On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele Dufilho San Antonio is a fast growing, fast moving city with something new happening every day.

That's why each week we go on the record with Randy Beamer and the newsmakers who are driving this change.

Then we gather at the reporters roundtable to talk about the latest news stories with the journalist behind those stories.

Join us now as we go on the record with Randy Beamer.

Hi, everybody, and thank you for joining us for On the Record.

I'm Randy Beamer, and this week we are starting with yet another new council member for San Antonio.

Over the last few weeks, we've introduced you to several.

And today we're going to introduce you to the youngest man on council right now.

Rick Galvan, district six.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Let's get that question out of the way right now.

You're 24, correct.

We had the card to you on the way in.

And, what made you want to get into public policy and things like this so early and you've already been involved.

You have experience at 24?

Yeah.

I think everyone always jokes.

You know how crazy it must be to jump into politics this early, right?

And I think they're probably right.

But, it comes from a place of, you know, my mom's a teacher.

Assistant.

Technically, she's not a full teacher.

Due to some bachelor's degree requirements.

Right?

And so understanding, the impacts of education policy, the impacts of school policy, and the way that it affects not only our teachers, but also the rest of the staff as well, and our students.

So that always was important to me.

And so trying to figure out where in the legislative process is this happening and not happening.

Right.

Things getting done in teacher pay on benefit issues.

That really inspired me to get more involved of it.

How early did you get into that?

Because you, major, your minored in public policy at UT.

Majored in history, right?

As a kid, say, home high school.

Did you want to do that?

I did, I was wanted to be a teacher.

That was my full focus up until senior year of my college, time.

I mean, there was, of course, different things I was working on within politics already that I was interested in.

That's what made me fall in love with the pipeline.

I think of falling down into it.

Learning more about education policy was really got to me motivated to figure out ways that I can get more plugged into my community, too.

But I remember thinking about that back in high school, trying to figure out ways that whether it was with income issues or was looking at issues that my teachers were struggling with as well, or things that are happening at my school.

But I think that having with my, myself and my classmates, the impacts of funding issues or lack of funding pieces, made me want to figure out how do we get these things done, how do we get the things addressed?

So you came back from UT and already you have, district five experience as director of, what was the director, special projects.

Special projects.

And then also, you were president of the Pipers Meadow Neighborhood Association.

Yeah.

Which is where you grew up, right?

Was that tough to convince people that you should be in charge there?

No, I don't think so.

You know, I think, you know, myself, I joined in just to kind of learn more about this vacant lot in the area and try to figure out what's going on with this.

And this is a neighborhood association group I've never been involved with, but I want to learn more about.

They're my neighbors, right.

And so I went in there, I think, my neighbors were really excited to see a young person getting involved, and caring about the neighborhood in the way that they do, too.

And I just stuck around for a little bit.

And then once I kind of showed that, you know, we can get something scheduled here, I can kind of get some pieces going for them with kind of digital media as well.

They're really excited about the energy that I think I brought to, the Neighbors Association, board and everything.

And so it was pretty quick transition.

They asked me.

Lydia Evans is a resident in the area who had been serving as president for a long time.

Incredible woman doing that work.

And she said, you know, Rick, I really want to retire with my grandkids and just be able to breathe a bit more.

Are you interested in doing this?

And I said, okay.

I mean, if you're if you're the one trusting me to do it, I'm happy to join in.

And so I tagged myself in with it.

The boys are excited to have some young energies that they call that all the time.

And so I got right to work with talking to the neighborhoods and figuring out what things can we do in our neighborhood a bit differently because we're not an HOA, right?

So we don't have the fees that anyone else has, the dues that they get.

It's all voluntary.

And so we're trying to figure out ways that we can advocate for our parks and our streets and our sidewalks and public safety, without this kind of solid infrastructure.

Now, a district six.

If we put up a map, it's, a little different.

You split?

Yeah.

And now what is that, like for a council member to have to represent different, different parts of the West side and then the far northwest side.

You know, I think it's something that's been pretty interesting, whether on the campaign trail or we're working there, as a council member.

Right.

And our staff trying to figure out a bit of how do we make sure that we're messaging the right way or all these different pieces advocating, city council for the right pieces for all of our, our district?

And that's the thing that I think I always, I try to remind everybody, as someone who is going out there my entire life, whether you're from the Edgewood part or all the way, I'm a ranch.

A lot of our folks have a lot of long term family, connections here.

Not everybody does, right.

But we understand that there's a lot of pieces that are connected here.

My family came from the Edgewood area in the very beginning.

Right.

My grandparents started there.

