Hi, everybody, and thank you for joining us for this KLRN Mayoral Forum 2025.

I'm Randy Beamer, and we are going to hear from the two runoff candidates, Gina Ortiz Jones and Rolando Pablos, in just a minute.

First of all, I want to let you know that out of those 27 candidates, these are the final two.

And the runoff election day is June 7th, with early voting starting on May 27th.

We encourage you to get out there and vote and do your research.

That is part of this here.

Now, the rules here are each candidate is going to get an opening statement of two minutes each.

They will also then at the end get a closing statement of two minutes.

Each of the questions I'll ask both candidates.

They will get 90s each.

There could be a possibility for one rebuttal.

We don't want to have a rebuttal of a rebuttal of a rebuttal.

We want to get to as many topics as we can.

So we would like to start with the candidates so they can introduce themselves, because they have a lot of lists on their resume, a lot of lines.

They can do that.

We're starting as a flip of a coin with Rolando Pablos.

Well thank you, Randy.

I want to thank and first and foremost for hosting this forum.

And to the people of San Antonio, I want to thank you for tuning in.

Well, we went like you said, we went from 27 down to two, and now San Antonio have a choice to make.

We have a situation here where, we have two candidates that, you know, come from different backgrounds.

But most importantly for me, I'll tell you, I've been here for 40 years.

San Antonio has been home for 40 years.

I came here as a 17 year old to attend Saint Mary's University.

I graduated eventually, and, attended UTSA.

I got my MBA there, and, and then I went back to Saint Mary's to go to law school.

San Antonio has been my home.

I put myself through college working in restaurants and hotels.

And this is where I met my wife.

Laura and I have been married for 31.

Wonderful years.

We have four remarkable children.

Christine, David, Mina and Andrea.

And, this is really where home has been for us.

This is where I've started several businesses.

I've sold several businesses here.

I've worked in the community.

I have volunteered countless hours, countless years in this community.

I've worked, for dozens and dozens of nonprofits helping this community out.

So for me, this is home.

I've also volunteered and worked at the state level.

I've run three state agencies.

Most importantly, I have been a commissioner at the Public Utility Commission.

I've also served as secretary of state, working on elections, working on international trade.

And now I'm ready to come and work, at the city.

I want to give back to the city that welcomed me with open arms.

This wonderful city that has given me my wife, my education.

My business, my children.

And this is the time.

This is a time for me to get in here and help San Antonio, go in a different direction.

And that is a direction of prosperity.

Mr. Ortiz Jones.

Great.

Well, Randy, thanks again for having us.

Thanks to the and team.

And of course, thanks to the voters, that have taken the time to tune in.

I am very proud of the fact that I'm a proud first generation American.

My mom came to this country over 40 years ago.

She graduated from the number one university in the Philippines.

She came here as a domestic helper, and she said, you know, I knew if I went to that country, even in that capacity, if I was willing to work hard, the sky's the limit.

And so she reminded my sister and I, who she raised by herself, that we were very lucky, not smart.

We were lucky to have been born in this very special country, and we'd have to give back.

And that's why I was honored to serve in the Air Force in a number of ways, and why my sister proudly serves as a drill instructor in the Navy.

Our my my ability to to grow up healthy, get an education, and serve our country are directly related to the opportunities that I had here.

I'm a proud product of public education.

On the far west side, Adams Elementary school, PS middle school, John Jay High School.

I want to make sure that those just as talented, just as hungry have the opportunity to similarly pursue their God given potential.

I'm honored to have served both of that Air Force veteran as an Iraq War veteran.

I most recently served as the undersecretary of the Air Force over the Air Force.

In the Space Force, I managed $173 billion budget, led 600,000 folks, and look forward to bringing my service and leadership and service to our city.

My time in public service has also shown me you need a plan, right?

Even if we had a different governor, a different president, many of the challenges in our community would be the same, which is why we need a plan.

I've shared on my website the things I'd like to accomplish in the first 100 days.

To make sure that we are working to bring down costs where we can make smart investments.

While we must, and certainly bring much more transparency to how public dollars are being spent in our community.

I think what you do is as important as how you do it, which is why I've also committed to making sure that we are having a public dialog often.

I've committed to, monthly town halls in person, rotating throughout each of the city council districts.

So that is the record that I bring the record of delivering results.

And certainly the way I look forward to bring my service and leadership to our great city.

Next question.

We'll start with with you this time.

Both of you mentioned in your background your connections to San Antonio as well as your jobs, some of them outside of San Antonio.

People might wonder just how much of a connection do you have to San Antonio?

How much time do you spend here?

Have you spent a year?

Both of you would be the second mayor to not have any city council experience in about 70 years, as Phil Hard Burger was the other.

How connected and how how much can you hit the ground running?

Knowing the problems of San Antonio, or will you have to get up to speed?

Well, I'm very proud of my record of public service.

I think all of that from serving at the intersection of our economic and national security at the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

To.

Yes, making sure our men and women, had what they need to do the nation's work and also making sure we're making smart investments.

Those are the two questions I ask myself every single day as the undersecretary.

My folks have what they need to be successful and to making smart investments.

I think those are fundamentally the same questions that a mayor has to answer.

And make sure we're being judicious with the resources in our community.

Again, I one of my concerns, is really making sure that we take a sharp look at the budget I've already looked at, sat down with the city manager, for example, as we've talked about some of those challenges and having led a large budget, very complex, as you can imagine, at the, at the Pentagon, really bring that skill set, but also make sure we're prioritizing and making sure we're not making taking any undue risks, making sure we are meeting the needs of our community.

Certainly, making sure our, first responders have what they need to be successful.

But if folks visit my website, you know, it's jones.com, and they look at the ways in which I want to support public education, I'm a proud product of all title one schools.

Look at the ways in which I want to make sure we've got sufficient affordable housing in our community.

I know what it's like to have to need a section eight voucher.

And certainly making sure that we're being thoughtful about how we're serving the next generation, how I want to make sure we're shoring up, for example, pre-K for us in our community, if we are serious about addressing these longstanding inequities, it's going to take leadership skills.

