 I want to welcome you and thank our candidates today for participating in this important discussion of critical issues that are important to the business community and to San Antonio. We also want to thank the University of Texas in San Antonio for allowing us the use of these facilities. They've served very well and for partnering with us so that we can have these events here at UTSA. I also want to thank and take a moment to thank Telemundo, who is also our partner in the City Council forums. With us today we have news anchor Alex Hernandez, who will be our moderator. So I'll give you a little bit about Alex and then we're going to hand the show over to him and we'll get started. Alex was born here in San Antonio, he's a graduate of Lee High School. His career in media began in 1999 as a radio and television voice personality. After graduating from UTSA with a major in general business, he became a full-time on-air personality for Spanish radio media outlets and after a few years was named operations manager for Radio Formula, a news talk format targeting Mexican nationals in the San Antonio area. His experience in TV includes Univision as a sports anchor, where he covered the World Cup in 2010. In 2013 he moved to Telemundo, where he's currently a news anchor for the 4.30, 5.00 and 10.00 p.m. shows. Please welcome our anchor, Alex Hernandez. Well thank you very much. We're going to hand the show over to you and you're ready to go. Thank you ladies and gentlemen, candidates. Good morning. Thank you for being with us today. And well to get started this morning, I will ask each candidate to give a one minute statement as an introduction, where you can pretty much tell us a little bit about yourself so we can learn about your ideas, who you are, where you're from and we'll start today with District 3 here with us, candidate Roy Aguino and we'll start with you. Well good morning. My name is Roy Aguino and I'm running for City Council out in District 3. I was born and raised in District 3, went through the Honolulu Independent School District, went to high school at McCullum's prestigious Leadership Academy and post that went to William Penn University out in Iowa. I was there for two years and on my third year I got the opportunity to work on President Obama's re-election campaign and so I took that opportunity. First the campaign I worked for the Democratic Party along with a number of other candidates and when that was all over I started my own company and we focused on political technologies helping campaigns, nonprofits and businesses run more efficiently using software and hardware. That company is centered here in District 3 and I am hoping that during my time as a Council person we can help small businesses grow and recruit new businesses into District 3. Thank you. Thank you very much. And we'll continue with the incumbent and current Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran, you have one minute. Hello, good morning everyone. My name is Rebecca Viagran. I am the current City Councilwoman for District 3 representing the south and the southeast side of San Antonio, elected in 2013. My family has over 200 years in the San Antonio area, born and raised in the district, therefore I understand the needs of the community. I earned my Bachelors of Science from Texas State University and my Masters of Public Administration from St. Mary's University. I went to Providence High School as well here in San Antonio. I'm currently a small business owner. My family has had the business since 1986 in District 3, Alamo awards and trophies and professionally I also was an Adjunct Professor at St. Mary's University, served as a Council aide to Robert Marvott and Bonnie Conner and also worked government relations and leadership development with the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. It's been an honor to serve. Thank you. Thank you very much. And we'll move on to District 4 with incumbent and current Councilman, you have one minute. Well, good morning everyone. Thank you so much for having us here. I'd like to start by saying I was born and raised in District 4, been in District 4 all my life and I got into this business of the City Council when I was 24 and that was four years ago. And so now I'm 28, now I have four years experience, the youngest on the Council but probably at this point I'm one of the most experienced on the Council. Right before that I was at Sanford University where I got my undergraduate degree and finished up there. I came down to San Antonio, I worked as an Adjunct Professor at Turner University at Palo Alto College and here at UTSA. I'm currently working for KIPP Public Schools but I've been working in the District to double the green space, work on infrastructure around schools and ensure that this is a people business so ensuring that people are safe and that their neighborhoods are safe as well. Thank you very much Councilman Saldana and we'll sit with District 4 with candidate Genevieve. Good morning. Thank you for inviting me to your facilities. Born and raised in District 4, I'm also a Southern graduate from 1978, attended Palo Alto College, getting my bachelor's on Sociology. Currently I'm a civil rights leader for the south of Fair County. My passion is immigration reform and sanctuary and people. Thank you. Thank you very much. And well also candidate Manuel Lopez informed us that he would be able to be with us this morning. He had previously confirmed that he was going to attend but he cancelled so we'll get started and we'll just remind the candidates of today's rules. We can comment on that, right? Each candidate will have 90 seconds to answer every particular question. At the end of the forum, each one will have two minute closing arguments. Okay, so we'll start with previously selected the first question. I mean it's going for District 3 for Mr... I mean you're right sir. Yes sir. Let's get started. Very good. And this is about city government. Senator Antonio has established city council manager, former government as you know. Do you support Cheryl Scully as our current city manager? I think whenever a city has a triple A bond rating you've got to say that there are some steps that have been taken to make sure that we are in a very stable place so for that I'm appreciative of the city manager. However when it comes to police negotiation and the fire safety negotiations I think that the tone that has been taken by the city manager has been counterproductive to the conversation and so while I believe she deserves credit for keeping us in a steady place financially I also believe