 15th of the College of Public Policy, and we are once again very honored to team with the League of Women Voters to host one of our forums. This is a District 5 City Council forum. We are District 5, and we're really happy to do this tonight, and have all of you here. This morning we had this room filled with about 150 first graders. So, if y'all start squirming in your seats or anything, we will understand. But we had a lot of fun with them today. This event tonight is also co-sponsored by two student organizations. I wanted to let Mercedes introduce herself and tell you just a little bit about those two student organizations. Hi everyone, I'm Mercedes Vos, and I'm the president of the Public Communications Team Organization. And we do events like networking events, volunteer events throughout the community. We did an event at Haven for Hope, and we did an event at Animal Care Shelter. We blanked in for help using things. And so we really tried to engage the community and have the students learn more about what careers they might want to do. We recently had an event called Conversation Fighters. We had guest speakers come, and we shared experience with the students with what they could do for a career. And then we also went to City Hall last week, because it was really fun. Alpha Phi Sigma also sponsored this event, but they're not here. They are the communities on it. Thank you for coming today. The Alpha Phi Sigma students are off studying somewhere. So it's now my honor to introduce your moderator, the wonderful Phyllis Ingram of the Amazing and Historic League of Women Voters. So thank you again for coming. I would like to thank Dr. Romero and the student organizations who are partnering with us this evening. They are always wonderful partners for us. We try and get in at least one candidate forum every election here at UTSA. Thank you for being here this evening. I apologize. But since we're here, let's please all silence any electronic devices. The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages the informed and active participation in government. Candidate forums are one of the ways that we help voters get informed. We also produce a voter guide prior to each election. The voter guide candidate information is available right now on vote411.org. You may have seen these cards outside. There's a voting app called the Voting App. And it has not only the League of Women Voters candidate information, but also the Move SA candidate information. And the printed voter guides will be available the week of April 17th. Early voting begins on April 24th and ends May 2nd. And election day is May 6th. There are cards available to write out a question for the candidates. Please make them general as all candidates will be answering the same question. If you have a question on a card, hold it up and one of the students will pick it up. If you want to write a question on a card and you don't have a card, raise your hand and someone will bring you a card and a pen. Chris Forbrick from the League of Women Voters will be sorting the questions. And we sort questions not to eliminate questions, but to consolidate questions with a similar or same topic. We want to give the candidates a chance to answer as many questions as possible this evening. Candidates have agreed to refrain from directing questions or remarks to each other. All questions will come from the moderator. The candidates will have two minutes for opening statement. Then we'll rotate questions so that each candidate will have an opportunity to answer first and last. At the conclusion of the questioning, each candidate will have one minute for a closing statement. I would like to acknowledge some people here in the audience this evening. Former Councilwoman Patty Radle and mayoral candidates Antonio Diaz. Maria and Chris here in the front row will be the timers for the forum. Maria will hold up a yellow card. Do you want to show them what it looks like, Maria? When you have 20 seconds remaining and then when she holds up the red card, please stop so that we can get as many questions in as possible. So with that, let me introduce to you the candidates starting on my immediate left, Shirley Gonzales, Diaz-Cavazos, Richard Montez, Daniel Lopez, and Delora Sotomayor. So we will begin with Shirley Gonzales with your two minute opening statement. Good evening, everyone. Thank you all for coming today. Thank you to the League of Women Voters for hosting us this evening and also to UTSA for letting us use your space. I am Shirley Gonzales. I am the Councilwoman for District 5. I'm seeking re-election for my third term on office, respectfully asking for your vote. I promised three things when I ran for re-election that I would improve the lighting in the area, that I would work with public safety to make our neighborhoods safer, and that I would work with animal care services in particular. That was one of the big things that we were working on. Since then, we've been able to tackle those by adding lighting, by increasing the amount of officers in our district, and increasing the amount of, increasing the one officer of animal care services to the district. I look forward to serving you all in the next few years by working with our bond committee to make sure that the money that you all support for the bond is used effectively and appropriately. I look forward to continuing to work on public safety, which is a big issue in this area. One of my commitments when I came on Council was to continue to work on this specific area around Haven for Hope and the amount of vagrants in the area. And as a result, we've been able to get three additional by-patrol officers for the area, and we continue to work with our six law enforcement officers that are right here in this area to make sure that our community remains safe. I am also looking forward to continuing the basic work that needs to be done in this area, especially regarding sidewalks, street infrastructure, parks, and lighting. The things that you all have told me that you're most concerned about. But I also look forward to working with the small business community, especially the entrepreneurial community, and also the long-standing businesses in the community. District 5 is one of the oldest parts of San Antonio. We have businesses here that have been here for 50 years and longer. So I look forward to working with the business community to make sure that we can support small businesses in the area. Thank you very much. Liz Cavasos, two minute opening statement. Good afternoon. My name is Cynthia T. Cavasos. I'm a District 5 City of San Antonio District candidate. The reason why we are all here today is to figure out to see exactly who it is that we want to vote for and who it is that we want to represent our city, much less our district. District 5, as you all do know, is a beautiful district. It runs from one part of town to the other. We have so many things within our district that needs to be changed, and you, as the constituent body, can make that change. You just have to open your mouths. You have to use that right hand or that left hand. And do you know who it is you want to vote for? And everybody will be able to get things done properly. And this is basically one of the reasons why I decided to run for office. There is too many issues in the city of San Antonio within the district, as well as out of the district that we need to change. Thank you. Mr. Yanis. Hello everyone. My name is David Yanis. I'm an immigration attorney. My interest has always been economics and cultural awareness of a place. What got me involved in running for this office is very important, because the city of San Antonio is on its way to going someplace, and I want to help you get there. But I think we're also burying off because we have a life of this $850 million bond, and not all the subject areas are being attended to properly. What I feel is that, you know, government of the people, by the people and for the people, we must also examine the economic and cultural awareness of a place within the city. I think we're losing some of them. You know, it's like, for instance, one of the last things that occurred was, you know, the mall house. It's a cultural icon, families, neighbors, a place of community where people come together and have fun and congregate, and that's, you know, being converted towards business, most likely a 7-11. If we lose these cultural icons in our city, then what are we? You know, we're just going to be moving towards profiteering, rather than cultural and dynamic awareness of what created the city. That's what my concern is. I studied economic development at the University of Pennsylvania, have a master's degree in city planning, and also my law degree, focusing on federal law which is down-migration. I worked at Catholic Charities. I built with clients at the Better Women Children's Shelter because everyone needs advocacy. But in part of my work, I worked for Senator Vande Putes' office for almost five years, and one of our subject areas was economic and cultural awareness. So we gave a suggestion. I did the research and created the Texas Treasure Business Award, Senate Bill 920. What's important about that, it recognizes and distinguishes other businesses in the area because they haven't been recognized like they should be at the state level, and also you recognize the whole state. One of the bigger ones was the Buckhorn Saloon, so I'm always proud of that one. But those ideas is what I wish to bring to Senate Sonia and for District 5. Thank you. Mr. Montez. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. How are you all? Thank you for being here, and thank you to UTSA and the League of Women Voters, the School of Public Policy for hosting us here this evening. Again, my name is Richard Montez, and I'm here respectfully asking for your support in this coming election. The message behind our campaign has always been progress for every generation. And having grown up in this community as a graduate of Glenier High School at St. Mary's University, I've come to intimately understand the issues and the obstacles that face our members of our community day in and day out. And we want to begin to have a broader conversation about progress. You know, every generation and every council person that comes through District 5 will see a bond project. They'll see a bond program. They'll have the opportunity to allocate funds to infrastructure. And that's almost sort of the traditional thing that has happened to council person after council person. But I believe that what's been lacking in this conversation about broader progress is beginning to pinpoint some of the larger issues that we face in our neighborhood, multi-generational poverty, the lack of dignified housing in our community, the impending threat of gentrification on some of our oldest communities in San Antonio, particularly in District 5. And in order to begin to address some of those issues, I think first we need to start having the conversation about them. That conversation has been missing for far too long. But I also believe that if we are going to achieve progress and that progress looks like the way that the community wants it to, at the very foundation what we need to do is begin listening to people and gathering people's input. So I've begun to, in this campaign, begun to propose a number of measures to start to address some of these issues. First and foremost, creating some advisory boards that will have the ear and the attention of the city council person. Giving our youths our opportunity to participate in those advisory boards, meet with me as a council person on a monthly basis and give me their ideas and their input on what they want to see in their community. We spend a whole lot of time asking our kids what, telling our kids what they should want and not enough time asking them what they're doing. I appreciate your time here and I ask for your support. Thank you. Mr. Lopez? Hello everyone. I'm Daniel Lopez and I'm running for city council district five. Can everybody hear me? Thank you. The reason why I'm running is because I grew up, I was born in district five and I grew up in district five and I went to school on district five in a private school known as Christian Academy of San Antonio. It used to be called the Old Centeno, that's what a lot of people know it as, but it's in the district, very popular historic area. But I'm running because I see that a change needs to be made. I see that someone needs to be out there and make that change and of it, I want to step up and speak my voice as an American citizen and as an American right to yell and say there is a problem and then fix it. I want to be your voice in district five and I want to help fix things. My father used to tell me when I was younger that he used to come to me and say, son, I want you to always know this. If I can do it, you can do it. That's something that always stayed with me because I've seen my parents show it through a lot. We weren't the most fortunate family and we were blessed to have each other and if he can do it, if I saw him show it through, then I can show it through some stuff and get stuff done. I want to struggle and fight for the people of district five to be their voice and I want to bring change in our transportation system. I want to help the homeless people to eliminate homelessness because I know it is a big issue that nobody in City Council wants to really touch on. I don't know if people are afraid to go speak to them or what, but I want to go speak to them as a person, as their human right. I want to change infrastructure just so we don't always have to see construction each cycle when someone in the City Council comes. So please vote for me and I'm respectfully asking for your vote. April 24th, if you want to beat the line, but May 6th is very crucial. So thank you. Thank you. Ms. Sodanero. Good evening. I'm Delores of the Mayotte. I'm a proud mother of six and a very great, a big proud grandmother of eight. I have, I've lived most of my life in San Antonio. I went to school here and I studied a lot here and I've lived in District 5 for about a total of six years and I see the problem of our generation is letting our parents, our grandparents generation fade away and it doesn't happen just in one day. It's a fade away station and I want to help that. I want for this generation to help their parents whatever business they had or whatever they had going on here for it to continue. It needs to keep going and we need to fight crime. Right now the crime, especially in District 5 on the West Side, it's really bad. It's really, really bad. It's gotten out of hand and if we don't grab it and take control of it right now, it's just we're not going to have anything left. People are getting murdered left and right and that's just not right. We need to protect each other. We need to be a voice for each other and for the ones that are afraid for the little aunt Sanitos that don't want to come outside and do their garden anymore. We need to be their voice to say, hey, you know what, we're here for you and you can do your garden. You can do the things that you love to do and I want to be there to help them and to let them come back out and let our kids be outside and play and I'm worried that someone's going to harm them because that's going on way too much in our homes, in our schools and I just want to be the voice to help for the ones that won't speak and I respectfully ask for your vote on May 6th or April 24th. Be blessed. Thank you. We're going to start the questioning with Ms. Cavassos. Have one minute for your answer. If elected, what are one or two concrete steps you would take to increase and improve transparency in city government? That's an excellent question. I wish I could say it was mine, but... Very good question. I'm going to say that if elected, my first concrete steps or what it is that I'm going to do to change the city of San Antonio would be to balance the budget. The budget, we have so many dollars approximately two something billion dollars that go toward the city budget. How those dollars are spent, I'm not going to tell you that I know because I don't except for the budget that they have instilled within the city. Within each district in the city of San Antonio each district is needing something and they're needing something important whether it be social services, whether it be more criminal justice, whether it be more cops, more places of employment. But that would be the main thing that I would do is go in and re-audit the... Thank you. Mr. Yanis? Yes, hi. What I believe for transparency is first step is examine the neighborhood associations. That's our first level of government. I believe once the neighborhood associations are established because not all areas have been in the district I would like to go for a 100% complete coverage of the entire district that has advocacy. There has to be some neighbors who haven't been reached out to and let them know that they want to be included well we'll create a neighborhood association if not but at least know who those active neighbors are. Many constituents always call and they wish to get information. I'm familiar with that working for that previous job. People want to know, hey I heard the city is working on this project can you get more details? Well it's up to the council person to say, sure let me get that information we'll mail it to you or you can come to the