And certainly, courage to do those things.

And I bring that in spades.

Mr. Pablos, so the question was about our involvement in the community.

Let me tell you, for the last 40 years, I've been heavily involved in this community.

I've served in nonprofits.

I've been the chairman of the Hispanic Chamber, the chairman of the Free Trade Alliance.

I've taught university level classes at both UTSA and at the U of H campus here.

I have volunteered in many different situations, such as the homelessness Task force that Phil Harshbarger, appointed me to, I've also, worked at Morgan's Wonderland.

I've been on the board of Morgan's Wonderland.

I recently, you know, got off of the board of, of that wonderful institution.

I sit on the board of Special Olympics Texas.

So my record is clear as to what my involvement is in San Antonio.

I have gone as far as publishing my resume on on my website, published for America.

I invite everyone to take a look at everything that I've done.

It's two pages long.

Not only have I gotten my education here, but I've worked here.

I've started businesses here.

And look, I've worked at City Hall.

I've been down there.

I was a former chairman of the small business and Economic Development Committee in charge of the spatter ordinance.

So I have been involved heavily in this community.

And the only times that I've left have been to serve the state of Texas in my hometown of El Paso, where I grew up.

But I've been here for 40 years.

And let me tell you, it's been wonderful volunteering the vast majority of my time working with this community.

We have the relationships, and I'm ready to hit the ground running.

There's not going to be any time for, trying to to learn, because I've already learned.

I've already known.

Next question.

Actually, I. I'd like to respond to that.

I'm glad that, Rolando brought up a mayor hard worker.

I'm actually honored to have his endorsement in this race.

As of that of Mayor Julian Castro.

And, this is Military City, USA, right?

I'm a proud Air Force veteran, Iraq War veteran, and certainly my time as the undersecretary of the Air Force.

Understand the unique role that San Antonio plays when it comes to our national security.

So San Antonio is not only Military City because we have a large military presence.

We are also Military City, USA, because we disproportion we send a high percentage of our young people to serve in our military.

And if our city is not producing enough, healthy enough kids, academically prepared kids, it is in fact a national security issue.

So I know the importance of strong leadership from my own personal lived experience.

But having seen at the highest levels of government why we need to take care of home base and make sure our city is well led.

Next question.

We'll start with, Mister Pablos, and you've touched on this, but if you could put in order your top three priorities as mayor and also maybe what San Antonio has spent too much time on in the past decade or so, what would you put lower on a priority list in the current city council?

Well, I've talked about this consistently, and that is, 60 years ago, the poverty rate in San Antonio was 18%, and today it's still 18%.

That worries me because poverty is the root condition that drives many of the issues that, we're seeing today, like crime, homelessness, neighborhood blight, you know, our public health situation that we have here.

All of that is driven by poverty.

So no one can tell you that they're going to address those issues unless they also have a plan for eradicating poverty.

And I want to be able to start that.

And my plan involves aggressive job creation.

I mean, job creation is extremely important, quality education and fiscal responsibility.

We have to make sure that our taxpayer money is being spent in the right places.

We can't allow for our money to be spent on preferences.

It's got to be spent on the priorities.

And the priorities are basic services, and I intend to tackle that immediately.

Crime is also a big issue.

Today, the San Antonio Police Officers Association issued their endorsement of me.

They understand and they know that I'm serious about crime, and I will not defund the police or fire department.

I've already been very clear about that.

We have a budget deficit that we need to address, but police and fire are off limits.

We will not touch those budgets.

I, as an Air Force veteran, as a national security leader, understand that a leader is number one job is to keep our people safe.

I want to make sure.

And I've sat down actually with with both, the fire union as as well as the police union.

To hear directly from them.

And I would take a look at making sure that we, that there were sufficient levels of readiness.

Right.

Again, this is exactly what I did as the undersecretary, making sure our folks were trained, they were well resourced, the equipment was ready to go, and we could meet the needs in our community.

We do not have we cannot afford to make assumptions about how ready some of these units are.

So I would take a hard, a hard look at that.

I'm also very proudly, endorsed by sheriff, Javier Salazar.

Somebody who has been outspoken in making sure that public safety is front and center.

But also also has been compassionate, about making sure that people are clear, especially in this environment.

With, you know, confusion about what potentially who may show up the door to the door, for example, in some of these, immigration enforcement related activities, I sense quite clearly the fear in our communities.

I've talked with communities all throughout, and we are let's be very clear, we are less safe as a community when folks are not clear who will show up to the door, whether you're a victim of domestic violence or whether you're a victim of wage theft.

So I think it's important we're looking at public safety holistically.

And I would certainly, look forward to doing that.

Next question goes to, Miss Ortiz Jones.

Next question goes to, Miss Ortiz Jones.

Next question goes to, Miss Ortiz Jones.

First, the, one of the biggest news stories recently has been around what's called Project Marvel, variously defined.

That would include a number of things, including renovation of the Alamo Dome, renovation, expansion of the convention center, new convention center, hotel, possible land bridge across 281, the most controversially possible new Spurs arena.

Where do you stand on that?

It's it's still being worked out.

Possible vote in November.

Should there be that?

And how much public money should be spent?

Well, you know, thank you for similarly sharing my assessment, which is we need more details.

I've been very clear this could be a generational opportunity for our community to address the generational inequities in our community.

And I think that's how we should be looking at this.

And I would fully support that as, as as long as San Antonio gets a good deal.

But we've got some pretty basic questions that we need answers to.

How much is it going to cost?

Who is going to pay for it, and how is the city going to benefit?

Right.

Let's let's have some answers to those questions.

And I think then we'll be better positioned to, to really think about this.

Because look, as I talk to neighbors, as I go into neighborhood associations, people remember discussions and some of the broken promises around some of these other publicly financed sports venues.

They remember the promise of around the Alamodome, right?

Like, hey, let's use public money.

We'll we'll build the Alamodome.

That'll make us competitive for an NFL team.

The Brahmas are cool.

That is not an NFL team, right?

Judge Nelson Wolff has talked about the deal that he negotiated.

