 we've ever held like this and so we're excited to have this we would like to thank everybody for being here tonight and we'd also like to thank the candidates not just for being here but for your dedication and your passion to ensuring San Antonio success and being the best city in the country so at this time if you guys could please join us as the A&M San Antonio ROTC will be posting the colors the Pledge of Allegiance will be read by Richard Delgado the director of military community relations you'll please place your hand over your heart I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all we're also going to take the moment tonight to honor our Texas flag I pledge allegiance to the Texas one state under God one and indivisible thank you now please remain standing for the national anthem that will be sung by the professional recording gospel artist Elena Castorino oh say can you see whose broad stripes and bright star here at Texas A&M San Antonio we are located on 694 acres on the beautiful south side of San Antonio surrounded by history we offer a 21st century education that empowers students to enter into a highly diverse and competitive market just the only urban campus distinguished by the Texas A&M University system but in San Antonio from fall of 2008 to fall of 2013 enrollment at Texas A&M University San Antonio has grown 216 percent built in the style of the historic Spanish missions our main campus facilities leveraged technology to enhance the university's commitment to student success while engaging the spirit of San Antonio's rich culture at A&M San Antonio we are military embracing and we are making the dream of higher education a reality for students here San Antonio community and all over the region with such an amazing future ahead of us especially for all the south side of San Antonio the student government association here at Texas A&M San Antonio saw it vital to host this event we are delighted to provide our citizens of this great city with a chance to not just meet the candidates but as well here's their stance on vital issues that are dealing with our city when I first became student body president two years ago it was my dream to provide our student body with an opportunity to be involved in university local state and even national policy but this concept is not new and all those who were before us today have made the dedication and the decision to put us citizens before themselves to put our troubles and our concerns before their own joys to put our city our state our country before themselves so from the bottom of my heart I would like to thank each and every single one of you for going to go up against this adversity the challenges that you're dealing with and pushing through the leadership that we all expect to have our evening or this evening we will have a moderator that does not need an introduction Michael Valdes but although for the two people that might not know him I'll go ahead and give you guys kind of a background originally from Del Rio Texas as is currently the director of business development for Munoz and company which is one of the nation's largest minority owned architecture firms at currently in charge of remodeling the Freeman color see him the AT&T Center and redesigning and overseeing the renovation of San Pedro Creek a project that will transform the downtown downtown San Antonio in less than three years before that Mr. Valdez spent almost 20 years as the week weekday anchor for Fox News 29 here in San Antonio where he has covered major news stories nationwide and developed an award-winning Valdez view franchise he graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio and has received his degree in philosophy Michael has also been a small business owner when he is not working which is very rare you can find him at home cooking with his family and friends so please guys welcome Michael Valdez thank you for not holding the UTSA thing against me I was expecting a few heckles a couple cackles all right that works though a lot of things out tonight it's a good it's great night and thank you everyone for the coverage that we're getting online and through the local media as well we appreciate that it's a very important time for our city as we make a big change in our leadership and we have a big field of folks who are interested in in leading this city and we want to thank them all for being here and we'd like to give you a chance to get to know them real quick just some housekeeping if we could please all remember to put our cell phones in the locked position oh see many people forgot I actually just remembered when I was standing off stage so if we could do that just so that we don't have any interruptions and we can get through this as quickly as we can we'd like to give each of the candidates one minute basically to introduce themselves and tell us a little bit about what's brought them to this stage today I'll just let you all go down the line is that sound good to you perfect we start right here right my name is red Smith and red Rosen quest Smith someone said use your mother's maiden name and I think that's appropriate I chose her maiden name is my middle name and my grandfather emigrated he was not born in the United States he emigrated and Judge Rosen quest became a judge here in Texas I am a libertarian so I want y'all to think about that tonight I just finished a race in November this says judge but I'm obviously a candidate for mayor now and I think it's very important that you consider third parties in choosing someone to lead America and especially here locally I think I can be very effective and I think you and I by communicating more by having a way for us to have more town hall meetings more ways for you to interact I would like for you this city council meetings to be available on the internet so go to city hall or the city council to be participating in our governance and I think it's so important tonight that you learn a little bit more about the great range of possibilities in America thank you all right thank you Mr. Smith I mean retired disabled veteran with 25 years of service I've been Army Navy in Air Force and I am second only to I be Taylor of being down there at City Council every Wednesday my wife and I have a date night with City Council every Wednesday and I bring to light the issues and the city of San Antonio I chose to run because I believe that we need a more direct common sense Christian Stewart to handle the assets of the city of San Antonio for too many for too long we have had the same people get the same funding and I think it's time that we change that matters not who or what party we belong to we need to vote our conscience and our hearts because for too long we haven't had proper representation thank you thank you Mr. Zavala mr. Virial good evening my name is Mike Virial it's a pleasure to be with you this evening I have one single heartfelt goal and that is to make San Antonio a city of opportunity for our people I will work tirelessly to make sure that our people who earn an education acquire 21st century skills see San Antonio as the place to launch their careers start their small businesses raise their families for me it goes back to my two children Bella and Marcos the dreams I have for them are my dreams for our city I want them to know the joy of realizing their potential experiencing success and fulfillment in work being rooted in communities of friends family and faith knowing what it's like to contribute not be dependent on government but be a builder of a stronger San Antonio success starts with the basics getting our finances strong so we can keep our taxes low being able to afford more public safety by getting this police and fire contract right thank you thank you thank you my name is Pogo Michelle Allen Reese I was born in a little small town called Monroe Louisiana I migrated over here because I sought out better opportunities but where I come from you test people on the small things don't get these grand ideas and these grand and vision what you ask the person is if they take down your phone number and they promise to call you you test them on the little thing so if you can't test them to return a phone call don't trust nothing else they say because he's a liar next please hi my name is Cynthia Brem and I am a military family member my husband served honorably for 28 years I'm a descendant of the Canary Islanders that actually settled San Antonio in 1731 in which my grandfather back then was the first mayor of San Antonio so you can say politics is in my blood I also have a background in marketing and advertising and I was also involved heavily in politics for most of my adult life and helping others get into office and I thought you know I'm gonna do this for myself I am a Christian and I also have been a civil servant a civic servant servant excuse me involved in a lot of different charities and organizations and being a part of the community as a community leader it's my time up ma'am you had your hands it's good okay thank you good evening first of all I do want to thank the Texas A&M San Antonio student organization as well the student government as well as the faculty and administrators for inviting us to this forum unlike certain universities to include my alma mater who chose to invite only certain candidates your invitation shows the city of San Antonio that your commitment and dedication to the education of our of our citizens by allowing other people to speak with that said my name is Paul Martinez I am a combat veteran of the United States Army I am running for I'm running for mayor San Antonio San Antonio for one simple reason we the people of San Antonio have lost our voice it's time that we the people have a voice in our city government our city is growing by leaps and bounds and while we're doing great things it is time we've lost focus in his time that we probably we prioritize in order to become more efficient more effective and good stewards of our taxpayers dollars the decade of downtown must come to an end and the decades of our of our districts must begin but in order to do that we must elect a career leader not career politicians thank you thank you you know I would actually before I like to clarify on the timekeeping when your hand goes up does that mean it's about 20 seconds she's putting her hand up with about 20 seconds okay okay all right thank you my name is George Ponce and I'm also accounted for mayor I'm actually 10th generation Texan also and as the city started years ago the people would work together the communities work together I believe it is mayor I would like to make sure that that happens again where I as mayor would actually come to organizations like this me