 Good evening. I am Francine Romero, I'm the Associate Dean of the UTSA College of Public Policy and it's my great pleasure to welcome you to our beautiful downtown campus. We have a long tradition here of partnering with our community to discuss topics of great importance and we are so happy to host this exciting commencement tonight. This isn't our usual commencement at the Alamo Dome but one that does begin a new chapter for our city. The forum tonight will be informational but it's also aspirational for our students who are either in the audience or watching on live stream. Any students want to give a little shout? Let us know they're here. That was a quiet shout. Yay to the students. So getting to know our new city manager and his path to this point in our career will greatly, in his career will greatly inspire those students who hope to work in city management upon graduation. And we have a lot of students who do have that dream. Even more importantly, this will be the night when many students will be motivated to consider this career path for the first time. And years from now they will remember this discussion. So to get this all started, it is now my great honor to introduce our mayor. You know his background, he grew up in Austin, went to college in San Antonio and since his election as mayor in 2017 he has been a strong leader on issues of civic participation, the environment, accommodating our rapid municipal growth, infrastructure, sustainability and many more. His vision is one of a compassionate community with a globally competitive economy. But we know him here at UTSA as a partner from way back even before he ran for city council when he joined in our SA 2020 civic engagement efforts. And of course fast forwarding to recent months, we greatly appreciate the efforts of the mayor, city council and city staff to support our innovative vision for the UTSA downtown campus. Our campus as a whole looks forward to working with the mayor, our new city manager and his team to make this dream a reality. So please join me in welcoming Mayor Ron Nirenberg. Good evening. First of all, thank you all for attending tonight's conversation. I think it will be enlightening and hopefully it will be inspiring as well. I first want to thank UTSA for hosting us, Dr. Romero and all the folks here at the administration. I see Albert from the president's office. Are there any UTSA students here tonight? All right. We all know how important civic engagement is and participation is to the health of our democracy and that's what tonight is all about. In fact, I am very proud of the work that me and my colleagues on the city council here and I know several of them are here. Councilman Trevino, Councilman Sandoval, Councilman Gonzalez, Councilman Hall is here. I'm sorry if I missed anyone else, but we have all been working very hard in recognition of the fact that in our society today, which is ever evolving and changing and the standards ever increasing with regard to participation and transparency, that we are pioneering the process by which we are seating our next city manager. Right now, this process is in the middle of a two-week period of time where our chosen finalist, Eric Walsh, has been meeting with different members of our community and of course here in a symposium in the middle of our downtown UTSA campus to hear from the public of San Antonio. The public that we serve every single day. We know that the work of the city manager is hard, it's 24-7, it's 365 days a year and not all the time will a city manager be able to see and hear from the people that we serve on the city council in a direct way as this, but we believe that this is an important part of the next era for San Antonio. So, I do want to draw your attention to our co-host for the evening, which is the SA Speak Up program. I'm not sure if Jeff, I see Athea and I know you will hear from Laura Elizabeth Mays, Jeff Coyle, all part of our government and public affairs, our SA Speak Up process, our one-stop shop for you to have direct input on the work of city council and the city government as a whole. I want to thank them for their work in continuing to open up the process and access to our city government. So, without further ado, we're going to have a great conversation tonight. I want to introduce the moderator for this evening, Maria Luisa Cesar. Many of you may have remembered her and her byline when she was with the San Antonio Express News. She is a former professional journalist. She is now the founder of a nonprofit called Greater Good, which is a nonprofit communication consulting firm. I have known Maria for a long time as a colleague, but now she embarks on her own career and I'm very proud of the work that she's currently doing in our community. So, without further ado, Maria Luisa Cesar. