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.

Joining us now as we go on the Record with Randy Beamer.

Hello and welcome to On the Record.

I'm Joy Palacios, reporter and producer for Texas Public Radio, filling in for Randy Beamer.

On today's show, we're looking at the impact of the eclipse amongst the animals at the San Antonio Zoo.

And we're also discuss the Republican National Committee closing their outreach center here.

But first, we're talking with San Antonio City councilman Manny Paleaz as the council begins to dive into a multitude of issues like the Reproductive Justice Fund approved in the city budget last year and potential changes to the city charter on the November ballot.

Councilman players, welcome to on the right.

Thanks for having me.

It's nice to see you.

Absolutely.

So last September, as part of the $3.7 billion budget, the council approved this very small part.

And I think we were talking a moment ago about being it being the $500,000 as 0.013% of something like that.

Yeah, but it took up so much of the conversation on that day.

And that's about the Reproductive Justice Fund.

And at least one council member, Mark White, has said that public tax dollars shouldn't be used for services that might lead to supporting abortion.

But it's not entirely clear where this money's going to go.

So, you know, how did you feel about the city, including it in the budget?

And have those feelings evolved in the six months or so since the budget was passed?

So you're right.

I warned everybody that this was a very, very small, tiny percentage of our big city budget.

But it is the issue of abortion is very divisive in America.

Right.

And so it will take up a significant amount of bandwidth and a lot of people are paying attention.

I voted to set that money aside so that we could have a debate.

Right.

Because we knew that it was probably healthier for us to do a lot of vetting for city staff to be able to come with some recommendations.

I understand city staff will be showing up tomorrow with some or today with some recommendations.

Those recommendations include supporting programs that do vaccinations, that give, you know, good education and information about prophylactic use, about birth control, family planning.

But there is going to be a discussion about dedicating a smaller part of that dollars to what giving investing in some non-profits who transport women out of Texas so that they can get their abortions.

That is going to be a lightning rod of an issue.

I think that there's so much good stuff that we could be debating and working on that doesn't divide the community.

I don't think that city taxes should be used for the purpose of transporting women out of Texas to get abortions.

We've got a lot of people here in town who are hungry, homeless, you know, and out of work.

And I think there's money to be spent here on our constituents so that we can help them live, work, play and thrive.

Right.

And while being much less divisive than investing that money for transportation.

So now this is going to be the charge of the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District.

And I want to know right now that there's no slated beneficiary for it.

And there is nothing that they're they're going to be the Metro health are going to be doing a request for proposals like they do with most delegate agencies.

And I don't think we can technically refer to this as a as as a delegate agency.

But, you know, you talk a little bit about where you don't really want to see this money going.

Where do you want to see this money going?

I think that as far as reproductive justice goes, I think education goes very has a much further reaching impact.

You know, teaching kids and teenagers and college students about healthy relationships, about, you know, the law, their rights.

I think that is probably more impactful than spending $100,000 on or $200,000 on travel.

That money will run out very quickly.

Whereas I do think it's imperative that we manage this money as stewards of tax dollars in a way that is more impactful.

Right.

And I don't begin to understand what it's like to be a woman who doesn't want to be pregnant for whatever reasons and, you know, believing that she needs to have an abortion.

You know, that's that's not my place to begin to to talk about.

I also I'm a firm believer that, you know, abortion is a form of health care.

Everybody should have access to health care.

I believe that abortion should be legal.

Rare, albeit rare, but but legal.

But I still don't think it's a city's role to pay for transportation to go obtain abortions.

And I think that this is something that the state and the federal government need to continue to wrestle because we can't continue to have this patchwork of laws around America that's just not sustainable.

And speaking of that patchwork, and before moving on to our next subject, I'd want to point out that, you know, San Antonio is in the first city to do this, not even in Texas.

Austin has it.

So does Harris County, which is this Most of Houston.

But we see cities like Saint Louis and Chicago, Columbus, New York City, Seattle, Portland, these have all all passed similar funds for varying amounts.

And now it's San Antonio's turn to see how that money is going to be.

I will warn you, though, and is take a look at Austin and see whether or not they continue to spending that dollar.