that there is room for growth in the way that we handle public safety debates. Thank you very much. We'll continue with Councilwoman. Yeah, great. Councilwoman, is this council manager, former government best for Senator? I believe that right now we, one of the biggest things is our city budget and how we manage our city and the growth. We are financially in a very good spot as a city and with our triple A bond rating as was shared and because of that we have the city manager Cheryl Scully to remember that and I do believe that the relationship between a city manager Cheryl and a mayor council requires a lot of trust and I'm happy that I have a good working relationship with her and I plan on continuing that working relationship. Thank you. Thank you very much. We'll go with District 4 and the first question is going for Genevieve. We're going to stick with city government. How would you approach your relationship with Cheryl Scully? Well, everyone has to understand that I'm not here on our behalf. I'm here on the people's behalf. Our voters, our community, our families. And while I've been block walking, all I hear is what's up with the city manager, Cheryl Scully? Why is she wasting our money? Why does she want to raise taxes? You know, they see the neglect or the waste of funds and they're just done. I have no problem working with her as a team. I reached out to other council members sitting here working on other issues and concerns that affects District 4, not only District 4 but the surrounding south of their county. Would you agree to support Cheryl Scully as your current city manager? Sure, absolutely. I mean, there is, City of San Antonio is in an enviable position and it has been for the last seven years including the fact that we went through, this country went through one of the deepest recessions that we have in our modern time. So I will have you just remember three numbers, 1,503. So in 2007 when Cheryl Scully was recruited to come to San Antonio, in that time we had to reduce our city's civilian population or civilian workers by 1,000 people. That wasn't easy to do but what that was done, why that was done, because of the necessity to balance our city's budget without raising taxes and we haven't raised taxes in her tenure. And in fact, the second number, 500, the amount of police and fire we've had in her tenure here. And the last is Street which is our AAA monitor and she's not only accomplished that in the first year she was here but maintained that over her tenure. So she is a great city manager and we should be lucky that we have a city manager after she is done with her tenure in San Antonio that will do just as good an awful job. She's not an elected official. That's why the city county or the manager council form of government works because she's a professional who knows and understands fiscal budgets, making sure your trash gets picked up on time, our animals are picked up and that we're expanding our green space and we're able to pass bonds for some of our bigger infrastructure projects throughout the city. I'd like to hear from you that what would you have to say about that. Do you agree? I disagree only because I've been block walking and I have that connection. I'm also grassroots and I see the dogs all the time. I mean, when I was block walking recently, that's the main concern right now. The animals, they're just getting dumb, the weeds, the tearing down of our culture like our hemisphere. Also, I know that they're going to be bringing up about the walls of the Vigita that some of the tourists want that brought down as well. I feel that we need a steady manager that is connected to our people so far as our traditions and our culture. Thank you very much and we'll move back to district number three. We'll move to another topic, infrastructure and water. Councilwoman Villagran, I would start with you. San Antonio, as you know, it's committed to investing a significant amount of money to finding the Vista Ridge water pipeline. We're talking about a 142-mile water pipeline with the intention of expanding our water supply and securing additional water supplies for the city. As a city council member, do you support this discussion? I believe securing our water, I know how important securing our water is for our future is now and that is why I support, I voted in support of the Vista Ridge water pipeline. I also know that other plans that we are having like our desalination plan that we broke ground in is another way to diversify our water source and I enjoy having a strong working relationship with our sauce, President and our sauce board of trustees. So I believe that moving forward with our water security is important. Thank you very much. Candidates, I'll remind you we have 90 seconds to answer every question so we're doing good on time, don't be scared to use all your time. Candidate Aguijon, the same question for you. Do you support the current financial commitment and the corresponding rate increase for this project that has on taxpayers? In Texas, the competition for water resources is only going to grow and the assets that we are getting in Vista Ridge today we are paying pennies on the dollar when we would in the future and so for me it's a no-brainer to take it now because the assets that we're purchasing are only going to go up in value, they will not go down. Councilman Solanio, we will stick with the same question. As a city council member, do you support this project and other projects that increase water capacity? Yes, absolutely. There is no doubt in my mind that in the state of Texas one of the most competitive things that you could do is secure your water supply for you, for your residents and for the businesses that rely on that water to function. One only needs to look at a state like California who's going through significant drought issues in San Antonio or in Texas. There's not going to be a lot of times when people are actually selling water. I think that the biggest advantage that we put ourselves in in purchasing the water and securing agreement with the Vista Ridge pipeline is that we will be able to outpace Austin who is still struggling to figure out how they secure their water supply for a growing population. We're in a fortunate position that the city is growing and it's growing quickly but in the same way that we need to handle transportation issues, employment issues, we need to secure our water supply. So the Vista Ridge pipeline is an investment in our future at the same time. What that means is there are rates that we as residents have to pay to make, to accomplish that long-term