Which is that in exchange for using public resources to build the AT&T center, we're supposed to get 20% of the Spurs annual profits back.

Now, he said that is a deal he negotiated.

And he said, over 20 years, we got zero of that.

So I think, again, it's fair.

We make sure we've got basic answers to these questions.

How much is it going to cost?

Who's going to pay?

And and let's make sure we've got good a good deal for our community.

Absent that information, though, my opponent has already said he wants taxpayers to pay up to 50% of that bill.

That is in a San Antonio Express-News survey that is online.

People can go look at that.

And I don't know how you can sign our community up for that if you don't have this basic information.

Mister problems?

Well, the survey she's referring to, she didn't fill out.

So, at least I had the wherewithal to to address the media.

But, let me tell you this.

So, I don't want to lose the Spurs.

The Spurs are part of our community.

They're part of our DNA.

Whenever I travel around the world, mostly the only thing people knew about San Antonio was the Spurs.

So I want to make sure that we don't fall into the same situation as a city of Seattle who refused to fund their arena and eventually lost the the SuperSonics to Oklahoma City.

And now Oklahoma City is publicly funding their arena.

And look, I think it's misleading to say that I am asking for the taxpayers to pay, because that is not what I'm saying.

We have funds from our visitors tax funds to be able to pay for that.

And that doesn't mean that they would pay that, that we would be paid with everything.

It would mean that as a mayor, I am going to set the right conditions for private investment to as Secretary of state, I travel the world.

I brought billions of dollars worth of private investment to Texas, and I can do that for San Antonio.

I think that the part of the project marble, that is the entertainment district that should not be paid with any public money, but look like I said earlier, there are other cities who want the Spurs.

Austin being one of them, Las Vegas being another.

But I will in no way burden the taxpayers.

I will not, put this on the back of taxpayers.

We need to make sure that we understand, and I'm going to commit that we're going to do this out in the open without NDAs, and so that the entirety of San Antonians can see what it is, and then they get to decide.

I like a rebuttal.

Okay.

I think you can fight to keep the Spurs here, which I will do.

I think you can also make sure our city gets a good deal, which I will do.

I think it's really important go for folks.

Could go look at that survey and how it was worded.

Right.

What percentage do you think is appropriate minus resources from the general fund of city resources?

Do you think is appropriate to pay for this?

That's a very clear question.

He said.

Up to 50%.

I am not going to sign my city up for a bad deal when I don't know how the city is going to benefit.

This is very basic information that we should have.

So I'd be very concerned about somebody who calls himself a fiscal conservative, but is going to sell our city out in that way.

Again, I want to make clear that either of you could ask for a rebuttal after the second.

Second answer to a question in the next answer.

A question is for Mr. Pablos.

Over the past ten years or so, the state legislature and Governor Abbott have gradually reined in or some would say, clawed back some of the city powers of a home rule city, not just in San Antonio, but across the state.

The Death Star bill, so-called, was passed the last session of the legislature.

That's in limbo in the courts.

But there's another one now that would be, go even further or to possibly limit how much money, cities could actually spend on some of these things.

Where do you stand on limiting the power of San Antonio?

Should that continue to be challenged as San Antonio is right now?

And how would it affect what you do as mayor if you're mayor in the next four years?

Well, I'm not afraid to go up to Austin and challenge his decisions.

I, I've done it before, but let me tell you, I think part of the reason why this bill is being proposed is because our exorbitant debt that we have here in San Antonio, we are in debt to the tune of over $22 billion.

That's $14,000 per person.

So I do believe that it's time to rein in that debt.

I haven't seen a debt eradication plan being proposed by anyone.

We have one.

And let me tell you, I will not allow for the state to come in and tell us what to do.

I want to make sure that with regulatory uniformity that we have it.

It's only fair for everybody to have the same regulations that apply to everyone in the state.

Particularly when you have situations like, city limits between, say, for instance, San Antonio and Leon Valley, we have to make sure that those regulations are aligned.

And that's part of the purpose of the so-called that's our bill.

I will tell you, it looks like the Death Star bill is going to survive the the legal challenge.

And so we have to get ready to be able to address that.

And with the relationships I have in Austin, we'll be able to go up there, make a case for San Antonio.

We will not sell our city out.

But I will be there fighting for San Antonio, and that's really what I intend to do.

I will be very clear about who I am beholden to and to be very clear, both with our community as well as with, frankly, state and federal, about the consequences of some of these actions.

San Antonio, we know what is in our best interest.

We know the investments we need to make when it comes to infrastructure.

And making sure that we're making we're doing that equitably.

We should have the right to be able to do that.

I think that is is I hear continually that is the concern with, with, Rolando Pablo's is that he owes Greg Abbott a lot.

Right.

And we should be very concerned about how he would keep those promises to Greg Abbott if that sacrifices and puts our city at risk.

I would like a rebuttal, please.

Sure.

So talking about owing people a lot.

My opponent has spent $13 million Washington DC money in this community running for office.

She's run for office twice already.

She's running for Congress.

She's a DC outsider coming in who parachutes in here only during election period.

So for her to say that I owe Greg Abbott, when in fact, she's the one that's been coming in here, probably at the behest of people from DC.

Is, I think, ridiculous.

And the next question is actually off of that to, to you, Mr. Ortiz Jones.

Both of you have connections outside the city.

Big funding from outside the city.

And are beholden, some would say, to partizan groups that, are not in San Antonio.

How do you tell people that you are going to be a mayor for all of San Antonio, and not for Democrats or Republicans outside of San Antonio, both of whom have said they would like to develop a bench of candidates, including yourselves.

When you look at who is supporting me, for example, one of these groups is Vote Vets.

They are very clear about wanting to, help veterans, who are looking who are interested in continuing their life in public service.

Look at the things that I have on my website.

Look at my record.

They've also I think our, people are supporting.

I'm very proud of all the local support I have as well.

In terms of, you know, the agenda that I look for to get bringing down costs where we can, making smart investments where we might as well as, yes, bringing more transparency, some of these public investments.