I think their lawyers, based on the new laws that have passed on what Texas legislature and based on court decisions, I think that they've stopped spending that money that way.

And so even though they dedicated that money, from what I understand, Austin is not spending the money to transport women to get abortions.

And so I may be wrong, but I don't think I am.

Okay.

So let's go on to a different subject.

The fire union.

Yeah.

So the San Angelo Professional Firefighters Association, they are going through contract negotiations, which typically were happening every five years or so.

But during the last contract negotiations season, I guess we can call it, because it lasted so long.

Yeah.

You know, a contract wasn't approved, I think, until late 2019.

If I'm not mistaken, which is now being five years later.

We're looking at this contract now.

So the city has put forward potential raises for firefighters at 21% over a period of five years.

The union has countered with 33%, and I believe that's over three years right now.

What do you feel like is fair compensation for San Antonio's firefighters?

So I'm a mediator by training, right?

People come to me to to help settle their their big disputes.

I'm a firm believer that there are those disputes that should and can be settled.

This is one of them.

We will arrive at a number that both parties believe is unfair and both parties will walk away from the negotiation table feeling like they gave up too much.

That is the sign of a good deal, right?

When both parties walk away unhappy, you got a pretty good deal.

But at the same time, I do have to say that I keep hearing that, you know, we need to make sure that they're paid too, so that we can be, you know, middle of the pack as far as competitive wages.

Right.

Let Dallas, Austin and Houston pay more.

But, you know, we're going to come fall behind them.

I don't think that's the way San Antonio needs to run.

I think San Antonio needs to be able to recruit and pay the most competitive wages in Texas in order for us to maintain the best fire department in Texas.

Right.

And if that means that we're going to pay more, then that means we're going to pay more.

I believe that firefighters and police officers need to be paid at the at the most competitive rate.

And there's other council members who are going to disagree with me.

But I don't think paying them good enough is good enough.

I think most people in San Antonio are going to agree that, you know, those men and those men and women in blue and in red who are first responders and run towards the danger need to be paid for, for that kind of work.

And really quick, before we get into the next conversation, do you think we might go into evergreening like we did last time?

And when I say evergreening, that's the contract expiring at the end of the year and then they know there's no deal.

So it just kind of goes current contract goes on and on until there is a deal, which we still need to.

I'd be very disappointed if if that's where we go.

But thankfully that that exists to protect the firefighters and protect us so that there's stability during the pendency of these negotiations.

But again, this is a not a dispute, but this is an issue that needs to be settled quick.

It can be settled.

We just need to make sure that the city is willing to negotiate in good faith, that they're willing to negotiate in good faith.

But there's got to be an understanding there is going to be an upward adjustment of salaries and benefits.

There has to be.

And in 2018, when we saw this all playing out in the courts, the fire union put out a petition.

It's trying to change the city charter.

And they were successful in three of the endeavors, one of those endeavors being limiting the pay and tenure of the city manager to ten times the lowest salaried city employee and also eight years as a maximum.

That's right term for the city manager.

Right now, the city's charter commission is looking at sending another charter vote to voters this November.

One of those things that could be changed is the pay and tenure of the city manager potentially.

That has not been decided yet.

There's still a whole process.

Council has to approve this in June before it gets sent to the voters in November.

But, you know, how do you feel about the some of these being changed, particularly like the city manager pay?

And look, I'm very much in favor of paying competitive wages to firefighters, but I'm also in favor of paying competitive wages to our executive leadership team.

Let's not forget, we are always recruiting talent.

That talent can go to any other city and it's also kind of bad business to be telling a successful CEO, Thanks for doing a great job, but we're going to pay you less than everybody else.

And at the end of eight years, you're fired.

Right?

That's just that's not the way to run a railroad.

Much weight around the city.

And I think good comes from that approach that needs to be fixed.

The second thing is, is we must get this firefighter issue behind us because I want the firefighter union to be an ally, a partner in getting these charter amendments passed.

As far as fixing the city manager's salary and tenure limits, that needs to be adjusted upward.

But I will tell you, I am not in favor of the proposal to pay city council members more.