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us for this important conversation and community dialogue. And hello to those at home watching live on SA Speak Up dot com, Facebook or TVSA. Thanks for being part of this process. Your voices are so important. Many of you already know this, but for the benefit of all, San Antonio is one of the largest cities in the U.S. with a council manager form of government. The National League of Cities defines this form of government with the following characteristics. One, the city council oversees general administration, makes policy and sets a balanced budget. Two, mayor and council appoint a professional city manager to carry out the day-to-day administrative operations. With that in mind, please allow me to introduce San Antonio's proposed finalist for the next city manager, Eric Walsh. Eric brings with him more than 24 years of experience in local government with the city of San Antonio. He was appointed city manager in 2006 and deputy city manager in 2011. In his time at the city, he's managed many major departments including police and fire, animal care services, the Metropolitan Health District Solid Waste and the 311 Customer Service Center. He currently oversees departments representing an $862 million slice of San Antonio's $2.8 billion fiscal year 2019 adopted budget and $5,950 of the 12,374 employees at the city. There will be a quiz at the end. Before we get started, Eric would like to start out by telling you a little bit more about himself. Please join me in welcoming your proposed finalist for city manager, Eric Walsh. I did not pick the music. I like it though, I like it. Thank you Mayor and Dr. Romero and Maria for being here tonight and helping. If I'm a little nervous, it's because this is probably the first time I've done this in front of my parents. So I'm going to try not to look over there. Who am I? First of all, I'm honored and humbled and really excited to be the proposed finalist for the next city manager position. In my profession, and those of you MPA students here tonight, you'll learn it is not common to be in city management and have the opportunity to be the city manager in the city where you grew up at. So that's an extra bonus for me. I feel like I'm extremely in a great position to do something in a community that I love and in a community that I call home. So Maria talked a little bit about who I am. As she said, I've worked for the city for almost 25 years. I started with the city for you graduate students. I started with the city about two weeks after I graduated from graduate school and you kind of blink and all of a sudden you're on the stage and you're a proposed finalist. I worked my way up through the organization and as Maria talked, I was promoted by Cheryl Scully in 2006 as an assistant city manager in 2011 as a deputy city manager. And I've had the fortunate position to be. It's so nice to see familiar faces out here. Hi Rose. Congratulations! I've been in a fortunate situation. I mean, this is home for me. It's home for all my life. I chose to go to school here. I chose to work here. My wife is a native San Antonio and my wife Sandra who's over here. Sandra Wave. There you go. It's home and it means a lot more to me and I want this community and more importantly the organization that I'd be responsible for to do great things and continue to support the mayor and city council on their priorities and executing their directives. Now let me talk a little bit about that and Maria mentioned it. What does the city manager do? The city manager's responsibility is to facilitate conversation, inform the mayor and city council of operational or fiscal impacts associated with decisions they may make. The city manager oversees the organization and the personnel and the administrative side of the house and with over 12,000 employees and a 2.1 billion dollar budget, there's a lot going on. So the city manager oversees that. The city manager is responsible for making, giving the council alternatives as they have their policy discussions and recommendations. And when the mayor and city council make a policy decision, it's the manager's job to line everybody up in the organization in order to execute it. The mayor and council point the hill and we take it and it's a real simple concept and I'm certainly appreciative of the council members that are here this evening. But it's a clear, simple concept and I think somehow that gets lost over time. I'm excited to be able to support the mayor and council with their priorities, both as individuals and certainly as a group. And this is an exciting time and I gotta give a shout out to my buddy Jason here. So with that I'm ready for questions. Let's do it. So thank you all so much again for being here. I love that your parents are here. Hello. Welcome. So for the past couple of weeks we've asked residents what burning questions they have for you. They've responded. Their questions were submitted through Eventbrite via email at saspeakup.com and on social media. We've also received some from tonight's audience. Thank you all for being engaged with the City of San Antonio and with this process. I know we can't cover all of your questions tonight but we'll try to get to as many as we can. So let's take our first question now. Our first question was submitted on Eventbrite by Rebecca. She wants to know why do you want to be San Antonio's city manager? So I talked a little bit about that. It's a career achievement for me to be in this profession and have the opportunity to be city manager. And it's extra special because San Antonio is home. It's gonna be a lot of hard work but I think I'm dedicated to the community. And I said this the other day at City Hall. I want San Antonio to be the top of every list. The best place to live, the best place to work, the best place to raise a family. And those are part of supporting the mayor and council as they determine those priorities and somebody needs to execute them. I love the hometown pride. Do you think that if you were in a different city that you'd be interested in taking this job? If I was somewhere else? Sure. San Antonio is a great city. Yeah, that's why we had, as the mayor and council advertised the position, we had candidates from all over the country. So who wouldn't want to work here? Second question comes from Gloria, who is here tonight. Gloria, are you here? You want to raise your hand, wave? No? Okay. She asked us earlier, what is your top priority