debt obligation. We know that we have residents who even today struggle to pay their water bills and so it's important that we take care of them with programs like a four-billion programs project that allow farmers to people, especially when you represent the blue collar community like you do, like I do on the south side. So you have to balance really the future of the city's growth and our ability to keep water prices low and taking care of people today. Thank you very much. Candidate, did any of that just hurt from Councilman Saladanyak? What's your opinion about it? I disagree on this project. I feel that, you know, $80 million for this project is just not feasible. Why don't we just use our money and bring it back and keep it in San Antonio, Texas and invest in our aquifer. It was aquifer and the aquifer's protection and build around that and continue to, you know, spread around San Antonio. Mr. Aguillon, we'll continue with you. Sure. Let's talk about the CD Charter. One particular CD Charter proposal for San Antonio boarders to the site is whether City Council members should be paid for their service. Do you support pay for our City Council members? So for me, and this is just my personal opinion, public service is public service. I'm not motivated for this office with the idea of a paycheck. I'm running because I want to help out my community. Now that's just my personal opinion and I don't think that I have a monopoly on good ideas. So whatever voters decide, I'll listen to. But to be personally, I believe that public service should be public service. So I'll be voting no to that Charter reform. You're currently a Councilwoman, so what's your take on it? I'm very happy that we are moving forward to putting this to the Charter referendum to bring this to the voters for mayor and council compensation. I do believe this is one of the reforms that needs to take place because as we shared in past council conversations that we've had, this Charter was written at a very different time in the 50s. And I'll let my council colleague, Saltania, share a little bit more about the history because he says it so eloquently about, even at the time when we were paying a full tax, it was also at large districts and it was also designed in a different way. So now as we move forward with the City Charter reform, I think the times are different. We represent somewhere between 120,000 and 140,000 people in every district. And we want to make sure that we have all of our time devoted there, but also make sure that we, as citizens, as residents, as servants, can provide that time at 7.30 in the morning until 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. in the evening. We are there and accessible seven days a week. And so that compensation, I think, is also a very just way to move forward with this. So I will be supporting it. Thank you very much. It's good to hear from current council members as well. And we'll move on with Councilman Saltania as well. Do you believe, Councilman, that council pay will change the dynamic of overrun action for City Council? Sure, absolutely. And I'll start there. It will absolutely change the character of the folks who can decide to actually do this. This is a question about access to service, access to the City Council. There's no doubt in my mind the conversation will change with folks that I talked to today, and I asked them if they would be interested at some point in the future with certain City Council. Well, if they have two children, they have a mortgage, they have car payments, they have student loan bills, there is a sign on City Hall that says do not apply because you can't take that level of sacrifice in most cases for your family or for your spouse or your loved one. There's no doubt in my mind that the charter was written in the way it was to keep certain people from running for office. Those who were not independently wealthy. And so it has changed the dynamic from 1951 when it was written that a city was 200,000 people. Now 200,000 people makes up one district. So back in that time, it was a part-time position. And so $1,000 a year might actually buy you a vehicle in 1951. We're in 2014 and we still have issues with access to the seat because this is not about myself getting paid. You know, I've gone through four years of not paying. This is about future person who are in my position who can take this seat and at 60, 70 hours a week at a public service position and not have to tell their family, their children that they cannot and can no longer bring in any source of income. So the bar is way too high for folks for this to be actually a position that is accessible to all people. Thank you very much, councillor. And if they knew that, would you accept pay as councillor? No. My thing is this. I put my name on the ballot to give the people a choice. Now if you take that choice away from our people just because they don't have a high standard of living or a degree or money to run for office what does that mean for us? The families that we're supposed to represent. If I want a job, I think we'll get a job, a 9 to 5 job, any job. I know this is public service. It's a passion. It's for my people. San Antonio City of San Antonio District 4. And to get paid is not acceptable to me. It's just taking out the whole passion of running and serving. It's public service. So I say no. Candidates, I will remind you just to speak directly to the microphone so everybody can hear you loud and clear. So we'll continue with another topic that's being all throughout the media talking about fire and police issue. And we'll go with that. The city's public safety functions are being supported by the city's general fund. This fund also supports other key functions such as libraries, parks, street repairs and coded enforcement. Along with the public safety departments constitute the largest general fund expenditures in the city's budget. Which has resulted in fewer funds being available for the city needs. We support the city's negotiations to reduce police and fire department benefits that will limit those expenditures to no more than 66% of the city's budget. Thank you. What I was sharing earlier is the city budget is one of our policies quantified. And one of our biggest public policies that we move forward that we hear as priority is our public safety. So moving forward, one of the biggest components for that is we need to make sure that when we move forward that our police and our fire are respected and that we have a well-funded and resourced public safety priority in our city budget. That is why moving forward, I