115. The Mayor’s Race: Adriana Rocha Garcia on Housing, Opportunity, and the Future of San Antonio

Bob Rivard [00:00:03]:
Welcome to Big City, Small Town, the weekly podcast all about San Antonio and the people who make it go and grow. I'm your host, Bob Brevard. Our guest today in the continuing series of candidates seeking to become San Antonio's next mayor is District four Councilwoman Doctor. Adriana Rocha Garcia, who also works as a professor of marketing in the School of Business and Leadership at Our Lady of the Lake University. Adriana also served as the president of the San Antonio Housing Trust. Councilwoman Rocha Garcia, welcome to Big City Small Town.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:00:35]:
Thank you. I'm so happy to be here.

Bob Rivard [00:00:37]:
I hope we can call you Adriana as we introduce yourself to the audience.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:00:40]:
Yeah. Absolutely.

Bob Rivard [00:00:41]:
Alright. So let's start by telling, our listeners and watchers about yourself, your background, family, education. What propelled you into public service even as you have held full time jobs outside municipal government?

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:00:55]:
Sure. Well, so, one of the first things that I always start, acknowledging is that the reason that I'm in public service is because it's gonna take me an entire lifetime to pay back the community what they have done for me. And so I am a product of the San Antonio Education Partnership. I got a scholarship. So, thank goodness that Mary Henry Cisneros back then had the idea to put a program together like this. But even, like, when we think about the culture of San Antonio and, Fiesta, if you participate in Fiesta, I also got a Ray Fell scholarship. And so, I start off by acknowledging that because it takes all of us and that's why I'm here. That's why I'm giving back.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:01:34]:
I was born in zip code 78207. It's the most impoverished zip code, unfortunately, still in San Antonio, but we're rich in culture. And I'm very proud of that, and I was also acknowledge that, I was born there, but we were evicted. We moved out to the East Side for a little bit, but it was at the time where there wasn't a whole lot of jobs in San Antonio. My dad was driving back and forth to Houston as a construction worker. My parents only have a first and second grade education from Mexico. So it it was difficult, of course, to find jobs. My cousins felt bad, because the place that we moved, to the East Side, was an apartment complex that was just, there was a lot of gang activity, a lot of drugs, and my dad didn't want to leave his baby and his wife by himself.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:02:21]:
So my cousin took us in. We got to stay with her family while my parents saved some money to buy a Ray Ellison home, which is in District 4. And so, we moved over and then that quickly became the most crime infested area of the city, Indian Creek. So if I tell people I'm from The Creek, they know exactly what I'm talking about with crime. And so because of that, I feel like I've always had to, work extra hard at everything. There's stereotypes that are associated with being from certain areas of town. And so that propelled me, I think, into working a little bit harder. I was in GT by third grade.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:03:00]:
I was honor society president in Southwest high school. I was captain of the dance team. I was on my way to make sure that I got, scholarships, went to UIW for my undergrad. They hired me and paid for my master's. I got to work in Mexico City with, opening the campus in in back then, Miguel Angel. And then I got to go to UT Austin, and I got my PhD in advertising there. So, that's a little bit about myself. While I was driving back and forth to UT Austin, by the way, I was a single mom raising my son who's 25 years old right now.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:03:34]:
I'm very proud that I get to say that he is a graduate now at Our Lady of the Lake University where I teach as a professor of marketing.

Bob Rivard [00:03:42]:
Well, there is the description of an overachiever if I've ever heard one. And your parents, despite their own, modest education, and I assume they immigrated here from from Mexico, they obviously must have put an emphasis on education for you to be such an achiever from an early age and then to go all the way on to earn a PhD.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:04:04]:
Obama, I gotta tell you, back to the it's gonna take me a whole lifetime to pay my community, my elementary teachers were so incredible. They would sound out phonetically the way that, words were supposed to sound to my mom, so that I could learn how to read the words in English. It was an incredible, team effort, community effort raising, raising this kid right here.

