Antonio wants a do-over on Uber and Lyft

Jul 2nd, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
1 comment

Maybe the third time will be the charm.

Uber

Mayor Ivy Taylor said Friday that there’s a demand for transportation-network companies in San Antonio and signaled that she wants to work a new deal that would allow Uber and Lyft to restart operations here.

Taylor told the City Council during an all-day retreat that she has directed City Manager Sheryl Sculley to develop a plan for bringing the transportation-network companies, or TNCs, back to San Antonio while the council is on summer break next month. The council met for team-building Friday at Hardberger Park on the North Side.

“We’ve never wanted them to leave,” Taylor said in a Friday interview. “We’ve always wanted Uber and Lyft to be here.”

The ride-hailing firms, however, disagreed. After operating in San Antonio for about a year without regulation, the companies shuttered when the City Council approved policies that the companies found too onerous.

City officials thought they’d come to an agreement with the companies when they approved the updated ordinance, but unresolved concerns over how background checks on drivers would be conducted ultimately drove the companies out of town. The taxi industry lauded the council’s decision, saying “public safety” won the day.

[…]

Lyft

“I am directing the city manager to develop a framework for operating agreements which would allow for TNCs to return to San Antonio during a pilot period,” she said. “This framework will be brought to council for review the second week of August and action thereafter. I have asked Councilman (Roberto) Treviño to be the council representative during this process.

“It is important that we get this issue resolved soon, and I do not want the work to stop during the month of July. Safety will still be a top priority for all of us, and that won’t change.” she said.

Taylor said a data-driven discussion about the merits of the firms’ background checks had been missing from previous discussions. She said she wants to delve deeper into that.

Uber spokeswoman Debbee Hancock said Friday that company officials are looking forward to restarting discussions in San Antonio.

“We are heartened to hear that Mayor Taylor has made it a top priority to bring back ridesharing this summer,” she said. “And we are excited to continue working with the mayor and City Council to make this a reality.”

See here and here for some background. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff is a fan of Uber and Lyft, and the other cities in the county have explored having them operate in the non-SA parts of the county, so there was some pressure on Mayor Taylor beyond the tech/millennial community in town to revisit this. We’ll see what happens. The Rivard Report and the Current have more.

Taylor wins SA Mayor runoff

Jun 14th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

And it’s over.

Mayor Ivy Taylor

Interim San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor claimed victory Saturday night, defeating Leticia Van de Putte for a full term in the mayor’s job and dealing the former state senator a tough loss in a city central to her long career in public service.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Taylor beat Van de Putte 51.7 percent to 48.3 percent, according to unofficial returns.

The result was set to be historic either way: Taylor is on the cusp of becoming the first black mayor elected to the position. Van de Putte would have been the first Hispanic woman to hold the job.

Declaring victory at her election night party, Taylor asked supporters if they realized they had “defeated a political machine.” Yet she struck a conciliatory tone as she turned her attention to San Antonio’s future.

“I will be working with everyone throughout our city,” Taylor said. “It’s time for us to turn the page. It’s time to get back to work.”

Meanwhile, at her campaign headquarters, Van de Putte told supporters their “hearts may be slightly broken” but expressed gratitude for hearing their concerns as she campaigned.

“I’m in love with San Antonio all over again,” she said.

As expected, Taylor easily won the early vote, beating Van de Putte by about five percentage points among the more than 65,000 early ballots cast. Van de Putte’s campaign was counting on her voters to flood the polls on Election Day, but she never closed the gap, consistently trailing Taylor by a few points throughout the night.

The Rivard Report adds some details.

With all voted counted, Taylor defeated Van de Putte 50,659-47,328, a 3,331 vote margin and good enough for a 51.70%-48.30% win, a 3.4% difference.

Taylor showed stronger on Election Day than predicted by Van de Putte supporters, who expected to lose the early vote convincingly and then make up the difference with Saturday’s turnout. Instead, Taylor won the early vote by less than some expected, but stayed strong on Election Day.

In the end, only 96,277 people, 14.5% of the city’s 660,983 registered voters, went to the polls. Early voting over eight days drew 65,091 voters, more than 67% of the total vote, while 31,136 voted Saturday. Van de Putte supporters had hoped for a turnout of 40,000 voters on Saturday.

Taylor won 34,070 votes, or 52.51% of the early vote, while Van de Putte won 30,813 votes, or 47.49%.

If you do the math, or if you scroll down the page to the totals from the Bexar County elections admin, you see that Taylor won on Election Day as well, though only by 74 votes. It’s still a solid win for her. Taylor was not my preference, but the people have spoken. Congratulations and best of luck to Mayor Ivy Taylor. The Current has more.

Runoff day in SA

Jun 13th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
1 comment

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say I’m glad the San Antonio Mayoral runoff is almost over. We hope, anyway.

Leticia Van de Putte

Leticia Van de Putte

After weeks of bruising attacks — and at least one hand left unshaken — the San Antonio mayoral race is coming to a close. Presumably.

“It might not end on Saturday,” said Manuel Medina, chairman of the Bexar County Democratic Party, raising the prospect of an election night too close to call, spawning recounts or challenges. “It might be that close.”

Whoever eventually wins the hard-fought runoff, the outcome will be historic. Incumbent Ivy Taylor, appointed to the office after Julián Castro left last year for Washington, D.C., would be the first black person elected to the position. Former state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte would be the city’s first Hispanic female mayor.

Higher-than-expected turnout during early voting has both sides claiming momentum. The campaigns say they are especially encouraged by new voters entering the picture, perhaps a measure of enthusiasm largely missing from the rapid-fire series of elections Bexar County has held over the past several months.

If anyone has a lead — however slight — heading into Saturday, it is Taylor, insiders agree. But they say it is nothing Van de Putte cannot overcome with a strong turnout operation come Election Day.

“We know based on data that our voters vote early,” said Justin Hollis, Taylor’s campaign manager. “The challenge, as with any campaign, is just getting the rest of your voters out.”

[…]

The at times vicious back-and-forth has left some political observers looking forward to the day after Saturday.

“It’s gotten more personal and in fact there’s been very little of substantive policy issues, and we do have a lot of issues that need to be addressed in our local government,” said Henry Flores, a political science professor at St. Mary’s University. “And there’s things that hang in the air right now until the end of the election,” Flores added, citing several issues including the city’s contract negotiations with police and firefighters.

I’m pulling for Leticia, but really I’m just glad it will be over, and I say that as someone who isn’t in San Antonio and is still mentally armoring up for the long campaign slog here. The Express-News’ Bruce Davidson adds on:

Mayor Ivy Taylor

Money is a huge advantage in a political campaign, but it can’t guarantee a victory. And the pattern in early voting indicates that Taylor will enjoy a big lead when the early vote totals become public shortly after the polls close Saturday night.

Voting boxes in North Side conservative neighborhoods piled up more votes that the rest of the city. That is typical for a San Antonio election, and while Taylor may not be a Republican, her campaign’s DNA is certainly of the GOP variety.

Democratic and liberal candidates usually close the gap with Election Day voting. It isn’t always enough for victory, but that gives Van de Putte’s team hope.

Van de Putte’s 25-year history as a Democratic legislator is one of the reasons that the politically amorphous mayor can reasonably be viewed as the front-runner. Taylor’s vote against the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance, her move to kill the planned streetcar project and public safety union support for Van de Putte also moved conservative voters into the appointed incumbent’s column.

Saturday night’s drama will center around whether Van de Putte can gain enough Election Day votes to overcome Taylor’s expected lead. Weather forecasters are reporting a 50-percent chance of rain on Saturday. Van de Putte’s chances would be damaged by heavy rain.

[…]

Changing demographics have made San Antonio municipal elections more friendly to progressive politicians, although moderates win if they get into a runoff. Phil Hardberger had deep Democratic ties, but was perceived as the moderate candidate in 2005 when he defeated Julián Castro. While Van de Putte is in reality a centrist, Taylor holds the stronger moderate image in this runoff.

I consider that example of how words like “moderate” and “centrist” can mean whatever people want them to mean in certain contexts. Sometimes it’s what you do, sometimes it’s what you say, and sometimes it’s how you say it. Be that as it may, polls are open from 7 till 7 today. Get out and vote, or don’t complain later if you don’t like the result. The Current and the Rivard Report have more.

