 I am, and I think, I mean, they pretty much know, right? I am. Probably. How is my microphone working? Check one, two. How is my microphone working? Is that better? I can, I can hear it in the room. How do you like my volume control? So ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? Thank you so much for being here. Welcome. My name is Peter Bella and I'd like to welcome you to the Clean Air Clean Water Healthy City event hosted and sponsored by the Environmental Defense Fund, the Sierra Club, the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development or SEED Coalition, the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, Public Citizen, the Texas League of Conservation Voters, Environment Texas, and of course, our hope for the University Political Science Department. I'd also like to give a special shout out of thanks to Charlotte Ann Lucas and now C.A.N. Antonio, they're live streaming us and they're recording the event for future web rebroadcast. The two final mayoral candidates, Ivy Taylor and Letitia Vande Pude, were selected by the voters of the City of San Antonio during the May 9th election and will be contestants in the June 13th runoff election. Our co-sponsoring groups asked me to present to each of them a series of questions on local environmental issues. I have solicited questions from leading environmental advocates in the San Antonio region and I have selected the final questions. They have not been shared with representatives of the campaign. The candidates will have two minutes to respond to each question. At the end of the question-answer period, each candidate will have 90 seconds for a closing statement. I would like the audience to, here in the room, to remain quiet and respectful during the question period and to avoid any outbursts except for now, please help me welcome mayoral candidate Letitia Vande Pude. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Thank you very much. And so we begin. And I presume that everybody can hear okay. This is a good level. Very good. Thank you. San Antonio will likely be out of compliance with new proposed EPA standards for ozone and that will require reductions in emissions from businesses and citizens alike within the city of San Antonio. What is the appropriate response for the mayor of the largest U.S. city in that region to this air quality challenge? I've been a citizen of San Antonio all my life. And particularly the last 24 years as a member of the legislature, very proud of the fact that we have managed to keep San Antonio on the near non-attainment list rather than non-attainment. We know that it's beneficial not only for our health of our children, but it really gauges how we take care of each other as a community. It's not just San Antonio. It is our entire region. Austin is probably the best example of someone in the community that has looked at it in a very, very proactive manner. San Antonio, I think, is right in expecting and the citizens are going to expect that this mayor and our city council be leaders. That means more than just fighting like I have for about five million dollars in TURP funds every year to our near non-attainment areas. But I think Judge Wolf had it right when he really demanded a way for us to monitor the real-time air quality of the activity that is being produced in our energy sector to the south. As mayor, I don't think that I can sit here or stand up in any venue and tell you there's one action that we will do that would make this a complete area where EPA would say, San Antonio, you're doing it right, but we do know that it is a combination of those pollutants and particularly those that congestion on the streets and our highways. So as mayor, I'm going to tell you that I think we would continue to work very aggressively with ACOG, with the members in our region, that we would look to use at least 75% of our upcoming 2017 bond package on infrastructure needs that's making sure that we take care of those most congested areas to get on and do everything possible to increase bus ridership so that we get cars off of our highways in San Antonio. Currently, studies show that some of the air pollution that makes ozone in San Antonio is coming from outside the city, including from oil and gas operations in the Eagle for Chail play. What leadership role will you as mayor take to make sure that the regional stakeholders, both from within Bear County as well as from the wider region beyond city boundaries, including oil and gas industry, to come to the table and do their fair share to improve air quality that impacts San Antonio? I have a fellow pharmacist here. I know Mr. Seale is here somewhere in the audience, but we see for, there you are, who also sits on our ACOG advisory committee for air quality. And we see firsthand in the pharmacy what has been such a change, at least in the 35 years that I've been practicing, with the use of inhalers because of the increase in the number of children who suffer from asthmatic attack. And it's both in that season where allergens are in our atmosphere, but it's also when we've got those air quality days. To me, it is unconscionable that we only have one automated chromatograph in the Eagle for Chail area. I know that I just asked quickly, I think that they're thinking of adding another one in Demet. But we know that technology is there. The researchers and particularly the work being done right at A&M University Kingsville for really a much lower cost way to real time catch those flares and when those are going up. And they're being utilized in other parts of the state and in fact over the country. And we know that they're what we have to now or we will soon to have the second one. And so I think first of all, we've got to know the extent of it. I would ask that maybe we join with regional governments and see how we can best address. You've got to have that data. And then we know the legislative session just ended. And I have to tell you, I was quite disappointed with when a community has decided that it did not want the oil and gas in their community, a suburban community of Denton. And the voters themselves chose to say not in our city limits of Denton. The legislature responded by overriding local control. We still don't know what the efforts of that are going to be. But I'm quite disappointed when citizens vote upon themselves those restrictions to protect their own air quality and the health of their children, what they see necessary. And then I know that the reasons given was that there should only be one entity that regulates oil and gas in the state. And I think that is a fair assessment. But this wasn't the regulation. All this was was our citizens in that area saying, we just don't want any of this fracking within our city limits. And it's, you know, it was it was hard to see that unfold. San Antonio is different in that we don't have that happening in our center core of our city. But we must be watchful of what is occurring. I think as mayor, I will work diligently with county judge Nelson Wolf, who is I think the county is a little bit further along and exploring the ways and work with our regional partners through ACOG to get more of that monitoring. Another thing that I led the way on in the legislature and only one school district has been very, very proactive is the number one reason that students do not attend school is asthma. The north side school district put in three staff members to really monitor the asthma protocols to track children with that particularly in times when it was going to be very, very difficult. They did so for two reasons. One, they wanted children in the classroom. But because of their efforts, they saved on average daily attendance. Our school formulas are based on attendance, average daily attendance. The north side school district saved over a million dollars in state funds coming to their school district because they really had a strong protocol on asthma and their children. We need to make sure that that example is set throughout our school districts. Their efforts want them the national award for public health from the American Lag Association. Global warming is contributing to serious problems from record drought to record flooding. Are you as mayor committed to development and execution of a carbon reduction plan for the city of San Antonio including specific reduction goals and carbon reduction strategies? And if so, what conditions do you see which would guide this process? The mayor of San Antonio is in a unique position unlike other mayors and you know there's a great coalition of urban mayors that have been very forceful on this throughout and you know the examples of mayors who have really understood that we have to have a call to action. The mayor of San Antonio sits on the board of CPS. We are in a unique position because basically the citizens of San Antonio owned our own electric company. I think we need to examine not only what happens on our highways, but get the most advantage from our portfolios at CPS. I tell you I was very proud of CPS working with the environmental community to strike that balance of not spending millions of dollars for scrubbers off our coal plants that we wanted to retire anyway and instead using that and invest. We went as you know from a 40 megawatt solar plant to a 400 megawatt. We know that we've increased the wind capacity, we call it the wind tricity. But there are simple things that we could do that add up. It is all of