También pueden sintonizar la transmisión de las Juntas del Concilio completamente in Spaniel usando el sistema SAP através de los canales que ve in pantalla.

Good morning.

The time is now 9 14 AM on May 7th, 2026, and the meeting of the San Antonio City Council is now called to order.

Madam Clerk, please call roll.

Councilmember Corps.

Councilmember Mickey Rodriguez.

Present.

Councilmember Via Gran.

Here.

Councilmember Mungia.

Council Member Castillo.

Here.

Councilmember Galván.

Here.

Councilmember Alderete Gabito.

Here.

Councilmember Mesa Gonzalez.

Council Member Spears.

Councilmember White.

Mayor Jones.

Here, Mayor, we have quorum.

Thank you.

Councilmember Spears is recognized to introduce today's invocator.

Thank you all for being here today.

It is the National Day of Prayer, in case you didn't know.

And I asked my pastor to come here just um.

Because of the special significance of this day, I want to introduce you to Pastor Rick Godwin.

He is the pastor of Summit Church out in District 9.

And he is the founder and senior pastor of Summit here in San Antonio.

It's a multicultural congregation and it brings people together of all walks of life with a shared commitment to faith, service, and community.

He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina, an author and a sought-after speaker who leads both business and ministry audiences with the message ground in practical application and real world leadership.

And I like what I love about Pastor Rick is he's able to speak to young new Christians or those who are seeking their faith, but also to a mature Christian, all in one sermon.

And that's what I think is so significant and special about him.

His work consistently challenges people to raise their standards, pursue purpose, and serve others in a way that creates meaningful impact in their communities.

He exhibits this deep commitment by leading his congregation and the community well in its summer reboot program.

And this is a 12-week faith-based peer-led course that helps veterans, active duty military, and their families heal from service-related trauma.

I'm personally grateful for the steady wisdom and encouragement from his family, and he has provided to me over this over my time here on Council and prior to that, and when I was running for office, and it has meant more to me than you know.

Thank you for being here with us today, Pastor Rick, and for the example you set in leading through service.

And if you don't have a church and you're looking for one, I want to personally invite you to start coming to summit.

So please join us as Pastor Rick leads our invocation.

Good morning.

Heavenly Father, we gather humbly before you this morning, grateful for the opportunity to serve the people of San Antonio.

We thank you for the blessing of this city, its history, its diversity, and everyday courage of those who work to build a brighter future for all who call this city home.

We ask for your guiding wisdom as we begin this council session.

Grant us clarity of mind to listen with patience, discernment to pursue what is just and compassionate, and courage to act with integrity, even when decisions are difficult.

Help us to see the common good, to protect the vulnerable, and to honor the dignity of every person who enters this chamber.

We lift up our leaders today, the mayor, all council members, along with city staff, and the many volunteers whose effort make our community stronger.

Instill in us, we pray a spirit of humility, service, and cooperation, that our work may reflect your love in practical ways through just policies, responsible stewardship, and respectful dialogue.

We pray for our neighborhoods that peace would prevail, schools would thrive, and families would find safety, opportunity, and hope.

May our decisions recognize the beauty of diversity and the value of every culture, faith, and background represented in this great city of San Antonio.

On this National Day of Prayer, we acknowledge our dependence on you, Lord.

We ask for your mercy and your grace to guide our nation towards unity, justice, and healing.

Inspire leaders at every level to govern with integrity, to pursue truth, to defend the vulnerable, and to protect the freedoms we cherish.

Bless this council today, the citizens we serve, and the path ahead.

May your wisdom illuminate our steps, your peace guard our hearts, and your love bind us together in service to others.

We ask humbly in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Thank you, Pastor.

Please join me in the pledge of allegiance.

One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice.

Okay.

We have a couple of ceremonials.

Um I will read a proclamation in honor of Municipal Clerks Week, and then recognize our very own clerk to speak.

Whereas the City of San Antonio recognizes Municipal Clerks Week from May 3rd through May 9th, 2026 to recognize the vital role and services of the Office of the City Clerk, and whereas the Office of the City Clerk is one of the oldest public service positions, reflecting a long-standing tradition of record keeping, transparency, and governance.

And whereas municipal clerks provide a multitude of critical services, including conducting elections, preserving official records, ensuring compliance with local, state, and federal laws, providing vital birth and death certificates to Bear County residents, supporting the legislative functions of the city council and city departments, and serving as a passport acceptance facility.

And whereas municipal clerks demonstrate exceptional dedication, professionalism, and integrity, acting as the impartial link between residents, governing bodies, and agencies at all levels.

And it is fitting that the City of San Antonio honor the 41 members of the Office of the City Clerk for their continued service and commitment to our community.

Now, therefore, I, Gina Ortiz Jones, Mayor of the City of San Antonio, in recognition thereof, do hereby proclaim May 3rd through 9th, 2026 to be municipal clerks week in San Antonio, Texas, and encourage all citizens to recognize and celebrate the invaluable contributions of municipal clerks.

Madam Clerk, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor and Council for recognizing Municipal Clerks Week.

Municipal clerks are here to keep transparency, accessibility of our records, and to make sure that that the thing that the council meetings and our history is kept.

So thank you so much for recognizing Municipal Clerks Week.

Thank you, Mayor and Council, for everything that you do so to support our office.

But I mostly want to thank my staff, my team, beginning with the deputy city clerk, Aurora Perkins, but every division matters.

Every person is important in our team, and everybody has a very core responsibility to this city.

Our legislative team is here with us as well as our elections and ethics team.

But those that couldn't be here this morning are working, serving every day, our public, our passports team, our vital records team who see three to five hundred people a day in our municipal records center, and then our municipal archives and records uh staff.

And I do want to thank Mayor and Council for being so supportive and city manager, being supportive of us opening the very first municipal archives museum to showcase our city's history.

So thank you so much, and I appreciate all the work that everybody does and my staff.

Thank you.

Hold on, Debbie.

Hold on, Debbie and team.

I think the council uh would like to say a few words.

Councilman Corps.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I want to thank you all so much for what you do and also give a really amazing plug to the work that they do, and that's happening right now over at the municipal archives.

Debbie gave me a tour of the museum over there, and it is so incredibly cool.

You can see artifacts from all of the sister city gifts that we've received.

You can see lists of our alcaldes over time, uh clerks over time.

A lot of history is there, and so and it's free to the public, you just have to make an appointment.

So I want to thank you for not only doing an amazing job at the work that you do, but also advocating to share our uh our city's history.

So thank you for your leadership, Debbie.

Councilman Viegeran.

Yes, I want to thank you for the work y'all continue to do, and in terms of what y'all are doing, in terms of the vital records and making sure that our residents have what they need to kind of just live their lives, close everything from their traveling to birth certificates to um when when they lose people, uh, and they have to say goodbye.

So it's just such important work, and I really appreciate how all the efforts that you do.

And I think it's one of the departments that we don't always realize just how much they do and just how much face-to-face you have with the actual residents of San Antonio.

So keep up the good work.

I'm glad we get to celebrate you, uh, and just we just continue to move forward.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember Mughia.

I just want to reiterate everything that's been said.

Y'all do fantastic work.

Um, and you do so much that we don't realize, right?

Like elections, passports, vital records, uh boards and commission appointments, which I know is a really large task.

And having gone to across the street as a staffer to submit CCRs, I'm sure uh you all process those for us and document that, which has been a very busy season of those.

Uh, so thank you for keeping the minutes, the records uh of our city.

So thank you all very much for your work.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Councilmember Castillo.

Thank you.

And uh just wanted to thank Debbie Aura and the entire team for the work that you all do.

Um, again, you all are guardians of history and vital records and a key pillar to the city of San Antonio when we talk about your role with elections, voter engagement, working with nonprofits to mobilize folks to participate in elections, as folks have mentioned with vital records from getting passports to birth certificates.

These are really important things uh that no city of San Antonio resident uh can get a job without, uh can travel without, and as a historian of urban policy who filed a number of open records requests in the early 2000s, uh I'm grateful for the work uh and of course uh the grants that you all have gone after for the municipal archives museum.

Again, it'll serve as a hub of not only history but of research.

So just grateful for the number of um hats that you all wear.

Uh it's a huge responsibility, and just I want to thank each and every one of you all for y'all's work and leadership.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Galvan.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Debbie and team, for all the work you do every single day, and not only here for the dais, but also every day in the back end, too, to make sure that our city stays running, is well maintained with the records and that our history continues to live uh every single day.

I just have a couple quick things I wanted to mention.

You know, I think the Council of View Grand's point we're talking about folks who are just trying to live their daily lives, go through some of the biggest events in their lives.

Often that relates to a lot of the records that they need as well.

Uh, when someone in my family passed away earlier this year, uh it was interestingly, of course, it's a very difficult process to go through any kind of death and everything of the sort.

Uh, but in particular, right?

It's also the handling records, repairing your funerals, et cetera, being able to get to your birth certificate or the person's birth certificate and death certificate quickly is makes it all that much easier to try to actually go through that and actually be able to grieve beyond going through the whole systems and hoops and everything of the sort.

And I'm very grateful to have the digitized records to be able to kind of point to folks to that and say you can go very quickly to it, figure it out.

I also get an employment very quickly too.

And so I just want to say thank you for making it as accessible as possible too.

Um then one last thing, of course, I think to Council of Castillo's point, of course, uh history is important to both of us as we're both trained uh in history.

And I think I I always wish the digital archive was available while I was in school.

Uh, because even now, uh, while we're here in the council, earlier our first conversation around our policymaking and the CCRs, I was able to look directly into the history of it because of the digitization y'all did with our uh beautiful records, our CCRs, the origins of our city council consideration requests and policy uh tools.

And so I just want to say thank you for being able to for to doing that for all of us uh and for all our folks here.

And I'm hopeful that in the future, uh, after council, I'm able to go into the archives myself and just have a good time there.

Uh and dig in.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Uh Councilman, uh Councilman Aldra de Gavito.

Thank you.

Uh thank you all so much for the work that you all do.

I feel like I got uh an early peek at the impact of city clerks.

Obviously, Norma Rodriguez, who was our our city clerk for many years, um, is my godmother.

And and you think about it, I mean the chambers that we sit in are named after her.

And you know, we don't name buildings after just anybody, you know, that she c she carried such great impact, and you all and Debbie and Aurora and the entire team are uh carrying on that work and making things so much better.

I know that several of my colleagues talked about the crucial role that y'all play for so many of our residents with vital records, with elections, with all that kind of stuff.

Those are really impactful moments for so many of our residents.

So I just wanted to thank you, and and I'm I um I'm excited that we get to celebrate you all and y'all's uh impact this week.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilwoman um uh Mesa Gonzalez.

Thank you so much.

Thank you to uh we see Debbie and Aurora here every single day, but we know this takes a team, so thank you for everything you do um every day, all day for us, and uh from even reminding us when to vote.

So thank you so much for all your work.

Councilmember Spears.

I just also want to say thank you.

Um, you're our history keeper, and you preserve the present.

So thank you for all the the behind the scenes work.

It's very important work, and people don't know how much it is.

And um, so we thank you for all that you're doing for us, the way you keep us all on track with things and and kind of guide us through.

So we appreciate everything that you do.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Roy.

Yeah, I also offer my thanks, and I got the same tour that Councilwoman Corps got over there.

And Debbie, it's amazing what you've done.

And uh I always say what I love the most is how much you enjoy um your job.

Uh you do it with with so much passion and energy every day.

So thanks to you and your team, and uh let's keep it up.

Thank you, Debbie, for all of your hard work, the entire team truly keeps us uh keeps the office moving.

Thank you.

I will now read a proclamation in honor of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

And then I know we have a few members from the community that would uh be will be recognized to speak from the Asian American Alliance of San Antonio.

No, I'm not balancing enough.

Clearly not balancing enough.

Okay.

Whereas the City of San Antonio, together with the Asian American Alliance of San Antonio, the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, San Antonio Lodge chapter, and the Asian resource center of San Antonio proudly recognizes the month of May 2026 as Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, honoring the invaluable contributions of AA and HPI communities to the city's cultural, economic, and social fabric.

And whereas Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders foster understanding, equity, and inclusion, and enrich San Antonio through their labor, leadership, innovation, and service across a variety of industries, including business, education, health care, public service, and the arts.

And whereas the rich traditions, languages, and histories of AA and HPI communities strengthen San Antonio's multicultural identity and connect generations through shared cultural heritage.

And whereas the 2026 theme of commitment celebrates the enduring dedication of A and HPI communities to family, service, advocacy, and the common good to build strong and vibrant communities.

And whereas the annual Asian Festival, to be held on May 9th at Hemisphere Civic Park, is a vibrant display of cultural exchange that offers families opportunities to experience diverse food, music, arts, and traditions through educational programming.

And whereas Proceeds from the Asian Festival will support the development of the Asian Resource Center of San Antonio, a first of its kind facility dedicated to cultural programming, education, and community engagement to strengthen connections throughout San Antonio and Bear County.

Now, therefore, I, Gina Ortiz Jones, mayor of the City of San Antonio, proud Asian American.

In recognition thereof, do hereby proclaim May 2026 to be Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in San Antonio, Texas.

Nicolette, you're recognized.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Council.

Thank y'all for letting us be here.

As you can see, I've got amazing leaders that are standing behind us.

But on behalf of the Asian American Alliance of San Antonio, the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, San Antonio Lodge, and the Asian Resource Center of San Antonio, happy Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, y'all.

We in San Antonio are always in for a treat when our AA and HPI community comes together for the official API Heritage Month proclamation.

And that's a true testament of the people, businesses, uh healthcare workers, government workers, students, veterans, realtors, and even advocates like myself.

The folks who stand with me today are the leaders who help shape San Antonio to be the great city that we are today.

My name is Nicolette Ardiente, and I have the proud honor of serving as the secretary for the Asian American Alliance of San Antonio, the umbrella organization that unites our AA and HPI community together to civic action, and the vice chair for the Philippine-American Chamber of Commerce, Greater of San Antonio.

But these are just fragments of the even larger Asian Pacific Islander diaspora that I get to represent.

And what I mean by this is that this proclamation is more than a yearly activation at City Hall.

It's the culmination of hard work that this community does to make ourselves known to you, the City Council of San Antonio, and to our city as members of the community who deserve dignity, respect, and leadership.

This is evident in our upcoming groundbreaking, as you mentioned, mayor, of the new Asian Resource Center of San Antonio, happening on June 5th.

And we were so even excited to see all of y'all at our gala this past weekend.

You see, this place and the space alongside the Silk Road Cultural Heritage District are becoming placemakers to share the legacy of Asian American Pacific Islander contributions to San Antonio.

So with that, we're excited to invite y'all to the 2026 Asian festival happening this weekend to commemorate the and celebrate our community the best way we know how.

Food, fun, and culture.

But also friend race to make the Asian Resource Center of San Antonio the community hub we need it to be.

So thank you in advance for joining us this weekend, May 9th at Civic Park from 4 to 10 PM.

It's a night market, y'all.

This is gonna be so much fun.

Lastly, we want to celebrate all month long, as you know, with our amazing SATX API restaurant month digital passport, featuring 24 amazing AA and HPI owned restaurants here in San Antonio to enjoy 10% off at any of their participating restaurant or food trucks, spearheaded by the amazing Camille de los Reyes of the Sarisari Empire.

You see, when you enjoy uh these amazing restaurants and businesses, small businesses all throughout the city, you're not doing it just once or twice, you're really celebrating our entire community.

So, from the entire Asian American Pacific Islander community of San Antonio here with us this morning and throughout the city, happy APAM.

Woo!

Okay.

Councilwoman Core.

Thank you, Mayor.

Nicolette, you literally make all of us smile.

Your passion, your passion exudes from your skin, and we all love it so much.

Thank you for being such a big advocate for the community.

I can't wait to celebrate this Saturday with you guys.

I will be there at 4 p.m.

sharp.

And so thank you for your advocacy and thank you for what you're doing for ARCSA.

I can't wait to see that space go up and be an amazing resource hub for all of our community members.

Thank you all.

Thanks, Mayor.

Councilwoman Viegadon.

Thank you.

I love celebrating this every year.

And I'm like, this is amazing about how we continue to talk about San Antonio and that this community has been here for generations.

And now we get to come to City Hall and celebrate this.

So I'm super excited about this.

The one thing I love about ARCSA is that my residents probably as they came out of the pandemic were like, where can I go?

I need help.

Where's my community?

And I'm like, well, they're they're in District 8.

But now there's actually a place, and you guys can get connected.

Because it was really, it was really hard then, and that's what I'm looking forward to because the community is all over San Antonio, and they want to make those connections.

And with this, we're making those connections, and we're building the city.

So thank you so much and yay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Mungia.

Thank you.

You know, Nicola, you really brought the yay into the chamber today.

So you know, and I want to say thank you to you.

We've known each other for several years now, and I just think the way you shine your community and uplift everybody and also advocate for voting across Texas and political representation is very, very important.

So while we have lots of room and opportunities to celebrate, we realize that there's a long way to go.

We need to make sure that the political system works for us.

Um, not just here, but across the country.

Uh you know, so many of our countries uh in our area and the Asian area are suffering right now and dealing with some really hard political climate issues and poor leadership.

But we know uh we can build strong community here uh and help as much as we can.

And Saudi Saudi used to be in district four, and we we love that, and unfortunately, y'all have moved, but thank you for all that you do uh for our community.

So happy to be there.

Would love to be at the opening of the Asian resource center, which I know is years in the making and and took some city assistance to get there.

Uh, but thank you all for being here and for advocating.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Did you like to say something?

Councilwoman Castillo.

Thank you, and thank you, Nicolette, and every organizer who helps ensure that the Asian American Festival continues to be in downtown in the heart of San Antonio, and as Nicolette mentioned, right, that this is more about music and food, it's about history, culture, and the ways in which the Asian community has impacted health care, labor, and so much more, and telling that history.

Uh, and I was reminded uh during Nicolette's comments that it's not very often that I travel to Stone Oak, but it's been for the blessing of ARCSA that's taken me to District 9 and this weekend celebration that's taken me to District 9.

So just want to thank you all for the work that y'all do.

Uh and uh I look forward to supporting ARKSA and ensuring that we continue to tell that story.

So just appreciate the work and leadership of each and every one of you all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council uh Councilman Um Galvan.

Thank you, Mayor.

And thank you, Nicolette, for the incredible words today, and thank you to everybody who's here who does this work day in and day out.

Uh to not only build community, maintain community, but also to strengthen the Asian community all across our city.

We know there are different pockets here in our city, and there's uh one larger than the others.

Um, but being able to have organizations that connect everyone together is really crucial, especially when we talk about the history of Asian Americans here in our city.

It wasn't just uh, you know, folks on the Northwest side, Asian Americans were all over our city and continue to be.

Uh, but in particular, right?

There's a long history on the west side of San Antonio, uh where Asian Americans uh, particularly Chinese Americans first settled here in San Antonio uh as they were uh part of our incredible labor force uh and often uh uses cheap labor too, unfortunately, right?

And so that advocacy starts at the very beginning of this, and I know it's central to what y'all do every single day.

Advocacy for labor, advocacy for anti-discrimination, advocacy for strengthening your communities and strengthening our whole our entire community through that process.

And I want to recognize really quickly uh Kinwi from uh District 6, our incredible zoning commissioner, long time been there, as well as the national president for the longest uh and oldest uh Asian American organization here in our country, the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, an incredible person in our community, incredible leader, um, and someone who I'm always thankful uh to be able to have in our community and be able to rely on and talk with about different issues in our community as well as ways that we can continue to support the Asian community.

And I want to end off by one last thing that he mentioned to me at the 70th 70th anniversary uh dinner for the Chinese American Citizens Alliance this uh past year.

Gosh, what a what a long year.

Uh, I feel like it was just yesterday.

And he talked to me about the importance of this organization, right?

And I think it goes to all of them in that when our federal maker, federal lawmakers, 100 years ago or so, we're starting to do uh different actions on immigration in particular.

It started with Chinese Americans, and organizations like the Chinese American Citizens Alliance stepped up, were formed and pushed back against that.

And that's exactly why so many folks continue to stay rooted in that network today because they know at any point things like that can happen unless we are organized together as organizations like this that continue that fight and push back, not only against anti-discrimination laws uh towards Asian Americans, but for all people.

And so I just want to say thank you again for the work you do uh and for the work that all of you do every single day in keeping our culture and our community strong.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Um, Councilmember Aldo Gabito.

Thank you.

Um thank you so much uh for being here, Nicolette.

Your energy is contagious.

Thank you for um, yes, I think Councilwoman Kore said it best that when you're smiling, all when you're presenting, all of us are smiling.

So I think that that's a testament to the energy that you bring.

But um also, too.

I'm gonna join Councilwoman Corps at four o'clock, be there uh on Saturday, because you're I mean the culture is beautiful, and even though sorry sorry is technically on the border of Leon Valley in District 7.

I think we can claim it.

Because actually, you all mentioned it, and I leaned over and I was like, now I'm really hungry.

So we'll uh we look forward to celebrating with you all, and and thank you for the the great work that y'all continue to do.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Mesa Gonzalez.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for uh our happy um Asian American Pacific Islander month to begin with, and thank you for all the work you do to uplift your community.

Um you're making impacts in this community as small business owners, as entrepreneurs, government employees, um you name it.

So, Silk Road uh Heritage District lives in District 8, so I welcome my colleagues to take a ride to District 8, Terry.

Come on by, um, to just really um learn about uh what this community has done for our city.

So thank you again for all the work you did.

You had a wonderful gala over the weekend, very well attended.

So just appreciate your your work and efforts um to make this city as beautiful as it is.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember Spears.

Thank you.

And I'm very proud to support the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and even more proud that the Asian Resource Center of San Antonio is gonna be in District 9.

So Terry's gonna be there a lot.

And she's gonna hit up Eva Lisa's district too.

So she'll she'll be over a lot.

I'm so proud of it because you know, 10% of the entire Asian population of San Antonio is in district nine.

And it's important because y'all own businesses, you're active in your communities, uh, you're good neighbors, you're um really active in the civics of our city, and so I'm very proud of all of you.

I'm I'm glad that we get to honor you today and all the month.

And um, it's important we we point this out about the diversity of San Antonio, and how um how much we appreciate the diversity of this city, and how important your presence here is for the future of economic development, for the future of the growth in our city, our schools, everything about San Antonio, you're a huge part of that.

So we have to bring awareness to that.

And so I'm glad that we get to do that today.

And um I was glad to get to go to the Gala Gala.

I don't know if I'm saying it right.

I'm gonna be at a dance competition this weekend, but it's at the convention center, so I can hop on over once they do awards.

So thank y'all so much, and thanks for being here.

Councilmember White.

Yeah, I echo my my colleagues' uh sentiment.

Um the gala was great this weekend.

I'm glad we're celebrating your community this month.

Um we have so many different um ethnicities and communities and organizations and everything all around our city that come together to make us um one San Antonio.

Uh and the contributions of uh the Asian American Pacific Islander community, uh, as has been said, means so much to the city.

Um, you bring so much um uh life and and entertainment and um business, everything that makes San Antonio what it is today.

And so uh, Commissioner Huey, it's great to see you as well.

Enjoyed serving on the zoning commission with you, but thank you all for for what you do.

Thank you again uh for making the time to be here.

Um I was also thankful to be able to join folks um at the at the gala this weekend and frankly see how much progress has been made and see all the the very beautiful fashion show.

Um and I got to spend a little bit of time with uh my lamb.

Uh my lamb started the Asian uh festival many years ago in the 90s when that show was still at the San Antonio Museum when I was dancing as a young kid, uh that's where it was.