The Trib on the big Mayor’s races

Jun 9th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
1 comment

Those being the Houston and San Antonio Mayors races, with a look at how candidates of color are faring.

If former state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte wins the runoff for San Antonio mayor next weekend, she’ll become the Alamo City’s first Hispanic female mayor, though not the first Hispanic, nor the first female.

If opponent Ivy Taylor wins, she’ll become the first black person elected to the position, though she’s already the first black mayor by appointment, taking over when Julián Castro left for a federal job.

And when Houston voters pick their next mayor in the fall, they could make former Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia the first Hispanic mayor of the state’s most populous city. A win by state Rep. Sylvester Turner would give the city only its second black mayor.

As Texas’ major cities continue their decades-long evolution to minority-majority populations — where there are fewer whites than blacks and Hispanics combined — tracking minority and female ascension to mayoral firsts has almost reached the complexity of a political trivia game.

But the diversity of candidates is not a mere function of census numbers, political organizers and local leaders say. It’s the result of years of work in the trenches as people of color have labored to accumulate political capital.

“It’s not a magic bullet,” said Laura Barbarena, a San Antonio-based political consultant.

[…]

In modern times, San Antonio has been led by only three Hispanic mayors, despite the massive Hispanic share — 63.2 percent — of the population.

But the configuration of its local and legislative districts — particularly on the East Side — has also helped propel blacks into leadership positions. Taylor hails from the East Side and represented it on the City Council from 2009 until her peers appointed her interim mayor in July 2014.

Whichever way it goes, the June 13 runoff will give San Antonio its first woman of color elected to the top post at City Hall.

Still in its early stages, the Houston race has no clear front-runners in a crowded field, with at least seven candidates looking to win the Nov. 3 election. But with high name identification and wide appeal, Garcia and Turner are likely among the top contenders. The five other candidates are all also men, four white and one black.

In a city more diverse than San Antonio — Hispanics make up 43.8 percent of the population, blacks 23.7 percent, almost double the state’s share — both candidates have been more overt with messages about bringing people together.

As far as Houston goes, I would note that we had an African-American candidate and a Hispanic candidate in each of the last two open-seat Mayor’s races. Gene Locke in 2009 and Orlando Sanchez in 2003 (as he had against then-Mayor Lee Brown in 2001) made it into the runoff but lost there. This year, I would not bet any amount of money on any runoff candidate combination, and I would not bet any amount of money on any runoff outcome. There are too many candidates with a credible shot at making it into overtime, and too many possible variables in play once that happens. Unless something happens to clearly separate one or two candidates from the rest of the pack, I will continue to believe that the difference between finishing in the money and finishing fourth or fifth could be as little as a couple thousand votes, much like the At Large 3 race in 2013. Anyone who says otherwise is probably on one of the candidates’ payrolls.

Today is the last day of early voting in the San Antonio runoff, with Runoff Day being this Saturday, the 13th. Early voting turnout is up from the May election, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that final turnout will be up. From what I have gleaned on Facebook, there are a decent number of new voters (i.e., those who did not vote in May) in the mix, so an uptick is definitely a possibility. Who that favors is a question I’m not in a position to answer. If you’re from San Antonio, what’s been your impression of how the vote is going so far?

Moving equality forward in San Antonio

Jun 1st, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

From the Rivard Report:

RedEquality

Members of San Antonio’s lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community want the city’s next mayor to follow the lead of Dallas and Houston and expand the 2013 non-discrimination ordinance (NDO) to include private companies.

The NDO now extends to city employment, public accommodations (restaurants, stores, public events), public housing, city contracts, and appointed officials, boards and commissions. There are significant religious exemptions to the rule. Unless they have an internal policy, private companies that operate outside the realm of public accommodations can fire an employee for being gay or choose not to do business with someone because of their sexual orientation.

The push to extend the NDO comes less than two years after then-Mayor Julían Castro and City Council voted 8-3 to pass an updated non-discrimination ordinance that extended greater protections to the LGBTQ community and to veterans. That vote, however, was not followed by any specific action.

This month, Mayor Ivy Taylor answered her critics by directing city staff to establish what is now called the Office of Diversity and Inclusion that will enforce the NDO and act on any complaints of it being violated. The updated NDO now covers sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status along with race, color, religion, national origin, sex, and disability.

Taylor voted against passage of the NDO in 2013, but since becoming interim mayor she has pledged to uphold the ordinance.

Taylor and former state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte are in a June 13 runoff for mayor, with early voting June 1-9. The Rivard Report reached out to both candidates to ask for their views on the subject of including private companies in the ordinance and related topics.

Click here to read the Q&A with Taylor. Click here to read the Q&A with van de Putte.

[…]

Robert Salcido, an Equality Texas field organizer and the local LGBT Chamber of Commerce board vice president, said putting real “teeth” to the NDO is a major goal, meaning it needs to be enforced and it needs to be expanded.

To date, only three complaints have been filed with the City based on gender identity and/or sexual orientation discrimination. Two have been dropped due to technicalities. One complainant backed out to pursue a civil suit.

Taylor and others have speculated that the newly established Office of Diversity and Inclusion might now have the legal authority to actively enforce the NDO, something city staff might have lacked until now.

Salcido said he is encouraged by Taylor’s move but wants to see San Antonio’s City Council follow their counterparts in Dallas and Houston to amend the ordinance to include private companies.

Christina Gorczynski, the Texas Wins campaign director based in Houston, agrees.

“Waiting for Washington D.C., or waiting for Austin to resolve local issues like this will keep us waiting for too long,” Gorczynski said. “People find discrimination now, so let’s resolve discrimination right now with the powers that are available to the mayor and city council.

“Local officials are empowered by their charter to create ordinances like the nondiscrimination ordinance and they should be able to take full advantage of that and be able to protect the values of its community.”

Taylor told the Rivard Report that she will not support expansion of the NDO into the private sector. Van de Putte said she would not support such an initiative at this time, either.

It’s probably safe to say the highly contentious battle that ended with the 8-3 vote in 2013 is fresh enough in everyone’s memory locally that few officeholders would be eager to see the issue come up for another debate and vote.

The wording in that penultimate paragraph is a little misleading. Taylor’s full answer to the question whether she would support “either now or in the future – expanding the NDO to include private companies that operate outside of public accommodations?” was “I would not vote to further expand the ordinance”, while VdP’s answer was “No, not at at this time”, followed by a discourse on her record in the Senate. I’d prefer an affirmative commitment to expanding the NDO at some point during her Mayoral tenure, but at least “Not at this time” allows for that, while a flat “No” does not. Taylor to her credit created the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to enforce the NDO, but between her record and her pandering to anti-equality voters during the campaign, I just don’t trust her. Your mileage may vary. Early voting in the San Antonio runoff elections begins today, so those of you who are there, be sure and make your voice heard/

That brings up a point about Houston’s Mayoral race, since everything comes back to the Houston Mayoral race. The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance is now being enforced by the city. Yes, the opponents are appealing their loss in the lawsuit – they’re also requesting a new trial in the district court, because Andy Taylor has bills to pay – but as of Judge Schaffer’s ruling, the ordinance is in effect. It’s too early to ask anyone what they think of the process, since I doubt there’s been an opportunity to test it yet, but an opinion about how it was designed and what if anything they’d have done differently if they had been Mayor in 2014 would not be out of line. At some point, we will need to know how they think it’s working and what their level of commitment to it is. Doesn’t have anything to do with potholes, I’m afraid, but it is an issue the next Mayor will have to deal with.

Moving on to the runoff for the SA Mayor’s race

May 13th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
1 comment

This Express News story on the beginning of the Mayoral runoff in San Antonio between Leticia Van de Putte and Ivy Taylor gets to the question of what if anything the two runnersup and their supporters will do.

Leticia Van de Putte

Leticia Van de Putte

But all eyes were on the mayoral race, and the historic runoff with two women candidates. Van de Putte would be the first Latina elected to the mayor’s post, and Taylor the first African-American elected to the seat.