and find out what the needs are of the city and go back to the city and discuss that with the city council members and then make sure that the needs and the voices of the people are heard I'm actually a proven leader I was involved in creating the juvenile justice courts here 35 years ago helping children to empower their lives later the domestic violence courts here we started those without using taxpayer dollars and to me I believe that our programs or models should start without taxpayer dollars and then find out if it is successful then let's put some money behind it thank you thank you good evening I'm Tommy Atkinson and I'm running for mayor because I think it's time that we get back to basics that we refocus our energies and our resources on the basic core functions of city government the core functions that oftentimes are lost as we fail to at crime-free safe and sustainable neighborhoods infrastructure road infrastructure including sidewalks and curbs ensuring that that our neighborhoods are walkable and that we're not attacked as we walk through the neighborhoods that we also deal with flood control the spot a mission experienced a record flood four feet of water in the homes of some of those some of those homes around a spot a mission and so those are some of the things that I've thought we ought to do I fought the landfills that have come to the south side I've fought the sewage treatment plants that weren't right Rilling Road we finally got those reels so a bunch of things that we have never gotten they're just core functions of the city and I'm happy to say that after 16 years on commissioners court I'm ready to go another round at City Hall to set things straight that I think need help thank you Mary Taylor good evening everyone my name is Ivy Taylor and I've had the privilege of serving as your mayor since July 22nd of 2014 tonight to ask for your support to allow me to continue serving as your mayor for a couple of reasons first I'm well prepared for the job having spent about 12 years down at City Hall six as a city employee so I have worked behind the scenes as a staffer and then the remainder of the time has been as a council member for District 2 and now as mayor since last summer I am not a career politician I'm someone who's focused on getting things done on behalf of San Antonians I've demonstrated through the strong leadership that I've provided during the time that I am I've been mayor that I'm responsive that I'm a good listener and that I want to do what's right on behalf of San Antonians so that we can continue to be a great community that's economically competitive and has a strong fiscally responsible city government and that we all work together thank you thank you ma'am not really quickly I want to introduce our our panelists up front Dr. Cynthia Teniente-Matson was confirmed as president of Texas A&M University San Antonio by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents in February of 2015 she still has that new president's smell with over two decades of experience in higher education and management and finance Mattson brings thoughtful leadership and practical experience that will make A&M at San Antonio to the next level Mattson has been the recipient of a variety of honors and awards including 2014 top 10 professional women in the Marjorie Mason Center one of the top 40 under 40 by the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce and AK Journal Alaska Journal of Commerce James please stand Dr. Mattson you have a receptive crowd James Cotter James Adam Cotter is the vice president of his family's real estate company Cotter and sons incorporated headquartered here in San Antonio with over 3.5 million rentable square feet of office buildings in retail space James spends most of his time leading his property management team and facilitating their lease negotiations across five states including Texas Oklahoma California Idaho and Washington James is active politically in San Antonio is an officer the Alamo Pack Durham Club he also contributes time to the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce Oklahoma City Rotary Club as well as the downtown Spokane partnership James Cotter now we'd like to welcome Al Ariola Al has had a diverse career in politics and public administration beginning since his undergraduate studies at Texas A&M University and Corpus Christi Al has managed candidate elections throughout South Texas most notably for then-state representative Joaquin Castro all Al then started his own business a barnstorm strategies focused on political and communication consulting in 20 was selected as the executive chamber for his hometown Del Rio Chamber of Commerce May 2014 he formally accepted the offer from the South San Antonio Chamber of Commerce to serve president and CEO Al Ariola or as I call him homeboy John Griffin with over 25 years of business and financial management experience as a financial controller and having worked in a variety of industries including local and multinational organizations and organizations ranging from private entrepreneurial startups to publicly traded conglomerates his career has placed various parts of the world including New York Beverly Hills Paris London and Houston now most recently has relocated to San Antonio area working in the real estate investment and management business sector John Griffin thank you Mr. Griffin thank you all for being here and for taking time out of your evening to serve on our panel then explain a little bit how this is going to work now each candidate will be given 60 seconds to provide an opening statement we'll then go into the question portion of the forum where each question will only be answered by three or four candidates as kind of time allows we're missing a few candidates so maybe a little more time I will then maybe get a chance to follow catch a follow-up we're gonna do is we're gonna pull balls from this and I noticed when I was up here I actually had more balls than candidates so I was trying to sort out what ones didn't have numbers on so I wasn't trying to ignore anybody I just want to make that clear I was trying to figure out which ones had numbers which ones did not so again at random you might get a question that you like you might not get a question but if it is a question that you really want to answer please let me know and I will go ahead and give you 30 seconds and then I'll remove your ball and then we'll put them all back in and start the whole process over again fair enough go ahead and look on the bottom the back of your name cards that will tell you what number you are everybody got that we should start with five with Mr. Smith and then six seven eight nine ten on the way down so starting from left to right let's go ahead and please give an opening statement okay you just want to move from there you want to go to that sounds good to me let's go to questions okay before we begin like I said I have the ping pong balls here so it's kind of like the Lotto only the job that you're winning doesn't pay near as much please keep that in mind I don't want any surprises first question please for candidate number 12 I'll get this down once I figure out okay go ahead yes ma'am test there we go yay many mayors are taking action so that all high school graduates regardless of income race or ethnicity are thoroughly prepared and have access to successfully complete post-secondary education as mayor what is your plan to reach these expectations well I would like to remove or reduce the the tasks test I believe that is a waste of teachers time a waste of students time because these these these students are actually just taught to pass test and not get educated so that they're actually not ready for college so I believe that's the first thing that we need to do I would actually like to work with children of special needs to make sure that their education is empowered and furthered by making sure that they also have assistance to make sure that they also make it thank you thank you candidate number five I believe that's you mr. Smith same question okay same question yes I'm very happy to answer I've been concerned for many years I actually ran for governor some years ago and I was talking to the chancellor of the University of Houston and he was talking about how and I think he had come from Utah and they were doing distance learning they had a program there where students could work in public school but go ahead and get their while they're in public school and if they completed their four-year degree within two years of their normal graduation the state would pick up the entire expense I don't know if Texas can do that right now but what I would like to see is as our children are getting out of the elementary primary school and entering junior high that they're starting to think about the college pathways and so I would like to see a college pathway offered to every child in the city of San Antonio and and certainly through this but I think San Antonio could lead the way in that effort and I hope that we can do that for every child okay and the last candidate picked at random mr. Atkinson oh same question yes sir same question I would like to make sure that we coordinate with the Association of Superintendents here locally to see what would best fit for their schools and try to develop a program that would ensure that the city is a catalyst not not the primary sponsor we have roads and flood control and a whole range of fundamental issues as well as economic development to address but I would think it would be good I think the cafe college is a good idea I think that the state should be sponsoring pre-k for SA and I think that that we ought to work with the superintendent as well as the junior colleges who are the principal mechanisms for which the joint high school college credit is achieved so that that's what I would like to work with all right thank you sir and did you say the the format was candidates could jump in sure if you'd like to jump in on this question great this is very important to me in my opinion economic development is education and workforce development as your mayor I will work with our leading business leaders and education leaders to ensure that we change the way we think about high school and also adult education we stop thinking about students as some going to college and some not and recognize everybody's going to have a job and if we're successful they'll have a career so I'd like us to move toward a model where students receive an excellent education that allows them by the time they graduate to have choices because they've earned certifications that are in high demand here they can choose to $60,000 job at rack space or continue on and earn