 Thank you all so much for coming out this evening. My name is Phyllis Ingram and I'm a member of the League of Women Voters. Also assisting this evening, our four other League members, Carol, will be doing the timing. So when the candidates have 30 seconds left, she'll hold up a paddle that says 30 seconds. And then when your minute and a half is up, she'll hold up the stop sign and I ask you to please do that so we can get as many questions as possible. Also helping to sort cards is Ernie and then Cheryl and Cherise are passing out cards and collecting them. So if you have another question you want to ask, just raise your hand and they'll give you a new card. If you've finished it, raise the card up and they'll collect it from you. The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan political organization that encourages the informed and active participation in government, which is why I'm glad to see you here this evening so that you can inform yourself on the runoff candidates for district four. So let me introduce to you the two candidates. On my right is Adriana Rocha Garcia and Johnny Arradondo. Excuse me. The candidates have agreed not to address questions to each other. All questions will be your questions from the audience. I ask that you keep the questions general enough because the same question will be asked of both candidates. So with that, each candidate will have two minutes opening statement to tell you what they want you to know about themselves. And questions will rotate and the closing statements will be in reverse order of the opening statements. So Ms. Garcia, why don't you go ahead? Sure. Hi, I'm Adriana Rocha Garcia and I have lived in the district for 35 years. Ten years ago when it was time to purchase my first home, I decided that I wanted to stay in the district and I made my home here with my son. I have a 19-year-old son, I've been raising him as a single mother and I really appreciate you all being here to take the time to learn a little bit about myself and Mr. Arradondo. So the reason that I am running for city council is because I want to continue the momentum that district four has had. I want to continue working with the stakeholders. I want to be an advocate for you all at City Hall. We have a million people coming to San Antonio in the next few years by 2040, maybe faster and I'd love to be a part of the planning process for that next amount of folks that comes in. I want to make sure that our neighborhoods are kept intact, that we don't displace any current residents, that we are very attuned and aware of the needs of the residents of district four and I'm fully committed to doing that. As the background I have always worked with non-profit organizations in the community as well as I am very familiar with the business community because I worked at the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for a while so I feel like I could bridge that gap between community and businesses and I feel that that would be of great benefit to district four. I would also be happy to meet with all of you as needed so I would have an open door policy. I would welcome, I have been block walking, I have been talking to you all, I have seen the needs firsthand but we have to do it together so working with you all, listening to what your needs are I think is definitely the number one priority that a council member could have and I definitely commit to listening to that and working with you to solve any problems that exist in our community. Thank you. Mr. Ayatano. Thank you. My name is Gianni Arralondo. I have been living in our district for 38 years. I've only lived in two districts by the Los Palmas area and then in a district where I'm at right there. I have been married to my wife for 41 years. We have three kids, a whole bunch of grandkids. We're active members of Cornerstone Church and the reason that I got into this is because I come from the part that's a frustrated voter is where I come from. I feel the people that represent us sometimes just seem to forget their voice for us. I see the broken streets, I see the drainage, I see the sidewalks that need a lot of help and so as part of the community and we get to speak to the people and we get to talk to them the thing that seems to be common is that when somebody gets elected they seem to forget about us and so I can relate to that because we have the same broken sidewalk in front of our home for 38 years and after a number of inquiries to the elective representatives including the current one we don't get any response whatsoever and so we feel frustrated. I feel frustrated in that little world where you get together with your friends and you speak and you say you know what if I was in charge this is what I would do and this is what I would do. It comes to being with the community, finding out what they want done. I'm all for advocating for the people in the community. My top priority are the people and the voice and the needs that they want. It is not what I want, it's what you want out there. What you need to have represented your needs and so I am running to represent you folks and to be a representative of your needs. Thank you. Thank you. So we'll start now with your questioning. Okay, if you could speak a little louder. Yeah, I can go louder. Okay, so we're going to start with your questions now and we're going to start with Mr. Arigando. What do we expect to see in the first 90 days from you as a representative? The first 90 days will be- I'm sorry, excuse me. Carol, this is going to be 90 seconds, a minute 30, a minute and 30 seconds. Okay, thank you. I'm sorry, go ahead. No problem. The first, my focus is on the people in the community. You tell me what you need. You tell me what you want me to work on. I can go up there and talk about what I just said right now, as far as the drainage and as far as the infrastructure. The biggest thing that drives me, I should say one of the biggest things that drive me are the property taxes. I think they are out of hand. They keep going up. The appraisals keep going up and it seems like the city just wants us to keep giving them money. They reach into our pocket. They reach into the right pocket and they pull out money out of the left pocket. So my focus would be on working with the legislator about reducing our property taxes. The governor has