the smaller things. You realize at the beginning there was 850 million over really a 10 year span that CPS was going to do to really look at conservation and reducing our need on that carbon footprint. Of that only 40 million were allocated to solar and solar panels. Since that we expired all funds from that 40 million within three years. There is still demand right now for homeowners and for small business owners that want to participate in that rebate program. They've been told from City Hall and CPS well we'll give you a small extension but only until the end of 2015 with no promise that we could increase that. Other areas of that 850 million that were originally designated have not been as popular. So my question to CPS is we've already got this demand for homeowners and small business owners to use that. Why don't we shift some of those dollars that are not being used and extend it as originally planned to 2020. There are many things just like that program that we could do with CPS. But I think really what we have to look at is comprehensive planning on our transportation and use every available dollar that we can to make sure that we promote those dense communities that don't have to travel. So very very much to their places from work or school or employment. Since I have two follow up questions one of them does lead off from the points of some of the things that some of the other mayors and some of the other cities are doing just as you were mentioning. In September 2014 acknowledging that cities are responsible for 70 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Houston Mayor Anise Parker Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetta and Philip Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter launched the Mayor's National Climate Action Agenda. Will you as mayor of the city of San Antonio request city staff to investigate the Mayor's National Climate Action Agenda and report back on the feasibility of the process and its possible applicability for adoption in the city of San Antonio. In fact my good friend Anise Parker and I have discussed this before she's just a fabulous lady and been a great leader for the city of Houston as you know her term is ending. But I had a chance to as you know visit a lot of communities in the state of Texas in the last year and part of that was really visiting with Anise Parker and she talked about the necessity and the call to action. I visited just very briefly with Mayor Garcetti they have set up a much much more robust as well because of the situation in Los Angeles. But I would not only direct city staff but I personally would research and try to understand what are those types of programs that could be implemented. What is the feasibility because I don't know all the different methodology but I know that I'm a quick learner that we need to explore the types of programs and objectives and strategies to reduce our carbon footprint and we need to do this with the utmost urgency. To successfully meet climate change goals requiring carbon reduction national strategies must be implemented. Do you support the EPA's proposed power plant rules the clean power plan to reduce carbon pollution as well as other pollutants. Well probably when I was full time in the legislature I could have told you much more about all those details. I have only seen the very first initial drafts and quite frankly I'm going to tell you the last year I've been campaigning and haven't looked at what those final drafts are. I do know that there are those that I've heard in reports that we need to look at where we were and what we have done now. As you know Texas has at least tried and I think San Antonio has been one of those areas. But we have not been able as you know that's probably one of the reasons a nice Parker has been so forceful is that the majority of that the 25% of what Texas really I would say higher numbers were really come from that Gulf Coast area. And in the Houston area particularly with the petrochemical treatment and the refining that is happening. I do not know as of yet what I would be supportive of or not what I do know is that in my role in the legislature I've always played a very proactive role. And those of you that in this room who've worked with me understand that from the very first time I was on the business and commerce committee to increase our public utility commissions portfolio requirements on renewables. I lost it in the committee was able to garner support and we actually doubled the amount of the renewable portfolio and this was in both in 2001 and 2003. So all I can tell you is that I've played a leadership role in the past and I will thoroughly investigate and see what is it that I can do as mayor along with our city council to to really look at what is happening in our environment but particularly in air quality. SA 2020 recognizes transportation mitigation both as an air quality a quality of life and an urban mobility issue. Do you have any specific plans to reduce vehicle volume on our highways and to reduce congestion and emissions through use of other transit options. I was really happy today as I came up on McCullough. Did you see the actually put the bicycle lanes in finally on McCullough. Well let me tell you what I really feel strongly about. I look at our city and planning in a very different way than our current mayor. She's a planner an urban planner and really has spent a lot of work in housing. I'm a pharmacist and I look at health through wellness and through prevention. That's kind of how I look at this the state's budget and how I will look at the city's budget. What I know right now is that we are mitigating the costs of neighborhood after neighborhood being built in San Antonio with one goal in mind and that's to get a car in and out of the subdivision. So my proposals are to put someone with public health expertise at the Planning Commission and at the Zoning Commission so that we have somebody that's looking at this from a wellness and a health standpoint for our children to make sure that from the very beginning we have walkable communities and subdivisions that we have bikeable communities and subdivisions and I think that we can play a great part in that. But not if we don't have somebody at the table from the very beginning that has a total outlook that may be very different. So as a health care professional I want to put somebody with health care expertise in those level maybe a little bit out of the ballpark. But I think we should have health care folks in our transportation planning and in our city planning and our zoning. That's the only way we're going to get that expertise. The second thing that I think that I approach things a little bit differently is that I tell everybody at every single time we have via is the only metropolitan transit system that runs on a half sat sales tax. All of the other major cities in Texas run on a full penny. You realize how efficient we are at just that half cent so thankful for the bus rapid transit. And now all of our buses moving toward Wi-Fi you realize we're going to be so exciting to have a park and ride over at 1604 and 281. It's the people that have wanted it and the highest requests for new bus routes are coming from that Brook Hollow thousand oaks 281 area. So let me tell you when people say that folks who live on the north side don't really care about public transit. They don't know what has been happening and how people are really looking at that. The way I look at it is that we want to do everything we can to encourage folks to utilize our public transit to walk to bike. And there are folks that say I can't do that. I have to pick up the kids. I have to take them to practice. We've got a sporting event. Well that may be that particular family's lifestyle. But if we can convince one person and then the next and the next that they don't have to get in a car that day. That's one less person trying to get out of the subdivision. And if your neighbor can do that then that is a positive for all of us. What steps should San Antonio be taking in the near term that can make the city's infrastructure more resilient to potentially damaging weather events including droughts and floods. Boy we've certainly seen that. And we've seen communities devastated by these floods. I think it's heartbreaking when we see the beautiful area along the Blanco River and the area in Wembley. For years I've listened to the county commissioners in Hayes County talk about the very fast growth particularly along our riverbeds. And they didn't have any warning. This was a huge flood. Yesterday my children who were adults said mom we don't have a lot of money to give. But they were part of those cleanup crews and search crews that are east of 35. The reason they needed people they needed young healthy people who had very very heavy hiking boots and gloves to go help clear the debris. We know what happens to a community when a flood happens that just happened next to us. But we also know that in great floods here we've had loss of lives. We've got 1.2 billion dollars right now of deferred maintenance in our streets. And we've got over 2 billion in needs in drainage projects. So we are paying the cost of the growth that has happened and not planning that and the drainage. So when we talk about highways you've got to talk about the drainage as well. I'm looking forward to I know that many of you that live on the northwest side that retention pond that was