So I think it's not only my record of public service that I bring and that people are excited about, but also what I've done.

They also look at the what Rolando has done and understand what a risk that he would be.

I mean, during his time as secretary of state, he was sued by the League of Women Voters, by the NAACP, for engaging in activities that they said could lead to voter intimidation and other.

This was because of the voter commission, right?

Where that vote, the Trump voter Commission, was asking for that, that personal voter information.

And, oh, by the way, they asked they had a specific interest in folks with a Hispanic, surname.

And so he was willing to do that.

Other Republican secretaries of state said no.

A Texas district judge had to order him not to share that information.

So when we look at our records of who they are beholden to and who they're willing to sell out, Rolando Pablos has already shown that he's willing to sell out the people of Texas, and that would be disastrous for our city.

Mr. Pablo's I think the question was about outside influence.

So let's talk about outside influence.

Gina has run for Congress twice as a Democrat, so there shouldn't be any question as to what her allegiance is.

Secondly, she only pops in here whenever it's time to run for office.

I wonder, you know, what has she done for this community?

Instead, she's raised millions and millions of dollars from DC groups.

90% of the donations that have come into my campaign have been from friends and family, and so and from within the state.

The vast majority of her money is coming from Washington, DC, from the place where we need to be careful about.

So we have to make sure that we understand where the funding is coming from and who's beholden to who, because, you know, if she's taken in 13 million plus from Washington, DC interests.

Let me tell you what.

Where is the the the the line going to be drawn as it relates to who's beholden to whom.

And so I urge you to take a look at where her funding sources are coming from and take a look at where her allegiances.

This is a nonpartisan race, and Gina Jones is making this Partizan.

Mr. Ortiz Jones?

Yeah, let's Gina Ortiz Jones, make sure you get it right.

Yeah, I'll make sure you get it right now.

Make sure you get it right.

And so I think it's also really important.

Let's look at the record.

Look, if a grandmother in California wants to send me 30 bucks because she knows I'm going to protect voting rights when I'm running against a former secretary.

Greg Abbott, secretary of state who voted, who was willing to engage in voter intimidation.

I'm going to thank you for the 30 bucks, grandma.

Let's also, though, look at his time when he was on the utilities commission, when he voted to increase three times the cap, the electricity, the electric cap.

Right.

Again, who are you beholden to?

What is that going to mean for our community?

What is that going to mean for the most vulnerable in our community?

That's what people need to ask themselves.

Next question goes to Rolando Pablos.

First.

And we're coming up on a budget for San Antonio, where the city manager has said there will be a compounding shortfall over the next few years.

How will you go about cutting a budget?

And what kind of budgeting do you want to apply?

Zero based budgeting, as some have said or not?

Well, look, I think the most important thing is we need to come in and we need to audit our city's finances.

I need to understand where we've been spending the money.

You know, I've been running on fiscal responsibility, and that's what we need right now.

We need to be able to protect the taxpayers money, and we need to focus on basic services.

So what I would like to do is I would like to ensure, first and foremost, that our fire and police get funded first.

We will not be making any cuts then just like any other budget, just like our budgets at home.

We're going to take a look at questionable spending.

We need to take a look at whether we're spending the money in the right places.

Let me tell you, I guarantee you that if we go into our budget, we'll find areas and I will ask our city manager to take a look at areas that need to be deprioritized.

We have serious issues with law enforcement, with with public safety, serious issues with homelessness.

We have a lot of priorities that we haven't been looking at.

And so I want to make sure that we we take a look at that.

I proposed a Sunset Commission accountability standard for the city of San Antonio, just like the state of Texas has.

I've been through three Sunset Commission reviews, and right now I believe that the city of San Jose needs that in order to be able to understand what departments, what programs, what boards and commissions are working and which are not.

And so we need to be able to take a look at all of that.

But I am willing to work with my colleagues and with city management to make sure that we have a budget that makes sense.

As our Mrs. Ortiz Jones.

Yeah.

This is everybody knows that the budget is a is a moral document, right?

Tell me how you spend your money.

I'll tell you.

We care about.

And I think it's really important you know, given my experience at the Pentagon, I know how complicated these large budgets can be.

And it's why we have to be really thoughtful if they're going to be changes.

Again, I sat down with, the city manager not too long ago just to make sure, you know, we had a good under at least a peripheral understanding of how they see it now.

But also the work that needed to, that would need to be done to ensure we had sufficient insight into the impacts of those some of those changes.

I want to make sure, yes, we are doing what we need to do to keep people safe, serve our most vulnerable.

I mean, I've been to the senior center in district nine right there.

Some services we need to make sure, are protected because of the vitality of that, to to certain vulnerable communities.

I also want to make sure that we are understanding and minimizing the long term risks of any of these changes.

Right.

These are the kinds of conversations I want to have with our city staff.

I know we have an auditing, function as well that has a couple of, of of a couple of, reports.

And this would be the time to figure out which of these can we implement.

Now, where do I be able to we might be able to also identify some efficiencies across the 30 some odd departments.

The city manager identified some already.

And I think there may be more.

Again, I think the zero based budgeting though is a tool.

It still is dependent on the priorities that need to be set by the leadership team.

But I've been very clear.

We've got to make sure we keep people safe.

We've got to serve our most vulnerable and we got to minimize long term risks.

I like to rebuttal.

Please, sir.

Nowhere in there did I hear from Gina.

Her commitment to not defund the police.

We have to make sure that we're committed to our police and our fire.

As she just said right now, we have to keep our people safe.

And public safety is number one.

And so I've already been public about committing to not defunding the police and fire department, and I haven't heard that from her.

All right.

You can't.

Reboot.

Well, you can answer that the next question.

Want to explain to viewers that we established rules where we won't have rebuttal versus rebuttal, but the second, person who wants to rebut can answer in the next question, which will be to Mrs. Ortiz Jones, first, each of you have mentioned a number of times in your first debate.

Generational poverty as one of your priorities, specifically with what the city has now and is likely to have in the near future.

How can you address that issue?