a four-year diploma as your mayor I will create more than 20,000 internships apprenticeships summer program summer jobs or co-op programs for college students so that we can ground our people's learning in doing all right thank you sir mr. Adiola our next question please that wasn't that question wasn't open we're gonna move on to the next question yes sir again thank you all for being here there are discussions of another break while Brook City based in Port San Antonio are seen as success stories Lackland and Kelly annex are key employment anchors for the Southside what efforts are you going to employ to ensure that the military missions are supported thus strengthening Lackland's position in the back discussions in our first candidate on that is candidate number nine it is a like a little blue like winning something isn't it okay will you do me a favor because I'm a military family member will you please repeat that again sure absolutely there are discussions of another base realignment enclosure while book City based in Port San Antonio are success stories Lackland and its Kelly annex are key employment anchors for the Southside what efforts are you going to employ to ensure that the military missions are supported thus strengthening Lackland's position in the back discussions strengthening what Lackland's position in the back discussions okay what I think is important is that we give me a moment I think that it's important that we get the businesses that are coming here to San Antonio to stay for example Lockheed Martin came they had a 10-year contract stayed for four years and now they're up and leaving Kelly was here and then the government cut back and off they go and a lot of people lost their jobs so I think what we need to do is we need to find other methods because you know our government is shrinking and dollars are shrinking and we need to find other methods of employment and what does that mean it means that we need to target the big companies that are coming to San Antonio instead of giving away the farm like we did with Toyota that we need to get rid of the tax deferred incentives because Los Angeles is doing that Denver Colorado is doing that and guess what they're still moving in so we can take those monies and we can put them in the coffer we can create more jobs for people so that we don't have to be so dependent I mean with all due respect military being a military family member we don't have to be so dependent upon them that we have other ways that we can help the community thank you very much 14 you're Taylor all right thank you well before we even get to the point of the BRAC what we're dealing with right now today is actually a potential reduction by the Army and so just yesterday we had a listening session where some folks from the Pentagon were here and so I put together a military workforce advisory panel led by Councilman Gallagher who's a retired Colonel as well as Gail Hathaway who leads a workforce solutions Alamo to advise me on how we can reduce any reductions with the Army so certainly that's at the top of the list but as far as looking long term at BRAC I do think we're in a good position but we have to work together as a community I'll work very closely with the members of the military that are here and understanding their missions and the importance of them and ensuring that we don't have development that impacts their training facilities and also work with the chambers of commerce and of course with our delegation in Congress and the House of Representatives and the Senate to communicate the message that we are military city USA we've always had a strong partnership with the military and we'd like them to continue to grow here in San Antonio. Thank you very much. Canada number eight. No. Eight. I don't think I've been digging into this book and things that he was doing and all the different trials and tribulations he was going through. The first thing I would do is probably sit down with Susan Pamela who's a sheriff of this county who was a brigadier general major general in the Air Force that was over the nuclear weapons. I'm not going to add my two cents in it knowing that I have resources like a general in this book and a brigadier general. I'm not going to mess it up. They will. Thank you. Mr. Carter. Next question, please. Being in the real estate market, it seems to be that much of the downtown's energy in the office market has been shifting to the northern limits of our city. Most of which is along interstate 10, 281 and 1604. Do you believe this is a problem for downtown San Antonio? And if so, what would you do to change this pattern? You repeat that question again a little bit closer to the mic. Sorry about that. I said being in the real estate market, it seems to me that much of downtown's energy in the office market has been shifting to the northern limits of our city. Most of which is along I 10, 281 and 1604. Do you believe this is a problem for downtown San Antonio? And if so, what would you do to change it? Well, first of all, you know, the way I see it right now is a decade of downtown needs to end. The decade of our districts need to begin. The north side is growing. I live on the north side. So trust me, I see it growing every single day. I grew up on the west side and my parents still live there. And I see how our west side is being forgotten. I see how our south side is being forgotten. I have family that lives on the east side and I see how our east side is being forgotten. And so it is a problem not for downtown before our city. We need to do we need to figure out the way that we're going to diversify and how we're going to get with the real estate agents and the developers to develop on those lower income sides of town. San Antonio is not made up by downtown. It's made up of 10 different districts. And those districts deserve equality. And it's time that they have a voice in that equality. And that's why I'm running for mayor to give them that voice. Thank you. Candidate number 10. Oh, I'm sorry. Number six. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure you're all aware of what happened to the mission trader part. Nothing but pure gentrification. And why all in the name of money. They was rezoned without proper authority. Everybody on the console voted for it. There's 3 families living out of 1604 and 935. They're living in sacks now. The city told them that they were going to take care of them. Sure did. No running water. No electricity. That is not right. There is a lot of empty lots. And I do believe that the growth is up to the north. We should reinvent the wheel and start building from the inner city out. I live 3 blocks from Haven for whole currently that program. It's good in a way is taking up a lot of properties. City condemns properties without even trying to help the people. I stood with a widow of a veteran as they tore down her house and then they insulted the lady by giving her a $3,000 bill. She only makes 450 a month from her husband's income. How can we live with a clear conscience? Ladies and gentlemen, we need to reinvent the wheel and reinvest in the inner city. Thank you. Thank you. All the balls are back in the bowl. Just so we're aware. If anybody wants. Okay, what was the question again? Mr. Atkinson. I'm sorry. He just repeat the question. Can you repeat the question, please? Yes. Sure. I said being in the real estate market, it seems to me that much of downtown's energy in the office market has been shifting to the northern limits of our city, most of which has been along I-10 281 in 1604. Do you believe this is a problem for downtown San Antonio? And if so, what would you do to change it? I've heard the phrase donor communities mention, and it's a very real concern for those far north districts. And the best thing that we can do, not only for those far north districts, but also for the south and the central part of the city, is make sure that we don't allow our neighborhoods to degrade. Because when their values go down, it puts rate pressure on elected officials at the commissioner's court and at the city council, and that's a rate that everybody pays. So the best thing we can do is stand up on our own two feet and respect our neighborhoods, keep our neighborhoods looking good, keep the sidewalks and the curbs, the loose animals dealt with, and the walkability of those communities in place. Keep the place safe, crime-free, safe, and sustainable neighborhoods, and, of course, flood control and expanding local businesses. Thank you. Everybody wants to know this question. Go ahead, ma'am. It does impact. What I would suggest doing is continuing with building up the inner part of San Antonio. We have to. In doing that, what that does is it stabilizes the market values of the homes that are actually within the city limits. We need to end the urban sprawl, because as we continue to reach out and grab other pieces of property, you know as well as I do, be in real estate, that that depreciates the value. So if we create an urban boundary zone that doesn't change and develop the downtown area, everything stabilizes, and the price values go up, and that's what people want. They want their property value to go up, and we need to also clean up the east, the south, and the west sides of San Antonio. These people pay their taxes just like the rest, and all the money's going northward. In fact, where I live in District 8, 35% a year, that's exactly how much that area is increasing, more so than the area that you're talking about, 281 in 1604. It's along I-10 that's growing the fastest in San Antonio, and in 25 years, San Antonio's going to have 1.1 million more people. We better start looking at all the in San Antonio, and we better spread it out so that we don't dip into people's property value, and we keep spreading out. We need to take care of our city. Mr. Griffin, an exclusion, please. Okay. In the interest of economic development and economic diversity, and comparing to other city mayors, for example, recently, the Los Angeles City Mayor, Eric Garcetti's recent recruitment trip to South by Southwest. What plan and personal efforts do you envision to recruit entrepreneurial startups and top talent to the city of San Antonio? Mayor Taylor. Thank you. Well, first, before I on recruiting startups and entrepreneurs, I want to grow startups and entrepreneurs right here in San Antonio. I think that we have a tremendous opportunity to build and grow from within, and so as mayor, I focus very much on business retention and expansion. We have very viable businesses that are already here that are already committed to San Antonio, but I've also focused very much on workforce development, because I think there is the opportunity for more