As Villarreal and Adkisson, the third- and fourth-place finishers, licked their wounds Sunday, questions remained about whether they would support either Van de Putte or Taylor.

Communications Director Greg Jefferson said Villarreal planned to meet with his supporters Monday to discuss the matter. Adkisson said after conceding the race that he wasn’t in a hurry to throw his support behind either candidate.

“I think we’ll take some time to chill,” Adkisson said.

Campaign consultant Colin Strother said there’s no way to predict what the former county commissioner would do.

“The guy has been through 50 forums with these ladies and he probably knows better where they stand on the issues than anyone else. At some point, I’m sure he’ll have meetings with them,” Strother said. “With Tommy, one thing I’ve learned is he’s an unconventional guy and he thinks unconventionally, so it’s hard to predict what he’s going to do. I don’t know what he’s going to do, and I don’t know that he knows what he’s going to do.”

Ultimately, support from Villarreal and Adkisson could play a pivotal role in the runoff election. St. Mary’s University political scientist Henry Flores said the contrast of support for the candidates is stark.

“If Leticia gets support from Adkisson, that would be some really important support from the South Side, and that’s a high turnout area. That’ll work to her advantage,” he said. “Ivy is tied to the evangelicals and the tea party, so her support is going to come out of (North Central and Northeast Side) Districts 9 and 10 and a little bit of 8.”

Randy Bear helpfully points out that all campaign acrimony aside, Van de Putte and Villarreal are much closer on the issues that Taylor and Villarreal. That’s not a guarantee of anything, but Van de Putte needs Villarreal voters, so I’m sure she’ll be working to get them, while Taylor will make her pitch to Republicans. Van de Putte did pick up County Judge Nelson Wolff’s endorsement, which is nice but I don’t know how many actual votes it moves. Early voting begins June 1, so there’s not a lot of time to get it done. This is going to be a fast and eventful ride.

UPDATE: And Taylor picks up the endorsement of Mike Villarreal’s campaign treasurer. I figure there will be a lot more of this going back and forth.

Van de Putte and Taylor in SA Mayor runoff

May 10th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
1 comment

Here we go.

Leticia Van de Putte

Leticia Van de Putte

Former state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte is set to face San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor in a runoff for the city’s top job.

With 95 percent of all precincts reporting late Saturday, Van de Putte led Taylor 31 percent to 28 percent, according to unofficial returns. Former state Rep. Mike Villarreal trailed in third at 26 percent, and former Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson in fourth at 10 percent.

With 14 declared candidates — four considered runoff prospects — the chance of an outright victory seemed slim Saturday. The runoff is scheduled for June 13, with early voting taking place from June 1-9.

“Our work’s not over, because what this means is we’re doing to work even harder to convince those who may not have cast a ballot to trust Leticia, to believe in her vision in this city,” Van de Putte said shortly after 10 p.m., surrounded by her family as confetti lingered in the air at her campaign headquarters on San Antonio’s West Side.

As results came in, Taylor told supporters at her election night party she was ready for a runoff.

“We can’t rest on our laurels because we’ve got some work to do to get to June 13,” she said, shortly after Adkisson and Villarreal conceded.

The four major candidates were seen as Democrats, though the election was nonpartisan.

That much is true, though as the Rivard Report notes, Taylor was generally the preferred candidate for Republican voters. It’ll be interesting to see how the runoff plays out, as there was no love lost between Van de Putte and Villarreal in the first round. She’s going to need Democrats to turn out to win, and if Villarreal supporters carry a grudge, that could get dicey. I’m no expert on San Antonio’s politics, so take that with some salt. Runoffs are tricky things, and anything can happen.

That was the marquee race, but I was at least as interested in Pasadena and Fort Bend ISD. Here are the unofficial results from Pasadena:

DISTRICT A — Ornaldo Ybarra leads Keith Nielsen 284-45;

DISTRICT B — Celestino Perez leads Bruce Leamon 118-107;

DISTRICT C — Sammy Casados leads Emilio Carmona 108-81;

DISTRICT D — Cody Ray Wheeler (182) leads J.E. “Bear” Hebert (77) and Pat Riley (28);

DISTRICT E — Cary Bass leads Larry Peacock 144-96;

DISTRICT F — Jeff Wagner 219 (unopposed)

DISTRICT G At Large — Pat Van Houte leads Steve Cote 859-599;

DISTRICT H At Large — Oscar Del Toro leads Darrell Morrison 755-728.

If you look at the comment on that Pasadena post, you’ll see that the folks who opposed Mayor Johnny Isbell and his power grabbing did pretty well. I wish I could find a list of candidates endorsed by the Texas Organizing Project to compare to this, but I can’t. Still, it looks good. And finally, as far as FBISD goes, I’m glad to see that Addie Heyliger won her race, which will help make that board a little more diverse and a little more reflective of the community. Congrats to her and to all of yesterday’s winners.

Homestretch for the SA Mayor’s race

May 5th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

Jeanne Russell, wife of San Antonio Mayoral candidate Mike Villarreal, makes the case for her husband in the Rivard Report.

Mike Villarreal

Mike Villarreal

Many people who have known Mike and I professionally associate us most often with our work toward building a stronger, more educated workforce. Only through education and training can San Antonio attract the best-paying jobs. But there are many other concerns that we also feel passionately about.

Today I want to highlight an overlooked issue, which distinguishes Mike from the rest of the mayoral candidates.

It is fitness – with all its personal and societal implications. Perhaps jump started by the extension of the San Antonio River and the “emerald necklace” of Howard Peak Linear Parks, we have seen a flowering of running, walking and cycling in San Antonio in recent years.

Former Mayor Julián Castro made this a central push with his Mayor’s Fitness Council and the first Síclovía. No one thought San Antonians would come – but they did.

Mike is the man to pick up this baton and literally run with it – leading by example.

When you understand what fitness means to you and your family, because you walk to your neighborhood school and ride your bike to the library and the bookstore, you want that for everyone. Mike will improve streets and sidewalks and lighting in ways that increase safety and get people outside talking to each other because he knows how this has improved our relationships to our neighbors, made our children healthier and more independent, and allowed us to support nearby small businesses.

Right next to that was this musical endorsement of Leticia Van de Putte.

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte

“Years from now, when hundreds of thousands of people are at Maverick Music Festival, remember that you were here today.”

Leticia Van de Putte proclaimed these words as she introduced Nina Diaz from Girl in a Coma to several thousand attendees of the Maverick Music Festival. As an organizer of the event from its inception, I can assure readers that there would be no Maverick Music Festival today without Leticia’s support. She has championed the event to the next level. More importantly, she is the biggest advocate among the candidates for supporting the music and arts economies, which are viable opportunities to generate a consistent and major economic impact here in San Antonio. Maverick is just one example of how Leticia has taken a leadership role in advancing music and the arts, and progressive causes in general.

Many readers might not be aware that Leticia comes from a musical background and family. Her mother, Belle Ortiz, was a teacher and choir director. In 1970, Belle created, spearheaded, and taught the first Mariachi Class taught in local schools. In 1976, Belle went on to become the Music Program Specialist for San Antonio Independent School District. The same year she created the first district Mariachi Music & Program, which culminated in her founding the Mariachi Campanas de America. Mariachi Campanas de America began to provide performing mariachi performers who graduated from high school with paying mariachi gigs while in college. There are now approximately 2,500 schools nationwide with mariachi programs.

Leticia’s husband, Pete, who incidentally played trombone professionally for 20 years, was Band Director at Jefferson High School, and performed or participated in every of Battle of Flowers parade from 1965-1980. Her brother Roland plays 11 instruments, and daughter Nichole graduated with a degree in Music Therapy from Loyola University in New Orleans. Stepfather Juan Ortiz is a two-time Grammy Award winner.

In a competitive race with 14 candidates competing to be San Antonio’s next mayor, Leticia sets herself apart from the rest as San Antonio’s champion of music and the arts, progressive candidate of choice, and voice of a growing generation of change agents who have increasingly asserted their own voices in recent months and years. She’s proven herself to be more than someone who perfunctorily announces policies, but rather, takes decisive and effective action when it’s most needed for our community, and the people who reside here.