signed a CCR to withdraw the lawsuit in order to move negotiations forward. And negotiations did move forward. The city sat at the table with the police department, with the Sepola, and they have had those negotiations moving forward. I'm hoping that we can get to the point where we can come to an agreement together. And I know that our contract negotiations are a huge element of our city budget. And I believe that as we move forward we need to make sure that our police and fire are respected for the job that we do and also that we have the human resource the officers needed as we grow as a large city here. And that's going to take a lot of conversation. So I'm looking forward to that. I am not in agreement with some of the things, some of the ways that we did move forward, the negotiation process, but I'm glad that they did go to the table. Thank you. Thank you very much. And we'll move on with candidate Ibi Joan. Ibi Joan, do you agree with the way city council has handled the negotiation with the firemen? No, and I think that one of the best ways to show public safety that we were in support of them would have been to not let the lawsuit advance in the first place. The lawsuit that we have right now that we're fighting against the Evergreen Clause has cost us nearly a million dollars. And it has, according to another council person, less than a 5% chance of actually doing anything. So if this is just a leveraging tool, I can't imagine as a small business owner ever suing the other person on the other side of the table and trying in any realm of the possibility thinking that that would be a good option. And so for me, one of the first things I would do is make sure that we pulled back that lawsuit and negotiated in good faith with police and fire. Do you support the same subject, Councilman Vietnam? Do you support the city? Sure, yes. So if you want to know what a city cares about, it's very easy. You look at their city budget and you figure out exactly where they're putting their value. So if you looked at our city's budget, we've actually established a policy that 66% of our budget should go to police and fire. No doubt if you pick up the phone and call any resident there who said the most important thing in my neighborhood, myself and my family is safe. So we have made a strong commitment to public safety. The question is, you know, is there going to be an elected body and mayor who is going to step up to say, look, if we continue growing beyond 66%, we will be put in a position where we will be paying more for police and fire, health care benefits for equipment, and trust me, we pay a significant portion of our general budget. We'll be paying so much. We'll be crowding out other things that that resident that you call also cares about. They want their parks maintained. They want their libraries open. They want more animal care officers and code compliance officers on the streets. So if you don't have a city council and mayor who's willing to step up and say there are some changes that we need to make here, then you will find yourself in 10 years having a more difficult time balancing your budget. So we're saying to our police and fire during the negotiations, will you consider like a lot of other San Antonio's like a majority of this country sharing in the cost of health care? That is what's on the table. It's my prediction the next month and a half. Yeah, once all the white noise clears, it's going to be very clear that what we're trying to do is not even have the uniformed officer who bears the risk who is in a difficult position as a police and fire officer pay premiums, but we'd ask them to share in the cost of health care for their dependents for their family members. Thank you very much. Do you support the city council's option to reduce the Department of Defense? Unfortunately, I feel that our current mayor and the majority of the council have failed our firefighters and our police officers to tell you the truth. You know, they risk their lives every day. Their health expectancy to live. You know, once they enter the fire, I'm talking about the firefighters with the increase of cancer and health issues. I feel that we need to give them 100% support in the health benefits. Let's talk a little bit about sports. It's throughout the years we've been wanting a professional football team or even now soccer team. So we'll start with you, Mr. Young. Would you support taxpayer dollars to promote the improvement and relocation of a professional football or soccer team? So that's a pretty broad question. If it's spending a couple hundred bucks so that we can put out a spread and they can come and visit with us, that's fine. But when you're talking about spending millions of dollars on a taxpayer-funded stadium, I think that that's unacceptable. We've seen this time and time again in city after city after city the same mistake is made in order to lower a professional sports team to an area that's been millions upon millions of dollars and then the sports team never generates the kind of jobs that they said they would. They don't put back into the economy the type of money they said that they would. And so for me, that's a mistake I would hope that we would avoid and that we would learn from other cities from the missteps that they made. Yes, we have had this story before, of course, with lowering professional football teams to San Antonio with hopes and ideas, et cetera. One thing that we as a city, I believe, need to do as we move forward is to make sure that we do put our best foot forward in making packages available to know because we are a championship caliber city. We have had championship games, final fours in the past year. People enjoy coming to San Antonio. Now, has that translated to major league soccer, major league football or national league football? That hasn't happened yet. But if there is going to be a tax-funded stadium, I believe one, the tax that we need to have more conversation about that and two, I believe that we have an opportunity right now with major league soccer with different partners coming and moving forward. But we should be very diligent and do our utmost research and make sure that we are not giving away everything to one corporation or one team. We need to have a lot of conversation going forward. But do I think San Antonio deserves another major league sports? Absolutely, I do. Councilman, I think the animal government stands as a previous example of these efforts bringing professional football to the city. What's your take on this? I think the approach to San Antonio is a major league city. It does