Bob Rivard [00:04:28]:
Let's talk about your public service today. You've served on city council, representing District 4 since 02/2019. So you're completing your third term in office. You could serve a a fourth and final term if you so choose, but instead you're running for mayor. What, what was behind your decision now to jump into the mayor's race? A very a very crowded mayor's race, including three of your current colleagues on the council, one of your former colleagues on the council, and then a whole clown car of people, that nobody knows anything about, and then two credible candidates, three credible candidates outside council.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:05:03]:
Yeah. And so, I thought that it was time, to to jump in to the next level. The mayor has been an incredible advocate for some of the things that I believe in, which include housing, economic empowerment, and health care. And we saw the leadership that he displayed and has displayed throughout his tenure. There's a lot of plans that have been created under his leadership, but with the community. And importantly, I focus on that community, input that has been drafted. So we have the strategic housing implementation plan. There's, the need to continue that plan.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:05:41]:
We hear a lot about plans that just sit on the shelf at the city. I don't want that plan to be just one of those. So I thought that there is a need to continue some of that work. There's opportunity still in programs like ready to work. We are, making changes as we go along. As a matter of fact, we, keep changing as we see necessary, as we see the data come in saying that things are working or are not working. So we have to continue looking at that, how we can improve, etcetera. And I didn't think that someone coming in from the outside, especially right now, when there's so much economic uncertainty at the federal level, what kind of grants will be continued, etcetera.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:06:24]:
We need someone who can, jump day one with experience and not miss a beat. And that's why I decided to run for mayor now. Aside from that, if I ran an additional two years or another term, because the charter only allows us to serve eight years and that didn't change about this the the charter, then we would have to have a special election at that two year. And so I thought that it was the time to do it now. There is all of the elements in place, and I was being asked by several people in the community to consider it. As a matter of fact, I had been asked twice by one of the current mayoral candidates to run for mayor. He said he would get the entire business community to support me.

Bob Rivard [00:07:05]:
And who was that, please?

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:07:06]:
That was Beto. And so and I I greatly appreciate that he believed in me so much, but I didn't wanna run against Ron Nirenberg because on the outside, at the community level, everybody loved the mayor and what he was doing to protect our community. The business community might have been a little upset at him at the time, but I didn't think that it was a good time to leave the district that I represent for that opportunity.

Bob Rivard [00:07:31]:
Well, let me ask you about being in this mayor's race with 27 people on the ballot. We're all gonna be voting on small computer screens that only show a few of the names at the time. And so where did you end up in the draw, by the way?

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:07:43]:
I'm number 11. Number 11. That's great. So a couple of things. So one, the mayor is the eleventh seat on council according to the city charter. And so the eleventh member of council, so I thought that was great. And I told people or maybe I prayed twice for one and got 11, but there I am.

Bob Rivard [00:07:59]:
Well, so I guess we can talk about there being a measure of luck involved. But, but to me, it's gonna discourage voting participation. People don't know who all these people are. Most of them, are only on there because they could pay a hundred dollars and tell people they're running for mayor, but they're not campaigning. They're not credible. They have no ability to govern or lead. Would you favor a change if you were elected mayor to the hundred dollar fee, low barrier entry, and say we need a more responsible system for how we determine who's running and not running for elected office in our city?

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:08:34]:
Bob, absolutely. After seeing 27 candidates on the ballot in such a critical race, I see the importance of changing that. And so, we have to talk about the amount and what, we can get it to, to a level where people, can still participate, but it's not like you said. It's not that everybody who can pull up a hundred dollars would be able to get their names on the ballot.

Bob Rivard [00:08:56]:
So you mentioned ready to work, Adriana. And let me, push back on that a little bit and play the devil's advocate and say, that was, announced with great fanfare. Mayor Nirenberg was talking about 40,000 people would be transformed and move into jobs that pay higher wages. The numbers have been, a very, very small percentage of that. And the last time I checked, the average, earnings of people that have been through the program was $18.50 an hour. You can hardly get somebody to, babysit or clean your house for under $20 an hour. So I don't see the program working, to be honest with you. And as talking to people that hire for businesses, they talk about how difficult it is to take somebody who didn't get through the education system, didn't learn to critically think, may not have the language skills, and try to teach them at a later age when they're 40, 50 years old new skills.

Bob Rivard [00:09:53]:
We're spending $35,000,000 a year, I think, at the city on that program. Wouldn't that money be better spent investing in tomorrow's, workers? May let's just say putting the money into the Alamo promise and helping more young people get through, community college and get technical degrees who are much more employable, much more resilient at that age, and and able to learn and acquire new skills? Is is ready to work really something the next mayor should continue, or should we do something else with the money?

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:10:24]:
We should be looking at what, ready to work has, what has worked about the program. And so for instance, I am a believer in Project Quest. And so that secret formula that they have with the wraparound services, that is a critical component that I feel is still missing and ready to work. You're absolutely right. There's people who need some additional support systems to get through, essentially what what what they've grown up with the ability to, I would say have success, has been hindered, especially for instance, by the school systems that they grew up in, or maybe they had to work. And so they weren't able to go to school, etcetera. But we see the great success that Project QUEST has had. Their return on investment, I believe the last time that I checked was, like, $26 for every $1 that was spent.