So just to be very clear, what he didn't say is that he wouldn't defund senior centers, right.

So again, it's an example of like a theatrical school thing that he wants to do.

I'm committed to making sure our community is safe.

We will look at the data to make sure that we are doing that, as well as minimizing any risk for long term risks and certainly serving our our most vulnerable communities.

The, when it comes to addressing generational poverty, look, I'm, I'm a first generation American.

Reduced lunch, subsidized housing.

Those are not things I have read about, Randy.

Those are things that I experienced and so I know sometimes folks need a little bit of help.

But because of that and because of my title one public education, I was able to grow up healthy, get an education, and serve our country.

That's why on my first 100 days, I've been very clear about the ways in which I want to work.

I want to help working families.

I'm proudly endorsed by several unions, teacher unions, and proudly endorsed by the AfL-CIO, because they know that I'm going to be cognizant of how we can make sure we're best supporting working families in our community, whether it be, again, looking at how we can, expand the pre-K for essay program.

I would argue if we had more pre-K for essay, we wouldn't need so much ready to work, right?

Lots of literature shows where we've got the highest rate of investment rate at highest rate of return, rather because we can't tell Northside or Harland ISD what to do.

But we as a community can commit to say, we're going to give you the best possible product and really set our community up for success.

I've also been clear about the ways in which I want to increase housing that is affordable in our community.

That will be important in the bond, but I think you have to have a leader that is going to be focused and driving that and really looking at the data to make sure we're making progress.

And I'll do that.

Mister problems.

I've spent 25 years in economic development, creating jobs, attracting investment, bringing companies to our community.

The only way we're going to be able to tackle this generational poverty issue is if we focus on creating better jobs, on educating our children and our adults, and also making sure that we are fiscally responsible.

Those three things are very important in this formula.

But let's go back to creating jobs.

San Antonio wages are depressed.

We haven't been able to improve our wage situation.

People are living paycheck to paycheck and that's not that is not the legacy.

I want to be able to leave my children.

And, next question, you know, begin with Mr. Pablos.

And that is about an issue that has been in the spotlight the last couple of years.

Dog attacks in San Antonio, dog mauling have taken a couple of lives recently.

Last session of the legislature, the San Antonio representative said they had a bill.

It passed.

The governor later vetoed it, surprising people in both parties.

This year, they're trying again.

What would you do about the issue of loose and stray dogs in San Antonio and addressing dog attacks and those who own dogs?

Guilty of that.

So with respect to strays, I think the first thing we need to talk about is compassion for these animals.

We can't be putting so many animals down every year after year, after year.

So I want to propose sterilizing all strays.

Not just some, but all of them.

We have to make sure that we also create, a task force to go out and take a look at that.

I can't imagine I can't believe that we haven't been able to fix this problem.

You know, now, with respect to dangerous dogs, that is an enforcement issue.

We have irresponsible pet owners that need to be punished.

We cannot be soft on them.

We have to make sure that those irresponsible pet owners, are, are called to to the mat to make sure that it doesn't happen again when we have this terrible situation in putting these dogs down.

We have to focus on the root cause of the problem.

The root cause of the problem for strays is sterilization.

We need to make sure we have that in check.

And the root cause of these dangerous dog problems are the irresponsible pet owners.

And we will fix that.

Mr. Ortiz Jones.

I see this in a number of ways.

Principally, though, I see this as a public safety issue.

This has been raised with me a couple of times where, I mean, to your point, the very vicious attacks.

Also, though, folks just not being able to, especially our seniors not feeling comfortable walking in their neighborhoods.

I mean, my mom, my own mom, when she walks around, she's got this huge kind of almost like mop stick, right?

That she walks around with her because she's fearful of of of stray dogs.

So I what I'd like to do is I'd like to sit down with the the new ACS director.

I know they've had, some time to implement some reforms.

I think that is important.

I think we also need to look at potentially extending the time frame of those services, in particular for enforcement.

My understanding is it may not actually be a resource issue.

It may be a resource and distribution issue.

As well as making sure that we are, sufficiently, resourcing those compliance aspects as well.

And, yes, you know, owners that are not upholding their, their piece of the bargain, they need to be held accountable, to make sure that we are living in a community that is, that is safe and where these animals are treated well.

Next question goes to Miss Ortiz Jones.

First, there are two schools of thought in San Antonio about our connection with developers as city leaders.

Some believe they're too cozy, that they have led to, un regulated sprawl or not as regulated sprawl as they would like.

And there are others who would say that there are too many regulations on developers and that has limited affordable housing.

What will your relationship be with those developers, and where do you stand on on limiting sprawl if you do, and also dealing with traffic that would bring.

I think it's really important that we always focus on what we are trying to accomplish.

And principally when it comes to housing that is affordable, we do want to make sure that we have a diversity of housing all throughout our city.

Downtown cannot just be a bunch of luxury condos and micro units, that is that is not what we want.

We can avoid going the way of Austin and San Francisco, etc.

but I think we need to be thoughtful about that and that.

Yes, that does include conversations with developers.

We need somebody to build the stuff.

Right?

I think it does require leaders, though, that are going to have the courage to say, no, no, no, no, we can't do all luxury first and then all market place and then all market, and then we finally, maybe one day get to the affordable.

Right?

We've got to have that mix all throughout.

And I think a really smart policy.

And this is something I look forward to.

Working with developers as well as other stakeholders, is understanding how we might use some of these developments to bring back parts of town that still have not come back after Covid, or have not come back as a mix of Covid or some of these delayed construction projects.

Go check out the strip, for example.

And maybe Randy, I don't know if you probably don't spend too much on the strip, but I mean, folks, remember that this is a very vibrant part of our town.

Unfortunately, that has not come back again due to the delayed construction, which has meant lost businesses, as well as due to the to the to Covid.

So how can we be thoughtful about diversity in housing units to bring back some of these places and ensure that, look somebody that is a for example, that bartender at things I just talked to the other day, they shouldn't have to live in almost Medina County to afford a place to live.

Right?

We can do better than that.

But it's going to take leadership, right, to balance the interests between developers and other stakeholders.