San Antonians to have the education and the skill set to be able to fill those jobs that entrepreneurs and businesses that are currently here are creating, and so toward that end, I've been involved in a variety of efforts. Some of them I partnered with Judge Wolfe from Bear County, but actually tomorrow morning I'll be heading out. Rackspace is working in conjunction with an initiative called HireTech to provide pretty quick technical training for IT jobs, and so I think there are a lot of opportunities for us to grow from within, in addition to having a great community that can attract others from outside. Candidate number eight. Okay, repeat the question. Okay. In the interest of economic development and economic diversity, accepting the benefit of utilizing our own resources locally, but in addition to that, recruiting efforts, what would be your plan and personal efforts that you would envision to entrepreneurial startups and top talent to this city? Okay, on tomorrow or Wednesday, I'll be heading to Houston to help elect their mayor. I've been down to Pompano Beach, Florida. There's a guy down there. His name is Harry Sho. He's developing an engine called a cyclone engine that will replace the internal combustion engine, and the idea would be to bring him here and we start building those engines because you have to think of economics this way. We have a pie that's this large. It doesn't get bigger from the inside. It gets bigger from the outside because everybody says, let's do something from the inside. Mr. Abram used to work at the Texas Workforce Commission and I used to work with him as a veteran. He's already left. So Ivy Taylor's idea won't work. He's already left to go toward the economy is in Houston. So there's another idea came up when I was down on in Pompano Beach. It's kind of off the subject. However, they have a big old power plant that's generating energy off of garbage. You start thinking of things like that. It starts from the inside of here and traveling to Houston, to Dallas, to Kansas. I will have the most frequent flyer miles in San Antonio history. Thank you very much, sir. Candidate seven. I was wondering if you had a ball in there for me. Thank you. Well, does to be clear about the rule, you jumped in on the first question. So everybody had to get a shot. Gotcha. Thank you. Thank you for explaining that. So this is an important piece of what I think about measuring myself in terms of this success of an administration. How are we doing in keeping and attracting well educated 20 and 30 year olds? I believe we need to take a two part approach. Number one is continuing to strengthen and diversify this economy of ours. The biggest challenge we have is a need to upgrade the quality of our workforce. Our biggest employers are scrounging for technically skilled workers from Toyota to Rackspace to the H Gunther and Sun, the mill manufacturer across the board, healthcare sector, the emerging cybersecurity sector. We need to help grow these sectors by upgrading the quality of our workforce. But on the second part of the plan, we need to maintain and raise up the quality of life here in San Antonio. We need to make San Antonio a place where people want to live, not just work. And I know that many 20 and 30 year olds are choosing cities where the quality of life is high. And so I want to keep our 20 and 30 year olds, and that means enhancing and extending the linear park system, making San Antonio one of the top 10 most bikeable cities. Bringing back Uber and Lyft, our city needs to embrace technology. Dr. Manzik, we can move on to our next question. What is your plan to deal with the traffic mobility in the city, and how would it impact specifically the south side of San Antonio? Candidate number five, Mr. Smith. Thank you very much. You know, we are way behind as far as being able to build enough roads and have enough, and in part that is because of the state of Texas. And so in the foreseeable future, I see that we are still going to be behind because the Texas legislature is not inclined to focus on San Antonio. They are always focusing more on North Texas than they are on San Antonio, which is why I thought it was so appropriate that we develop our communication technology, that we invest in more on education and communication. And some of the candidates have already talked about how we can do that, working with Rackspace, working with other entities. So I would certainly put out a bid so that we could find ways to conduct our city council meetings so that you don't have to go to city council meetings. More ways we evidently lost an opportunity to bring more high-speed internet to our city, but those are not going to be gone forever. We can go back and try to bring more high-speed internet, more ways for you and I to communicate. And this is the way to get around the transportation issue. Candidate 13. Yeah, same question. Okay. Wonderful. We at Commissioner's Court did everything we could to affirm the state's work in our community. And we are the big crossroads of Texas. And that's what's made us who we are over the years as being the crossroads of I-35 and 10 East and West. Need to do is we need to be mindful that as we try, as we allow our neighborhoods to decline, that people move away from them. We need to have an all-points bulletin for neighborhood strength and growth. It starts with crime-free, safe, and sustainable neighborhoods. It continues with walkability. And then it confirms the decision of people to stay there when they are not flooded out of their homes. These are fundamental things without which you really don't have the basis for a community. So I say, let's make these neighborhoods so attractive that you know what, I have a choice. I can move to a lot of places, but I am going to move into one of the older neighborhoods where I. Thank you, sir. Number 12. Candidate number 12. Can you repeat the question, please? What is your plan to deal with the traffic mobility in the city, specifically how would it impact South San Antonio? Okay. Well, first of all, I think that San Antonio's so it's going to be hard to get them out of there. I believe we actually need to increase bus routes. That would be the most cost-effective, at least until we figure out whether there is going to be some type of rail transportation here in San Antonio. But I believe if we increase the bus routes, have expressed bus things for people to travel on, and also for more bike trails. I know that people use the bike trails now, but not all. I believe that we need to see how it is that we can get people on bikes. Younger people seem to tend to take them, but the older ones, even the ones that say they're green, it's hard to get everybody out of their automobiles, but the only way I can see this without spending cost-payers' dollars is to try to work with our via bus system to try to make everything more mobile. Thank you. Thank you. Finishing off this round, the same transportation question to Canada No. 6, Mr. Savala. Well, coming down here was quite an experience, especially at 90 and 35. And then once again, right down the road here, I guess we all know what the score is. It's nothing but traffic. And we need to unify the city where we carpool more. We not only save gas, we save time, and people can get home quicker. Having said that, the ridership on Via is terrible. You've got these humongous El Primo buses where the ridership is inflated. They spent money, and according to the CEO of Via, we're not in the business of making money. But really, why are you in business? Why don't we purchase smaller buses, have them come down the road a little bit more quicker, more often? Frecksberg in 410 is another example, 281 and 1604. It's a parking lot between 3 and 6.30 in the evening. Thank you. Okay. So all the balls are back and we'll start with another question. Mr. Adion. Could I offer a suggestion? If you pull the balls and tell us which folks will be answering the questions, then they'll be listening closely, and we won't have to repeat the question. Okay. I'll just pull out three all at once. So this question will be going to candidates 8, 12, and 13. Okay. Okay. A brief question. What are your investment programs for prospective homeowners in areas where redevelopment has been moving at a slower pace than in other parts of town? Redevelopment in a slower area? I'm sorry? You said redevelopment? No, no, no. Let me clarify one more time. What are your thoughts on investment programs for prospective homeowners in areas where redevelopment has been moving at a slower pace than other parts of town? Well, I guess that ties to what I was doing before. So there's a multi-billion here down in New Orleans. His name is Perez Kabakoff when I met him. After Katrina destroyed New Orleans, when I met this man, he told me I just lost $300 million. So before I do anything, trying anything, first I would probably call him and consult him. What do you think is the best way to fix this problem? Because we have a huge building called the Mylon building downtown. And when I saw that building downtown, and I talked to, I think her name was Ms. Diane, oh, Mr. Perez Kabakoff always went on to buy that building. So when you have people that are holding a very expensive piece of real estate downtown, but a multi-billionaire is in New Orleans, won't that building? Let's get that building rented out at 100% and start generating money. Kennedy 12. I believe that there's already in place a wonderful program called CASAS that does that. They actually work with Wells Fargo. The Wells Fargo people will like grant the family $15,000 to get in. I believe what we need to do is just make the community more aware that that program is available. They actually put brand new homes in the west and the east side right now that I know of for $65,000 to $95,000, along with the down payment being funded by Wells Fargo. So I think what actually what we need to do is just make the community aware that that program is already available. Thank you. Kennedy 13. I think the biggest thing you can do for the older neighborhoods that are being passed by oftentimes is a city ought to have a more affirmative effort on its neighborhoods. You get into those neighborhoods and make sure that people don't lose faith or lose heart in those neighborhoods, whether it's the streets themselves or just the general condition. Code compliance is a biggie and other walkability factors, but also I think it's important that we have a way to promote these neighborhoods. I went to an athletic Hall of Fame induction. You could do it academically too, but SAISD's Silpetta's Harland Elgrad is the superintendent of SAISD, and he had all these greats from Tobin Rote to Clyde Glosson