deserve major league soccer or major league football. The ultimate decision should not be the city council. I think it should be the voters. And so if you wanted to build a stadium for the San Antonio Raiders or the San Antonio Rams, you'd have to ask the city residents if you could have the permission to do those things. But we believe that there is a position sometime in the future in which San Antonio will be able to benefit from an NFL expansion team and not have to compete in the way that it did for the Oakland Raiders because that is a movement of one city to another. So we will court a team for if they are interested in San Antonio but we will not spend major taxpayer dollars unless we have permission through a city-wide vote. And I think that if you took this to a city-wide vote there would be a real appetite for folks to want to put together a package for an NFL team and in case it would be perhaps a sales tax. So if you are spending money here as a tourist or you're spending money here as a resident that sales tax that you pay would go potentially into the building of that state in the same way that they did for the Elm River. Thank you. Do you believe the city of San Antonio needs another professional team? No. We need to stop wasting our money and any monies or projects we need to stop. We need to continue in infrastructure. Fix what is broken within our communities and our families. Bringing in teams or building another dome maybe down the future but for right now our families in our communities in District 4 and south of San Antonio we need a lot of fixing and repair in our communities with our parks, sidewalks and some of our parks don't even have running water. I mean why don't we just stop wasting money and bring that money into our community and into our families and generate jobs and our communities within our families. We'll switch topics here and we'll talk about the Elm River. Not the Elm River but the Elm River. The Elm River is a historical shrine for San Antonio our state and also our nation. As a member of City Council would you support the funding and actions necessary to restore the current site to more accurately reflect its original configuration? Council member. Thank you. I understand the importance of the Alamo to our story of our city, of our state of our country and our nation. My family is a direct lineage descendant of Torribio La Soria one of the defenders of the Alamo so we understand the importance of telling the whole story. With that said I believe that if we can come to a consensus on the vision with respect with respecting the businesses and the property owners of the area of what that could look like if we can come to a consensus with that I think we have a lot of opportunity moving forward. I know we are in conversations right now looking for a master plan development of the area this area needs to be free and open to our community so we can tell the story not just of the battle of the Alamo but the story before the battle and the story of the people of the area and make it a walkable area as well so I think that's very important as we move forward. Thank you very much. Candidate Ike John would you support the necessary property and business acquisition to complete such reconstruction? The last thing in the toolbox should be something like forcing business owners out of the area I think our first step would always be trying to work with the property owners and trying to work with the business owners to find ways to respect and honor the story of the Alamo because it's the story of Texas and so for me that's not my first choice it's the absolute last measure we take if we're trying to respect the Alamo and respect the story of the Alamo Sure, so there is a situation now where folks who visit the city visit the Alamo specifically will come here from all over the country and spend a few minutes looking at the Alamo and then they will look around themselves and say that this is not what I expected and I think that's the same idea that a lot of folks have when they start thinking about is there a change that you can make to the Alamo to really respect its heritage and its history and its place in our city and they've looked around and they've seen some businesses that don't necessarily coincide with that history there was not a Ripley's believe it or not in 1836 Nevertheless, you need to position yourself not as just the city making this decision but also the state the state is very involved in conversations about how we might be able to re-envision what that area looks like so you're not pushing I believe you'll ever get to a position where you're pushing a business out so you're going to have to compensate these businesses for a very valuable spot that is not going to be cheap which is why you don't go this alone and you're going to need the state to kick in probably for a proposition in which you amortize over 10 years or over 15 years for those businesses to have them recoup what they would have made but eventually move them to a more appropriate place that is not in front of the Alamo and so if you want to respect the city's history you need to be able to do so in a way that is delicate to the current business that exists and you do it in partnership with the state so I believe that the state will be coming forward with a proposition to help us do that but I don't have a crystal ball that would be my prediction See that, would you agree with Councilman Savani or to the table? I don't agree I remember as a child when we used to go to the Alamo and I have great memories of you know the nights in the concrete and the historical history within the walls and what have you and as an adult I went to visit the Alamo and it was not quite it was just hurtful to see how it's become more of a business instead of a culture or traditions and part of history so I believe in the upkeep and the upgrades yes but to continue to make it a business no let's talk about job creation subject we'll start with Mr. Ion San Antonio will continue to grow as you know at a record pace as a result of new businesses in job creation do you believe that tax incentives provided by the city should be used to attract prospective companies? Absolutely so my platform has been trying to create middle class jobs in District 3 in our district middle class jobs are the closest thing to a silver bullet we have to curing a lot of our else middle class jobs when they come into an area allow for the residents in that area to have more disposable income and to achieve home ownership at a quicker rate and that at the end of the day is the