Mr. Pablos.

We have to stop scapegoating groups.

We have to stop vilifying developers in the city.

We have to make sure that we have the leadership to bring everybody together.

As mayor, my job will be to create the conditions for dialog.

We have to make sure that we address the overregulation issue, and then we also have to make sure we we we have what we need with respect to inventory.

I'm very concerned about workforce housing.

There are many businesses up on the north part of town that can't hire people because they have to come in from the south part of town or other parts of town.

So I want to make sure we work with developers.

I will not carry their water.

I will make sure, though, that I create the conditions for dialog with these neighborhoods so that we can make sure that we have the proper, workforce or excuse.

Yeah, workforce, in those areas now, one of the things that's very important is to recognize that there are solutions out there.

We just need a leader to bring them to the table and analyze them.

And at the end of the day, we need to work together, both with the developers and the city, make sure that the regulations aren't burdensome, that we're not frustrating them.

But at the same time, they need to understand that we need the workforce housing.

We need to have the affordable housing, of any growing city.

And that's going to be a priority.

Next question goes first to Mr. Pablo, and that is about light rail, an issue we've talked about for at least 30 years.

In San Antonio, there was a state agency, created for that didn't happen.

It's been talked about again in recent years.

How much energy will you, if any, dedicate to light rail between here and Austin?

How important is that to the future of San Antonio?

Also, if you could address more specifics on transportation.

Sure.

I mean, obviously, we all want to have an easier way to travel to and from Austin.

I mean, I, 35, has become a nightmare.

With respect to the light rail idea.

I mean, it's been out there and I really don't understand why we haven't been able to accomplish that.

Obviously, it's an expense issue.

Dealing with the current railroad, companies, I think is also an issue.

But we cannot keep going down the same path with this traffic situation that we have here.

As we talked about, workforce housing is one way to try to help reduce traffic.

But we also have, you know, a situation where we need the proper, the right type of public transportation right now via, is has these, rail or these, rapid bus lines that they're developing.

There's so many people that are opposed to that.

I want to know why.

I want to understand what is the proper solution for this.

Because from an economic development perspective, we need to show the world that we can get, our, their employees from point A to point B as fast as possible, get people back home so they can spend time with their families, make sure that small businesses, burdened by, you know, having their employees, stuck in traffic.

So for me, the traffic congestion problem is a situation we need to address.

But, look, I would love to have light rail between here and Austin, but for whatever reason, it hasn't been accomplished.

I'll take a look at it.

But it's not going to be a top priority.

We've got we've got traffic here in town that needs to be addressed first.

Mrs. Ortiz Jones.

I think, it's a it's an interesting project.

I think it could make a lot of sense.

I think we are entering an environment of fiscal uncertainty.

So I want to make sure that that project and how it's currently laid out would still make sense for our community in light of, again, all the other competing priorities when it comes to transportation.

I mean, this is an area that I think is, would be an area I focus on in particular our relationship with Tex Dot.

I've spent a lot of time on the South Side.

I was just actually out at Brooks hearing from their leadership team yesterday.

And the importance of some of the infrastructure that they're looking there, not only North-South but also east west to ensure that that part of town is able to keep up with the demand.

But also, as we look to have more shovel ready sites, you've got to have the infrastructure that also shows these prospective corporations locating here that we're ready to support that.

And things aren't kind of on the way, but they're ready to go.

So, you know, we're the 21st largest manufacturing, exporting region in the country.

I look forward to working with San Antonio Manufacturing Association, South Texas Business Partnership.

How do we go from 21 to 17 to 14 to 13?

And then, hey, you know, greater, as that, the chambers help us make our case, in Austin, help all of those folks understand why we need this infrastructure prioritized over other infrastructures in the state to make sure that San Antonio gets a good deal, and we get those projects on time, to support our economic growth long term.

Next question goes first to, Miss Ortiz Jones.

And that's about downtown.

What is your vision for downtown and somewhat asked downtown versus the rest of the city.

But what is your vision in terms of tourism versus residential versus business development, that balance where would you push for more tourism, residential or business?

How would you do that?

So I sat down with Tricia Barry at Centro to understand what their current plan is.

Because I think our real focus as a, as a, as a city should be bringing more, large corporations, fortune 500 companies to San Antonio.

Right now, you know, they call it a central business district, but it's really a central tourism district, right?

Downtown is really they're catering to to tourists.

And that's okay as we move towards something else, I think it was important for me to understand kind of how were they looking at, for example, some of the housing needs already.

One of their goals is to go right now we're at 12,500, families downtown.

They want to go to 25,000.

And again, this is where it's going to take thoughtful leadership to make sure that's that.

That's not all.

You know, luxury.

But also, hey, that person working the valet at Hotel Valencia or that person, the cleaning staff at the hotel, that they've also got a place where they can live that is one affordable, that is safe and that isn't that isn't a reasonable within a reasonable distance.

So I think we can one focus on, on on business development.

I think a key part of this, as I've heard actually, with business leaders, is really addressing homelessness downtown.

Actually two, not only is two thirds of our city budget spent on public safety, two thirds of Centro's budget is also spent on public safety.

So we have to address the homelessness issue because it is, in fact, affecting our competitiveness, to bring businesses to downtown and frankly, keep them downtown.

So I think it's really important that we are looking at, also supporting small businesses that need that would like to be, downtown, you know, looking at folks don't come to San Antonio for Rainforest Cafe, okay?

And so their goal of having 75% of those small businesses downtown be local, small business, I think that's a great goal.

Now we need a plan to achieve it.

And I look forward to driving that plan.

Mister problems.

So if you look at every vibrant city, every vibrant city has a vibrant downtown.

So we need to make sure that our downtown is a vibrant downtown, that it's a safe downtown where people live, where people work and where people play.

We are a tourist destination.

We have to make sure that we double down on making our downtown attractive, because that really is the first impression many people get when they come here from out of town.

An entertainment district will be a wonderful thing for San Antonio downtown.

