 So if y'all want to take a seat and we will get everything going, as y'all know this is Lutlaco Guido de San Antonio, Council 22198. We are the LGBTQ Council here in San Antonio and so we invited our candidates, a couple of our candidates here today as special guests, so that we can start a community conversation about our candidate's vision to be mayor of San Antonio and then also an opportunity for our community members to ask some questions. So we may have people that will be trickling in throughout the evening so we'll definitely welcome them as they come. I will be turning this over here in just a little bit to Maria Salasad, which is our vice president for the Council. For those of you that don't know me, my name is Robert Salcedo, the current president for Aguilo and so we will get started here in a little bit. Before we do so, again this is not a debate, this is a community conversation and so we will open it up to a Q&A. We will give each candidate an opportunity to speak and Maria will go over that here in just a little bit. So before I turn it over to Maria, I just wanted to let y'all know that the invite was sent out to what we believe our three top candidates are for the mayoral position, which is our current mayor, Ivy Taylor, Ron Nirenberg, Councilman for Disturgate, and our Democratic chairman, Manuel Melina as well. As you can see we have both Ron and Manuel here with us today and if Ivy decides to join us at a later time, we will offer her a seat up here as well. At this time I'm going to turn it over to Maria Salasad who will be moderating the rest of our evening. Thank you. All right, I hope everybody's comfortable. I'm going to ask for a candidate to go ahead and take a seat. The meeting has begun and actually this is a little bit different. I wanted to let the candidates know that the San Antonio was founded some three four years ago and in our tenure we have done a number of things. We've done immigration forums which was very successful. We did a sheriff's forum in the fall and last year this council won the Council of the Year for the District, the Council of the Year for the State of Texas and went on to win the Council of the Year for the National. So part of much of the success and presence that we will do to achieve is that we are very dedicated to a couple of things. One is bridging the dialogue between the Latino community and the LGBT community, recognizing that in both of those communities there is a presence with distinct interest and experiences and also we want to promote political engagement. We do not endorse, this is not an endorsement process, but we are committed as Lulac is national in increasing political engagement and political participation. So part of this forum is to make our candidates accessible to the community and also to hear from you on what your vision is for the city and how to incorporate the LGBT Latino community and enrich that process. Thank you, Maria. Thank you to the council for having us tonight. My name is Ron Nirenberg. Most important thing you should know about me is that I'm the very proud father of an eight-year-old son named Jonah. Through his eyes I try to look at all the decisions that we make as a city council, as a public servant. I'm also the very proud husband of Erica Prosper, who herself is a community servant and has, should I say that, who herself is a community servant, business leaders. She will be the 2018 chairwoman of the Hispanic Chamber and she inspires me in a lot of ways. She's a former migrant worker herself and teaches me a lot about making sure that we are equitable and we deliver a good city for all citizens. I got to San Antonio. Actually for the last four years I've been in the city councilman in District 8, which is one of the fastest growing areas in the entire country. It's also the place where diversity in all things, from socioeconomics to demographics, to politics, to religion, to you name it, is the most diverse in the rest of the city. It's a place where you can find all aspects of the city right there in one district. I got to San Antonio in 1995 and go to Trinity University. When I graduated I went to the University of Pennsylvania where I met my wife, who was the only other Texan in the program. I fell in love with her and when we were deciding where we wanted to go to spend the rest of our lives and to raise a family, San Antonio was the only city on our list and that's because we wanted to find a city that the best of ourselves and the brightest days of our lives were going to be in front of us. It was a place that we could find a place to live, a safe and affordable home to live in, a place with a safe community, a place where we really felt home because it was a diverse and inclusive city. That's the way I want you to feel about your city, that you would choose it even if you could live anywhere else on earth. Over the last few years as I've worked throughout this community with business leaders, civic leaders, neighbors, residents from all quarters of San Antonio, they're basically saying the same thing about our city, which is that we're doing okay. We're doing just okay and in my opinion that's not good enough. We cannot be satisfied with status quo when we have such challenges facing us from a violent crime rate that's at its highest point it's been in three decades to an affordability crisis to where the point where the average family in San Antonio can no longer afford the average home in San Antonio. We have made no forward progress on an equitable and comprehensive modern transportation system for San Antonio. And the truth of the matter is the demographic reality says that we're going to be the size of Chicago in the next 35 years, the kind of population growth that we're experiencing. So we have to be better prepared. Doing just okay is not doing well at all. And I think you deserve a better city than that. I think you deserve a city that is managing its resources in a responsible way. A place where you can feel safe from the fear of violent crime in your neighborhoods and your streets and your malls and any other public places. A place where we have a great