office and we'll review it together. Everyone wants a chance to have a better understanding. Everyone's level is not the same but we must reach out to them because as part of government we're supposed to be there for them and when the constituent is ready they wish to come in I'm going to try and get points. When the constituent comes in they want to understand and we have to be there for them to explain it at the level they understand so they can make the best decision. Thank you. Mr. Martinez. Yes thank you for this question. I think it's important and you heard me allude to this in my opening I think at the very basis of community involvement is the idea that we should invite people to the table and so I've created a number of concrete plans to be able to begin to start that process. One is the creation of a citizens advisory board to the council person. This advisory board will be made up of individuals from across district 5 nonprofit organizations folks who participate regularly in the community but also begin to invite new faces and new voices. I'd love to see more people involved in our community that are from places like the Alasano Pache Courts people from the Cassianos people from the Lincoln Courts invite them to be part of the conversation even if you don't think that they're part of that big voter demographic still they should have a voice and so that's just one concrete idea I also as I mentioned before want to create youth advisory boards so that they can come to the table and have a voice in the decisions we make as well. Thank you. Mr. Lopez. Thank you for the question. Hello. Okay. I would like to hold as a first thing I would like to hold city council accountable for the things that are discussed in city council about each district and about in particular district 5 and I would like to ask questions in city council to see where the money's going and where and how it's going to benefit the people and then have a translation to the people to where they don't understand no matter what the cause or case is I would like to reach out to each person each person learns a different way some people are more hands on some people like to listen some people are just different ways so we need to find the way to which we can get out to most people and just focus on our community and reach out to see what really is going on in city council and people that are not even voters we should get them involved and explain how voting is important and how you should have a voice in voting so I would like to do that as well Thank you Ms. Sotomayor I would like to give more funding to the neighborhood associations because they're the ones that live in the area they know what's going on they actually know they don't have to go asking anybody else they know because usually it's right down the street or somewhere in the area I would like them to have more control and for the citizens to know and understand where the money is going what is happening with it not just okay, here's this and no explanation that's not right if we're all together then we should know where everything's going be accountable for everything that's going on and I would like to also have a committee to where it's the people that live in district 5 that have meetings and more than one national night out so that the community can come together and share their experiences or share how we can work together Thank you Ms. Gonzalez I think the best way to improve transparency on city government is to not have so many individual committees so I as a council member sit on about six different committees that means throughout the month I'm attending a meeting multiple times a week and many of the times decisions are made in committee and then they're put on the council agenda and A session on consent and there's never a discussion about it and during A session and sometimes during B session we only discuss one or two items and sometimes our council meetings have you noticed they can be as short as 30 minutes an A session when there's actually a lot of discussion that happened in the committee meetings or at B session meetings but the only ones that are really made public are the A session and the B session so I believe that having fewer committee meetings and also having the opportunity for citizens to be heard during our committee meetings but we be one way we can increase the transparency all these meetings are open to the public anybody can come and sit in our committee meetings but the fact that we don't discuss them in an A session or B session removes some transparency from the process We're going to begin this question with Mr. Yanis what will you do to combat child abuse and neglect in District 5? One thing I would say sometimes I believe in dealing with the clients meeting a better women's shelter at the Pampy Justice Center somehow a lot of the issues are always economic related the jobs people are not working and they get frustrated and there's not enough money it's like one time one of the clients had come in and she was injured because the fellow her spouse had come home at 7.39 and he wanted dinner and you know she had put in a full day herself and then they got into a hassle in the theater and then she had a room shelter he's you know and again he was beginning to work again and part of it is it's jobs I think what we can do is there's a term called ban the box or free chance fair chance hiring as for persons who have a central background that they can at least make the applications about being excluded I think we should start from the bottom up and make sure that these folks have jobs otherwise we're going to have to be helping them out and somehow that connection is because everyone has families and children but we got to give them some guidance and support so that way they don't take their frustrations out of their families it's my approach thanks thank you Mr. Montes thank you you know I think child abuse is part of a bigger issue that's got some underlying cyclical challenges in particularly in communities like ours where people live in poverty and many of these instances of child abuse do come out of frustration but I think that if we begin to begin to address some of these underlying issues that we have in District 5 then we begin to address child abuse in general you know folks that don't have access to resources like adequate education adequate parenting classes in a community that has a very high rate of teen pregnancy it's where you see these higher instances of child abuse and I think we're going to begin to address some of these concerns then as I mentioned earlier we need to start having a broader conversation about resources of community needs particularly education to begin to address issues like child abuse thank you just a reminder to please silence all cell phones and personal communication devices Mr. Lovis on child abuse this is a topic very close and dear to my heart as a I personally have dealt with but I've seen other people that are neighbors deal with it that are friends of mine I'll combat it in one way in multiple ways but in the first way but it's about being there for my community and my constituents and caring for them I think the ultimate thing when someone's going through a child especially in child abuse cases the child wants someone to be there with them to stand by their side because they were abused so they want someone to be by their side to believe them to be every step to create pilot programs to go into schools and be open with students make that make that relationship with students not only with education but also with students to see what's going on at home and to see of anything and everything's alright so it doesn't hinder them from learning and it doesn't hinder them from their adult life and that's something that is dear and close to my heart and child abuse will not be accepted and is not accepted by them thank you thank you Ms. Gonzalez I'm sorry child abuse there's many forms different ways of child abuse and a lot of them people don't even want to talk about it we need to be there for the families and lighten their load lighten the single mom or the single dad they struggle every day to feed their kids we need to help them transportation is one to lower the cost of the busing to have 24-hour bus lines so that the parents that have to work at night can be there and not be struggling getting home stressed because they had a hard time to get home or to get to work we just need to be there for them and let them know all the different agencies that are out there that can help them if they're all out there and they know they have a place to go to they will I'm totally against child abuse thank you the numbers of child abuse in district 5 