You know, when meeting planners look to send their conventions place to places, they look at where the convention center is, they want to know whether that convention center not only has the amenities, but also that the district around it has the entertainment opportunities for the people to come here and enjoy.

I work downtown for ten years.

I office downtown, I know downtown extremely well.

We need to fix the Riverwalk.

The Riverwalk needs repairs.

We need to make sure that our Alamo and Alamo Plaza continue to be the shining example of what is San Antonio.

And we we saw the state government bring in a lot of investment to that Alamo Plaza.

One thing we need to make sure is that we don't close the streets away.

We've been closing them.

We have to have better coordination, because there are a lot of small businesses that have suffered because of this insensitive street closure closures that we've seen throughout the years.

I mean, when when projects take 1 or 2 years to construct, I don't think it's fair.

And that is the image that we get, that our visitors get of San Antonio.

And that's not what I want.

All right.

I wish we had more time for questions, but it's time for, closing statements.

And I believe, you get to go first, Miss Ortiz Well, Randy, thank you again.

Thank you to KLRN.

Thank you for reminding everybody why public television is important.

I'm an avid fan of PBS NewsHour, by the way.

But, look, I think you've seen tonight, a very clear difference in prioritization and how we would think about serving the community and our priorities.

Again, I'm a proud first generation American raised on the Far West side, very cognizant of the opportunities right here in San Antonio that allowed me to grow up healthy, get an education and serve our country, which was why I've been honored to dedicate my life to public service.

Proud Air Force veteran, proud Iraq War veteran, most recently served as the undersecretary of the Air Force, and I look forward to bringing my service and leadership and service to our city, and addressing our most pressing challenges.

Right.

Unmanaged, $173 billion budget led 600,000 folks.

I was also honored, though, as the undersecretary to knock down those barriers.

One of the most formative experiences that I've ever had, Randy was having to sign a piece of paper when I was at Boston University, and it said I would not engage in homosexual behavior because Don't Ask, Don't Tell was the policy at the time.

So my opportunity to get an education, serve our country, die for our country if need be, all that goes away just because at the time we didn't have enough leaders with the courage to say anybody ready or willing to serve their country should have the opportunity to do so.

Not only was that formative for me, so that when I served as the editor, I was challenged myself to to be the leader, that I could be the best leader I could be wish I had when I was at as a young person.

But it also, though, instilled in me the importance of when you are leading, when you are driving the decision, make sure you always question who am I not hearing from and why am I not hearing from them?

When you look in our city and you look at the inequities, it is, I would argue, because we have not spent enough time interrogating why we're not hearing from certain communities, why we are allowing some of these inequities to persist.

So that's not just a management or leadership issue.

I think it's also a courage issue and understanding to whom you are accountable.

I am accountable to the citizens of this city, and I would be honored to be their next mayor, Mr.. Fabulous.

Well, first of all, thank you very much.

Thank you to Kaitlyn.

I'm glad to be here.

I'm glad that finally we get an opportunity to have deep and meaningful discussions.

When you have 27 people, it was very difficult with 32nd soundbites.

So I'm really grateful to, to you all for providing this format.

Look, our best years are ahead of us.

I want to restore the promise of San Antonio.

I want to make sure that our families thrive.

I'm a family man.

I want to make sure that my kids can come back here to San Antonio and call San Antonio their home.

I want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to succeed in this community.

This poverty thing really bothers me, and I want to work with my fellow councilman, city management in this community to start the process of eradicating this poverty.

And the only way we're going to do that is with qualified and experienced leadership.

As I mentioned before, San Antonio has been home for 40 years.

I have been heavily involved in this community.

I volunteered practically, and every board and commission you can imagine here in town.

And so I understand the inner workings of our community.

I have the relationship in this community in Austin, in Mexico City, and in Washington, D.C., to be able to take the city to the next level.

But we're not going to be able to do this by ourselves.

We're going to need the entire community to to participate.

But I will tell you, in trying to eradicate poverty, we have to bring quality jobs and we have to protect our taxpayers.

We have to make sure that we know where that money is being spent and that it's being spent wisely.

So, I'm glad to be here.

I'm glad that we're in this position now where there's finally two of us, where we can have good conversations.

And I'd like to ask for, everyone's vote.

So thank you very much.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for watching this Clarin Mayoral Forum for 2025.

And now that we've heard from both candidates, let's talk.

We want to analyze what you just heard in the longer race in general, what the people who have been watching it very closely, Andrea Drusch, who is the San Antonio Report, local politics and government reporter, and John Taylor, who is chair of political science and geography at UT San Antonio.

Thank you very much for coming in.

You have watched this closely since there were 27 candidates in the mayor's race, now down to two.

This was the second time they have faced off publicly since last week at SAC.

What surprised you, if anything, about how they how they presented themselves.

In that 27 candidate race?

Nobody really knew who to attack.

So we didn't see this sort of side of these guys early in this race.

I think we didn't see a lot of attack ads.

We didn't see a lot of attacking each other in debates.

Now that they are in this one on one setting, things are a lot more intense, wouldn't you say?

I would agree totally with that.

Although I will say in the debate itself, and this is no disrespect to either candidate, it was not as nearly as much energy as you might have expected for two candidates that are supposedly running for, you know, mayor of San Antonio.

It was a relatively generic debate.

It was generic, but it was also unlike the debate at SAC.

They didn't have an audience to cheer or heckle or whatever had us.

And this is what surprised me.

Maybe that they weren't as engaged back and forth as they might have been, that like like an attack ad attacking each other more Dresher.

At this point, I think they said they've done 32 debates in the first round and 17 in the runoff.

So these lines are pretty well focused at this point.

So exhausted.

There we go.

How about in terms of specifics on policies?

One thing you start to me was you've got a conservative Republican talking about income inequality and generational poverty.

I'm thinking I heard those kind of words from my colleagues in sociology and demography at UTSA.

It's fascinating to hear it because it tells you in some respects where we are in the sense of the city.

Ortiz Jones also mentioned the idea of poverty.

She, in fact, linked it to her own experience in section eight housing and Title one, which is basically elementary, secondary Education Act.