and all the people of Clyde Glosson ran a 9200, trying out for the Olympics. Celebrate your greatness. Jimmy Lilleton, Cliff Gustafson, and Sal San. Take the best and the brightest that have come academically and also athletically from these schools and celebrate them against the backdrop of all the cynicism and ugliness that often descends upon our older neighborhoods. That's what I think we can do for an initiative for starters. Thank you. Mr. Cotter, your question will go to candidates 7, 6, and 14. Let's go 6, 7, and 14, because that makes more sense. Great. This question is actually from our audience. What are your goals for the city and what immediate changes would you like to see? Thank you. That's a very good question. My goal for the city, senior citizens, the youth, the disabled, and the veterans, why? Because they've earned it. They need more help and they need to be educated as far as all the programs that are available to them. My first and number one goal as your mayor is to ensure that justice prevails. And I would do that by terminating the current city manager, because if we are not part of the solution, then we are part of the problem. And someone has to stand up and take the initiative and have the courage to say, you know what? It's time to go. We need to move forward and not be holding everybody back from progressing. That is my number one goal. Thank you. Candidate number 7? My number one goal is to make San Antonio a city of opportunity for our people. This is what that means. It means that those that acquire 21st century skills either certifications, technical education, or four-year degrees see San Antonio as the place to start their businesses, to launch their careers, to find gainful employment, to provide for themselves and their families. Here are some short-term objectives to make that happen. Number one, we need to maintain the strength, the fiscal strength of our city. We have a AAA credit rating from all three rating agencies. We're the only city, our size or larger, with this. Why is that important? It saves us money. On the last bond issue, it saved us $11 million. In the bond issue coming up in 2017, it's estimated to save us $23 million. That's the difference between being AAA or AA. And so as your mayor, I will apply my background in finance and economics to make sure that our city runs well so that we can make needed investments in infrastructure and other services that our growing population demands. Ms. Mayer. My goal is for our city to continue to be economically competitive in a very strong fashion. And we need to invest in ourselves in order to do that, invest in humans through workforce development, but also invest in our capital infrastructure as well. I want to ensure that we have balanced growth throughout our city, that we have safe, stable, mixed income communities spread throughout San Antonio. San Antonio shouldn't feel that when they reach a certain economic status that they have to leave the south side, the east side or the west side. We have to have great neighborhoods spread throughout the city. We've got to continue to have a smart, fiscally responsible government, and I'll ensure that that happens. But where I need all of you to join in is that we've got to plan for our future so that we can identify what our priorities are and how we want to grow, and then we can directly tie the investments or our priorities, our financial investments to that plan. And I invite you to come out on April 11th for the kickoff meeting for SAO, which is an effort that involves three critical plans for our city, a comprehensive plan, a transportation plan, and a sustainability plan, and will only be successful if everybody in this room gets involved. Thank you. Mr. Griffin, your question for candidates 5, 9, and 11. Okay. To actually parlay on Ms. Mayer's comments, as the perceived chief designer for the city's urban planning and development, what design philosophy and goals are you envisioning to continue to bring the City of San Antonio into the global spotlight? Okay. Thank you very much. And really, in my mind, a lot of these questions all blend together, and I think it's very appropriate that the questioners are focusing on these, and I'm glad that everyone is here. And I wanted to reemphasize Mayor Taylor's position that if you all are more involved, if we're having more communication, we're going to be able to do this. So you're saying that just from a design point of view, I say communication. Why can't we move forward and move the city as far as we possibly can into the 21st century in leading, being, setting a paradigm, a model for urban communication, for a way to, our relation, and even Bear County, to be more effective communicators, more town hall meetings, more ways for us to interact on the internet, using technology instead of having to build transportation infrastructure. Thank you. Thank you for your question. What I think that we need to do is first and foremost, since we are a vacation destination, for a lot of people around the world, then we need to capitalize on that. I believe that we need to clean up our city. There's too much trash and debris along the freeway and the roads. We need to also plant some beautiful flowering trees that are indigenous to this area that will survive the drought. We also need to lower the crime rate in the south, the east, and the west parts of town so that people want to move back into these neighborhoods so that everyone can feel safe. Now how do we do that? I did some research. Just by adding street lighting, you can lower your crime rate by 25%. By cleaning up the neighborhood, cutting the grass, you can improve the neighborhood the way that it looks, and also lower the crime rate simultaneously. Lastly, improve the transportation. I know you don't like playing bumper cars every day of your life, living like a sardine going to HEB mall or to work, but we need to improve the transportation. One of the things that I would do immediately would be to create an ordinance that causes all buses, trucks, trailers, RVs to the right lane, and then also to impose, not impose, just let me finish my sentence please, to put these seven foot black tarps that surround accidents so that we get rid of rubber-nacking and doing those two things will improve our congestion and roadways. Right now, Comile County and Hayes County are the fastest growing counties in the state of Texas, and before you know it, Austin is going to catch up to San Antonio and we're going to become one megaplex. That's what they're expecting by 2040. San Antonio needs to get on board very quickly because if we're going to become Austin San Antonio before we can become San Antonio Austin, if we don't. And so with that said, what we need to do is we need to start working with our universities and our high schools. We need to start as early as possible to include as maybe as early as the third grade to make sure that we have an educated workforce to take the lead in this, because I guarantee you that while as the mayor of San Antonio, we will become San Antonio Austin before we are Austin San Antonio. And that means that we have to work with companies like Rackspace, USAA, Toyota to continue to build and diversify our economy as much as possible. We want to develop an economic system here in San Antonio where people want to come to San Antonio, businesses want to come to San Antonio, not because of the tax incentives that we give them, but because of the educated force that we're giving them to begin with. And that's our priority. The way we do that is by getting rid of the wasted, tax-prepared dollars and looking at diverting those funds into our education systems as well, getting with a babysitter service like pre-K for San Antonio. That's a babysitting service. Head Start was a proven program to begin with. And so we need to focus on our education to do that. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. All the balls are back in the bowl for Dr. Madsen's next question. Let me go ahead and pick three of them out. This will be for candidates 5, 8, and 13. 5, 8, and 13. Please describe or talk further about how you would plan to eliminate the high education achievement gap that exists in South San Antonio. Okay. That's an excellent question. And as a libertarian, it is hard for me to sit up here on stage and listen to the idea that somehow or another we're going to come up with millions and billions of dollars to do all the things that would be nice to do. The fact is you and I have to look at improving our own homes. And a way to do that is to improve the education we've already talked about, you know, starting education, focusing on education as children getting out of elementary school to think about, you know, what are their long-term prospects. And really, let's talk about time learning because we talked a little bit about the community college system. I really believe the community college system is something that we can build on. I've already met with the community college to talk about this. And let's just talk very quickly. Education communication is equal to wealth. More education, more communication equals wealth. That's the way history has always worked. And, you know, if we have less education, we're segregating our communities and our neighborhoods, then we're going to have more problems. And we have a huge dropout right now. We need to really go into these dropout areas and find ways to bring those families forth and bring those children forth. Thank you. One of my professors at Louisiana Tech was Janice Perdue Hill. She's a, let me say, assistant professor curriculum instruction leadership at the College of Education. So she had a very long title. And when I was attending the University of Texas at Dallas, they have a chess program. And studies all across the country have said, when students play chess, they start their math skills kind of go up. Their science skills, because they start connecting things again. They have all these broad ideals. But at the University of Texas at Dallas, something simple as a chess program across this country, you don't have to build a big old football stadium based company, arena and all this other stupid stuff that's going to cost a lot. You can go right there, the family dollars and get a chess board. Thank you. Thirteen. There's so many things that could be said about this. But I think that when you drive through a neighborhood, you can kind of tell, you get a sense of what's happening. And they don't have to be rich. They can be middle. They can be poor. But they can be proud. You do not have to be rich to have a nice neighborhood. You just have to have nice neighbors. And part of that starts with the respect