best way to build equity and so in District 3 if we create middle class jobs by offering tax incentives and land grants and a number of other tools those are things that I want to make sure that we're taking a look at but in District 3 we've got a lot of great potential for middle class jobs to move into the area and so absolutely tax incentives are one of the tools in the toolbox to try to recruit new business out there Castleman Yeah, thank you yes tax incentives I think they are helpful and District 3 has had a lot of great success in these past two years with that a great example is just Holt Cat that's made their announcement that they are planning on retaining and expanding their corporate headquarters in District 3 85,000 square feet so that is another example of how we are bringing how we have jobs available and we are making sure that they are here but we also need to make sure when we use these tax incentives when we bring them as a city that we need to ensure that they create economic and they foster economic growth and that the city does our due diligence to hold these companies accountable that they are meeting all of those benchmarks that they need to meet in order to get these tax abatements and incentives I believe we know here that we have many jobs available in this city we need to make sure that our workforce has the proper skills and the development in order to fill those jobs that we have available so yes we had a lot of success with this and I'm looking forward to make sure that we have them as we have them as we move forward thank you Genevieve, do you support tax incentives for companies? No if they want to come to San Antonio and start their own business or generate business they should be this is a great opportunity but also give back to our families and to our communities why should we have to be given their tax incentives they should be the other way around they're asking us to come into our city to generate businesses and what have you so I would just disagree Councilman so the city of San Antonio competes nationally with whether it's Seattle whether it's Orlando it is Charlotte for jobs and when you're approaching a competition with another city it's important that you are able to compete with them so Dallas or Charlotte will offer tax incentives they will offer tax evasements the city of San Antonio needs to compete with that the stipulation that we make is that if you want to come to San Antonio you want to take a tax evasement then you need to do a few things you need to pay a living wage to make sure that you are generating the amount of jobs you say so two examples I live in a blue collar community I grew up in a blue collar community a lot of the folks that are my neighbors now have benefited from employment at Toyota on the south side so now they're able to go to home and start a new life enter the middle class in the same way that they were at Kelly Air Force Base and so a job is a security board of families and they do so by creating a Toyota or they did at Kelly Air Force Base on the north side the opposite is we don't provide tax incentives we don't provide tax evasements for those who don't want to pay a minimum wage or a living wage and the example is the Marushan noodle plant just beyond the city's limits it was about 300 but they did not get city tax evasements or incentives because they weren't willing to pay above a minimum wage or above a living wage and so that's the competition in the world and I wasn't thank you very much Councilman, I'll sit with you and the topic of traffic congestion this morning it took me a while to get here and this obviously has been a topic of critical issue also for our economy and there are multiple solutions needed actually to address it one of them being post-tolings it's one of these transportation solutions for traffic congestion would you agree? yeah so I was running late today because it's the first time everybody here is on the south side so you're probably talking about 35 and 37 so 35 as I was driving up gave me the vision that I was coming south from 281 or 6204 and we're not there yet on the south side we have significant congestion problems in certain pockets of our city if we don't get this right and I'm talking about multimodal transportation we're not going to be able to build extra lanes on our highways in order to relieve ourselves of congestion so we need to have a multimodal approach that means enhancing what happens at VIA that means considering options like rail and that means improving our infrastructure for highway access and maybe even balancing how to live with our road but there have been options about whether toll roads is something that the city should use really, I don't have an appetite nobody in the city of St. Antonio has an appetite for it because it doesn't exist but if we get so bad that we are seeing what I saw along 35 today and you continue to see what happens at 6204 and 281 then folks like they did in Austin 10 years ago said we just can't deal with this tell you what to pay and I'll pay it we don't want to get there in the city so we need to expand our vision but there are more multimodal options where it includes public transit includes rail includes more efficient highway system so let's not get to that point but really we shouldn't take anything like that just do that what do you think our options are to improve our traffic congestion well I'll say no to toll roads you know what get that money and bring it back into the communities into the family south side of Bear County and District 4 I mean our roads need a lot of repair a lot of work and because of the lack of keeping up with our roads and our streets within the neighborhoods and the communities that's why there's a lot of potholes floodings congestion and so I say no to toll roads do you support commonwealth? well we need a 21st century multimodal transportation plan that will allow every San Antonio resident to participate in our growing economy and I believe part of that is our work with Via and Brooks we're having our Brooks transit center and so that is going to create options to use with multimodal we need to have a conversation about rail and as City Councilwoman I'm glad to sit on the Lone Star Rail District to get people moving from rail from one part of the city to the other and up in Long 35 if we need to I believe that looking at toll roads should be a last resort as we move forward because we need more 21st century multimodal options and toll roads would have to be something at the very last resort that we look at so it's not anything that I would