are staggering over 30% of all child abuse cases come out of district 5 specifically in the codes in within the district and so that's why in the bond we dedicated 1.5 million to Family Services Association towards capital improvements to help them work with other agencies and within the whole family structure to prevent child abuse there's been 1.2 million dedicated to ChildSafe for a similar similar response on the east side and also another 1.2 million for the battered women shelter this city has a very dirty secret of not addressing child abuse and I believe it in this bond we're taking some steps to fund properly the non-profits that do the best work to help with child abuse because we know that it's not just child abuse alone it's primarily an issue of domestic violence and that domestic violence leads to homelessness it's the number 1 cause of homelessness also is domestic violence and so I think I hope for hope properly as far as child abuse is concerned you know abuse is a large word there's too many abuse it's the main word of a hub or the umbrella of a lot of different things that can happen when somebody's being abused there's many many issues that come out of the word abuse and there's many things that we can do as a people and as the community to better educate the community with prevention courses prevention classes anger management classes you know people out there they do have anger management problems and to be able to help them to keep themselves into control or to keep them to a point to where they're not going to hurt somebody or they're not going to abuse somebody thank you we're going to begin this question with Mr. Montes UTSA students do not feel safe walking in the area around campus due to homelessness what would you do to address this safety concern thank you for this question it's a concern that I've heard over and over again from UTSA students and folks living around Haven for Hope in these areas I think first and foremost we have to remember that our approach to homelessness has to continue to be compassionate because this is a major issue in San Antonio that we haven't quite done enough to address we need to continue to talk about the issue but continue to be compassionate when we're addressing the homeless population in our community but also consider the quality of life and the concern that students in this area have in faculty when they're out at night and they don't feel safe or even when there are tourists or folks coming down to fiesta who don't feel safe I think there definitely is a community solution one that includes UTSA police that includes SAPD and that includes students and faculty having a conversation about how to address this I think that we should approach and pursue a task force in this area to have a community solution to this issue Thank you Mr. Lopez We shouldn't target the issue of homelessness as a crime it's something that's happened in someone's life where they took a tough turn or things are just not going as they plan so what we should do is we should team up with Haven for Hope and see what resources we can implement more and go into the courtyard to see what programs are going on in the courtyard and how we can improve programs in the courtyard for the Haven for Hope so they don't have to come out and be on our streets and when it just eliminates homeless people on the streets and panhandling and while they're in the courtyard they can benefit from getting training like job ready training and they can be preparing resumes and they can be getting educated it's a simple matter and we shouldn't be treating homelessness as a crime because everybody does have bad days everybody has bad weeks and unfortunately for people that are homeless they've just had a bad turn but we just need to lift their spirits up and walk with them as human beings and just treat them equally and say we're here with you Thank you Thank you Miss Sotomayor I'm not an alcoholic I don't do drugs yet I became homeless because of the bad choices of an individual and being that I was at Haven I saw all the good that they have to offer and they have a lot of good to offer but it's up to the individual to want to accept it to want to get the help at that time when I was there there was I believe 48 different organizations at Haven for Hope that anyone could reach out at any time you could finish your education you could get more education there there was a lot to do and it was sad that I saw a lot of people that didn't want to do it and I was very disappointed because it's like why would you want to stay homeless? why would you want to stay in that situation? but it's their choice it is the people's choice that if you have the things to offer to them and they don't want to get them we can't make them thank you this was has been a priority of mine for the last four years and so one of the things that I was able to implement was three additional by patrol officers specifically in the Haven for Hope area includes this area as well there are six law enforcement agencies just in this boundary of where we sit right now and so having better collaboration is one way that we can do that at VIA in the new multimodal in the central plaza they have they have offered a one stop for all of the agencies to get together because they're often restricted by their boundaries but if they had a central location that they could go to to report crimes to report concerns in the area that were out of their jurisdiction it would make it easier to communicate with all the other law enforcement agencies in the area we know that a revitalization of a community makes the area safer and we're starting to see that here in the downtown area with the multimodal improvements we know we've got still lots of improvements in the new downtown area there's about 23 million dedicated for Sonacultura coming in the bond and there's more to come from there so thank you thank you Ms. Cavazos Student safety the students here at UTSA against homelessness our city of San Antonio does have a problem with homelessness I'm not going to lie I'm going to be straight forth and honest with you we do have a problem but from the old location over here off of commerce to the new location off of Martin Street it has changed tremendously they are in a cleaner place now they have two different types of facilities which are a PC white courtyard is where everybody that's homeless on this side or on this side that side of the shelter is to be sleeping on the floor and on the other side well the other side that's where everybody has their own bunks or if they're single moms they have the wrong rooms but depending on which side you go to there's more social services on one side than there is on the other and the only service that they have on PC white courtyard side is transportation thank you Mr. Yanis yes as asking the question as a council person you need to come up with ideas short term long term ideas one that I thought about is the questions being asked of course we must have better life there's ways to improve that to have the students feel a little safer as they walk around great we need that but an immediate solution I would think is that UTSS maybe we can create some kind of van rideshare with several different pickup points so the student can get on show different travel points safely because we have the on-list or the aggressive on-list situation going on but let's make sure it's a short term fix but it's a solution and for long term let's discuss it with BIA and maybe we can work some coordinated system out because the students are continuing they've got to go to school they've got to get home but let's make some safety points and that's the way I would go a rideshare program some type of van you share your ID card maybe it's your reason are you driving around we want to make that happen thank you we're going to start this next question with Mr. Lopez what is your I'm sorry do you want or what is your position on San Antonio being a sanctuary city my view on San Antonio being a sanctuary city is I'm not going to lie we're a city that is dominated dominated by Hispanic culture and by a lot of Mexican-American native people a lot of Mexican people that aren't here legally but America is a land of opportunity it is the land where where people come to escape whatever their homeland is not doing and for them to be safe in this last last election with our president we saw that our race and our culture is under attack and we need to have a voice and implement that voice to not be afraid and to show that we the people are in charge we the people have the right to to say what's going on in our city government and our national government and it's we the people that can make the change