for the city? What's the thing that you'd like to get accomplished first? There are so many priorities. First priority for me will be aligning myself with the mayor and council's expectations. I mean, yeah, there are a lot of organizational issues and administrative things. And certainly the manager has a role in a lot of that. But I think it's going to be critical from day one to be on the same page with the mayor and the council. So for me, that's critical day one. The rest of it, it's all going to be priorities. It's going to have to be deliberate in its approach. But I need to make sure that day one, if not right now, I'm in lockstep with what the mayor and council want. Thank you. Natalie and Maria also asked on Eventbrite, which is a very similar question, what changes are you planning to make as soon as you take office? As soon as I take office? Maybe some decorative changes, I don't know. Yeah, I'm not the decorative type. Pretty simple. Right off the bat, nothing. I think it's going to take some time. I think, you know, I've got a number of folks here on the front row that are part of our team. And I've had a chance to talk to them. I think we need to be deliberate and thoughtful as a big organization with over 12,000 employees. We need to potentially realign some issues. But I want to have the opportunity to kind of get that feedback internally. I've been with the city for 24 and a half years, and I think I have an idea of things I want to change. But walking into a job like that with that type of responsibility, I don't think you make changes right off the bat. And I think that's going to have to be a thoughtful process. I suspect the council will be expecting some progress report over a 30, 60 or 90 day time frame. But I think I've got to get into the position and start visiting. And I'll tell you right now that I have had a lot of support and folks congratulating me. And I said this last night to a group. I was talking to them. The most humbling part is when you've got employees that you don't really interact with that have come out and found you and congratulated you. Or you've got former employees like Rose Ryan here. That's the humbling part of this. And I think the organization is going to deserve some listening, too. I love that. I like the idea that you take some time to really take kind of tree assessment and a pulse. I think that's important. So let's take a question from Facebook. Bruno wants to know, ¿Qué planes hay para continuar los esfuerzos para ser de San Antonio más inclusivo incluyendo el idioma? I'll let you just go ahead and take that one in Spanish. Entiendo mucho un poquito. That was good. That was really good. Okay, so I'm going to repeat that question in English. Bruno asks, Eric, can you tell us some of the initiatives you plan to continue in making city government more inclusive, specifically with regards to language? Yeah. Well, and Councilor Trevino is here. And that's been a big priority of his. And I think over the last couple of years, the city has gone and we probably should have done it a long time ago and incorporated Spanish speaking services at public events. We've expanded that and you'll see ASL here tonight. We've expanded that to ASL for council meetings and for emergency management type of situations. It's critical based on the community that we live in. Printed material and online resources, both in Spanish and English, are critical. And I think that's part of making sure that we keep as an organization a pulse on the community and what the needs are. It's not. And maybe other cities don't have to deal with that, but I think we've done a lot. And Councilor Trevino has been one of the one of the proponents of that and has really pushed the organization to expand those services. That's great. Yeah. Councilman Trevino, hello. George RSEP with this great question. As the new city manager, what plans do you propose to ensure that all contractors doing business with the city are treated equally and fairly? So the council has adopted and it's a policy of the city to give preferential points to small, local minority women owned businesses. It's a program that has been in place for a while and the mayor and council have continued to support that. It is incorporated within our procurement process and it's had great results. Last reporting period that our economic development department oversees that reported that out of the 220 some odd million dollars that the city contracted for where you had small, local minority or women owned businesses eligible. A little over 50% of that those contracts went to those types of businesses. So I suspect that it's going to continue to be a priority of the council and therefore incorporated within our procurement process. And that's an important element that the city has been invested in for a long period of time. That's fantastic. Yeah, I know a little bit about that and as a small business owner, I'm not a non-profit. I'm just a straight for-profit business. I've learned a little bit more about what the city offers. Have you gotten a certified? Not yet. Get certified. Yeah, it's on my to-do list. Get certified. So we received several questions about the still pending collective bargaining agreement with the firefighters union. For example, Curtis asked if the contract would be achieved through negotiation or arbitration. And can you tell us how you plan to reach an agreement with the fire union? It's a very good question. I've gotten it every place I've gone. There are, this issue has gone on for a number of years. And let me say that I feel the additional burden, I'll call it a burden because I feel a