My parents grew up there.

You have an Air Force background as well?

Yeah.

Family?

Yeah, yeah.

And then, we all kind of moved with Kelly and Lachlan being out here, right?

We moved further out once we had the opportunity to do it.

Grew up with my dad, who was, able to get the house that we, I grew up in and Pipers Meadow.

But there's still that care and that heart for the community, too.

Right.

And so I think a lot of those pieces are just connecting back with our residents and saying, well, yes, of course we're going to advocate for these pieces on this side of the district.

We also understand that these parts need something different, right.

So how do we make sure that we're telling those needs for those, requests all to everybody at the same time?

Now, you can't campaigned on affordable housing, sustainable growth, infrastructure improvements, something we need across the city.

Right.

How do you see that playing out with the budget shortfall projected?

What does that mean to you?

Yeah.

So it means a couple different things.

I think about with housing affordability.

Right.

Looking at the, fordable housing bond that we passed 2022 as a good starting point, I think it's an incredible work not only doing production of affordable housing, but also preservation of current housing, too, or something.

We talked about the campaign trail a lot.

It's not enough to just say we need new housing here.

We also need to preserve the housing that we have.

So our folks who have been living here for a long time can live in dignity.

Same thing for their kids as well as folks who are retiring.

Want to downsize?

What are you looking at in terms of budget cuts?

Where do you want to cut?

It's a tough one, right?

We don't want to make, have any big, issues with folks who are going to lose jobs, right?

We don't want to make mass layoffs happen here in our city.

We also make sure we're still living the services.

And so what I'm looking at first and foremost is looking at some of the pieces that we're, selling out outside of our city services, whether it is corporate subsidies or development subsidies, even some of these kind of sprung department subsidies that, to your point of sustainable growth as well as our, our city, we do a lot of development subsidies outside our city limits or even pushing the boundaries a bit, which encourages more sprawling development that increased our traffic, our water usage, our infrastructure needs.

So looking at whether we can look more insular a bit, in infill development downtown.

How about, police?

That's one of the things that's been talked about as a possible cut in terms of extra police officers.

Sure.

Yeah, that's a tougher one.

Right.

I think there's something that we heard on the streets, with residents across the board who are saying, you know, I haven't seen eye patrol in the area.

I would like to see more safe officers in the area.

And so, you know, while we cannot, reduce the the police force that we currently have or the police department budget due to state law, right, we want to make sure that we're also given the resources they need.

And so to me, what that looks like is if we need to talk about increasing police staffing, let's have that conversation and see what, how much it's going to cost us, but also long term solutions.

Briefly, a couple more things.

Spurs arena right now.

Yeah.

Where do you stand on that?

Yes, I was very clear on those pieces that I don't support public financing for this project.

Of course there's different pieces on what that looks like.

Right.

General bond versus general fund dollars versus also In tourist what they call the tourist tax.

Or are you open to that or is that still public money you would be against.

Based on the studies that I've seen since the 70s, right.

Whether it's tourist dollars or it's some kind of different tourist dollars or other pieces, every time the city does invest in these pieces, we don't see a big return in the way that we always are.

Propose that it's going to, give us back.

You know, the Alamodome, you know, supposedly has has done a lot.

I mean, it has in terms of money.

Yeah.

On the investment.

Right.

That's not.

Well, I would argue that, you know, I think for a while we've talked about how Alamodome didn't make any money for the city, right, that it was always operating a deficit.

And now it seems suddenly that narrative has changed.

And so I'm interested to see more about that kind of internal, well.

Operating a deficit.

But those who say that it has brought more in tax money sure cost.

Sure.

And I would like to see a bit more of the studies on what that look like, because my understanding is if we're talking about the Spurs arena needing a new place to go with Spurs, any place to go, that was the same conversation.

The Alamodome too, right?

Wasn't good enough after Frost Bank wasn't good enough.

Now we're going somewhere else or isn't good enough.

Finally.

The it's been in the news recently.

The mayors style and the council consideration request.

You have to go through more hoops than they did.

Yeah.

Prior to this, in the past few months or any way, how do you feel about that and how are you getting along.

With the mayor?

Yeah, the mayor and I have a decent relationship.

We're both far West Side kids, right.

So you went to John Jay?

I won't hold that against her.

I went to homes, but it's system at their home, so we had some connections there.

Fight.

But it's okay.

I still.

I'm wearing a blue suit today.

Right?

I'm not wearing green and gold today, but, her and I get along pretty well, and she has a different style, and I think it's just a matter of getting it.

You're okay with the punctuality, the phones being put away?

Yeah.