economy that's creating jobs for everyone that all San Antonio's can benefit from. And a place where when you get out on the roads you can move around you're not stuck in gridlock. But first and foremost we deserve a city where every public official is held to the highest ethical standards and face real consequences when they violate the public trust. Because if we don't have that we have nothing. I believe in a city that you would choose even if you could live anywhere else on earth. And that's why I also believe very strongly that we have to take care of the million and a half people that have we have here today. But we also need to plan better for the future. Today's success and future prosperity go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other despite what politics may tell you. And I believe strongly that that is the solution for a lot of these challenges that we're facing. The truth of the matter is you wouldn't be stuck in gridlock today if we did a better job planning yesterday. So that's my campaign in a nutshell. I look forward to having a great conversation with you. I'm an independent. I am not affiliated with a public political party. I think that's actually a good thing at the municipal level especially. So I'm going to be focused on local issues that matter to families here in San Antonio to make sure that you have a city that you can be proud of no matter where you live. Not partisan politics, not wedge issues that grab the headlines but don't move us forward. And certainly not the bombast that you've gotten far too used to hearing from public and elected candidates for elected office. It's about those local issues that can ensure that we have a city that you can be proud of no matter who you are, no matter where you live, no matter what you do or when you've got here. So that's why I hope to earn your support. Look forward to a great discussion tonight. Thank you for having me. Working with many of you in this room and working on a number of issues. You know I've been chairman of the Barrick County Democratic Party and working together with many of y'all, we have built the strongest local Democratic Party in the country. More important than the party and the victory at the ballot box, it's the agenda that we've been able to advance together. When we came together in 2012, we passed pre-K for SA here in San Antonio. That moved the needle. That made a difference. And yes, that was partisan. But at the end of the day, we all jumped in there and fought for pre-K for SA. Then it was the issue of NDO. With many of you in the room, we fought hard to make sure that in San Antonio we had equality. The NDO. And then we fought for our veterans at the state legislature to make sure that we protected the Hayeswood Legacy Act. We worked together and we moved the needle. Additionally, of late, we made sure that we banned the box at the city and at the county. Again, advancing an agenda and today's fight is for a livable wage. And that's one of the reasons I'm running for mayor. That there is so much more to do. And when we go to city hall on the issues that touch our heart, that make a difference in our community, we keep finding elected officials that all they could say is, well, I'm not a Democrat or a Republican. I'm just in the middle somewhere. So that's what we need to get rid of. We need to elect people that are actually going to stand up, speak up and fight back. So let me tell you a little bit more about my mother, I believe. As you know, I was born in Mexico. At the age of three, my mom and I crossed the border, maybe swam a little into my cabin, then came here to San Antonio. And then moved to El Paso, some time in LA. All in line is, yeah, I grew up with a Dream Act student. I didn't know I didn't have all my papers, but I grew up as an American. I spoke English, fledgely just to the flag of the United States of America, sung the Star Spangled Banner. I grew up as an American. I didn't know I didn't have all my papers until I was 17. Now, I wanted to go across the border with my friends and my mom said, you can't go. I said, I'm gonna go with my friends. She said, well, let me tell you why. And she sits me down, tell me why, and I wasn't going to cross the border that weekend. But that did give me a perspective. And I saw how many of our family, parents, grandparents that immigrated to the United States, whether from Africa, whether from Europe or Latin America, how they just did whatever they had to do to succeed. And it was picking the crops, washing the dishes, mowing the lawns. They did what they needed to do. But I've also seen how their children, this generation of Americans are today's doctors, engineers, architects, and why not the next mayor of the city of San Antonio. That's 45 years of my life. I've been in America since. And obviously, La Virgen de Bada Lupe, me protejo a la frontera. Y con la bendición de Dios, I've been able to live my American dream. And now I run from it. And apparently I'm winning. Because every week I'm being attacked. Last week, it was a Democratic Party, there's a lack of transparency, because they're doing something funny. But on a second, we built the strongest local Democratic Party in the country. This last week, oh, he lived in Mexico, he spent time in Mexico, because why? Because he had family down there. Why? Because he had a client down there and he went down there every other week, one time, one for a night and then come back. Oh, because he ran for office. Yeah, that must have been stupid. In 2005, when I went down there, one January and with my friends, we decided to run for office. They ran for a bunch of positions, so did I. And then, well, I lost and I came back in a month. So I was down there for two months. The last 45 years of my life, I've been American. And then we have the Express News, questioning my patriotism, describing me as a Mexican pretending to be a patriotic American. That's what we can expect from the Express News. But on the bright side, you can tell you, we're winning. Because otherwise, they wouldn't be attacking us. And frankly, I don't know if they want Ron or Ivy to win, because I don't