 This office here, this law office here on East South Cross and Clark Avenue is about three blocks from where I live. So I don't have any traffic jams here. Actually, when I went to the courthouse as commissioner, I had about an eight minute trip to downtown. My mother lives two houses down from me, where I grew up. So this is like a big time my home. And I have always had a firm belief that neighborhoods should not be thrown away. I watched a lot of neighbors move out over the years. And it's a free country. You can go wherever you wanna go and do whatever you wanna do. But as for me, I would like to honor this neighborhood by staying in here, and being loyal to it, and helping it. And not just helping the neighborhood, but creating perhaps an American phenomenon of what I call neighborhood sustainability. Where the neighborhood remains strong across the span of multiple generations. And allows people to come in and be pride filled. In their first year of getting acquainted with the neighborhood as well as in the 50th year of knowing the neighborhood. And so to me, that's why I have stuck here. And I feel the same way about other places around the city and the county as the people that live there, take care of it. Be good to them. Be in tune with your neighbors. We're there until Tommy was about 18 months old when we moved to San Antonio. And then my husband coached at South, no, East Central. East Central, yeah. For one year, and then he went to Harlandale. Harlandale Middle School, and then the High School. So why did you all choose this neighborhood to move into? Well, it wasn't too far from the school. And he didn't wanna be too close, but he didn't wanna be too far. So it was just right, mm-hm. Okay, and it was kind of an outreach of not only St. George Parish, but also of the South, that Denver High Territory you grew up in. I was, I guess, very subliminally influenced by my mother's family, which had played a serious role in the life of the community over the years, the century and a half or so. My father's family, they were sharecroppers in the dustpull of Oklahoma. Very poor. My Atkinson grandfather had a, I believe it was a third grade education. And my Ganslin grandfather, my mother's father, had a degree in mining engineering from MIT. And so it was like a vast, you know. So during World War II, it's probably happened over and over again in many ways across the globe. But certainly here, they met during World War II at Fort Sam. And this was a country boy meeting city girl. Very diverse family experiences. They had two things in common. They loved to dance, and they were good people. I got involved because I had gotten out of high school at St. George High School and had government and all that. And then I went over to St. Philip's College and had Frank Madelow for a teacher over there. So I thought that was, he was impressive. He was totally excited about changing the world for the better. And we oftentimes discussed and reflected on how poorly treated the South side had been over the years. You know, like a century and a half or two. And how the foundation for the city was along the San Antonio River, the missions, all that from the Alamo to Concepcion to San Jose Mission to San Juan de Capistrano to Espada Mission. And how, in contrast with that grand and noble history, there was the reality that the area was not well kept up as it should have been. And now, this is a picture of me surveying the condition of a median, under the County Valley median, when I was 19. So I started out kind of early, and I had a former group called the Youth Pacific Progress. And that was my organization that allowed me to learn how to organize and learn how to undertake projects and make a difference. So let's talk about, now, why do you believe you're the best candidate to be mayor? Well, I think I know the city and the county, not just its history, that too. Which is vastly greater than any of the other candidates. But, I mean, it's not even close. But, you know, those other candidates have their own traits and strengths too. But to know the history of the community is, I think, to know how to best serve it and what it needs. And so, to me, I think that's a big deal. I also think my history of having been both in the Texas House of Representatives for two terms, four years, and the Commission of Court for 16 years at the local level, the state and local experience, is a powerful combination. And there's, other than Ivy Taylor, who has about six years, I think, experienced locally. There's nobody even close, and she's not even close. I have 16, she has six. But, you know, I think that is fundamental to knowing what the priorities should be and how we might best proceed in a world of limited resources and unlimited demands for resources. If you're elected mayor, how do you think you'll be able to help relations or keep a good relationship between City of San Antonio and Bear County? I would say experience and seniority. And having relationships and acquaintanceships, I think those are all positive features of what anybody should have when they enter into a significant public office. For either an insignificant, seemingly entry-level public office is an acquaintancehip with all of the various participants, and I have that pretty well in hand. Do you think things need to be changed in the relationship between the mayor's office and the county? Is there something that you would not bring that isn't there right now? Absolutely. I think, if you think about it, at any given time, this county of 1.9 or so million people, this city of 1.4 to 1.5 million people, has 100,000 people who have either been in our jail or who are on probation, parole, or some kind of criminal justice thing. And the San Antonio Police Department is the primary entity that is checking people into our Bear County jail. It would seem to me that just