got a plan that he introduced a 2.5 property tax increase. It's a great start. It's a relief to all of us is what it is. And so the property taxes are terrible. They continue to go up. San Antonio is the most overappraised city in the United States according to Ford's Magazine. For two years running, we are overappraised. We just keep going up and we keep going up. And yet, we don't see any type of benefits. Our streets are still broken. Our sidewalks are still broken. We have flood areas. You've got flood areas that are in high areas. And so it's kind of like, where is our tax money going? If our property taxes go up and our appraisals go up, why is the city not using those funds to take care of our neighborhoods, to take care of the things that matter to us, which is where we live at? The city should not continue to tax us, should not continue to take this money out of our pockets. So within the first 90 days, I will focus on the property taxes, the overappraisal, and of course the ongoing infrastructure problems that we have and to represent your needs. Thank you. Do you want me to repeat the question? No, I'm good. Okay. In my first 90 days, I plan to work with you all again as an advocate for the community. I want to see where your needs are. I want to see what needs have not been met yet. And I want to again continue looking at the plans that you all have for the district. Many of you have participated in a lot of discussions revolving sidewalks and parks and lighting. And I want to be respectful to you all. If you already have spoken, I will not just take that for granted. I want to make sure that we all revisit those plans. There's always a different set of eyes that can come in and see something from a different perspective. And I think that I would do that very well also looking at the budget in order to understand how the city works. You have to understand how the city budget works. I think that it's also important that we see where our current bond projects are. Here we have some additional room for improvement. Where can we expand? Where is there some cost savings that perhaps we could keep in the district and use elsewhere? I also am very aware, and I have met with the tax assessor collector to learn a little bit more about the taxing system. 22% of our property taxes go to the city of San Antonio locally, 54% go to schools. So I want to make sure that we work together with other taxing entities to find innovative and creative solutions to help us so that we might be able to really take advantage of where our tax dollars go. I would be afraid of straight out cuts across the board through different departments because we're growing. We have a million people coming to San Antonio. I don't know right now without research that we can cut anything without doing some thorough research. So that's what I commit to. I commit to doing the research and planning with you all and becoming that advocate that District 4 needs. Thank you. The next question. The climate action and adaptation plan is currently at a standstill. What are some aspects you hope to improve or expand on? How do you think San Antonio should address climate change? And we will start with you, Ms. Garcich. Yes. I have reached out already to members so that I can do, again, research. Look at some of the elements of the plan that are in place. As is right now, 60% of that plan has health benefits. We definitely want to start with that 60% advocating for those. We want to make sure, though, that we do not pass on the cost to the residents. When I tallied up the numbers in the current climate action plan as is, I was definitely afraid that it might hurt the pocketbooks of District 4. And so I'm currently in the process of trying to get exact numbers so that we can see how it would affect the residents. So as stands right now, the climate action plan looks like it's a $9.9 billion investment from the city, a $6.7 billion investment by residents, and a $7.3 billion investment by businesses. If businesses have to take a part of that, it might pass down the cost to our residents. I don't know that the residents of District 4 can afford that in their pocketbook. We all want a great quality of life. We all want our future generations to grow up and have access to lakes and clean air and clean water. Definitely, it is a priority for all of us. I think that we need to step back and do some research, bring stakeholders to the table that will be affected before we put the plan as is into action. Thank you. Do you need me to read the question again? No, that's fine. If I go somewhere else, let me know. Climate change. So much of it is on the on the media, but we hear. Do we actually do the research to find out what climate change really is? The number one source of climate change is NASA. NASA satellites in the air actually measures climate change. NASA put out a study in 1950 between 1950 and 1990. That was the hardest time period for climate change. You had motor vehicles that did not have any exhaust systems and they were below the standard. They made a study that after 2000, this climate change that everybody speaks about, and we all want clean air. All of us want clean air. We want health in our lives. But NASA says that the temperature since 1950 has gone down 0.9%. And so less than a degree. And so we need to do our research and we need to do our study. We can't just be throwing money away as a city into science that is just part of the national talking media. The businesses absorb this cost. The cost is going to come down to us no matter how you look at it. It comes down because we know nothing is free. We know that somebody pays for it. And so the city needs to do a comprehensive study. They need to partner with the federal government. They need to find out what they can do as far as eliminating some of those costs that they have toward us. So I am for cleaner. I am for healthy environment. But we need to study more and we need to get better informed about climate change and the effects it is going to have on the taxpayer. Because all that is, is just another cost for us on top of all the other costs that we're paying already. Thank you. Okay we're going to start this one with you. Okay. In 2020 voters will be asked to maintain an already existing tax to fund pre-K for SA. Will you support pre-K for SA this