really think they care. What they wanted is to make sure that Cheryl Scully stays in City Manager, and I've been clear. On May 6, my wife, Medina, will be the new mayor of San Antonio, and on May 7, we will have a new city manager in the city of San Antonio. So I'm hoping that if we move forward in this election cycle, we continue to, we focus on policy, because there's very real differences between Ron, Ivy, and myself when it comes to taxes. And apparently, we have no time left. So we share that in common, too. Thank you. I'm going to open up with a question here before I turn over to the floor. Can I have a show of hands and how many questions we have that people would like to put forward? Turn in the car. Okay. Okay, Robert, would you take a look at those questions and see if there's any duplication and what would be a good jump up point for there. But here's my question. Thank you for sharing what each of you present as your vision for San Antonio. I'm struck by the fact that you are both immigrated to San Antonio. I, too, am an immigrant to San Antonio. I actually have roots in Tejasen in California. So for the same reason as I hear you both speak a lot about the city residents with my own families in Latina as a Chicana as an activist as a community organizer. I want to take you back to what the purpose of this group is. Our hope is to promote visibility of the LGBT community, like, you know, lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender people. We also want to see more visibility and more empowerment for the Latino community. So in looking at your vision for this city, I heard your call for safe streets, affordable housing. I heard your vision of having inclusivity and advocating for our veterans, the LGBT community. As a mayor, seeing yourselves in that seat, how would you promote more LGBT activism, visibility on city commissions, on special projects? Let me give you an example. This city is about to undertake a huge celebration of the city of San Antonio 300 years of history. And I want to point out that the LGBT community is very much a part of that history. So how do we include the visibility of the LGBT community in such big projects like that? There are a lot of lost community spaces this last week in the 2015 closed down, which is a 20 year old LGBT safe place game bar. Now I'm not sure why it closed down, but I'm going to guess that real estate is one issue. The boss, which was a LGBT club down on the south side, very working class closed down. Again, encroachment, city development. You look at the strip right down here where the LGBT community gathers. There's a lot of encroachment. You see all the housing and development. And so how do we incorporate LGBT participation to impact visibility, and also the growth in the direction of the city so that those safe spaces are continued. So I know it's very broad, but I just want to bring it back to the purpose of our group and what your thoughts are about having that kind of involvement from the LGBT community and the Latino community. So I'm going to turn it over to since we started with Ron, I'm going to give you about two minutes. Okay. Hispanic LGBT commuter. First thing we need to do is that you're given the opportunity to take part in city business. I mean, last year, the city had $400 million in contract money for services or for commodities. Well, 0% of that went to African Americans, and only 2% went to Hispanics. In a city that 65% Hispanics, we got 2%. That's a problem. And it's been a systematic problem that got even bigger when this city manager came to San Antonio. And no one on this council has called her on it. And that's one of the reasons why I think we need a new city manager to create the opportunity economically for everyone, including the Hispanic LGBT commuter to win their first contract at the city to create jobs and expand their business. Right now, the only thing we have is five, six big fish at the city that win all the contracts. And most some of them are even from out of town. So we need some serious city of San Antonio procurement reform. So that our Hispanic LGBT community can actually participate and win their first contract. Additionally, because what I see is once you're there, you develop economic power. Then you can translate that into more political power. And you can run people that actually can win. So at the end of the day, I think that's the first step. I'm certainly for it. And on top of that, we certainly have the issue of SB six at the state legislature that we're all unified against here in Verde County, all 10 state representatives are against it both Democrats and Republicans, whether it's for moral ground as Democrats as we are, or economic grounds, I'm against it for all these grounds. Plus, I just see it as hate looking for a target. Thank you, buddy. And let me clarify, you're asking for how we can make sure that LGBTQ community is represented better in the city has more opportunity and so forth. Um, you know, I think there's a lot of areas that we can be helpful. And first and first and most importantly, I think that the city's business needs to be looking through a lens of equity inclusion at on all things. And so with regard to boards and commissions, we need to be working with organizations through, for instance, the Pride Center through the Stonewall Democrats, through organizations that are focused on outreach and community building for the LGBTQ members of our community and focus on leadership development through those organizations, just like we would do in any other organization, whether it's a chamber group, or it's a young women's leadership group, we can focus on leadership development with the LGBTQ community. And then I think it takes leadership at the council level and at the mayor's level to ensure that we are appointing members of the LGBTQ community to high profile boards and commissions at the TrueView board, zoning commission, planning commission, just like we seek diversity through boards and commissions on grounds of race and ethnicity, we should be doing the same thing on gender equity and LGBTQ membership. So I think that's one way. I