So thankful to be able to spend time with her and all the folks in the community that worked so hard and are continuing to work hard to make sure that that's a resource, not only for the Asian community, Asian American community, but but for all communities.

I especially want to thank um uh the ways in which um our community, frankly all communities, but I'm looking at Robert now, so he has caught my attention.

Robert Mahara is a West Point grad uh is a veteran, and this morning you may have seen in the San Antonio report, he authored an op-ed um on the importance of not discriminating against veterans based on how they pay for their housing.

And it's important we think about celebrating the diversity and the culture in our community that we stand up for other entities that are needlessly being discriminated against because we know what it feels like.

So I want to thank you for your leadership and thank you for your courage and making the connection across communities because when one community is disenfranchised, we all are not living up to our best selves.

Um I want to also um, you know, highlight the ways in which the strength of the Asian American community in in particular is is helping um not only as we look at some of these economic development opportunities, uh the councilwoman and I uh were just in Taiwan and we're already planning kind of follow-on visits by some of those entities.

Um, when they were here last, though, a Taiwanese delegation, I brought them to Best Quality Daughter, right?

The old Jennifer is Taiwanese American, her mom's from Taiwan.

And so I think it's always um uh a nice touch when we're thinking about economic development and making connections with other communities that we talk about not only what that um Asian American experience looks like, but it also I think helps them envision themselves in our own community, and we're certainly doing that with some of the other follow-on visits that we are that we're working on as a result of that trip.

So thank you for taping taking the time to be here.

We all now want a little bit of funcid and and and lumpia, um, and we will see you all on Saturday.

Salamat.

Thank you.

Okay, and I will now read the final proclamation for this morning, uh, which is a proclamation for Jewish American Heritage Month.

Please, whereas the City of San Antonio recognizes May as Jewish American Heritage Month, a time to honor and celebrate the enduring contributions of Jewish Americans to our community's cultural, civic, and economic fabric.

And whereas Jewish Americans have played a vital role in shaping the history and progress of the city of San Antonio and Texas through leadership, innovation, public service, and commitment to community.

And whereas Jewish heritage is rich with traditions, values, and stories that emphasize justice, education, resilience, and the importance of strengthening communities for future generations, and whereas Jewish American Heritage Month was first officially proclaimed in 2006, establishing a national observance dedicated to recognizing the achievements and influence of Jewish Americans across all sectors of society.

And whereas the City of San Antonio proudly joins with the Jewish Federation of San Antonio in recognizing and celebrating the meaningful contributions of the local Jewish community.

Now, therefore, I, Gina Ortiz Jones, mayor of the City of San Antonio in recognition thereof, do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 to be Jewish American Heritage Month in San Antonio, Texas, and encourage all residents to participate in activities and observances that honor Jewish heritage and celebrate the diverse contributions that enrich our community.

Craig, you are recognized.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

First, I want to congratulate uh Senator Mazultov to our friends in the Asian American uh Pacific Islander community uh for uh uh such a joyful month, and we're happy to share this month with them.

Um, Mayor, uh council members, on behalf of the Jewish Federation of San Antonio and our entire community.

I want to express our deep gratitude for this resolution and for your leadership in recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month.

Moments like this matter.

They affirm that the story of Jewish Americans is part of the story of San Antonio, woven into the fabric of this city for two centuries, from early settlers in the 1840s to today's families.

Our community has been proud to help build, serve, and lead alongside our neighbors, contributing to civic, cultural, and philanthropic life that makes this city so special.

But this recognition is about more than history, it's about responsibility.

At a time when anti Semitism and hate are rising across this country.

This resolution sends a clear message.

San Antonio stands for inclusion, for dignity, and for one another.

It says that we don't just celebrate diversity, we protect it.

Jewish American Heritage Month gives us an opportunity to tell our story openly, proudly, and in partnership with the broader community through education pro through programs at schools, through institutions like the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and through everyday acts of engagement, we ensure that understanding replaces ignorance and that connection replaces division.

So thank you.

Thank you for your partnership, for your support, and for standing with us, and for our fellow residents.

Take this month as an invitation.

Learn a story, visit a program, build a bridge, because when we understand each other better, we become stronger together.

Thank you.

Councilman Viegadan.

Thank you.

And again, I'm excited that we just get to celebrate just how a diverse San Antonio is and how this city came to be, and the fact that we can do this now because there was a time in San Antonio where Asian Pacific Islanders, Latinos, the Jewish community could not come into these halls and share their story.

But we are here where we can and we can have conversation and we can build community.

And I want to thank the Jewish Federation of San Antonio in particular for what you've done on the South Side in terms of investing when nobody else would, in terms of counseling and services for the community there.

It just means a lot.

And to do it without asking for accolades, without asking for recognition, just coming in, seeing a need and deciding to meet it.

And uh again, I know what y'all have done in terms of the community to curb um abuse against children and women in this um always huge participation in our uh efforts to curb domestic violence and violence against children, and this is who our community is.

This is when we talk about core, what our community is, it is about giving back and serving others.

So thank you for being here and sharing.

And I look forward to just a lot to celebrate this month.

I don't know how many get it all done.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Mungia.

Thank you for being here and for helping with the proclamation.

And I think it's so important what you all were saying, right?

It's not just honoring, but it's also a call to action, and it's a reminder of um injustice that continues across the world and historically has happened.

So thank you all for being here and for talking about that and for all that you do in our community.

So I'm appreciating and happy to celebrate with you all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman uh Castillo.

Thank you.

I think this morning's a reminder that America's strength comes from its diversity, culture, and differences.

Uh so just wanted to thank you all for coming forth with this proclamation and uh all that y'all do in the community.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman uh Galvan.

Thank you, Maryor.

And thank you, Craig, for the the opening remarks.

Thank you to everybody for being here and for the work you do every single day in our communities, not only uh through the kind of cultural work and the religious work too, but the work in education and the work uh in supporting folks uh through some of the most difficult times and of their lives.

Um I really appreciate of course the fact that we're able to celebrate uh the Jewish community, the Jewish faith, and the Jewish uh history here in our city, uh, understanding the fact that San Antonio has of course also deep-rooted history uh with Jewish communities, uh I mean the ground, the hemisphere itself, right?

Where historically uh where folks lived.

Um, and so just thinking about all that and how it relates to our our full confluence of cultures here in our city uh is truly critical here, and I'm grateful to have you here as incredible partners in the work that we do every single day uh and the work the community does too.

I think there's I mean it a community so rooted in justice, a faith so rooted in justice too and education.

It's is perfectly aligned with the city of San Antonio.

So thank you again for all the work that you do.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Councilman Um Aldartegabito.

Thank you.

Thank you so much uh for being here, Craig Lisa.

And now I I remember uh seeing you earlier from the the JCC.

I was like, it took me a while, but yes, I remember because my oldest uh daughter uh went to school at the Jewish Community Center when she was little, and it was um really formative years, and so um and love love love that place and they still play soccer there.

Um but Craig, I think what you said was uh was spot on, and so I won't I want to repeat it where you said understanding replaces ignorance and connection replaces division.

Um, you know, we're we're seeing that in so many we see that split and that divide in so many ways, whether it's religious battles, whether it's political battles, whatever.

And so when we take that time to understand, um to really listen, actively listen, and not just say we're listening, um, it just does so much.

So I I I thought that um, you know, again, I just wanted to echo your words because they're spot on.

So thank you so much.

And and um, and I'm glad that y'all are here for this proclamation.

Thank you.

Did I just speak?

Yep, Councilmember um Mesa Gonzalez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, thank you for being here, Lisa, Gerardo, Lisa Epstein, Craig, um, Amanda with uh Jewish Family Services, all the work you do for our communities and uh Mosul Top to the Spurs for winning last night, right?

And we can't forget that.

Uh, but thank you.

Uh you said it best when you said this month is about learning, right?

So whether you go to the Asian festival this weekend or learn a story, visit the Holocaust Museum, it's right there in the corner of districts eight and nine.

Um, and so just recommend folks to go out and and learn something new this month, right?

We have so much history in our community, and the Jewish community has so much history with our African American community, with our Latino community uh for the last 50 plus years, right?

So uh thank you for all the work that you do to uplift your community um here in San Antonio.

Thank you, Councilmember Spears.

Hey y'all.

I'm so glad you're here, and I'm so happy that we get to honor honor you this month.

Um become really good friends, and I'm honored every time I get to come to an event at the JCC in District 9, and I share this with uh Councilwoman Messi Gonzalez.

Y'all have amazing food, you have amazing culture.

Um it's deeply rooted in my faith, and I'm fully supportive of of everything that y'all do for our community.

Um for learning, for preserving the history.

We had the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

We may never should never forget.

We can never forget October 8th.

These are all things that we have to remember as a community.

And um, it's an honor to get to to be here with you today in this seat and and celebrating the Jewish Heritage Month and the Jewish community here in San Antonio.

And um just thank you so much for all that you've you've instilled in me, taught me, and I hope others continue to come and learn from you and that y'all continue your efforts.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilmember White.

Yeah, I'm also pleased we get to uh honor the Jewish community this month.

And um, you know, a lot of folks don't know about the strong ties between um Israel and San Antonio.

We we have, of course, the the friendship agreement with Tel Aviv that uh was signed in 2011.

There's been numerous um uh trade missions and visits between um local delegation here and Israel.

Uh and again, the contributions you all make to San Antonio, um I think sometimes go unnoticed and and they shouldn't um because it's a valuable, uh valuable contributions to this city.

Um so thank you for all that you stand for, um, for all that you teach our community, and really for everything you do to make San Antonio a better place.

Thanks, Mayor.

Thank you again.

Having visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum, I think it was late last year, and then being able to spend some time with you all for the Kristall Nocht uh memorial.

It speaks to the importance of what you all continue to do.

Just to remind people that if we don't know our history, we'll repeat it.

So thank you for the invaluable work that you do in our community.

Thank you, Mayor.

Okay, Councilmember Spears is recognized for a point of personal privilege.

Thank you, Mayor.

We have a beauty queen in the house, and she lives in District 9.

And it is my honor to call out Portland Tidwell.

You want to stand up, Portland or you want to come to the front?

Yeah.

Portland is currently Miss United USA, Texas 2026, and she will represent our state on the national stage here this June.

Many in our community already know her through her years of service.

By the time she graduated high school, she had completed more than 3,000 hours of community service.

She has been a strong supporter of our first responders through her work with the 100 club of San Antonio, and she continues to show up for those who serve our city this past weekend.

She was with the firefighters for the International Firefighters Day.

And she uses her platform to bring attention to adult bullying and promote a culture of respect and accountability in our community.

Portland represents the very best of San Antonio.

She leads with service and follows through with action.

I am proud to support her and proud to see her represent our city and our state.

And we know she will make San Antonio proud on the national stage.

Today, we are proud to recognize Portland Tidwell for her leadership and her commitment to our community.

And you have a great mom too.

So thank you, Portland.

Did you want to say anything?

I would just like to say thank you for recognizing me.

And thank you to all of our council members for everything that you do, all the hard work that you do, the tirelessly hard work that you guys do.

San Antonio is my native, my native place, and to be able to represent San Antonio on stage at a national pageant is a huge deal.

If I win this national pageant, I will compete for an international title.

So a lot of pressure, but a lot of representation for San Antonio.

Most of the time we have a lot of Miss Texases that come from Dallas or the Fort Worth area.

But to be San Antonian is a huge accomplishment within itself.

My journey doesn't stop here.

I'm more than just a pageant queen.

I'm an activist.

I'm a pre-K teacher.

Um I have a bachelor's in mass communications, multimedia journalism, minor in criminal justice.

I have so much under my belt already, and achieving this national title would be amazing for my platform for my service work.

And I can also bring it home and say San Antonio did this, and the journey doesn't stop here.

So thank you again for recognizing me.

My journey will not end, and I thank you guys so much for all that you do.

Thank you.

Thank you, congratulations.

Councilman White is recognized for a point of personal privilege.

Yeah, before we move forward today, I want to take a moment to recognize the passing of Kendra Meadows.

Kendra was a fixture in the Northeast Neighborhood Alliance, and for those of us that had the privilege of working alongside of her, her absence is truly felt.

Kendra was the type of person that showed up to meetings, planning sessions.

She did the unglamorous work that most people don't see, but that really holds a neighborhood together.

Uh a couple of things that I'll remember the most about her was back in 2018.

She's really the one that that got me involved with the NNA in the District 10 neighborhood.

She took me to a local restaurant in the district and talked to me about all the things that I could do to help the people in the area.

And that's really sort of what got me started in District 10.

I'll also remember her fight to get safe sidewalks in her neighborhood.

Families walking their kids to Northern Hills Elementary are doing so today on safer ground because of Kendra Meadows.

That's what real community leadership looks like.

It's not about titles, but it's about producing real outcomes.

District 10 in the city of San Antonio was better because Kendra was here.

We're grateful for her years of service and we will carry her work forward.

And so Mayor, if it's okay, I'd like everybody to join me in a brief um moment of silence for Kendra Meadows.

Rest well, Kendra.

Thanks, Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Wade.

Okay.

The next item is the city manager's report.

Over to you, Eric.

Thank you.

Good morning, Mayor and Council.

Uh one item um as as everybody knows, Fiesta just recently ended, and after um uh two weeks of uh fun-filled, colorful parades, live music and and other events.

Um I wanted to share with you um kind of some of the work that the city does behind the scenes that a lot of folks don't see.

Um as the parades end, um, people start to head home, and the solid waste and public works crews uh begin a massive operation um that most never see.

So uh today's video really highlights three of our employees and the entire teams of Solid Waste and Public Works after both of our parades.

Um, Fidel, Brenda, and Joshua uh have all been with the city for over between 11 and 12 uh um uh between eleven and eighteen years actually.

Um so I want to thank all of the work that they do.

It's not seen by the general public.

Um and uh we just show back up downtown afterwards and it looks clean and and these folks do a great job.

So let's let's roll the video.

For Fiesta, a big event for us is the Battle of Flowers and Fiesta Flambeau Parade.

I coordinate and pretty much manage what our cleanup plan is.

I'm there to make sure that the trash truck knows where to park, that everybody is set up and the staff is good to go.

Everybody sees us cleaning up at the end, but there's a lot that goes into it beforehand.

So it's all hands on deck, public works, SAPD, our warehouse staff, they're the ones put the placing the carts along the parade route.

So my role for Fiesta, we place the carts on the parade route.

We have about 232 carts for the public to dispose of their trash and recycle after the parade is over with.

We go through the whole route picking up the carts and uh picking up the trash, just trying to get the streets cleaned up for like the next day.

We wanted to look the way it looked before we got there, which is beautiful.

The goal is to make sure that the Fiesta Parade is clean and picked up and then ready for public works to come along and do their part.

During the parade, we spread ourselves across the street, and while maintenance workers on the ground blow the debris off the sidewalk onto the street.

The street sweepers come down, picking up all the debris.

There are a total of 25 street sweepers throughout the parade.

It has two side gutter brooms that push the debris underneath the sweeper, and then it sucks it up from the pickup head and it puts it into what we call the hopper, and it holds six cubic yards of debris.

The core value that me and my team exemplify has to be teamwork.

It is a team effort citywide to get the job done.

We can have about 200 people with the collections, picking up the trash, taking up the recycling from the streets.

People do always tell us, thank you, and it makes us know that like we're not forgotten about.

Yeah, like we do uh play like an important role in the city.

You know, like they may say, oh, well, that's just a garbage man to some people, but to other people were like superheroes.

I think I just got the idea for next year's uh city uh Fiesta Metal Mayor, but because those guys do a great job, those teams, and thank you very much.

Thank you, Eric.

Many thanks to the entire solid waste team.

We also know a lot of our um first responders uh worked over time uh to make sure that that was a safe event.

So thank you uh for everybody's hard work to ensure we had a safe fiesta.

Okay, moving on to the consent agenda.

Is there any objection to taking the consent agenda before the individual items so that we may clear the business for the day?

Okay, hearing uh no objection.

Items five through sixteen are on the consent agenda.

This means, did you have sorry?

One second, I'll call for that one second.

Yep.

Items five through sixteen are on the consents agenda.

This means they will be considered as a group and there will not be a staff presentation unless pulled for consideration.

Are there any items council members would like to pull from the consent agenda to be heard individually?

I will be pulling item nine.

Are there others to be pulled?

Item 10.

Item 10, Councilwoman Aldrete Gavito.

To pull, that's correct.

Pull for individual consideration.

I'd also like to pull item 16.

Okay, um, I will call uh individuals in order of sign-up for the items on the remainder of the consent agenda.

The first individual that we have is Antonio Diaz.

Sorry.

Okay.

And Antonio, you have signed up to speak on seven and eight as well.

Uh has Diana Uriegas Flores.

Um, on the items that on the agenda that I signed up, I believe, or for consultations on as far as the uh entertainment districts.

And is that correct?

Uh no, sir.

Uh, you signed up to speak on two items having to do with capital improvements.

That is all we're still over that entertainment district, correct?

It is not.

No, these are related to drainage projects.

Well, then I signed up for the wrong items, and you all go ahead and do the work you need to do.

Okay.

Okay.

Um, Diana Uriegas Flores.

She said no.

No.

Okay.

Um, Ishmael Herrera.

Ishmael Hereta.

On the remainder of consent.

Oh, you pulled that.

I'm sorry, thank you.

Um, number 14 would be Renee Dominguez.

Renee Dominguez, followed by Jack Finger.

Good morning, thank you.

My name is Renee Dominguez.

I'm the president and CEO of Velocity Texas, a 41-year-old nonprofit economic and community development organization.

Velocity Texas is developing out a 12-acre innovation campus on the east side in D2, and includes the historic merchant's ice campus.

This mixed-use development includes an innovation center, includes offices, includes labs, retail, and now we're working on community-facing amenities and some workforce housing.

But Velocity Texas is so much more than just physical space and buildings.

We're driving economic and community development, including a focus on emerging technologies and leveraging military medical research and the development of dual-use technologies.

Our innovation strategies include programs and services and very structured collaboration agreements like those that we have with UT San Antonio, Southwest Research Institute, Texas Biomed.

We have a cooperative cooperative agreement with Defense Health Agency, and we're working with one on with the VA.

And that's what today for us that's what today's all about.

An MOA with the city.

This MOA is a collaborative agreement and a framework for unified promotion and development of programs and events, just like the AIM RD summit that we're having on May 18th and 19th.

And I've put some flyers there on your all's desk.

We invite you to attend.

This summit really focuses on San Antonio's unique capabilities and research assets, including all the great things happening at UT San Antonio and our research institutions.

This summit's been growing for the past three years to over a thousand people, and its founding partners include the City of San Antonio, UT San Antonio, Velocity, Texas, and the County.

So we thank you for establishing this MOA to cross promote this event.

We look forward to establishing other mutually beneficial programs and events, and we hope to see you there.

Thank you.

Jack Finger is next.

Well, Madam Mayor, other members of our illustrious San Antonio City Council, for the record, my name is Jack M.

Finger.

I want to talk about one of your items on your consent agenda that uh might just be sailing right on through.

Uh item number 15.

It's about uh you're approving the budget for the pre-K for SA program, you know, beginning for fiscal year for July 1st through uh 2027 in the amount of sixty-two thousand dollars and personnel compliment as adopted by the San Antonio Early Childhood Education Minister, etc.

etc.

etc.

I uh I think I was reading recently where you're planning on expanding that program for for the children.

Um but I think also you're going to be faced with a big obstacle with the uh uh the economy.

You're getting funded by the uh sales tax, and uh you're not gonna may not get as many dollars as you're gonna need for for all those kids.

But you're gonna say, well, it doesn't matter.

We those kids need this program.

It's it's certainly worth it.

And you even cite.

Some people have cited the the worth of this program.

It does have its detractors, but uh unfortunately, uh, well, this is what the pro pre-K for SA people say.

The underlined area, Mr.

Audiovisual Man.

What's it say?

Yeah, kind of blow it up a little bit.

2019 cost benefit analysis by Westat, the University of Pennsylvania, Teachers College of Columbia University, uh estimated that pre-K person generated $59 million in benefits during its first eight years.

Well, uh, I'm gonna hand me that back, and I'm gonna show you a few other detractors of what they think of what that is there, but what is really the case.

Yeah, um that same study tells you that the uh you know the underlying critics of that same study, the analysis for the pre-K program, argue that it relies on speculative long-term economic projections.

If you scroll down a little bit to the further underlined area, critics note that these long-term assumptions can be highly unreliable when applied to young children, and way down if you would.

See, these there are other legitimate reasons, but um I've uh highlighted some others here.

Skeptics for early educator frequently cite the fade out effect where initial boost in standardized test scores from pre-K programs.

Turn the page.

Yep.

Diminish, I repeat, diminish over time.

The long-term economic benefits projected into cost-benefit analysis, may it may never fully materialize.

In fact, they're finding out, finding out this thing doesn't even work after they hit third or fourth grade.

The benefits are just aren't there?

You may want to reconsider pre-K for SA and just uh, well, why why not give the uh asset taxpayers if they would like the balance of their money back, huh?

Thank you.

That was the final speaker on the uh remainder of the consent agenda and to clarify the consent agenda was items seven through 16.

Thank you.

Those are all the individuals that have signed up uh to speak on the remainder of the consent agenda.

Is there a motion to approve the balance of the consent agenda?

I make a motion to approve, okay.

It is moved and seconded to approve the balance of the consent agenda.

Are there any highlights or questions about the consent agenda?

Council members.

Councilwoman Corps.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'd like to highlight item number 12, which is appointing Art Velis, a district of resident art.

If you could please stand to the ethics review board.

This is such an important board for us, especially as we discuss potential upcoming changes to contribution limits and to since there has been a change in our um terms of service.

We know that they have a lot of important decisions to be made, and art has been a long time engaged civic resident in Sherry Hills Ridgevie neighborhood and is always willing to do any service that is asked upon him.

So I am super grateful that he is willing to stand up to the challenge and um I know create policy that's going to be equitable for all.

So thank you, Art, for your service.

Thank you, Mayor.

Councilmember Castillo.

No, no, you're not pulling anything.

Okay.

I don't know.

It's on I was told that you were highlighting something.

Okay.

Councilmember Altapte Gavito.

Thank you.

I'm excited to highlight item number seven, which is approving a construction project for the ceiling drainage phase four project.

This project is located on the Donaldson in in the Donaldson Terrace neighborhood in district seven.

This area has had historic drainage and infrastructure issues, which will be addressed with this project.

Additionally, I am super proud to have partnered with CPS Energy to transition from above-ground utilities, like all those unsightly utility poles that we see to have this area have underground utilities.

This should this ensures resiliency in the area and will also help beautify the community.

Thank you to Mike and his team for joining me at several community meetings to discuss this project, and we look forward to a seamless construction process.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember White.

Yeah, I want to highlight item uh 14, but uh Renee who spoke a few minutes earlier really stole a lot of what I was gonna say, but but but was right on.

This is an important item because San Antonio, as we all know, has one of the largest veteran populations in the country.

Uh and this MOA is about making sure that our city is actively working uh to support them.

Velocity Texas has been doing this work since 1984.

Uh, the relationships that Renee uh mentioned with UTSA, Texas Biomed, Defense Health Agency, they are all so important.

And the Bioscience Innovation Center uh here on the Near East Side is really where a lot of this work comes together.

Uh this MOA, what it does is connect the city formally uh to the San Antonio Military Medical Innovation effort that's focused on getting medical research out of the lab and into real world use.

Starting with sort of this sandbox environment to develop and test these uh medical technologies.

And this is the type of work that produces jobs and attracts outside investment that we need to be doing more of here in our city, and it's gonna help keep our veterans connected uh to care that's actually um advancing.

Um I'm glad to hear about the R and D summit.