Sitting down when she's reading that kind of thing.

Hey.

Makes it easier for me to get back on time to doing that stuff I need to do.

I was on the CCR piece, right?

It's a bit different.

Policy is always a different piece there.

And so, her and I had some conversation about my concerns about it.

I'm excited to have a more public conversation about that.

Or we can get to the more the details of how maybe we can adjust some of the pieces that she's looking at.

All right.

Well, thank you very much.

Rick Galvan, district six Council member.

Good luck with all that.

And your birthday coming up.

25.

No thank you.

Thanks very much for coming in.

Thank you.

If you have been to the San Antonio International Airport recently, you've noticed a lot of construction, and that means a new terminal is coming here with us to talk about that and more is has you signs director of airports for the aviation department of San Antonio.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Thank you for having me.

And we'll get to Stinson because it is airport's that you're in charge of.

But first at the international airport.

Where are we in terms of the timeline for the new terminal and how, you know, that's a huge project?

What what is the cost of that total?

Proud to tell everyone.

We're still on scope, on schedule and on budget.

So, a little over $1.5 billion that we're spending not only on the terminal but in and around the airfield, work that we're doing adjacent to the terminal complex.

Now, when people here are a billion and a half, that's fees from the airport, the airlines center that's paying.

That is correct.

The bulk of that.

Right.

I always like to tell people, unless you're using the airport, you're not paying for the airport.

So it is by, you know, passenger facility charges, revenues that we make.

And we've been very fortunate, to receive a lot of grants as well, that we've been working on.

You just got 113 million.

What will that help pay for.

13 million is working towards paying toward the terminal complex.

And we've been very fortunate over the last four years, we've been able to acquire over $200 million in grants that we've been working towards.

Reimbursable grants, working with the Federal Aviation Administration.

And, you know, obviously under what was the bipartisan infrastructure law and and now the Infrastructure Act that is being utilized as well, we've been able to take advantage of both of those efforts based on our ability to execute on the existing construction programs.

And the existing grants aren't going to be, as they say, clawed back by Congress as we've seen some other, money.

No, that's work.

That's that's underway.

You know, as we talk about the work that's happening at the terminal complex started, early December, that is taken off work that we're doing on the airfield that is being done.

So, we are in the execution phase of what we're doing, the construction phases of what we're doing for the transformation that's going on at San Antonio.

People might wonder, okay, exactly where is that new terminal going to be and what's going to happen to terminals one and two?

It's really a great question because, you know, people are often telling me has this is this new development that's happening adjacent to terminal.

Is that the new terminal?

I'm like, no, that's our ground load facility.

So we will open that up in December.

That's three ground boarding gates that we will be utilizing at San Antonio, and the two.

Terminals.

For the two terminals.

And then the new terminal is, you know, to the north of terminal B.

So we've already outlined a fence material that's there.

We'll have some new, different, art that will go up, that will start to represent what the terminal is going to look like.

So all of that is behind the fence line.

Not necessarily in the secure area, but we've fenced everything off.

We've started to perform a lot of earthwork over, you know, 300, pylons that have already gone in.

We're going to reach about 650 of those.

So work is has commenced.

So as you drive in, you go by terminal A or B or one and two.

And then the third one will be terminal.

Still expanding that.

What about what about parking across from that.

Yeah.

So right adjacent to that new terminal complex, we you know, with mayor and council approval, we've we're moving forward with a brand new design build, what we call a ground transportation center.

So we'll be displacing a lot of the vehicular, commercial, vehicular traffic into this new ground transportation center, preparing ourselves with a six level garage up to 22,000 spaces that will be there.

And then preparing ourselves for the future of, you know, EV tunnels.

So vertical takeoff and landings that will be happening, in the future.

Vehicles like bigger drones for.

Bigger drones, for the movement of passenger service.

But that's, how many, how many years down the road is that?

One could say one and one can say five.

But, you know, there's a lot of regulatory framework that's being finalized.

With the FAA, there's a lot of piloting efforts that are happening across the country today.

So, you already have manufacturers, whether that's Archer or Jobi they're already building these aircraft.

You've got airlines that are purchasing these aircraft.

So we're getting ready for it.

As we want to prepare our airport to be able to connect, whether that be regionally into the Hill Country or to, the region in and around the, the San Antonio outside of the central business district, or whether we want to just connect passengers quickly from San Antonio to, you know, the convention center and being able to have quick connectivity in and out of downtown.

That brings us to the South Side.

We'll get back to international in just a minute.

But Stinson, port SA, it has, I guess 50 acres that they're working on for that, electronic.