That's that's something that we're hearing might be coming our way.

I don't think that paying city council members a penny more will result in a more ethical fire, sorry, more ethical city Council members, more capable, smarter, more dedicated council members.

I don't see a benefit to the people as Antonio.

And then that you bring that up.

Right now city council members are paid about 45 $47,000 a year and that was part of a previous city charter amendment.

The mayor gets paid 60.

Yeah, about 60 to 65 ish.

And so one thing that was floated, as I understand it, was upwards of $125,000 for council members, which even like some councilors, you still found a little bit of a surprise that that that was being mulled.

Again, that's something that's final.

Yeah.

Really, really quick on charter commission also council districts.

It's possible we could see maybe two council districts added Is that something or not?

I don't want to give an exact number, but it's possible we could see more council.

Is that something that you would support?

I wouldn't.

I've yet to come up.

I have yet to have a San Antonio come up to me and say, You know what, Councilman, we need more.

You guys even said that.

Also, we work a full time job helping people through their constituent services needs.

If, you know, we need more bandwidth to be able to do that.

Really, it's much less expensive and it's a lot less bureaucracy than, you know, if I were to hire one more constituent services staffer, then bringing on a new council person with nine or ten staffers, I think that that money can be invested in different places.

And it's a multi-million dollar proposition to add just one council district, you know, and on top of that, two or three or four or five.

And so I don't think we need to do that.

I do think that, you know, we're living through a time where people mistrust the government.

So going out and asking people, how would you like more government?

I think that's a failing proposition.

Council Man Police, thank you so much for your time today.

Thank you.

On Monday, we were dazzled, well, almost dazzled to the sight of a full total solar eclipse.

But the clouds wanted to join the party, too.

So right around 1:34 p.m. on Monday, things got dark, really dark in San Antonio.

And one of the really cool things to notice is that the line really bisected the city.

So while we as humans observed and oohed and odd, what about the animals?

Joining us right now to talk about the San Antonio's zoo and what was seen from the animals at the zoo is Dr. Charles Ritzler, director of animal well-being, to talk about what was noticed out there.

So, Dr. Elizabeth, thank you so much for joining us.

Of course.

Thank you for having me this morning.

So before we get into some of the specifics of what the animals did, what kind of effect does an eclipse have on like non-humans overall?

So that's a really great question.

So the sun is really important for most animals day to day behavior.

And there are some really cool examples out there, like honeybees will actually use the position of the sun in the sky to communicate where food sources are to their housemates, using something called the waggle dance.

So the sun's really important.

So if the sun's going to disappear or at an unexpected time, we hypothesized that this would change their behavior.

And this is actually based on some previous studies that we had seen published, one of which was done at Riverbank Zoo in South Carolina.

This was back in 2017, the last solar eclipse that the last total solar eclipse that came through the United States.

And what they observed was they observed their animals sort of getting ready for the night.

So the animals that are typically active during the day, they started approaching areas where they typically sleep or would spend their night during those few minutes of totality.

So that's what we expected to see in our animals at San Antonio Zoo.

So, you know, as detailed in the San Antonio Current and on yours formally known as Twitter account, we saw that the zoo's meerkat population started running around their habitat and then started looking like they were going to the more inside of their habitat.

So tell me about that.

So that was really exciting because that was a mix of supporting our hypothesis and also those unexpected behaviors that we we weren't really anticipating seeing.

So that during totality when it was at its darkest, our meerkats all grouped up together in what's called a mob, and they all just started sort of moving as a single pack radically all throughout the exhibit, which was really interesting because typically they're all spread out through the exhibit, sort of doing their own activities.

And then just before totality, like you had mentioned, we saw a number of them heading towards their indoor areas, sort of supporting our hypothesis that maybe as it got darker, they were potentially thinking, Hey, it's time to get ready for our typical nighttime activities.

So the wake, some kind of group together is like a defense mechanism where they kind of maybe scared something is happening.

You certainly can't tell if they're scared or not.

But in the wild, meerkats live in these groups because they're small animals and they'll make tasty snacks potentially for a larger carnivore.