Happy to support that, and we'll certainly be uh supporting this item.

Thanks, Mayor.

I want to congratulate Renee and the team as go ahead.

And I know my colleague uh Councilman Spears wanted to talk on this as well.

Okay, quickly.

If it's two or more, you have to pull it.

Okay.

Okay.

There being no further discussion, there's a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda items uh minus items excuse me, nine, ten, and sixteen.

Please vote.

Okay, the motion carries.

Thank you.

Objection.

I asked for order of the day.

Okay, madam clerk, please read item number four.

Item number four is an update on the proposed downtown sports and entertainment district.

Okay.

Eric, over to you for the uh the staff presentation, item four is for briefing only, so we may begin discussion.

I make a motion to delay the item to the uh to the to the B session for discussion in June.

Okay, there's a motion and a second to delay this item uh to a B session in June.

Okay.

Second, it was uh McKee Rodriguez.

Okay.

Is there any discussion on that uh motion from my colleagues?

Okay, there is hearing none.

Okay, go ahead, Councilman White.

So the way I understand item four is this is just for uh a briefing and an update on what's going on with the sports and entertainment district, Eric.

Uh yes, sir.

It's a update from our previous um public presentation to you all in January.

So it was an update on all those components.

Okay.

You know, when I think about a continuance and I think about the items that we're gonna vote on today, five and six, that maybe it makes sense to have that briefing after we've we've moved forward um on items five and six.

I don't know if that's what uh the councilwoman is thinking, but um if that is the line of thinking, I think that that makes a certain amount of sense.

One second, one second.

So so item four is just the briefing, so we would push that to a B session.

Uh today we're gonna vote on items five and six.

So we get those hopefully approved, and then we'd have the full briefing with those approved at a later date.

The briefing on the update uh to those though, um, would ideally inform your understanding of the vote on those two contracts.

Those are they're related, so why you would take one before the other, if you'd like to clarify, go ahead.

Uh yeah, thank you.

Uh item we do I item item five and six could have stayed on consent be because of high profile we took it out of audit and left it on individual looking at the slideshow and Ben you did an incredible job but it is 37 slides and I think uh item number five which is nine slides and item number uh six which is twelve slides explains everything and we do not need that 15 slide item for briefing I would much rather bring it back to a B session is uh councilman um white indicated with all everything that we discussed today and then that way you can put on some inputs uh whatever however the vote goes today but these these items were pulled because I I believed that more than one person would want to make comments on items five and six the audit committee agreed and that's why we moved it forward this way so with that I'd like to pose to delay item four for a B session date so we have more time and that'll include what we do today with items five and six thank you.

Councilwoman core thank you mayor and just the one thing that I'm thinking about is as some of us were working um in January Eric mentioned that some of us council members were going to be getting together to work on to create a downtown working group and we just had our first meeting in April just to set the stage and our second meeting is scheduled for the end of this month so if we do delay it would give us the opportunity to actually bring back some of the conversations that have been happening from that stakeholder group so um just wanted to add that thanks mayor um the meeting that you just mentioned councilwoman core that was not a public meeting correct no mayor it was but Eric created a group based on what was discussed at B session in January.

Okay but it wasn't a public meeting my understanding is that there isn't a summary available of it just yet it was just an intro meeting and so we we're gonna have actual discussion at the end of this month so my point was it would give Eric and the team an opportunity to come back with actual um discussion results.

Okay.

Is there additional comment on items five and and five and six madam clerk if you would just read the caption for those two items for everyone's edification I'm sorry understood.

But I want to make sure when we're talking about the update to the downtown plan folks understand what those two items are how how they're related the three items the district study right as well as the two contracts that are related to the things in the district study.

Correct but we'll be taking those items next uh in the agenda under so I call the question I call it a question.

Okay.

Is there a reason you don't want to you wouldn't want to hear them at this at the same time because we're not voting on this the item number four is a briefing only item five and six are in action again why why we're having briefings in the middle of a an A session we should not be having but let's go ahead and uh if I mean we're gonna she's gonna read it twice then so I I call to question that we vote on the briefing and then we move forward with our actual action items which are item five and six.

Councilman McKee Rodriguez.

Thank you I'll just express it and looking at uh the presentation for item four a lot of it has to do with five and six it is literally just the scoring matrix and the like and all the things that we're already going to be reviewing when you brief us on items five and six in a few minutes before we take action so I'd rather we just do that.

We have a lot of people here who are interested in another item and us going through the same slides over and over and over again is a little redundant.

Thank you.

Um Eric last time we had an update on this in in B session we had talked about um making sure that we bring the the major so we can avoid kind of this kerfuffle uh going straight to B session before we bring it to an A session uh for for discussion considering there's no item there's no action so we'll we'll follow that in the future okay anything Eric go ahead go ahead so um I guess let me make sure I'm I'm following what's what's happening we're the council is or the the councilwoman has proposed delaying the general district briefing to a B session in June and you all will take action today on number five and six and the point about 37 slide frankly I'd rather have you guys come uh tell me that we're giving you too much information than than giving you a three-slide presentation so we'll work on narrowing that down but it's natural that if we are talking um we we felt it was natural to give you all an update publicly we can certainly move that to June but I guess based on the your motion councilwoman what you're asking for is the delay in June for the briefing and action today for five and six yes okay got it and and I do think well while I have the microphone I do think that what councilwoman core mentioned that working group that um needs to report back to the council the framework of discussion and so we can wrap that in to that June presentation on the general um update that perfect timing I'll call when we are um during the audit briefing there were several items that were asked for um in terms of to help the rest of the committee I didn't see those in the in the materials were those provided elsewhere on the two contracts or maybe you've been again again point of order we're talking not about the items five and six we're talking about items four which is the briefing so if we I I'm called to question so if we could vote on item four and then move on to the presentations for item five and six so we can actually discuss those motions I'd I'd like to do that.

So I call to question again item uh item number four okay as all of these are related to the exact same thing the exact same thing there were several items that were asked for by the audit committee members for clarification in reviewing each of these things.

And again that's why I again I will tell you I have call to question so I ask that we vote on item four I've called to question how would you go so uh mayor if I may under Robert's rules the uh uh the councilwoman is calling essentially calling off to cut off debate that requires a two-thirds vote of council so I suggest we go ahead and do that and vote whether the council wants to cut off debate on this or not.

Okay.

Okay.

So there's a call to question so there's a uh we have to vote um at this point so this vote would then be to cut off discussion on um on item four okay the vote is just to cut off discussion that's correct mayor just to cut off discussion then there'll be a subsequent vote on item four actually thank you sure sure sure go ahead madam clerk councilmember core councilmember mickey rodriguez aye council member via gran aye council member mungia aye council member castillo aye council member galvan aye council member gavito aye council member mesa gonzalez aye council member Spears.

Aye.

Council member white aye mayor jones.

No.

I think in the um, let me just say, yep, um, the eyes have it.

Um, in the interest of transparency on on this topic, um, I understand the slide.

Point of order.

Yeah, got it.

Um, I understand the slide deck might be long, but I think it's important that we share the information.

Um, there may be questions about why we would not talk about the overall picture when we're taking action on contracts related to the projects.

It's a transparency issue.

I understand you want to cut off debate.

Understood.

Okay.

So, Mayor, if I may that the next vote would be on the councilwoman's motion to delay until June.

Okay, yep.

Okay.

That's what I was asking.

Yeah.

Is there any other further discussion on the delay?

I I just uh I'll briefly say that the B session that we are going to have on this issue will be in public, and all the slides can be presented, and it will be transparent.

We're just doing things in a little bit of a different order.

Yes, and that that order is voting on contracts related to the thing you have not been updated on.

Mayor, all all of us, all of us, Mayor, actually have met with staff over the course of the last two weeks and been updated on the details of this.

So we are all prepared to vote on it.

We're all informed on it, because if we weren't, you wouldn't have just seen a 10-0 vote to move on to the question, and now we're gonna move to continue this.

So uh appreciate your call for transparency.

We are all calling for transparency.

We're gonna have a B session in front of the world where we can talk about all of this.

We're just not gonna do it today.

Okay, sorry, what was that?

Yes.

We're voting on the continued item.

A yes vote is to continue the item.

The continuance carries, okay.

Moving on to item five.

Eric over to you.

I'm number five is an ordinance approving a contract with Municap Inc.

to conduct a study to provide projected cost of service impacts, perform revenue forecasting, and identify new revenue opportunities for the proposed sports and entertainment district for the finance department for a base contract of three hundred and three hundred and sixteen thousand three-three hundred and fifty dollars with a contingency of thirty-three thousand six hundred and fifty dollars for a total contract value of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

The term of the contract will begin upon award and run through April 30th, 2027.

Funding is from the hot redemption capital fund.

Mayor, can I make a suggestion that the clerk read the second caption number six?

Because this presentation covers both of them.

Sure, go ahead, thank you.

Item number six is an ordinance approving a professional services agreement with Accenture Infrastructure and Capital Projects LLC to provide the City of San Antonio and Executive Program Manager, APM for the proposed sports and entertainment district in an amount up to six million dollars for phase one for services through March 30th, 2027.

The contract term begins upon award and expires on September 30th, 2031, with five one-year renewal options.

Funding for the contract will come from the hot redemption and capital fund and the capital budgets for projects within the district study.

So we issued a request for proposal to engage a consultant to do a study of the proposed sports and entertainment district.

There are a couple of elements to the scope here that I'll cover.

One is we want this consultant to help us develop a cost of services model related to primarily the core services that we provide to the district around traffic, security, fire EMS, and park maintenance.

And we want that cost of services model to be scalable.

So when we think about the sports and entertainment district and what it could become, and you think about the spectrum of level of the level of activation that it could occur in the district.

On one end, we could have just people in the park.

On the other end, we could have significant events going on at the same time.

We could have an event going on at the Wood Courthouse, we could have a NBA game going on, and we could have a major sports or major concert going on at the Alamo Dome.

So we want that cost of services model to be scalable, and then we want to be able to apportion those costs back to those events so that we understand what's happening and how that's working.

The second part of the scope is revenue forecasting.

This is going to be for revenues that are not pledged to the bonds, things that we've already talked about before.

These are going to be more general fund revenues, like for example, the sales tax.

That was touched on on the economic impact analysis last year, but that was kind of a broader look.

This is getting more granular.

What does that look like in terms of a projection in the general fund?

We'll look at some other revenues as well in terms of things that may be derived in the district and how those impact the general fund.

The third element of the scope is really looking for innovative and new revenue opportunities.

So as we look at other districts, what are those new things that we could implement as part of this district?

And they're gonna help us identify those as they identify those, then we'll put a forecast around those, excuse me.

Um so we did a pre-solicitation briefing to the audit committee in mid-January.

Uh post-solicitation briefing on April 14th.

Uh, your consideration is for the contract today.

If you approve that, we would begin work uh immediately with the consultant.

This slide on the left hand side, you see the evaluation criteria broken down, the points that were allocated to each of the categories.

On the right hand side, you see the evaluation committee, included Maria Via Gomez, our deputy city manager, myself, Justina Tate, our interim assistant city manager, Troy Ellet, our chief financial officer, and Freddie Martinez, our interim director of office of the Office of Management and Budget.

This slide just categorizes or captures for you some of the subcomponents that we looked at in terms of experience, background, and qualifications, or in the proposed plan, the kinds of things we were looking for.

On the experience, background of qualifications, you know, their experience in doing similar studies, where have they done this elsewhere, the teams that were assigned to the engagement?

Uh we looked at some of the projects that they worked on on the proposed plan.

How well did they understand the scope of work that we were looking for, what was the the approach that they were taking to this study, the methodology and how they were going to capture these this information and then create these forecasts and these models.

This slide is the initial evaluation uh score matrix.

There were four uh firms that responded to the RFP.

One was deemed non-responsive, they had an incomplete proposed plan.

They did not propose on the full scope of work, so we had to deem them non-responsive.

This is the scoring for the three firms that did um uh meet the scope of requirements.

MUNICAP, Oliver Wyman, and Baker Tilly.

Um, this is the initial scoring based on a review of their written proposal.

Um, and then the evaluation panel, we did not shortlist in this case, we had three firms.

We made a decision to uh interview all three firms.

This next slide is the final evaluation score matrix.

There's not a lot of difference from the initial matrix.

All the evaluation committee members, both looking at the written proposal and after the interview, continue to score MUNICAP as the number one firm to provide this scope of work.

MUNICAP does have a co respondent or subcontractor uh e consult solutions.

Um you can look at the experience background and qualifications, they're all pretty similar.

All three firms have done some level of work around sports entertainment districts or venues.

Where the difference really came through was on the proposed plan.

Municap had a strong proposed plan, a really good understanding of the scope of work we were looking for, and they had a well detailed map of the data, the methodologies, and the work that they were going to be doing.

Um, and then the role between MUNICAP and eConsult was well defined as well.

So we understand who the lead is on each part of the engagement.

So our recommendation on this RFP is to award the contract to MUNICAP.

We put the contract amount at $350,000.

So when they bid the scope of work, it came in at just over $316,000.

We're recommending to you that we put the other roughly $34,000 in contingency.

It's about a 10-week project for them to do this work to come back with us to come back to us with the preliminary results of their study.

We'd like to have a little bit of contingency there.

So as the district evolves and we get a better understanding about how much retail is going to get built or as assumptions change, we want to be able to run that back through this model if we need to.

It's just a contingency.

It's something that can help us continue to do our due diligence on the study.

We did put the term through April of next year.

I'll just highlight a couple of relevant engagements from UniCap.

They have done a similar study for the proposed Medco Stadium, which is the new Washington Commander Stadium and the proposed entertainment district there.

Looking at at working for Prince George's Maryland, doing a 35-year department level cost of service.

So very similar to what we're looking for here.

76th place, which is the Philadelphia Sixers proposed arena and their mixed use development.

They did a multi-decade decade general fund revenue projection that included incorporated retail and sales tax forecasting.

So they've done similar work that we're looking for here.

Just a couple of things on e-consult, which I mentioned is kind of the co-respondent or subcontractor here.

They have done work for the Kansas City Chiefs and economic impact analysis of the Chiefs team and stadium to include tax impacts.

They also work for the city of Cleveland evaluating the potential economic and fiscal impacts of plans by the Browns to develop a stadium outside the city.

So they all have a lot of depth of experience here in this space, and that's where we're recommending moving forward with this team.

In terms of the funding for the contract, it is coming out of the hot capital and redemption fund, which is kind of what we indicated as part of our plan back in January.

So I will now shift to item number six, which is the executive program manager.

This one, this solicitation was a request for qualifications, not an RFP, but a request for qualifications.

We're looking for consultant to serve as the city's executive program manager or EPM on the district.

They would be part of the city-led team to provide oversight and manage of the management of the district program.

The EPM really acts as the senior representative providing providing program level leadership to support the program.

They really help us coordinate and manage all the capital activities that are happening across the district, managing all of that work, coordinating all that work, phasing, sequencing, looking at all the interdependencies and helping us manage the program.

We did a pre-solicitation briefing to the audit committee in mid-January, post-solicitation briefing on April 14th, and with your approval today, we would engage them and begin that work with them as an EPM starting in May.

Just a little bit more information on what the EPM does.

I mean again, they kind of act as our senior representative.

They help us again look at all the infrastructure, the venue projects, all the capital that's going on within the district.

They provide program governance and executive decision support.

So they set up a governance structure that helps us identify issues, vet issues, due diligence, and get to an appropriate decision making level quickly so that decisions can be made, projects can stay hopefully on track on schedule and within budget.

They are a strategic advisor to us.

So as we think about how we move forward with the district, how we phase things, how we look at some of the options that we've been talking about.

They're a strategic advisor that we can pull resources in and and pull from.

I mentioned they manage the portfolio.

So this is a big difference in terms of what we were looking for, not necessarily an EPM for a project like a convention center expansion, but an EPM that was going to cover the entire district.

They put in place the program controls, you know, the things that allow us again to manage schedule to manage budget, they help us with all that.

Dashboards, we've had a lot of conversation about dashboards.

They will help us build the internal dashboards that we will need for decision making, and just as importantly, they will help us develop the public-facing dashboards that are you know really uh gonna be an important part as we move forward here because they allow us to be sharing real-time information about what we're doing in the district and how we're proceeding.

Um procurement and contracting and service delivery is an important piece.

So as we think about how we deliver when we get to design, when we get to capital delivery on some of these projects, how should we procure that?

What does that look like?

They'll help us work through that.

And then they're there to support us on the stakeholder, the public interagency coordination, they'll help with all of those elements, and again, and a support role on any kind of community engagement that we're doing at that part at that point.

Um, I also want to mention that we really want our EPM to engage with the Spurs and their EPM.

That was in the term sheet.

We believe that there's some real opportunities to collaborate and coordinate here for potential savings.

If we're assuming that the convention center expansion project and the Spurs arena are moving forward at the same time, we certainly believe there's some opportunity for savings as we procure things.

Maybe something as simple as how we order steel for both projects.

There may be some economies of sale scale where we can get some savings there.

Um the other thing we want to make sure that if we're not at least getting that savings, that we don't create competition between the two projects.

If they're moving at the same time, we do not want to create competition for materials or supplies where we're driving each other's costs up.

So there needs to be a lot of coordination and collaboration occurring if both those projects are moving forward on a similar schedule.

From a capital perspective, I will tell you the other thing we've talked a little bit about is you know, we design buildings, we look at buildings, we look at the operations and logistics of the buildings.

Um, in this case, we want to maybe take a little bit of a different perspective and see if there's opportunities to look at operations from a operational logistics from a district perspective.

Those buildings are going to be within a thousand feet of each other.

So as we think about are there opportunities, and we certainly want to explore.

Don't know if we if it'll work, but we want to explore things like could we share dock space?

Is there a way to do that?

Where we can uh create some savings by uh sharing that but still meet the operational needs of each of the individual venues.

So those are examples of the kinds of things we want to be able to explore as we move forward with uh the project and the program.

Uh this is the EPM model, just kind of a graphic representation.

I just wanted to highlight a couple of things here.

We are expecting to set up a city steering committee similar to what we have at the airport to give you an idea of what that looks like.

The members of the steering committee at the airport include the city manager, deputy city manager, myself, chief financial officer, city attorney, uh, assistant city manager over the airport, aviation director, deputy aviation director.

We've we meet very methodically and on a schedule so that we are making sure that we're staying on track.

If there's issues they get elevated there, we're able to work through those.

So I would expect we'll have a similar steering committee set up for this program moving forward.

You see right below that the executive program manager with the city team that will be overseeing the entire program.

And then below that, we have each of the individual projects, call them the first phase of the projects of the district listed there.

They're not all on the same time frame.

The expansion, convention center expansion and the arena likely would be on similar tracks.

Infrastructure, dome, connectivity would likely be on different tracks.

So I wanted to point that out from the standpoint that this is the EPM for the program.

We will need additional consultants and work within inside of the projects themselves, much like we do on an expansion project.

We'll need project management or cost management consultants that will be part of that project.

Um, so there'll be other opportunities and contracting opportunities as we move forward.

You'll note they all say PMCM.

We didn't want to create one box because I want to give you the impression that it's the same consultant.

It may be very different, it may be different consultants at different points in time.

And then below that, of course, you have design contracts, construction contracts, contracts that we need to put in place in order to deliver and execute on the capital program.

And then you see a box there, second to the right for the arena.

It's actually arena mixed use uh development.

Those would be the Spurs contracts.

They will engage those consultants, those contractors, those design firms, uh, you know, on uh from they will uh they will contract for those themselves.

Um that will not be part of our contracting part.

But you may have also seen that they mentioned uh last week they announced they're seeking local contractors and businesses to be part of their design and construction team.

So while this is the EPM over the program, there will be other contracting opportunities certainly as we move forward uh with the program.

The RFQ on the left-hand side is the evaluation criteria, the points that were assigned to each of the categories.

Evaluation committee included Maria Villa Gomez, our deputy city manager, myself, Alex Lopez, assistant city manager, John Peterek, assistant city manager, our chief financial officer Troy Elliott, uh Tim O'Crongley, our deputy director at aviation, Michael Shannon, Director of Capital Delivery, and Erica Ragsdale, a redevelopment officer with our neighborhood and housing services department.

So in the evaluation committee, we really wanted a mix of uh city managers, office leadership, capital construction, finance as we looked at these firms and evaluated uh uh these proposals.

This slide breaks down the evaluation criteria a little bit more, talks about what we were looking for in terms of uh experience, background, and qualifications, looking for experience on uh managing a program, uh a district, small geographic area.

Um, wanted to see what kind of work they had done in those areas, the assigned staff who was assigned to the core team that was going to be supporting uh us from an EPM perspective, some of the projects that they worked on before on the proposed plan, uh, their approach to management, uh managing the program, the governance model that I mentioned earlier, uh how they manage uh uh the phasing component, uh staffing, really wanted something that's scalable so that we can get the resources we need at the level that we need them.

We don't always need the highest experienced person working on something, so we want to be able to shift that based on the task and the work that we're doing.

So they we wanted to make sure that it was a scalable uh model.

Um in terms of some other areas that we expanded our focus on, they're listed here.

So as we think about relevant experience again, wanted some uh to see experience on a complex district or complex program or complex project where you're gonna see some of the issues that we're likely going to run into as we talk about a district that uh is is a lot of investment in a small geographic area, team structure and working relationships.

Again, who is assigned to that core team and their experience, who the assigned program manager, the lead executive was, what their experience was in doing this kind of work, the prime consultant and their subs.

Have they worked together before?

What kind of history do they have?

On the program management and delivery side, that governance and risk management strategy.

We really wanted a well-defined governance structure.

Um, as we thought as we think about moving forward with this program.

And then we asked about proposed approach and key differentiate differentiators, you know, what set them apart maybe from others.

Uh, public communication, support or development of a public communication plan, and then some of the public-facing things we've talked about, like the dashboard and the reporting tools.

Um, this is the evaluation scoring matrix.

Um there were eight firms that responded to the RFQ, so we got a great response to the request for call for qualifications.

Um, normally when we get this many firms, we would look at the proposals, we would uh score, we would shortlist.

In this case, the evaluation committee determined that we really wanted to interview all eight firms.

So we did that.

We brought in all eight firms and interviewed each of them.

So, based on our evaluation of the proposals, the information submitted, the interviews, we are recommending accenture Infrastructure and Capital projects LLC.

Um, you can see the final scores listed here on the slide.

Um, I do want to point and note that there is a change on project control.

If you look under local preference, and I'll come back to some of the other scoring in a second, but if you look at local preference, uh, you see there's been 10 points there.

That was not there on the initial score sheet that we had.

We discovered that there was an error there.

We wanted to make sure they were eligible for the points under the local preference program.

We did not get a response, but we should have followed through.

And that was an error on our part and done that due diligence, but they should get the 10 points.

So those 10 points have been added in.

You can see extension accenture still at 73 points, project control at about 52 points, and then you see a kind of a grouping of three to five in the 40-point range, and then you see uh six through eight.

Um, I do want to note that all the evaluation committee members, as we did our evaluation and our scoring, all had accenture ranked number one in terms of meeting this scope of work for the EPM for program services.

Um I'll talk a little bit more about uh Accenture on the next couple of slides, and then I'll talk a little bit about what led to some of the differences in the scoring that you see here on the matrix.

So, in terms of uh Accenture, and some of the major program experience, you got the new Aloha Stadium Entertainment District in Hawaii.

It's an 98-acre district integrating stadium mixed use infrastructure and transit oriented development.

We've got the Athens Arena District, which is a mixed use development anchored by the Aikens Ford Arena and the Classic Center in Georgia.

You've got the University of California, MERSET 2020 project.

