 I'm very excited that by the end of this month, somebody in this room is going to be our new state legislator representing the district where we are right now. And I'm delighted that all four candidates are here this afternoon. I wanna tell you that not everybody gets to vote in this election, it's only people who are registered in this district. And early voting is already underway. You can vote today, tomorrow, Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The early voting sites, there are three of them. There's the Bear County Courthouse downtown, the Great Northwest Library on Grissom Road, and the Henry Garrow Library on Military Drive. So you can vote at any of those three voting locations if you vote this week, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., that ends on Friday. If you wait until election day on Tuesday, you can vote only in the precinct where you live. But as I said, not everybody gets to vote, it's only people who are registered in this district. And so I'll show you in just a moment how you can find out if you are in District 124. If you don't have your voter registration card, it's okay, you can vote anyway. What you do need is your photo ID like a driver's license or another government issued ID. The Elections Department website is up. It's elections.bear.org. And over on the right hand side where it says Bear Precinct Finder, you can put in your address. Let's suppose you lived on campus, I know you don't, but if you did, you could put in your address. So we're going to put Ellison Drive. And this is North Ellison Drive 3535. We put in our address range. There it is. And it tells us we're in precinct 1093. That's not a big deal. But what is a big deal is what it says after state representative. If it says 124, you get to vote. It's as easy as 124. So with that said, I'd like to get started. I have a number of people that I wanna thank starting with our Northwest Vista College President, Rick Baser, our Chancellor, Bruce Leslie. I'd like to thank the Alamo Colleges Democracy Commitment Coordinator, Craig Coronel's, the Northwest Vista College Public Relations Team, now cast essay is going to make a video of today's forum available. And our technician is Chadwick Cardenas. And our timekeeper today is the president of Project M, Miguel Castro. We're going to start with an opening statement of three minutes. When there's 30 seconds left, Miguel's going to show the yellow card. When there's 10 seconds left, he's going to show the red card. When you're out of time, he's going to say time. If you keep talking after he says time, that may cut some time out of answers to later questions. We're gonna have a three minute opening statement in this order from left to right. And then we're going to go reverse order for the questions. And the questions will be one minute long and then we'll have a closing statement of three minutes. So our first question. What would you say is the top issue facing Texas in 2015? And this is God, Mr. Rose is going to answer first if you could come to the podium. What would you say is the top issue facing Texas in 2015? And how does your experience qualify you to address this issue as a state legislator? I will think first of all, my name's David Rosa. Thanks for inviting me. For me, we just talked about this this morning. I believe education is a top priority for me. I have three children, two are in college, now one's about to go off to college. I was on the 2010 Northside Independent School District bond committee back in 29 through 2013 where we raised $565 million for the school district. It is critical to continue to educate the populace. Students such as yourself, when you have an economic impact report that was just done by the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, healthcare and bioscience is a $30.6 billion business here locally. It's not the only one, but it is one that is thriving and has produced 41,000 net jobs over the last decade. I believe that the continuing of education for everybody, not just school students, even for adults such as myself, my age, I'm 54, to be retrained, to go into the workforce, to make this community continue to grow. So I would say that's how, or what I would say is the most important thing to me, education given the one thing that I would like to work on. Thank you. Okay. Next, Councilwoman Herrera, let me repeat the question. What would you say is the top issue facing Texas in 2015? And how does your experience qualify you to address this issue as a state legislator? Thank you. Good afternoon. I think it's actually, I know it's a tie between education and our transportation, more congestion issues throughout specifically here in our district, but also across the state. Education is very important. I am part of the Alma College's family. I work in the IBIS program at the West Side Education Training Center. And that is what we do every day. We help students, whether they are in school already, or adults that have to reach school or retrain and build up those assessment tests. You know, the tests you all have to take in order to get out of the student development classes, the S.D.F. classes, that's so important. But the hard part is that the funding is not available as it should be. We have to fight for those federal dollars that come down to Texas. Right now it comes out to TWC. And then it gets dispersed throughout our area. In San Antonio last summer, I was in the legislature fighting for more dollars. So there's various levels of education. We come to school here. So you know whether it's a lack of a consistent bus service. I know when I was in the city council, that was an issue here. Transportation coming to Northus Visa. The Divi Drive. The congestion you face in 151 or 1604. Those are issues that meet us here. That's where the rubber meets the road. So for me, you can never separate workforce development or economic development with transportation and education because it all ties in together. Thank you. Ms. Farrell-Lanzo, the same question. Great. Good afternoon, my name's Nathan Alonzo. And I'm a 33 veteran of the San Antonio Fire Department. I've seen a lot of people's houses all over the country, all over the city. And I understand a lot of the issues here. Everybody's gonna be talking about education, transportation and other issues. The main issue for the 2015 is priorities. We have enough monies in the rainy day fund to take care of a number of issues, transportation and education included. As one of my opponents mentioned just recently, she's absolutely right. Dual credits in high school should be allowed. The standardization of testing is