as we at the county have done reentry efforts to try to make sure they don't come back to the jail, they get a job, they go to work, that they pay their child support, they pay their taxes, they pay their bills, they support their family, that those who are just entering would be qualified as to how they might also not come back. I would call that pre-entry. If the county is doing re-entry, the city should be doing pre-entry. And you said before the Bear County jail is the biggest mental health provider in San Antonio? It is the number one mental health care provider in the county and if the mental health dimension of the incarcerated community is not addressed properly, most of the time they're just going to cycle over and over through our jail. What do you think is the role of the mayor in the city of San Antonio when it comes to these mental health issues? I think the mayor ought to be cognizant for one of who's in the jail because the city in this case is the one primarily placing these people in the jail as they are charged to do. But we ought to be aware that there are certain members within that group that we're checking into the jail from the city that if treated properly and appropriately, might more readily find themselves not back in our jail. 75% of everybody on our channel has already been there before. When you were a commissioner, you took a big stance of trying to prevent recidivism. How could you do that as mayor? What would you do to help keep people from going back into the jail? Well, I think we could initiate a pre-entry program where we try to make sure that people that don't belong in our jail don't go there in the first place. There's some pretty low level stuff that probably deserves a fine and deserves some kind of punishment. But whether they deserve a place in our jail is another question. With respect to who gets into the jail, there are just a whole lot of people that are treated the same irrespective of their either great or their very minimal problem that caused them to be there. And so if we don't use more discretion in how we treat them, they're just going to cycle through the jail over and over. Every 400 inmates cost the citizens of Bear County $8 million and we regularly have about almost $4,000, so that's about $80 million a year, year in and year out with a 75% return rate or recidivism rate. You wanted to run for county judge and you lost the Democratic primary. Now you're running for mayor. Is this, you know, Vandeput's been criticized of, you know, San Antonio mayor being a plan B for her. Is San Antonio mayor a plan B for you as well? And a plan B for Mike Vary-Allenswell. You know, he had a great design to run for senator and then later on for county commissioner. That's why he's in King William and not in the Edison area where he originally began or the Jefferson area began his early years. He was redistricted out of precinct to by the commissioner that he was proposing to run against. So I don't think anybody has a lock on, you know, this, you know, falsely, pure, you know, that's everything I've ever wanted to be and nothing else. No, actually the common denominator of these offices is you want to serve, you want to serve, you want to make a difference, you want to lift up society. I think it was on election night when I didn't make it for a county judge. A person who said, hey, and I looked around and he said, run for mayor. And I thought, oh my gosh, that's a lot of work and no pay, basically. But I started thinking, you know what, this office won't pay me any money. But frankly, if I was into money, that's the last thing I'd be doing. I would never recommend it. If a person really wanted to get some money together, do not be a public official. You say though that there's not much money in public service, but in your county position, if I'm not mistaken, I believe that the commissioners are paid over $100,000. They are. They are. 107 was where it was when I left. I understand it was 113. So why do you say that public service isn't at least in your old position if there wasn't very much money in it? Well, because I think it's true. I think that I have a law license and that law license would catapult me way beyond this pittance of a pay that I've received. Even if it's great to some, it's not everything to others. It's respectable. It's infinitely better than the city council or the mayor to get paid 107 or 113. As a county judge, it's about $125,000, $135,000 a year. It's infinitely better, but it's not really necessarily what your full potential would bring in the private sector. To run for mayor, it takes a lot of money. Absolutely. I think your album has raised quite a good amount. Leticia has raised a lot too, and she's gotten at least $150,000 of that, $300,000. How are you doing? How much money have you raised, and what challenges do you see when it comes to participating in the arena? Well, I was told, and this is the grit and the gumption that has driven me all of my life in whatever endeavor. I have pursued. I was told when I started thinking about the mayor's shift, the mayoral office, that it takes a million dollars to run for mayor. And my reaction to that is an outrage. That is a threat, and that is a clear and present danger to the well-being of our community. For you to have to be so deeply mortgaged to the privileged elite of the community, they need to be served too, but not exclusively. By the time you get through raising a million dollars, you will serve them quite exclusively. And you may never want to admit it. You may deny it into eternity, but the reality is you are heavily mortgaged to those folks that brought you there. So, you know, a million dollars, I think is an outrage. How will I handle it? I've probably put along with Karen, my wife, 120 or so thousand. So you're personally invested deeply? Yes, hugely. Hugely, 120,000 we've