So it's sort of power in numbers where they can century and be vigilant for the others, and they'll do these alarm calls to let other meerkats know, hey, it's time to dive down in our burrows to hopefully avoid predation.

So I thought this was pretty cool.

There were whooping cranes that looked like they were trying to, like, dance or, like, interact with each other.

What kind of significance does that have?

What were they trying to do?

So that happened right after totality, right after it was at its darkest.

And that was actually their courtship dance.

So that's a mating ritual that these animals will do, particularly when a male is trying to impress a female to see if she'll want to engage in courtship and mating with him.

So our sort of running joke at the zoo was the darkness of totality, maybe provided a little bit of mood lighting for these animals to sort of want them to get in that courtship mood and then the flamingos.

So I think what we saw, they were all huddling into a group, kind of like the meerkats.

Yeah.

It wasn't dissimilar from what the meerkats saw.

That video footage was really exciting because it was almost like these streams of flamingos were coming in from off screen, from different parts of the habitat, and they were all moving into this.

Again, this sort of concentrated congregation of flamingos, which could have potentially been some sort of protection that they were looking for because it was an unexpected change in the environment, much like the meerkats sort of powering in numbers and congregating together.

So what about we talked about the daytime animals.

What about nocturnal animals?

What what were they doing as the as the eclipse was coming out?

So I can't necessarily speak to what happened at San Antonio Zoo because all of our cameras were pointed at our diurnal animals.

They weren't pointed at any nocturnal animals, but there have been past studies that have seen the opposite effects that you might expect.

Right.

So as it gets darker, nocturnal animals might perceive it to be nighttime and it's time to wake up.

So a previous study saw a tiny frog mouse that's actually a nocturnal bird.

Species got more active during a total eclipse.

And if you guys are interested in 24 hours, Miles, we actually have Tony frog mouth on our ambassador animal team that you can meet if you come visit the zoo.

I'm curious, what what's the ambassador Animal team.

The ambassador, Animal team.

So that's a group of animals that we have that we can do sort of get close experiences and teach animals about interesting animal behaviors and adaptations and conservation messaging that can be sort of out on pathways for folks to meet these animals.

So what about other other zoos?

Maybe.

I think I saw the Fort Worth Zoo.

We're seeing similar things.

Did you did you have a chance maybe to talk with any other zoos across the country about what?

Like like sharing what each of you all experienced?

So I've just seen things here and there because totality stretched across a bunch of different zoos.

One I can think of off the top of my head that they shared on social media.

Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, New York.

They're on the line of totality and they shared on social media that their snow leopards got more active during the eclipse and seem to be looking up at the sky.

Interestingly enough, I hope they're okay because I'm sure they weren't wearing glasses.

But again, so I'll probably be communicating with some of my colleagues at other zoos to see what they found.

Well, I guess we can see what will happen with the next eclipse here in San Antonio in the year 2343.

Yeah, I don't know if it'll be me watching the animals then, but I'm sure someone will absolutely be keeping a close eye on the animals then.

Dr. Charles Richler is director of animal well-being at the San Antonio Zoo.

And Dr. Richler, thank you so much for joining us.

Of course.

Thank you for having me this morning.

And now for our reporters roundtable to see what's making the headlines this week, Joining us is Sanford Nelson, editor in chief of the San Antonio Current.

Sanford, thank you so much for joining us.

Pleasure.

All right.

So let's dive right into politics first.

Locally this week, District eight, Councilman Manny Players made his formal announcement that he's running for mayor.

You're kidding.

No one expected that.

No one.

He's only been talking about it for months and months and months.

So the councilman who's 50 years old is now termed out from council.

What do you see about him running for mayor?

Well, I think the it's very clear at this point he's sort of shaping up to be the business candidate, the establishment candidate.

You know, he's obviously on the the jobs committee.

They're on on council.

He was, you know, an attorney, an employment attorney representing businesses and was oversaw Brooks redevelopment.

So, I mean, there's credentials there that I think, you know, business leaders are looking for.

And that's obviously going to give him a pretty deep war chest.

I think, you know, he's already signed up some pretty big names to be part of his campaign.