what they're allowing you to take a test to graduate from high school. And another test that allows you to get into college. Why aren't they similar? Why is it that you have to take a different class in college, pay extra for it and then don't get credit for it? This kind of dualization of credits, of stuff that you can be getting while in high school is one of the just the simple things of getting things done in this state of Texas. Priorities, priorities of monies, where do they need to go? Do we realize that we need streets and highways? Absolutely, but there are only so many streets and highways that you can build within the state of Texas. Let's start looking at a transportation plan of light rail or trains that will connect the major cities. That way economically, we're able to contribute to other areas of this. This is some things that we need to take a look at. Simple things like synchronization of the street lights as you travel up and down Bandera Road. Bandera Road, it takes you 20 to 30 minutes to get from one section to the next. These are areas that we can take a look at that are simple solutions, simple answers that the rest of our legislators aren't taking a look at. Sometimes when you're there too long, as a career politician, you forget the simple things that we see all the time. And so I wanna thank you all for coming and allowing us to be here. I appreciate it. How much time we got? Yeah, it's two seconds in there. All right, so I thank you very much. And next, Ms. Minharas. Good afternoon. There are a couple of issues that concern me, especially in regard to the district, but the one that of course that I would wanna focus on is public education as a whole. I think there are different aspects that we need to address. One is the number of standardized tests that our students have to go through. I don't think they're needed. Some are, but they were meant for it to be used as a diagnostic tool. And what's happened is that they've been punitive in nature. And I think it's prohibited teachers from really teaching students. And I think it's prevented students from competing nationwide. So I believe if we revamp the education system and put the funding toward where it's needed, it will definitely, definitely make our children competitive. If we have that ability, can you just imagine what the workforce would be like? One thing I wanna consider is, if there are students that graduate from high school and wanna go straight into working, for example, like Toyota, right now we have a program that offers internship possibilities for students to get that training. And then some other opportunities allow them to get college credit and maybe go into a two-year certification or four-year college. So I think if we are able to do that, I think at the end of the day, our students are gonna be incredibly, incredibly educated and that's just gonna make this economy even stronger and it's gonna make the state even stronger. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. And Ms. Minharas, if you could return to the podium because then you'll answer the next question first. Okay. This round the questions will be one minute and you may have touched on this already but I'm gonna ask the same question of everyone. So the question is, is higher education in Texas adequately funded by the state legislature or should more money be spent? And if so, where would it come from? I think that more money should be spent along all types of education. Again, when I was explaining, we shouldn't necessarily focus on just the four-year career plan or four-year college plan. I think we need to also invest money, like I said, in training and educating young people at the high school level so that if they choose to go directly into an industry job such as like I said, Toyota or also investing in our students that again wanna go into a two-year plan or a four-year plan. I think again, there are different funds we could look at. If we look at the general fund of there's excess funds, we can use those funds towards education. That's an interesting question. Back in 2001, the state legislature went ahead and allowed the universities to develop a tuition, or establish the tuition for students. Therefore, they were able to attack on all kinds of fees, lab fees, technology fees that sometimes most people didn't even use. And so every student had over $35,000 debt. Did I do that in my stomach? So you have that debt. Is it adequately funded by the state? The state has a certain responsibility to its institutions to keep them here to where we can have subsidized funding for the students once they come in here. There are issues that surround this on a economic and social area. And I'm sorry, went by Cut-Off? No. Did I get a look? Okay, my fault. It is something that we need to take a look at. Is it adequately funded? No, where we look at? The comptroller said that there was $18 billion surplus prior to this legislative session, where I think we can take a look at at the rainy day fund to help come bring this down, not raising taxes. Thank you, Mr. Lanza. Okay, Councilwoman Herrera, the same question. I touched on it in my comments at the beginning. There's various forms of funding for your various studies. The Texas High Coordinating Board is one of the sources of funding that we receive. And there's a program called Accelerate Texas. I bet you most of you have probably not heard about it. And that's what we do at IBISTRA. We have funding that if you meet certain qualifications, and it's not too hard to match those qualifications, your education is free. But specifically targeted towards demand industry jobs. That means that these jobs are available for you after you finish school. Other opportunities to fund education is through public-private partnerships, which is a way to leverage the private corporations and even small businesses will help fund those internships, will help fund those opportunities to learn and grow. I mentioned the federal dollars that come into the state dollars. Texas, unfortunately, is still at the bottom of the barrel. And we need to continue to fight that. I've been doing that with my work, and I will continue to do that. Thank you. Mr. Rosa, the same question. I did some studying over the weekend on tuition revenue bonds. And something I read brought up, creative means to increase enrollment to help cut anticipated tuition increases. And I thought about that. The research that I have is 98.4% of capital projects have been financed on public university campuses in Texas. The tuition revenue bond debt is serviced from the revenues from the projects, revenue provided by