little bit of a weight. At the end, firefighters are city employees. They, almost 1,800 of them. They do a great, provide a great service to the community. And I know at some point it'll get resolved. I think all sides are going to have to be fair. And I think that's going to be critical. I think the mayor asked the city attorney in December to, or in November to drop the lawsuit. That lawsuit's been dropped since then. And there's been some conversations. And I think from the city's perspective, we're prepared to negotiate and resolve that. But at the end of the day, it takes two parties to come together. And I think the overriding premise is that I think it just needs to be fair all around. It's not about being unreasonable either side. I think from a long-term financial standpoint, there will be others that will be watching us and others being rating agencies on how we deal with this issue. So we're going to have to be thoughtful in that. But at some point it will get resolved once we get to the table. And I'm certainly confident of that. And I know it's a big issue that's hanging out there. I know it's a big issue and a complex issue. And I love that you spoke to fairness. Can you talk a little bit more about kind of what that means to you? Well, I mean, when I say fairness to all, it's awarding counts or firefighters with a collective bargaining agreement that they can operate under. But it's also something that's affordable, that should be affordable to the city. And as we manage a whole wide array of expenses, which is the manager's responsibility along with the staff, we need to make sure that there are resources available to direct towards the mayor and city council's priorities. And there are so many different priorities. And every year, the council, the mayor and the council will go through a budget work session in May, June timeframe to kind of set their priorities. And that's a hugely difficult task because there are so many needs in the community and limited resources. So from that perspective, I think we need to be fair and make sure it's affordable. Thank you for answering the follow-up. I appreciate it. So Proposition B placed a cap on the salary of any future city manager and limited their tenure to eight years. This question comes from Marta via Eventbrite. What are you most committed to seeing take place during your eight-year tenure? That's a hard question. There are so many priorities. I think I had a conversation in December with someone who has spent a long time in the city management profession. And the position had just opened up and I went and talked to him and said, you know, I'm a little concerned about the eight years. We were eating lunch at the time. I'm a little concerned about the eight years. And he was looking down at his plate. Of course, he's probably done this for 45 years. And he stopped and he looked up and he said, that's plenty. That's plenty. The average ten year of a city manager in this country is probably eight, seven, eight, nine, maybe ten years. I want to do the most I can with the time that the council will give me. And, you know, I hope that when I at some point leave, if I'm fortunate enough to get the job and at some point leave, I can look back at knowing that I align the organization to achieve whatever priorities the mayor and council have. I want Councilman Trevino or Councilwoman Gonzales or Councilwoman Sandoval or Councilman Hall to leave office with those boxes checked and feeling like that we've accomplished something. And I think more to the point, and I mentioned it earlier, the humbling part, I want employees to kind of think we're going to miss it. You want to be a good boss. Among all the other things you want to do. Well, hopefully I will be. I mean, it sounds like you already have been, yeah. Yeah, it's important. You know, we've got a team approach, I believe, and that's kind of my mentality anyway. And everybody's got strengths and weaknesses, but from a team perspective, there's nothing you can't achieve. And I'm a firm believer in that, and that's probably from my old sports days, and that's just the way I'm built. We're going to get to your sports days a little bit later. So a resident from District 8 who asked to remain anonymous asked via email, what steps can you take to properly represent and allocate resources to all parts of the city? Equity has been a big part of the discussions at the city recently and the budget process. Can you talk a little bit about how you'd ensure that that would happen for all parts of the city? Well, part of that is in two years ago and initially work that was done by Councilwoman Gonzalez on the front end regarding street maintenance and infrastructure, the city started to look at allocating resources through our annual budget where we had the greatest need, and that's been incorporated in the last two budgets. The city has an office of equity and we're trying to make sure that internal to the organization that we shift so that departments recognize that and align their requests through the budget appropriately. The concept is that we should be investing in those parts of our community that have had certain histories or challenges or have certain needs and not just a peanut butter approach where you're spreading it all. I see that as a continued policy directive of the Council. Today we had our monthly department head meeting and the Office of Equity came in and briefed all the city executives and there's a whole series of trainings that will be going on this year because we do need to align the organization to think through that. And for those of you that don't know, let me give