at San Antonio being a sanctuary city it's it's happens we're here for everybody else and this is our culture this is why this is what makes San Antonio San Antonio is the is the culture that we have here thank you is that anyone we're we're studying that right now and as soon as our committee committee gets more educated on that we're going to take care of that thank you Ms. Gonzalez I led the charge for the city council to take the initiative to become a sanctuary city last year I was able to get six of my council members or five of my council members to support San Antonio to become a sanctuary city it went to the governance committee and from there Chief McManus made some commitments that law enforcement officers would not be immigration officers and and also a commitment to have a committee to address this issue this climate has changed significantly since Donald Trump became the president I still believe that we have to protect immigrants especially the most vulnerable of immigrants I and myself am the daughter of an immigrant from Mexico who came here just like everybody else looking for work and looking for opportunity we know that the members of the the students the doctors in particular have been fighting very hard on this issue the climate for sanctuary cities has changed so drastically I don't know what that would look like in today's climate but I feel very strongly that we could have become a sanctuary city and I would continue to support our efforts to do that Ms. Gonzalez as far as the city I still have questions regarding sanctuary city so I'm for it and then I'm against it there's a lot of different opinions there's too many issues within the bill or the sanctuary city portion of the whole thing that is that it's really kind of hard we have so many people coming from Mexico which is the massive country that we have so many immigrants coming from or migrants coming from they don't have a job or they're trying to come over here so they can get themselves a better job they can't get the job over there for some reason or another maybe they don't have enough work maybe they don't have enough whatever it is that they don't have I know their cost of living is a lot less than what our cost of living is over here but we do make a lot more money over here so it would make it that much more easier for them to have money by working on this side and becoming educated and then having that dollar amount or that capital bringing it with them back home so they can be that sociologist so they can be that psychologist and help their country thank you Mr. Lopez I'm sorry Yanis Mr. Yanis question again yes what is your position on San Antonio being a sanctuary city right my position is my answer to that is no I don't think we are a sanctuary city I think we are in Uganda I think San Antonio has led the way for the nation we have been a very understanding complementary city you know our international marriages our understanding of how San Antonio has become we're beyond that we should be the leader regarding the discussion of immigration I think we should define ourselves more it's like they haven't had for humanity I think we should call ourselves a shelter city because a sanctuary city it's just a blanket for everyone that's also including people who have criminal offenses I don't want to include a truck for the folks that want to build a home and build a job for their family that's why I'm thinking a shelter city so the way to go is a sanctuary is not the way but I think because the city of San Antonio and the sheriff's office they're not immigration officers and we have the new administration will be working on that the federal government but I think San Antonio we should be ready to see that we provide a shelter let's again convert to a warrant you're okay thank you Mr. Montez thank you this is another issue of compassion for me and I think that the city of San Antonio should be a sanctuary city but it's going to take more than just one city council person to stand up to the Trump administration and say that we are backing immigrants coming into this country because of the push pull factors that force them to leave their country and many of the folks that I meet that are undocumented truly love their country whether they're coming from Central America or they're coming from Mexico they don't necessarily want to leave their homes but they are forced out because of the war and the gang violence that they are facing in the southern part of our world with drugs so I agree that San Antonio should be a sanctuary city we should have some more compassion but we need our city officials our state legislature our managers across America to stand up with San Antonio and be that model that we need to show that compassion to immigrants coming from Central America and Mexico Thank you We're going to start this question with Miss Sotomayor many seniors in San Antonio the 7th largest city in the US need food and transportation what would you do to change that Sons and buses they don't charge them because they're they're doing really good right now and the seniors have a hard time getting to the places because if they live in a home or in a senior citizen's place of living they don't always provide that they don't provide a bus or taxi for them to go they have to pay that far on their on their own and they are already living on a budget so they've made it to be seniors they're blessed so why can't we bless them back and let them ride for free let them take the taxi and not charge them if they take them to the doctor Medicaid covers that wouldn't it be less if the bus or they send a via trance to take them to do whatever it is they needed to do or wanted to do thank you thank you our senior centers provide wonderful access for food and for entertainment for our seniors I'm very proud of our normal senior center and our district 5 senior center not only do they provide meals but they provide companionship which is one of the great problems that we have for some of our seniors is just loneliness I'm trying to get a pilot program where transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft provide services to seniors to some of our senior centers and to other facilities around the city they're doing that in other cities I was recently in Chicago on behalf of the city talking about our vision zero program but Uber and Lyft are providing this kind of service in Chicago in particular chartering buses and taking seniors to events and to facilities that the city sponsors so I think this might be a quick solution to what is a transportation problem citywide we know that we need greater investment in public transit but this is a pilot that I'm willing to do thank you Ms. Gewassels public transportation for the elderly or the disabled right now I think Via has got a pretty good thing going on we have many people in the district or throughout the city of San Antonio that are disabled and that need that extra help they have what's called CNA's medical assistants that are there that can help them so if we can find a way to better come up with a transportation plan to make sure that they get here to their doctor's visits like I said Via does have a pretty good program that they have for the disabled and the elderly but the institutions that have these elderly they need to make sure that they have some type of transportation to take them to and from thank you Mr. Yanis right in regards to who your transportation needs for the seniors well if there's a constriction in my district and I want to know if there's a problem that they're a shed in they're not getting the right support then I want to help the constriction as best as I can as best as I can I think in regards to you know that's how you can examine if they have needs for food you have to figure out what their problems are they might have to continue cutting their grass we have to identify what their issues are and then you know halfway I'll help them all the way in regards to transportation I guess I would work with seniors maybe lower the rates a little bit because I do believe the seniors and it's also with our military veterans they should get a discount they look out for us the seniors that look out for us that pay their due and it's also a military veterans you know they're protecting our borders and our tour lines and they're you know across the world so we got to get the census about them so I would like to see something like that to reduce the fares to give them their community and if we can get them and collaborate with them that can be a real solution to some of our seniors finding everything they need in the one stop shop where they live thank you Mr. Lopez I believe the issue comes back on on city council each