He's got, you know, a top notch, top notch group running his campaign.

So, you know, that's sort of, you know, he's getting it.

He's getting in early.

And there's an advantage to that, some would argue.

So, I mean, that's kind of how it's shaping up.

I think we're going to see other people I mean, you know, the experts that observers I've talked to say, you know, we may see about a half a dozen pretty decent contenders before this is all over.

Melissa Cabello Haberdasher and Adriana Rocher Garcia, also on Council Hip, said that they're considering it.

And District ten Councilman John Courage has already announced his candidacy.

So it looks like we could have four current members of council vying for that position in addition to other folks as well.

So this is the first time we've seen an open mayor's race since at least 2000.

Sure.

When when Julian Castro was running for his first term and we even when there's an incumbent, we can see sometimes upwards of like ten, 12 candidates or so.

And so you were asking maybe about six.

But, you know, there is a lot of council members who seem to be interested in running.

Give this to them already.

What do you think that that's going to make up make for the dynamic of the mayor's race, seeing up to four, maybe maybe even five, like current council members trying to run for the same seat?

Yeah, I mean, it promises to be interesting and I think it's going to highlight the nuances between these these folks in a way that maybe we haven't seen in the past, where you tend to have, you know, to sort of better known candidates and an incumbent or something like that.

Here, here, I think you're really going to see folks trying to stand out from the pack, right, Because none of these people are necessarily household names in San Antonio unless you live in that district or you follow politics pretty closely.

You know, as reporters, we often assume people know more about their elected officials than they really do.

So I think it's going to I think it's going to come down to money, you know, to get your face in front of people.

And I think it's also going to come come down to how do you differentiate yourself from the others that are running that basically, you know, I think in some ways you could say are fairly similar in terms of what their promise going to be promising, you know.

So let's move into national politics.

The Republican National Committee has pulled its list, its outreach center out of San Antonio, South San Antonio.

Yeah.

And from what I understand, this was meant to reach out specifically to Latinos.

Why did they pull out?

Yeah, well, that's just it's it's happened last month.

You know, there's obviously sort of this interesting dynamic where, you know, Trump is sort of trying to seize control of the RNC that's been gotten some national coverage.

And as all of this has played out, there's been a switch up in terms of, you know, what their focus is.

And a few years ago, when Trump did, you know, 2020, I guess we should specify when Trump did better than expected in the Rio Grande Valley.

There were a lot of people saying, you know, it's clear that there is this this untapped potential for grabbing Republican voters in South Texas and the Democrats have long ignored them and haven't taken them seriously.

It's going to be this Republican wave potentially, if we can seize it.

So they you know, the RNC opened to Latino outreach centers closer to the border and one in south San Antonio to tap into that, that potential group of voters.

But last month, the RNC basically pulled the plug on most of the centers that they've operated for, minority outreach.

And that includes outreach to to African-American voters, to Asian-American voters, and to to Latin X voters.

And the the interesting thing here is when they originally opened that center in in San Antonio at the RNC, people said, we're in this for the long haul.

We know this is going to be a long haul.

We're going to put the resources into it.

It's a multimillion dollar operation, and we know we're going to have to keep it going to really make a difference in any observer.

I talked to at that time said, look, you know, they're really going to have to work this.

It's got to be a long game.

You can't just open it for a few years and shut it down, which is the complaint, you know, people have made about the Democratic Party in South Texas is that, you know, they'll come in, they'll court the Latino voters right before the election, and they just disappear again.

Well, this is I think it shows that, you know, if you're going to do serious outreach in minority communities, especially ones that you haven't done a lot of outreach to prior, you have you have to invest long term.

Sanford Nolan is editor in chief of the San Antonio Current.

You can see his stories, including one that he wrote about Senator Ted Cruz having ethics complaints filed against him regarding his political action committee and a podcast, and also involves Iheartmedia Sanford.

Thank you so much, Antonio.

Exactly.

Sanford, thank you so much for joining us.

My pleasure.

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

You can see this show again or previous episodes as well, and download the podcast at KLRN.org I'm Joey Palacios in for Randy Beamer.

We'll see you next time on the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele.

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