a simple example of what we did when the city did two years ago. Rather than invest a bunch of money in street maintenance equally and all through all the ten council districts, the staff took the approach that we were going to make sure that every city, I'm sorry, every street in the city had at least a score of 70. Now our Transportation and Capital Improvement Department scores streets. And the idea was let's raise everybody up and that means in some areas of town we're going to have to invest more. It's a simple concept and a lot of cities are starting to see that as really tackling the issues that certain parts of the community might have because there hasn't been the type of investment. And not just in infrastructure but it could be in social services, police services. You want to make sure that those investments are aligned where the greatest need is at. And so I know that's going to be a continued priority of the city council and certainly will be incorporated within the organization and is in fact happening today. Fantastic. As a president in San Antonio, that's something that is certainly a point of pride for me. It's something that I talk to my friends about when I'm talking to folks who live in different cities. Dexter, who is here tonight? Dexter? Hi Dexter. Thank you for being here tonight. He asked, how do you plan to make city government more transparent to the general public? Great question. Last Thursday, Dexter, do you know what the council, do you follow city council meetings? You do? So Councilwoman Sandoval who's sitting here in the second row initiated a proposal that the council approved in resolution form that set aside a number of engagement principles for the organization and how the city, regardless of department, but how the city consistently engages the public for input, the flow of communication, transparency, convenience for the public. And a lot of efforts have been made in the past. And the part about this resolution that was approved by the council last week and that was actually part of our department head briefing this morning is we're converting that into an administrative directive so that departments see that. It's part of the city's policy. And I see Jeff Coyle there in the back and there are a number of his government and public affairs staff here. You know, making sure that we are making input convenient to you is there is no finish line on that type of stuff. And the example I like to point to, let me back up before I give you the example. I think there are some folks in our community that are extremely involved, but I don't think they represent the majority. You have maybe community groups or business groups or neighborhood associations, but you've got everybody in between that is working, helping kids with homework, living their life, working two jobs. They don't have the time and the city necessarily hasn't made it easy to make it convenient. That's the principle behind the resolution that Councilwoman Sandoval recommended, that the council approved. But I think we're going to need to continue to dig through that hole because there are opportunities that we need to make it easier. And the example I like to use is that my councilman, councilman Courage last year with a small amount of money, how many of you are next door? All right, so with a small amount of money, I had a survey on next door and he sent it out and it was probably seven or eight different small little projects, a turn lane here, a sidewalk here, not a lot of money. And he had great response and it kind of laid out where he thought the investment needed to be made. That probably took 30 seconds and we had the opportunity to get some real input. Now, can we balance a two billion dollar budget with no one next door? Probably not. And I'm not sure I'd want to try. But the concept is there. One other thing that the city's experimented in and with Jeff's office and Rhea Villagomas down on Assistant City Manager down here on the front row are these teletown halls, which is new technology that call out and invite you to participate and we've had some test runs with that technology and it gives the opportunity to folks to just listen to and be part of public meetings. You don't have to drive downtown. You don't have to find parking and you don't have to come in the evenings. Make it convenient. You can sit at home and listen to it. So I think we're going to need to continue to push the envelope on that. Thank you. I love the convenience piece as well. Just making things a little bit more accessible and convenient for folks is also going to increase... Engagement. Yeah, absolutely. So this is a multifaceted question. We received several questions about affordable housing in San Antonio. On next door, Mary told us that her primary interest is affordable housing for senior citizens. She's 72, educated and living on social security. From Eventbrite, Rosemary asked, how will you work with neighborhoods to provide affordable housing and prevent displacement? And Michael, who is in the audience tonight, asked, will you continue to support affordable housing and if so, how? Through a budget, through staffing? So last year, the mayor had created a mayor's task force on housing and they provided a report to the city council last summer. And the affordable housing was a priority of the council as they gave that direction to staff last summer. And this year's budget includes a little over $25 million towards the first phase of that report. And 17 of that is new money. It is a priority of the council and it will continue to be a priority to the staff to be incorporating that into future plans. One