raised, about 50 will raise another 100 or so, but I'm going to raise a million dollars. And is that going to get your, you've got ads going on TV now too, right? Yes. And that appears really expensive to maintain. Very. Very. How important do you think those ads are? They are very important. That's the bar to everyday people serving as mayor, even if they're really well-qualified, even if they have great ideas, even if they have an impressive work history or an impressive public official history, the money becomes the price of admission, a big time, the price of admission to higher public offices. So you have two ads, the standard ad that talks about who you are, and then you have one that focuses on Senator Vandipie. Why did you feel that this other ad was necessary? Because I think the truth has not come out yet about the money laundering that's going on, the lack of transparency with respect to what the law requires in terms of not accepting donations. There are donations that are way over the $1,000 limit, and I mean, significantly, not just a couple of $5,000 donations, I think, $25,000 was one of the figures I saw. But I just think that if the enforcement mechanism for the obedience of a candidate to the law of limitations on campaign financing cannot address the problem, then maybe taking our message to the people will help address that. A lot of people talk about Center City, wanting to redevelop downtown, wanting to redevelop near downtown. Do you think that we should be focusing so much on downtown San Antonio? Do you think there are other areas of town that you want to do? Frankly, it's kind of like picking one area over another. I think downtown is very special. I think we all treasure downtown, but we cannot let that blind us from the reality that many neighborhoods are highly underserved. And the city cannot be fixating strictly on a few areas to the derogation of everything else. What do you think the mayor and city council should be focusing their attention on, you know, kind of July? Back to basics. Crime-free, safe, and sustainable neighborhoods. Road infrastructure, including curves and sidewalks. Walkability of our neighborhoods. Flood control at $2.5 billion plus in unmet flood control needs and expanding local businesses. So would you say that flood control is like one of the, you mentioned it, but flood control is like one of the, we're a very floodable city. We are. We are. And part of that, it derives from having $2.5 billion in unmet flood control needs and deflecting our attention. Oftentimes on these big important, one might say vanity projects as opposed to the everyday, not so glamorous, but very critical needs that the city has. So what can you as mayor do about that? Well, you can get on the ball with the flood control efforts. And, you know, the legacy projects, the vanity projects need to take a back seat to the basics. They don't have to be eliminated. They just need to be more reasonably. Could this be addressed with bonds? It could be. It could be, yes. Uber and Lyft have left. Do you think that it's worth trying to bring them back? Well, I think that the next time we reset the process for dealing with transportation, they should feel like they're welcome to make a proposal. And I think the council needs to set out the standards by which we will judge cabs as well as the ridesharing industry and make sure that we have everybody on as level of playing field as we can. And I would be very open to that. When it comes to companies like Uber and Lyft, is this something that should be decided at the city level with local control, or do you think the state should weigh in and draft its own legislation for it? I like local control. I just think it's more responsive. It's more appropriate, more suited to the people than to have somebody in Austin giving you a cookie cutter. As a former chairman of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, MPOs, Pedestrian Mobility Committee, I believe we need to provide as many options as possible. And I think the city ought to catalyze a process that brings about robust alternatives to conventional transportation. Julian Castro had the SA-2020 initiative to kind of plan for the vision of the 2020, and now Ivy Taylor has SA tomorrow, which is supposed to reach out to 2040, but to be more strategic and address some transportation needs. What do you think is the value or the role of those programs if you become there? Well, those are visionary projects that, as is said biblically, a nation without vision will perish and so will a community. We have to know where we're going or we'll be lost, and I think that's true of humanity across the globe and across the span of time. We need to have a planning process, and I think what gets measured tends to improve and gets done. And so we should say, this is what we'd like to see happen. This is what we think is good. If others come along and say, we don't agree, let them bring something else on. But they'll have to overcome the logic and the thrust of what had been put in place before them. And you do support those initiatives? I support all those initiatives, and I think that it's a healthy thing. So what would a Mayor Atkinson do in the negotiations with the police and fire contracts? Well, I'd ask him to come to the table and let's work this out and not leave the table until we get it settled. I think it's not unlike calling a huddle or calling a goals clarification session, whatever you want to call it and making sure that the Mayor is involved in this. I think that we've had a power vacuum in the Mayor's office for some time. And a power of whores vacuum is the old statement. And that means that when people are not moving forward and getting things done, that we begin to slide into a malaise. And that's where we are with the Fire and Police Contracts. Can we talk a little bit about City