income from student tuition charges, and there's levies upon institutions as specified in the bond covenants. Ordinarily, tuition revenue bonds are employed and supply funding to acquire and purchase properties. So your question is, would I support it? Yes, how would we do that? It'd take further studying on my part. Thank you. Thank you, and if you could remain at the podium for the next question. Now let's turn to funding for our public schools, K through 12. What is the solution to providing adequate funding for children in every district, no matter where they live? One of the things that I'm most proud of is that Dr. Folks, John M. Folks, retired superintendent from Northside endorsed me, and with your permission, I'd like to read his endorsement. I'm happy to announce that I endorse and support David Rosa for Texas House District 124. He is a leader in the community and I've worked with him in my time as superintendent of Northside Independent School District. I know that he will fight for Texas schools and his experience in education will be a great asset in Austin. He is very supportive of the education of all students and is a person of great character and integrity. Proud to call him my friend. There is nothing more important. A friend of mine used the term, it's the civil right of the day for people to be educated. Now my three children, I've been blessed with my lovely bride of 28 years. They have been homeschooled, they've been private schooled, and they public schooled. Thank you very much. Thank you. Councilman Herrera, the same question. Funding for our public schools K through 12. What is the solution to providing adequate funding for children in every district, no matter where they live? I don't have that answer. It either has a legislature. I'm a product of the Edgard School District. I own a home in Edgard School District, I pay property taxes there, and I also own a home in the Northside School District, and I pay property taxes there too. It is significantly different. It's four times more from Edgard to Northside. Growing up, the Edgel versus Kirby case, which brought up the whole issue of public funding, it's been argued and fought for decades. But I will tell you this, I don't have the answer on how to fund it equitably, but I will tell you, I'm ready to fight because I've known about it since I was a child at Henry Gonzales Elementary School, and I am ready to do it. If you could read the question. Mr. Alonza, yes. Our funding for our public schools K through 12. What is the solution to providing adequate funding for children in every district, no matter where they live? Once again, it comes down to prioritization. We don't have our priorities right. We wanna jump on the bandwagon of saying we're helping the unfunded school districts and everything. In this particular district, we have one of the poorest school districts and one of the largest. How do we fund this and how do we get this back on track? She was absolutely correct when she made a statement that decades they have prioritized incorrectly. How do we go back and do this? That rainy day fund. It doesn't have to come back on the taxpayers once again or through the bonds. If you have a higher dropout rate than you did back then, if you have teachers that are leaving because they're not paid adequately to be taken to take care of their families, this is a rainy day. And if you're gonna invest in the community to invest in your kids with the education, then you've got to take money out of that rainy day fund and contribute it back down to the school districts. And that's how you fund it. Thank you. That's been hard as the same question. It was mentioned before that this particular issue has been completely debated for a number of years to the point that I'm sure many of you have seen that through the years when the legislature comes up with a formula, it's challenged in court and normally nine times out of 10, it's found unconstitutional. So we're back at the drawing board with the legislature trying to come to some kind of agreement to deal with public school education funding. At this point, I would agree is that we have to keep fighting. We have to keep working together and put politics aside and come together with an answer. Again, the rainy day fund has about, I believe today it was projected about $11 billion in it. So I believe we could tap into that, but what we need to do is find a continuous long revenue stream to fund public education not just a one-time solution. Thank you. And if you could remain for the next question. If concealed handguns and open carry were allowed on campus, would that make our colleges safer or less safe? And why? My personal opinion, I believe it makes it less safe. I have concerns about whether everyone would have the maturity to understand the education involved, the training involved having a gun. Tempers flare, you just never know what situation can arise. And I just think that the legislature needs to think very carefully. The votes are there, the open carry passed. And there are state representatives that are fighting to assure that there are amendments made such as training, thorough background checks, education and licensing. Mr. Alonzo, if concealed handguns and open carry were allowed on campus, would that make our colleges safer or less safe? And why? First of all, when we introduced ourselves, I said I was a firefighter. I'm also a paramedic in San Antonio for 32 years. So I've seen a lot of traumatic injuries. Some shootings, some stabbies. Do I believe that it would make campuses safer? No, I don't. 18 year olds, while we think, and I remember at the time, I was mature enough to deal with things, but I remember that I was impetuous in most of my decision making that I was not responsible enough to live by those decisions. So I believe if you keep it a little bit longer, just at 21, and that's okay, why do we need to carry a gun on campus? The atrocities that have been taken throughout the entire country were those that disobeyed the law and they did it anyway. So the people that are trying to do it, the good citizens of this community, if you get regulated by or background checks is one of those things that I think we need to take a look at from the legislature. Thank you. Councilwoman Herrera, the same question? Whether it's open carry or concealed handgun on the campuses. I actually, our Senator, Nalchel Simon, and this is a very good friend of mine, and I blocked with him in December, January, in February, onto his victory in February. One of the issues that was discussed in constituent's asses is about this very question on campuses, and the