of the elements and it was part of and one of those questions is a risk mitigation fund which has been set aside, money set aside to help with those folks that find themselves in a displacement situation and which is key and which was one of the key recommendations from the task force. There are a variety of programs that the city has funded through there. It's partly some new development but also rehabbing existing facilities. The crux to the issue that the task force found and concluded was that over the last 10 years housing costs, whether they're homes that are owned or rents have grown at a faster clip than median salaries or wages and so the mayor and the council decided that before this becomes a crisis now there's a shortage now but before this becomes more of a crisis like it is in other cities in this country we need to do something now. And so we've incorporated programs such as the One Roof Program which was also initiated originally a couple of years ago by Councilman Trevino with his colleagues which is replacing people's roofs. Some folks just need an opportunity to have a little bit more in terms of resources so that they've got a place to live and it's a safe place to live and it's better for them from a living condition standpoint. And what I'm hearing you say as well is that it's a multi-pronged effort that you're thinking about displacement as well as affordable housing as well as rehab and that it's an ongoing effort. It is and one of the other big recommendations from the task force and it's something that our neighborhood housing services department is working on this year is really better coordinating those housing services for the public and we talk about engagement but making sure that folks know where to go for help and making it easily accessible. Great. Michael G sent us an email question regarding site and release policies. Eric, can you tell us what work has been done to create a site and release program for the City of San Antonio and what the city's role could be in encouraging neighboring jurisdictions to adopt similar programs? That's a great question and the police chief is standing up there in the back. It's an issue that the council and the chief have talked about for a number of years. Councilwoman Gonzalez at least the last three years right Councilwoman I think and so it's it's an initiative that allows officers to decide on the scene whether or not to issue a citation rather than arrest and they're generally lower level nonviolent type of things. There's a series of issues that are allowed under state law that would give that officer the discretion and we've had a lot of conversation internally and with the public safety committee about it. It is an efficiency issue from the police department standpoint but it's also if you're 18 or 19 years old or you're 22 years old and it's something minor folks that otherwise without a site and release program wouldn't be arrested or might get arrested and what type of impact that has on the rest of their life. So the council has looked at both those issues. There are two sides of the formula on site and release. The first part of the formula is the police department and therefore I think there's a number of training that's been prepared. The second side of the formula is the district attorney's office and the new district attorney has had a number of conversations with the police chief and is interested in pursuing that because when the police officer writes the ticket you've got to tell the individual what court to respond to. What do they need to report to? So the new DA is working through that process and we have a council briefing on that on February 13th in our B session where we'll give the council an update but it's something that we've wanted to pursue for some time and I know it's a priority of the DA as well as the council. Thank you and thank you for going into the definition for those of us who don't know, that was great. I'll ask on event bright, what is your vision for the next wave of business commerce and industry coming to San Antonio and I'll also mention that we have about five minutes left of questions before we get into our really tough rapid fire. Okay. So the city has an established economic development policy and that's set by the mayor and council and it includes targeted industries such as advanced manufacturing and aerospace, IT and cybersecurity healthcare and biomed and those targets are still there. They're not going to change when a new city manager is appointed. Part of our role is advising the council and being part of that economic development strategic discussion. We've got a number of partners that we work with the economic development foundation Leo Gomez there from Brooks I mean, there's a lot of folks that are aligned on those key targeted industries. We're going to need to stay focused on that and of course at the end of the day we'll take our direction from the mayor and the council but those have been priority areas for a number of years for the city and I suspect they'll continue you know one other big aspect of that and this kind of cuts across all industries is workforce development and for all levels of employees that in the long run prepares people to take on different roles and potentially higher paying roles and it's critical to the overall success of the community. I think we're going to take one more before we move on. Tim asked us on Facebook how will you work to create a bicycle friendly city? I know that councilman Gonzalez has done a lot of work around this on Vision Zero not just bicycle friendly but just folks walking on the street making sure that