It's about uh 1.2 million gross square feet of mixed use development, including new classrooms, research laboratories, um, a number of different other amenities.

Uh they're working on the Obama Presidential Center, which is a multi-venue civic campus integrated with surrounding infrastructure.

They have done work for the Chicago Transit Authority on their capital improvement program and some of their modernization of some of their lines, but also some of the extensions of some of that, some of that work.

Um excuse me.

Um the other thing I'll just note is um they are a technical advisor to Metro links.

Um they're part of an integrated uh joint venture team.

That is a rail line in Ontario, Canada.

That project is a 14.1 billion dollar infrastructure infrastructure project that includes expanded track, tracks, 15 stations, six interchanges with other modes of transportation.

They're supporting the procurement of the early works and P3 construction contracts and the management of the implementation, the design and construction phases for that.

So they're providing technical advisory services on that.

Um certainly saw uh their program experience, their team's experience working on a program that is a little more complex and broad, and then um the experience of the assigned core team, and I'll talk a little bit more about that in a second.

So, in terms of their proposed plan, they did really focus on the district program rather than individual projects or venues within the district.

Uh they outlined four different work stream uh management models.

Uh there's a program.

Uh let me back up a little bit.

Um, I'll start with the executive program manager position.

Um, that's the lead executive that will be leading the program.

Um they're proposing Dan Malloy would fill this role.

Dan would be relocating to San Antonio.

His experience includes being the principal in charge on a three billion dollar airport terminal in Abu Dhabi to include the enabling infrastructure.

They proposed uh four work streams that include program controls and administration that really focuses on governance, uh the program and the controls to maintain scope, schedule, and budget.

Uh Ginther Pros is the is a proposed initial lead to help set this up.

He has experience with large capital programs, including uh the public building commission of Chicago's 2.4 billion dollar capital plan.

Um, the next section was planning and design management.

This really oversees the planning, completion, design, architecture, and engineering functions.

Uh this would be initially led up by Stacey Jones with Crawford.

Uh his experience includes serving as a prime consultant doing master planning for the state of Hawaii's new Aloha Stadium Entertainment District, pre-construction and construct uh pre-construction and construction services.

They support the review of construction contracts, terms and conditions, they assess constructability and oversee the implementation of projects.

Mark Addison is the initial proposed lead.

He has experience providing oversight to the JV team for the Chicago Transit Authority's capital improvement program and red line extension.

Strategy and stakeholder management.

They ensure alignment across key stakeholders as the work progresses.

Development of internal and external communications and support for the development and maintenance of dashboards.

Keelan has experience as the development advisor and program manager on the new Aloha Stadium Entertainment District in Hawaii.

I'll mention just a couple of other quick resources here that we have access to through the Accenture contract.

And again, it's a capacity contract, so we will get the resources at the level that we need them to support the tasks or the work that we're doing.

But as we think about advisors or other experts or expertise we could bring in, I'm just going to highlight Ben PV.

Ben is a client account lead overseeing Accenture's Public Service and Higher Education Business.

He's also served as the Chief Information Officer for Accenture Federal Services.

And he's, of course, as you know, the chair of our ready to work program.

Adam Shaw, Adam served as the principal advisor to Crawford and the state of Hawaii on the new Aloha Stadium and Entertainment District.

Janet Smith, who's a co-founder and chair of Canopy.

Canopy is one of Accenture's proposed subconsultants.

She has done planning and development work for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, and Baltimore Orioles.

Fran Well, Fran is a co-founder and CEO also of Canopy.

Prior to that, she was the senior vice president for strategy and development for the San Francisco Giants, leading the leading the design, financing, and entitlements for Mission Rock, a $2.6 billion 28-acre waterfront development adjacent to water to Oracle Park.

And some of some of the examples of some of the things that we saw that differentiated Accenture from some of the other respondents was some of the other respondents had didn't have the program experience, the broader managing a bigger program, complex program, more experience in single venues or programs spread out over a large geographic area over time.

Some of the major team members that were assigned had limited or no large no large program experience.

Some cases we saw unclear roles between team members.

Some had large numbers of subconsultants proposed as part of their team, and then we, of course, saw differences in the assigned program manager that lead executive to lead this program for the city.

So again, our recommendation from the evaluation committee is toward the contract to Accenture Infrastructure and Capital Projects LLC.

Strong relevant experience, again, well-defined governance structure that really stood out.

You know, the work on the dashboards, supporting uh getting something up quickly, and then we'll uh let that evolve over time.

We'll build that dashboard here, but getting something up quickly.

I think also Accenture and the team's depth of resources that are available to us as we move forward.

Again, it's a it's a capacity contract, so we're able to pull the resources we need.

They've got a broad range of experience that we could uh tap into, everything from district programs, transportation, sports, and technology, and then the scalability of the resources.

Again, there are times where we're gonna want some of the executives that I mentioned, their feedback, their insight as we're looking at it, but we don't need that all the time.

So it's really about being able to take the resources we have under the EPM contract and tailor it to the task and the work that we're doing.

Some of the excuse me, some of the key contract terms.

Um it's gonna be a phased approach, similar to what we did out at the airport for the airport terminal development program.

We're recommending to you that phase one be uh up to six million dollars through March of next year.

Again, it is uh resource-based, it is task-based, exhibit A of the contract outlines what we see this first initial stage in terms of the work that they will be doing.

Um we believe the staffing range will be about 10 to 15 FTEs initially.

Um, once this initial first phase of the contract is over, we'll come back to you to amend the contract to add the uh financial capacity for the remainder of the base term that is the same process we used uh for the airport uh engagement um it is up to six million dollars um we've talked about this before this contract I think the majority of that would be funded from the hot redemption uh hot redemption and capital fund but as we move further into development within the program then much like our capital delivery uh department charges costs back to projects these costs start to get charged back to the work that they're doing so if we get to a point for example that you all want to move forward with a convention center expansion project and we're moving forward and that project becomes a capital project something that we can capitalize we start to charge their work to that to that project so it will shift at some point but we're in the early stages more of this is going to be operating in nature would be more coming out of the hot capital redemption fund it is a five year base term with five one year options to extend so that base term would take us to about 2031 which really captures most of this what we think is the first phase of the program in the district and then those five year one option five year five one year options are at the sole discretion of the city and the contract does have a termination for convenience so for whatever reason we need to end the contract we're able to do that.

Mayor and council that wraps up my presentation on uh items five and six and would be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you Ben we have one um individual from the public that is signed up to speak on this item Jessica Palacios good morning mayor and city council members my name's Jessica Palacios and I serve as the Director of government affairs at the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce representing nearly 900 businesses across our region I'm here today also on behalf of our CEO Luis Rodriguez a steadfast advocate for San Antonio's business community and regrets that he couldn't be here to join you in person.

I'm here today to speak specifically on item number six regarding the approval of the contract with Accenture and as we heard it's to address phase one of the proposed sports and entertainment district it's a significant investment and opportunity that that's presented for San Antonio's economic growth and as this project moves forward it's critical that the benefits are felt broadly across our local business communities particularly in the small and locally owned firms and while we appreciate the inclusion of the 14% for small business enterprise goal we believe that the benchmark should be um reconsidered and strengthened to a more meaningful reflection of the depth and capability of our local business ecosystem in Texas small businesses make up over 90% of businesses statewide and it this a generational investment like this should reflect that reality so there are steps that can be taken to to address that first we can we encourage the city to revisit the small business participation goals as I just mentioned and second um there's we recommend strengthening the city's existing point preference framework to better support um even veteran owned businesses currently there's five points awarded to veteran owned firms compared to the 10 points for small businesses, and we think that that could be strengthened.

Um and third, accountability matters.

So as there have been discussions about tracking of how much city dollars are spent and how much is actually reaching local businesses, it's critical to establish clear benchmarks and publicly report on the local utilization to give us the data that we need to set stronger and more informed goals for this project as well as future projects.

Um with that, the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce stands ready to serve as a resource and a partner to ensure that the business community is represented and that this investment delivers a significant and measurable economic impact across San Antonio.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That was the only member of the uh public signed up to speak on items five and six.

Okay.

Is there a motion to approve item five so we may begin discussion?

I make a motion to approve.

Yeah, and Antonio, um, and if that's the same issue for Diana, you're welcome to speak.

I don't know how it happened because online I I saw this items, and that's what I signed up for.

So thank thank you for allowing it.

My my issue is the transparency.

Again, we even saw it today.

I know that the presentations are are kind of long, but they have not been publicly uh made, so they've may been made privately, and the public is not aware of much of what's going on, and there is much opposition to this entertainment district in case you all didn't know, and how the monies are spent, we we don't even know because again, actually there's been no no public information about it.

So item four would have I think fit right in, being that it would have given more information, it would have taken more time, but it would it would have informed whatever public is here, and also via the television, so they'd be more aware of what is occurring and what you all are voting on.

Because you're gonna vote now and then have the uh actual item four information sometime in the future.

That's kind of asinine to me, and not just that is redundant, but it's somehow.

But how do they say put it put in the wagon in front of the horse instead of the horse in front?

Anyway, that there is there is a lack of transparency with creating this entertainment district and what is for Project Marvel, all this that has occurred so rapidly and at a great expenditure to the public.

We're not going to uh as far as I understand it, the entertainment district, even though it will be getting tax dollars that would have normally just gone to the state, will still not be going into the general uh budget at all.

So it will not help us in any shape or form while it's giving away quite a lot of area in our east downtown area uh region and which is been impoverished for so long.

So I would I would say it it's not going to benefit any residents near that area at all, as it will raise property taxes on them, and they will not benefit from the general budget at all for services.

So that is that is what I was hoping to be able to hear more of a presentation.

I've heard about the contracting and uh paying someone over three or some odd million dollars to be either the executive manager or a consultation for firm without the public actually knowing what how what what benefits will come to the general put public, is my issue today, and I I thank you again for allowing this.

Mayor Jones.

Thank you.

Diana, if you'd like to speak, you have three minutes.

Uh I'm here because uh Marvel, I'm against Marvel.

I love the Spurs.

We all do, don't we?

Yeah, they won these past few few games and they made it to the playoffs.

But they also should pay their dues.

Since they owe the city, we buy all their stuff.

They have enough money to pay back.

Why can't they do it?

Instead, they keep taking the money from the city, our taxpayers.

We're all taxpayers here.

And that's money coming from our heart working hands and everything.

Y'all need to get them to pay back the city because the city needs the money to fix the for the floodings and the streets and try to make more roads so that it this city won't be too contested in the streets, the highways.

Y'all districts, y'all need to uh fix stuff in your districts too.

How are you gonna fix it if you don't got the money?

You get it, you keep getting it from us from the Texas.

Remember what you do, you reap what you sow.

Y'all keep hurting the city.

Y'all gonna be hurting too.

Not just us.

We're citizens.

I love sports.

I love to see it.

Why don't we pay the little ones that are playing baseball?

All that much money that they're paying the grown-ups.

Don't you want your kids to be paid too?

I know you do.

But you don't ask for it.

Ask and you shall receive.

So that's what they're doing asking, asking, asking, and they keep receiving, and we don't get nothing in return.

You keep displacing people from their homes, their lands.

That's not right.

Y'all giving them 25 acres.

That's not right.

Give it to me.

I could use 25 acres.

And I bet a whole bunch of our citizens will love that too.

But y'all keep giving them debates and everything and making us pay.

Thank you.

That was the final speaker from the public.

Is there a motion to approve item five so we may begin discussion?

I make a motion to approve.

Okay.

There's a motion and a second.

Councilwoman Corps seconded.

Okay.

Uh Councilman Viegan, you're recognized.

Thank you.

Um, as chair of the audit committee, during the April 14th meeting, I recommended that both item five and item six be brought forward to the next available city council.

A session is individual invited items to ensure the f full council has the opportunity to weigh in, ask questions, and participate in this transparent and thoughtful discussion.

Again, the council at any time can talk with Troy and Ben regarding this.

And over the past um year or so that we've been doing it.

I have been talking with Ben and Troy to make sure that they understood the purposes and the goals.

Um the voters did come out in a county election, stated they were ready to move forward, and the city did agree to be part of that participation, and here we are, and this is just the next step.

I uh trust implicitly, Troy and Ben and their teams in doing the best deal.

This is what we decided as a council, so this is how we move forward.

I know it was not uh unanimous.

I know that people have um still some reservations, but this is where we're at, and the jobs it's going to bring, the the fact that we are gonna continue to do a study, and I don't know any study that's going to tell you yes, um, no, yes, you should get rid of a NBA championship team that's in the finals.

I don't know any study out there that's going to do that.

So here we are, and I'm excited about these steps, but I think we need to to again understand that a lot of this is on a dashboard.

You can go online and look, and we are we are being we are providing this information.

So, Municap came forward with item number five.

I feel like they are the right uh group for this team as we move out.

So I look forward to moving that for forward.

And item six, thank you, Ben, for the list of people that are going to be serving on this team.

I think the numbers spoke for themselves.

Um, we do need some expertise, which I feel Accenture will bring regarding how we move people downtown and how we get people to place A and place B when we have those multiple events.

So I look forward to that.

And I also understand I trust the city team that if we as council members are hearing from our community that we do not see the growth coming on this project like we intended that Accenture has not sent their best team, their A team, that we have a city team that's going to take care of that.

So for me, I trust Troy and Ben.

They haven't let me down in the last as I've sat here, they didn't leave let the last councilwoman down.

So I look forward to moving these items forward, getting a larger briefing, hearing how we're going, and making sure we make that available online.

So thank thank you for the presentation.

Uh, I look forward to hearing insight from my um council members, and um, you know, we just this is where we're at, and we know that this is one of multiple businesses and industries we want to bring to San Antonio, and sports and entertainment is something that helps attract other businesses because they like they like their their employees to stay in the city and not travel to Houston and Austin for their entertainment.

So thank you again.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, and I look forward to moving this forward.

Councilman McKee Rodriguez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, just to be clear, we're taking discussion for items five and six together, but the votes are gonna be different.

Uh that's correct, yes.

Okay, thank you.

I guess I'll um I'm a little irate right now, a little aggravated, and all of this that just happened right before this briefing did not need to happen, and I want to convey to you all exactly what exactly what it was, right?

And so the presentation that you all got was the substantive information that we were gonna get as a part of item four.

There's a few updates here and there, but I think largely the people who want accessibility and want transparency and want to know what's going on with Project Marvel, you would not have been satisfied with that presentation.

I'm gonna tell you exactly what it said earlier this year.

You'll remember we took uh we took a vote.

Well, actually, I'll go back a little bit.

I went I cast my vote no on both propositions A and propositions B at the ballot box.

I maintain that we as a city with the great needs that we have should not be spending money on arenas and on nice-to-haves when we have much better uses, much more uh many more uses that'll be more impactful for our community.

What ended up happening was a campaign that cost seven, eight, nine, however many millions of dollars that it was that ended up prevailing.

And so we as a city now have uh, you know, an arena that's coming forth with county approved tax dollars.

There's gonna be opportunities and whatnot for city council to weigh in and whatnot, because we still have our very significant portion of that funding, but y'all were not gonna get a lot of helpful information on that.

There's not a lot of movement that's been made.

Y'all remember on January 15th, council approved submission of an offer at a public meeting for acquisition of the ITC property that we anticipate will close sometime between June and July.

We also approved accepting 30 million dollars from this from the Spurs, they did contribute their three million three million dollars of those dollars uh for the initial part of the acquisition, and as soon as closing happens, they're gonna be contributing the last 27 million dollars with regard to the land bridge that everyone has been saying, you know, it's up in the air.

We are conducting an existing conditions analysis, community workshops are going to be happening between June and August with open houses taking place in November, and then development of a final plan and for the framework and preliminary engineering over the first of the preferred projects will be happening by December.

The ITC purchase is in negotiations through June, and an appraisal of the property was requested April 30th.

We anticipate acquisition by December 31st.

The Spurs Arena terms, the contract that we're negotiating, right?

That's going to be uh done by December 31st.

So ongoing between now and December 31st, we expect something will happen by then.

The convention center in September staff in September staff is going to present an updated feasibility study for its expansion.

For the Alamo Dome, staff is conducting a detailed review of the capital planning report with recommendations presented in December.

The district infrastructure, stuff that I'm sure that we're gonna be asked to vote for as a part of the next bond.

Staff is going to present recommendations in September.

For the mobility study, we'll consider a consultant in June.

That'll take eight to twelve weeks, and we will receive a report in September.

The chilled water plant study, not necessarily what you know that chilled water plant that exists, will receive a recommendation for an expansion of chilled water capacity much later at another date.

And so, really, not a whole lot of information y'all we're gonna get today.

I wanted to be clear about that.

The next big opportunity that the public has to voice their opposition to Project Marvel, Eric, when will it be?

So, more than likely, as we work through those detailed documents with the Spurs and bring them back to the council by the end of the calendar year, that's really a major tipping point uh for for you all as a group.

Okay, when do we anticipate that'll be December 31st?

Well, not on December 31st.

Before December 31st, before the end of the year, yes.

So we still do not have that answer.

And so if the community is looking for that and wanted to know what it was based off of this presentation, I want you to have it.

I want you to know that we don't have much more information beyond that.

And so, with regards to items five and six today, when I received my briefing, this is exactly what I said.

So for items five, there were three uh bidders.

They're all out of town.

I don't know any of them, give it to the one who scored the highest, the one the staff says, hey, this is the company that we want to work with because they have the best plan, they have the best experience, the best qualifications.

With the second item, we received a lot more uh a lot more interest, a lot more applications, it's a bigger contract, more millions of dollars uh, you know, uh on the table.

We had a lot more companies that have a San Antonio presence, and what we saw and what you saw in the presentation was that one accenture was leaps and bounds above everyone else in terms of their uh in terms of points scored, even before any local preference points, veteran points, any of that.

And so for me, my concern is this is a five-year contract, we have the opportunity to terminate it should we decide that the work is not being done to our satisfaction and that they're not meeting our expectations.

My concern is that there is not an ecosystem of interest that can step up and take the place in the because none of the other entities scored nearly as well.

And so, what happens in the event that we end that contract and we have to terminate?

So, maybe uh uh Ben, would you mind answering that?

How do we ensure that if we have to go if we have to reissue a solicitation, how do we ensure that we're getting the best quality uh partners?

So if you would pull slide 17 up.

So, so councilman, when we evaluated this, you're evaluating written proposals, all the information they're providing to us, the interviews, the assigned team, all of that, and then we're comparing the proposals to each other, right?

So if you take extension out of this mix and we're doing the evaluation, it might look a little bit different.

So project control, who's number two here, for example, really strong in project management, in cost control.

We've used them on some of our projects like the convention center expansion.

Um what they didn't necessarily have was as much as that program experience.

So if we had to do an RFQ, we would redo it, we would put the experience, we would put the requirements back out, and we would interview those, look at those, and make a recommendation on who we thought could do that work.

Okay.

I guess my concern remains that say Accenture had not had not applied, had not submitted, then the scores would have looked a lot different, as you just said, and maybe we would end up with a partner who wasn't one of the other ones.

And so I don't know how we in our process build a little bit more.

I'm a little concerned by that.

I'm a little concerned by that, honestly.

And so I don't know that you'll be able to have an answer that's satisfactory for me today, but I wanted to convey that to you, wanted to convey that publicly, and we're good on that.

I'm gonna support the items.

What I and I want to again express what this was and what this was not because what it's going to look like and what it's going to be uh posed as public is oh, the mayor lost this 10-1 vote to keep this presentation on the table, and it's not that.

This is a many of us still stand exactly where we were on Project Marvel.

Nothing has changed on that.

It was about the timing of the presentation, quality of the presentation, and then the fact that we are having a very big discussion on housing discrimination in just another hour, I'm sure.

And so I want to make sure that you know I came here because I want to hear you.

I want to give you all the chance to speak.

People are gonna be leaving by the minute the more slides that go by.

And so looking forward to that.

Just thank you all for being here.

Really appreciate y'all.

Love a packed house.

Mayor, um, just real quick, Councilman, excellent summary of the overview, and and for those that are interested, the presentation is online attached to our agenda if they'd like to see it.

So thank you.

Council uh woman Mesa Gonzalez.

Thank you for the presentation.

Um, I think it's important that you know we clearly define uh specific goals and uh demonstrate how we will provide new insights for this presentation.

Just a few questions.

Um I think it's where is it?

I won't look.

So what specific criteria will staff use to determine um when it's appropriate to draw from the contingency fund?

On the district study?

On item five, yes, sorry.

Um, yes, so um the $316,000 roughly will complete the scope of work as we have it, right?

So the the 10-week project done roughly at the end of July should complete that scope.

The contingency we really put in place more for as the program and the district evolve, things are gonna get more clear.

How much the first phase of mixed use development, how much retail is in there, what is that first phase of mixed use development look like?

Um, this gives us the option to then go back to them if we feel like we need to and say, you know what, update your model.

Let me just see what the difference is on the sales tax forecast, for example.

So it gives us a little bit of flexibility, not that they would necessarily use it, but it would be really either updating something in the cost of services model or something in the revenue forecast that changes between the summer and the April and April time frame that we'd want to run through them and their models to see if we need to change anything.

Okay, thank you.

And does that come through us or is that done by the CFO or?

This is the yeah, it's an administrative uh pull out of the contingency, but as we do updates to you all, we would let you know we're doing that.

Okay, thank you so much.

And then can you clarify how this study builds or maybe even differs from prior work done by CSL or any new insights we're expecting to gain from the work that they've done?

Yeah, so this is very different.

So this is very specific to our organization where you know you mentioned CSL, that's more of an economic impact analysis, looking at the impact to the broader community.

This is really focused on what's the impact to us, our organization, and the budget.

So we're focused on, for example, cost of service.

What does it mean for us when the district is lightly activated or when it's heavily activated?

How do we deploy those resources?

What are those costs look like?

Um, the revenue side, very specific to us.

You know, what are the things that I mentioned we're gonna focus on the non uh the revenues that are not pledged to bonds?

So sales tax probably be the biggest one out of that.

Um, what does that specifically look like?

Uh in terms of a forecast over the next 30 years.

So it is work that is much more specific to our budget and our organization.

Thank you.

Uh and then given that this runs through I think it's April of 2027, right?

Yes, ma'am.

So do we get any at what point do we get any preliminary reports?

You'll get the first preliminary report probably in the August September time frame.

So the 10-week time frame we should be done late July, early August.

So it should be in that in that same window.

A lot of the feasibility studies, a lot of the work that Councilman McKee Rodriguez went over and kind of that update, a lot of those are gonna land in that same kind of time frame because it it's all kind of interdependent a little bit.

So we're all timing around August, September, October.

Thank you.

Okay, and thank you, Councilman McKee, for that summary.

That was great.

Um, I think I I would like to just maybe propose that if as a study identifies new revenue opportunities, if staff will ensure that recommendations include specific strategies to keep those marketing and hosting opportunities accessible to small and local businesses here in San Antonio, uh making sure that that impact really hits us at home, right?

Um, and so I think just um I'm hopeful that we will build on the prior work that we've done.

Um I look forward to receiving in um updates, and um I'm pleased to support this item.

Um, item five.

Um, so if I can just add on that one, absolutely.

So we we as we identify new revenue opportunities, it's really just the identification.

Um we would have obviously come back to you all and have policy conversations about how we implement those, what do those look like?

So that would be an ongoing policy conversation with you all.

Great, thank you, Ben.

Um, do I move on to item six now?

Is that right?

Okay, um, so item six, um, just a few questions there.

You mentioned Accenture was selected in part because it on slide 21 uh demonstrated a strong collaboration and communications plan.

So does this include the efforts on the community engagement side, or is that a separate plane?

Uh both.

So there's a there's a um strong plan there in terms of communication amongst team members, uh our partners, stakeholders.