advocate for now thank you are you on bigger cities like Houston Dallas have optic or toll roads even have lanes? would you consider those as an option? I would never consider a toll road as an option for San Antonio I think Councilman said that it was right there's not the appetite for something like that out there while I do believe that we need to increase public transportation options I just don't believe that toll roads are fixed what options would you consider? I think one of the most efficient things you can do is an expanded bike lane and so when you look at how much you spend per dollar on the different transportation options we have when you spend one dollar personally to use your bike the taxpayer only spends 8 cents so to give you a bit of a comparison if you're using something like public transportation whether it be bus, rail or some type of trolley system for every dollar that you spend there a taxpayer spends 58 cents and then when you talk about driving your own car for every dollar you spend a taxpayer spends $4 whether it be up keeps of the roads, building of interstates and so for me when you look at that I think it's pretty easy to see that bike lanes are probably the best for our buck councilwoman for june supported this option well I think as we look at our 21st century multimodal options we have to look at all of our options and we also have to look at the logistics and the reality riding a bike on a bike lane 3 miles into downtown san Antonio in june before you get to work we have to look at those options as well but I think looking at that reality we have to make sure that we have somewhere to go to change to shower to get ready to go to our job too so to looking at it holistically as we move forward but absolutely keep everything on the table thank you very much candidates we're doing great on time actually didn't think we were going to make it to the last questions there are a little bit more district created we'll start with district 4 with councilman Taldania councilman there are many concerns about animals running loose in the area of old Kyrgyzstan Road Indian Creek subdivision how are you doing to control what's it being done to control the growing population of stray animals on the streets I'm glad to know you know that this is district 4 streets so the issue we have with stray animals is not as I've said before this is not a dog problem or animal problem it's a people problem and we could hire more officers which we've tried as a strategy let's pick up more animals that's double the amount of animals we've taken to the shelter that hasn't solved the problem so what we've had to do in Indian Creek and we started there as our pilot is we actually had to knock on doors to talk to folks and give them two options we said we're going to come back here in a week with our animal care officers because coming to this neighborhood specifically because this is the area we get our calls about for bites and for strays and so let's focus on the areas where the problem is highest and let's go and knock on doors and tell folks that they've got two options we're going to pick up their animals which is not never a good option or we can have them do two things they can have them spayed or neutered they can have them cared for and we don't just offer a problem without a solution we've actually even put money towards this program to make sure they were paying for spayed and neutered they were actually bringing the spayed and neutered services to those neighborhoods so across the neighborhood we'll actually do the spayed and neuters in their neighborhood because some of our residents have never taken their dogs in their vehicles so we're actually putting those at their fingertips to solve this problem to get people to be part of the solution and not just our animal care officers and expanding the amount of animals that we have at our shelter because we don't want to be a city that is euthanizing the most animals because we were there in 2004 and that is not the solution generating that what would you propose as a solution I don't think it's a people problem I think it goes back to the city the city is responsible for this department with our pets, our animals our strays so we need to look in to see what's going on with the city employees and the departments that are running these programs with our pets and the SNAP and the fair programs and what have you but it's not a people problem it goes back to the city now moving to district 3 councilwoman Villagran higher education is targeting minority students for STEM programs would you assist within the district to have students receive college tuition to study STEM programs at colleges and universities thank you one of the wonderful things that we have in district 3 right now is our footprint in higher education I think many of you know this last year we are bringing the University of Incarnate Word Medical School to Brook City Base not only that now we have our pre-K for SA site in district 3 on the south New Braunfels and then we have our University of Incarnate Word Medical School right down the street from there so we have 4 year olds now people in district 3 who are going to be able to go through the system from 4 years old all the way to get their medical degree in district 3 how we are doing this and how we continue to do this is to create partnerships with our charter schools with our school boards and with our universities and with Palo Alto College with Texas A&M San Antonio with the University of Incarnate Word and with the initiatives that our local school districts are working on such as Harlandville early college STEM high school that is being built right across Memorial Stadium and to continue to foster these but not just in high school but to start even early on let's look at our pre-K for SA how can we do that let's look at our middle school students and continue to build on that and working with what are these dual college dual college credits that we can work with the high schools as well to make sure that students when they complete college when they complete high school graduate from high school they can already be in their junior year in college very grateful that council member mentioned the Harlandville ISD early college high school that's one of the things that I was the leading advocate for as a member of the bond oversight committee I feel really proud that the district that I'm a product of now gives students the opportunities to graduate not only with a high school diploma but with an associates degree so once they leave they go out into the world with two