Is it electric vehicle takeoff and landing.

Evtol.

And so are you going to be working with them at Stinson?

You have 70 acres there.

I guess it's undeveloped that you could use.

It's exciting.

So we when we completed the strategic development program that turned into what is today the terminal development program of building out a new terminal at San Antonio that came up off of a master planning for it as soon as we completed that many, that master planning effort for for San Antonio International, we immediately launched a master planning initiative for Stinson Municipal.

So we have now completed that, and we have identified over 70 acres to be ready for use.

There at Stinson Municipal.

Just completed a lot of work, on the airfield, a complete overlay of runway 927.

So we're preparing Stinson for that as well as we look at both airports, you know, complementing what's required and what's necessary.

There's a lot of advanced, you know, efforts that are happening with, Brooks.

Leo and I have been in conversations.

It's it's good stuff that's happening down there.

There's a lot of work that's happening with Texas A&M, San Antonio.

So how are we preparing that for a corporate activity or continued, manufacturing or development opportunities?

Where do you.

People wonder, divert some not divert, but, you know, move some air traffic down there that's now at the international.

No, I think that's organic growth that happens on the South side.

You know, today, you know, we have GA operations there at Stinson.

We're working towards moving that towards happen, having not only GA but corporate activity as well.

And you know, maybe one day commercial service into Stinson.

We'll see.

Back to the international airport.

I know you can't talk about, what's happening at the one terminal when you renovate that with the lawsuit, from an airline.

But what are we going to see?

You.

When is that going to be done?

Those renovations of the existing terminals?

Yeah, we started that effort as well.

So we're launching, very similar to what we're doing with terminal C. We want to put that same plan into effect with terminal A in terminal B.

So a complete renovation of terminal A and terminal B so that on the interior, whether it's whole room space, brand new restrooms, a redefined and re transformed, you know, ticketing counter and security checkpoints, both terminal B in terminal A will get that same level of service as we are doing with new terminal C to complement the entire airport.

As we look at the new terminal, a terminal being.

And with that, you're looking at new routes.

We had Frankfurt and it went away.

What happened there and how how far out are we from more European?

You talked about South American.

We just got a couple more Mexican, nonstop.

Yeah.

The, the the work that we've been able to do on their service development has been incredible.

You look at, growth into Mexico has, has been phenomenal.

What was four destinations is now nine in the last you know two, three years.

We're talking over 400% growth that we've experienced the launching with Volaris of getting into San Luis Potosi and Morelia, everything that continues to grow with vital boosts of going into Mexico City and Monterrey.

We are now looking at a lot of as we've targeted a lot of central Mexico, we want to start focusing on the leisure destinations.

Finally, do we have to wait for that new, longer runway?

When and when will that get done to get bigger planes that can go farther?

No, I mean, I think the planes exist to connect us into Europe.

It's a matter of us reconnecting and reestablishing, you know, a route with air carrier.

We are constantly working towards that.

So, we definitely based on the performance that we saw last summer, it's unfortunate the German government, withheld aid.

You know, Condor, the airline that was servicing San Antonio to be able to have, beyond connecting service from Frankfurt.

So it's very difficult for people to want to take a flight when they can't connect beyond with that carrier.

So we're addressing those issues.

We're looking at alternative airlines that we can work with to prepare San Antonio to connect again, transatlantic service as soon as possible.

All right.

Well look forward to that.

Thank you very much for coming in explaining all that Jesus signs.

Director of airports for the Aviation Department of the City of San Antonio.

Thanks.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Plans for a new Spurs arena downtown have been all over the news recently, with the Spurs announcing they will kick in a significant part of the cost.

Here to tell us all about it.

Madison is a reporter for the Express News.

You've been covering this for a while.

And what's the big news out there?

And do you think it's swayed some council members as well as the public?

The big news at this point is that the Spurs said that they'll commit over 1 billion to the arena and development around it.

So basically what that would look like is 500 million toward the actual arena cost 500 million in nearby development.

And then they're talking about another 60, 60 million in a community benefits agreement.

And so that could mean child care initiatives, which is something that Mayor Jones brought up on the campaign trail.

That could mean discount tickets.

That could mean underwriting some public transit to games.

And so that's the package that was presented to City Council last week.

And that was really the first sign that we've had of what the Spurs are willing to contribute to this overall project.

During the council meeting, there were a lot of questions about the community benefits agreement.

Some people said, well, maybe the community wants child care, but maybe they also want other things like affordable housing, or there are other things that some council members want them to look at as part of that.

And there's still skepticism among some about what the city will get back in exchange for this deal with the Spurs.