And so it tells you something about maybe, at least when it comes to mayoral candidates, that they are not quite, you know, polar opposites when it comes to the far left.

In the far right.

Are they masking that?

I mean, he was possible by Governor Abbott.

He has to play to a blue San Antonio.

Sure.

She has to understand that most of the voters are hardcore voters, many of them on the North side.

And those are red.

What do you think about that?

I think when you rewind a little bit to how did we get here from 27 candidates where no one really knew a lot about these candidates.

These two struck out as people who had a very progressive background, had a very Republican conservative background.

There was no R or D next to anybody's name on that long ballot, but these two seem to people could easily identify that this is somebody that aligned with their values.

And so that partizan nature of the race maybe was brought in by the candidates, but also brought in just by the outside money that came in.

And just sort of an oversimplification of a field.

Whereas all of your council candidates had sort of a similar socially liberal, pro-growth, pro-business background, these were the two that had more clear partizan backgrounds to voters.

And while they talked more generically about what they might do in the attack ads that are going to be funded by those outside PACs, they have to be.

They can't be generally supporting a candidate, but they can be attacking the other candidate.

Oh yeah.

We've already started to see some of those.

Is it going to where do we go there?

It's going to get ugly.

I think this debate was kind of ugly.

I feel like when I talked ugly.

Oh, I'm I guess I'm being more generous to them.

But I think it wasn't quite so ugly.

There were points per I personally.

When, when she was correcting him for.

Oh yeah, I'll say my name corrects.

Right.

DC outsider.

And brought up the the amount of money that went into her congressional races from DC, her talking about his connections to Greg Abott.

And then asking in general, who does he, who does he, who does he owe?

Who does he kind of respond to and such?

So there's a little bit of that there.

What issues do you think are going to really push this race, if any?

I didn't get a sense, really of any one particular focus, Project Marvel.

Yes.

That's been in the news a lot.

Yeah.

Like the many facets of Project Marvel.

Like she's talking about the affordable housing aspects and is downtown going to become unaffordable.

And her personal experience with section eight housing and and his background and economic development and how that informs his experience there.

But like, there isn't a prevailing issue at this moment that people are very upset about right now.

It's not like it's like the last mayoral race where it was about crime, crime and public safety.

Now, they both mentioned crime and public safety, but it's not that burning issue that it was just a few years ago.

Even in 2023 when we had proposition eight on the ballot, it's very much about, you know, funding the police.

And are you with the police or not with the police?

He's still talking about that, but it doesn't really seem like that.

Is that is what other candidates for mayor have had success with.

In some of the other big cities that have moved those mayorship a little to the right, those were the issues that people talked about.

But in this instance, it feels a little like.

And this is not Houston from last year, John Whitmire versus Sheila Jackson Lee, where crime was a major issue there.

You're not seeing it drive this race, I will say.

And that's my own personal bias.

I was a little taught that that they both danced around the question of light rail, because it's not about rail, commuter rail between San Antonio and Austin.

It's about light rail within the city of San Antonio.

And transportation access, particularly when they go back to income inequality, transportation access for public transportation.

What didn't they say that you expected them to say that maybe they had said in an earlier when they were 27 candidates?

Or are there are there third rails that they don't want to touch and that they'll let the attack ads go for culture war issues we didn't really hear much about.

They didn't bring them up.

No.

Immigration, is barely touched.

I mean, there were a number of topics that I didn't get to bring up that I wish I had time for sure.

Were you surprised at that?

Trade tariffs and national politics weren't brought into it?

I was kind of brought up briefly, you know, trade.

But you mentioned it in terms of his bonafides as a as, you know, experience that was about it.

And she's been talking about school vouchers, which were signed on the day of the election.

So our day after the election, that has been sort of a, I guess, a culture war issue to bring up in this.

But like, and not as much as you would think for these two very Partizan candidates.

I, I guess that the outside groups probably will take care of that for that.

I mean, they mentioned jobs, which of course, that's a, that's a universal one.

That's a, that's a that is a constant when it comes to any sort of elections.

But the one that only stands out to me is about emphasizing education.

Last time I checked, there's an independent school district in San Antonio.

The city of San Antonio does not have control over the school district.

You can press, you can push, you can you can bully pulpit.

But ultimately, it's not the city's responsibility.

And that sounds awful to say, but it's not words we didn't hear in that debate either woke or MAGA.

Thank God.

But I mean, those are, you know, those are dog whistles to one side of the other.

Exactly.

Which may may go back to their feel for this campaign and, and the voters they're dealing with.

And that is, if they're they're not going to be concerned about those national issues or nationalized issues.

They're going to be concerned about, again, potholes, sitting in traffic on 1604, affordable housing, income inequality, the homeless, whatever it might be.

You know, if.

The outcome of that first round reflects that, people are basing their decision on local issues, you got these two outsiders who made it and issue who just sort of, you know, signaled to people that they were values aligned with them in some way or another that had nothing to do really, with local issues through.

Name recognition.

Yeah, yeah.

Could this been, could this have been a debate that was held in Phoenix or Denver or largely without really digging into what is in San Antonio?

Yeah, well, except for that, I think so much of their message right now is about their personal experience and how that shaped them, because they don't have any city hall experience.

So it's sort of a painting, a picture of who they are and where they've come from and how they would approach things based on that personal experience, which is really interesting for both of them.

They have really interesting backstories.

They've both never been elected to anything, but they've been appointed over and over to things by members of their party who think that this is a person who we need to keep elevating.

This is the perspective that we want to be the face of this party.

Somebody on the bench for the Republicans?

Yes.

As for those PACs mentioned, they want a better just like Gina Ortiz Jones and Rolando Pablos Yeah.

Well, thank you very much for joining us.

John Taylor, chair of the Political science and Geography department of UT San Antonio.

Thanks for coming in.

And Andrea Drusch San Antonio local politics and government reporter thank you.

And thank you for watching.

Once again, we hope you get out and vote.

It is June 7th runoff election day, and early voting in the runoff starts May 27th.

I'm Randy Beamer and we'll see you next time.