years of college already under their belt and they can get the other two at a much less expense and so Harland ISD took some fantastic steps to give students a better choice and to give them more opportunity and I hope that we can replicate that with school districts in and around district 3 well candidates those are all the questions for today however now we have questions for closing arguments and we will begin with you sorry well first and foremost I want to say thank you to the greater chamber for inviting me to come on out and talk about my vision for middle class job creation of district 3 it was really exciting to be able to share my vision for district 3 and some of the ideas we have on very specific topics so I'm appreciative of that district 3 has a lot of potential and I'm excited to be in the conversation and to be able to help lead the way on some of the stuff that we've got coming to us and so I just wanted to say thank you for having me here today and I look forward to keeping the conversation up thank you all for giving me this opportunity to be here with you this morning and I also want to thank you for the opportunity to work with you and advocate with you and other endeavors that we've worked on together you know since being elected in May 2013 I have worked with 18 different council members and I was elected in May 2013 and what that means is that there is a need for consistency and certainty and I bring that I also bring the accomplishments that I have working with companies in the district such as factory holdings Toyota, Brook City base Holt Cat, just to name a few but you know there are still challenges ahead we haven't even touched on securing our military mission and what we're going to talk about revising our UDC and our comprehensive plan I bring this certainty and consistency to this role I want to thank you for the opportunity to be here and let you know that I will provide that strong qualified, consistent leadership to this position and to all of the people of district 3 and the city of San Antonio I thank you for the opportunity to serve and I look forward to continuing to serve and your support in the upcoming election thank you very much Thank you very much Thank you once again for the great chamber in hosting us here this morning it is good as candidates for us to talk about issues that deal with issues that are not just specific to our neighborhoods but even has a citywide impact so I'll take this opportunity to make a quick pitch for what I believe is going to be the next generation of San Antonio's growth which is the south side of San Antonio I'll name just a few things the south side of San Antonio is predicted to have close to 20,000 students by 2025 also in the 410 area south of 410 just beyond Palo Alto college there is the completed work of the south bare sewer pipeline what that means is there's going to be tremendous opportunities for residential, single family homes businesses to develop out in the side of San Antonio so my message would be do not sleep on San Antonio's south side it is going to be the next generation of growth, the next generation of business the next generation of jobs and there are things that we have put in place since I've been in office the last four years that are going to need to continue if we're going to make it an attractive place for people to live, to work, to raise a family and those are things like doubling the amount of green space that we've got we're turning what used to be the city's landfill into the city's largest park down at Pierceau Park today so we're also making investments in the military drive in the Blackwood Air Force Base because that is the city's single largest employer, is our military so when you put all these components together the expansion of work in the aerospace industry having at Port of San Antonio you really get a lot going on on the city's south side, a lot going on District 4 that we need to continue to work for because that is an area where people should be looking towards developing, should be looking towards growing and we think we're in a good position for the next five or ten years we put in the work today to ensure a bright future for the city's south side Thank you Genevieve, you have two minutes Okay, well I want to thank every one of you for coming and providing me into your facilities you have to understand that my passion comes through years of being an activist and listening to our people's cry you know, when will we get changed when will something be done for our communities and our families and that's where I'm coming from that's why I'm including my name in the ballot representing our voters, our families and I believe in change but we've been neglected for so many years you know our families deserve more they deserve better on the south side of Bear County I carry with me the passion of our people in District 4 in the city of San Antonio and they're tired of being neglected they're exhausted of voting for the same rhetoric, the same policies as usual they want change they embrace change but they're being neglected so far as for example streets curbs weeds you mentioned about that part that used to be a landfill there's a lot of contamination in District 4 also beyond contamination there on the water there's sewage we need testing to be done our families deserve better than to live in contaminated dirt or play on contaminated soil thank you very much and thank you all the candidates for being here this morning I think it's great for our community to hear from you to hear from your vision and particularly for the vision that you have for your particular district this time we'll hear from the chamber your journey is spent thank you very much great, what a great discussion that we have had today I hope that we have provided a forum for you to get any number of ideas perspectives about the topics that were raised today all very important to San Antonio and of course to the business community as well so let's give our candidates a round of applause for all their time here today we certainly also want to thank our partners in the event the University of Texas San Antonio for use of their facilities and of course they'll be our media partner for these forums I want to let everybody know that our next forum will be held this Friday, April 10th where we will be featuring Districts 5 and 8 we certainly hope to have you there as well for any similar forum and learn from our candidates there and from here of course like we did today for our next city leaders ladies and gentlemen thank you for being here and we are adjourned