There's gonna be a lot of alignment and communication that needs to happen both externally and externally there, and then they can support us if we're moving forward with additional or when we move forward with additional uh public engagement opportunities, they can help support uh that that effort as well.

Okay, thank you.

And on, I think it's uh regarding after phase one.

Do we expect we have six million dollars?

I must I think it's at phase one, correct?

That's correct.

And do we expect the cost for those following phases to be more or less or do you have an understanding of that yet?

I mean, to be determined, but that that this covers us through I mean, all the work that we have talked about that we briefed you all in January, all the feasibility studies, all the infrastructure, that's where we're gonna ask them to um basically help us manage.

And when I say manage, we've given you rough schedules, they're going to take that and get very granular about all of that schedule sequencing, phasing, interdependencies, where there might be gaps, how do we close gaps, stand the governance up?

There's a lot of work to do in this initial part before we get into just kind of managing the work streams, right?

Um, so when you think about the six million or up to six million through March, we'll then be coming back to you all and asking to amend that contract to then get the balance of the base term, which would be another three and a half years, almost four years.

Um, that will be a a bigger number, but some of that will get charged back to the the projects as well.

Okay, thank you so much.

Um, well, I look forward to supporting both of these items.

I think it's important as a council that we stay as you know updated as we can and uh share this with our residents as often as possible because if we start explaining too late, um we're losing right at the end of the day, and so our residents are expecting us to give updates when uh when appropriate.

And I just went to NHO, every HO I've been to probably in the last month.

One question comes up about this project, and so um it's important that we're sharing this information as much as possible.

So uh thank you to the audit committee for the work that they did and to your staff, um, and again to Councilman McKee for the summary of uh the presentation and slide four.

That was helpful.

And I look forward to continuing the work uh that councilman core brought up with the committee that was formed in January to make sure that we can take that information back to residents, not so much downtown, but definitely uh want to be downtown.

So I would think that's my residence in district eight.

Thank you so much.

Councilman, if I can just add two things just real quick, um on the just some context on the amendment to the contract, it'll follow the same process we use for the airport.

So if you kind of look at that amendment, it's probably gonna be around the same ratio.

Um, the other thing that we'll do when we come back in B session that we can talk about, you mentioned uh getting more information out.

You know, I think one of the things we're excited about getting up and getting looking at getting up quickly is a public facing dashboard.

Yeah, we have information on the the website.

I think we need to organize it differently.

Uh what we've talked to Accenture about is not going off and spending the next year, building the dashboard, building all the back end stuff that's going to feed into the dashboard and then launching it.

We're trying to get something up quickly that we'll have to manually feed, but we'll build it as we go.

You all will see it, the community will see it, we can get your feedback, we can continue to adjust.

But I'm I'm really hoping that will help on the communication side.

I know it will help on the communication side, because we'll keep that updated.

There'll be progress there so that we can show uh what's happening more quickly, and it'll be more accessible.

Okay, thank you so much.

Councilman Mungia.

Thank you very much.

Um, so on item number five, I think this is great.

It was certainly a large community request and and things people have been looking out for.

Um, so could you go to let me see what slide is?

Slide four, please.

Uh Ben, I just had a real quick question.

I you might have covered this already, but when you talk about the second and third uh points here, uh revenue forecasting and new revenue opportunities.

What do you mean by that?

Sure.

So on the sure on the on the on the second bullet, um the revenue forecasting we're looking for are uh revenues that are not pledged to the bond.

So um, and I'm talking about arena convention center, all the stuff that we're doing.

So uh things like our hotel occupancy taxes, the the PFZ or the project financing zone revenues, um, the tours revenues.

We've done all the forecasting around those.

We'll keep updating those as we go.

This is really getting at those other revenues, like for example, sales tax, where um there's been some um forecasts that were done as part of some of the economic impact analysis.

This is going to get very granular to the impact of the general fund on the revenue side.

Uh sales tax, maybe city payment from CPS.

Um, we'll look at other uh uh smaller ones, but we'll forecast those as part of this effort.

New revenue opportunities, we just want to look at as you look at districts elsewhere, as we think about opportunities that may be available to us, that we identify those.

Uh, we see if we have authority to do them, and then we come back and have a policy conversation uh with you.

Uh a simple one that as we talked to other folks that that have similar districts or venues that came up was when you when you activate a district and you have a lot of people there, they they said that they that pop-up marketing and sponsorships was was you know a new revenue stream.

That it was just something that you could pop up quickly, do some marketing advertising and create some revenue.

That's a very uh simple version of that, but there are many others that we want to explore with the consultant and then bring those back to you.

Last point you made, I would also say a future focus with that on small businesses and even perhaps lottery opportunities for people to be there.

So we don't want just people who have connections, right, to have a market there, but people all across our districts who can maybe sign up and then get called upon to to do that.

So I think that's important.

So these revenue opportunities are so so far, kind of the revenue opportunities you've showed us in our presentations are revenues that are committed to certain like tours and the bond and all that kind of the PFZ stuff.

That's correct.

So this is new opportunities that don't exist in that.

And I'm assuming that these are operat these revenue opportunities are ones that can go to the general fund is what you were talking about, sales tax and all that.

Yes, some would be um obviously sales tax.

I'm talking about our one percent that goes into the general fund.

So we're getting a more granular forecast around that.

There are others that you know we'll have a conversation with you all about whether they stay in and support the district or whether they go elsewhere, but that's the work that we need to do to identify those and then bring those back.

Yeah, um, you know, I think to your to your comment on um the small business thing, absolutely.

I think it was um uh mentioned a minute ago as well.

I mean, it's we bring these back, it's really just identifying them.

We'll do some rough forecasting on the new revenue ones, but then have that policy conversation about do we move forward?

If so, how do we implement it?

Um, I think there may be other opportunities even outside of uh revenues.

I don't remember who mentioned it.

One of y'all mentioned it to me, but uh for example, the districts activated food trucks.

I mean, there's a lot of different things that will come into play when you have that many people activated in a geographic area like that.

And these revenue opportunities exist outside of the term sheet that's been approved by the council with the Spurs.

Uh yes.

Yeah, okay.

I just want to make sure that we note that there are still possible opportunities to exist to to add to the general fund outside of that contract.

Um and so moving on to item number six.

Thank you on that one.

Um, you know, I'm I'm I was pleased to learn that Accenture is part of the airport, and I think that's been they've been doing some great work over there.

The dashboard, of course, is extremely important to get through um as soon as possible to the public so they can start monitoring all the work and seeing all the public meetings.

Um, so can you just walk me through very briefly um two things?

Number one, just in case they don't live up to our expectations, getting out of the contract, what does that look like?

And then two, if you could just reiterate what you already presented on, which is how they're they're getting paid.

So it's is it all up front?

Is it over time?

Uh is it based on the amount of work that they're providing for us.

Can you walk me through those two things quickly?

Sure, absolutely.

So, um, in the event that that we're not satisfied with uh performance, it's a pretty easy it's a termination for convenience that is within the contract, so we simply give them notice and we terminate the contract.

We don't have to say why, we don't have to get into performance issues.

It is a simple termination.

Um if I could jump in though, uh Ben, there's an addition to that, councilman, there's also provisions if they, for example, if we identify where they're failing to perform, we can notify them of that.

They have an opportunity to cure that.

So, as Ben mentioned, there's more than one remedy we have short of simply just terminated.

Thank you.

Um, in terms of the how they get paid, so what they're doing is they're assigning a team to us, right?

That that is gonna flex based on the amount of work that they're doing.

Um, I don't remember the attachment in the contract, but there's an attachment in the contract that lists the types of positions that would be accessible to us as part of the district.

We can always amend or change those, but there's a base list there that ranges um, you know, from cost estimators to engineers to designers to whatever we need for that particular task.

And as we manage those tasks and they assign people to that, they bill us for that based on those uh billable uh billable rates, and so they're really paying, we're paying them for the work as they do it.

They're almost an extension of staff, right?

But they bring uh specific expertise that we're able to use and they help us manage the program.

Great.

I hope that answered your question.

Yes, it does.

Uh, and I don't know that Accenture does this, but the EPM, just to clarify, is not able to bid on work related to the entertainment district.

So if they, for example, had a concrete company, they're not allowed to bid on concrete work for the entertainment district.

That's correct.

So for if we move forward, for example, with the convention center expansion, and we're looking for for uh an EPM there, they wouldn't they would not be able to bid on that.

Okay, so even other EPM positions, they're not able to do.

Right.

As well as the actual work of the construction.

Right.

Okay, that's great.

Well, I think um that's gonna be something positive to keep us on track and to make sure we're filtering out, you know, the information for the residents to have in the public dashboard.

Uh, and I think, yeah, definitely collaboration with the Spurs is very, very important because as you said, uh, we want to try to buy in bulk if we can instead of two different parties purchasing the same thing uh and kind of costing more.

So I think the as much as we can work with them together, I think it's really important.

So thank you.

I think Councilman to summarize kind of what that last question, the way we kind of look at it is um, they will be doing work to support, for example, the convention center expansion, but they can't be in a role and bid on a contract where they're helping us oversee that contract that is either with them or their subs.

That wouldn't work, so we've told them you can't.

That's not that's not something you'd be able to bid on.

So that's how we've kind of um uh separated that.

Gotcha, okay.

Thank you for that clarification.

Um, I'm supporting these two items.

I think that's really important, uh, both of them actually.

Uh so look forward to the future briefing encompassing all of that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman White.

Thanks, Mayor.

Um I guess I'll just begin on the uh on the process to select uh Accenture.

Um I wanna say that I know there was a bunch of great applicants uh that that put forth um strong proposals uh to be the EPM.

Uh particularly I'll reference um project control, which I know had a had a very strong bid and um does does really phenomenal work.

Um and are there opportunities for some of those like project control to still be involved in in some way in the project or or at least somewhere down the line?

Absolutely.

There are okay, great.

Um, and you know, with that said, we've picked Accenture.

Um the termination clause, we can terminate for convenience.

I'm not sure where where Andy went.

There's there's a there's a slight difference between having to go through a notice of cure process uh and just terminating for for any reason.

Uh but am I clear that we can terminate this for any reason without a cure period?

That's that's correct, Councilman.

If we terminate for convenience, okay, good.

Um, because again, to me, the role of the EPM is to make sure that this job finishes um on time uh and within budget and with uh the least amount of disruption uh to the daily life of San Antonians uh is possible.

And I take it from this selection, Ben, that we believe Accenture's the best group to do that.

Yes, we believe they're the most qualified to um be the EPM for the district.

Okay, and and we also uh the main thing here, of course, when we look at this entire project, is we want a project that is going to benefit all of San Antonio uh and be done in a way that all San Antonians can be proud of.

And again, I think um you're telling us today that you believe Accenture is the best group to deliver that.

We believe that Accenture is the best group to meet this scope of work, yes, sir.

So I don't have many specific questions about item items five or six because I think I appreciate the briefings that we got over the past week and I appreciate what we've we've heard today.

Um but I do want to say this there's been a lot of discussion about the district, a lot of discussion about the Spurs arena and how we're gonna be moving forward, a lot of differing opinions.

But today is a day that I believe um we should be excited about.

Um and with one voice, we should say yes to these two items.

Uh, and we should be pleased that we're moving forward today because this can be a project that benefits this entire city and all of its citizens for decades to come.

This isn't just about the Spurs.

Uh, and look, we love the Spurs.

Uh we love them for the success they've had on the court, which of course no NBA franchise has had more success over the past quarter century uh than our San Antonio Spurs.

But but more than that, of course, we love the Spurs for what they do for the community, uh, the partner that they are, the charitable endeavors that they take on, the jobs that they provide for our citizens.

But again, this project is not just about the Spurs.

This is about the city of San Antonio and creating a district that everybody can be proud of, and that is going to create revenue for this city that we can use on all the core city services that we talk about all the time.

It will create revenue to help us fix streets and sidewalks.

It will create revenue uh to help us with our public safety needs.

This is something that will also create a number of jobs for our citizens.

Long term, this is a project that I believe, if done properly, with the guidance of our city staff, with our EPM and everybody that's involved, that will help our city do all the things that we've promised our citizens that we're going to do.

And it'll be a project everybody can be proud of that everybody can access and that everybody can enjoy.

And so, um, to Ben and the team, I appreciate the work.

Um I'll be supportive of these items today, uh, and I look forward to moving this forward.

Councilmember Castillo.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ben, for the presentation.

As some of my colleagues have mentioned, when this MOU came to City Council, of course, I was in opposition to that uh vote.

And then of course, when it came to voters, that was my position as well.

However, we know the cow has left the farm, and voters, while they slimly approve this, this was the will of the voters to move forward.

So now our responsibility as a body is to ensure that we continue to negotiate the best deal that we can as we enter into conversations with each and every one of the definitive documents.

Those documents is where council would have an opportunity to continue to negotiate for better wages, benefits, uh local contracts, so on and so forth.

So that's our role and responsibility is to ensure that we continue to move forward and that we're productive and squeezing the most that we can for San Antonio and Bear County residents.

Uh, with the briefing that we received, I appreciate Ben and Troy walking Justin and I through uh these presentations.

Uh you know, I remain committed as was many of my colleagues to ensure that we continue to remain transparent and share information and continue to gain public input as this large project moves forward.

And that's why councilman Mark White and I filed a council consideration request for a public dashboard to ensure that the public, as council is making decisions and staff in the the group is meeting in terms of those definitive documents that we are communicating to the public what is being discussed, how much is it costing, and where is that money coming from.

Um so Ben, can you share a little bit about how the work of the EPM uh will feed into the public dashboard and when can we expect to see that uh public dashboard established?

So that is one of the tasks that the EPM will be doing is to set up that public facing well, two dashboards, an internal one, but also the public-facing dashboard.

Um we would expect to get that up uh quickly, probably within the first 60 to 90 days to at least have a framework set up.

So I would anticipate um depending upon when we've got the briefing in June, we might be able to give you an update at that point in time.

But the goal is to get it up quickly.

I think I appreciate that, and I appreciate the questions from Councilman Mungia in terms of uh the contractor expectations and ensuring that uh there's accountability and when we could potentially end a contract.

Um again, you know, I think as we move forward, there's constructive dissent, right, which is getting into the weeds with the definitive documents and extracting the best that we can, uh, given that voters did approve this item, and then uh there's destructive uh dissent, right, where we don't get anywhere and we're spinning our wheels.

Uh, and then the end result is the consensus in the body still moves forward with the will of the people.

Um but I appreciate Ben walking us through uh this item and then, of course, looking forward to the definitive documents as we enter into negotiations, get into the weeds to ensure that we get the best um wages for San Antonio workers, the best benefits, and of course, we're supporting and working with local contractors to ensure that uh residents and businesses in the city of San Antonio um see a return on this larger project.

Thank you, Ben.

Thank you, Councilmember Aldarte Gavito thank you uh thank you Ben for the presentation I I want to echo Councilman Viegrando and Councilwoman Castillo's sentiment um you know the voters have spoken um now it's time to get to work so thank y'all so much for the work that y'all have done to to bring these items forward I'm fully supportive of both contracts today you know I I will just uh also echo the sentiment of councilman white you know right now San Antonio has the investment in early childhood we have investment in workforce development we have to be bold and try something new um and we have to invest in economic on in in economic development because I do feel that and we do know that and the voters know that this project will elevate our city and with that elevation comes more funds just like we talked about comes more funds for not only police and fire and core services but all the other things that the city wants to do too this this really is a game changer for our city and so I I'm excited to move forward about uh with it uh one of the things I did want to um stress is that I'm I'm glad that uh councilman castillo mentioned the dashboard but one of the things in my conversation with uh accenture and Ben is for us to set up the the project infrastructure so that way we make sure that we are staying on top of how many local businesses are going to be getting this work I think that's extremely important you know I know that when I'm talking to residents about this project they're consistently asking me how can we how can we do some work we want to be a part of this too and so you know I familiar with project management work so however we can highlight how many local businesses are getting on on the Spurs side on our side uh I I think that my council colleagues and I would really like a clear picture of that absolutely I think that will uh be a key piece of the dashboard and we will definitely make sure that is part of that awesome thank you Ben yeah and other than that I'm I'm excited to keep moving forward on this project thank you councilmember core is not here we'll come back to her uh councilwoman spears thank you mayor I'll be brief um a lot of the questions were asked by my colleagues thank you councilman giae took a lot of my questions but thank you um I feel uh that you've done a lot of work on this Ben and and and everyone really I took a lot of comfort in knowing that this that Accenture was um scored so highly on the matrix and we'd have to have a quarterback here it's just such a vast undertaking and we do owe it to our constituents and our residents to ensure the success here um how much was Accenture's involvement in the airport a determining factor in this decision was that a big influential factor in looking at them seeing their success at the airport um certainly that was something that that we considered I mean this is one where you've got a scope of work we're looking at proposals we're scoring all of that they referenced the airport as a project that demonstrates the kind of uh work that we're looking for in the district uh we've had success at the airport um you know you've seen historically how that project has moved and stayed on track so that was certainly a uh positive part of that um but it wasn't that wasn't the only reason obviously we selected accenture right I talked a little bit about in the proposal about all the other experience that they've got on sports entertainment district the transportation uh involvement that they've got the technology pieces they've got a really broad depth of resources and um the other thing that was very intentional in the proposed plan that that was important to us again that I'm gonna highlight is scalability of resources right so if you look at um some of the names that I mentioned that's gonna come at a higher cost, right then and and we want to make sure as we move forward with the work and the tasks and we move forward with very specific things we need to accomplish, that we've got the right resource at the right level doing that work and and they certainly demonstrated their ability to do that and provide us that kind of resource.

Okay, that's good.

I I agree with my my colleagues about Go Local as much as possible.

I mean, we have our own campaign about that, so we need to execute that to the extent we have that ability within our own our own projects, and um and I appreciate that it's my expectation they're gonna help us remain in compliance on the regulatory the regulations around the district, correct?

That's correct.

Okay.

Um well I'm supportive of both of these, and I thank you for your hard work on this.

I look forward to the continued reporting to council, and I'm assuming Accenture will be involved in that part as well.

Yes, they will be helping us provide or uh build the updates that we give to you all on a regular basis.

Great.

All right, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Councilmember Corps.

Thank you, Mayor.

When I first moved to San Antonio, I was so confused by the fact that San Antonians love our own, and we are so proud to select folks and support our folks and lift each other up.

And I'm like, man, we really don't like other people coming in, and I'm now one of those people.

And so I when I got the responses to the RFP, my first question was like, but no, local.

Um, and so I wanted to dig in and really better understand why these two were selected because to councilman Castillo's point, I think it's our job to make sure we're selecting the right vendors for these really important works, and we saw the amount of dollars on those contracts, they're big contracts.

So we want to make sure if we can um in any way possible that those funds go to companies that are uh that have the expertise here.

So I thank you for sending us the proposals from both Accenture and Municap, my team.

Thank you, Cameron, helped me dig into these proposals, and there was a couple of things that I really liked about them.

So I just wanted to highlight so you could better understand.

So the first one on Accenture is one of the things that they showed was they actually acknowledged already the communication and community engagement challenges that have existed in the project.

And one of the solutions that they said that they've done previously, like in Hudson Yards in New York City, was do a command center.

So VIA actually has a command center on San Pedro where folks can come in and ask questions, and that's been really helpful.

And so I think having something like that at the uh ITC spot would be wonderful, or somewhere at Hemisphere would be wonderful.

I was at King William last night, and to Councilman Castillo mentioned the dashboard, so many folks were already asking, hey, how do I get an update on this?

I get told to go to SA Speak Up, but I don't really know what to do when I get to the SA Speak Up website.

There's just so much information that it's almost information overload, and someone sometimes people just want to speak to someone.

So I actually really like the idea of a command center and think that would be a wonderful asset to be able to create in our community, and I'm hoping that's something that gets proposed as um a part of this.

In addition, um, they have completed all of their projects on time and on budget, which is um the exact language as have not failed to complete a contract.

Um, and so I just thought, given all of the communication about our projects here, that that would be really important.

So I'm excited to see how this moves forward, and the fact that the other thing that was um clearly outlined to me with Ben was that the expertise that's being brought from some of the work that's happened, not only in the country but around the world.

We do need that expertise here to make sure I'm actually gonna agree with council member white that we get a world-class project for all of our residents.

I know shocker.

Um okay, the next one for Municap for this project.

This the district study is actually really important because one, it's a really short turnaround time.

I'm like, wow, you're gonna complete this analysis in 10 weeks, which is uh pretty short time, but also there's um it when you're building a study like this, it's all based on the assumptions.

I was taking a class in business school once, and I'm like, wait, so if you just change one assumption, the entire model changes.

So it's important that we have the best historical data to make sure the assumptions are the most accurate.

And I liked the way that in their proposal they mentioned the difference between the fixed and the variable costs and what council member Mungia mentioned, the opportunity for including revenues that's possible for our small businesses.

Um the lottery idea is great, I will tell you.

Having working with the snow cone vendors right now, lotteries can get tricky, and so um we'll just have to figure out exactly what that looks like.

But I uh I support that idea as well.

So I just wanted to say like uh thank you all.

Thank you for letting me do my due diligence, even though I know you all did very much, and um I appreciate the results that came out of this, and I'm looking forward to moving them forward.

I have two questions.

One um for the executive project manager, the PMs underneath each of those, who selects that?

Is that us or the Accenture team?

It would be you all.

We would be coming back, we would issue solicitations for um consultants that we either need on a PMCM design, construction contracts, all of that would be part of the the what comes back to you all for approval.

Okay, great.

And um, so the small business on one of the slides there was that like a 15% or something small business requirement.

What is that for?

Percent for um, sorry.

Yeah, 14% uh small business requirement for um the accenture EPM contract, they're committed to well, they have to meet that requirement.

So as we issue tasks and they do the work, they'll have to make sure they fulfill that obligation.

Okay.

I was also pleasantly surprised to know how many um employees they did have in the CD.

I was not aware of that.

So great to see that there is some local presence there.

And then the second question I had for um the Municap team.

Are those costs that they come up with?

So, for example, operational costs from police that might have to work on extra weekends.

Is that gonna go back to us, or how are we gonna decide where those costs go?

When you say costs go in terms of the the five the were the results of the study or bring those back to you all, yes.

I think Eric.

No, the who covers the costs.

So we're identifying we're identifying those costs, and we talked about these uh earlier in the year and last year, whether it's public safety related or maintenance or trash pickup or what have you, um, those costs associated with the district broadly is what Mooney uh core is going to help us nail down and identify.

Ideally, we want to be able to apportion those costs to the users like we do at the convention center of the Alamo Dome.

So that the we don't want them coming back to us.

I just wanted to make sure that doesn't mean we're eating it all.

No, we're not eating anything.

Okay.

Except for really good Greek food at lunch.

Um the other thing that they included in their variable costs for this that I wanted to mention is our businesses tell us a lot about the seasonality of the work that's happening, our concerts, like quite frankly, we know because San Antonio has great weather in the winter, we actually get a huge amount of folks that are coming October, November, December.

So I'm I'm glad that they're also incorporating seasonality because we know Dios Muertos is always really busy for us at that area.

Um okay, so I support these two items.

Thank you for the work that you did, and thank you for giving letting us look review through the proposals.

I want to give a shout out to Shannon, uh Shannon Miller, our new chief downtown officer who's been doing a really great job of all things downtown.

And this Sunday, this is shameless plug.

This Sunday, we are doing a Spurs watch party for Mother's Day, and it'll be at La Zona, right around the corner, and there's going to be free massages for moms and food and snacks.

And so thank you to La Zona and TPR for letting us host it there.

And thank you so much to Shannon for always being willing to say yes to an idea and explore what that looks like.