at the former Northwest Center. I think it'll be a great for us and help with that. So those are projects and I'm so pleased with San Antonio's commitment to build out the Howard Peak trail system and our waterways. That's a positive step. But we need to make sure that when we plan that we follow up and we do. That means I'm going to need voters to approve those bond packages in 2017. It's about that infrastructure. We've got to get it right. We've just been kicking the can down the road for too long a time. What is your record on specific actions to protect the Edwards Aquifer? Other than doing a war dance on top of the president's desk when they tried to attempt to rip the tree ordinance. I can tell you that we've really I guess my record in the Senate kind of speaks for itself. If you look at any other record that I have with folks that look at not just the behavior what you sponsor but how you vote on certain issues. I know that there is a balance and there is a balance that we can have on economic development and protection of our aquifer. The first drop of water we don't have to pay for is that drop that we can conserve. So I know you're probably going to ask me this later. But I don't think our Vista Ridge project should give us any excuse to back off of our conservation efforts with regard to water and conservation and protection of the aquifer. We need to continue to make sure that this very precious source is available to us. I know that that the Vista Ridge project is important. It talks about long term. It's a 50 year water supply. But we need to do every single thing that we can to protect our aquifer. I was part of San Antonio and watched. Remember when San Antonio defeated fluoridation three times and defeated the apple white not once but the apple white reservoir. We defeated it twice. San Antonians understand the necessity of water and I think has very popular support and people understand that we must continue to protect that aquifer and as mayor I would do so. If elected what actions would you take to reduce the risk of contamination of the Edwards aquifer in the recharge and contributing zones. I think we have been pretty aggressive with the continuation of purchase of the type of properties that would would give us that. I mean when you look at what's what we've done with Hardburger and with Frederick Wilderness Park and a lot of areas that we want to what we don't have control of though are those areas of the recharge zone that are not in the city limits that are in the county. And there have been effort upon effort each session of the legislature to allow county commissioners to do some sort of protection and ordinance very rarely have that been given in both instances that have been measures that I have promoted. The first one is the protection that we had of the land around Camp Bullis and I passed an unbelievable law that allowed counties to direct lighting and lighting. It was light pollution so that you don't have lights that gleam upward but actually lights that point down. They are a little bit more expensive but it's not the prohibition of lights but it's to keep them down. I was really happy to get a national award for that as it was also one of the reasons to protect our stargazing efforts in West Texas with the McDonald Observatory. And it did protect San Antonio particularly in keeping the training of our Army personnel who are on the medical field. They have to train as they fight and we needed that nighttime thing. The other thing which of course I did was to maintain the protection of our tree ordinance. So I think my record has been pretty clear in the past about not just allowing the status quo but fighting vigorously by increasing our renewable portfolios at the PUC and that making sure that I voted for every single bill that would have disclosure particularly of chemicals into our water vets and estuaries. There has been quite a bit said by mayoral candidates on the need to control sprawl and promote smart sustainable growth. Would you please comment on to what extent if at all you believe that the San Antonio water systems saws has played a role in incentivizing sprawl and development in sensitive areas and what if anything would you do as mayor to align saws provision of water and sewage services with a smart sustainable growth policy? I believe that saws does have those guidelines and they have policies. They have impact fees that are being put up. If you speak at all to any of the development community they will point to saws as saying they are the hindrance and they are constantly giving them hiccups and headaches and making their projects go even longer. I think saws is trying to do the guidelines that are both set by stature in the legislature and by guidelines that the city council has given them and that they are bored. There is no, I think, doubt, folks know that I entered the legislature with Robert Puente. We served together and I have the greatest of respect for Robert and those board members. But as mayor I think I would probably take a more active role maybe then in past mayors to look at what are we actually doing with regard under the law, under the guidelines that are in the Texas state stature but also in the city to make sure that we have that smart growth. There is a lot that the city can do though. We cannot gouge our inner city and center core taxpayers. Right now anybody who lives on that 410 perimeter and inside you have received property valuations, 30, 40, 50% increase. If we really want to promote those density in the communities and make sure that our center core of the city, particularly around 410 and our inside, it is our responsibility to keep taxes low. And that is why I called for a reduction in our effective rate because one of the ways that we can sustain that development is to not have 40 and 50% increases on our property taxes, particularly in that center core. And as a follow-up during the debate of the Vista Ridge project, here it is, the chairman of the SAW's board of directors, Bertha Guetta, defended the Vista Ridge agreement in an opinion article and stated, quote, in securing this new non-Edward supply, we also make the following commitments. It will not be open season for development over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, unquote, implying that we would curtail building over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. As mayor, what will you do both as a SAW's trustee and also within city council to set policies in place in order to make Mr. Guetta's statement a reality? I believe that statement was very strong because there were those that thought that securing a 50-year water supply in basically the next 20 years, and particularly the finance arrangements with Abangoa, the company, the foreign company that is actually contracted to build this, that it would give us rationale to loosen those restrictions. That won't happen under a vandipute administration. That, in fact, I have said emphatically over and over again, that should never, ever even be a thought that crosses into somebody's head. We've worked way too hard, and there are some that say we're not working hard enough to protect that aquifer. It is too precious a resource, both geologically and because of our dependence on it. I really think that what Berthold said he meant. But what I do worry about is that this Visteridge project was made with a noblest of gold, but it has to be implemented with Abangoa and with the full scrutiny of SAW's and maybe even an outside person that we look at to make sure that they're meeting the timelines, that they're meeting on gold. And we know that yesterday in the legislature, a piece of key legislation that would alter part of the timelines on financing there within the company was defeated. Senator Ureste, I think it was at 1158 last night, declared that that bill was dead. There are two things in those provisions that had to do with the election and the approval of the different seven counties along that Visteridge project when private activity bonds were going to be used. The second part of that was to increase the length that bonds could be on sale from 180 days to 220 days. So we will have to evaluate. Folks are telling me that it won't, he's got to stop, but I don't know if you want me to finish my sentence or not, that it won't impact what we pay as ratepayers. I'm going to tell you that it better not. There were promises given when that program and that project was voted on and that we must adhere to that and that it is no rationale at all for any diminishment of protections over our precious aquifer. One of the great local success stories has been CPS Energy's record of renewable energy generation, energy conservation initiatives, and contract leveraging to locate and retain firms in the region known for innovative environmental technology. How do you plan to use the city's purchasing power to make the city attractive to clean technology firms given CPS Energy's track record? I think it was a win-win when we agreed to expand our 40 megawatt solar to a 400 megawatt solar and with that we had the power of bringing those manufacturers of solar panels to San Antonio. That meant great jobs. But I think we have an even greater opportunity that people don't realize. Our neighbor to the south, Mexico, has opened up through what they call those leyes secundarios. For the first time, private investment in their petrochemical business, they had a state-run oil