think I would like to see the Office of Diversity Inclusion, which has been charged with enforcement of the non-discrimination ordinance become more than just an event programmer. I think they should be fielding concerns from the LGBTQ community, help identify ways that we can better enforce and be open to opportunities with the LGBTQ community. And they can be liaison for making sure that we have better representation throughout the city organization. That's a great segue to this next set of questions that we received from the floor. Both of you mentioned the NDO. One commentator, one of our participants asked, San Antonio's NDO needs more regulatory teeth. In a comment on Facebook, Judson, local team partner leader who has endorsed you said, just like it goes to Canada Medina, that you would not expand on them regarding the NDO. Can you please clarify your stance on the NDO? Who would you stand with? And then a similarly related question, and this one's directed to Councilman Nuremberg, noting that you supported the NDO and have shared letters to and have shared letters to constituents in support of LGBT equality. Can we expect a more aggressive advocate for Latinx LGBT folks? That was actually one of the questions that we tossed around amongst ourselves in putting this together, is looking at the NDO. What is your current position on that, taking consideration of these comments directed to each of you? And how to expand that? Or is it just where it needs to be? And then I'm going to add this for both of you to consider. Back in 1997, I believe the city of San Francisco passed a contracting ordinance. And in their ordinance at the time, they demanded that anyone who contracted with the city and County of San Francisco that contractors would have a non discrimination ordinance. And at the time also have a provision where they would provide domestic partnership benefits to their partners. Well, that issue has since been resolved since same six marriages now recognized in the country. But the LGBT community still faces a lot of discrimination in terms of housing and employment. The NDO didn't happen in a vacuum. It took more than four years to pass that passed in 2013. But many of us in this room participated in a lot of community meetings, informing the draft provisions of that idea. And also meeting with council members and public officials who gauge what kind of support we could get the mayor's office at the time of our city council members. It wasn't until 2003 or 2013, when it seemed like passing such a measure would be successful. So in promoting the LGBT community, would you speak to putting in more aggressive measures like requiring city contractors to have non discriminatory ordinances in their company or in their policies in order for them to get money from the city of San Antonio, and even pushing it further, taking into consideration that it takes time to cast such inclusive measures and working with the county of bear for such policies. So, you know, kind of looking at your putting yourself in the mayor's seat and expanding the NDO, the principles of the NDO of not discriminating. So I'm answering some of these questions about where you stand on the NDO and how it shouldn't be formed. As you know, when the NDO was in front of us at the Democratic Party, our role was to bring allies to the table. Okay. Many Wisconsin members at the time, they said, hey, we need allies to organize, come to city hall and help us push the issue. So that's what we did. We had a very organized and active role that we're very proud of. As we move forward, there are issues that we need to that that we need to address in the city of San Antonio. And one of the ways to do it is by our contracts. I mean, we have a $2.4 billion budget every year. And we contract services across the board. Well, one way that we can enforce the NDO, expand the NDO and address a number of our issues, like a livable wage, like inequality, is to expect our contractors to live up to our valleys here in the city of San Antonio. So that short answer is yes. In terms of, but just as important, there's a number of issues that over the last eight years that our LGBTQ community has made progress on that are on the chopping blocks, and that we need to take a look at whether it's don't ask, don't tell whether it's federal hate crime legislation. Those two issues were passed over the last eight years. Now, we had some bipartisan support, so I'm not too worried about that. Where I am worried about is when it comes to government services, where it was a very partisan situation, and one party voted one way, the other party voted against it. When it came to equality on employment, when it came to quality on education, and a number of other opportunities and services that the federal government provides, that is on the chopping block, and that's an issue that has to be brought up along with a number of executive orders related to medical visits and medical decisions. I mean, I didn't hear reconciling what Jeff Judson is saying on your behalf about non-summation, if you'd like to address that. Yes, I would. Well, Jeff Judson is a member of the Tea Party here in San Antonio, and I'm a member, a prop member. I'm the chairman of the Berry County Democratic Party, and there are issues which we will agree on, and there's issues which we've done on the issues that we do agree on, on taxes, on Cheryl Scully, on Mr. Ridge. That's what we're coming together on. We have a world of difference when it comes to a number of these issues, but it's about coming together. I don't know if Ron believed in keeping everyone apart, because the truth is, at the city, we have Democrats and Republicans, and I guess independence, that are inside gaining the system, stacking the deck against people like you and me. Therefore, it's incumbent on Democrats and Republicans outside of this corrupt political situation at City Hall that Ron represents to come together to challenge the status quo, to kick out the career politicians. That's why we're coming together. We don't agree. Now, other things that would be live, two minutes, right? He gave me two minutes. I'm