Speaker 1: San Antonio is a fast growing fast moving community with something new happening every day.

And that's why each week we go on the record with the Newsmakers who are driving this change.

Then we gather at the reporters round table to talk about the latest news stories with the journalists behind those stories.

Join us now, as we go on Speaker 2: Eddie Beamer here and welcome to on the record where we get to look in-depth at all kinds of issues, very important to this area and joining us first tonight is the mayor Ron Nurenberg the mayor without a runoff with a quite a commanding lead.

That was, uh, the first question I'd like to ask you about 62% close to 62% out of 14, uh, candidates.

And so what you got in the election, does that give you a mandate and what are your first priorities now after that?

Well, uh, you know, it's, it was great to have a big, uh, resounding victory.

I think it was a continuation of the conversations that we've been hearing all across the community for the last year, which is that people want us to come together and to continue to move the city forward out of the pandemic.

And that remains the focus, uh, as we continue to put the health parts of this pandemic behind us and get vaccinations out as quickly as possible, which is our number one priority right now, economic recovery, having a strong, inclusive economic recovery is our priority for this term.

Now the governor this week, uh, mentioned that local governments, cities, counties, school districts won't have the opportunity to have mask mandates.

So that really mean anything for the city of San Antonio.

What do you think of that?

It didn't affect await any new law or change in direction for us.

Uh, what it, what it does unfortunately, has continued to fuel the politicization of masks, which is unfortunately not where we need to be focused, where we need to be focused is on vaccinations and getting folks vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Uh, and, and seeing the immunization of the community at large continue to rise.

That's where our focus needs to be.

And those who are not vaccinated should continue to wear a mask.

Um, the governor's statement, unfortunately only continued to add fuel to the political fire over mask, which is not where we need to emphasize the action.

So we're going to continue to move forward.

What we've relied on as a community is to follow the guidance of, and science of the health professionals.

Uh, we're going to continue to do that and rely on people doing the right thing.

And you just rolled back, uh, any requirement in city buildings, uh, already, you had announced that.

So that's not going to be a big change for you at all.

You don't have to put anything out to the city, putting anything out to the citizens.

There are certain, uh, employees, frontline workers who will continue to remain, remain wearing masks, whether or not they're vaccinated, because they come in close contact with vulnerable populations or workers, a lot of, uh, physical contact with, uh, fire department, um, healthcare workers, et cetera.

Uh, but by and large, we are moving in the direction of opening, uh, an unmasking if you've been vaccinated.

And that is the guidance of the CDC.

What, what is great about this, um, where we are now is that there's a level of an immunity, uh, in our city and our nation where we can truly say that, uh, unless you've been, uh, if you have been vaccinated good for you, if you're not vaccinated, you need to get vaccinated as quickly as possible.

If you don't, you're taking the health, your health, uh, into your own hands.

Speaker 1: Now, what's next.

We talked a moment ago before we started here, that you're kind of dealing with the federal and state aid coming in and, and how that's going to be effected with different decisions.

One from the governor about, uh, not having people get the $300.

What is, where are you in that?

Speaker 2: Well, we we're, uh, you know, we know there are many families who are concerned by that.

And, uh, we want to assure folks here in our community that there's assistance available for people who need it.

Uh, we've had emergency housing assistance.

Now for over a year, that's been helping people and pay rent or mortgage.

Uh, we've also had a utility assistance program.

That's underway.

We're working with, uh, folks who are out of work, um, and who need to get back into the workforce, uh, training for jobs that are available today.

If their job has, has ceased or they're under or unemployed because of the pandemic, we can get them into a training program while they get a stipend direct assistance, uh, until they land in that job.

Speaker 1: What about the budget?

You're working on the budget right now for next year and how much federal aid you have to use it all by 2024, how much are you going to have to use this year?

How much of a deficit are we going to have?

Speaker 2: Well, so we have been, uh, making cuts through this pandemic so that we aren't in a situation where at the end, uh, as we get through it, we've stuck with a big bill.

We have been working to, to size our budgets since the pandemic began.

And that puts us in a very strong position.

What we're doing right now in collaboration with the County is untangling all of the different sources of revenue that are coming down from the federal government, whether it's the direct aid to local governments through the American rescue plan or to direct allocations through things like health education, um, and, uh, housing, uh, we're trying to untangle all that web of resources so that we can make sure that we're strategically moving the city forward, because we also have to plan for the 2022 capital improvement bond program that is going to be in front of voters.

Next may the city and the County are working through their fiscal year 2022 budgets.