upcoming election? What are your thoughts on the program? Well pre-K for SA obviously helps the people that need help the most. They need it for their children to go to school to get a little bit of a head start. We know that education is vital to all of us, especially our children. We want them to obviously start good basically, continuing the right path. So it does help people. I am for helping people. But when it comes to pre-K for SA, as long as the cost factor does not bleed into the citizens. As long as we don't start paying more and more as the citizens. Again that is just another cost to put to the taxpayer. So people do need help. We need to go ahead and help the people that need help the most is what we need to do. Pre-K for SA, I do not have enough stats to tell you on that. All I know is a few things that we have read, the things that I know. It does help people and I understand that. But it has to be at a tax level where we are not putting the burden on the taxpayer. It seems like every cost, every program that goes out that wants to be funded, the taxpayer puts out the money. We have enough money going out for the things that we need in our lives to take care of our families to take care of those things. So as long as it's not an extra burden for the taxpayers, I'm okay with helping Pre-K for SA. Yes, I believe that Pre-K for SA is a good program and I believe that there needs to be some additional research to quantify their impact. I also believe that the folks that use Pre-K for SA are not all getting a handout. I do know that people pay on a sliding scale based on their salaries, based on their income tuition. So not everybody is just getting a free service. The first thing that I would probably want to do is ask how many people are actually paying tuition? How much on average tuition are these folks playing for Pre-K for SA? How is it working? How is it working to their benefit? What is Pre-K for SA doing that school districts Pre-K programs aren't doing yet? I think that it's important definitely to start with that comparison before making an informed decision. I also think that there needs to be some additional information on Pre-K for SA for the folks that might not necessarily have kids that are in Pre-K. How will this benefit our community? How will this benefit our future generations? Because I don't have a child in Pre-K SA doesn't mean that I just need to turn a blind eye to it. I think that we need to be informed. We need to go out there. We need to educate through an intensive campaign so that we could see how education really gets the community ahead. Education, I believe, is at the forefront of making people break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. I have an undergraduate degree, a master's degree, and a PhD. And I worked very hard. I've always worked two jobs to put myself through school. I have a lot of student loans still. How would a Head Start program such as Pre-K for SA impact and really benefit these students and help them to get ahead and perhaps one day get a scholarship to benefit them? I'm going to combine these two questions because they're sort of similar. And we're going to start with Ms. Garcia. As a representative on the City Council, how will you work to ensure that residents of District 4 and all of San Antonio have access to mental health services? And what are your plans for the homeless panhandlers that have drug problems? Sure. Thank you. So I am a board member of communities and schools, and I'm an advocate for community partnerships that work. Specifically, again, let me point that out, that work, that have proven results. I know for a fact that communities and schools has done a great job aiding the school districts. The school districts might not be able to have the support staff in place that our children need. We know that a lot of our children are currently suffering. We see it in the news. And I believe that it is our responsibility to work together with other public organizations and to really benefit from our tax dollars as a whole. So again, 54% of our taxes go to the school district. How can we work together with the school districts to fund these type of programs so that we ourselves as taxpayers for the City of San Antonio do not take it all together? Also, on the homeless services, another important thing to consider is working with entities, non-profit entities such as Haven for Hope, which I have already met with. A few months ago, after a forum, a resident, a concerned district 4 resident came up to me and asked me what I would do about the homeless population behind an elementary school if I was elected. The very next day, I went to the school board and I spoke on citizens to be heard, and I invited them to come out there with us to take a look at the issues that were going on out there. I was not going to wait until I got elected. I have been working for my community for many years. And when it comes to the stake of children, there's no way that I could have waited. And so what we did is we went out there and we looked at what was out there. Also, I reached out to Haven for Hope and we definitely figured out that there were some areas where we could work together. But again, I think it's important to leverage those public-public and public-private partnerships. Sure. As a representative on the City Council, how will you work to ensure that residents of District 4 and all of San Antonio have access to mental health services and what are your plans for working with the homeless, panhandlers, and those who have drug problems? Let me say my first priority is District 4. We're going to make decisions obviously that impact the city is what we're going to do. But District 4 is my priority. If we are blessed enough to get elected, we are elected to represent this district. The panhandle situation, we'll take that first, the homeless people. We all see it. We see it in the area where I'm at, Highway 90 military drive. It is completely out of hand there. A lot of that came from years ago during Hurricane Katrina that they moved in from Louisiana. We had a big influx of people come in and they say that the old Levi-Strauss factory that I believe now belongs to the city. And so we had people move in is what we did. And then from there, they went ahead and commuted up the road a couple of miles up to