and gas company. There's going to be investment there. Very few people have really focused on their electricity market. Mexico is kind of leapfrogged what a lot of other countries are doing. I have an extreme ambitious program for renewables, both on the wind side but on the solar side and others. I think San Antonio is strategically located to that. We already are going to have that. We could actually be the place where those types of products are made and that there's great synergy there. I think people haven't realized the power. They've been focusing on the gas lines. But I'm going to tell you that the people in Mexico and just to the south of us really are kind of way ahead of us when they're thinking about renewables. Because they're thinking about it at the very same time that they're privatizing their oil and gas industry. So they're able to leverage those requirements a whole lot more maybe than we had in the past. But I think that we need to not only go after the manufacturer of this, but we have researchers here. And although we're focused on air quality right now, I know that the A&M San Antonio really wants and will become that water research center. They are looking at ways to fortify that. One of the exciting things for us, A&M just got the $12 million allocation to start downward expansion. What that means is the university right here is going to start admitting freshmen and sophomores. And with that is a plan to have a very robust water research and water quality component that will help all of south Texas. Those are the types of things that I think that we're excited about we want to partner with at the city level. How can we help those types of effort at research and processes that can help us with our water quality as well? I'd like to ask a question that I think is important to me because while it doesn't spotlight a well known environmental risk in the region, it represents a opening door for risks that are perhaps not as well known and the ability of the city of San Antonio and other leadership to respond. The city of San Antonio and its extraterritorial jurisdiction are home to some 15 quarries. Collectively, there are many more active quarries in Bear County and its contiguous counties in the MSA metropolitan statistical area. Citizens have voiced concerns regarding possible health risks associated with dust from quarries, mining and cement operations, and regarding the safety and handling of industrial waste produced. As mayor, how could the city examine the extent to which violations, events and spills have affected the property safety and well-being of San Antonio citizens and implement an advocacy role supporting citizens addressing these issues? I have only read those reports and gotten some correspondence from those neighborhoods that are complaining that they feel that their health is at risk or they noticed an increase in that. One of the things that I think could be very, very helpful is joining with Bear County and monitoring our health stats. We know sector by sector the type of health data that will be very important, not only with regard to air quality, but you can pinpoint and have surveillance with asthma rates. And right now, I'm going to tell you, they've cut our city metropolitan health budget. So I would look at it from a health perspective first and see what is available on the power of the city to do, how anything changed with the last legislative session with report to air quality and TCEQ. But I know that there are things that San Antonians have done and that we have done to be proactive that weren't in the code, that weren't in there. And I want to say thank you. I brought up the fact, you know, being a pharmacist that so many of our patients would just throw unused medicine down the drain. Worked with SAWS to have a proactive program so that people could bring their unused medicines. And in particular antibiotics, because people don't finish their whole course of antibiotics, they leave it there. And when those medicines, particularly antibiotics, get in the water supply, that affects a wildlife everywhere. I would be more vigorous on that and try to work with our pharmacies. I think that those are the types of things that when you look at health, we can do things that are allowed by law to be proactive, engage our citizens and have the type of programs may not help all of our water systems here, but it'll help our neighbors downstream. I was thinking that it was probably time to wrap up all things considered. I would like to thank you so much for your participation. Thank you. Thank you for your time and your thoughts and for being with us today. Ladies and gentlemen, Latisha Vandepu. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. It's been an honor and a privilege to visit with you this evening. So many of you have been friends, you've been mentors, and you've been partners. You've worked together my 24 years in the legislature. You're passionate about this earth. I know that I've got friends in the environmental community, friends who are farmers and ranchers, and particularly those who enjoy avid sports. But our newest set of friends I think are those that understand what a gift that we have in this beautiful land, this beautiful earth and air. And I worked with maybe what we call unlikely partners, but with the environmental faith community. They are growing. And so let me tell you, as I seek to earn your vote, all I can tell you is that I've been really good at looking around the corner and seeing when something's about to become a crisis and work on it ahead of time to be proactive. I'm a health care professional and have been. And therefore my whole set of thinking really looks on preventative health. That means preventative fiscal health for our city and also for the people who live here. I know that green spaces mean a great deal. And I am absolutely the champion of continuing as many of our parks, green spaces and protection of the aquifer. I know that we can grow and attract and retain the best in San Antonio with regard to workforce by embracing new technologies and cloud computing and our cybersecurity and in our life sciences. But job one is to take care of infrastructure. And the other priority is our public safety. We must remain a city that is one where children are free to play in the front yards of our neighborhoods. And as such, as mayor, I will absolutely get this police and fire contract done so that we can continue our AAA bond reading and have a compensation package that enables us to retain and recruit the best. Thank you so much. I'll be happy to have you look on our website, the leticiafermayor.com. It's been an honor to visit with you. And I humbly ask for your support to be the next mayor of San Antonio. Thank you. So is Mayor Taylor available? She is there. All right. Please, we invite you to spend the next 15 minutes visiting with Ivy Taylor. She's in the lobby. So please go out. And as we have with leticia van depu, make your warm welcome to her. And then we'll have the same set of questions with Ivy Taylor here in this auditorium. 15 minutes from now. Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, for the sake of our second guest, I will read the same introduction for her benefit. My name is Peter Bella, and I'd like to welcome you to the Clean Air Clean Water Healthy City event hosted and sponsored by the Environmental Defense Fund, the Sierra Club, the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development or Seed Coalition, the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, Public Citizen, the Texas League of Conservation Environment, Texas, and of course our hosts, the Trinity University Political Science Department. I'd also like to thank now cast SA for their live stream broadcast and their archive of the video for later web rebroadcast. The two final mayoral candidates Ivy Taylor and leticia van depu were selected by the voters of the city of San Antonio during the main ninth election and will be contestants in the June 13th runoff election. Our co-sponsoring groups asked me to present each of them a series of questions on local environmental topics. I have solicited questions from leading environmental advocates in the San Antonio region, and I have selected the final questions. They have not been shared with representatives of either campaign. The candidates will have two minutes to respond to each question. At the end of the question and answer period, each candidate will have 90 seconds for a closing statement, and I will remember this time. I would ask the audience here in this room to remain quiet and respectful during the question period and to avoid any outbursts except for now. Please help me welcome mayoral candidate Ivy Taylor. San Antonio will likely be out of compliance with new proposed EPA ozone standards. San Antonio will likely be out of compliance with new standards and that will require reductions from business and citizens alike. It is the appropriate response for the mayor of the largest U.S. city in the region in this air quality challenge. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to share with you on these issues that are not just important to you but important to me and our entire community. Well, certainly air quality, this designation of us being in noncompliance has been looming for a while. Actually, we're the only major American city that was still in compliance. So we've had some time to prep, but that's not to say that we've utilized it to the best extent possible. But in short, I would say there's not going to be one answer in relation to air quality in particular. We know that most of the pollution is coming from vehicle emissions and since we've sprawled so much, our pattern of growth here has been to sprawl that certainly has an impact on the fact that people have to drive long distances. They're on the road, they're one passenger in a car and so as a planner, I have been very focused on how can we change the pattern of development here in our city, how can we have a more balanced growth instead of just moving northward. And so that's always been my focus during my six years on the council, but in particular during my term as mayor, I've brought a lot of emphasis to our first major comprehensive plan for our city since the 1970s. We haven't had a plan, we've just grown. And so now that we're expecting an additional 1.1 million people in this area between now and the year 2040, thinking about all of them getting their cars on the road is a sobering thought. So we've got to come up with some other strategies to, you know, expand our transportation options, but also ensure that we have mixed use, mixed income neighborhoods spread throughout the city where it's easy for people to live, work and play within a smaller footprint. Meaning I was just giving the example in talking with some folks out there that I have been spending some time in Stone Oak because my daughter's math tutor lives out there. And I was observing, you know, houses, houses, houses, I was thinking if I were 13 and I wanted to walk to the store and buy a bag of potato chips, would I be able to do it? Well, it didn't seem apparent to me that someone could do that, that you could walk to the store. So if we could have more neighborhoods where people could walk, they could bike, where they could have access to places where they would work within range near their home, then that certainly would make an impact on all those vehicles on the road and the emissions and the air quality. So that's one of the key approaches that I would bring. Current studies show that some of the air pollution that makes ozone in San Antonio is coming from outside of the city, including from oil and gas operations in the Eagleford shale play. What leadership role will you as mayor take to make sure that the regional stakeholders, both from within Bear County as well as from the wider region beyond city boundaries, including oil and gas industry, come to the table and do their fair share to improve air quality that impacts San Antonio? Great question, tough question because so many folks have been so excited about the economic development activity there. So when you're dealing with dollar signs, a lot of times folks, as you all know, don't think about the environmental impacts. But first off, I think it would be my job as mayor and I take this responsibility seriously to convene all these folks and to ensure that we in San Antonio are part of a regional discussion. I have noted that I believe that's an area where we can improve our city government and we need to invest resources in having staff that are in consistent communication with some of these other areas that are nearby. So I would like to advocate for that, but then be a key voice and a key player at the table as well and try to figure out if there is a way that we can balance if there's anything that we can do to provide a framework that would reduce and minimize those impacts while we still continue to enjoy the benefits of all that economic activity. Global warming is contributing to serious problems from record drought to record flooding. Are you as mayor committed to development and execution of a carbon reduction plan for the city of San Antonio including specific reduction goals and carbon reduction strategies? And if so, what conditions do you see which would guide this process? Well, I can't say that I have outlined or have, you know, have an initial framework for such a plan in my mind. I certainly look forward to having some discussions on that and hope that you all, everyone here in this room would be part of the sustainability plan that we're developing. We talked about me take leading the charge on us developing the first comprehensive plan for our city, but it's actually three plans. It's a land use plan. It's a transportation plan and it's a sustainability plan. So we actually are working on a sustainability plan for our community. And so with your help and with your expertise, we could possibly include a component that would be focused on carbon reduction. I think everyone here should be part of that process. I invite you to go to essaytomorrow.com to find out more about those three plans and how you can be part of the process. In September 2014, acknowledging that cities are responsible for 70% of all greenhouse gas emissions, Houston Mayor Anise Parker, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetta, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter launched the Mayor's National Climate Action Agenda. Will you as mayor of the city of San Antonio request city staff to investigate the Mayor's National Climate Action Agenda and report back on the feasibility of the process and its possible applicability for adoption in the city of San Antonio? Sure, yes. I look forward to that. I've had a chance to meet all those mayors and have been active in making connections through the U.S. Conference of Mayors and would certainly love to put that as part of the benefit of participating there is to learn about what other cities are doing. So yeah, I would direct staff to find out more about that initiative to determine its appropriateness for us here in San Antonio. To successfully meet climate change goals requiring carbon reduction, national strategies must be implemented. Do you support the EPA's proposed power plant rules, the Clean Power Plan, to reduce carbon pollution as well as other pollutants? I don't have the particulars on that plan at my fingertips, but certainly I believe that the federal government plays a key role in providing the adequate regulatory framework to guide us here in relation to some of the larger industries that have a huge impact. But that's got to be balanced with, of course, you know, local control because we do like to make our own decisions here and control our own destiny. So I'd say we definitely have to have a careful balance, but that we work real hard within our city's intergovernmental relations department to ensure that we are communicating with appropriate federal officials on legislation like this and what the impact would be here. And I'd love to hear from some of the folks that are particularly interested in this issue on what their stance is and how they feel San Antonio should weigh in with the federal officials. SA 2020 recognizes transportation mitigation both as an air quality or excuse me air pollution, a quality of life and an urban mobility issue. Do you have any specific plans to reduce vehicle volume on our highways and to reduce congestion and emissions through use of other transit options? Well, we're developing a transportation plan right now. And so I am hopeful that that will put it push us in the direction of coming up with some other solutions for our community, whether that be, you know, relying more heavily on via, which I think is the underutilized asset that we have here that we could have definitely a more robust transit system with via, whether that be bus rapid transit or traditional buses or looking at in the future what what the options are on rail. But definitely, I think we've got to have that community engagement was talking we were talking outside about, you know, whether or not rail could actually be a possibility. You know, and whether that means just you have strong leadership from the top that says this is what we're going to do or if it's a grassroots movement. Well, I think it's actually both that you've got to have that leadership as an urban planner. I certainly believe that we ought to have additional transportation options here in the even though I know that everyone is aware that when I came into office. The first things I did was to stop an unpopular streetcar project that I think many people thought was ill conceived and they didn't see the relevance of the routes. So for us to have a plan that's going to be successful, it's got to be relevant to people. It also has to be something that is not just viewed as available for those who don't own a car. It has to be something that the wider broader community sees as a solution to, you know, them getting to work or or getting to wherever they need to go. And so I'm committed to providing a leadership on that. And I think through the planning process that we can get to the point where we have some more robust options. What steps should San Antonio be taking in the near term that can make the city's infrastructure more resilient to potentially damaging weather events, including droughts and floods? And I would say that this question was written for our most recent Memorial Day events. Well, I think we should look real closely at the standards for our infrastructure, you know, for the construction and see if there are new techniques and new technologies that we should use. I'm particularly interested in us looking to determine how we can have infrastructure that serves multiple purposes. Because I think from an efficiency