going to ask Canada Newerberg to address the question about expanding the NDO and the long-term expansion of that, so we'll start from there. I think the question was why is Jeff Judson speaking for candidate Manuel Medina on that issue, on that particular issue? Do you want to call him now and not ask for me? Sure. What I would like to do on non-discrimination is to make sure that contracts in the city of San Antonio reflect the values, whether it's wage standards, whether it's benefit standards, or in this case, non-discrimination. So I do think we need to be open and we need to ensure that the non-discrimination ordinance covers contracts with the city of San Antonio. In addition to that, I think we need to use our seat of leadership to support our local delegation at the state level. I fully support former councilman Bernal's efforts to ensure non-discrimination in housing, for instance, he's currently engaged in that legislative process right now. With regard to ensuring better enforcement of non-discrimination, I think that was also one of your questions. We need to make sure, again, as I said previously, that the Office of Diversity and Inclusion is actually given authority to reach out in the community, identify issues with enforcement, identify complaints and concerns, and address them, work with policymakers to address them. You know, I could go into the revisionist history about the non-discrimination of the ordinance and who was at the table. I will tell you, I was proudly at the table as a policymaker voting in support of the non-discrimination ordinance, and I don't want to reimagine the history of that. When Chairman Medina was busy unseeding fellow Democrats, we were working to get non-discrimination for the city of San Antonio. That is the truth, and that needs to be remembered as the Stonewall Democrats remembered when they endorsed my campaign. I'm going to go from a 30 second revoke. Of course. Well, I was working with you. If you all recall, one of the things that happened along the way was there was a staffer that Elisa Chan had recording about what he said about a staffer that was working with one of our LGBTQ City Council members. Do you remember? Well, there was a staffer working with Elisa Chan that was caught on tape saying very negative things, very bad things about our LGBT commuter. Well, that individual was hired by him immediately after that. So, I mean, do you want to talk about him? Do you have any keys for that? No. We're going to keep it to the questions. That's where we'll go back and find out history of that for someone besides Chairman Medina. Oh, he worked for you, right? Gentlemen, let me ask you this. This is a question that goes to both of you. Studies show that the LGBT people have higher rates of poverty than the non-LGBTQ folks. San Antonio is a rapidly growing city. How will both of you protect poor LGBTQ San Antonio's from becoming priced out of their neighborhoods, which is a potential side effect of gentrification and the tech boom in the downtown neighborhoods? And I think I'm going to start with you. So, I think we need to find both at the state level to ensure that there's fair housing practices. As I mentioned before, the former Councilman Bernal, now state representative, is working on that front at the state. We need to make sure that we're enforcing fair standards here at the local level. It's also one of the reasons why I believe this is not just an LGBTQ issue. This is a matter of first priority for a growing city of San Antonio. One of my priorities is to, within the first 100 days, do something that the city has not done ever, particularly under this mayor, which is to address issues of gentrification and displacement through a compassionate and comprehensive housing policy for the city of San Antonio. We need to ensure that there's a safety valve in place when there's dramatic revitalization happening, especially when it's incentivized revitalization, to ensure that citizens of San Antonio, residents of San Antonio, many of whom have been there for generations, are able to age in place who are not simply victims of economic development but beneficiaries of it. We are seeing rapid redevelopment in the urban core, particularly in areas on the west side and the east side, where we know that residents are most vulnerable to property tax increases and so forth, and that's when we need to focus our efforts. And so I've begun assembling people throughout this community that have expertise in housing, people who are some of our mobile home parks. We've been working to begin the effort to assemble our first orders of first actions under a comprehensive housing policy, which includes a vulnerability assessment for all neighborhoods in San Antonio, and that's one of the best and important focus, I think, before we do anything else, is to ensure we have housing policy in place to make sure that residents of San Antonio can benefit from the economic growth. Thank you. You know, the council member just said mobile home parks. Well, he voted to kick out the families at the Mission Trail Home Park. I mean, what kind of rhetoric is that? My point is, I mentioned earlier, that there are federal services, whether it's government housing, that are on the chopping block. So we need to get organized, and we need a mayor that's going to stand up, speak up, and fight back. That's what we need, and this isn't a policy difference, this is just a personality issue with Ron and I. He's not going to. He had no history of ever standing up and fighting back on issues that we face on a daily basis. Now, there's the issue of people being taxed out of their home, people co-compliance out of their home. We see so many scrupulous investors knocking on seniors' homes, saying, do you want to sell your home? The senior says no, and the individual starts to take a look, something wrong with the porch, something wrong with the backyard, and then runs to co-compliance. And then co-compliance comes out and finds them, and therefore the senior says, what can I do? I don't have $3,000 to fix this, so at the end of the day, they have to sell their home. They're being