what used to be Handy Annie there on military and 90 and I'll speak just for that area there even though I know it's a problem everywhere. And so as they went back, people say, now a different conversation, we need to take care of our own first. We need to take care of the people that need help. Obviously, none of us know the situation of these people. They need help. We need to get the churches involved. We need to get the businesses involved. We need to get them involved to spend their money, their time and their effort to help these people. It should always be a burden on the taxpayer. It's always taxpayer, taxpayer, taxpayer. No, we have to get everybody else involved. There's a lot of organizations that we can get involved. The churches, we have an influx of churches in our district. Let's get together as a community. Let's have these people go out. We have volunteers. I'm sure many of you have volunteered many times. We have volunteers that go out and help the homeless and help them. As far as the education, education is really important. We know that again. We will work with the school district, with the public schools, the charter schools and the private schools because all those schools help contribute to our family. If you want to send your children, your grandchildren to any one of those, they need to be sent to those because we know those are our most precious resources, so I will work with those entities. Thank you. We're going to start with you this time. These are all sort of similar, so I'm going to try and bunch them together. It has really to do with infrastructure. Sink holes, would you support separated bike lanes that include a physical barrier for safety? What improvements do you plan for streets and sidewalks? We just talked about homeless and lighting for streets. We'll go to the bicycles first and then you can have some of those. I'm curious to ask here, how many of y'all would ride a bicycle to work? In the middle of June, July and August, when it's 110 degrees, it would be interesting to take those bikes to work. We need to make sure that we address everybody as a whole is what we need to do. I'm supportive of bike lanes, but personally I'm supportive of bike lanes in certain areas around universities, around apartments. I'm not a big advocate to have bike lanes all over the city of San Antonio. Again, it's going to go to cost. Where are we going to get the money? Again, if we look at here and the few people that said that they would take a bike to work, we need to look at the general population. Do we spend our money on bike lanes that would represent 10% of the population, 5% of the population? Is that money well spent? Sink holes and sidewalks and streets. Like the huge end that we had at Highway 90, they just opened up in the middle of the ground. There are easier ways to travel than to do it underground on that sink hole right there. But I spoke about it earlier. Infrastructure, the sidewalks, the streets are huge of my priority. We need to take care of our neighborhoods first, so all we need to do. Because when we take our neighborhoods first, then you can go ahead and have a good environment right there. The problems that we're at happen in the neighborhood. Happening in your sidewalks, your broken sidewalks, and you're allowed to have kids travel, you're allowed to walk. It's a good environment, so that's what I would work on. Thank you. Do you want me to repeat it? I'm good. Okay. In the time that I've been block walking our neighborhoods, I have submitted 34 311 app reports. So anything from sidewalks that need to be reviewed to potholes. I think I've had exactly seven potholes that have been taken care of already. And I definitely think that there's some technology that we need to empower our folks to use. Even at the middle school and high school level, we have students that are trying to participate in government. What better way than a 311 app that they can help us? They're out in their communities. They are riding their bicycles on sidewalks, broken sidewalks, day in and day out. I see neighbors that have to get off of their sidewalk and get on the street because there might be a drop in the sidewalk. I definitely think that that is one of the things that we need to make sure that we focus on so that we could all have a decent quality of life. Not just people that are mobile and able to get around, but also those that need ADA accessibility. In regards to bike lanes, definitely it's important for safety. I think that we need to work together with the business community to incentivize folks that maybe ride their bike to work. Maybe that's a way to get some additional people to ride their bikes. I'm thinking out loud, but it might just be that some people decide to ride their bikes to work. Also, there's a lot of jobs that are moving away from the city. They're moving to other parts of the city. How do we work together to keep those so that we do have transportation options that are important to our residents in District 4? Regarding the sinkholes, I have a concern that sinkholes are only happening on the south side of town. And I will definitely ask in my first 90 days where we are with the sinkhole problems and definitely ask a lot of questions that I think have not been answered. The lighting plan, also important, we know that lighting detracts those who are potential offenders. I have written with police and need to make sure that we have lighting plan. Thank you. Okay. And we're going to start with you. Do you think San Antonio should continue to be a sanctuary city? And do you think San Antonio taxpayer money should be given to groups whose main purpose is assisting people in the U.S. illegally? We are a benevolent city. I believe that we want to do as much as possible for our fellow human beings. I do believe that the answer to this works both ways. And let me tell you what I mean by that. We need to work together with our nonprofit communities. We need to work together so that we as a community care for those populations that are most vulnerable to us. I believe that San Antonio is one of the gateways into the United States because of our proximity to Mexico. We definitely have a whole lot of neighbors in our area in District 4. I attend church every day with folks who need some advocacy, who are scared to ask for help. I do believe