standpoint that can help us to stretch our dollars, but it can also help us from a sustainability and environmental standpoint. You know, we just kind of we've been doing things the same way are building a certain type of solution to flooding or stormwater management for years. And that there are no new techniques, low impact development techniques that we could be utilizing if we had, you know, more knowledge about them in the private sector. I think as well as rules within the city that promoted their use. We have a great opportunity coming up with the 2017 bond where we'll likely be spending, you know, $500 million or more investing in infrastructure. And that's a great chance for us to look at being a little more creative. And I'm also proud that as mayor, I was a champion for us to expand the funding that's available through the Aquifer Protection Program and the Creek Ways Program so that we can have some opportunities to try out some of these low impact development projects and also have more money to put into the Creek Ways, the Green Ways Program so that it's not just single purpose for recreation, but how can we look at that being a transportation option for people as well? What is your record on specific actions to protect the Edwards Aquifer? Well, here recently I worked with Councilman Nuremberg to put the Aquifer Protection Program back on the ballot and to expand it. And so the voters, I'm grateful, supported that. And so it was just reauthorized. And so that's the main thing I'll point to at this point because we worked on that for several months together. And I'm very excited that it's been reauthorized. If reelected, what actions would you take to reduce the risk of contamination of the Edwards Aquifer in the recharge and contributing zones? Well, I think we've got to work with all the regulatory partners on that, but also look at our development code here. Unfortunately, you all know that a lot of development already has occurred over the Aquifer. So we have the Protection Program that's just been reauthorized, but I think we can look at our development code to see if there's anything else. And looking at these low impact development techniques is a way that we can potentially provide more protection for the Aquifer. There has been quite a bit of a bit said by mayoral candidates on the need to control, sprawl, and promote smart, sustainable growth. Would you please comment on to what extent, if at all, you believe that the San Antonio Water System, SAWS, has played a role in incentivizing sprawl and development in sensitive areas. And what, if anything, would you do, as mayor, to align SAWS provisions of water and sewage services with a smart, sustainable growth policy? Well, I think certainly there is some merit to the argument that making infrastructure available in the outlying areas does promote people investing and building in those areas. I think, unfortunately, here we've had kind of an attitude of inevitability, right, that, well, you know, this growth happens there. So, and I'm not saying that all growth is bad, though many of you may feel differently, but I do believe we have to have a balance. And I certainly understand the economic impact of those jobs that are created through the construction and real estate industry that has a huge impact on our community. So I'm not saying that it's all bad, but there have definitely been some negative impacts and also diminished quality of life for those that are living in the areas where the growth just continues to accelerate. So, here's what I am focusing on right now as mayor, and that's having SAWS to be at the table and a partner in the development of this growth plan for our city. The SA Tomorrow effort that I talked to you about, because we, the plan is not going to be meaningful or successful. If it's just a few eggheads down at the city and, you know, some citizens that come out to some meetings and put some dots on a map and a chart, and then, you know, we package it up into, you know, a nice report. That's not what I'm talking about. I am talking about a robust coordination effort between all the various entities that have impact on development and are making investments. And of course, SAWS is a major one of them. So we are including them as part of the planning effort in order to start changing the mindset related to, you know, how we can come together as a community to have a collective vision that we're not just responding to the market. Because we have seen what some of the negative impacts have been over the years and being that we're anticipating additional million people between now and the year 2040. You know, the question is where are they all going to live? You know, where are they going to be driving? You know, what's the impact of that going to be? So I think we've got to work with SAWS. SAWS has to be part of that process and they are part of that process. I also want to, as Mayor, if the voters allow me to get back in there, I want for us to focus on both of the utilities more so than we have in the past in having more regular updates on what their plans are. Because right now it seems like that the broad level conversation only occurs when either there's a rate increase or there's a big project that's coming. And I think we need to have more regular conversation and dialogue as a community about how those organizations are operating, what their policies and philosophies are and what investments they're making and how that does end up having an impact on our development and growth as a city. During the debate of the Vista Ridge Project, the chairman of the SAWS Board of Directors, Bertha Gerach, defended the Vista Ridge Agreement in an opinion article and stated, quote, In securing this new non-Edward supply, we also make the following commitments. It will not be open season for development over the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone, unquote, implying that we would curtail building over the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone. As Mayor, what will you do both as a SAWS trustee and also within City Council to set policies in order to make Mr. Gerach's statement a reality? Well, I think I kind of touched on that in the last answer. But I guess I'll just reiterate that I think it's important for SAWS to be part of the planning process so that we will come up with policies both on the city side and the SAWS side that help us to address our collective concerns about development over the Aquifer and about water quality. So that's the approach that I'll be taking. Let's see. One of the great local success stories has been CPS Energy's record of renewable energy generation, energy conservation initiatives, and contract leveraging to locate and retain firms in the region known for innovative environmental technology. How do you plan to use the city's purchasing power to make the city attractive to clean technology firms given CPS Energy's track record? That's a great question. I don't have an answer for that right now, but I think that's a great idea. I'd love to sit down with folks and talk about how we could utilize that function of the city in order to have an impact on the environment and possibly the strategies there could be part of the sustainability plan. The City of San Antonio and its extraterritorial jurisdiction are home to some 15 quarries. Collectively, there are dozens of active quarries in Barra County and its contiguous counties in the metropolitan statistical area. Citizens have voiced concerns regarding possible health risks associated with dust from quarries, mining and cement operations, and regarding the safety and handling of industrial waste produced. As Mayor, how could the city examine the extent to which violations, events and spills have affected the property, safety and well-being of San Antonio citizens and implement an advocacy role supporting citizens addressing these issues? Okay. Well, I think there's a few ways we can approach that. Well, first of all, to find out the extent of the problem, how many of them are actually within the city limits to work with the regulatory agencies, assuming a TCEQ has some say on how these businesses are operating, but to determine if their standards are sufficient and adequate and then to work with the state on, you know, whether or not any corrections or adjustments need to be made at that level, whether it's, you know, I don't know to what extent they can make changes on their own or it has to be legislative relief. And of course, we're coming to the end of our session. But I think that would be appropriate. And then also for us to look at the local level as far as what we have control over on zoning and all, you know, some of our other enforcement mechanisms to ensure that those are used adequately to protect citizens that may be impacted. Local control from municipal governments has become a major issue in the Texas legislature this session. At first glance, this may not seem to be an environmental issue, but local governments enact tree ordinances, noise pollution rules, develop standards, development standards, etc. What are your plans as mayor to address this issue if it continues to be debated in the legislature in upcoming sessions? And do you see middle ground for working with the legislature on issues important to local stakeholders in San Antonio? I certainly believe that it's so important for us to be able to control our own destiny here that we would debate locally