Uh, we also potentially have the American jobs plan that is going to be infrastructure dollars to help build some major capital improvements in our communities that we've been waiting for for years, we are on the cusp, Randy, of, of a generational opportunity, uh, at the local level akin to a new deal, uh, that would allow us to strategically move the city forward, invest in our future, ensure we have a robust economic recovery.

We just have to untangle this web and, and prioritize our resources the right way.

Speaker 1: The next question, the infrastructure, what are we going to see first of all, in that bond program, and what can you do with the extra money from the federal government?

What are you planning to do with it?

What do you want to do first?

Okay.

Speaker 2: That's exactly the conversation that we're having right now.

Um, and we're doing it in collaboration with the County because we want to leverage each other's assets.

We want to make sure that we're moving our cities forward strategically.

What we want to do, uh, with the rescue plan with the infrastructure plan and with our capital program is not just come up with a list of projects that we want done streets and drainage and parks.

We know those are, are, are gonna ultimately be where we put some of the resources, but what we want to do is move the city forward strategically.

So let's think big picture, what are the major pillars?

What are the major outcomes that we want to see, regardless of where we put our money, we need to improve public health in this community.

We need to improve our resiliency.

And we also need to connect people, whether that's through transportation or also things like digital connectivity.

So I've asked our city, our community to step back, let's look at all the projects that will come forward, the proposals, and there will be many, and let's judge them based on how they, uh, improve our scores on these three particular concepts, connectivity, public health, and resilience.

Speaker 1: The police union contract started negotiations.

I understand they're at a pause right now, where are you in that?

And making sure there is accountability and that the chief's decision on discipline of an officer can actually stand Speaker 2: Well.

We need to stay consistent.

We needed to stay true to the priorities of our negotiating team, which have been discussed.

Rediscussed publicly vetted now with the community for years, uh, over the last several months, we've been engaged in a good faith negotiation that the focus of that negotiation is accountability and transparency ensuring that our chief of police has the ultimate hiring and firing authority over his department.

And making sure that in the process of disciplinary action, that the records, uh, and, and, and, um, evidence of disciplinary procedures and past disciplinary records are viewable in that process.

Accountability and transparency are the focus of our negotiating team.

We have the priorities laid out.

We have to stay true to that as a, as a negotiating team and as a city council.

And that's ultimately going to come to the city council for a vote to ratify the contract, as it will, the police union.

I'm confident based on the progress that's been made, we will come, we will have an agreement that meets those objectives.

But what I have said is that we have to stay true to those objectives, uh, not buckle under the pressure, and I won't support anything that comes back that falls short of those things.

Speaker 1: And that contract agreement won't come before city council runoff election.

So it won't be affected.

Do you think by a change in who's on the council?

Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right.

It's a long process.

Um, uh, you know, to get through the number one and then go through the process over at the police union, and then also, uh, the city council ultimately be vetted and voted on ratified as the new contract.

So it's going to be some time.

It won't happen before the campaigns are over.

Speaker 1: We're running out of time here.

Last couple of quick questions, CPS energy, you know, said to be short by a billion dollars because of the big freeze and paying extra for natural gas and electricity.

Um, people don't realize that CPS energy provides money for the city budget.

Um, where are you in terms?

I know there are a lot of lawsuits, CPS energy trying to recoup that could, that affect the budget and the process right now, Speaker 2: We're going to work through those numbers.

And obviously our focus needs to be of the full recovery of, uh, what is, um, you know, what is right.

And what I mean by that is that there are there's litigation going on right now.

And what I have said is that legislators, everyone in this community, the state, uh, and ultimately the judicial needs to ask themselves, um, who got rich while Texan suffered, there were clearly rules violated ERCOT rules.

We've already seen that play out in the paper, uh, that has led to these big, massive bills, not just owed by CPS, but other utilities around the state that needs to be rectified.

Otherwise we're saddling the communities across Texas who have suffered through this crisis with the bills to pay for it Speaker 1: Planning purposes right now for the budget.

You're going to have to just go ahead and assume that you're going to get some of that back, are going to get most of that back, uh, or does it matter for this next year?

Speaker 2: Gotcha.

Well, that's a question for Ben Gore Zelle, but we, we budget very conservatively at the city.

So what we're going to do is make sure that there's, um, uh, we don't assume that revenues are coming in, that haven't gotten here yet.

So, uh, but the projections right now is that we're going to have a stable budget for 20, 22.

Uh, again, any cuts that we've had to make, haven't been made before, and we're going to budget moving forward, uh, pay as you go.