though that we need to be reaching out to our nonprofit partners and we need to work on solutions that help everyone. We should not just use solutions that help one or another. We definitely have to work together to increase some presence of nonprofit organizations so that they understand. We don't necessarily understand the intricacies of what these folks are going through. We have never necessarily gone through some of the issues that people are going through. And we need to be able to put ourselves in the place of these folks. I do believe that there should be other solutions than just public funding. I do believe that we as a city can benefit from using some of those funds in other areas. But the solution is not to just turn them away. It's to work together with other organizations that might help us solve the problem. Thank you. Sure. Do you think San Antonio should continue to be a sanctuary city? And do you think San Antonio taxpayer money should be given to groups whose main purpose is assisting people in the U.S. illegally? No and no. We spoke earlier about the homeless people. We would be giving taxpayer money to someone that is not our own. People need hope. I understand that. People come over. They're looking for a better way of life. I understand that. What about the people that are here already that are homeless on the streets? Those are a vast majority. If we're out there a vast majority are American citizens from here. We need to take care of them. We need to find out the issues they have, the problems, the mental problems they have. How can we help them? How can we provide for them? When you say a sanctuary city, just going by what the law is. The law says no. Do you want me as an elected person to pick and choose what laws you want me to uphold? Or should I be upholding the laws that are already in the books? We all have journeys. Every single one of us here can probably tell our own story of the difficulties that we had in life. And I would say that just about everybody here struggled, had valleys, worked hard and got to where they're at in life. Sometimes it takes self-responsibility to do that. I do not believe that taking taxpayer money and spending it somewhere else, I don't think that that is the answer. We need to get, again, the churches involved, the businesses involved and let that group of people get together and help the people that need help, that want to come over the right way and then we should give them a helping hand. But we need to take care of the people that are here already. Thank you. I'm going to take just a minute here to thank Nowcast SA, which is here taping tonight's forum. And if you have friends who wanted to be here but couldn't, they can go to YouTube and see this. Okay, Mr. Ardondo, we're going to start with you. District 4 is home to white collar and blue collar workers with humble beginnings. What would you do to bring more jobs, confidence and resources to an area that wants more opportunity, hope and support to its communities? How would you position District 4 to be successful and not overshadowed by other districts north of I-90? Well, that's correct on District 4. Anyone that has lived here a long time knows that this is a community over here. District 4 is huge. We know that by the 1604 in Petranco is different than the Lackland area that is different to South Park Mall that's different to South Sand. But all of those people have something in common is that it is a family community. It is a Thai community. It is a community that has struggled to be where they're at and they have succeeded in the things that they have done. As far as businesses, bringing more businesses in, yes, we need to bring more businesses in. But I will say once again, is that if we are taxing us, the taxpayer, out of a house and home, if your taxes are rising and rising and your appraisals are going up higher and higher, what benefit are we going to have to bring in businesses when we're moving out of our homes to begin with? Property tax is a problem. Anybody here that owns a home knows that it's a problem. When your property tax has raised by over 45% in three years, there's a problem. And so we need to once again take care of the people that live in this community, reach out to them, give them a break as far as not having to rent your home from the government, from the city of San Antonio. We need help there. If we can help the people that live in this district and then businesses come in, who strives? We all strive for the community and the business community also. Thank you. The Southside has been a great home for many companies over the years. We only need to think of perhaps Kelly Air Force Base or maybe even Levi Strauss which closed in 1993 and displaced a lot of people out of jobs. What we need to look back on is the opportunity that that created. And what I mean is we were able to work together with private public partnerships in getting the business community and advocating together with COPS Metro for Project Quest. And I'm a big fan of Project Quest. I'm a believer in Project Quest. I'm a believer because people who start the program with Project Quest could start making a salary of about $12,000. Once they go through skills training, they make on average $40,000. That changes the cycle of generational poverty. That gives folks time to invest in their children. It gives folks the opportunity to not only be able to participate and be more actively engaged in their child's homework because they no longer have to work two shifts, but it also changes an entire dynamic in the community. I believe that it is important to think about economic mobility. The economic mobility of the future is a little different from the economic mobility of the past. But I think that our technological innovations that we have seen are a great start. We need to make sure that we start thinking about the economic impact in terms of spending power if we give folks the access to education and training to get better jobs and to get ahead in life. And I definitely think that that in itself would bring an economic boost to our side of town. Thank you. Okay, so these are regarding the legislative agenda. Would you be willing to include public school funding as a legislative agenda item? And as you may be aware, there is a housing crisis here in town. Would you