on, you know, what our stance is and what our approach is going to be and then make the decisions. We don't want the state to impose on us or restrict us from our ability to protect the environment locally. So during this session, I was active and engaged in reiterating that point. I worked with, there's a group of Texas big city mayors and we had a meeting where we focused on that and then held a press conference and issued issued a collective statement on, you know, our strong desire to maintain a local control and then our intergovernmental relations staff worked real vigorously on that and we had council members participating in hearings and watching those issues very closely. So that will continue to be my stance and, you know, I think that is only appropriate. We spoke about CPS energy just a little bit and a follow up question on the CPS energy's efforts. The price of utility scale solar has dropped more than 80% in three years since CPS contracted for its utility scale solar. New solar plants are now 30% cheaper to build the new gas plants. Would you be willing to consider updating and increasing CPS energy's solar goals? Oh, yes. We've got to respond to the changing time. So I think it's appropriate for us to revisit. We can't be static in our approach. So I would certainly welcome the opportunity as a member of the CPS board for us to relook at that to see how we could further advance and expand the renewables portion of, you know, our energy portfolio. Appointments to the city planning and zoning commissions and their ad hoc subcommittees have always been comprised of a majority of members representing the building and realty industries. As mayor, would you endorse any of the following measures to accommodate more diverse stakeholder inclusion? Requiring these commissions to meet after business hours. Inclusion of an ombudsman to represent citizens who live outside city limits in San Antonio's ETJ. Requiring representation on the commissions of other special interest categories such as neighborhood representatives. And in general, do you have any suggestions for improving citizen participation and awareness of these planning processes? Great question. Great question. I'd be open to discussing any of those techniques. The one that resonates with me is to have designated categories potentially for some of those commissions as appropriate. So, you know, I'd be interested in us talking more about that because it's important that, you know, those commissions are reflective of the diversity of opinions in the community and are not pushing just one viewpoint. During the May 9th elections in San Antonio, voters approved the Edwards-Occuper Protection Initiative. How would you propose to manage and prioritize projects funded through the $10 million funding for recharge area, recharge feature protection projects within Bear County's Edwards-Occuper recharge and contributing zones? We are still figuring that out right now. So I would love to have some community input on, you know, what folks think makes the most sense in relation to that. Do you think there are any things that are of particular interest or note, or is that really a process to wait on? Are there things that seem to you to be outstanding of value, or is it worth waiting to see what folks think? Well, you know, I'm open to seeing what folks think about that. Again, my, I guess, priority would be on, you know, how can we, I want us to invest in things that can then be replicated and grown to scale. So for us to look at, you know, the demonstration projects in that way, I think it's important because if it just ends up being a one-shot, one-off, then there may be some limited value to that in relation to a particular area or project. But I'd like for us to, the purpose is to grow this concept to scale, to be able to replicate. So that would be the main criteria that I'd be interested in. Should the UDC, the Unified Development Code, require the use of low impact development techniques in new commercial and residential developments to minimize stormwater runoff and improve the quality of water in our creeks and rivers? I think it certainly should encourage that and facilitate that happening easily. I think all too often the UDC has made it too easy to just maintain the status quo. So what are the incentives that we can provide to encourage people to make that choice to provide other techniques? But on the other hand, I think also the onus is on us to help facilitate education because sometimes people don't do differently because they don't know anything about these other techniques. No one has taken them to show them that it could be cost effective or that they can find the contractors that know how to do it, that they can find the materials easily. So I think part of our job is to help assemble that information as well so that more builders, you know, our engineers or construction folks would be inclined to go in that direction. That's part of the challenge too. One of the items that has crossed City Council's desk and hasn't quite made it but is of interest I know to some of the folks I've spoken with is the plastic bag ban. What is the status right now of that and what are your feelings on the value of seeing that process continue and ultimately approved? Well, I'll start out by saying I hate seeing those bags blowing in the wind just like tumbleweeds all over town. So I would like to see us reduce the use of bags. So what there was an effort and the council collectively decided a couple of years ago that we were going to focus more so on education in order to try and get the public to reduce use of the bags. And then the next step that we took is through our environmental services department or waste management, we've been able to now recycle bags. So for those single family residential users who get the city garbage cart, you can now bundle your plastic bags and put them into the recyclable cart. So we just started that within the last year. So what I would like to see is some data and results on that effort to see if the you know what kind of impact that's had before we go back and see and say you know what what else should we do. I mean just to be candid I mean we've you know some I know a lot of folks are pushing for a ban, but you know the a lot of the corporations don't want to see that happen. And certainly we want to support businesses that are a key part of our economy here. The other the other solution that's been tossed about is the idea of you know people having to pay if they want to use a bag. And I know from experience that that is a effective course corrector because I remember being in Washington DC a couple of years ago and I forgot to bring my makeup or something. And I went to Walgreens and bought some makeup and they asked me that I wanted in a bag and I said yes and they said that'll be a nickel. I said that's okay I'll put it in my purse. So yes that can be an effective course corrector. I don't know if that's the solution that we want to employ here in our community. I think we'd have to have more dialogue with all the different parties that are involved to see if we want to go in that direction. But before we do again I think we have we taken so so we start with education and we focus on recycling the residential level. So now we need to see what has that produced any has that produced any reduction or in the impact of the bags before we go on to looking at other solutions. But I'm open to the conversation. Well I've come to the end of my questions and what I'd like to do is know if we can turn on this microphone. And the folks out there have questions they'd like to ask Mayor Taylor. The microphone we'll be using is right over here. Right next to Russell he's our landmark. Yeah I need to be turned on. Is it on now? Can you hear? Now it's on. Okay. I have a question that was on a list that we sent in for tonight. It was about the coal tar sealants we've been working with for several years on trying to get them banned. We have polycyclic hydrocarbons and they're very toxic and Europe has banned these for 50 years. And we understand that this went with the water study for the water plan. And we feel that was a big mistake that we've known for a long time and the evidence is quite clear. And I just wanted to know where you stand on that and will you pull it from the water plan because the water plan is probably going to take a long time to get finished. And you know crews are going out every single day from all these re-tarring and paving companies putting those coal tar sealants on playgrounds and parking lots and streets. And they'll eventually work their way into the rivers and into the dust, the particles that pollute the air in San Antonio and pollute the people. So I'm going to leave you with that. I would need to revisit where we left off in relation to that. I know you mentioned it being part of another plan but I'd like to see if we've done any studies on the fiscal impact as far as the city doing business and using that method or what the impact would be for businesses as far as cost effectiveness of other solutions. So I wouldn't have a problem with us discussing that to make that determination. But right now that isn't something that we're anticipating that we had anything pending. But I'd be glad to look into it. The sauce is about to pass a rate structure renewal here that has some benefits and values for low users and probably low income folks. But it's just a