people at their doors, the people we spoke to do not support it. They do not support it, and they have various reasons why. And this is one of those issues that we must stand behind the majority of the constituency and what their opinions are. So I would not support it, because that was loud and clear throughout the district. The Senator-General district, but now the District 124 is why we are here today. Thank you. Mr. Rosa, the same question? Very quickly, I grew up in Chicago in a neighborhood where there was only one reason to carry a gun, it was to use it. So at my age at 54, and I'll say this, Nathan, sometimes I can be impetuous too, that I am not an advocate for it, although I believe as a veteran of the Air Force Academy, people have the right to. I don't particularly use guns. When you see them of that sort, it's an individual issue, but for me, you're asking me personally. I'd feel uncomfortable seeing people walking around other than those that are law enforcement, your military types, that's just me. And maybe it's from where I come from, but just being very honest, it makes me a little nervous. Thank you. Thank you, and if you could stay for the next question. Concerning reproductive rights, the previous legislature enacted some of the most extensive restrictions on abortion in the entire country. What should the Texas legislature do with reproductive rights and abortion this year? Reproductive rights as a pro-family husband, my wife and I have experienced eight pregnancies. Four ended in miscarriage, and one was a baby girl that was only three months old and died of a rare lung disease. Reproductive rights are something that I believe every human being has the right to. And the decisions that people make for me as a practicing Catholic is between them and their God. Early on in my life, I made choices, and I stand by those choices when I made them, but obviously, again, being older, I wish I hadn't. And so from that standpoint, I believe it's the person and their God to make that final decision on reproductive rights. Thank you. Councilwoman Herrera, the question is, concerning reproductive rights, the previous legislature enacted some of the most extensive restrictions on abortion in the entire country. What should the Texas legislature do with reproductive rights and abortion this year? What the legislature will do, and what they should do are two different things. I don't see it being revisited, and they are the most restrictive. I, for one, as a young Hispanic female, support our ability to choose. But more important than just reproductive rights, I shared this with other individuals, of what happened in the last legislature, I live in Edgewood, and the Las Palmas Plan Paragra Clinic was closed. For years before that, we helped the ladies in the community break the cultural fears of getting their pap smears, and it's just women's health, they don't have insurance, they've never done it. And as a result of the law that passed, now these ladies are back to where they were, and their lives once again are maybe at recipes. We did catch some cancers through those processes. So it's not just the abortion and reproductive rights, but also what happens as a consequence of these restrictive measures. Thank you. Mr. Alonso, the same question. One more time. Yes, concerning reproductive rights, the previous legislature enacted some of the most extensive restrictions on abortion in the entire country. What should the Texas legislature do with reproductive rights and abortion this year? Plain and simple, I'm a father and a grandfather, and as a firefighter and paramedic, I fought for people's lives. We put ourselves in danger and went into dangerous environments and tried to take somebody out of the jaws of death. I do not believe that I could tell somebody or counsel them on what they should do. It's going to be between them and their conscience and sometimes their God. I don't believe that abortion should be an issue used as birth control, but I do believe you have a right to your body for what you want to do. And so the Texas legislature removed some stuff, they made it restricting, and so therefore it eliminated areas for women to be able to go take care of certain issues. And because of that, it put the danger of the female and the fetus in danger if that was the issue. And so therefore I think that they need to take a strong look at the legislature coming up. They're not gonna address it again, but you're absolutely right. Thank you. Ms. Mincarra, it's the same question. That particular issue in this legislature is not gonna change. I believe in a woman's right to choose. I believe strongly that that's between her and her God. The restrictions that were enforced have prevented women from getting the necessary healthcare that they need, low income women. When I was in law school and pinching pennies, I used to go to Planned Parenthood to get healthcare. And I think about the women that maybe possibly facing cancer and other things that are, those issues are not gonna get addressed because of these restrictions. And I think it's done a disservice to them. Thank you. If you could remain for the next question. Oh, we're getting caught. Sorry. What is the role of the Texas legislature when it comes to border security? And should the Texas National Guard be permanently deployed along the border? I'm a native of Pasoan. My house is literally just a couple of feet from the Rio Grande. And I have this big border wallet I see when I visit my parents. So I understand the border security issues, however, I think they have approved $4 billion for border security. And I think that's excessive. I think that could go into other important priorities. As far as the National Guard being there constantly, I don't agree with that. We have the immigration and customs that can handle those border issues. And I think the fear that has been generated by falsehoods like Rick Perry saying that ISIS was coming through Mexico has just fed into that. So I believe that it's excessive. We're good with immigration and customs as is. Thank you. Mr. Alonso, a question is, what is the role of the Texas legislature when it comes to border security? And should the Texas National Guard be permanently deployed along the border? I disagree with my opponent. The border is not secure. There are some broken issues down there. Does the state of Texas need to have a permanent position down there? We already do with the Board of Patrol. But allow the Board of Patrol to do what they need to do. They are already being, a bill that's coming up, $4 million to go ahead and increase their ability to hire more