So I'm confident that that will get resolved.

Speaker 1: Well, thank you very much.

Uh, very much of mayor and no runoff.

The field's pretty good.

Uh, it's going to be a smile.

It looks a little bigger after that election.

Thank you very much, mayor Ron Nurenberg thanks.

Ready.

Speaker 2: Joining us now, Speaker 1: San Antonio water system, president and CEO, Robert 20, wanted to follow up last week, uh, on an issue we talked about with Bonnie Connor, former city council woman.

There's a little controversy out on the Northwest side because a new subdivision is going in that needs some water, but the latest plan was to have water and sewer lines go underneath conservation easements right off, uh, right over the Edwards aquifer recharge zone.

People don't like that.

This owners don't like that.

Some people, where are we now in the San Antonio water system, that decision is on, Speaker 2: Uh, that decision is on hold.

What the board has asked us to do is to provide them with a risk assessment.

In other words, what other avenues, uh, are there possible to resolve this issue?

And what decisions did you make to get to this point?

Speaker 1: And now, as I understand it, back in June of last year, there was a plan to go ahead and provide water to this subdivision, but it was different than the one that was, uh, brought forth in January.

And that's where the controversy came in.

Correct.

Speaker 2: Uh, in June of last year, the developer was allowed to start development and their resolution was going to be one lift station and a very short force main what they found out during their due diligence and engineering is that multiple lift stations and multiple force mains were not right Speaker 1: Talking about lift stations, enforcements that needs to bring the water up, to push it up, uh, instead of letting gravity.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

And in particular sewer.

Uh, and so, uh, sewer water would be under pressure in a pipe.

Uh, and this is not the best situation, especially over the recharge.

Speaker 1: So the change in that was to put a gravity fed lines, but under that conservation, there are two of them conservation easements, and the people there said, well, that kind of defeats the purpose of having the conservation easements to protect the aquifer.

If you're going to go ahead and put those lines underneath it.

Speaker 2: Well, I don't know if that's their argument, but, uh, these, these, uh, water lines and sewer lines would not cause the development over those, uh, conservation easements, this would be for an entire different development that's outside, Speaker 1: But it would still go through those conservation easements.

And that's what they objected to correct.

Now they also a question whether the San Antonio water system should be providing and expanding their service area into some of these, uh, growing areas that, uh, they think shouldn't be growing through sprawl.

What do you say to that?

Speaker 2: It's it's uh, first of all, I don't think that's what they're saying, but if, if there are saying that we are obligated by state law to provide service to anyone that's in our service area, uh, these homes to be built are in our service area.

So under state law, we have to serve them.

Uh, one option is to de-certify that area that we no longer will service that area, that the developer will still develop.

Uh, but their solutions will then not be subject to our oversight, our regulations.

They will probably put in a wastewater treatment plant to be discharged into the Cibola Creek.

I think nobody wants that.

Speaker 1: And some of the question though, was in terms of the service area, whether it's been expanding in the past, that saws has looked to expand more than they wanted.

Speaker 2: That's incorrect.

We've never done that.

We've not expanded our service area in over 15 years, and there's no plans to Speaker 1: I.

There was no plan to comb.

Any of the other places, Speaker 2: CML is already in our service area.

Parts of Comal County, parts of Kendall County are already in our service area.

They've been in our service area for over 20 years.

Okay.

Speaker 1: No more that you're not looking at expanding anymore.

No.

What do you think of all the development over the recharge zone and should saws have, uh, they want to have maybe different, more stringent requirements in terms of development that might've Speaker 2: Affect the water.

Uh, and I agree with that, but silence is not the entity to go to.

We do not have ordinance making powers.

We do not have the ability to tell a developers about impervious cover about a canopy trees, canopy.

That is the job of our city council.

And one thing that we agree with with Annalisa piece and Bonnie Connor is for the city to, um, give us the guidance, gives to us the guidance as to what they want.

Uh, if they want, uh, continued growth in that area, then that's what the policies say.

What's the early feedback Speaker 1: You're getting from the council.

And they changed that.

Speaker 2: Luckily the mayor who's on our board, uh, said during this last board meeting that, uh, this issue has been on deck, on deck for him.

Uh, and which essentially that means is that it needs to get up to the batter's box.

He needs to push it forward.

There's all indications that that's what he wants to do.

And that's what he's willing to do and needs to do Speaker 1: More in the future about requirements over the recharge zone and what might change.

Okay.