district has a representative has a representative that is elected and like I've mentioned before as a city council as a city councilman you are you are my boss you are who I want to impress you are who I want to do anything for so I think it all starts within a within an office as well a senior citizen needs to have their grasp we need to be active and put a team out there even if we have to go do it ourselves we need to be active in the community and we need to show that we care for senior citizens and as for buses we need to fight we need to fight for the senior citizens to see if we can get their own bus stops where it's closer to their house and more safer to get out or we get their own bus not via trans and not via bus those ones for disabilities and ones for the general population but we get a bus just dedicated for senior citizens 65 and up that can be at discounted rates or possibly for free and we can just work like that thank you thank you I'd like to be able to get two more at least two more questions in before we go to the closing statements so I'd like to ask you to please hold your applause until the end so that we can get at least two and possibly more questions in and Ms. Gonzalez we're back to you to start with this one how how could you help us make Los Palmas Library more visible in the bond we also have an additional $1.7 million dedicated for Los Palmas Library and the space around Los Palmas has room for lots of creativity there's great open spaces there's a park next door it's also connected right to the YWCA the women's center and so there's great synergy there already happening right around the Los Palmas Library I myself am a big supporter of the library and take my children very often for story time and bilingual story time for arts and crafts there so we have the bones for a great center there hopefully that investment will help with the technology we know that Los Palmas needs some updating as most of our many of our buildings do it's quite old but the foundation of is really great it has a beautiful architectural design and it's got great open spaces so just capitalizing on what already exists is something that I'm very supportive of and I showed that support by moving some of our students Ms. Kavassas the Los Palmas Library it's in the area that I reside at right now it's a nice library it's a little small on the right hand side when you go into the library they have we have tons of businesses or tons of offices that if we take those out it would be a nicer location it would be a larger library and we would not have to keep our students or the children from the community not being able to use that portion so they would be in a larger library and it would be a lot easier but other than that I think if we take out those it would be a nicer library and probably bringing more services more social services and more educational services and programs for the ones who don't have a GED yet thank you Mr. Yanis what I think I'd like to do is I would like to discuss with the constituents in the area for Las Palmas because it is a small library when I consider relocating or building a brand new library and I'm going to tell them to park in our leg of the lake so that would be folks can have a nice library and view the lake that might be a new step because we haven't had a new library in the area for a long, long time and I think it's time that we invest some money in our future and I think that is an idea and create a design team to say let's do something new because I think the one would be great investment money spent investment Elmendorf Park our later lake is booming and I think a nice public library so people can go and enjoy the lake and study and have that view I think that would be great so why not develop that far west side thank you Mr. Nontes thank you I think there's two different solutions here I think there's a physical solution right investing in the facade and the presence of founding Las Palmas and improving that and making sure that there are monies allocated for those improvements but I also think that there is an activity based solution and that is ensuring that there are activities at the library that are attracting youth and families into the library one of the things I'd like to see more in our community is more attention to STEM and I think we should get the tech community involved having a background myself having these hackathons code jams opportunities like that for our kids to learn coding and software development and I think those are the jobs and the training of the future and I think that kids even in elementary schools now who are learning it formally would appreciate having those types of functions and opportunities at our libraries so a more activity driven solution to attract folks to Las Palmas for instance which is a library that I attended growing up I think are part of those solutions Las Palmas library I love Las Palmas library because when I would get out of school and my mother was on the other side of town she would be like walk to Las Palmas my school is right next to there so I'll always remember walking to Las Palmas library and struggling to find a table and because Las Palmas is a very popular place where a lot of children a lot of parents and children like to go after school and cool down because it's really hot outside after school and they'll like to go there and just study and be there with their family get homework done and stay on that educational path Las Palmas we could use a bigger library and a more updated library bringing new computers faster internet and Wi-Fi better printing and bringing more services like we should have book clubs more book clubs more art clubs embrace the culture embrace the art and by art it's a very wide variety of art we can do sculpting we can do painting that Las Palmas is known for with all the art that is being done Thank you Thank you Mr. Neighbor It is a nice library but I think if you would ask the neighborhood around there they would want a bigger one and with more computers and because of the hours that the parents work some get out a little later maybe if they extended the hours so that all the kids can have access to it in that area many of the families can afford a computer they can't afford the gaming that they have in the libraries and that would be nice to add that to there that way all the kids can have fun they can all go and get educated because all the games that are there they're pretty educational what that are at other libraries and I'd like to see that there at Las Palmas Thank you I'm going to start this with Ms. Gavassos can you speak to your vision for our youth in regard to civic engagement and higher educational opportunities I'm sorry what was the question again can you speak to your vision for our youth in regard to civic engagement and higher educational opportunities okay what it is that I'm looking for or what I have planned so far for the constituent body district five is to bring in more educational services to keep our San Antonio independent school districts as well as the Edgewood independent school district to a point to where they will have the services that they need after school care which will bring more computers into those classrooms which will keep them to the point to where they're going to have fun in the challenge program the after school challenge program that will keep them busy it will keep them up to date with their schoolwork with their homework with everything that they have going on right now anyway but when it comes to other things going on like curricular activities extracurricular activities they'll be able to go out into the community not into the community but out to the games and then those that don't want to go to the game they don't have to go to the game they can just stay there thank you Mr. Yanis yes for Senate engagement I think it's important that somehow we must make a connection with you know the school or the school board I would say I'd like to talk to the teachers and let them know that hey, if any student in high school doesn't get a San Antonio Public Library card you know give them a little bump on their grade from a B to an A let them know that they're appreciated but we also have to have the numbers for our statistics I think also one of the things that I see is that sometimes the students are not getting a message and between the years of 18 to 25 they are not aware that they should register somehow there's a disengagement occurring and if you drop out of high school then you really are not getting a message so I would give the chance for the Senate to talk about the library once these students get their library card maybe fashion a new card for them to let them know