co-complanced out of their home, too many are being taxed out of their home. This council talks about having not increased the tax rate, but they forget to mention that appraisals rise, and therefore your tax bill increased. And then they're quick to say, oh, we have nothing to do with appraisal board, that's what I'm talking about. It's about leadership, and there's people on this council that are not leaders. And Ron is very quick to distance themselves from the problems of this council, and real quick to take credit for the good things of this council, but he forgets to mention that he's been longer on council than Mayor Taylor's been mayor. So, hidden her failures are his failures. I'm going to pivot here a little bit. I wanted to let each of the candidates know that last week on March 28th and March 30th, this council participated in an outreach effort to promote public health, particularly the Latino community, and with our Latino youth. This council went to Northwest Vista College and went to Palo Alto College and conducted HIV testing for young adults who wanted to receive such a service free. That effort was triggered by some startling statistics. In 2015, it was found that some 6,338 individuals lived here in San Antonio and in the surrounding counties with HIV or AIDS. Forty-three percent of that population is Latino, which translates to about 2,707 Latino citizens. In 2015, the new diagnosis, or folks who were diagnosed with HIV newly, 56 percent of those folks were Latino, which amounts about 206. We have to be mindful of the fact that HIV and AIDS is still very much a part of the Latino LGBT community. Given that the city is in a position to impact public health, can you share your visions about promoting programs or outreach efforts to prevent the spread of HIV and also public education efforts? Certainly, I mean, I would like to partner with y'all through the city via the Metropolitan Health District, where we address issues related to our community health. And when it comes to HIV, certainly your efforts need to be applauded, and I'm sure you know that there's so much more that we can do, whether it's education, whether it's even going into testing, finding ways for prevention. So I'm not an expert on this issue, but I can tell you that I'm looking forward to hear your plan on what your next step is, and as mayor, I will certainly be working with you and our Metropolitan Health District to advance this issue. Thank you, and I think many people don't realize that AIDS and HIV cases are not a thing of the 80s or the 90s or even the 2000s, they're still here. And we actually get a number of new HIV cases every month in Bear County. It's at a rate that should be alarming to us all. So I think for the city of San Antonio, we need to work through our Metro Health Department. Yes, absolutely. We need to also support those organizations through our delegate agency process that focus specifically on services to populations that are dealing with AIDS and HIV. And then also through our Bear County Health Collaborative, which is focused on multi-jurisdictions like Bear County and San Antonio working together with health professionals to identify the causes of our backsliding on HIV and AIDS and to address them through community outreach, but also through the medical profession. I think all of those areas need sharp focus from the next mayor and that's what I hope to provide. See, this is a little bit different. I think something that's on a lot of people's mind. But for each candidate, take a minute and how would you answer this question? How would you deal with the sanctuary city issues for the city of San Antonio? So the city of San Antonio is opposed to SB 4 and that's, we can say that right out of the box. We recognize the fact that federal immigration is the job of the federal government and keeping neighborhood safe is the job of the local police departments and that is the value statement from the start. And our police department should not be charged with enforcing federal immigration. We will not make our police department become ICE agents. The challenge now though is what happens if there's still wide recognition and concern from local governments here in Texas and really throughout the country via the new administration that some form of anti-sanctuary city legislation or dictates coming down from Austin or BC are going to pass. What will the next mayor do? I think we continue to operate under the guidance of our police chiefs all around this country and it should be the guidance and mandate of the city of San Antonio to maintain course that our local police departments will not be charged with enforcing federal immigration law and we need to ensure that immigrants, people who are here on refugee status or immigrants in general feel safe in our communities and feel safe with the police in our communities. The issue of immigration is very personal to me as you know personal to you and a lot of people here in the city of San Antonio. Therefore it's an issue that we need to address and we need to find solutions. My where I begin is that I believe we need to protect good people and deport bad people understanding that 99.9 percent of immigrants are good people. These are people raising the next generation of Americans contributing to society paying their taxes 99.9 percent of them. The 0.001 that are the bad apples tell me where they're at I'll deport them myself. So we need to protect good people and protect good people and deport bad people that's the beginning. And that's what we approached this council with last year since there is no legal definition of what a sanctuary city is with some many in this room. We took the task to define it. A city where police officers are not immigration officers a city where we have a relationship with ICE based on our valleys and does it cost taxpayers money. And where we can have a dialogue with our elected officials via a an immigration committee that advises this council and this mayor on the issues. That's how we define a sanctuary city. We approached this council we approached this councilman. I called him myself set up an