I like both of those articles, which were solicited by the Rivard Report as early voting goes on in San Antonio and elsewhere. (The campaigns for Ivy Taylor and Tommy Adkisson were also invited to write something but declined.) A day later, Robert Rivard disclosed who he voted for.

I like and respect all four people at the top of the mayoral ballot and each has a long record of public service. I have friends working in each camp. But this election is about one thing and one thing only: the future of San Antonio.

Mike Villarreal is the only candidate who set out methodically to run for mayor, to develop an in-depth urban agenda, and to give up a secure career in the Texas Legislature to do so. He’s all in, and has been since last July. As I have listened to all four candidates, it’s evident to me that Mike is the best prepared.

Our city has lost ground in the nationwide competition for recruiting and retaining talented young professionals. San Antonio needs a mayor who not only admits we have lost momentum, but has a plan to quickly regain it. The city needs a mayor who understands we don’t need another city manager. We need a strong leader. Anything less and we will fail to transform San Antonio into a city where our children want to live and work and where others want to make their careers and homes.

As I’ve said before, and since I don’t have to cast a vote in this race, I consider myself officially neutral between Villarreal and Van de Putte, both of whom I think would make find Mayors. I know little to nothing about Adkisson, and I consider Ivy Taylor to be unacceptable. Early voting ends today, so if you’re in San Antonio or anyplace else that is holding an election, you have today and Saturday to make your voice heard. This race for sure is going to a runoff. I’ll be rooting for only good choices to be available for the overtime period.

Endorsement watch: Express News goes for LVdP for Mayor

Apr 27th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

Early voting has begun in San Antonio, and the Express News has made its choice for Mayor.

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte

Will San Antonio be blessed enough to elect three exceptionally strong mayors in a row? That’s a tall order.

But if any of this year’s crop of 14 mayoral contenders has the potential to wield maximum clout at City Hall, it is former state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte. The 60-year-old former lawmaker has the best combination of political skill and understanding of policy among the contenders. And we recommend that voters elect her as the city’s next mayor.

Only four of the 14 candidates have a plausible case for election — Van de Putte, former state Rep. Mike Villarreal, appointed Mayor Ivy Taylor and former County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson.

Van de Putte’s more than 25 years of legislative service and her track record of working well with colleagues are the strongest credentials in the 2015 mayoral field.

After emerging as a surprise victor in a 1990 contest for the Democratic nomination to a Texas House seat, Van de Putte proceeded to put together a solid legislative career marked by her determination to help the state’s needy and ensure that military veterans are treated well in Texas. She also led the charge to pass legislation to fight human trafficking and played a vital role in expanding health care for needy children.

And Van de Putte was a steady voice for better public education, as well as an influential force on behalf of San Antonio’s institutions of higher education. Van de Putte worked well with her colleagues in Austin, including Republicans.

[…]

Villarreal has shown that he is a serious student of municipal issues, but his track record of clashing with colleagues in the Bexar County delegation raises doubts about his ability to consistently muster majority support on City Council and be an effective leader.

While being an appointed mayor imposes limitations, Taylor has not grown in stature or demonstrated that she has the ability to take charge during her several months as mayor.

Adkisson’s quirky approach to the campaign and city issues is entertaining but does not inspire confidence in his leadership.

Van de Putte is the candidate best suited to dealing with the routine grind of hammering out policy agreements and being the city’s ambassador to political and business leaders on a national and international level. The city is most likely to maintain political stability and continue successfully nurturing its economic development efforts with Van de Putte at the helm.

I don’t have a dog in this fight. From my perspective, either Van de Putte or Villarreal would be fine by me. Current Mayor Ivy Taylor’s vote against San Antonio’s updated Equal Rights Ordinance, followed by her pandering to a church crowd about it, disqualifies her in my mind. I know little about former County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson, and to the extent that I have paid attention to this race, I’ve not seen anything interesting or notable from him. The place where I might break a tie would be in future statewide potential. LVdP has already run statewide and didn’t do anything wrong, it just wasn’t a good year. Still, she’d be 68 at the end of four Mayoral terms, so you have to wonder if this would be her swan song. As for Villarreal, he is 45 and has had statewide ambitions for awhile, so serving as Mayor would be a good jumping off point for him in the future. That’s an edge for him, but as I said either of them would be fine by me. For a dissenting view on that, see Randy Bear, who strongly backs Villarreal. If you’re in San Antonio, who is your first choice for Mayor?

Uber officially departs San Antonio

Apr 4th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

As expected.

Uber

Uber’s ride in the Alamo City ended Wednesday as the ride-share company has stopped operating within San Antonio city limits.

The decision to end all operations in San Antonio stems from the city council’s vote to approve a series of proposed changes to policies that regulate the local ride-share industry.

Those rules went into effect April 1, and Uber has said it would abandon all operations because of them.

See here for the background. As the story notes, many of the non-San Antonio cities in Bexar County are wooing Uber and Lyft, so those cars may still be seen on the streets of SA, just not picking up passengers there. And though they have left for now, that isn’t necessarily for good. On their blog, Uber says “we are not giving up on San Antonio, and will work hard to bring Uber back”. That’s followed by a reminder of the May 9 city elections, which is perhaps a veiled shot at interim Mayor Ivy Taylor, who was not a supporter of Uber and Lyft. I wonder if they plan on spending some money to get a friendlier Mayor elected. On that note, it’s candidate forum season in San Antonio, so if you don’t know who you want to support for Mayor or Council there, you have plenty of opportunities to hear the candidates speak and figure it out. The Current has more.

How many candidates are too many?

Mar 20th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
1 comment

The Rivard Report brings up a point I hadn’t considered before.

Candidates or their representatives arrived at City Council chambers Monday morning to draw lots to determine the order of name placement on the ballot. As candidates waited in the audience, the room seemed to be filled with equal parts anticipation and dread. It doesn’t matter much if you are first, second or even third in a three-person race. Three our four names fit easily enough on a single screen of a voting machine.

But there are 14 people running for mayor, and in an informal street poll I conducted downtown Monday, I was unable to find a single person who could name six candidates. Quite a few people named three, several named four, a few named five and none could name six. Four of the candidates are running visible campaigns with yard signs, frequent public appearances, organized block walking events and participating in public forums.

But what about voters who won’t recognize the names of Ivy R. Taylor, Mike Villarreal, Leticia Van de Putte or Tommy Adkisson? The four frontrunners are seasoned officeholders who have run multiple campaigns and appeared on multiple ballots. But they face 10 other candidates, some of whom have filed for office before but none of whom have much name recognition or a record of holding elective office. I’m talking about Paul Martinez, Douglas Emmett, Michael “Commander” Idrogo, Raymond Zavala, Rhett Rosenquest Smith, Julie Iris “MamaBexar” Oldham, Cynthia Cavazos, Gerard Ponce, Pogo Mochello Reese, and Cynthia Brehm.

The voting machines are going to have as hard a time as the voters with the mayor’s race. There is simply no way to list all 14 names on a single computer screen, and I wonder if even two screens will prove sufficient. It’s even more of a challenge when two of the candidates feature “Commander” and “MamaBexar,” nicknames that have to be listed.

If you are a candidate listed on the second screen, you have to wonder: How many people will think the contest is only between the candidates listed on the first screen and cast their vote before they get to the next screen? The computer allows a voter to reverse a decision and also prompts a voter to review his or her choices before pressing “VOTE,” but that’s small comfort to a second page candidate.

Here’s the Bexar County Elections webapge on their voting system. The video didn’t load for me, and the ES&S Flash Demonstration links are broken, but the picture at the bottom gives some idea of what they use. Here in Houston, we’ve not had a 14-candidate race in recent years that I can recall – there were 19 candidates in the January 1995 special election for Council At Large #4 – but we did have ten for At Large #2 in 2011 and twelve for District D in 2013. I’m pretty sure that Harris County’s eSlate machines were able to list everyone on a single page. At least, I don’t recall hearing anything about the candidate list spanning multiple pages. If San Antonio is like Houston, then Mayor will be the first race on the ballot. If the voting machines in Bexar County really can’t fit 14 names onto one page, then that seems like a serious flaw with them. Is this a real concern? I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around it.