structure and the question is as all of this to ridge cost and all the other costs come up, there's going to be a significant increase in cost to the rate payers. I guess I would like to see that the low end users who oftentimes may be low income retired folks etc. will not get the increase. They're not driving this demand for the extra water. It's being driven some degree by long term projected growth. There was a plan to actually not have this happen. Would you consider being on the sauce board to actually pass this cost along to the higher users and residential commercial etc. And not those people who are low income and low water users? Well certainly as a council member and as mayor I've always worked to ensure that we have programs and policies in place to protect those vulnerable folks in our community that are on fixed income. But certainly your utilities is not something that you can choose not to including your budget. So I'll always advocate for us to have funding and programs in the budget to address those vulnerable folks and believe that it does make sense for us to look at how we could structure plans to continue to protect them. And also if folks want to use more water what does it look like as far as their rates. But we have to have the rate support, the revenue for the maintenance of the system. And a lot of the costs that we're paying for right now increase costs as a result of deferred maintenance over the years. Trying to keep up with this EPA decree to address the sewer system. So we will you know I think it's an inevitability that the costs will continue to rise. So we have to protect those most vulnerable people that are on fixed incomes. But this isn't as much an environmental issue but it is kind of I think for related to many. I'm not saying that the water is not an environmental issue what I'm about to say next is for many of our issues and challenges we have here in San Antonio. It ends up coming back to the fact that we have a low income community here. So that always ends up being the barrier as far as talking about increases in you know not just you know water but the other utilities and other services that we want to provide. At the end of the day I think we have to take an approach where we're going to focus on how we allow more citizens to tap in the prosperity that is going on in our community every day. You know how do we break the cycle of generational poverty. Yes I understand that someone who's 70 and you know worked a certain job is on a fixed income they may have difficulty paying their water bill. But for someone that's 35 and able bodied we as a community have to help them connect to opportunities for employment that will allow them to pay their utilities that can always be the barrier for in relation to rate support. So I think we have work to do on both ends. There's there's got to be a balance but I'm committed to more San Antonio's having opportunities to to education and skills training that would allow them to have jobs that allow them to support their families. I see that as a sustainability issue as well. I have a question that is not directly related to the environment. And I apologize for my fellow environmentalist but it has to do with a little background. My wife a year and a half ago had brain surgery and as a result of that she's incapacitated and can't drive. Prior to a recent City Council action she was able to take Uber or Lyft to get to physical therapy to chemotherapy to her various medical appointments and other appointments and meetings. Now I have to take off work to do that. It's a big hardship on our family. It's an expense and you know frankly Uber and Lyft are cheaper than me getting off work and running these errands for her if you will. What is the position or what is the next step that the city is taking in the ride sharing issue and what can we expect in the near term? Well thank you for that question. I do see it as being related because we've been talking about transportation and increasing transportation options for people and this is a transportation option. So I just want folks to know that my position is that I welcome those transportation network companies to be here in San Antonio. At the end of the day we were working more specifically with Uber and they decided not to stay here in San Antonio because the City Council provided what I thought was a sensible regulatory framework that included background checks through fingerprints for the drivers which we deemed to be the best way to verify the identity of the person that was driving. Now they have operated in some other cities with that requirement like Houston but they said that they didn't want to do that anymore that it wasn't a good idea for them to have done that in other cities. So that's kind of where the City Council drew the line. And then the next step was that they went to the stake to seek relief through the legislative session. The bill for my understanding is that the bill related to TNCs is not going to come out of the session. So they didn't get any relief so what that means to me is that this is the opportunity to take leadership on this issue again. So we are working to develop a strategy to re-engage with the TNCs and determine how we can get them to be operating legally here. When they were operating they weren't operating legally because we didn't have a framework in place. But the long and short of it is that we'd welcome them here and as Mayor that will be one of the priorities for me getting back in the office. In fact we've already had some preliminary meetings and discussions to determine what's the path forward but I just want everyone to know that I embraced the technology. I think the media didn't really provide all the nuances and behind the scenes and instead portrayed that we said we didn't want them. When actually we do want them here we put in place a framework that they said they couldn't work with. So now the challenge is for us to work again to find some sort of compromise. We recognize that it is a valuable service. Your story just demonstrates the need for something like that here and so I'll be working to try and get it back. Stephen I'd like to ask y'all to let us end the session. We're actually a little over time but I would certainly appreciate if you have a wrap up a 90 second or a plus wrap up if you'd like to address the group. Thank you. Well thank you everyone for your time and attention this evening. I'll also say thank you for your advocacy because I know that many of you have been involved and engaged on these important issues related to the environment as well as other issues. Well what I'll tell you is that for 17 years I have been working to make San Antonio a better place. Six years was spent behind the scenes as a city employee focused on affordable housing and then a few years in between at a housing housing agency. And then also I was a member of the Planning Commission and the Urban Renewal Commission and now I've been working since 2009 as a member of the council and then as mayor. So I have the experience and knowledge and understanding of how our bureaucracy works and certainly understand some of the challenges which is why I left being an employee because I wanted to see some things happen more rapidly related to inner city investment. And that's why I came back on the elected side to shake things up and and try to bring some innovative approaches. I'm asking for your support to allow me to continue to serve as your mayor because I'm not shyed away from making those tough decisions and I don't approach it from through a political lens. I'm not beholden to any interest group. My only focus is on doing what's best for San Antonio to ensure that we have a prosperous economy here and that that prosperity doesn't just benefit a few but that more people can tap into that growth and development of our economy here through providing education and skills training for folks that have been disconnected and for us to address the challenges in those communities that have been left behind so to speak. And I know that many of you know that folks in those communities where there's been a lack of investment that they suffer disproportionately from issues related to pollution, lack of access to quality foods, and many of the negative environmental impacts and challenges that you care about. So my goal and focus as mayor is to ensure that we have safe stable mixed income mixed use communities spread throughout San Antonio so that everyone has the opportunity to live a productive healthy and a prosperous life. And I believe that through us planning for those community challenges and having those tough discussions in advance can prevent us from just having big fights when you know certain projects come up. So I'm certainly focused on us being proactive as a community. I like to listen to folks and gather facts and then act and I think that is the type of leadership that we need right now, not someone who's going to be politics as usual, business as usual, or beholden to a particular interest group. So I'm asking for your support and I'm asking for your vote to allow me to continue serving you as your mayor and it's been a privilege and an honor to serve you in this capacity thus far. Thank you for your time and attention. So again, thank you very much for the time you spend with us and the thoughts you've shared with us. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Ivy Taylor, thank you again.