Mayor Jones said she really wants revenue sharing to be part of the agreement, but the Spurs have said that's off the table.

No part of ticket sales, no percentage, no anything like that.

Yes.

That's what she wants to negotiate, in part because the city is facing a budget deficit.

And so she described looking at different ways to get money for the city as kind of a way of helping plug that hole.

Rick Galvan earlier told us that he is against some public funding for that.

Where do you think the council is now with the billion dollar?

Figure make a difference and will it make a difference?

You know, with the county's, planned vote in November?

The majority of council members last week seemed comfortable moving forward with negotiations, seemed comfortable with the deal structure that had been presented.

But the progressive contingent doesn't seem satisfied.

Councilman Jalen Mickey Rodriguez, who, of course, represents the East Side where the Prospect Center is, said this deal isn't enough.

Other council members also expressed some concerns about the amount of public funding about what the city would be getting in return and again, about the community benefits piece and whether that does, in fact reflect what the community wants or not.

And the county is moving ahead with plans for a vote in the fall.

City had talked about a vote on some different things infrastructure around the dome and such.

Is that going to go to the ballot in November or are they going to put that off to May?

It seems, at least for now, that they're going to put it off.

City manager Eric Walsh said during Friday's council meeting that city staff are not recommending at this point that the council put the infrastructure bond on the November ballot.

They have been talking about that bond as a way to pay for roads, ramps, other infrastructure pieces around where the arena would go to get people in and out more easily and also pay for parking.

There have been a lot of concerns in the community about how are people going to get downtown, how are they going to navigate?

Am I going to be sitting on the highway for an hour trying to get back home?

And so the city had kind of describe this bond as a way to help alleviate some of those concerns.

But that could still happen in May early enough that that wouldn't be a problem.

Doing that before or while the Spurs are building the arena?

Yes, yes, that could get pushed back to me.

And the Spurs also said that they would, foot the cost of overruns, which seems like it would help.

Yes.

The city has said that they think the arena will cost between 1.3 to 1.5 billion.

The Spurs haven't put out their own estimate.

But yes, that was part of Peter Holt's letter or proposal to the city was will cover the cost overruns beyond this.

So again 500 million would come from the Spurs.

The city is talking about up to 500 million.

And then the rest, the 300 million or so would come from the county.

And the county.

The the issue on the ballot in November is technically going to be what?

So it'll be a couple of different things.

One piece will be the Spurs arena.

So devoting about 311 million to that arena cost.

And then another piece will be improvements for the rodeo and the Freeman Coliseum.

The rodeo has pitched a plan to basically enact a year round programing on the grounds where they want to build some new buildings, they want to renovate some existing buildings and just get way more events than what they have in.

And the voters to approve a tourist tax, a venue tax.

How would that work?

Yeah.

So of any tax election.

So it's basically a tax on hotel rooms and car rentals.

What about, development around Freeman Coliseum?

Freeman and the rodeo or the, AT&T Frost Bank center?

That would get a big chunk of the money.

But what about around there?

Possibly Willow Springs golf course development.

There.

That's not being talked about.

Not at this point.

I don't think there's any development.

There definitely won't be any development on the, venue tax election.

And it's still really a question of if the rodeo year round programing does happen.

If the Frost Bank center gets some upgrades, will that end up attracting more development, or is the East Side kind of going to remain what it is now?

Where there's a golf course, there's a lot of industrial development, but there's not a lot of restaurants, bars, hotels, other pieces.

It looks like we're going to have a pretty good season with the Spurs.

We hope, that could help in terms of the vote.

But I guess we should expect to see TV ads and mailers and that kind of thing promoting the county's vote.

That's what I'm curious about.

If we're going to see a Spurs campaign, if Webb is going to be dribbling in a new arena or something of that nature, if the Spurs are really going to make their pitch to voters for why they think they need a new arena or.

Other business interests, do you think will do that?

And they're talking about a massive economic impact that you're writing about now?

Yes, yes.

Different aspects of Project Marvel are expected to bring in billions of dollars to the city, according to a report over 30 years.

Over 30 years?

Yeah, according to a report that they're released today.

And so I think we might see business interests trying to also convince the public that they think this would be beneficial for San Antonio.

So you'll be writing about this over 30 years?

Yes.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

A very tired Madison is a reporter for the Express-News.

Thanks for coming in.

And thank you for joining us for this edition of On the Record.

You can watch this show again.

You can see any previous shows.

You can also download them as podcasts.

at KLRN.org I’m Randy Beamer and we'll see you next time.

On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele Duflo.