DPS troopers. There's some other simple solutions that we also can have down there. If the security of that is one of the issues of using federal dollars and federal assets to go ahead and patrol a portion of that. This is a long, it's not just Texas border, it's all the way to California. And so therefore there's some issues that I think do we need to be involved? Absolutely. Is ISIS coming? No, but I think that there's a lot of terrorist activities that could possibly get through there. And as being a firefighter for 32 years, I've seen a number of areas where we lack in public safety. Thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman Herrera, the same question. The first part of the question I believe was, or at least the second part, should the guard be at the border? No, that's a federal responsibility. I think we could partner and leverage our resources but having dedicated security on the border per our Texas budget, I think it's a bad move. Why? Because that $4 million allocated for that. We've talked about one of the biggest issues, education, $4 billion over two years. That would go a long way in addressing some of our educational needs, whether it's our public school system or college system because I do know my property taxes when we pay in the Alamo College District. That's one of the smallest amounts that we pay from our taxes into the system. So let's look at, we are doing a very little part but $4 billion should be going into some of our priorities, especially our education. Once again, Texas is always at the bottom of when we compare to other states. Let's make that change and make that difference. Thank you. Mr. Rosa, the same question. You know, I would like the opportunity, who lives in 124 here? Does anybody? Okay, what do you think about border security? Because we're up here, it's down there. And although we know we want our state to be safe, it's one of those types of issues where, as Delicia said, would you like to see $4 billion go down there for that particular cause? You know, it's hard for me because we're up here and we're all one state. It's difficult. Do you know what I think? Yes, please. Is that it? Okay. The final sentence. No, no, I see it's something like that. I would love to talk more about because I simply couldn't just say as a legislator for 124 how we should allocate those funds but you want to take into consideration people's feelings. So thank you. Thank you very much. If you could remain for the next question. Thank you for God. God. Despite the large number of Texans who enrolled in insurance under the Affordable Care Act, there remain more than a million uninsured Texans. What is the Texas solution to affordable health care and does it include expanding Medicaid? We just went over that. I'm an independent insurance agent. If you didn't know that, that's how I make my living. I want everybody to buy health insurance and you know what? I want them to buy it from me. So the greatest thing now is that there's no underwriting meaning before if you had an existing situation you could not qualify for an individual plan. You could go on a group plan and of course it raised your premiums. I was looking at some numbers again that I studied. The CBO is projecting 1.5 million additional people here in Texas that's gonna raise the rate of 256 to 500 sudden billion over the next 10 years. That's a sizable increase to cover people but again it's something that we need to look at. So thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman Herrera. Despite the large number of Texans who enrolled in insurance under the Affordable Care Act, there remain more than a million uninsured Texans. What is the Texas solution to affordable health care and does it include expanding Medicaid? Yes it does include expanding Medicaid. That's another one of those very complicated questions and issues that I learned with my friends that they work in the health advocacy field. The $1 million number of people uninsured is actually a conservative number of what I've learned. And part of that expansion is part of the reasons why we have so many is because we have that categorical meaning a single person can only be covered. It's really, really complicated as I learned. But breaking down when the Supreme Court changed that, breaking down the requirements and regulations, educating our small business community that there are opportunities to be able to have that once we change those processes. That's very important. Peace health care of course lends to very healthy Texas. Thank you. Mr. Alonzo the same question. As taxpayers we take care of in homeless people. We take care of people that have no ID that are drug addicts or alcoholics and they have to take them to the hospital to the emergency room. Where the cost of emergency room is four times higher than going to see a doctor. When people need to see a doctor as the elderly do they develop lung pulmonary issues and they have to go to the hospital because they develop pneumonia and everything. We're paying for those anyway. Let's start taking a look at establishing clinics and medics, medical places for people even in the West Texas areas. So they can get good medical help as well. Thank you. Ms. Minharra is the same question. I do believe in expanding Medicare and Medicaid. We do have a problem where one of the states with the largest uninsured people for healthcare and we need to address it. I'm not saying there's one simple answer but we do need to address it and hopefully come to some kind of a solution. And one of them is how do we, in terms of business owners, how do we find a solution where business owners are burdened with providing health insurance to their employees. So it's one thing that we definitely need to address and we need to take care of our fellow Texans that can't afford health insurance. Thank you. And if you could remain for the next questions. Again. With gas prices falling, does the gasoline tax provide adequate funding for our state's transportation needs? If not, where would you look for additional funding? I think it is one of the components we need to help fund transportation. However, we need to look at other resources. Every year, I believe it's 10 billion that's assessed for transportation but as the population grows, the legislation feels that we need an additional five billion every year because population's growing. So I think we need to look at other means to fund transportation. We all voted on Proposition One in November. I don't know if any of you voted or recall that and that's trying to get some of that money from that rainy day fund to fund transportation needs