Thanks, Mayor.

Thank you.

Councilman Galvan.

Thank you, Mary.

And thank you, Council Member Core for the wonderful invite.

Uh for all the mothers out there and all the folks who are big fans, too.

Um I don't know if pets count as, but anyway.

Okay.

Thank you, Ben, for the presentation, and thank you for the uh the materials as well.

Um, just a couple quick questions on the district study portion.

Um I appreciate Council Records questions and it helped me kind of frame a little bit.

Um, I guess first things was uh how are we expecting the district study to align with the parking mobility study or a parking or mobility study?

Do we expect anything?

Do we expect any success within the district study to be tied to any kind of parking investments or citation needs or housing or things that are larger to the larger area?

I think I would answer it this way, Councilman, which is why um, you know, we're a little bit behind on the the parking and mobility study and trying to get that contract to you all in June, is that they're all kind of tied.

Right.

So the kind of um infrastructure investments that we make, um, how we solve for the transportation plan downtown, you know, how we move people and vehicles in and out of downtown, they will impact the cost of service, right?

So the the more efficiently we can do that, the more we can use um via park and ride and other modes of transportation to get people in and the less stress that puts on, for example, traffic and SAPD having to do more traffic control.

So they're all tied together, they will all um uh somewhat interdependent, and there'll be some cross uh pollination across those studies, if you will.

Okay.

Do you anticipate any recommendations from the study to kind of give us some feedback on that for whether it's via or for us to kind of incorporate within the not on I don't think in the district study side, you'll get that on the mobility and transportation uh side.

Okay, got it.

I guess I wanna make sure that they're that cross-pollination is happening as much as possible.

I know it's gonna there's different context, different times.

Um maybe it's just my personal view on it, but I anticipate that there's uh a direct connection there, or at least a significant one, right?

When we talk about the success of one and what revenues can come from it, um making sure that we're able to get people moving through, people living nearby, all the things like that.

Um that's just my question.

No, you're absolutely right, and then that's why you see a lot of the the timeline.

If you go look at the the briefing part of it, a lot of it um, they all align in that August, September, October time frame because of that, because they are interdependent.

So if you move something on the transportation side, it may affect how we do cost of service.

Okay.

Well will the EPM or will the the city staff or all the above kind of work together to kind of put those pieces together during the summer, is that I'm assuming.

Yes, sir.

And the EPM will play a big role in that.

Um they're gonna give us, obviously, as we get uh if you all approve this today, that gives us more bandwidth to manage these work efforts and and then to make sure we're getting that alignment, coordination, collaboration across all those spectrums.

Got it.

Thank you for that.

Yes, sir.

Um, Councilman Corps talked a little bit about the results of the study and how they'll be incorporated.

Eric, could you go a little bit more into that one?

I just uh or could you repeat what you mentioned on that part about how any costs that come out of it?

Um are we looking for that to be incorporated in our budget process at all, or is that gonna be a separate conversation or what does that look like?

So the the purpose of the district study um is to is to outline the anticipated costs and potential and Ben gave you a couple of examples earlier, sales tax, for example, from the district.

I mean, ideally on the cost side, we want to better understand what potential cost impacts there are for um having a whole bunch of people go to that part of downtown that doesn't exist now.

Um ideally we want to, as we identify those costs, then that becomes a cost of the event or cost of the function or cost of the district.

Um then be able to all that and and and we do that with uh the Alamo Dome and um and the convention center now, right?

The the officers that are working there are being paid by the functions or the uh events that are happening, so making sure we under that the the district itself, because of its size is different than the convention center.

So we want to better understand that, and that's what MundiCore is gonna help us identify.

Ideally, we don't want uh any of those costs to be impacted to the general fund as we discussed yesterday.

You know, we don't we we don't want to do that.

There may be additional costs.

There will undoubtedly be additional costs.

The identification of them is important to us um to avoid that, to set their proper rates and also frankly to understand before we get any detailed conversations with the Spurs about those final documents later on in the year.

Got it.

Okay, that's helpful.

And I think just you know, thinking about, of course, the conversation yesterday, seeing where uh if those costs would be talked about in this budget cycle or over the next several ones, and if it would be something that stands out, or would be just kind of through our regular process at all as it relates to it.

I would anticipate that those would be either um uh rates or charges that we would look at globally.

Um you know, I don't know, you know, if there's a like the big plaza over there and somebody rents out the plaza for a function.

Well, there's a cost associated with that, um, and that should cover the impact of public safety and maintenance and cleanup and that type of stuff.

Got it.

Okay, thank you for that.

That's really helpful.

Uh the one last question I had, um oh, I'm sorry.

Really appreciate the point too about the community engagement aspect.

Uh those one thing I wanted to ask, of course, we're talking about small business a lot and of course very necessary for this, but also larger community engagement too to come back to our constituents a little bit more about it.

And so grateful to see the EPM's already identifying some of that work, um, including for looking at even like incorporating the arts community too and things like that really into the design, uh ways that we can incorporate more public art in the area too.

Um, last thing I was gonna ask about the district study was uh how are we or how's the district study well?

Yeah, I was asking it anyway.

How's the district study uh including um hemisphere or any of the kind of surrounding area within it?

Uh I know there's separate entities and separate kind of conversations, but think about connectivity between the two places to think about small business impact uh with the hemisphere itself versus kind of in the the projects themselves.

Does that make sense what I'm asking?

Um you're talking about the district study and and and whether we're considering like H parked role in the hemisphere.

Um I wouldn't say H park role specifically, but when we look at the district and how it gets activated, we're talking about everything from Yanaguana Gardens, right?

That one end of the spectrum where there's people in the park to the other end of the spectrum spectrum where hemisphere is completely activated.

NBA game, uh World Courthouse event, uh dome concert, convention center's got a big event going on.

Those are opposite ends, so I think it gets picked up that way.

In terms of how we look at it, but not H park the entity specifically.

Got it.

Okay.

That's helpful.

I think there's uh a little bit again, kind of just my opinion on how we're able to to tie those knots together a little bit more, thinking about especially small business inclusion, talking about how hemisphere is part of that equation a little bit.

Um, we talk about sales tax revenue, I think folks who are it's not just going to the venue itself or whatever it is, also being in the area overall um and spending money here and there uh that contributes to it.

And so trying to figure out what's the or how to kind of incorporate that it's important to me.

Uh I don't know if that's within the strict side itself or more so the EPM or even Shannon Miller's role to kind of help shepherd all those things together, uh, but would be interested in seeing just how that how that can be plugged in a little bit more.

Yeah, I think that as um as we move forward with the program and district and we're giving you updates, I think we can certainly uh continue to talk about the opportunities for small businesses, what that looks like, where uh because I think that will evolve and change based on how the the district evolves.

So I think we'll continue to have that conversation on an ongoing basis with you all.

Got it.

Thank you, Ben.

Thanks.

Are there any other comments on this item?

Okay.

I can appreciate we are we are viewing this a little bit differently.

I do think um, just based on how we got to this process, the process by which we inform the public is is very important.

Um, some of the things that I uh found of interest on what would have been the update here, for example, to my colleague Councilwoman Corps' point about the importance of assumptions.

Um there's a big difference in January on the B session, we were briefed on um a parking feasibility study uh which would uh quote engage a consultant to perform a parking feasibility based upon projected vehicular and pedestrian traffic scenarios.

At the time the cost of that was TBD.

Today we are looking, or we would have received uh an update on a downtown mobility and access study uh which has um a different focus, a broader focus, a study which will evaluate parking as one component of a broader integrated downtown mobility system at a cost of 500,000.

So I I to me that is a significant update uh that would have been worthy of discussion as we are um voting on these contracts understanding that will in fact inform what those those contracts that are that are completed.

Again, of course, given um not only uh how we're we've we previously were solving for just parking around the arena, now we are looking at a downtown mobility study, which is much more significant, and the importance of assumptions like how much pe how many people are we solving for, how many businesses are we solving for?

How are we actually defining concretely downtown?

And I understand the working group um that uh um will convene to discuss some of those things, but when you are again gonna provide such a major update and vote on these contracts, I think it is it is um worthy of of a public update given the significance and the cost associated with those differences.

Additionally, no longer in the briefing, um, however, a significant point of contention previously, just given the cost of it, there's no longer on the slide, at least at this point, discussion of a relocation or expansion of the chilled water plant on Market Street.

It's just not on the slide.

Again, an update to the public as to as to why that that was.

And I understand we will get that later.

But again, when you are sequencing these things in the interest of helping the public bring them along on this, it's important that such significant changes are provided.

And of course, the downtown working group, I'm thankful for those folks that are um you know gonna participate in that.

Uh, we'll want to make sure that we are adequately accounting for what public input looks like into that as well as um the appropriate uh assumptions.

Um I couldn't agree more.

We want a downtown that serves everybody, um, but our downtown it it's we're not, you know, it's it's it's not the arena, and then downtown of which is kind of part of it, it's the downtown of which this entertainment district is is an important part.

Um, but I want to make sure we're we're solving for it and then explaining to the public um exactly um the process that is being used here.

And I don't think that's necessarily um disruptive.

I think that's just a different understanding of how we understand um process and transparency.

Okay, then on the contracts themselves on the contracts themselves.

Uh this is for the district study.

Um can you help uh help me understand or just actually level set for the public?

Um I the there was the initial evaluation and then the final evaluation where you saw some increases, for example, for another firm that was not insignificant, um, for example, the the Baker Tilly firm.

Can you explain what happened in the um in the final evaluation that contributed to a higher score that was not reflective in the initial?

You're talking about uh on the district study, the initial evaluation metric matrix for Baker Tilly.

That's right.

Going from 49 to roughly 56 points.

Yeah, that's right.

I mean, the biggest difference as I look across these contracts is in the proposed plan, which again goes back to the importance of what the overall thing is that we're trying to do here.

And so I I appreciate understanding and of which, of course, it's either um, I mean, overall plan, whether you're talking about just parking, whether you're talking about overall downtown mobility.

Um, but on the proposed plan, yeah, that you saw an increase of five uh for Baker Tilly on the plan, that of course being the most important part of it.

Can you help us understand what contributed to that jump?

Sure.

I mean, overall, I mean, I wouldn't call characterize it as significant movement, but as we went from the proposal and looking at the proposed plan, the five points across the evaluation committee, I think was um based on their explanation of their approach to the study.

While I don't think that um we saw it uh in a significant way in terms of how it compared to what we saw from UNICAP, I think they did offer some clarification on the proposed plan that made the evaluation committee members a little more comfortable around that, and you saw a little bit of movement on the proposed plan.

So the the the initial evaluation matrix is gonna be based on just the written proposal.

The interview gives us a little bit of more insight of who the team is, their approach, and then as they're walking through that, you will gain some clarification on how they're approaching it and and what they're doing.

Um, and and building off of one of the questions that uh my colleague just asked, hence the importance of an overall update on what's going on, all the moving pieces.

Um, on the development of a scalable cost of services and revenue forecast model for a 30-year period.

How do you think that changes based on solving for just parking versus overall downtown mobility?

Well, I mean, I guess I'll offer a couple of clarification points.

I mean, I think from my standpoint, when we talked about a parking feasibility study versus the mobility and access study that we presented to the audit committee.

From our perspective, the scope is essentially roughly the same.

Because the parking feasibility study and and really why we changed the name of it was I got feedback from a couple of folks uh from you all that that seems to be giving the implication because we're called calling it a parking feasibility study that we were interested in trying to solve in terms of how to build more parking.

We're actually trying to do the opposite.

We're trying to look at when you have uh the impacts of a district, if it gets built the way we're planning and the way the vision looks, and you have that many people and vehicles that you're trying to move out of that area of downtown couple with you know the the normal pedestrian and vehicular traffic we have, how do we solve for gaps?

Does it have to be a parking garage?

You recall the initial plan had a parking garage on the south parking lot of the Alamo Dome, um right in that intersection.

Uh we hope to solve that a different way and not have to build that garage.

Maybe it's a garage built somewhere else, maybe it's not a garage at all.

So to solve for the parking piece, you have to get you we have to have an understanding of the pedestrian and vehicular flows in kind of the broader downtown area, and what assumptions we can make for what we can do with via parking ride, micromobility, how we can move all of those pieces will inform that.

So to the extent as we and how it syncs up with the cost of services study, because obviously the more efficiently we can move people and cars in and out of downtown and around that district area, the less pressure it's gonna put on our need to have to provide cost of services like traffic, for example, from SAPD.

I couldn't agree more.

Um when we talked though in January, it was it was briefed differently than what it has been briefed as now, which is reflective of um again a more expansive, um broader integrated.

That's a i e it's a different contract, right?

When you're solving just for parking when you're talking versus a broader integrated downtown mobility system.

We may have a so I think as we talked about, hold on.

Go ahead.

Mayor, the the slide is exactly the same as January that we we talked about other than the title.

I mean the functions and go ahead.

Okay.

So I mean the the functions of what we call it, what we talked about in January was a parking feasibility.

It is not, it's broader than that.

We it's about via, it's about TNCs, Uber lift and the mobility part of it.

So uh that and an estimated cost are the main differences, but there is not a major change at all about the scope and what we talked about earlier in the year.

And it's needed, and let me reemphasize that I mean if when UTSA finishes over here across the street, we need to know how to move 5,000 students in and out.

So it's a broader context of mobility downtown because if we solve for for just UTSA over here and don't connect it to how folks are gonna go to the Alamo or Root Walk uh mall, River Center Mall, then we we've got kind of a disjointed system.

So yeah, for clarification, the slide is different.

Um Eric, if you were to if you were to bring it up, slide B session, it says engage engagement of a consultant uh to perform a parking feasibility study based upon projected vehicle and pedestrian traffic scenarios.

It's the wording is different.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah.

You can bring up the slide if you'd like to.

Thank you.

Are there additional comments on this item?

Okay, uh there is a motion and a second to um approve item number five, um, and then we will separately vote on item number six.

Go ahead.

The motion carries.

So our motion and a second to approve item number six.

I make a motion to approve item number six.

Motion carries.

Councilwoman Castillo, is there something funny you'd like to share?

Was there something funny you'd like to share?

Did you hear something, Steve?

No, that's what I'm asking.

I didn't hear anything.

That's what I was asking.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

Got it.

Can we um Mayor?

I'd like to request that we move item 10 before nine.

We have several people from the Bear County Sheriff's Department here in ARP.

It'll take 30 seconds.

That's fine.

We can move unless there's objection to doing so.

Okay.

Move item ten.

Item number ten is an ordinance approving an amendment to chapter sixteen article four of the City Code licenses and business regulations to require fraud prevention signage to be posted in direct line of sight at all virtual currency kiosks in the City of San Antonio and amending chapter twenty article two of the city code administrative adjudication hearings to grant jurisdiction therein.

Would you like a presentation?

No.

Okay.

Um let's see, we've got one individual from the pup two.

Excuse me.

We have two individuals from the public signed up to speak.

Um Ishmael Hereta.

Okay.

Uh we'll start with then Lisa Rodriguez.

And just quickly, I know y'all have had a long uh day so far.

Hi, I'm Lisa Rodriguez.

I'm the state director for AARP.

I reside here in San Antonio.

Um, and on behalf of our more than 150,000 members and two point five million in Texas.

Um, we just want to thank you for your leadership and thoughtful consideration of this important consumer protection measure.

By requiring warning signage of cryptocurrency kiosks, San Antonio has the opportunity become the first city in Texas to take this proactive step and to help protect our residents and particularly our older residents.

Also, it is a great way to fight fraud and financial exploitation that's o often targeting older adults and particularly sixty plusers.

With practical common sense safeguards, your action here can also help inform broader statewide policy discussions during the next Texas legislative session as communities across the state look for effective ways to combat cryptocurrency related scams.

Thank you again, all of you, for your leadership and your commitment to protecting San Antonians.

Okay.

Thank you, and my apologies for that.

Uh good afternoon, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Usmanarana.

I'm here on behalf of AARP San Antonio.

I want to begin by saying thank you.

Thank you to council members, uh Larete Gabito, Castillo, and uh White for leading this effort and centering consumer protection, especially for older San Antonians in this ordinance.

I also want to thank Assistant Chief Salome, the San Antonio Police Department, the city staff who worked on this policy, Sheriff Salazar for raising awareness of kiosk-related fraud, and for his leadership at the council level at the county level, and the mayor and the full council for the opportunity to share this perspective today.

ARP strongly supports this ordinance because it addresses a very real and very costly problem.

In 2025 alone, Americans lost $333 million to kiosk related fraud, and adults over the age of 60 suffered the majority of these financial losses.

These are not abstract numbers, these are life savings, retirement security, and financial independence being taken in a matter of minutes.

Scammers succeed by creating urgency in isolation.

Victims are often coached to stay on the phone while they withdraw or deposit cash.

Told not to talk to family, bank employees, or law enforcement.

That's why signage matters.

A high visibility physical warning placed directly on a kiosk asks as a critical pattern interrupt by reaching people at the exact moment when money is changing hands.

That pause, just a few seconds, can be the difference between protecting someone's life savings and an irreversible transaction.

To be clear, this ordinance is about stopping is not about stopping innovation or legitimate business.

It's about public safety.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there a motion to approve item 10 so we may begin discussion?

So move.

Okay.

It is moved in a second to approve the item.

Do you have any people that have signed up?

Just okay, just one.

Okay, go ahead.

Okay.

Uh thank you.

Uh I was proud to co-sponsor this item alongside Councilman Terry Castillo, Councilwoman Misty Spears, and Councilman Mark White in an effort to protect vulnerable members of our community from falling victim to crypto scams.

I want to give a huge shout out to Sheriff Salazar for pushing this ordinance and Chief Salome for all your help with this too.

We all know that requiring satin age around Bitcoin kiosks will make a huge difference for people who are at the grips of a scammer.

These scams can destroy a person uh person or family's livelihood, and we have to do everything that we can to prevent that.

This is just a first step to taking meaningful action to stop these crimes, but it's a very important one.

I look forward to working with our state legislators to pass additional laws to protect our vulnerable residents.

I'm also grateful to AARP for their work in at the state and federal level to curb these crimes and protect older adults, as well as their input on the ordinance.

One recommendation, and I just wanted to put this correction uh on the record that I was that I received from AARP was to amend the language in the proposed ordinance to say user instead of customer.

The term user is more sensitive to the fact that not all people using the machines are willing customers.

At times they are under control or the direction of a scammer.

Customer by definition requires that the person be requires that the person be purchasing a commodity or service, but this really does not apply to someone who is being scammed.

So with that in mind, I request that we correct the language in the final ordinance to remove the word customer from the defined terms and substitute it with the word user.

If I may, Mayor, uh the the clarification that the councilman asked for, uh the two terms are in the definition, and they're essentially from a legal standpoint interchangeable, but from a communication standpoint, I can see where it'd be broader.

We can make that, unless there's an objection, Mayor, we can just go ahead and make that clarification in the ordinance.

Thank you.

Any objection to making that change?

Okay, thank you, Andy.

Thanks.

Okay.

Anyone else that want to speak on this item?

Ah, okay, uh, Councilwoman Spears.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

No, I just also wanted to say thank you to my colleagues, um, and to Sheriff Salazar for bringing this forward and to AARP.

I our seniors need protection, and and they are the most vulnerable, and they really can't recoup their money.

Uh they can't go out and work and make that money back.

And this is a great first step.

Awareness is key here.

Thank you for bringing this to light for this.

The signage is going to be amazingly helpful.

But I encourage my colleagues to keep talking about this at your senior centers and to in your town halls, and because these scammers are smart and they're gonna find workarounds and they know how to get to people.

They this is what they do all day.

Instead of being productive, this is what they do all day.

So we have to be smarter than them.

And we've got to predict their moves, and I appreciate everything that our SAPD uh Chief Salazar and I mean Sheriff Salazar and uh Chief Salome are doing to help here.

And um, and just I love how fast we moved on this.

So I appreciate that.

Thank you again to my colleagues.

Really great work.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman White.

Yeah, briefly, this is an example of how government should work.

You know, as was just said, we moved quickly on this.

Uh council um worked with both Bear County and SAPD as well as AARP.

Everybody got together and we got something done quickly.

I wish we could do more just like this.

So thank you to my colleagues, thank you to everyone who was involved.

Thank you.

Councilman Castillo.

Thank you, and thank you, uh Chief Salome for your work.

But I'd be remiss if I didn't highlight that we're taking action on this item today because of Sheriff Salazar identifying an issue and a solution for council can to consider to move forward.

Um, but of course, also grateful for the work for our San Antonio Police Department and the initiatives in terms of financial crimes and the units uh that are addressing that work in our community.

Uh there is an upward trend where we're seeing many of our community members um uh falling victims of these crimes, and it's their hard-earned money uh that's being withdrawn, and it's particularly seniors that we're seeing taking advantage of.

So just grateful for the collaboration, uh, the leadership of Sheriff Salazar, Chief Salome, and of course uh the city staff here as well.

Um, but I would like to welcome Chief Salazar to add anything he'd like on this initiative.

Sure, thank you.

Thank you so much, Mayor and Council.

I really appreciate it.

Look at the risk of uh further irritating a Vietnam veteran that's over my left shoulder.

Uh, I I'll keep my comments short.

Um, you know, with regard to government, we don't always get it right.

Y'all know that.

We don't always get it right, and sometimes this the sausage making can be ugly, but it has been a genuine uh treat to work with you all on this, and and I'm super happy to see it coming to fruition.

Uh, you know, whether government officials working uh across the aisle, Democrat, Republican or County versus City, uh, or two sheriffs working from a thousand miles apart on this, like myself and Sheriff Hansen from Omaha, Nebraska, uh, have done, this is the the fruits of that labor.

And so I'm super excited to to take this preventive step.

Because as we know, at least in my opinion, the best approach to to to crime fighting is crime prevention.

And although we're going to be hopefully undertaking a very um, you know, forward-leaning uh process to to increase awareness through social media and mainstream media.

Sometimes it comes down to when a when a uh a scam victim is in the midst of the scam, standing at this ATM terrified because they think that government officials are coming to take them away and they're about to deposit their life savings, literally their life savings into this machine.

Sometimes it just comes down to that low-tech notice saying stop what you're doing, you're about to be scammed.

Uh, again, we saw it work in Omaha, Nebraska.

We've seen it working here locally because we have already started doing some voluntary type signs with certain stores, and it has worked in some cases.

And so I'm I have all the faith in the world that this is going to work.

I am continuing to pledge to you all that as far as uh, you know, although the although I know the the ordinance doesn't call for a specific sign, we will continue to make signs that and make those available in our jail uh print shop free of charge to county taxpayers, of course.

Um, and we will actually also help with distributing those signs using my reserve deputies and volunteer force at the agency, uh, as well as being able to check on compliance and education of the clerks until such time as we get these signs out there and get everybody on the same page.

But I'm certainly looking forward to continuing to work with uh with you all and with whomever my next partner at the SAPD might be, uh, and and to continue to work on not just this but other efforts in the in the future.

Thank y'all so much.

Great.

Thank you, Sheriff, and thank you, Chief.

But I would also like to thank AARP for their work in ensuring that our seniors are getting connected to information in our community.

Thank you.

Great.

Um, thank you.

I think as Eric, thank you, Sheriff, uh, for raising this issue.

Um, and as I meant, as I think Eric mentioned last time we spoke about this.

The really important complement to this is also what happens at the state level, the legislation that really needs to make sure that this has teeth, right?

So I know um Councilman McKee Rodriguez is chair of the IGR will make sure that we prioritize this accordingly.

Thank you.

There's a motion and a second uh to approve item 10.

Please vote.

The motion carries.

Okay.

We'll move on to item nine.