that they're important and we need them in the city of San Antonio there is a future form and we must consider to say hey, these are the different jobs that we need and please pick one because we need your guidance whatever the job is put the statistics and let them pick one say but we should be an accountant but we should be a doctor and somehow re-execute thank you Mr. Montez thank you one of the things our campaign has talked about over and over again building more solid collaborative and innovative relationships with our school districts I think more often than not there's been sort of a taboo for city officials to talk about education and for education officials to talk about city issues and I think we need to break that taboo and really begin to form closer bonds with our school district officials to create policies that are innovative and creative but the other thing I want to talk about is in our community we also need to make sure to be providing assistance to folks who want to go to college and that those types of assistance are reflected in the policies that universities create that the city creates for instance I know the students here at UTSA are fighting for childcare the childcare initiative here at UTSA has become a very big conversation and I think that we are going to prove to the youth and young people that we want them to be educated it needs to start being reflected in the policies that we implement to help them move forward with higher education thank you Mr. Lopez my vision for youth in the community is I see youth as the leaders of tomorrow the youth are going to be the men and women who are going to lead the generation and lead the community in the aspects of what's going on tomorrow so what we need to do is we need to encourage education we can't be afraid to talk about it in city forums or in city halls and we need to speak up about on education just to show that we do care and education is important education is something that's helped that's helped me personally and I've seen I've seen the two paths of public education and an education of something that of something where a teacher is more I've I've recently graduated two years ago from high school and the education that was instilled has prompted me to run for city council because I see that there is a need and that there is an outcry in the west for more education and we need to provide college assistance for more people and thank you thank you so there our kids are our future and if we don't discipline them they're not going to get it right we need to insult God in them I work with teenagers and a lot of them struggle because their parents are are struggling and they feel the tension of their parents struggle and that shouldn't be happening so we need to be there for the kids for their family so that they can be well educated because we should not be afraid of a 15-year-old or a 13-year-old and it starts at home we raise them right and we teach them God and have God put back in the school we wouldn't be having all these problems thank you thank you so district 5 has three universities I'm counting St. Mary's because it's just across the border and one community college in our district now a lot of people don't know that we have the most universities we have the most parks we have the most libraries right here in district 5 yet we have less than 3% college attainment in the district and so there's a very sad disconnect in the amount of educational opportunities there are in the district and the people who are taking advantage of them so the civic engagement has to go both ways we need to encourage our youth and our community to take advantage of opportunities that exist but we also need for the universities to do a better job of reaching out to the community as well because I know at our leg of the lake also a very very small percentage it could be something like also in the 3% range students are from district 5 who attend the schools and I did a little poll as I went walking around introducing myself and I know many of y'all are students here and I think only one of you lives in the district thank you and so I'm sorry I started with you okay I've moved on then we're starting with Mr. Yanis for our final question what do you plan to do to improve the parks and open spaces within the district I guess the best way is to increase the area for pedestrian travel perhaps also with bike lanes people want to walk but they also must have the pedestrian pedestrian lanes accompanied with a bike lane making more inclusive so that way they can get around the entire park a little faster meant to end also you just have to exempt the lighting and make sure that some folks want to draw or write their bikes at night have it set up that the lighting is still bright up to maybe 9 o'clock 10 o'clock and then value for their safety those are the key ideas I have for parks thank you I think one of the things we need to focus on is making our green spaces more inviting to people particularly in the district park you go to parks across our community that have only porta potties and counties that don't work so investing in basic amenities in our park is important but I also want to talk about some of the initiatives going on across the country particularly in Baltimore take a look at Baltimore and what they've done with their green spaces is they've begun to allow the community to adopt for instance vacant lots that haven't been utilized that are underutilized that are in despair that have issues with dumping and allow the community to be empowered and take over those vacant spaces and begin to add greenery flower beds benches for folks to sit on as they're walking I think and you may have heard this theme in a lot that I'm saying that there's a community solution to these green spaces if we find over and over again that the city is in quite allocating the number of monies needed for these spaces in the bond that we have coming up that district 5 was only allocated a million dollars for five apartments that tell you something Thank you Mr. Ruffus Parks and Recreation I love going to parks and I like going to parks at night I like walking around at night just to walk around blow some steam off off of a tough day but I do see that and do know that parks and district 5 do need better lighting and we'll fight for better lighting and for more resources to get that lighting and what we also need to do is feel safe feel safe at the parks at night for the people that want to go after work after a long day those stress off and just feel safe and for the greenery we should incorporate community gardens within our parks what might what better way for a community garden not to be at a park a park is somewhere where families get together have fun barbecues, parties and we can see the community garden and even use from the community garden that I think that would be a very good way to get people to the park and a very healthy way to also bring in the health aspects of the park and we can run play basketball and then look at the nutrition side oh we're growing this and we can also eat this and it's healthy Thank you we found out the part the way that Elmendorf park only has three barbecue pits we love to barbecue who doesn't love to go to the park to barbecue and with three barbecue pits in that whole area that they need to put some more barbecue pits out there with tables because it's a beautiful place the little lake there it's beautiful it's just like in that and some more restrooms so we need to have a lot a lot of good lighting for the parks for sure but also make sure there's enough barbecue pits Thank you Ms. Gonzalez as I mentioned district five has more parks than any other in the district and we can connect all the way from Aldereta park to the far west side all along our west side creeps to Elmendorf to I'm sorry to from from the Aldereta park to Rosedale to Elmendorf to Cassiano to Vidao to Vidao all the way through to the south side it connects all the way to the end of the spotter creek there is almost no other place in the entire country that has a linear park like this one now our parks need some updating and I think Elmendorf park is a wonderful example of how we can transform park when we're willing to invest in them since I've been on the council I've invested an additional two million dollars in our parks through our regular budget there's an additional four million in parks in the bond and so we're looking forward to continuing that wonderful tradition of family spending time in our parks and the idea that you can connect from one to the other is something really really unique to San Antonio and it's one of the things I'm most proud of thank you Ms. Cavazos Landscaping Landscaping is