appointment showed up excited that I was going to get an opportunity to talk to him about this year he didn't show up sent to Stafford and that's what I mean when it comes to having someone that's going to stand up fight back for you in your community. We have too many elected officials that say oh I'm in the middle oh I don't take sides oh let me see well that's what we have here and that was the perfect example. All right I have one question here that goes to the issue of homelessness. How would each of you deal with the homeless in the downtown and central closet area? It begins by addressing the issue of poverty. Okay he gets by it when he comes to San Antonio in 68 zip codes half of them 31 of them we have concentrated poverty poverty that needs the homelessness and this issue it really is at a boiling point 19.8% of the people in San Antonio live in poverty those are real people kids single parents working families seniors live into poverty and I mentioned that 19.8% but experts on this issue tell you when you get the 20% you start seeing the effects of poverty skyrocketing homelessness skyrocketing crime and that's what we're seeing today so we need to address it and there are good people fighting homelessness poverty and crime in our community today they just need a city that's going to help them there's a perfect example of Pastor Jimmy Robles on the west side last chance ministries helping about 500 kids stay on the right path so the pastor had the park where they played basketball football soccer joined Girl Scouts Boy Scouts but this park had no lights so come sundown they've got a lead go back on the streets who knows where well the pastor approaches the city the mayor asked mayor there's $850 million bond package coming up on this election how can we get lights for our park then you're going to pay attention to them why? well because they don't have a paid lobbyist UTSA got $10 million because they have a paid lobbyist harbinger park got $15 million because they have a paid lobbyist atmosphere parks $25 million to Zachary because they've got a paid lobbyist Broadway is getting $50 million because they have a paid lobbyist well I'll be the paid lobbyist for our faith based organization and non-profits that are working for homelessness in this community homelessness is not an easy issue and I think that part of the solution for homelessness in our city is recognizing that what I have advocated for is a more comprehensive approach to all the causes of homelessness we deal every day with the fact that Bear County almost leads the state in issues of domestic violence and child abuse and neglect and we know without a doubt that those issues plus things like mental health issues and substance abuse are all correlated very strongly with homelessness so in order for us to adequately deal with homelessness in our city we not only need to address economics we have to ensure that we're providing services for people who are suffering through all those other issues adequate resources to deal with them last year when the mayor led an effort to adjust the budget to pull money away from those community safety net programs that adequately addressed issues of domestic violence and family violence and so forth I worked with council members to make sure that those cuts didn't happen we need to more comprehensively address the issue of homelessness to ensure that we're tackling the root causes and not just simply addressing homelessness now I do think that we do have some model programs including Hater for Hope and we're addressing policy in other areas to make sure that the people who are on the streets have adequate available resources to them to get them off of the streets and into safe shelter and we need to continue to do that but I do believe that the answer to this question is more in how we comprehensively approach the issue of homelessness and not simply put a band aid on the challenge there are two questions I have here before me and I would like to point out that each candidate has garnered a lot of support from a wide range of communities each party or each campaign has done that so keeping that in mind as you I'm going to give each candidate five minutes and we'll start with Chairman Medina and then we'll end with Councilman Muirberg in your closing remarks please address the following how can you both work with others given the various groups that you've brought together in your campaign and looking at the City of San Antonio as a diverse city and what is your priority to the City of San Antonio and finally ending it with what's your why should we vote for you what what what what makes you stand out from all the other candidates so those three points okay okay start with Chairman Medina I can begin with working together when have you seen the Chairman of the Democratic Party a proud progress that's been in the fight and the trenches with you on issues that we care about get endorsed by Republicans and leaders at the Tea Party that should tell you about my ability to bring people together to identify things we share in common and how we can build to address what we share in common that's the perfect example I've done that in business and you saw me do it with the Democratic Party remember when I was elected Chairman of the Barrick County Democratic Party every single elected official was against me every single contributor was against me and again the Express News was against me when I won there were 150 precinct chairs of which 130 voted against me but somehow over the last few years I've been able to bring people together not saying everyone but I'm saying we've been able to bring enough people together 95% of precinct chairs I believe approve of the job we've done and that that's liberals moderates and conservatives within the Democratic Party so I've shown that I've been able to do that in my business as Chairman of the Democratic Party and this campaign and that proves to you that I can do it once I'm elected Mayor of the City of San Antonio when it comes to issues three things that have brought people together one independent leadership Mayor that's accountable to you the