that is shown to each other by how you keep your property. I've noticed that the city made a big jump in 08. That was the first year, I think that Cheryl Scully was with us. And I think 09. And after that, the bar just flatlines in terms of code, compliance, investment. You've got to have people, not just to go and flog people and harass them. We ought to have a program for the elderly who are not able to mow their lawns or they're not able to take care of them quite as well. Or the disabled. I want to be gracious and generous toward them. But I really think the neighborhood starts to take a dive in terms of how it looks and the various factors that people associate with a nice neighborhood, then everything else, education, takes a dive with it. So we start with neighborhoods. Mr. Cagareola, your questions for candidates 6, 11 and 12, 6, 11 and 12. Okay. Given that there's been a bit of chatter about education and specific to the municipal program of Pre-K for SA, what is your commitment in fulfilling the initial purpose of the Pre-K for SA program in preparing San Antonio's youth for an education to career pathways? Do you feel the program has met the expectations of the entire city? I do believe that the initial expectation has been met, but prior to it going into effect, I questioned Mayor Castro on his accountability of the parents of the kids attending Pre-K for SA. I asked him, what are the parents going to be doing while their kids are being babysat? And he said, oh, no, they're not being babysat. I said, well, what about the parents? Don't you think they should be attending some kind of schooling that will give them financial experience, nutritional experience, and not only that, parenting skills, because they need that more if they're going to allow their child to advance. They need to lead by example, and they need to be held accountable. It is successful, but I question the lack of accountability on the part of the city or the program for the parents. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I think you just heard my comment about Pre-K for San Antonio, and so there's meets the expectations, and it was definitely definitely pushed to the San Antonio as a lie. Everybody thought when Pre-K for San Antonio was passed that they were all going to have the opportunity to go to a Pre-K for San Antonio school. Nobody told them about the limits that they had, such as financial limits and things like that, and so it was a lie pushed to the people of San Antonio. And so as the mayor of San Antonio, I will look at disbanding that program and putting that money into a program that works, something like Head Start, which has been a proven program in the past. When you do something like that and you live and you label a child like that as economically challenged if you want to call them, you put that stigma on them for the rest of their life and it's wrong. And so therefore that program is not what it was meant to be, and I will not support that program whatsoever because it is a babysitting service and everybody knows it. Thank you very much sir. I believe that program was also was just put into place to help scale up Puyang Castro to his run for US presidency. Marco Rubio, who's one of the presidential candidates for the Republican Party, has had that program more or less placed in Florida for years, several years, but it is for all the children of the state of Florida, not just for a single few. So I believe that program was just meant to try to mirror Marco Rubio's program, but actually to me it has been a failure here in San Antonio. It needs to be for all children if there's going to be a successful program. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Carter, your question for candidates 7, 9, and 14. San Antonio is the sixth largest city in the nation, yet we're ranked 44th in relation to the size of our airport. Some believe our growth is stymied by our inability to provide easy direct flights while others feel our airport is adequate for our city. What are your thoughts on the San Antonio airport and how would you assist in its planning for the future? I haven't even answered yet. Thank you. That's our first applause for a question tonight. That's good. Great job Mr. Carter. Great job. There are a couple of things we could do short term, but ultimately there is a long term work that has to be done in its hard work, and that long term work is diversifying our economy, growing the number of well-paid jobs in San Antonio. But in the short term, here are a couple of things that I'm committed to. Number one, working with our airport, create and our Chamber of Commerce and CBB to develop a deal closing fund in attracting airlines to set up certain lines that make strategic sense for where our economy is today. Ultimately though, to sustain those lines, we're going to have to have the traffic. We're going to have to have the number of travelers coming and going naturally in and out of San Antonio. We should also examine what we can do to strengthen our place in our regional economy. The way Fort Worth and Dallas have developed a regional airport, San Antonio I believe, given the way we are growing, given the fact that the counties in between us and Austin are the fastest growing, there will be a day where our region can sustain a regional airport, and we should be taking steps to make that happen. Hello? Okay. What I think we need to do is we need to get to the airport. I think we need to move it towards the south. Certainly not towards the north, where all the traffic is congested. We need to go towards the north and doing that, we have Texas A&M down here, we have Toyota, then we have the airport. That would also increase the number of people that want to move towards the south. So in relocating the airport, first and foremost, we need to build the roads around it first instead of building the airport, and then later thinking about the roads. We need to build the roads first so it'll accommodate the traffic, then build the airport, and that way we have a wider, far-reaching airport that will accommodate the tourism and the family that come here to San Antonio, and we do need to consider who the major players are that will come to San Antonio so that we can be that regional hub that will send people to the big cities that they want to go to, whether it's LA, Chicago, or New York. Thank you. Certainly we need more direct flights to and from our San Antonio airport, as your mayor. This is an issue that I've given attention to. I've met with Secretary Anthony Fox of the Department of Transportation to talk about the need for more direct flights, in particular to Washington DC. And ironically, when I left the meeting, I missed my connecting flight and spent the night in Houston. So that's on a short-term side, but from a long-term perspective, we do need to get together, again, around planning for the future growth of our city. And I believe that a regional airport is something that we should start planning for now, because it will take a long time to implement that plan. And in addition, we would also want to thoughtfully redevelop the current airport as well. My understanding is that we've started and stopped these conversations in the past with Austin. Each time we've brought it up, either we were about to make a major improvement to our airport, or they were. But I think the time is ripe for those connections so that we can plan for a better airport for our region in the future. All right. Thank you. I'd like to go ahead. We've got time enough for one more round of questions. So all the balls back in the bag. We're doing well on time, by the way. So we should have just enough time for one more round of questions, and then everybody will get a chance for a closing statement. Okay? So, Mr. Griffin, correct? Yes. Your question will go to candidates five, seven, and eight. Five, seven, and eight. Okay. Both in business and in politics, solid leadership is an absolute necessity. How do you perceive your ability to lead and drive the effective execution of a long-term vision and plan involving many political, economic, and managerial interests? Excellent question. And, you know, I think it just goes back to the question of, why do you want to be mayor? I've probably run for mayor more than anyone else in this city. And I finished second to Castro in the last election. But basically, let me just talk a little bit about our regional culture and the challenges that we face here in South Texas. The President of the United States signed an agreement with Mexico called the called the Music, which was Mexican, U.S., Entrepreneurial, and Innovation Council. And that is still in effect. We need to be reaching out on a global basis and provide the global leadership that we're capable of. In one way, we are fighting with the Texas Legislature because I think the Texas Legislature just simply wants to ignore San Antonio or declare San Antonio to be illegal. And basically, you know, we have some of the finest culture and the greatest history in the entire United States right here. So we really need to be proud of the great contributions that you and all San Antonioans, particularly the people that have been here for many centuries, and this could be the basis for growing and looking at a better world. I spent more than a decade working in public finance, my clients for cities. I helped them manage their debt. I took them to the market in issuing their bonds, allowed them to make investments while managing their fiscal health, spent 15 years in the Texas Legislature. Here are the principles of leadership I'll bring to the Mayor's Office. As your Mayor, I will govern in a way that's collaborative. I believe any successful Mayor in this nation is one that understands how to pull together a team, partner in our traditional lines with folks in the private sector, the nonprofit sector, the faith-based community in order to take on our biggest challenges from growing jobs to addressing some of our social needs and concerns in our community. I will govern in a completely nonpartisan way. That is important. We need to protect City Hall from the partisan politics that divides this country. I want our fellow citizens to show up to City Hall representing their neighborhoods, their families, their employees, not their political parties. If we're going to make progress on our economic goals, on our infrastructure goals, we really need to have a united front in this community. Thank you. This newspaper speaks volume. The governor, the lieutenant governor, everybody around us is one party. Other people are other party. They're not going to get no help from Austin. So I just want to show my driver's license. The professional CDLs