something that I want to see done in our in our local parks and depending on which park we're speaking about you know some of the parks really don't need anything some do have adequate barbecue pits or they have a running walk for people to run or ride the bikes or whatever there are some parks that don't have toilets they don't have water fountains or bike racks or anything like that but what I'm looking for in some of the parks is something that's going to be nice something that's going to look good something that anybody can go walk around and have a nice scenery or be able to see something that's going to be calming like them huge big old boulder rocks or whatever them large ones man-made ponds and you know something like that but then yet at the same time that's what you are going to have to decide on you as a constituent body you're going to have to come together and figure out exactly what it is that you want for those parks thank you I believe I saw Mr. Ponce Gerard Ponce who is also a mayoral candidate came in and did I miss any other mayoral candidates okay the question on civic engagement if I may one of the things that young people and really all of us here can do to be engaged in the process is to vote the last day to register to vote for the municipal elections is Thursday April 6 the city council and mayoral elections impact your life on a day-to-day basis more than the presidential elections do and yet last year only 12% of registered voters voted in the not last year two years ago in the municipal elections so let's have a personal goal here tonight that we at least double that for this go around so please go and vote we're going to give the candidates their final one-minute closing statement a question that we didn't get a chance to ask but you may want to incorporate in your final statement is what from your life experience inspired you to run for office I'm convinced to do this work why are you convinced okay why are you convinced to do this work so if you want to include that we are going to close in the opposite way that we open so we'll start with Miss Sotomayor I've been working for several organizations and I've been to many community meetings and many city meetings and I see the lack of attention that they get they'll say yes you'll get that and two years can go by and nothing's happened and I'm not afraid to go out there and combat that I want to I want to show the people that I'm there for you if you ask me for something I'm going to do my best to do it for you to get things done to accomplish things I've had a hard time in my life and I fought for my family and I got justice and that's what I plan to do now to fight for you and to be there and let you know I'm not just here so that you can talk I'm listening to you I'm paying attention to you and I'll give it the best I have and of course being a Christian I'm going to always put God first thank you Mr. Lopez I want to thank the League of Women Voters of Santoni for having us here and also for UTSA for lending us space something that's made me run I haven't been in the realms of politics or in the city council or in anything for too long on my senior year of high school I really became interested in in the city council in the way how our government works at a city level and at a national level and we need to start somewhere I see that there that there is a need for change and I see that there is a cry within my district that wants the change and wants the attention that the city lacks from a year to year election cycle election cycle and day to day cycle it's something that we need to get together we need to get to city hall together and say we need to put attention here there is a lack of of education in district 5 there's a lack of communication in district 5 and us together as people as community members and as residents of San Antonio and community members in district 5 all go together and we need to all go to city council and say if we need the help Mr. Holmes thank you I want to invite all of you to visit our website and all of this 5.com and find a lot of information about me and my background and I think it's important to be able to tell people that but I also want to make sure that I issue an invitation to all of you from UTSA to come to district 5 and participate and expose our young people to academia I think that this community here at UTSA can be more involved with our kids playing sports can be more involved in our schools in our community centers so if you're a student here at UTSA I'd like to invite you to come into district 5 and participate in the lives of our youth and our community because it's important I am proud to have a UTSA graduate student as my campaign manager running the day in and day out hard work that's required to run a campaign so I know and I see UTSA students work you guys have some of the best work ethic I have ever seen and I want that to be a part of the strength that we have of having UTSA in this community of district 5 let's build on that success because I know the solutions are founded you thank you thank you I'm a project of SAIC I am a graduate of Burbank High School I think in regards to change I think one person can make a change in any situation they can recognize the problem and become the leader to make that change for everyone but there must be the lightning rush so I'm ready to do that and you asked about you know why are we running historically it's think I think about different events that are on TV and I've always wanted to be an attorney I was back to that civic engagement idea I think for the library part if you would ask me you know why was an ice ball I would say I want to be an attorney maybe that then you can put the library part as you foster these ideas you know you want encouragement so being an attorney it was always on my mind always a subject always an interest running out but I never voiced it to many people but it was not until I got to college and reinforced with other students say I'm going to be an attorney and they had it automatically I had to develop mine I wish to encourage others to be recognized for their goals and also want to know that hey other people can achieve their dreams I respectfully ask for your votes thank you thank you very much my name is Cynthia T. Colossals and I'm a candidate for our city council district 5 what made me become a candidate or what inspired me to run for office was my past I was a homeless person I lived homeless at the Sam ministries it was this right here off of commerce and then from there I transferred to Hayden for Hope I was a single mother or five children still am and they're beautiful children and now I have like six or seven maybe eight twelve grandkids you know you have you have a certain amount of number of grand children and sometimes it feels like you have more than what you already have but I have noticed with the upbringing of my grandchildren you know every once in a while when I go and see them you know that they're different you know my children as they were growing up they were different everybody has different attitudes they have different opinions and if we again come to figure what it is our constituent body needs is education and anger management thank you I'm Shirley Gonzalez I'm the councilwoman for district five running for reelection for my third term on city council I originally got to run for city council because I was having so much trouble growing my small business and I wanted one of my major platforms to be helping small businesses but what I came to learn was that there were so many needs in district five and we've addressed some of them today issues with child abuse issues with education homelessness lack of quality housing many of the things that we all hear about very often in district five high crime rates drug addiction all these things really were the biggest priority for our district things like just basic infrastructure which we still desperately need and that I continue to advocate for improved lighting in the area the things the basic things that the people really expected of their council member I have taken those on in my first two terms I look forward to continuing to serve you these next two years my commitment hasn't wavered every day I look forward to serving you and I hope to continue to do that for another two years well as Ms. Gonzalez said we have answered a lot of questions on a broad range of topics you have great questions unfortunately these we did not have time to ask but I am sure that I feel certain that the candidates would be willing to stick around for a few minutes and talk with you that does conclude our candidate forum for this evening please join me in thanking the candidates for coming today.