support a legislative agenda that includes rent control? I will start with you. Sure, definitely public school. And I must admit that I worked for Southwest ISD for a few years. I am a product of public school from K through 12. I am a proud product of public school. I believe in the work that our teachers and our administrators are doing day in and day out to help our children. I also believe that for many students, for many of our kids in schools, that is really the place where they can actually call home. Unfortunately, a lot of students do not have the opportunity to feel loved at home. They do not have the opportunity to feel sheltered. They do not feel the opportunity to have a warm meal. I have seen this firsthand working and I definitely would be an advocate for additional public school funding. When it was time for me to make a decision or when it came time for me to make a decision to advocate, I will definitely always advocate in the interest of public schools. Again, because the majority of the folks that live in District 4, that is what they hang their hats on. That is the only way of possibly experiencing some upward economic mobility through education. And I definitely think that it is important as city leaders to advocate for this. In addition, on the question on rent control, I do believe that there is a housing crisis. I do believe that we also have to help prepare for that next million folks coming to San Antonio. I am also very aware that we should not pay a blind eye to the folks that might get displaced. So I think that we need to look at best practices, look at growth in other cities or even in other parts of our city, and make sure that we learn from our mistakes, that we learn from best practices, and that we don't have this sort of crisis. I am an advocate for parents and grandparents sending their children and grandchildren to the school of their choice. I will advocate for not only funding for the private schools, but also where it can be had for the charter schools and private schools. If we look around our district, the fastest growing school system is the charter school system. Ask yourself why. Those schools are packed. There is a waiting list on many of those schools. People should have a choice where to send their children because as we know most of our taxes that we pay is to the school system. And so we need to help that system. Public schools should take the majority of our funding. I will agree with that. But the charter school and private, well charter school, I would say, does need to be included in that. When the charter schools have a success rate of almost 99.9% graduation, we need to help them also. The housing, I would say it's more of a problem with affordable housing. If we look at houses being built, all you got to do is go 151. All you got to do is go down O'Pierce Rd. All you got to do is go to the deep southeast side of San Antonio. We have houses, apartments going up everywhere. Now, affordable housing, that's different. But you know what, affordable housing also goes hand in hand. You've heard me say it many times. Property taxes over appraisals. We need to address those issues with the legislator and work to work with those ideas there. So I am an advocate for affordable housing. Thank you. Start with you. Do you support paid sick leave? I do not. I do not support it. It is a burden on the business. The business owners many times have struggled to get where they're going. If you get a business owner that has got five or six or seven employees, and that's who helps their business. And you put the sick leave on this business owner, that cost is going to come down to us. And what happens when the cost comes down to us, we don't go many times. And what happens when the burden gets too heavy on the business owner, then they start laying off people. And then what could happen after that is they could close their business. Paid sick leave is one of these things that all of us out here again we all struggled when we grew up. We got out of high school, we got our first job. We did the things we needed to do. And some of us I won't even ask as far as our age at some of the, at the minimum ways that we were paid back then. And we made it. We worked hard. We raised our family. And sometimes it was paycheck, paycheck. I understand that. But sometimes we need to take responsibilities for ourselves. And we need to do what we need to do and we need to support our families. So when it comes to paid sick leave, it's an extra burden on the business owner. And the city should not be telling businesses what to do. That's up to the business owner that has sacrificed their time, their blood, sweat and tears to get that business going. Thank you. I think that it's important to work together with our business community to see where we can come together as a community to benefit each other. I do believe that some businesses already offer paid sick leave. In addition, paid sick leave was already approved by the city of San Antonio by the city council, whether it stands at the state is different. We'll see here in a couple of weeks whether it stands. Now, can that be, is there costs that are translated? That's what I would like to see. How much cost are in fact being passed on to the business owners? How much cost will be passed on to us as taxpayers on the daily basis at restaurants? I have met with the San Antonio Restaurant Association. I have met with many small business owners. I worked at a restaurant when I was in high school. I see the concern. I see every day also the concern in people who might not be able to care for their children because it means that they will not be able to bring money back home. So I think definitely there's two sides to every issue. And I think that before making any decision we need to come together as a community and work together on something that would be beneficial to both the business community as well as the stakeholders which many of them in District 4 work in the service industry. So definitely looking at taking care of the folks in District 4. Also know that there's a lot of small businesses having worked at an Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. I was an advocate for small business. So definitely see how some small business owners might have to do the job on their own and so I think that it's