This is also an opportunity for me to bring up one of my favorite hobbyhorses, which is that the draw for ballot position is ridiculous. I still can’t understand why an electronic voting machine system can’t be programmed to randomize ballot order for each race with multiple candidates and each voter. I’m sure it would take a change to state law to allow that – or better yet, require it – and I know that there would still need to be a draw for candidate order on mail ballots, but still. This seems like such a simple fix to a problem that vexes people in every single non-partisan election. Can we please do something about it?

Uber and Lyft will leave San Antonio

Mar 7th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

The second time was not the charm.

Uber

The revisions to the vehicles-for-hire ordinance, approved in a 8-2 vote, eased regulations the council had originally adopted in December and were meant to persuade Lyft and Uber to continue operating in San Antonio. But after the vote, Lyft and Uber said the revised policy was still too burdensome and that they would halt operations in San Antonio before it started being enforced.

Both companies said they want to stay in San Antonio, and council members say they want the companies to stick around. But a gulf exists between the city and the companies on the details of the policy, seeming to put the situation at a standstill.

Lyft

“Without significant revisions to the ordinance before implementation, we will be forced to make the difficult decision to pause Lyft’s operations in San Antonio,” spokeswoman Chelsea Wilson said in a statement.

A key disagreement is how extensive a background check a driver needs to get a permit. The regulations adopted in December would have required drivers to pass a city-reviewed background check, including fingerprinting. The policy approved Thursday allows drivers to start operating once they pass the company’s background check, but still requires them to pass the city background check within 14 days.

Both Lyft and Uber argue that extra step is unnecessary, placing a burden on drivers who have already passed a rigorous company review.

See here for the background. I guess I’m a little surprised that it ultimately went down this way. There sure seemed like a lot of public support for allowing Uber and Lyft to operate, and as previously seen at least two of the major candidates for Mayor favored that outcome. You have to wonder if we’ve seen the last of this, or if it might come up again after the May election if there’s a new Mayor in place. The Rivard Report has more.

More on San Antonio’s vehicles for hire re-try

Feb 26th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

There are multiple issues to be resolved.

Lyft

Uber and Lyft representatives are cautiously optimistic about what will come out of the small group of City officials that continue to work on a rideshare ordinance that softens the regulatory blow to rideshare companies and their drivers. The revised ordinance is expected to be discussed in a closed, executive session after Wednesday’s B Session. It could come before the council for a vote as early as Thursday, Feb. 26.

Councilmember Roberto Treviño (D1) also sounds optimistic that a regulatory compromise can be reached before the ordinance approved by City Council in December goes into effect on March 1.

“The conversation has been very positive,” Treviño said. “The tone is one of collaboration.”

Rideshare companies object to the insurance terms imposed on them versus levels paid by taxi company owners. Yet there are other less publicized issues with the ordinance, ranging from the requirement that drivers have fire-extinguisher to submitting to a drug test – as taxi drivers do. Secondary issues could lead both companies to pull out of San Antonio.

[…]

Uber

“We are also deeply concerned about the entire driver on-boarding process that is created through this ordinance – the fingerprint, drug test, fire extinguisher, fees and ASE mechanic inspection requirements,” stated Lyft Public Policy Manager April Mims in an email. “Safety is Lyft’s top priority, but a taxi ordinance, which is what San Antonio passed, is not the way to regulate transportation network (rideshare) companies. Cities like Austin, Dallas, Cincinnati and Tulsa have demonstrated how to ensure public safety and welcome new transportation platforms.”

The approved ordinance requires transportation network companies (TNCs) like Lyft and Uber to have $1 million insurance policies per vehicle for passenger injury – an amount they were providing before the ordinance was passed. Traditional taxi companies like Yellow Cab only need $30,000 policies. The ordinance also requires TNCs to cover insurance even when drivers have not accepted a fare or picked up a driver, which TNCs cite as unnecessary.

See here for the background, here for Lyft’s specific points of contention, and here for a comparison chart of rules for different forms of vehicle for hire. Honestly, the place to start here is with the ordinances that other cities have adopted. It’s been clear since the ordinance passed and the two companies announced their intent to leave that the public wanted this fixed. It shouldn’t be that hard to do. In the meantime, as things get sorted out, there will be a slight delay in the implementation of the ordinance.

Rideshare companies and supporters will receive a five-day grace period beginning March 1, the date the ordinance was supposed to take effect, while Mayor Ivy Taylor, members of City Council, and staff finalize a revised ordinance that will ease the regulatory burden on transportation network companies.

“We’ve been having some meetings and talking about some of the requirements,” Mayor Taylor said. “We want to stay flexible, but still stay true to our original focus of public safety.”

[…]

Mayor Taylor released a statement Tuesday afternoon that outlines what she and the City’s working group sees as areas that the ordinance can be adjusted. At the top of that list is the “gap period” insurance requirement. The gap occurs when the mobile application is turned on by the driver, signaling availability to nearby customers seeking a ride, and when the driver actually accepts a fare-paying passenger. Under the ordinance, TNCs are required to maintain excess coverage of $200,000 even though they are passenger-free.

Click here to download Mayor Taylor’s statement.

“At this time, it is not feasible to implement the insurance standards specified in the existing ordinance because products that provide drivers with the required ‘gap’ coverage are not yet available in Texas,” Taylor stated. “I will ask my City Council colleagues to revisit the insurance requirements and delay the applicability of the gap coverage requirement until a conforming insurance product is available or the Texas Legislature takes action to set a statewide standard, whichever comes first.”

Among other things, this pushes back the date for any consideration of revising the ordinance until March 5. I suspect there will be some heavy conversations with the TNCs and with Council members between now and then. I’ll be very interested to see what comes out of all that.

Cities and counties push back on state meddling attempts

Feb 22nd, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
1 comment

They’ve got their work cut out for them.

Mayor Annise Parker

Mayor Annise Parker

The mayors of Texas’ largest cities on Monday pushed back against an initiative by state lawmakers to place new revenue caps on local communities as a way to answer conservatives’ demands to cut property taxes.

As the city CEOs who represent a third of Texas’ population threw their clout behind blocking the new caps, saying it would hurt their ability to provide basic services, they also said they will oppose attempts by the Legislature to limit local control by overturning ordinances on fracking, plastic bags and tree-trimming.

Gov. Greg Abbott last month complained that Texas was being “California-ized” by local governments passing bans on plastic bags, fracking and tree-cutting, saying, “We need to peel back some of these ridiculous, unnecessary requirements.”

Previous legislative efforts to restrict cities’ rule-making authority have met with resistance from those citing the need for local control. Several bills in the last session to overturn cities’ authority to ban bags failed to win approval amid opposition from cities and environmental groups.

At their news conference Monday, the mayors used the same reasoning to oppose tax cuts being contemplated by lawmakers.

Calling themselves the M-10, for the 10 largest cities they represent, the mayors said in a joint statement that new caps on property taxes would impair the ability of cities to properly manage their operations and would thwart the ability of cities to solve problems in their own ways.

“We are very clear that we need to focus on solving the problems of Texas in a fiscally responsible way,” said Houston Mayor Annise Parker, echoing the sentiments of other mayors who said local governments have limited property tax increases in many areas and are budgeting in a frugal way.

The city of Houston has not increased its property tax rate since 1994; in fact, the city has cut its tax rate since then, though its revenues have continued to grow because of higher property appraisals.

San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor said local governments should be allowed to determine their own budgets, not affected adversely by Austin.

“Our cities are the economic engine for the Texas miracle,” she said.

It’s not just the cities that are feeling the potential crush here. That’s good, because Texas’ cities are increasingly out of step politically with the state. I doubt the Lege would have much concern about sticking it to the cities, but if they’re hearing it from county officials as well, they might hesitate. I hope, anyway. And I’ll say again, the Mayoral candidates need to get on this, like now. This Legislature has the capability and the inclination to do a lot to affect their agendas, and not in a good way. What are they waiting for? Trail Blazers has more.

San Antonio may try again on vehicles for hire

Feb 19th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

Very interesting.

Lyft

Key players at City Hall are crafting an eleventh-hour amended ordinance to stop Uber from leaving San Antonio, 10 days after the rideshare company announced plans to end service here if one of the nation’s most restrictive ordinances goes into effect on March 1.