Speaker 2: Hopefully that, that is what happens because, uh, again, uh, we are handcuffed.

We have to serve these, these developers, if they're in our service area, if the particular ways that they're being serviced, uh, people don't like them.

We need to ask city council to change the rules, change the uniform development code, uh, to allow their points of view, to prevail.

All right.

Speaker 1: Well, thank you very much, Robert point a very important issue here with the growth of San Antonio, right.

And I appreciate you coming in.

Thank you.

Joining us now is Carrie Avery, who is the engineering manager for the, uh, construction of the new San Pedro Creek project.

Now in phase two recently, you're you found out about the foundation of the old church built in 1875, and what's going to happen that old St. James AME church right there on San Pedro Creek.

We've always known about the existence of the church.

Uh, what we didn't know about the existence of the foundation now that we've found it.

Um, it's obviously a very important cultural artifact.

Um, we already, in our interpreters plan, we're telling the story of the church, but now we have even a better component, uh, to help tell that story.

We've been working with the Corps of engineers, uh, the state historic office and the local historic office to look at the eligibility of the foundation.

Uh, it has been declared eligible.

So now we're going to convene a group of consulting parties and stakeholders to talk about the best mitigation and preservation plan for that foundation.

Yeah.

Now what does it mean if it's on the national register of historic places, you can't change a lot in there, but you can, what can you do?

Well, it doesn't necessarily mean you can't change anything.

Uh, it's just, that's kind of a, uh, a significant designation to be on the registry.

Um, and that, that kind of elevates the level of importance and significance of the foundation.

Um, and so at this point, we just need to be very meticulous and make sure that we're going to do the preservation, right.

What was planned for that area before, Uh, our current design includes a Plaza that's mid Creek level, uh, it's below the street level.

Um, it's kind of an open area.

It has kind of an amphitheater feel, um, because we have stacked limestone walls that could also be used for seating, but it has an open Plaza area that gives us a lot more flexibility for programming.

Uh, we have various stakeholders, uh, in that immediate area that We've consulted and they will still be, you think something like that Possibly, uh, there's actually several, several different design options that we've looked at.

We just need to work with the consulting parties and determine what the best option is for level of preservation and then mitigate, Where does this put you now in terms of construction of the whole 2.2 miles of the Creek project?

Well, uh, so we have the other segments under construction.

Uh, all the phase one and phase two are currently under construction.

Uh, we're looking to complete construction in those phases in, uh, late 20, 20 to early 20, 23.

Um, we're currently in and designed for phases three and four, and we hope to start construction late this year, early next year on those People haven't been downtown in a while because of the pandemic.

They need to get down there and see that phase one beautiful, but how are phase two and three going to be different?

We're going to more of a natural stream environment.

Uh, it'll resemble more.

So the mission reach on the San Antonio river as opposed to a lot of hardscaping and, uh, and you know, amenities like the plots.

And now the parts that you're working on now are closer to the business area downtown.

How is that going to be, uh, incorporated into what you're doing at the Creek?

Well, uh, during design and, and continuing on, we work with all of the, the adjacent property owners to the Creek.

Um, you're probably aware there's a lot of development going on.

Um, and so we want to work with these, these, uh, you know, stakeholders and develop projects that work together and that are complimentary It's by the Alameda theater there as well.

And somebody is going to go down there to see all this, what can they expect?

How easy is it going to be for them to get down to the Creek?

It'll be very accessible.

Uh, once we, once we get finished, um, you know, the automated theater actually sits right on the Creek.

Uh, they, we share a wall, um, with them.

And so obviously we've done a lot of coordination with the folks at the Alameda and also with Texas public radio who recently moved their headquarters, um, just South of bell.

And how is it looking compared to what you had in mind, you know, a few years ago when this project was envisioned?

Well, um, we're sticking to the vision.

Uh, you know, it's a very odd schedule.

We are on schedule with the exception of this segment.

Um, uh, the rest of the project is on schedule.

Um, And you can go ahead with that downstream.

Even if they're working on this, We can move forward with the construction.

Uh, however, uh, the rest of phase one, we won't be able to put water in the channel until we finished this specific site.

There's a tunnel underneath, you can put water from that first part underneath, and you don't have to worry about the construction zone.

Speaker 2: That's correct.

Yeah.

And the later phases of the tunnel outlet, you know, we still have to deal with the water, but in this particular section, we do not.

Speaker 1: All right.

Well, thank you very much, Carrie Avery, and I know that we're going to keep an eye on the construction of this, uh, just a beautiful, beautiful area.