important to work with both groups and to find that happy medium. Thank you. Excuse me, we're going to start this one with you. It's a two-parter again. Sorry. As a council representative you will oversee a large budget. What is the largest budget you have overseen and with what organization? And part two is would you be willing to enact participatory budgeting in your district for your transportation or discretionary funds so that residents can vote on how to use the funds? The last part of that question I'm sorry for discretionary funds. So that residents can vote on how to use the funds. I'll start with that one. Definitely I think that participating in the process is important for everyone. Discretionary funds I think should very well be invested not just by the council member. I do believe that every community member should have a voice in this process in saying where any discretionary funds might be invested. So I definitely think that I would want to work with neighborhood leaders, with neighborhood associations, with the folks that are out in the neighborhoods every day where I might not be able to get every day to figure out where these discretionary funds might be able to go to. I also know that as a council member we have access to an entire budget for our area and a lot of that comes from bond projects. And so we need to be very mindful of how those bond funds are being spent, that our projects are delivered on time, and quality projects are delivered as well. That's very important for me as your representative to make sure that we take care of the budgeting. Much like our finances at home work, we are responsible for our own budgeting purposes. I have worked at multiple organizations and I can tell you that I have been able to work on multi-million dollar projects during my time at the city of San Antonio. And I'm very well aware that anything that goes over the allotted time period might set us back not only on time frame but also on funding for the project. So we make sure that we stay on track, that we have good contractors that are committed to holding their end of the bargain, and that someone is there to watch that these projects are overseen in the manner that they should be. Thank you. Absolutely. The citizens should have a voice on the way the money is being spent in their district. It's our money and so we should be able to give an input and that input should be taken very serious and not just given lip service by a council person. We can see the waste that's going on in the city in several areas by buildings going up or projects going up and you tell yourself what was the purpose for that. We have one on military anity. We had one on Zosimo and 35. I mean it is money that it belongs to us. Were we given the input or whether these structures should go up? So absolutely we should have a voice in where that money is distributed. Of course ultimately we know that it's up to the council person how they choose to do it. But a council person is here to represent the people that vote them in. And so that voice should be held above everything else. And so yes they should. As far as budgetary concerns, back years ago when I was a supervisor for the ninth largest corporation in the world, we had regional seminars that we would get together and we would discuss our budget. And ask Johnny how much money do you want? We discussed how the money was being distributed. We're talking budgets of $700 to $900 million. So we would have our input. We would talk about budgets. We would go ahead and let people know how we would use the money in our areas in our state. Our area covered five states. It's a vague geographic area that we covered. But as far as budgetary concerns, I was involved in that also. Thank you. I think I'm going to do these rapid fire because we're coming to the end of our time here. So I'm going to put these three things together. Do you support the community climate goals of shutting down the coal plants by 2025? Do you support electricity generated by coal by 2030 and net zero by 2040? Do you support ConnectSA that includes advanced rapid transit buses? And would you be willing to rescind the ordinances that make homeowners responsible for the sidewalks in front of their homes and have the city replace all sidewalks? I'll try to remember all that. I'll take the last one first. As a homeowner, those sidewalks belong to the city. The city should not tell us that we need to replace them. And then we submit a bill and the city reimburses for 50% of that bill. Sidewalks belong to the city. The city should be fixing those sidewalks. ConnectSA, that ConnectSA is huge. Okay, it's not just one part to it. They're only asking one part on that. What I would like to see about ConnectSA first is how are they going to pay for the $2.7 billion that it's going to take to start working on that? $2.7 billion. That's on top of the bomb package that passed two years ago that they said was $850 million. It wasn't $850 million. They spend it that way, but it was actually $1.4 billion because they did not include the interest to pay for that loan. So what we are looking in a short time period within seven years, we're looking at $1.4 billion, $2.7 billion. We're looking at over $4 billion. You know who's going to pay for that? We are. ConnectSA has not come out with a clear cut device on how that should be funded. They use words like it may happen. We are predicting this. There is potential for this money. You know what potential means? Is that it hasn't happened yet. That's what potential means. And so we need to, let me throw real quick and see if I can get in there. Coal plants. Coal plants, complete electricity by whatever year it was. I personally think that that ain't going to happen. So no, we need coal. We need fossil fuels in our life. The day that we can fly an electric plane from San Antonio to Europe, then maybe I will go ahead and consider viewing it at that time. Thank you. Sure. I'll start with the sidewalks ordinance and definitely I believe that we should probably look at rescinding that ordinance, especially in districts that need a lot of help like district four, where our residents are not able to just dish out the money needed to repair a sidewalk, especially in neighborhoods where there's elderly that need our support that can't even afford their basic