The ordinance passed by Council in December, say supporters of Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft, is so restrictive compared to other cities that it seemed designed to drive out any competitors using new technologies threatening the local taxi industry.

The working group is being led by Councilmember Roberto Treviño (D1), who represents the center city, and includes Jill DeYoung, Mayor Ivy Taylor’s chief of staff, Deputy City Manager Erik Walsh, and interim San Antonio Police Chief Anthony Treviño.

Councilmember Treviño confirmed the latest developments in an interview late Sunday after several sources shared details of the effort with the Rivard Report.

The group is drafting a less restrictive ordinance that could be presented to City Council for approval within weeks, and no later than March 5, Treviño said in an interview.

Uber

“I feel very positive that we are very close to a compromise agreement,” Treviño said. “We are really focusing on a policy that does not make us look like a city that stifles innovation at the same time we take care to assure the public’s safety.”

Treviño said he could not say if the proposed revisions would win the support of Mayor Ivy Taylor and others on the City Council who voted 7-2 in favor of the highly restrictive ordinance in December that prompted Uber representatives to announce they will end service in San Antonio.

[…]

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, who served as San Antonio’s mayor from 1991-95, sent an open letter to Mayor Taylor one week ago on Feb. 9 that criticized the pending ordinance and how it would negatively portray San Antonio around the nation. Rideshare, he wrote, is an attractive and popular transportation option that reduces the incidence of drunk driving, and is especially appealing to skilled young professionals that cities everywhere are competing to retain and attract.

Mayoral candidate and longtime Southtown resident Mike Villarreal, who recently stepped down from his District 123 House seat in the Texas Legislature, is making rideshare a campaign issue. A campaign email blast on Sunday called on his supporters to sign a change.org petition launched by Lorenzo Gomez III, the director of the 80/20 Foundation and Geekdom, the downtown tech incubator and co-working space. Nearly 5,000 people had signed the petition by Sunday evening.

See here, here, and here for the background. There was also movement towards a lawsuit against the San Antonio ordinance, as the story notes. What would be proposed here is something more like the ordinances that other Texas cities have passed. Insurance requirements – the transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft were required to carry larger liability policies than cabdrivers were. As I understand it, the general public in San Antonio wanted to allow Uber and Lyft to operate, so this ordinance had generated some blowback. It will be interesting to see how the revised ordinance fares, especially now that Mayor Ivy Taylor has declared that she does in fact want to run for a full term. Taylor had supported the restrictive TNC ordinance, will likely be a point of attack against her by other candidates. How effective that may be I couldn’t say, but it does reinforce my belief that San Antonio should have tabled this effort until after the May election/June runoff. We’ll see if the issue still needs to be revisited under the newly-elected Mayor.

Ivy Taylor enters SA Mayor’s race

Feb 17th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

It’s on.

Mayor Ivy Taylor

Mayor Ivy Taylor declared her candidacy for mayor Monday in an exclusive interview with the San Antonio Express-News.

Taylor, who was appointed mayor last summer by her council colleagues, said that she made the decision after significant thought and prayer and consultation with trusted advisers.

The mayor said she’s been “honored and excited, humbled” by leading the seventh-largest city in the U.S. since her July appointment.

“I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to be able to make an impact here,” she said. “And just after really thinking about it further, I realize how important that experience is that I have to bring to the table, that municipal-level experience.”

In recent weeks, speculation had mounted that Taylor would seek a full mayoral term, despite having told her colleagues when they appointed her last year that she had no intention of running for the seat in May. With less than three months until Election Day, she joins an already-crowded field of candidates.

[…]

Taylor is one of the longest-serving members of the current council. She was elected in 2009 to the District 2 seat and won re-elections in 2011 and 2013. When then-Mayor Julián Castro announced last summer that he was resigning his position to become secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Taylor was one of several council members who became candidates for appointment. She ultimately won the position, in part because of her willingness to stay out of the May 9 mayoral race.

See here and here for some background. The Rivard Report adds on.

The Rivard Report broke the story Saturday that Mayor Taylor was poised to return from a mayors’ conference in New York this week and declare her candidacy. She confirmed her candidacy in a Monday morning interview with the Rivard Report.

“It took me awhile to make this decision, I know it’s pretty late in the race,” Mayor Taylor said. “I’m not a conventional candidate, but that just mirrors my record of service. I’m not a career politician. I have a lot to offer San Antonio. My municipal experience is substantial, and we’ve had a lot of turnover on City Council so stability now would serve the city well.”

Mayor Taylor said she gained a new perspective on the mayor’s job after serving the last seven months of an interim appointment following the departure of former Mayor Julián Castro, who resigned in late July to become Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration.

At the time she accepted City’s Council’s unanimous appointment, Mayor Taylor said, she had not considered running for the office after her term as the District 2 Council member came to an end.

“Without a crystal ball, I don’t know how anyone can know what they will do in the future, what’s right when the moment comes,” Mayor Taylor said, adding that she was appreciative of community leaders who are supportive of her decision to change her mind and enter the race.

I don’t live in San Antonio, and as interested as I am in this race, I don’t have a preferred candidate. I don’t think Mayor Taylor’s earlier words about not wanting to seek election this May are a big deal, though I suppose if I were a Council member that supported her on the grounds that she didn’t intend to run, I might grumble a bit. With four credible candidates (former Rep. Mike Villarreal, soon-to-be-former Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, former Commissioner Tommy Adkisson being the other three) and thirteen (!) total candidates according to Randy Bear, it’s a question of how much support do you need to get to the runoff, and who has the clearest path to it. I have no idea at this point what will happen, but it should be fun to watch. Texas Leftist has more.

Uber to leave San Antonio

Feb 7th, 2015
by Charles Kuffner.
3 comments

Not unexpected.

Uber

Uber management sent a letter to Mayor Ivy Taylor and City Council Wednesday, warning that the rideshare service will leave San Antonio on March 1 unless the recently-passed existing is modified or repealed.

Uber representatives say the new ordinances raises “substantial barriers” to ridehsare companies operating in the city. The ordinance was aggressively pushed by the local taxi industry and former Police Chief William McManus.

Mayor Taylor and Councilmember Rebecca Viagran (D3), chair of the City’s Public Safety Committee, which studied the issue and recommended the restrictive measure while praising the local taxi industry, led Council in approving the ordinance. Mayor Taylor and some of the council members who supported the new ordinance have acknowledged that they have never personally experienced the rideshare service and refuse to do so.

[…]

“After much consideration, it is clear that these regulations will cripple Uber’s ability to serve drivers and riders in San Antonio. A vote in support of these regulations was a vote against ridesharing, and if the rules remain unchanged, Uber will have no choice but to leave San Antonio,” stated Chris Nakutis, general manager for Uber Texas in the letter sent out early Wednesday evening. “We respectfully ask the city to repeal these burdensome requirements and replace them with smart regulations, like those adopted by Austin, that protect public safety while at the same time fostering technological innovations that enhance transportation options and economic development for the city.”

See here, here, and here for the background on San Antonio. Gotta say, whatever you think of Uber, it might have been better for Council to have put this issue off until after the May election, since at least two of the Mayoral candidates – Mike Villarreal and Leticia Van de Putte – supported having Uber and Lyft in town, and likely would have taken a different approach to crafting the ordinance. They both supported delaying the decision as well. (I don’t know where Tommy Adkisson stands on vehicles for hire; all this happened before he formally announced his candidacy.) That said, both companies did their usual operate-as-if-they-had-approval-even-though-they-didn’t thing, and were frequently crosswise with SAPD Chief William McManus, who served on the committee that wrote the revised ordinance and appeared to be a taxi sympathizer. One could easily argue that this was their own arrogance coming back to bite them in the rear fender.

As for Lyft, it hasn’t committed to a course of action yet.

Rideshare representatives agree with checks and inspections, but not to the degree that the local ordinance demands. They also point to the insurance grey area when the app is turned on a car, but has not been assigned to pick up a customer. New products such as the one offered by USAA in Colorado offer an alternative to rideshare company insurance covering that grey area.