to drive trucks and buses. So anything these people talk about via, don't believe nothing they say because I ride via every single day. I talk with them, I have the same license. I also was a flight attendant candidate for American Airlines. So I know how to evacuate a Super 8 aircraft. So if you want to play with me, I know what Axios in the plane. But one thing that I will do is continue to travel to Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, all this. I'm not going to try to reinvent the wheel. I even want to take a trip to Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska, Warren Buffet, second richest man in the world. I want to talk to him. Thank you. Dr. Madsen, your question for candidates 6, 9, and 14, 6, 9, and 14. If you're elected as mayor, what would be your vision for partnerships and opportunities between Texas A&M, San Antonio, and the City of San Antonio? Not that she has a vested interest. Well, for one, we need to get all of the universities and colleges united with the citizens of San Antonio. From the pre-K, and I'm not talking about pre-K, but I'm talking about the regular pre-K, all the way up to high school. I attended a South San Town Hall meeting last night, and they had some seniors and juniors, and quite a few students. What I learned about them last night was totally different from when I was in high school. They had no idea of what they wanted to do. The university should start mentoring and guiding these people as to what is offered out here, what they need to do to qualify, to get in the system, and to be successful. Not only that, but we also need the parents, grandparents, to pitch in and show them that there is a better way of life so that they can be successful and that they care. That is what the youth of today is lacking. They are lacking somebody that shows caring the initiative to provide for them, and that is what I would do. Thank you. What I like about San Antonio is that there is a tremendous amount of innovation and opportunity available here because of who we are and how we are as a people. I believe that it should begin at the very, very beginning. When children first get into school, we need to decide what it is they want to be. Do you want to be a fireman? Do you want to be a doctor? Do you want to be a lawyer? Do you want to be a businessman? What is it? We need to start there. We need to mentor them all the way as they go through school. Now, why do I say that? Because I was watching KLRN, and they said that there is a disconnect between the school systems and the student. No one knows how to help these children. Well, why don't we come up with a program that will guide these children from the time that they're small all the way through school so that they know what their options are as they go through school in whichever direction they'd like to go. I'd like to see businesses offer internships. I'd like to see businesses, big ones here in town, offer scholarships to students. And I think together as a community, we can do these things to help students be competitive in the marketplace. And that is one thing that we did find out last night is you have to be flexible and adaptable with the way technology is moving today. And if you're not, guess what? You're going to get left behind. Well, I strongly believe in university community partnerships. And as someone who's been real focused on balanced growth in neighborhoods, I'd like to work with the students here on south side development and south side investment, finding out what would help facilitate development in this area and how we can strengthen the connections between this tremendous asset, this beautiful campus that we have here and the surrounding south side community. But then what I think we should also work on is ensuring that we have a pathway forward beyond their degrees. How can we create partnerships that would allow them to have apprenticeships? And I'm drawing on my own past experience in relation to this. When I left college and I went to a good school, I went to Yale University, I got home the weekend after graduation and got the New York Times, Sunday Times look for a job because I had no clue on what it was I wanted to do or how I should connect or look for a job. And I don't want your students to be in that position. Be great if they could connect to industry leaders and have the benefit of apprenticeships or also have the benefit of talking to and working with folks who are professionals in order to help guide them in making that first career move when they finish at Texas A&M San Antonio. Thank you. Mr. Adiola, your final question of the night goes to candidates 11, 12 and 13. Okay. I guess I made this one a little more personal. They say everything's bigger in Texas and as you're looking at the national news and Texas news, it's constantly touted and talked about that and I've lived in all these cities. Houston is booming, Corpus Christi is booming, San Antonio is booming, even my little hometown of Del Rio, Texas claimed they were booming. What do you believe San Antonio uniquely has to offer companies interested in relocating to Texas? I believe that the one thing that San Antonio has that is unique to Texas is true diversity. We have things like the Alamo, we have things like different malls, but diversity is really what we have. We have diversity when it comes to our economic system. You look at Toyota, automotive industry, you look at UTSA and now St. Mary's developing courses in information assurance. Now you're looking at cyber security, rack space security. That's what we offer businesses that want to come here, a diverse workforce, but in order for us to do that, we have to focus on the education. That's working with Texas A&M San Antonio and making sure that we are offering the prerequisites for the courses that you want to offer to help continue to develop our workforce, but it has to work with the high schools as well, the middle schools as well, because it starts as early as that. We need to continue to work on working on our education system in order for us to continue to diversify the markets that we bring to San Antonio. We cannot just focus on one area or just the automotive industry or the cyber security. We have to focus on every industry you can think of in order for them to want to come here. Again, not because of tax incentives, but because of the workforce that we can offer them. And so that's what makes us different from the majority of cities that are currently booming right now. Thank you. I believe it is the diversity, the diversity of the people, the diversity of the cultures, the diversity of the jobs. I would actually like to see San Antonio's Medical Center grow more so that actually that we would become like a national attraction for like therapy centers throughout the nation. I know that San Antonio also has our tourism industry that it brings people not just to San Antonio but to Texas because they come here for fiesta, they come here for the river, and they travel to other cities. But our education system here is very diverse. The culture of the people that work here is very diverse. And I believe that we need to go ahead and make sure that before the people come from out of state to come live and work here, that as this city continues to grow, that we need to have a more economic diversity. And I believe that that is starting with the education systems that we have here in San Antonio and throughout the state. Thank you. Thank you. I think San Antonio has for many, many years been the crossroads of Texas. They call us the heart of Texas because we are right smack in the middle. We have geo-political and geographical advantage over just about anybody. I 35 North from Canada to Mexico, Chris Crossing East and West from Florida to California. That is a big deal to have that kind of transportation accessibility. I think we have also grown our universities here. I think that A&M in College Station may be watching in their rearview mirror A&M at San Antonio to figure out if they are going to get passed. And the same thing with UT at Austin may find that UTSA is actually going to pass them up. We have a great deal of good education going on here. We have the University of Texas Health Science Center. We have the county government which is sponsoring the University Health System and the Robert B. Green. I mean, there is one thing after another that we have. And I think that all the people in Texas have to be very proud of what we are doing here. And we have great people. We have people that will look each other in the eye. That is worth a lot. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we are going to move on to our closing statements now. We are pretty much right on time, even a little ahead of time. You are welcome. 30 seconds each. Pull them at random. We want a minute at least. All right. I guess I will change the rules. A minute each, I will just pull. We will go at random so nobody has the final say. Candidate 11. You know, less than 8% voted in the last city election. And there is no reason, there is no wonder why. It is because we the people have lost faith in our elected officials. They always say vote for me and I am going to be your voice. And they always end up being the voice of a political party or a special interest group or political agenda. The way I see it is when I swore a note, it was just important to defend the Constitution and the people that it governed, regardless of your political affiliation. That is why I am running for mayor. You and I may agree and we may disagree. You asked me the question. I am going to give you the answer, whether we agree or not. But note this, what separates me from every candidate up here is that I know how to take an emotional step back. See, I understand that I am elected to represent you, not me. I am one voice out of 1.5 million people. And so even though we may disagree, I will vote based on what we the people want, not what I want. As a career leader, I listen to what we the people want because I was willing to give my life for you. I will not bow down to special interest groups. I will listen to we the people and I will be your voice. I will be the mediator, and so will you because that is my responsibility. I ask y'all to get out and vote because if we don't, we're going to end up with the same two years of what we've had for the last 30 years. Thank you. Thank you. Candidate number six. Yes, I'm sorry, six. Yes, okay. I want to be your mayor because I want to show the people of San Antonio that they can be done better and more efficient. They are not listening to us. Good examples. The streetcar. How many times do we have to vote no? And they keep shoving it down our throat. Smart