but gasoline tax, we definitely need that. Thank you. Mr. Alonso, with gas prices falling, does the gasoline tax provide adequate funding for our state's transportation needs? If not, where would you look for additional funding? Fluctuates, the gasoline tax fluctuates but I do believe that a gasoline tax that is placed on the companies that utilize the roads and highways much more that are damaging it should be taxed more than the regular taxpayer to fix these roads. And as I said prior to this question, transportation needs to be looked at as opposed to just highway systems and the cars that the sales tax, I don't believe in putting that back on the taxpayer that it should be coming from other areas. The rainy day fund is one of those that we need to take a look at. I'm gonna consistently stay with that because there is a surplus and there are issues with the state of Texas that has to do with so many different infrastructure problems that we are having which creates other social problems as well. Thank you. Councilwoman Herrera, the same question. Simply, the gas tax does not cover the needs. There's always a greater need than there are resources and something I learned on city council. It's also very complicated. It's looking for, it's more than just complicated, it's looking for that sustainability of funding, that revenue stream. When we look at funding projects, there's the short term, there's these consistent, there's these one-time funding mechanisms. That's very important to look at. What are the other revenue streams that are available that don't fluctuate as much that we can help move over some money for our transportation? Because of course, that's vital for our growth and sustainable growth. Some of the things we did on council was those that used some of those industries that used certain things more. There was in the fee added on top of that to help cover, for instance, the wear and tear of the streets. So looking at projects like that, opportunities like that to help subsidize the transportation budget is very important. That's gonna be funded from various funding resources and we must look at that. Maybe there are things that have never looked at before. Thank you. Mr. Rosa, same question. When I worked for AT&T and headquarters back in the late 80s, I worked on billion-dollar budgets and I was able to nail the cost of a screw on a frame. So you know how you make your phone calls? I could tell you the depreciation cost of a screw on a frame back then. When it comes to the gas tax, one of the things that hit me in our other candidate forms was how does it impact the actual resident of 124? They're the ones who do the commuting. Again, how many live in 124? You either use your own personal car or you use public transportation. When you talk about the gas tax and where do revenues be, you know, where are they derived? My concern would be how is it gonna impact the actual resident? And again, I would have to do some additional studies and polling to determine that. But I'm never one for just saying there isn't one way to do it, as my colleagues have said, or colleagues are the kids. We can look at different sources for funding. Thank you. Thank you. If you could stay for the next question. I guarantee if we go one more round, I'm gonna stay. Yeah. You are running as a Democrat. Have you always been a Democrat? Do you plan to vote in lockstep with your Democratic colleagues? Or on which issues would you plan to vote independently? I grew up a Democrat. In Chicago, when I was seven, I was a precinct captain assistant to my aunt who worked for Mayor Daley. When I was a sophomore in high school and a public high school, Mayor Richard J. Daley used to bring students in from the public high schools and teach us the different city departments that you can endeavor for a career. I was an alcoholic counselor trainee for the Department of Human Services at 16. There were things I'd never seen in my life. After I left New York, came here and went back to Chicago. I worked for Richard M. Daley and community policing. So the Democratic Party is all inclusive. Some of the different platforms, paradigms that I've developed over my years as a professional business person, corporate person, were different. Today, I'm a Democrat, depending on the issues that are going to be affecting the residents, that's how I would vote. Thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman Herrera, you are running as a Democrat. Have you always been a Democrat? Do you plan to vote in lockstep with your Democratic colleagues or on which issues would you plan to vote independently? The best training that I think anybody can have after pursuing any office in a bipartisan type of a seat is city council. The city council is a non-partisan seat. You run on issues, you work on issues, you work with the colleagues in your community on issues that is so important. I think that's been part of the success of some of the other legislators in the past because it wasn't a lock, stock and barrel, it wasn't about creating your solid six or whatever that magic number is in order to pass something. It was looking at the issues, how important that is to make things work. I think that's where there's, I know that's where there's a lot of gridlock. To be able to work on and stay focused on issues is so very important. And while off that we're not gonna be able to move that. We look at issues that sometimes we agree, sometimes we don't agree, just like on city council, but guess what, we did great things and I know we did some great things here in district six. And just look around, step around, you'll see some of the great accomplishments because of that. Thank you. Mr. Alonso, the same question. Yes, I'm a Democrat. I've 32 years as a San Antonio firefighter. I've been a union member for 32 years. I've held office in the union and the AFL-CIO. I'm a union guy, but I'm a working class guy. And I'm a working class guy that worked as a legislative director for 10 years. And doing that I put in Republicans, endorsed Republicans as well as Democrats. And it wasn't about party affiliation, it was about making relationships, working relationships that you could come together and come to a solution. And I did that on a federal, state, and local level every time. So what this position is all about is taking that relationships and getting things accomplished. And I believe that out of all of the four of us, I have that kind of experience. And that's what I believe is a good idea. Thanks. Thank you. Ms. Minharas, the same question. I was raised a Democrat. My parents were always very politically active. They were