taxpayer not the city manager not the paid lobbyist not the special interest but to you the taxpayer I'm politically and financially independent in contrast both Ivy and Ron are going to raise a million dollars for special interest thus they will owe a million dollars in special favors they epitomize today's paid a play culture at City Hall that's best described as canaries get a contribution special interests get special favors and taxpayers get stuck with the bill so independent leadership second focused on today this council and this mayor keep talking about the 1 million people coming to San Antonio over the next 25 years their job their infrastructure their needs well how about the 1.5 million that live here today our jobs our safety our infrastructure how about addressing the problems that have plagued our community far too long while they've been planning generational poverty on the west side institution of violence on the east side nightmare traffic on the north side and the lack of basic infrastructure on the south side no one expects the mayor to solve these problems overnight but they do want a mayor that cares enough to start today and then third thing we need a mayor that's going to be a voice for San Antonio we're the seventh largest city in America we're the capital of south Texas and I love our city but we're also the most economically segregated city in America we have income and equality that has led to 20% poverty so we have some real issues last year we had a presidential candidate that insulted every single one of us whether you were a woman disabled veteran Hispanic African American Muslim insulted every single one of us what did this council do what did this mayor say nothing well this gentleman is president of the United States now and surely we need to find common ground when it comes to creating jobs I want them here in San Antonio best in an infrastructure we need that here too protecting the American worker it makes sense but we also need to demand respect respect for our local ordinances that protect our natural resources and that was our respect for our community policing policies that say no to racial profiling stop and frisk and show me your papers legislation respect for our fight for equality women's rights and our fight for $15 an hour so my issues independent leadership focused on today and a voice for the city of San Antonio thank you very much thank you Amitya and thank you for all of you to come out for coming out tonight and listening to us I think that this is a great moment to pause and reflect on what's not going right in politics these days and I spent almost a decade studying this the reason why people are moving away from participation the reason why our voting percentages are down in the low teens on an annual basis it's not because of the great scandals that you see about that you read about in the news or or see on tv it's because people have gotten used to politicians on the campaign trail saying great things and then being dramatic disappointments when they reach office people have stopped trusting public officials and so I believe not only do we need to hold public officials to a higher standard of equity we also need to hold our candidates to a high standard of equity that's why I'm very focused on making sure that you know my record is the same as what I talk about I am focused as an independent leader when I started this my first race for city council I was an HOA president I was interested in doing some more good for my community and I talked to my wife and my son and they were ready to go out on that journey and no one knew me from Adam and I certainly didn't have the backing of the establishment or the political elites in this town but I had a desire to passion to serve my city and that's why I boldly tackle the issues of diversity and inclusion of when one of the first big issues as a northside council member came to my desk as a non-discrimination ordinance I was proud to support it and that's not rhetoric that's the facts and I will continue to do that as mayor because my vision of leadership for the city the way I view leadership is that you have to have a clear and articulated view of the future of San Antonio one that everyone can be proud of and then you have to boldly be able to address an open and ethical process that not only the public can believe in but that your colleagues can trust and then you boldly act on that vision and that is something I have been proud to do as a district date council member whether it's environmental issues protecting the aquifer or whether it's creating jobs or whether it's standing up and saying no to cuts in domestic violence spending I have been active as a district date council member and standing on the right side of an issue and fighting for what I believe in and reflecting the values of the community that we live in and I will continue to do that as mayor because what also I believe about leadership is being able to not only gather six votes on important issues but when those six votes are aligned in the wrong way under the current leader it's being able to stand alone and address the serious problems facing this community through the public and for me that's why I'm running for mayor is that we have seen far too many times under the current administration the bad choices have been made or judgments have been made incorrectly that are not in the best interests of the city and so I will boldly be your mayor for San Antonio to best represent every single one of you I want to make sure that you have a city that you could be proud of that your children can be proud of that your grandchildren can be proud of and that's why I'm also unapologetic about the fact that we have to plan better for the future if we're going to have a great city today so that's why I'm running for mayor I'm an independent I'm proud of it and that means I am free and clear to represent your best interests not a party's best interests not a business's best interests or not an insider's best interests but your best interests and that's why I'm proudly asking today for your support to be your next mayor thank you