meters. We don't need smart meters because the ones that are in place right now are still working. So why would you ask us to accept that one word extortion from CPS and city council let's him do it. I'm here to stop them. I will be your goal line defense along with you. I will not be the pipe piper and I will not be a dictator. I will be a representative of you, the people because after all you're the ones that elected and your expectations are for me to do what you want me to do. Not what the rest of the council wants us to do. I respectfully ask for your vote and in closing I want to wish each and every one of you and your families a very happy Easter. Thank you. Thank you. Number 13. Most of us have been out on the expressways over the last several months and I don't know if you've seen what I've seen but I have seen historic congestion. Congestion that is way beyond what I have seen in all of my life of living here. I was born at the Santa Rosa hospital and I've been here all of my life trying to improve the community as best I could. I believe that we have to do something about our transportation problems. I've served on the Lone Star Rail District for about the last eight or nine years, most of its life and I think it's moving. If the legislature would get behind it we could do a lot more but I35 as you know and I know is in the early stages of shutting down and what I mean shutting down is not closing just making it so miserable, so slow, so ridiculous that you regret that you went that way and 281 in my opinion is not an effective alternative to I35. What we could do is take 15 to 20 percent of that traffic off with the Lone Star Rail District. Those are the kind of innovative things that I've been working for and fighting for and I will probably do that to the last breath of my life whether I'm ever elected to anything or not but I ask for your support for Mayor and I look forward to working with you. Thank you. Candidate number seven. Since last May I've devoted myself to listening to San Antonians all across different party affiliations. I pursued one office with one single goal and that is to make San Antonio a city of opportunity for our people. For those that earn an education, acquire 21st century skills, I want them to see our city as the place to launch their careers, start their small businesses, raise their families. For me it does start with the basics. We need to protect our fiscal health of our city so we can keep our taxes low. Our people want more public safety. To make that happen we have to get the contract between the city and the police and fire right. We need to be able to grow the budget but it needs to be able to be financially sustainable. We need to continue to enhance the quality of our life here in San Antonio. For me at the top of the list means more of us spend less time stuck in traffic. We need more transportation options not fear. I will govern in a new way, embracing technology, bringing back rideshare. I will be a collaborator working with our partners in the business sector and other sectors to advance our goals. I respectfully ask for your vote in accomplishing this agenda. Candidate 14. Well thank you all for taking time out of your schedule to be here tonight to meet with us and thank you to the leadership at Texas A&M San Antonio and the students who helped to organize this. I'm asking for your support and your vote to allow me to continue serving as your mayor. I'm not a career politician. Actually serving on the city council and as mayor has been an unexpected path for me. I'm someone whose passion is about creating ladders of opportunity for people who may not have had opportunity in the past. And I started out as a planner and someone focused on affordable housing and then soon saw the connections between all the various public policy issues. Makes it difficult for people to succeed. And so I've provided strong leadership down at City Hall during my time as mayor and also during my time as a council member. It really is a tough job down there and I have I've done a good job in representing and listening and collaborating and bringing people together. And I know that through working together that we can fulfill our collective vision for a better and greater San Antonio. The type of place for our children and for our grandchildren so they can enjoy the same quality of life that we do now. Thank you. Thank you. Candidate number. I'm sorry. Nine. Got my ball turned upside down. Nine. Government should be of the people, by the people and for the people. I am a firm believer of that. When you elect people into office, you elect them because you believe in them and you trust them to do the right thing. And that is to echo what you want as a government to be ruled in the city. You should have that foundation of trust with your elected officials. And if you don't, we have nothing. I want to be that voice for you. I am not a career politician. I'm a retired military family member. I believe that I have the courage of my conviction to stand here before you today and ask you for your support because I represent each one of you. I am you, you, you, you and you. I want to be that voice. I want to be a crusader for what you want in your government. City Council has no right to dictate to us. We are a democracy, not a dictatorship. If you want that voice, on May 7th, you get to decide the power is in your hands. You get to vote for who you want and it comes down to trust. Who do you trust in office to do what you want? Who is going to echo what you want? And I ask for your support on May 9th. Thank you. Candidate number 12. My name is Gerard Ponsett. Thank you all for having us here this evening. I have given back, and that was something that I was taught from my family since I tell you I'm 10th generation Texan, for over 40 years I have been involved in the community volunteering with people from all different aspects of life. As Mayor, I would like to make sure, and I keep saying this in every form, that I want to be a leader and I am a proven leader, but I want to make sure that I go back into the communities, come back to y'all, talk to y'all, find out what your needs are, what you think that we should do before any decisions are made. I believe that there should be more transparency within our city government. The decisions made by some of our city councilmen, I just can't understand how they feel that they have helped the city in general without even coming to the community to make decisions. There should be commissions made throughout the city to make sure that people from different interests in their areas are able to come and voice their opinions, not just our city council to make decisions, so we need to actually change our leadership here in the city to make sure that there's a change in the way things are run here in the city. Thank you. Thank you. In candidate number five, you let us off, you might as well finish us. What an honor, and I am so thrilled to be here. I want each of you to give yourselves a pat on the back. Each of you have taken that first step tonight to begin communicating, and I want to thank Texas A&M. Texas A&M has had such a great vision to invest in San Antonio and come here, and I'm not an A&M alumnus. I was a University of Texas at Austin alumnus, but I'm so disappointed at the University, UTSA, and I'm so appreciative of Texas A&M for taking the leadership here to get all the candidates here, and this is the way that we build a better community, and so I don't know if you've noticed that I've mentioned that some of the candidates up here are either in the Republican or Democratic Party, you know, maybe they're not going to point that out. I don't know if Mayor Taylor has ever told us which party she's in, she said she's nonpartisan, and I would certainly invite you, Mayor Taylor, to come to your Libertarian Party meetings. We meet on the third Tuesday, but I'll tell you that two candidates did. Tommy Atkinson and Mike Villarreal did ask to come to the Libertarian, and we let them speak, and so I thought that was outstanding, so I would just leave you with that idea that maximum freedom, minimum government, more communication, that builds wealth, what we need is trust, and more communication builds more trust, and more trust builds a better world, and I've already mentioned, you know, our role in South Texas is probably one of the leadership roles in all of the United States of America because you see these candidates thinking how are they going to appeal to the Mexican-American vote, how are you going to reach out and be a global leader, what is our policy in regard with regard to Central America, and we need to answer all those questions, and I'm going to do that, thank you with your help. I want to apologize as a mediator, as a moderator actually, excuse me, your one job is to actually keep all the candidates on the stage, and I failed miserably, so we're one short. I'll work on that. I tried to tackle him, big guy. Thank you all very much for coming out. This is fantastic. Thank you to Texas A&M San Antonio for having me, and thank you for bringing all nine of these. I think it's important that all the voices be included when we try to have these conversations, so thank you very much all of you for coming out and spending your evening with us, have a great evening, and have a safe trip home. And I've got one more, I've got to bring up one more person, right? Who am I bringing up? Huh? Yes. Well, if you look at your script, Sylvia Soto, please. I got lost in the balls. It's an exciting time, an opportunity for change, progress, and innovation. The city of San Antonio is an expanding city whose potential for advancement and improvement in economical, transportation, cultural, and educational opportunities is limitless. In order to achieve progress, these issues must be challenged and tailored in a format whose goal is to make the city of San Antonio a global power. I'm sure whichever candidate is elected as our next mayor, they will ensure the continued prosperity of our great city and keep San Antonio as the beacon city to live in in the state of Texas. Thank you very much for attending. Thank you to all the candidates. Muchas gracias a todos ustedes por atendiendo este evento y buenas noches. We do want to thank our title sponsors, the South San Antonio chamber of commerce for underwriting the event. We want to thank our gold sponsors in the Libre initiative. Also our legend sponsors, the young democrats, young republicans turning point USA, and the national association of Latino elected and others. All of you, but especially thank you for coming out. And please get a chance if you have a chance to come up and say hello to these candidates.