members of the union back in El Paso and they marched with Cesar Chavez back in the day. So I was raised with Democratic principles. Does that mean I'm gonna necessarily always vote democratically in the legislature? Not necessarily, as it's called state representative or representing the citizens and their needs and their concerns. And that's what I intend to do, talking with them and getting their input. I represent them, I don't represent me. And I will vote according to what's best for the district. Thank you. Final question for Ms. Minharas. She tells me who I knew it. Okay, so I won't do that again. Because this is our final question. But if worse comes to worse and there's a runoff but you don't make the runoff, which other candidate would you be most likely to endorse and why? You know, when this campaign started, we've only been given 30 days to campaign. I've known Mr. Alonso for several years. I've known Ms. Delicia for several years. I consider them both friends. And I got the pleasure of getting to know Mr. Rosa. You know, it's gonna be difficult because I think we've all been respectful with one another. And I thank them for that. This has been a very clean campaign. You know, I can't answer that right now. But what I can say is the district is very lucky to have the candidates before. Thank you. So Mr. Alonso, the same question. If worse comes to worse and there's a runoff but you don't make the runoff, which other candidate would you be most likely to endorse and why? Can I plead the fifth on that one? Yeah. Yeah, it's so funny. As the legislative director, as Inam pointed out, I've endorsed or supported everybody here or at least met politically other candidates, Republican and Democrat. What I do is I take a look at what they stand for and their ability to get something done at this level. Because I've had the experience at this level of lobbying in Austin as well, that's what's important of things, of not the education of the grasp, but how are you gonna be able to move our issues from this district and from this community in San Antonio to that next level? Who would I endorse? I think that's something we're gonna have to take a look at. After this is all over and the best of luck to each and every one of y'all. It's been a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman Herrera, the same question. Thank you. That question was asked at a luncheon of the mayoral candidates the other day and it granted a very good check across the room. I'd be honored to stand by any one of these because they are good people. I've known as several of us have stated. Mr. Dalsai Med, when I was first elected, he was my constituent, has been living in the district for a long time. Nathan, we rode along around 13s with each 12-hour shift with him. You have, 10 years ago, I believe we worked on the CBA issues and other things. In Ina, we became friends several years ago too. So it'd be an honor to really stand by any of these and have a solid representation for a district. But some of the day my tongue gets twisted because I'm campaigning a lot. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, I was just saying. Well, I believe in the political process and I believe in the right to vote and it's an honor. I ran because it was an open seat. As I've gotten to know everybody, I say I did owe. I say the same thing. I'm so proud of everybody and what they stand for that whoever it is ultimately to represent the district, I'll do everything just as I did when I was just a volunteer and a regular citizen. So it's really an honor to be with these people and we've been complimented three or four times now. We're moderators and people in the crowd have said you are the most civil, polite, and professional kid in it. Maybe it's because it's so short, you know what I mean? But I do, I enjoy the time that I've had with them and got to meet them, so thank you very much. And we now move to our final statement. Three minutes and Mr. Rosa, you'll be first. Well, I'm gonna, you heard who I am. I'm 54, I've known my wife for 47 years. We'll be married 29 in October. We have three children, two in college. Education is something that has allowed me to be here at this moment with you. I grew up in Chicago, I had the blessing and the good fortune of working in New York on Wall Street and that was one of my dreams from the neighborhood that I came from. So to be in San Antonio running for a state office to represent a constituency, it's an honor and I can't tell you how much that I'm pleased to be able to do this in this great country and this great state. And so for that, I'll just keep it short. If you feel that this older guy, because I'm the oldest, is somebody that represents, you know, your values and your thoughts and I'd be honored to ask for your vote. But trust me, either one of these people, they're very dedicated and loving as well. So thank you for the time, I really do appreciate it. Take care. I have represented about 90% of the district already through my term on city council. I look around, I drive around, I'm glad that I have the privilege and the honor to do so. But more importantly, these are some of the things that we did while we were on council and we'll continue to do so. We would have monthly town hall meetings where over 100 people would attend and Nathan would attend some of them so he can attest to the number of people that would go. Why would that happen? Because we had that relationship with our constituents. We responded to their needs. We responded to their wants. We had celebrations honoring the accomplishments of the neighborhoods. We're feeding wipeout days, we always want number one because we have the most volunteers. Before I sat on council, I shared with these individuals earlier in another forum that I started advocating a long time ago when I was a child in the school district, Edger versus Kirby and those issues that arose back then. My family called me Abogado Sinicentia, unlicensed attorney because I was always the one willing to take the fight as a teen. In college, I went to St. Mary's. The made us hold homes in a Westside community. The homes with no back doors and no back windows. That fight started in 1999. Really rose prominence in 2001 in the media. I was elected in 2005 to city council. When I finished my term, I stayed connected with a community to this day. I spend time with their friends, their family, barbecues, baptisms, unfortunately, many funerals, many of my supporters. I've never gotten these so calming. So people coming to my door asked me to help them and I've never said no. So that's why I want to represent you. That's why I