Madam Clerk, please read the caption.

Item number nine is an ordinance creating source of income protections for veterans in San Antonio.

Okay.

We have several members of the public um that have signed up to speak on this item.

Um, and I know some folks have to get to work, so I will call those folks up that have identified themselves as such.

Um Irene White.

Each individual will have three minutes to speak, and groups of three or more will have a total of nine minutes.

So Irene White will be followed by Brandon Tryon.

Good morning, mayor and counsel.

Wasn't expecting to be first, but thank you.

Hi.

My name is Irene White.

I am a community health worker with Empower House.

I'm also the wife of a proud Air Force veteran having served for 24 years with Empower House, serving as an as a community health worker.

Um I work with community members uh on all sorts of issues and housing being one of them.

Empowerhouse provides transformative community health services, youth development programs, and advocacy opportunities that empower women and girls of color.

Today I am advocating for veteran community members, and a good number of whom are women, from the caveat that housing is health.

These veterans are seeking stable housing opportunities and in support of uh source of income protect protections today, um especially for those using VASH housing vouchers.

Right now, more than 70 percent of veterans using these vouchers are concentrated in areas of high social vulnerability, as defined by the CDC.

These are neighborhoods with higher poverty, limited transportation, and fewer opportunities, including further away from health facilities, health care facilities.

This isn't by choice, it's the result of limited housing options and repeated denial when veterans try to move elsewhere.

We also see that 84% of veterans with VASH vouchers are living within multifamily complexes, not because it's what best fits their needs, but because it's what's available.

Many landlords of single family homes simply refuse to accept vouchers, and yet three-fourths of these veterans have a disability, they are elderly, or some are raising children.

For veterans living with PTSD and other conditions, the quiet space and stability of single family homes can make a real difference in their health and recovery.

The reality is stark.

As of 2024, only about 8% of rental listings in San Antonio indicate they accept vouchers.

That means even with support in hand, veterans are locked out, veterans are locked out of most of the housing market.

Source of income protections would change that.

They would ensure that a veteran's housing voucher is treated the same as any other form of income.

They would open up access to safer neighborhoods, better schools, and housing that truly meets the needs of those who have served our country.

This issue is also twofold.

Let's make it harder for vets to be denied using their vouchers and work to improve the systems that deter landlords from accepting them.

Our veterans have already done their part.

This is a way that we can do ours by removing unnecessary barriers and creating a fair housing system.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Brian Brunton Tyron, thank you.

Brendan Tyron, and then followed by um Sebastian Gallegos.

Thank you, City Council, for your time and the platform to speak.

I really appreciate it.

I just want to keep this very short and sweet.

I'm the son, grandson, brother, as well as nephew of veterans.

I have many in my family.

I have a utmost respect for everything these gentlemen, gentlemen have ever done for our country, and you, mayor, um, you're a vet yourself, correct?

Um plainly, you can agree that you were given orders that led to the protection and pretty much the rights to all this liberty and freedom we all enjoy, correct?

I just think that it's best that we give that same energy to our veterans.

The only number I really wanted to bring to you guys today, I looked it up not too long ago.

There's there's 33,882 veterans that are homeless.

I believe authority ordinances like ordinance nine can definitely help that.

We can trim that number down.

But we have to start taking it more seriously.

And I know you guys have a lot on your plate.

I respect that.

I'm a financial advisor for a company called ThinkNet Tater Wealth Solutions, one of my target markets are veterans, because it's like I said, I come from watching them make bad money decisions, and I say that to say that I feel like if I can do my part in just that little area, I think we all can like kind of step up in the bigger areas where you guys have a much better forum to pass these ordinances that will give them that chance to just live comfortably.

Thank you.

Have a great day.

Thank you.

Sebastian Gallegos.

Hi, ma'am.

I uh I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak here.

Um I'm representing uh the San Antonio uh military Purple Heart.

Uh just uh a quick uh little uh fix by myself.

I was born in San Antonio, and um as some of the veterans uh communicated earlier.

Um I was actually Kazakh back to San Antonio um when I was wounded, so I was born here and I woke up in a hospital here uh because of San Antonio Military Military Medical Center, and um I've had a lot of struggles uh that the Purple Heart chapter here has helped me um bring attention to, uh, getting services from the VA specifically, and uh I had multiple congressmen get involved to be able to um help me get prosthetics here, and have actually had an easier time getting help from the city uh than I have had um help getting um help from the VA.

And so I think that um a lot of people make assumptions about accessibility from um the vouchers um and how easy it is to get from the VA, and uh when somebody uh like myself has issues, um I represent probably uh the most decorated uh chapter of uh military in all of the U.S.

And um if it wasn't for multiple congressmen getting involved in my personal story to be able to just get prosthetics from the VA.

I think that that gives people an idea that uh the veterans who are not as decorated as me, not as visibly wounded as me, uh, with um the connection to uh somebody as big as the military, the order of the purple heart.

Um I I worry about the the veterans that don't have that visibility that I have.

And so I just wanted to um give a little bit of visibility to the largest Purple Heart chapter in the U.S.

And um ask, you know, uh I know that San Antonio uh likes to call itself military city USA, and um, I hate for for people have to struggle um to be able to get housing assistance, but um just to educate San Antonio a little bit about um how hard it is to get um these kind of things from the VA and why a city program uh would help so much.

Um, and uh here's the rest of the Purple Heart guys.

Well, so I know some folks have signed up, so we'll just say my name is Razar.

What number is?

How is everybody?

I hope fine.

I'm representing the American GI Forum and the uh military order of the Purple Heart.

One second, sir.

Please start the time.

Three minutes for uh one second, sir.

We're gonna start the time.

You did, okay, number 24.

Go ahead, sir.

Uh I'm here regarding the long-delayed veterans housing voucher system.

It's quite obvious that veterans are not a very high priority for this council.

We got three minutes to speak.

The previous gentleman got three hours, so something is wrong in that system there.

Uh but at any rate, um, when we were ordered to defend our country and our U.S.

Constitution, we did not hesitate.

By the same token, I believe that our government at every level should immediately ref respond to the needs of our U.S.

veterans and their dependents to uh ensure that landlords do not discriminate against our veterans in need of decent housing.

Living under tiny tents on the side of the road or under furryways is not decent housing, and unfortunately, some of our veterans are facing that situation.

Bear in mind that some of the veterans might be affected by memory problems.

They might not know that they are entitled to certain benefits through the VA.

And by a uh less visit, I propose that this the city council should have a veterans outreach system to check on the encampments or dwellings, and if any veterans is occupying that roadside valley uh dwelling, especially uh if accompanied by his or her loved ones, every effort should be made to uh put that veteran in touch with the uh veteran service officer at Audi Murphy VA Hospital or at the uh Bear County Courthouse.

To see if they qualify and all probability they do qualify for some uh entitlements uh to investigate for possible and very probable entitlements uh to veterans' benefits and the form of service-related illness or injuries to perhaps alleviate some of the veteran housing problems.

Maybe we need to look no further than across the street at Dolorosa Street, all those boarded businesses, and the oil hotel on top of that on the second floor, which may be a government grant could take care of renovating those uh facilities as living space for some of our veterans right now.

Those boarded-up shops are a sore eye for our city and for Burke County.

Another possible venue to look at are the numerous empty buildings at one at our military installations, Radolf, Fort Sam, Lackland.

And again, maybe some renovations would provide living accommodations for our veterans.

Those veterans served our country.

Now it's our turn to serve them.

And I would like to have the names of any uh city council members that vote against our veterans.

I will be glad to give you some free publicity or by radio.

So you can submit the rest of your comments for the record.

Thank you.

Charlene Hernandez, Charlene Hernandez.

Okay, please you have three minutes.

Followed by Nadia Miranda.

Mayor Jones Ortiz, Council members and distinguished guests.

My name is Charlene Hernandez, commander of American Legion John F.

Kennedy Post 45.

I am United States Army Combat Veteran who serve our country for 12 years and earned it the rank of sergeant.

I joined when I was 38 years old because I was told Charlene, the world needs you, be all that you can be.

HUD Vash provides veterans with a pathway for toward stability through housing assistance and VA support.

But too many veterans will struggle to actually use these benefits because they are there are barriers.

A voucher can only work if it can actually be used.

Landlords absolutely have the right to screen tenants and protect their business, but veterans also deserve a fair opportunity to use benefits they earned.

Because when a veteran cannot access housing, the consequences go far beyond homelessness, hopelessness.

We see veterans struggling with depression.

We see veterans isolated from the families and communities.

We see veterans trying to rebuild their lives after service while free feeling abandoned by the very system that's meant to support them.

That title carries responsibility because supporting veterans cannot stop when the uniform comes off.

Service does not end when deployment ends.

Many veterans continue fighting battles people cannot see.

PTSD, isolation, financial hardship, and struggles to transition back to civilian life.

We should not honor, we should honor that service by ensuring they have fair continued rebuild their and rebuild their lives.

In combat, we are taught never to leave a fallen comrade.

That same commitment should continue when our when our veterans come home.

San Antonio needs us, and now veterans need our help too.

Pass this ordinance with original language.

Our veterans keep their promise to this country.

Now it's time we keep yours.

Thank you.

You can submit the rest of your comments for the record.

Thank you.

JP Lane.

If you're still here, JP Lane.

Okay.

Robert Trevino.

My name is Robert Alex Trevino.

I'm the founder of Line of Duty, board member of Wheelchairs for Warriors.

And I'd like to thank Mayor Jones for not only her service to this community, but her service to this country, as well as everybody in City Council here sitting today listening to me, and I'd like to thank everybody for allowing me to speak in front of y'all today.

Before I uh address the uprising issue of veteran homelessness, I would like to first address veteran suicide.

And the reason why that's important is because veteran suicide is the biggest threat that veterans face within our community.

So veteran homelessness is right on the heel of the biggest threat of the veteran community, which is veteran suicide.

Councilman White, please.

Thanks.

For many housing policies, the policy states that the veteran must make three times the amount of money for the veteran to even be considered for the homestead.

I'm here to say today that that policy is contradictory and counteractive to veterans during a portion of their life that they're trying to rebuild after service.

Foundational housing is critical, and without without stable housing, everything else becomes harder.

Employment, access to mental health, access to physical rehabilitation, family stability, and overall quality of life for the veteran.

Is anybody here familiar with the two names, Enrique Ramos Jr.

and Mark Miller?

Anybody?

Well, those two people, not only did they have the things that they had in common was not only did they serve our country, not only did they take their life on the Audi L.

Murphy parking lot, but one thing that they have in common that is the biggest thing that stood out to me is that they were denied something.

They were denied something that was rightfully theirs that they were rightfully promised whenever they signed on that daughter line to serve this country.

The reason that's very important to me is because since I've left the military for eight years now, I've lost eight friends to suicide.

And here's the kicker.

Not one of them was in a wheelchair.

If we truly care about veteran suicide like we say we do, we must first address veteran homelessness, access to mental health, access to mental health care, and doing away with all of these boundaries.

San Antonio, Texas, is military city, USA.

And that name does uh demands accountability and justice for the people who have served this country.

Thank you all so much.

Mayor Jones and City Council.

Thank you for allowing me to speak.

First of all, my name is Jose Arzola.

I was born and raised here in San Antonio, around the Edgewood area.

John F.

Kennedy High School.

And I've been advocating for homeless veterans since I retired in 1999.

I represent, I am the national vice commander for the American GI Forum.

On top of that, I am a commander of a local American GI Forum chapter.

And the chapter is named after San Antonio's own and a congressional medal of honor, the Miguel Hernandez Memorial Chapter.

We have been fighting this issue for a long time.

Our former national commander stated it very, very simple.

Keep it simple.

Don't make it complicated.

In fighting for our benefits, we continue to run against walls, against barriers, and time and time again, we are treated as second-class citizens.

We served our country.

We played by the rules.

I'm a graduate of St.

Mary's with a major in accounting and finance with a master's in public administration.

So we have played by the rules, but yet many of our veterans continue, continue to be had uh uh viewed as a second class citizen.

We're not asking for anything that we didn't earn, and as far as and as far as I'm concerned, you've heard a lot of numbers.

Okay, if one veteran is homeless, that's one too many, period.

I saw I saw the the Sabata allotments during their uh Project Marvel.

14% is way too low.

If you're a business owner, 14% is way too low.

It should be 25% or higher.

I didn't see anything for veteran-owned small businesses.

And also, and also all of this schools are closing down campuses.

You can easily transform those facilities into affordable housing for veterans.

They have showers, they have kitchens, and so on and so forth.

But you can also have in there counselors that can provide not only a nice clean bed but wraparound services.

We're not asking for anything out of the ordinary, we're asking common sense approaches.

Thank you so much.

Rosie Svedlin Gonzalez.

Followed by Donna Hicks.

Council members, I stand here before you as a niece to a World War II Navy veteran who fought in the South Pacific, the niece to a Korean veteran who served in the Air Force and got to inform the Kennedy administration of the Cuban missiles being moved.

I stand before you as a cousin to two Navy servicemen.

One uh went to Annapolis and my brother who served as a Marine.

We are here today because veterans fought for our right to be here.

In San Antonio, military city USA is not just a marketing slogan, it's a profound responsibility.

We are home to 159,000 veterans, the second largest concentration in Texas and the fifth largest in the whole country.

When you add our active duty members, nearly one in five of us are tied to the mission of defending this country.

Yet here we are.

But we allow them to be turned away from housing simply because of the voucher they carry, the owners of paperwork and bureaucratic red tape.

As elected officials, we have a duty to vote in a manner that benefits the soul and the stability of our community.

Barring landlords from rejecting veteran housing vouchers is a vote you can proudly justify to your constituents and your contributors alike.

Supporting veterans is good for business, but more importantly, it's essential for a sustainable San Antonio.

Our veterans did not create loopholes or exceptions when they walked into a recruiter's office and committed to laying down their lives so we could live freely.

To allow landlords to use these very tools to deny them housing.

I'm sorry, I had a I almost gouged my eye out this morning, so I can only see with one eye.

Supporting veterans, our veterans did not create loopholes or exceptions when they walked into a recruiter's office and committed to laying down their lives so we could live freely.

To allow landlords to use these very tools to deny them housing as a betrayal of the American way of life they serve to uphold.

Some may argue that we should incentivize landlords rather than mandate fairness.

I ask you to review that logic with the critical eye.

We should not have to pay someone a premium to treat a veteran with basic dignity.

Fairness should be our baseline, not a taxpayer funded bonus.

Having personally experienced the stigma of discrimination, I know the profound impact of being excluded and to be excluded.

Discrimination is a pain that no person should have to endure.

This ordinance is not about giving veterans an unfair advantage, it's about establishing a fundamental baseline of dignity.

Today you have the opportunity to make a tangible impact.

Today you can ensure that every veteran has a place to live, and today you can close gaps in housing to make San Antonio true sanctuary.

Thank you for those who have served.

Thank you very much.

Submit the rest of your comments to the record.

Well, originally it said good morning, but now it says good afternoon.

My name is Staff Sergeant Donna Hicks.

I'm a master's level LPC, and that stands for licensed professional counselor and licensed chemical dependency counselor.

The reason that I have those titles is because we have veterans with problems.

I will get straight to the point because my time is short.

Out of the 15,000 vouchers that were issued in 2023, a thousand of them went unused.

Why?

Do you think it's because people like living on the street, living at Haven for Hope, or couch serving?

Sorry, I got a little agitated, but I am very grateful for my friend Rosie who stood up here and defended all of us, that this is not about incentivizing.

This is not about giving away something.

This is about making sure that the veterans who laid down their life to make sure that you can all go home to your homes and your families have a fair shot at having their own home.

That no one else should get just to be fair to a veteran.

I had a whole thing prepared, but the reality is y'all don't need to hear any more numbers.

Y'all don't need to hear any more statistics.

What you need to do is look around because Military City USA has become nothing more than an ad campaign.

All of these veterans are ignored.

Don't believe me.

Take a look at the book, Suicide Stocks of Sniper by Mark Miller.

And then look at where he is today.

Thank you.

Larry Robo followed by Alan Ross and then Fred Alvarado.

Before I start my first remarks, I have to bring this up.

I want to thank the mayor and the council members that are here during uh respecting the veterans that are here to listen to us.

Uh please counsel your colleagues that either aren't here or been late.

Okay, because they should be here, every one of them.

Okay?

No excuse.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Mayor Gina Tees Jones, council members, and my fellow veterans.

My name is Lawrence Guzman Romo, born and raised San Antonio, proud 28-year veteran, former United States Selective Services Director, former America GI foreign national commander, and currently serve as a LULAC National Vice President for Veterans.

San Antonio is a in a defining point today.

Are we really military city USA?

Are we using that slogan and not really meaning it?

I thank Mayor Jones of the City Council for ringing up the vast voucher anti-discrimination ordinance today for discussion and vote.

I salute all of you for enhancing the wellness of our city.

I respectfully request that you vote yes for the strongest ordinance possible to ensure there is no discrimination against veterans using a vast voucher to supplement their rent payment to San Antonio landlords.

I ask the San Antonio Board of Realtors, the San Antonio Department Association, apartment and homeowners renting their property to do what is right.

Open your hearts so that you are paid show that you are patriots and accept veteran vast vouchers and support this non-discrimination ordinance.

Numerous council members have received multiple maximum campaign contributions from the San Antonio Board of Realty Political Action Committee, Trade PAC.

Their website states funds are used to advocate for policy support local candidates and protect the real estate property.

In other words, they lobby to see their way, for you to see their way.

With that point in mind, I ask that you be open and fair to our veterans and understand veterans have sacrificed for all of us and deserve our support and protection.

Only one percent of our citizens proudly served our country, serve all around the world, and then come and they want to call San Antonio home.

San Antonio is proud to support our military missions and want to keep our missions and add to our military missions.

Let's show that we truly care about veterans that locate here and need a hand up.

In summary, respectfully ask that you vote yes for the Veterans Vash non-discrimination ordinance with no exceptions and no loopholes.

You do not need to give monetary incentives to show patriotism.

We really should copy the V the Veterans VAS Voucher Anti-Discrimination Ordinance at Fort Worth passed two years ago.

This is a good fit for our city.

May I bless you, San Antonio, Military C DSA, and United States.

Thank you.

Alan Ross, followed by Fred Alvarado and then Harry Robinson.

Good morning.

Also signed up to speak, and she is going to allow me her three minutes.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

My name is Alan Ross, and I have the privilege of serving as a president of the San Antonio Apartment Association.

We represent the housing providers who operate and maintain the vast majority of rental housing across the city and who every day are working to keep San Antonio residents housed, including our veterans.

And let me be clear, we support our veterans.

In fact, one of our members, Valor Hill, a 118-unit development in District 8, located right next to the Audi Murphy VA hospital, has been built specifically to serve veterans through project-based VASH vouchers.

And based on the feedback from our members, today, our industry has the capacity to house all the veterans currently holding VASH vouchers.

The narrative being pushed is that housing providers are not willing to work with a program, but the data says differently.

Housing is a long-term commitment for both the resident and the housing provider, and it is not just a financial transaction.

For the process to be successful and sustainable, there are still other qualifications that must be met, such as rental history, lease compliance, and community standards.

It is not about exclusion, it is about ensuring that when a veteran is placed in housing, they can remain there and succeed.

Today, San Antonio's occupancy sits at approximately 81%, one of the lowest levels in recent history.

Housing providers are not turning away qualified residents.

We are actively working to fill units and serve our communities.

Something very important to recognize is that San Antonio already has a non-discrimination ordinance in place that identifies San Antonio, that identifies veterans as a protected class.

So let's be honest about what is in front of us.

A proposed ordinance that seeks to penalize how housing providers for conduct that is not currently occurring at the scale being suggested or at all.

And just as important, it is it was developed without the input from the very industry it seeks to regulate.

For as long as I can remember, our association has consistently asked for a seat at the table when housing policy is being shaped so that we can proactively contribute to solutions that will actually work.

When the industry's perspective is absent from the process, it creates friction, resistance, and cumbersome policies that are harder to execute if effectively post implementation.

We recognize that this is a difficult issue, but it does not have to be a choice between action and inaction.

There's a path forward that allows this council to say yes to veterans while also ensuring the policies that we adopt will work.

That path is a thoughtful, comprehensive review of how the voucher system operates and how we can improve participation and outcomes.

That is why we support Councilwoman Castillo's CCR.

Allowing that process to be fully vetted is not a rejection of this effort, it is a commitment to getting it right.

Good policy is built on data, collaboration, and implementation realities.

We have an opportunity to do all three, and we should take it.

Not only do we want to house veterans, we want to house every resident who seeks a place to call home.

Housing shouldn't be a divisive issue, it should be an issue that brings all stakeholders together to produce the best outcome for our city.

We stand ready as we always have to be at the table working alongside you and to make housing happen effectively and at scale.

We respectfully ask that this council allow the CCR process to be completed and fully vetted before advancing this ordinance so that we can act and when we do so, do it with clarity, confidence, and the best possible outcome for our veterans and for the city of San Antonio.

Thank you for your time and your leadership.

Fred Alvarado, followed by Harry Robinson.

Fred Alvarado.

Okay.

Harry Robinson.

Followed by Myra Carrier.

I want to say thank you to Mayor Ortiz Jones and to the city council for hearing us on this issue.

My name is Harry Robinson, and I'm the state commander for the NASA Association of Four Black Veterans.

I want to start off by saying I'm thankful this morning or this afternoon, and I'm thankful for you sitting here today.

I'm thankful for your positions you're serving in.

And I'm thankful for our mothers because we're going to celebrate Mother's Day this week.

Service members, men and women who are serving our nation, as we celebrate Memorials Day this week.

This month.

As a child, I relied on public assistance.

My family relied on public assistance housing.

And is that very hand up to allow me to serve our nation for over 30 years in the military service?

I'm asking for you to give that hand up to our veterans.

I plea with you not to stand against those who are seeking assistance, but to look in the face of those who deny or have the power to deny.

Because when you overlook the financial discrimination that's taking place in a city, it impacts everyone.

Veterans face significant challenges and find single family homes when we have landlords who can refuse acceptive vouchers.

Let's do what our mothers would do.

Let's do the right thing.

I also ask, why is it there's so many who stand in opposition of this ordinance?

For me, it's very simple.

If you throw a rock over a fence, the person hit will holler.

So with that, I ask you to move forward and approve this ordinance for the fairness of our veterans, following the example that Fort Worth followed.

And so that we here in San Antonio, military CAC City USA to do the right things for our veterans.

Thank you for your time.

Myra Carrier, followed by Kayla Miranda.

Good afternoon, Mayor Jones and members of City Council.

Before I get started, I just want to share something.

I just would like for everybody here to put yourself in a mentality of an open mind.

Most of you, well, everybody here has an appointment here that you were elected by the city and your council and your representatives, your uh constituents, but you don't have the lived experiences that a lot of my battle buddies have.

You don't have the lived experiences that the mayor has to lead and to push things forward.

So I would just ask that of you.

So good afternoon, Mayor Jones and members of City Council.

My name is Mayra Alejandra Carrier.

I'm a 10-year Army Combat Veteran, community advocate, and recently I was appointed to the Veterans Advisory Commission.

Today I want to talk about what stability actually means for a veteran.

Stability means being able to live near medical care, transportation, family support, and your systems that help veterans stay healthy, employed, and connected to community.

But right now, many veterans are using Vash Vash vouchers don't truly have that choice.

Because even after qualifying for housing assistance through the VA, they're still being screened out before they ever get a fair opportunity.

And the data reflects the consequences.

More than 70% of veterans using Vash vouchers in San Antonio are concentrated in census tracts with high social vulnerability.

Nearly 84% of in multifamily housing and only around 8% of rental listings in San Antonio currently indicate they accept housing vouchers.