they're safe but if you want to go ahead and talk about your vision. You know we might need to change the term because now we have scooters and it's not just bicycles right? Yeah. You know the city has a bicycle master planet it needs to be updated and I spoke to the staff earlier today I think what we need to do and it certainly is a priority of the staff and the mayor and council because we've got so many folks that are using other modes of transportation and that begins with how we design projects that begins with being a little bit more thoughtful as we design these major corridors and allow space for not just bicyclists but scooters or whatever comes around the corner six months from now and that takes a lot of foresight and thought and planning we've got Broadway a significant project of Broadway coming up that is already going through the design phase and so we'll need to kind of continue to watch that you know part of that and sometimes in some areas it may be difficult for the city to be nimble in that sense but when we've got a $45 million street project that's already been designed the mayor the council and the public I'll expect that to finish on time and on budget so that requires us to get a little more foresight thought and I think based on a lot of the conversation that's gone on over the last year and a half our transportation and capital improvement department is really looking at how we can be a little bit more thoughtful but we're not there and I think we can probably do a better job and I think it's going to continue to be an issue as we deal with new technologies and modes of transportation I appreciate you incorporating scooters I know that people have very strong feelings seeing them online we've talked a lot about policy and covered a lot of ground but now I have some rapid fire Q&A save the best for last these are really the top questions are you ready? you sure? yeah sure here we go what kind of breakfast taco is your favorite? megas megas that's a good one it's like very san Antonio it's easy you guys can like boo or like yay that I don't know I think megas is good okay who's your favorite San Antonio spur? DeMar DeRosem who's your favorite San Antonio spur? and you answered you want to say that again? DeMar DeRosem people are like lukewarm about that one alright zero for two I'll get better as we get along okay if you could have any super power which one would you have? flying you wasted no time you've thought about this for a long time no but that'd be cool what's your favorite sport? you mentioned earlier about your background in sports football I'm a college football guy what TV show do you binge watch in your limited spare time if any do you do that? my wife and I were just talking about this Sandra Wave with my wife Sandra my wife and I were just nobody's watching TV in our house that's cool it's like YouTube it's very Netflix we're not watching a lot of TV we were just talking about it the other day something's changed here Netflix Netflix makes it so easy to binge watch so periodically I'll dive into there but a little bit of YouTube and Discovery Channel when you're diving into Netflix do you have a show that you like to watch? the people want to know you don't really want to know Lost in Space was kind of cool I'm going to strike out on that one okay you're doing great who do you consider to be your role model? my dad that was an easy one what's the last book you read? Make Your Bed by Admiral McRaven I make my bed every day very in tune with that what do you consider your greatest accomplishment? Mary and Sandra very sweet so I think we've covered a lot tonight would you like to share anything in closing? thank you for being such a good sport with us I'm excited we had fun with those questions at the end there are a number of folks that are in the audience tonight and a lot of them are sitting right here and guys if you'll stand up this is part of the city executive team Peter Zinoni Deputy City Manager Lori Houston Assistant City Manager Annie Segovia City Attorney Maria Villagomez and Carlos Contreras Rod Sanchez over here they're a great team and a lot of us have worked together for a long time and I'm certainly appreciative of you guys being here tonight and we've got a number of other staff I see kind of scattered around the room that are all part of that core group I'm excited I'm excited to get to work I'm excited to work with these folks down here and have Councilwoman Gonzalez and Councilman Sandoval Councilman Trevino and other Council members have those boxes checked and get things taken care of I'm certainly very appreciative of everybody coming here tonight and I'm ready to go to work Thank you so much for your time Thank you all for your time I'm sorry I talked about my mom and dad here my in-laws are here I get the best in-laws in the world here George and Lillian Kibasa right here everybody wave and I've got other family here scattered throughout the auditorium thanks for coming down I certainly appreciate the support Thank you family following tonight Eric will continue to meet with various groups throughout the community City Council is expected to vote on his appointment on January 31st we invite you to keep up with the process by visiting Essayspeakup.com or following the City of San Antonio on social media you can find the city on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube at Coasecgov we also have several reporters here thank you all for being here tonight they will also keep you informed and keep you engaged remember that it's your city and your city manager thanks for speaking up, thanks for being here tonight