If you have a chance to get down and see the San Pedro Creek culture park.

Yes, sir.

I wanna make sure I had that whole thing.

All right, Carrie Abrams.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Joining us now is Richard.

Webner a freelancer who now works out of Austin, as well as stories on San Antonio worked for the express news here.

And you had a great story recently in the express news, wanting to find out more about, about investors from out of state buying up single family homes in San Antonio, not just in San Antonio, but especially you focused on here.

Why is this going on and how big a phenomenon is it?

Speaker 2: Um, it's, um, you know, it's going on all over the country.

Um, but especially in San Antonio and other cities in the Sunbelt, and it's, it's kind of a complicated thing.

Um, you know, um, investors are looking for places to put their money where they'll get a high yield, um, and with interest rates as low as they are right now, they're not getting that in the bond markets.

Um, and the stock market's obviously doing well, but they don't want to put all their money in the stock market.

So, um, and they see the single family, um, single family homes is a good investment.

Um, they often they would have invested in apartment complexes or hotels or things like that.

But with COVID going on, those industries are seen as uncertain Speaker 1: And some of them are buying to rent the houses, and some of them are buying to flip them, but they're all, you know, helping drive up the tight market that we have already.

And the prices Speaker 2: That's true.

Yes.

Um, yeah, San Antonio, like many cities, um, is suffering from a shortage of homes on the market.

So you have, um, more people competing for homes and their homes available.

And that's why you see, um, you know, people having to bid on five or six or even more homes before they get a home and bidding Wars and home selling for well over the asking price, especially more affordable homes.

Speaker 1: Exactly.

And that's what some of the investors are focusing on right now.

And some of them aren't, uh, you know, they don't have a history in home owning and this kind of thing and renting, they're just getting into it or they speculation more or less, or just getting into it because they know there's going to be a higher yield.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Um, it seems like a lot of firms are kind of jumping into this industry.

Um, and one of the experts I spoke with who recently wrote a report about it said that, um, it's all gone gangbusters during COVID.

So you see one of the firms that's investing a lot in single family homes in San Antonio is from Toronto Canada.

Um, there's a, um, a big multinational conglomerate.

That's headquartered in London, that's doing it.

Um, there's this a company called Amhurst in Austin.

That's doing it.

So people from all over the country, all over the world.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Some people including our producer, Sherry St. Claire, wanted to get that in wanting to know why people are getting into the houses here, buying them when the property taxes are so high compared to the rest of the country, because we have no, you know, uh, income tax.

Why do you think that is, is that a consideration of these, some of these firms Speaker 2: That might be a consideration, but, um, really the people I spoke with didn't really mention that.

And I would say that probably, you know, San Antonio, although home prices are going up fast here, price, the homes in San Antonio are still very affordable from a Nash, from the perspective of many areas of the country.

So if you lived in California, for example, or you lived in the Northeast or many other markets in the U S and you looked at homes in San Antonio, you would say, wow, this is a really good deal.

So I think that a lot of these companies that are based elsewhere, despite the fact that property taxes are, um, are high they'll, they'll look at the houses here and say, wow, I can still buy a house for 200,000.

And that's great.

Speaker 1: Part of this is because people are moving out of California.

We've had stories that, you know, they lost population for the first time.

People moving to Texas from California and other places, uh, is this going to be a phenomenon that's going to be for a few years?

Are we going to see a tight housing market?

You think you've covered real estate for awhile?

Speaker 2: A lot of people think so.

Um, you know, that the problem really is that, um, people are moving here because they, um, the economy is good because companies are moving here because there are jobs here because they like the quality of life here.

Maybe because they like the weather here, all sorts of different reasons.

So you have lots of people moving the San Antonio.

Um, but unfortunately they're just not building houses fast enough.

And it doesn't really look like, Speaker 1: So bottom line is still going to be a good market for sellers, but not so much buyers all around.

Speaker 2: It's hard to predict the future.

I mean, I think, um, one of the experts I spoke with, um, said, you know, at some point the market always adjusts, but, um, so I, I don't know, ma um, that'll, that'll probably happen at some point.

Um, but as, as of right now, it looks like this is the trajectory trajectory.

All right.

Well, thank you very much.

Fascinating stuff.

Richard Webner freelancer, former express news intern now also running for the express news and the Washington post everything.

Right.

Thanks very much for coming in.

Yeah.

Thanks for having me on and thank you for joining us for this edition of on the record.

You can catch this show again, or previous shows at the podcast at KLRNdot org.

We'll see you next time.