“Expensive fees, excessive insurance regulations, and burdensome processes do not enhance public safety; they will eliminate a safe transportation option,” Nakutis stated.

Lyft representatives did not go so far as to say they would cease operation in San Antonio.

“We hope the City Council will revisit these regulations and allow Lyft drivers to continue providing safe, affordable, and friendly rides to people in San Antonio. Unfortunately, without any changes to the law before the March 1st date of compliance, it will be extremely difficult for our peer-to-peer model to operate in the city,” stated Lyft spokesperson Chelsea Wilson in an email.

See here for more on the USA offering. I wonder if both companies leave if the ordinance will be reconsidered under the next Mayor. Maybe, maybe not, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

Dallas City Council approves vehicles for hire revisions

Dec 11th, 2014
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

It was smooth sailing, relatively speaking.

Uber

Starting in late April, ride-share companies like Uber and Lyft will be able to operate legally in the city of Dallas.

The City Council on Wednesday voted 13-2 to overhaul the city’s ordinance for taxicabs, limos and those app-based companies. In doing so, they introduced more competition and brought into the fold some companies that have been functioning without regulation.

The new ordinance ends months of sometimes rancorous debate over how to handle the sweeping technological changes in the industry. Discussion was again a bit tense on Wednesday, even as officials said the rules represented a stakeholder compromise.

Riders in Dallas may not notice all the changes, which go into effect April 30 and cover everything from insurance to fares to vehicle standards.

[…]

Lyft

Dallas has grappled with car-for-hire rules for about a year, after the city tried to crack down on the app-based companies that were operating outside the city’s existing regulations.

An ordinance that would’ve made it much harder for the app-based companies to stay in business in Dallas almost slipped by the council unnoticed. That rewrite was drafted with the help of an attorney for Dallas’ most prominent cab company, Yellow Cab.

But an outcry erupted. City Manager A.C. Gonzalez ultimately apologized for the fiasco. And in the incident’s aftermath, council member Sandy Greyson was tasked with leading an industry study group to update Dallas’ rules.

Officials said the key was developing regulations that, for the most part, treat everyone the same. Though there are some differences for the different modes – and nobody appears to like everything – many said the new rules create more equal competition.

“Competition, my God, it’s the capitalist system,” said Berhane Alemayoh, who represented some limo owners and independent taxi drivers. “We don’t’ say, ‘No Lyft.’ We don’t say, ‘No Uber.’ We want them to compete, but may the best survive.”

Under the new rules, hailable vehicles, such as taxis, will still have maximum rates, while others’ fares will be unregulated. All drivers must get a background check. And vehicles will now undergo a 31-point inspection, rather than having to comply with an age limit.

The ordinance allows for two tiers of commercial insurance: one for when an operator is available to accept riders and another for when they are picking up or carrying riders.

See here and here for the background. Apparently, Dallas is the mirror universe version of San Antonio. I’d love to know the specific differences between Dallas’, Houston’s, and San Antonio’s (proposed) ordinances, since Lyft is apparently happy to operate in the Big D but not here or in San Antonio, while Uber is set to abandon San Antone as well if nothing changes. I have to admit, I’d have expected more uniformity in the various cities’ approaches, but it didn’t work out that way.

Speaking of San Antonio, today is the day that their Council is scheduled to take up vehicles for hire. Proponents of allowing Uber and Lyft to operate, which include District 2 Council Member-elect Alan Warrick, who won’t be seated on Council until next week, and Mayoral candidate Mike Villarreal, would like that vote to be delayed at least until January. (Another Council seat, vacated by Diego Bernal, will be filled at today’s meeting; that person would get to vote on this ordinance if it comes up.) I kind of think that’s the best and most representative course of action at this point, but the ball is in Mayor Ivy Taylor’s court. We’ll see how it goes.

One more thing regarding the Dallas vote:

And it still remains to be seen what will result from the North Central Texas Council of Governments effort to craft a regional car-for-hire policy. That group is largely working off of Dallas’ rules, though some key areas of disagreement remain.

Council member Sheffie Kadane, who’s joined Greyson in meeting with regional officials, said he was confident that “they’ll come along with most everything we’ve done.”

In other words, the rules adopted by Dallas City Council may soon apply to a wider area than just Dallas itself. I wonder if something like that is in the works for the greater Houston area. Unfair Park has more.

Will the TNCs leave San Antonio?

Dec 10th, 2014
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

The upcoming Council vote in San Antonio over vehicles for hire could have some repercussions.

Lyft

City Council will meet Thursday to vote on proposed rules that would allow rideshare companies like Lyft and Uber to operate legally in San Antonio. But the new regulations and requirements are so onerous, say rideshare company representatives and advocates, the net result would be to chase the services out of San Antonio.

Rideshare advocates say that more than 250 cities now offer rideshare services, and only a small number of cities with strong taxi unions prohibit the services from operating entirely. Houston and Austin have approved rideshare and Dallas is expected to approve its ordinance this week. Houston’s more demanding rules, which passed earlier this year, are similar to those proposed in San Antonio. Lyft suspended operations in Houston while Uber continues to operate.

Many observers believe the new rules are really meant to exclude rideshare from San Antonio and protect a small but aggressive taxi industry that has made a visible show of force at City Hall over several months of hearings.

Both Lyft and Uber have distributed online petitions and email campaigns that ask for a “no” vote from City Council members. The outcome of the vote is unclear, but at least five council members appear to support the taxi industry.

See here for the background. As noted before, Lyft did exit Houston, but their dispute with Houston’s ordinance was about background checks, where the fight here is about insurance. Uber is operating in Houston and never offered any complaint that I can recall about the revised ordinance. In San Antonio, they not only have a complaint, they put it in writing.

Uber

The ride-share firm Uber sent an email Sunday to San Antonio’s mayor and City Council, threatening to shutter operations in the area if new, burdensome regulations are adopted this week.

[…]

“Uber creates a marketplace where these people can use their own car to provide a ride to their neighbors when, where, and how often they want, a strong contrast to taxi, where multiple full-time drivers drive one car 24 hours/7 days a week with high mileage and significant wear and tear with the majority of the profit going to the taxicab company,” wrote Dallas-based Leandre Johns, an Uber general manager. “Simply put, there is virtually no comparison between taxis and TNCs that use smart apps to connect riders looking for transportation to drivers that provide transportation.”

[…]

Several months ago, the City Council created a task force that included representatives from both the taxi industry and the TNCs to craft recommendations on how to amend the city’s vehicles-for-hire ordinance to allow ride-share companies to operate legally — and under regulations — in San Antonio.

The group, overseen by Police Chief William McManus, met several times over the summer to form a series of recommendations. But when McManus presented the recommendations to the council last week, there were several key departures from what the task force had agreed upon.

Those changes, which include how TNC drivers and their vehicles are inspected, don’t protect public safety but rather make it prohibitavly difficult for TNCs to succeed here, Johns and others say.

You can read Uber’s missive to San Antonio City Council here. Council supporters of TNCs are now trying to postpone the vote, partly out of concern that there hasn’t been enough time to discuss the changes from last week, and partly because two Council seats are vacant – District 1’s Diego Bernal recently resigned to run for HD123, and Mayor Ivy Taylor’s District 2 is awaiting the results of a runoff election. In addition, as the Rivard Report notes, the two main contenders for Mayor in 2015 favor allowing the TNCs to operate:

[Mike] Villarreal supports rideshare and said a vote in favor of TNCs from council would signal San Antonio’s support for “innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship … when I think about what I want San Antonio to look like 50 years in the future, it’s a city on the cutting edge of technology.”

When it comes to attracting young professionals, reducing drunk driving, and providing another transportation option in the city, he said, rideshare helps all three.

“We should look at all of our regulations, and if we cannot justify them in the public interest, then we need to have the guts to strike them from the books,” Villarreal said. “We should not be in the business of creating artificial barriers to entry into any given market place. I think in this case I am very concerned that the city is moving forward with an ordinance that does not make us safer – that simply protects the status quo.

“(Traditional cab companies) have already overcome the (regulation cost) hurdle and they don’t want to lower that gate that would allow more competition,” he added.