This is a reflection of barriers we have allowed to exist in our city, Councilman White.

And these barriers disproportionately affect veterans who are already vulnerable.

Three-fourths of the opportunity home in San Antonio are Vash uh voucher holders have disability, more than half are elderly, and 17% have children.

For veterans with PTSD or service connected trauma, environment matters.

And to those that have concerns about the system itself, I hear you.

If there are inefficiencies, delays, or frustration, frustrations with the housing process, then let's work together to improve the system.

Because as a veteran, I understand what it feels like to navigate broken systems.

I know what it feels like to wait months for care.

As a veteran, I know what it feels like to navigate mental health challenges through the VA.

And as a female veteran, I know what it feels like to finally ask for her help.

Finally advocate for your health, and then hear that the next OBGYN appointment is six months from now.

Veterans are already navigating barriers, traumas, delays, and exhaustions every single day.

They should not be paying the price for a housing system that they did not create or break.

Less than one percent of Americans choose to serve in the United States military, and today we're discussing a policy that impacts less than one percent of rental properties in our city.

Today you have the opportunity to move San Antonio closer and to help veterans.

Thank you.

Kayla Miranda.

Followed by Felix Rodriguez.

Good morning.

Or afternoon, actually.

First, first I gotta say, uh, yes, I am a commissioner for opportunity homes.

No, I am not speaking on their behalf.

I'm speaking on behalf of myself and uh being a uh tenant advocate.

Um 43 years ago, this month, I was born at an Air Force Base in Rancho, Illinois.

Two years later in 1985, my younger brother was born right here at Lackwood.

I know what it's like to watch a family member that is a veteran struggle.

My father was a very proud man, he was a very hard worker.

Um, he did not have an easy life.

My younger brother was hit by a car when he was three years old.

My mom at when I was 11 came down with a neurological disorder that made her paradise from the waist down, and my father struggled under all of that weight to take care of his family.

I hear it all the time.

Thank you for your service.

Everybody says it.

Thank you for your service.

They're empty words.

My father never asked for pity, he never asked for a handout.

He could he could have used a hand up, and a hell of a lot more than a thank you for your service.

We're not asking for much, we're asking for everyone to say more than thank you for your service.

Here is the voucher.

This is payment for the service that you have already rendered to this country, and we're not going to discriminate.

I don't agree with the amendments on four units or less.

If we're not going to discriminate, we're not going to discriminate, period.

It's not a lot to ask.

But not on the backs of veterans.

Thank you.

Felix Rodriguez, followed by Pete Bernal and Cynthia Garcia.

Buenas tardes.

I know we'd all rather be uh Comando Chocolatito de Abuelita, Con uno Moyetes and Empanadas right now.

But um, I'm here to, I hope, not to bore you.

My name is Felix M.

Rodriguez.

I'm the commander of the state of Texas Inc., all right.

And uh I'm here to, there's not much I can add to what's already been said before me here by my brothers and sisters in arms.

And my sister in arms here, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones.

Thank you so much for having us here today.

And all of you, this ladies and gentlemen of this August Body, body of San Antonio.

Thank you for the wonderful work you do.

There was a cry for help from my brothers and sisters here in San Antonio.

I'm from the El Valle del Rio Grande.

I was the I'm the director of Hidalgo County Veterans Services, retired now, three years, and prior to that I worked with Texas Rural Legal Aid, working with veterans as well.

But I'm here now from the Rio Grande Valley because again, like I said last week, wherever my feet are planted, that's where I'm from.

And today I'm from San Antonio.

And uh I'd like to say one thing as well.

There's a model that we lived by when we were in service and wore the uniform of the greatest country in the world, and that was that we leave nobody behind.

I heard a cry today.

I hear a cry now, and I'm sure you hear that cry as well from veterans here in San Antonio that need housing.

So I that's why I'm here now.

Because I hear that cry, and we leave nobody behind, and we will never do that again.

Never.

So what I'm here to say to you is that in the Rio Grande Valley and and through all other places in the country here where I go and visit my brothers or sisters in arms that were in Vietnam with me, is that we don't ask anymore.

We demand for benefits that we earned and deserve.

And I'd like very much to encourage you to consider what's before you, and you have done that because you do a wonderful job, not just for the community, but for veterans as well, and I look forward to a glass being full, not just half full, but full today, after your vote in support of veterans.

God bless you for the wonderful work you do.

God bless San Antonio for the wonderful work that they do for citizens, and God bless our United States of America.

Thank you.

Cynthia Garcia, followed by Pete Bernal.

Can you hear me now?

Thank you, Mayor and City Council.

Council members, I am Cynthia Garcia.

I am the chair of the American GI Forum.

My city is my home in San Antonio.

Here to stand before you to ask that you fulfill the promises that you made back in 2024 and in 2025.

I know that we've met with all of you at one point in time there.

Thank you, mayor, for listening to us when we asked you prior to becoming mayor, and while you have been mayor, you've listened to our hopes and our dreams, that we take care of our citizens and our veterans here in San Antonio.

So thank you so much for that.

I'm asking the city council to consider the same thing.

You promised those things to us in the past.

Did that not mean anything to you?

I'm just wondering if it's possible that you would consider going back to those things that you said that you would do.

You said that you would fight for the veterans.

You could see that you wanted to stand behind this proposal that we had made to you for this ordinance once again.

And it's been a while.

I don't know why we're still having this discussion.

But we are, and so I'm here to ask for your support once again to stand behind our veterans, to not give up on them, to tell, you know, follow everything that you said that you would do.

But keep in mind that whatever you do, you're affecting the veterans, their families, and you're not standing up to the military city USA saying that we have.

Yes again.

So here we are, and the question is simple.

Will you stand for the support?

By that support when organized industry pressure shows up.

This is a legacy vote, council members.

Years from now, no one will remember the technical arguments from the apartment lobby, but veterans will remember who stood with them when it mattered.

Today, you all get to decide whose voice carries more weight.

The industry asking for loopholes, pass the VASH ordinance as written originally.

Thank you.

Pete Bernal, followed by Gabriela Ibada Noriega, and then Dr.

Gwendolyn Godlock.

Madam Mayor, um, is it okay?

I know Ace Asavedo's on there.

Is he okay if he comes up before me and I'll take his spot wherever he's at?

Uh, does he want to give you his time or does he want to do that?

Well, he wants he wants me to speak on his behalf, but I want to do his spill on what he is often.

So then we'll allot his time to you.

Okay.

If he'd like to stand next to you, he's more than welcome.

Thank you, Councilman.

This is Ace Acevedo.

Um he's one of the members of the American GI Forum of Bear County.

I want you to hear something from this man.

He can't really uh pronounce all the stuff because he has PTSD and his issues have relevancy to to be able to speak in front of large or these kind of uh these elements.

So he asked me to speak in his behalf.

So in relevance to that, he has PTSD, he has the Vash voucher.

Y'all were looking for someone that has a Vash voucher.

How do they get discriminated?

How do they do it?

Well, this man has been turned down numerous times, more than 60 times, going here in San Antonio, San Antonio, a place where we call Military City USA 60 times told no, we don't take your voucher.

The owners don't allow it.

But we don't think there's a problem.

We're creating incentives to where it says that we're okay with the landlord's own association with uh the department association, that there's not a problem.

I ain't saying there's nothing known with these, these people are not the problem.

It's when they go, this man goes to someone and tells him no.

It's very effective to this man.

You know where he lives now?

He lives in Canyon Lake.

He was born and raised in San Antonio, but he can't find a house in San Antonio.

That's that's where the discrimination is at.

It's here, it's now.

We need to do something about it.

You want to create the the carrot, the stick, yeah.

Let's do it.

But the stick needs to also hit two where where the people are saying no.

That is the biggest thing.

The stick needs to hit where they're saying no, just to correct them, because you never know that they get the fix, they'll fix it.

And that's where his element.

I just saw something that's awesome here in this element of y'all's.

Y'all voted 110 to protect elderly, but I want to see 11-0 to protect our veterans.

That's simple.

11-0 to protect our veterans.

I just saw a little bit of discrimination happen here just right now, too.

We were first, like she was gonna.

I mean, we were gonna talk first.

We got here early.

We wanted to be here early, and then y'all pushed us back.

Like we were the second-class citizens to speak last right now, and we had over 40 people here.

When there was only two people and one element of the before that where we had to hear three hours of it.

That's not fair to us.

It's not fair.

You just showed us the discrimination.

Help us stop this.

This needs to stop here and now.

I was I was very upset, and you could hear it in my voice.

But I want you to understand that's how it affects us.

I want you to understand that vets in Vietnam were spitted on.

They were uh set aside, they were given this opera like we have one vet here.

He's he experienced that.

Silver Star Medal.

The thing is, today we can echo that 11-0 means you want to take care of us.

Thank you.

Gabriela Ivada Noriega, and then Dr.

Godluck, followed by Gabriel Rosales.

Gabriela Noriega?

Okay, Dr.

Godluck.

Okay, Dr.

Godluck.

Gabriel Rosales, followed by Leo Castillo Anguiano.

Uh I'm the uh State Director for the League of United Latin American Citizens.

And in 1929, we founded an organization that was partly founded by veterans, and one of the reasons that LULAC was founded was because of the discrimination that was taken up place against our veterans that came back from World War II.

So for anyone to sit there and say the numbers don't show that, you know, there I've seen so many times where apartment complexes.

We live in one of the most segregated cities in the country, right?

Where our people can't afford to live in certain areas, and there's economic barriers to those, and it has a lot to do with wages.

My father's a veteran, my uncles served in Vietnam.

They're not with us anymore.

A whole class of Burbank didn't come back.

So they earn.

So when we talk about veterans, right, and we talk about Lulac.

What we say is that we're not asking you for favoritos, right?

We're not asking you for any kind of special favors.

But what we're asking you to do is to give these veterans dignity and respect.

And the foundation, the foundation for that dignity and respect is housing.

I know that a lot of discrimination happens in housing.

I get phone calls all the day, all the time with home opportunity residents in the courts and many other different complexes where management arbitrarily targets people.

So to say that it doesn't happen, that the numbers don't show, that's that's not true.

Our veterans have been discriminated.

They're deporting our veterans for God's sakes.

So what we need to do is set the model for the rest of the country, and pass this ordinance without any loopholes.

That's not gonna stop the real estate association or anybody else to continue to do the great work that they claim they do.

They do, and I'm sure that they do.

And I look forward to talking with some of those individuals to see what it is that you do for our veterans or what it is that you do for our marginalized communities as well.

So I stand here in support of the ordinance.

I think it's very important.

I have an uncle who died homeless in Dallas, Texas, and he was a veteran.

And I live in a family of veterans, and in the city of San Antonio, you can literally see the suffering that our veterans go through on a daily basis.

So I ask for your support, and thank you, Council, and thank you, Mayor, for your service.

Thank you.

Leo Castillo Anguiano, Leo Castillo Anguiano.

Okay.

Followed by Sarah Lucy.

Good afternoon, Mayor Jones and the City Council members.

My name is Marinella Murillo, and I'm a proud member of the American Federation of Government Employees, AFGE Local 3320, representing members of the United States housing and urban development employees here in San Antonio, but we also represent HUD employees across Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

Our local is also an affiliate member of the San Antonio AFL CIO, where I serve as an elected board officer.

And lastly, and more most importantly, I am an Air Force brat.

Today I'm here to speak in favor of this proposed ordinance to give you context.

During my tenure at HUD, I worked closely with our fair housing staff in ensuring applicants for housing utilizing tenant-based, project-based, and VASH project and VASH vouchers were not discriminated against.

While veterans are not explicitly listed as a protected class under the Fair Housing Act, they are protected if discrimination is based on a service-connected disability, which is a covered category.

Last year, under this new administration, our entire agency, like almost every other federal agency, saw our staffing slashed and our budgets cut drastically.

Those doge cuts and firings have severely limited HUD's ability here in San Antonio and nationwide to enforce long-standing fair housing laws.

That is why I believe this ordinance is needed to specifically protect our veterans, and I urge that City Council vote in favor of this ordinance.

Lastly, this is National Public Service Week, where we recognize the important work of federal, state, county, and city employees.

Thank you, Mayor Jones, all the city council members and their staff, and all the city employees represented by my Astrami Labor Union Brothers and Sisters.

CPS Energy employees represented by IBEW Local 500 who keep the lights on here in San Antonio and Bear County every single day and night.

And my AFGE Veterans Administration and Department of Labor Union Brothers and Sisters.

And lastly but not least, thank you all to all of our veterans.

Thank you.

Sarah Lucy, followed by Martha Spinks.

Okay.

Martha Sphinx, followed by Ute Hall.

Good afternoon.

I'm Martha Spinx, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army retired.

My job in the Army was to administer soldier and family support programs because the military recognized what extraordinary demands we make on the military.

And that does not end when you leave the military.

I also have a PhD in social welfare policy, so indulge me to be a little wonky in my commentary about your proposed policy.

I will say up front, I support the original policy, the original proposal that was put forward.

But I attended the B session last week, and it was an interesting exercise in people having an opportunity to express their feelings.

It was a long meeting.

And at the end of that long meeting, one of the council members who is on that committee sort of tacked on, okay, the policy should only apply to landlords who have more than four properties.

There's a policy walk.

That's really weird that you just kind of slap that on to a policy at the end of a meeting.

But the question that I would ask from a policy perspective is, what evidence do we have that that's a good idea?

Or was that just seemed like a cool idea?

I don't know.

Nobody presented anything that persuaded me that that would make any significant difference.

Maybe it will last night, because I'm a student of my work, I went out on the website to look at the agenda items.

And the agenda item for number nine, which we're discussing today, had a very short paragraph, and it literally began with a question mark.

That was the first mark that was on that paragraph, a question mark.

And then it was followed by some sort of, I don't know, confused wondering words that sort of trailed off.

And then I looked at the other agenda items.

Obviously, much better prepared, well researched, well written, but it looked a little slapdash to me, and that concerns me, both as somebody who expects me and you to do a good job, but also because we make so much of how much we care about veterans.

That doesn't look like caring.

Really bothers me.

So having a little struggle with his microphone here.

The passage of this ordinance will help in some incremental way to improve upon this problem.

But the passage of this ordinance or any ordinance depends on people taking things seriously, and depends on open conversations with all the stakeholders.

So I recommend that you pass the original ordinance as proposed.

Thank you.

Utehall.

Ute Hall, followed by Faye Su Vicencia, and then Johnny Garcia.

Good afternoon, Mayor Jones, Council members.

My name is Ute Hall.

I am a family member of a veteran and also a retired clinical social worker.

I have spent 32 years of my professional career supporting the active duty and veteran community.

And I'm here today to talk in support of unhoused veterans.

Excuse me, my voice is a little raspy.

As you know, the Hat Vash program focuses primarily on housing first, and as some of the other members, other people here have already said, housing is the foundation to address all of the other social problems that our veterans may face.

And so I acknowledge that we have a housing crisis in this city, not just for veterans, but I want to vote focus on the veteran today, and while we cannot solve the housing crisis for everybody here, I think we can solve it for veterans.

So a lot of my um the other veterans that were here speaking before already talked about the issues facing veterans, such as um mental health problems and substance use disorders, but also what they're facing often is simply poverty, and that is what I want to speak to you about.

So many of the veterans are living on supplemental security income because for some reason or the other maybe they didn't serve long enough or they do not have a service-connected disability that increases their income.

We know that in 2024, the uh vouchers were instrumental in cutting homelessness, veteran homelessness to about half.

Since 2024, there have been rule changes that said that that the disability payments that veterans receive for service connected disability are no longer counted towards the income level that previously made them ineligible for receiving houses.

So that's a good thing, but we still have a lot of veterans that are living on uh social security only, or SSI.

If I can give you some numbers, uh the federal poverty level stands at $15,960.

SSI income is at 11,929.

That's $994 a month.

A third of that will go towards housing.

So we somebody talked earlier about lease compliance.

Maybe some veterans walk away from their leases because they simply cannot afford to live uh on $633 a month for their other needs.

Maybe that's why they walk away.

So again, housing first to address all of the other issues, and I really would like you to support this proposition the way it was originally intended.

Faith.

Thank you.

Fay suficiencia.

Fate.

Okay, Johnny Garcia.

Johnny Garcia.

Okay.

Ruben Adamsandiego, and then Stephen Price.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, City Council.

My name is Ruben Arsenega.

I'm a stakeholder and resident of District 2.

I want to say our civic responsibility includes a standing with the groups that have stood for us in times of war and peace.

As such, San Antonio's veteran communities and their families must be provided housing access and any other resources our city has available.

I strongly believe history and future generations will judge our values based on the merits of our actions.

In difficult times, our veterans responded to their call of duty, and I believe City Council must do the same.

As a son of a Vietnam veteran, I have witnessed firsthand the legacy of service and the profound impact it has left on our families in moments of good and bad.

Furthermore, as a volunteer with the Haven for Hope, Travis Park Church, and Cub San Antonio, a substantial portion are veterans that require housing and mental health services, but they remain strong believers in a country that has not forgotten them.

Veterans are not asking for a handout or undeserved welfare.

They are demanding a basic human right that we must provide.

Moreover, this form of legislation is violent in preventing homelessness and other inequities which our city has grappled with over the decades.

Adequate housing is an imperfect process.

However, since the landmark Fair Housing Act of 1968, it has prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin, and the sale of rental of housing, the financing of housing, or the provisions of brokerage services.

Quite frankly, I believe the mayor and city council must act on this protection as the current Department of Justice and President have completely severed their responsibilities to protect anyone other than the most wealthy Americans.

Again, I asked the mayor and city council to augment the protection of veterans by reinforcing the use of the Vosh system.

I believe the excuses used by those unwilling to accept the vouchers are misguided attempts at excluding communities that are not considered ideal renters or stakeholders.

I understand the primary role of the real estate lobby is to create economic opportunity for its ownership groups.

However, this goal is second to the human right of equitable housing.

We have all heard the tired excess of stories that frame San Antonio as a poverty-ridden metro struggling to elevate its future.

Our prime solution is equitable housing, which is a cornerstone of producing generational wealth, and its absence via redlining, restrictive racial covenants, and voucher denial is at the core of poverty in our city.

And so I just want to leave you with a quote by Nelson Mandela, who says to deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.

To impose on them a wretched life of hunger and deprivation is to dehumanize them.

But to deny them their right to adequate housing is to create the conditions for a multitude of other human rights violations.

It is to perpetuate poverty and inequality and to undermine the very foundation of human development.

Thank you, City Council.

Stephen Price, followed by Madeline Millett.

Good afternoon.

Can you hear me?

Good afternoon, mayor, council members.

First, let me say the veterans in the city, we appreciate what San Antonio and Fort Worth are trying to do.

We see the problem.

Right now in Texas, cities are restricted by state law, specifically Texas Local Government Code 250.007.

The law basically states cities cannot require landlords to accept vouchers as a form of rent.

So even if a city wants to fully protect veterans using programs like HUD Vass or Section 8, they legally can't apply that rule to everyone.

That's why we're seeing partial solutions.

Cities are forced to work around the law only applying rules to properties that receive public funding or limiting protections to every to very specific groups like veterans instead of creating a clear and universal standard.

We talked about the Asians earlier not getting treated properly.

The veterans are getting it even worse.

Now let's talk about enforcement because this is just as important.

Even when cities pass ordinance, the penalties are very small.

For example, fines may be capped at a few hundred dollars for violation.

Enforcement depends on veterans filing a complaint, and there's little follow-up or real consequence for repeated behavior.

So what happens?

For many landlords, a small fine becomes just another cost of doing business, not a real reason for changing behavior.

Now let's talk what the federal government has already done.

The federal government has made it easier, has made it easier than ever for veterans to qualify for housing.

They fixed how income is counted.

They expanded access to programs like HUD VASH so veterans can qualify, but here's the problem: a landlord in Texas can still say we don't accept vouchers, and that's legal.

So we created a system where a veteran qualifies for housing, has support to pay, does everything right and still gets turned away at the door.

That's the gap, and it's not something cities can fully fix on their own.

That's why I passed on a resolution to my two veteran state representatives on the Bear County legislature because this problem exists at the state level.

Here's what actually needs to happen: the state needs to update the law so cities can fully protect veterans using housing vouchers.

There needs to be a clear state-wide rule so it doesn't depend on what city you're in.

We all agree that if property takes if property takes taxpayer money, it should be required to accept housing assistance, and enforcement needs real consequences, not just small fines.

Because right now, we're not dealing with a lack of effort, we're dealing with the limits built into the system.

So, yes, we can applaud what the city's been doing.

Mayor, I applaud what you're trying to do.

We're trying to solve a statewide problem with tools that the state has been limited, and until that changes, veterans will be qualifying and still getting turned away.

And that's nothing, and that's something we should never accept in the state of Texas and Military City.

Thank you, ma'am.

Madeline Millett, followed by Antonio Diaz and then Diana Uriegas Flores.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Madeline Mallet.

I am an Army veteran of 21 years of service.

When I had my family, we didn't have enough government housing on post.

So I was forced to live in the economy.

Here we are today, 15 years later.

Today I have two daughters in the Air Force, and they too have to live out in the economy.

We did not have a choice.

We were forced.

However, today you all have a choice to help us and to help all our veterans.

Today being the prayers day, I hope that all of our veterans' prayers are answered today, and that as of tomorrow, we have no more suicides because of homeless or lack of homes.

Thank you.

Antonio Diaz, followed by Diana Uriegas Flores and then Sylvia Soto.

I am a son, nephew, brother, a veterans, and I am also a Vietnam veteran.

That proposal that the mayor has brought forward is truly needed by many, many veterans in San Antonio.

You can see many houseless veterans throughout the streets of our city pitching tents pushing carts around with whatever belongings after serving this country in the military, that is outrageous, it shouldn't be happening.

Uh somehow our elected officials seem to ignore veterans time and time again it's how can this be USA city military city when so many homeless veterans are out in the streets and landlords refusing vouchers because they can get money more money from private leasers renters so this this remedy or this approach hopefully will be unanimous and it should be unanimous in the original language it was written in because veterans deserve it they've already served I I come from a very uh strict family and my father who was a World War II veteran wounded in the Pacific didn't want anything he would say I'm not gonna be like a cop that walks by a a shop and and grabs a shiny apple for free I already got paid but he came back very very injured very damaged and pride does not pay your bills so I want to thank you all if you do this unanimously and follow the mayor's lead in trying to house veterans in our city thank you Diana Uriegas Flores followed by Sylvia Soto uh good afternoon and I know Mother's Day's coming up this Sunday it's the true day of Mother Day but how many of you are veterans here in the council raise your hand okay how many of you have family members that are veterans raise your hand one I have family members that are veteran cousins uncles you have any uncles cousins grandparents that are veterans anybody here in the council raise your hand about them when you vote and their families these vouchers that the vouchers that y'all the housing is giving out the reason why they're not receiving these vouchers is because it's lacking money off of it it started with two dollars then it went the following year went to four then six ten how are you expecting these people to get a place to stay veterans and citizens so you are saying we have a lot of uh homeless here downtown or whatever and y'all don't want them there.

Well, why are you taking out the money from the vouchers?

That's the reason why they don't want them.

We try to give the money up.

You know, up front.

You know, some of these people try to give the lacking money out in front, but they don't want to receive it that way.

I even offered to pay their money up front that they were lacking on the vouchers, so that they could have a place to stay.

These veterans worked hard.

Doing their life.

Some of them are lucky that they're here.

A life.

They don't need this uh thing, you know, that they can't have a place to stay.

They want to live wherever they want to live.

It's just like y'all, y'all want to live wherever you want to.

Let them live where they want to.

Thank you.