Manager Cheryl Smilly? What are your thoughts on how she's handled the police and fire negotiations, the lawsuits that have come out? What are your thoughts on her handling of this? Of the fire and police negotiations? Well, I think, in general, I think she's smart. I think she's capable. I've had a pretty good relationship with her husband at the county and I've had a long-standing good relationship with Mike Scully. But I think with respect to the fire and police contract, the power vacuum was too compelling or tempting, whatever, for her to resist and she ended up interjecting herself into it in a way that I think an elected official would normally have done. Do you feel she's overpaid or overcompensated? I do. And what would you do as mayor to address that? Well, I think you have to do exactly what she's asking the Fire and Police to do and that is to come to the table with some concessions. And what if she leaves? Well, you know, Alex Prasigno has the record for the long-standing city manager, eleven years, and after that, Lou Fox is about eight or nine years. I think Cheryl has around ten years. So really, these city managers are not for life and it's out of all due respect, but maybe it's time for us to change gears. Frankly, the million-dollar golden parachute is in addition to the bonuses, which, you know, when you get a bonus in the front part of the year for work that's supposed to be accomplished during the year, that's really odd. What is the million-dollar code for that? Oh, there's a deal that said that if there's an inappropriate departure, or let's say termination, I guess would be the word, by Cheryl Scully from the city that she would have a million dollars awarded to her for that. If a voter came up to you on the street and asked, why should I vote for you, what would you tell them? Well, I think my track record of solidarity, of courage, of ubiquitousness, which is what Phil Hardberger says I was, ubiquitous, which I didn't understand at the time completely, but I looked it up just to make sure I knew it was okay, because we haven't been friends for a long time. But it means you're everywhere. And to me, whether it's the Tea Party, or people upset about the trolley, or people upset about any facet of government, usually the presence of the leader can help sell the dust on a lot of that. And I know this has kind of been a thorn in your side for a while. The situation with the emails and the Third Court of Appeals saying that you should turn these things over. And you mentioned that you may just finally give up the emails and people would be greatly disappointed. Well, they will. Are you planning on turning over the emails just to get this thorn out of your side? Well, I think, you know, frankly, I don't have time to mess with. I put a lot of money, almost as much money as I put in this campaign, into the effort to basically preserve my private property, my Fourth Amendment privileges rights as an elected official. And I thought that the law did support me at the outset, but the powers that be changed it in this last session before the session is going on right now. And the emails they sought at that time were emails basically between myself and citizens to expect to have a measure of privacy. But because of the Open Records Act, may well not receive any privacy. And I also felt like that all the Valero and the AT&T and you name it, employees across the spectrum of San Antonio and Bear County who serve on boards and commissions are going to be subjected to this. So they would hope that their conversations on their emails are not impinging upon and detracting from their own employers. And their employers, I think, would expect that their employees should be given measures of privacy and what they cut up that may impinge upon or detract from their company's business. So what I believe the disappointment of the emails will be for the Express News and anybody else who's interested in knowing is that I've had conversations with various citizens including Terry Hall who I think was at the eye of the storm on the anti-toleroid fight. I've paid a huge price. When people say, elected officials, oh, we're against torwards. I have fought against torwards. I don't think so. My last part of the question is Bear County was ordered to pay the costs that Hearst invested in the lawsuit, but Nelson-Wolf said that you would be taking care of that personally. Yeah, I've taken care of about a hundred... Why is that important to you? I've taken care of about $120,000 already. And what's left is not much. But it's important to me to take care of responsibilities and obligations but it's also important to me for the county to acknowledge some of its own participation. I would not have been sued had I not been a county commissioner. They wouldn't have any reason to waste their time on me. I mean, I didn't even talk to me. I don't know. But it certainly would not have had any interest in this. And so, actually, every elected official has the jeopardy or the prospect for being hauled into court to give up a whole array of emails that you may think should be private or that those who sent them to you expected that they would be private. Such as a person that may say, I want to tell you that my son has been dilly in drugs and I think he's about ready to be busted. Can you please tell me who as an attorney I might seek advice and counsel from? And maybe that's all prospective talk about a son that may or may not be involved in drugs. But you can see the danger that lurks there and even for an elected official. Or a board and commission member to be subjected to this I think should suggest caution. And I think the county has an interest in every elected official. Certainly the county official's protection of certain manners that should be remain private. But I'm looking forward to resolving it and hope that we can move on.