Fellow mayoral candidate Leticia Van de Putte also supports a set of rules that is more rideshare-friendly.

“Major Texas cities and others across the country have found a way to welcome the services of transportation network companies to meet their city’s growing demands while ensuring the safety of their communities. I have complete confidence that San Antonio will rise to the same challenge,” Van de Putte stated in an emailed response.

San Antonio would be the first Texas city to not allow Uber and Lyft if things proceed as they currently stand. Whether or not that happens, or if that is the intent, we’ll know tomorrow. By the way, Dallas City Council is expected to approve their vehicles for hire revisions today. A pro-TNC op-ed from Rackspace co-founder Graham Weston is here, and Slate has more.

If there are dominoes to fall…

Nov 11th, 2014
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

…these two would like to be among them.

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte

Election season may not be over just yet in San Antonio, where a game of legislative musical chairs could begin if state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte launches a bid for mayor.

A day after Van de Putte seemed to leave the door open for a mayoral bid, state Reps. Trey Martinez Fischer and José Menéndez both said Monday they’ll consider running for Van de Putte’s Texas Senate seat if she steps down.

“I definitely am seriously considering that possibility,” Menéndez told The Texas Tribune, emphasizing that Van de Putte’s departure was still a hypothetical. “Obviously if she chose to go into a different situation, someone has to step up.”

Menéndez, first elected to the Texas House in 2000, said he shares Van de Putte’s interest in helping veterans, noting that he chairs the House Defense and Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which “mirrors” Van de Putte’s leadership of the Senate’s veterans affairs committee.

Martinez Fischer, also elected in 2000, hinted in a Twitter post Sunday night that a Senate run was on his radar. He confirmed that interest in a statement early Monday.

“If Senator Van de Putte chooses to continue her service to our community by entering the race for San Antonio Mayor, I will give serious consideration to asking the voters of Senate District 26 to allow me to be their voice in the Senate,” Martinez Fischer said.

See here for the background. Note that LVdP hasn’t said that she’s running for Mayor; she hasn’t even really said she’s considering it. She’s just said that some people have asked her about it, which is nice. I still think she’ll be back in the Senate in January, but one never knows. As for her wannabe successors, I’d favor Martinez-Fischer for the simple reason that I know him and his record better, and I know he’d be a good fit for the job. Nothing against Menendez, but TMF has earned my admiration. If it does come to this, he’d be my first choice.

Villarreal to launch his mayoral candidacy

Nov 10th, 2014
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

We’re going to be talking a lot about Houston’s mayoral race next year, but six months before we elect a new Mayor San Antonio will elect one as well. The current frontrunner – and only declared candidate so far – is State Rep. Mike Villarreal, who will formally launch his campaign today.

Mike Villarreal

[Villarreal is] expected to resign his state office in the near future to focus on the mayoral campaign. A Twitter message to followers from @mikevillarreal [recently] announced that campaign signs would be ready to go on Monday, which will move his candidacy from the behind-the-scenes meetings stage out into the open.

Three months after announcing his run for mayor, Villarreal is still running alone. That is likely to change after the Nov. 4 general elections, so Villarreal is sending a message now to would-be challengers: He’s used his head start to build a $250,000 war chest, assemble a strong campaign team, launch a Mike for Mayor website, and secure key endorsements.

Nearly one-fifth of that money has come in the last 30 days, according to campaign consultant and public relations agency owner Trish Deberry.

“I’m proud of the fact that my campaign continues to gain momentum, and a great cross-section of San Antonio’s business as well as neighborhood leaders are making the early decision to support me in the Mayor’s race,” said Villarreal. “I’m not taking anything for granted and working hard every day.”

As we know, the ability of a non-city politician to transfer funds to a city campaign is currently being litigated. Clearly, the rules in San Antonio are a bit different. One presumes that subject will come up in court.

District 1 City Councilmember Diego Bernal is widely regarded as the strongest candidate to succeed Villarreal if he decides to resign from City Council and seek election to the Texas Legislature.

Villarreal has now officially resigned his House seat. One hopes Rick Perry will pay enough attention to his main job to schedule a special election ASAP. I’m a fan of CM Bernal, and I’d be happy to see him get elected to succeed Villarreal.

Who will oppose Villarreal in the mayoral race remains to be seen. The most closely-watched person on the short list is Mayor Ivy Taylor, who is serving out the 10-month unexpired term of former Mayor and now Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro.

Some people have also speculated that Sen. Leticia Van de Putte might run for Mayor on the theory that she won’t want to serve in a Senate presided over by Dan Patrick. I’m dubious, though she is at least considering the question, so I suppose anything is possible. Taylor had said during the selection process that she wasn’t interested in running in 2015, but you know how these things can go. She has other options available to her as well. My guess is that she doesn’t run, either. Someone will challenge Villarreal, but barring anything strange I think he’s a strong favorite to win in May. Randy Bear, who has several other possible contenders, and Texpatriate have more.

Ivy Taylor named interim SA Mayor

Jul 23rd, 2014
by Charles Kuffner.
Comments are off for this post

Congratulations, Madam Mayor.

Mayor Ivy Taylor

The City Council appointed Councilwoman Ivy Taylor to become San Antonio’s next mayor.

She did not win a majority of the council vote, as her colleagues split 5-3 over her and Councilman Ray Lopez.

Lopez then withdrew from consideration, saying that it was important for the city to move forward.

Mayor Julián Castro then submitted his official letter of resignation, reading it aloud in council chambers.

He then congratulated Taylor for becoming the city’s new mayor. She is the first African-American woman to hold the seat.

She pledged to “work with everyone” to make San Antonio a great city. She thanked her family from traveling to San Antonio for Tuesday’s meeting and her husband and daughter for their support.

See here and here for some background. I’ve expressed some reservations about Taylor based on her vote against San Antonio’s expanded non-discrimination ordinance, but clearly she was able to overcome any reservations her fellow Council members had. She addressed the issue afterward.

When Taylor began her speech at the beginning of the process, she ran down a list of accomplishments and said she would like to serve in the interim role to continue moving Castro’s vision forward. Taylor mentioned the streetcar, balancing the city budget, working toward a resolution to police and fire health benefits, and rebuilding relationships with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community following her vote against the revised non-discrimination ordinance passed last September.

Members of the community, including those from the LGBT community, spoke at the special council meeting before votes were cast, telling the council who their interim mayor of choice is and why. From the podium, Daniel Graney told the council that he feels passionate about the new mayor embodying the core principle that everyone in the city should be treated equally and fairly.

“We need a face that is a welcoming one that embraces fairness and equality,” Graney said. “I therefore respectfully implore you to appoint an interim mayor who championed and voted for including LGBT protections in the NDO last year and is committed to furthering its implementation expansion.”

Following the council meeting, Taylor answered questions about repairing those relationships.

“I’ve always been committed to working with everyone in our community, even though we may not always agree on every issue,” said Taylor. “I’ve talked with them about some of the things they’d like to see moving forward as far as implementation and I pledged that I’d be willing to work on that.”

Other members of the LGBT community said there is a trust issue because Taylor said she would vote in favor of the NDO but then voted against it.

Q San Antonio addressed that issue as well.

Many in the LGBT community lobbied actively against Taylor because she voted against the nondiscrimination ordinance and because of remarks she made prior to her vote against the ordinance. (See related links below.) However, she did have a handful of LGBT supporters who felt she should not be denied the position because of that one vote.

In remarks posted on Facebook, Chad Reumann, a governor for the local chapter of the Human Rights Campaign said, “I hope we as a community can regroup and now focus on how we can work with Mayor Taylor. I had hoped for something else. Yet I know now we must try and work together.”

Local blogger Randy Bear, who supported Taylor’s appointment, posted, “So here’s my suggestion to CAUSA. Take time to work through your anger, but then start working with Mayor Ivy Taylor to get the NDO implemented. She has committed to it and you can make this a success for the community by taking her up on that commitment.”

I wish Mayor Taylor, who becomes the first African-American Mayor of San Antonio, all the best. I hope she follows through on that commitment and that her critics now will look back on her time in office as a success. Randy Bear, the Rivard Report, the SA Current, Equality Texas, and Texas Leftist have more.

← Earlier Posts