needs. So yes, definitely. I think that would be one of the things that I would really be really be interested in helping. And on the connect us a I have traveled to most of the major cities in the United States and I can tell you that I have used public transportation in those cities that have greatly benefited myself and my family. I wish that we had a comprehensive plan here in San Antonio that allowed us to do this, especially again, since a lot of our jobs are moving further and further out. But I believe that it takes a community to do this. I believe that we have to have the right stakeholders represented at the table. I was asked to be on the connect us safe land. And although I would have wanted to serve the last time that I use public transportation in San Antonio was on a field trip. And I want to make sure that the residents who are taking these two hour rides to and from work are the ones that are represented that have a say that have a seat at the table. On the community climate goals by 2025. And I'm no environmental expert. And this is why I'm doing research. I'm meeting with folks who will know who will be able to tell me what I do know is that it seems that by 2025 might be a hefty goal. I haven't met with these folks yet. I do have a message out to them and we're working on scheduling a meeting. But I do know that we have responsible corporate citizens like Valero and Newstar who have given lots of money and scholarships to students in the south side that we can't just run off. Thank you. As usual, we have more good questions than we have time for. So I thank you all. I've tried to combine them so that I could get everybody's ideas in. I'm going to these last ones. I'm going to ask you to maybe address in your two minute closing statements. Okay. Because people would like to know what qualifies you for city council what educational life experience. And how does your faith impact your inspiration to represent and lead on the council. So we will start the two minute closing with Mr. Arredondo. I accept the crisis my savior in 1978. I am a member of cornerstone church for 29 years and I can tell you 29 years later that when that note that first note is being sung at church. My spirit is uplifted just like the first day I went to church. I will not ever deny God. Proverbs three five says you trust in God with all of your heart and you lean out onto your own understanding and he will direct your path. So as far as faith, God is part of it all the way through. I pray every day, every single day. And so that is an inspiration to me. I love going to church. We are pastor by excellent pastors and as far as education and life experience education. I graduated from John F. Kennedy High School way back in the day when you walk to school is what you did. And I always like to tease my grandkids and my granddaughter a you know I walked into snow and they're saying in San Antonio. I said well okay maybe I'm exaggerating that. I raised a family with my wife and then years later I was in my 40s. I went ahead and went back to college. I got my associate degree in public administration. I was there. I was in a president's list a number of times and then from there I went to UTSA and I got my bachelor's in criminal justice. I have been a supervisor for the ninth major corporation in the world. I have supervised many, many people. And so I tell people all the time is they ask you well you've never been a council person. You're right. But how many people here got their first job and had no experience whatsoever. If the qualification is being experienced for this job none of us would have had that first job to begin with. Thank you. Thank you. Hi. I am an active member in Divine Providence Catholic Church. I have been on the finance committee as finance chair for a few years. I believe that my faith is what gets me through every single day. If God is with me who can be against me. That is what I tell myself every single day. I believe that leading takes a great part in your religious life. Leading as a public servant, right? We think of the term servant leader. The first servant leader was Jesus. We think about how he led us through how he leads us, how he continues to be advocates for us. Definitely think that religion and my faith have gotten me to where I am. I would not have been able to do a lot of the things that I've done without believing in God. I would not have been able to have raised my son on my own, working two jobs, driving back and forth to Austin to finish the PhD without God's love and help. Folks, it's clear here that this is not a top-down approach that we need for the city. We need to be in this together. We need to work together as a community. We need to get our district for, our beloved district for ahead because it would only help benefit the entire city as a whole. I have experience. I'm currently an educator at our Lady of the Lake University. I teach in the School of Business. I also have business experience. I worked at the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as Vice President and advocating for small businesses. I have also had experience at Sam Ministries Furniture for a cause advocating for those who most need us. The homeless population. I have also worked special projects for the City of San Antonio so it would not take me months. There would be no learning curve. I am well aware of how the city works and I am ready and prepared to advocate for you on the first day, on the job, on day one. Thank you. That concludes tonight's candidate forum. I would again like to thank Nowcast SA for coming out and filming this so that it will be available to your family and friends who may not have been able to get out here tonight. I would like to thank Johnny Irridondo and Adriana Rocha and Carci. My Spanish is so pitiful. And I would like to thank all of you for coming out and educating yourself on your choice of candidates. Early voting starts, I believe May 28th. Correct. Yes. And the election is June 8th. Okay. So please, there are some voter guides, some nonpartisan league voter guides in the back that I think both candidates have participated in. And there's information on voting back there too. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you too. Oh, here. This wasn't a question I could ask, but since it's a thank you, I thought.