want to continue that representation that we started as a child. When I met Congressman Henry Gonzalez, Ed Henry Gonzalez Elementary School. It was about seven years old when they asked me to present something to him. And I didn't know exactly what a congressman did but I knew I wanted to do what he does, serve the people. And I've done so ever since I was a kid. Fighting, even though it was a question to ask, call the city, call whoever needed or the school fighting for the kid that was bullied at school. I didn't realize I did that until I met up with a teacher and a principal that told me you were always fighting for somebody. We're very proud of you, Delicia. That's why I want to serve. Because you come first, I'm single, I'm not married. And as I mentioned earlier, I don't have a sugar daddy or sugar mama. I don't have a boyfriend but I have this community that I represent and they are my family. I've never lost that connection. I will do so, whether it's Microsoft, whether it's the NSA project, whether it's the $49 million bomb dollars in 2007 that we allocated in District 6. The list goes on and on. One of a kind, a fee in lieu of projects where we remove 200 homes on the flood plain and not condemnation. A lot of one of the first of its kind projects that we did, that's what I bring to you. And that's why I will continue to serve you. Always put you serve. You will always be my family. And I thank you, ask for your support. And we will continue to be here. My pushcards in the back have my phone number. It's my direct cell number. My constituencies always have it, had it, and I will never change that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For 32 years I've been a public servant. And I've helped people throughout the community, not just on a fire truck, not just on an ambulance. I worked budget-wise to make sure that you and your family had adequate coverage, safety coverage, had an ambulance that could get there in time that if we brought you back with a heartbeat or from a stroke that you didn't have so many deficits that your quality of life was not good. I don't have the higher education that my opponents have. I'm a public school graduate. I went to Thomas Jefferson High School. But I'm also a paramedic. And I'm also an engineer in the San Antonio Fire Department where I deal with hydraulics and pumps and understand the theory there. As a paramedic, I can run a code like a doctor does in an ER. And what I've been trained to do is almost exactly what an ER doctor does. There's nothing greater being a public servant than helping someone. We've all done it. And that feeling we have to see that, it feels good. And to do it as an occupation, you don't get it enough. But I'll tell you what, there's nothing better than bringing a child into the world. There's nothing better than bringing the heartbeat of a loved one. And that loved one comes back and says, thank you for what you did. It's just about commitment to humanity. And what we do is try to make the lives of everyone better. I've given my youth, I've given my body, my heart and my soul. I'm gonna take images away with me from this job. I'm gonna remember those things. I'm gonna remember those faces. And so we have to take care of those that have protected us, those veterans that are coming back. We need to make sure that the medical healthcare that they were promised that if you go out and you're killed or you're maimed, we will take care of you and we will take care of your family. That means when you have issues in mental healthcare that you're lacking, that you're not able to get that, we don't want you to be that drug addict on the corner with the sign. I need help. I'm a vet. We wanna make sure that we provide adequate funding to make sure that they can go get that mental help. Because they are part of society. They are brothers and sisters and moms and dads and cousins and uncles and aunts. And so because of that, that is the one reason why I wanna continue this public service. And I wanna thank y'all very much for all of this. Y'all been great. And if there's any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer. And then on the lighter note, good luck. I like that sweater. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I decided to become a lawyer at a very young age because the minute that I could talk, I would argue with everyone about everything. I always had a big mouth. And my parents didn't, we're not fortunate enough to get an education. My mom went to school up to the eighth grade. My dad fortunately graduated high school, but they never got the opportunity to go to college. And really, I wonder where they would have been, had they been given that opportunity. They dedicated their lives to make sure that my sister and I got to college and became educated. I spent the last 15 years of my life representing people from all backgrounds, all socioeconomic backgrounds. I represented children who are victims of sexual assaults here in Burr County. I've represented people who have been victims of domestic violence. I've practiced law, employment law, injured workers. I've done all kinds of different cases. So what I love is the law and I love learning it. I love reading it. I love researching it. And I've always believed in being the voice for people that can't speak or are afraid to speak. I've enjoyed representing my client's interests and fighting for them every day in court. I've enjoyed fighting for businesses, whether it's negotiating against the city of San Antonio. And I wanna continue representing my district. I care about the district. I care about the families. I care about their needs. And they need a voice in Austin. And I would be my pleasure and my honor to represent District 124. What I wanna close with is thank you all for being here. Voter turnout has been so low within the last couple of years. And I don't know how to energize young people to care and to go vote. Please do so. Get your family and friends to go vote. People have died trying to get the right to vote and they sacrificed a lot. So please remember that. And thank you for having us. Thank you. So now it remains to the voters of District 124 to make a decision. So I ask if you live in 124, go vote today, tomorrow, Friday between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Because really it's going to be a small number of people who are going to make the final decision in this race. But I also think that we can agree that no matter what happens in this election, District 124 will be very well represented. And so if we could have a round of applause for all of our fine candidates. And we're done.