Bob Rivard [00:11:13]:
But Project QUEST was around before ready to work.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:11:15]:
Yes. That's

Bob Rivard [00:11:16]:
true. Stands on its own.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:11:18]:
Yes. No. And that's what I'm saying. Like, that's the type of model that we should be looking at. Like, what are we missing that a Project QUEST has been able to do and focus more on that. And so when focus on those careers like health care that we know are coming up, that are going to be coming up in in even full force, more full for force now in the next few years. That's the type of work that we have to continue to do with ready to work. I feel like there's only 2,000 people that have been served right now, placed in jobs And, 2,000 people to them, it's life changing.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:11:50]:
And I absolutely agree that we have to continue to invest, but we do have to figure out what has not worked. How do we leverage? And Bob, I was the reason that I ended up being one of the liaisons. And just last month, they finally took my advice on the, on the job training. I've been talking about on the job training. I've been talking about focusing on apprenticeships and working with small businesses even to get people employed, etcetera, And maybe do like a half and half. Like, so, the employer plays half, the program pays half. I had a binder full of different programs across The United States that were doing this. And there, it kind of fell on deaf ears.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:12:29]:
Right? And so I continued to focus then on the things that we did have the ability. So we're working with, Project Quest, restore education, etcetera. But we still have a whole lot of work to do. I don't think that it should just be completely, thrown off to the side, but you're right. How do we leverage that opportunity with Alma Promise, with the Alma Colleges who are doing a great job? From the academic perspective, I could have told you and I did tell them, it's not gonna work, in in the way that it was originally presented. And that was because I'm an educator. My students change or by the time that they come to me as marketing majors, they've changed their major probably two or three times. And then with these other situations, life happens.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:13:12]:
So people still have to put, food on the table. People still have to, take care of their families. Their cars break down, etcetera, and that keeps them away from completing the program. So we do have to do some additional more work, but we have to work with those organizations that have already been successful at it.

Bob Rivard [00:13:30]:
I wanna talk about housing because you are the city's leader on the housing trust. I'd like you to like you to share with, our our audience exactly what the housing trust mission is, what its work is. But it does seem to me that, after voters agreed in the 02/2022 bond for the first time to allocate money for housing, that the city seems to be working very effectively with private developers and others, and they're making a difference on that front. And I'm assuming for the 2027 bond, if anything, we're gonna try to redouble that effort. So talk about what's been accomplished through the housing trust and through the bond, in your in your time on council.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:14:10]:
Sure. Well, the housing trust, is trying to make sure that we keep housing in San Antonio affordable. That is the mission essentially when you boil it down. And one of the things that we have been able to do is, over the last three years, I've been grateful, to my colleagues who sit on the housing trust with me. Five of us sit on the housing trust. We have been able to approve, and produce more than 7,000 units of housing across the city, all except in one district, through the housing trust. But it was in part because of that rate of funding as well that came from the city bond, the housing bond, the hundred and $50,000,000 bond. And so we're very grateful to the residents of San Antonio that we were able to immediately put that money to use so that we could create affordable housing opportunities for, seniors and for families.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:15:01]:
And one of the things that we have to, continue to do is make sure that we keep that, housing accessibility affordable in areas like downtown. So most recently, you probably heard, and I was really proud of this, but we put in a bid, for the Robert e Lee. We outbid West and Urban. That's the type of thing that we need to be doing as a housing trust. We are able to say that we are able to, have opportunities to try to save this, last, area these last areas with naturally, affordable housing, that occurs. People that live in Downtown San Antonio, live here because they work here. And we've heard from different people that they also have services. They have hospitals, they have access to health care.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:15:48]:
It's easy for them to get to where they need to be. That's the type of thing that the housing trust needs to continue to be focused on, but also things like Habitat for Humanities and our, our work with the different, building groups that are putting affordable housing across the cities, and bringing essentially a place for people to live, work, and play across the city. That's why I think that it's critical to focus on a housing bond next go around. I don't think that we need to wait till 2027. We've asked the city manager to take a look at that. And as a matter of fact, they're doing a financial analysis right now, that hopefully will be presented to us sooner than later to see how soon we could get something on the ballot. I asked, city manager Eric Walsh if he thought that we might be able to do this as soon as November. And so he didn't give me any promises, but they're they're looking into it.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:16:40]:
We can't afford to wait. We're behind in housing production. By the way, we're not the only ones that are behind on housing production. This is a shortage across The United States. I sit on the National League of Cities board, and in my capacity, I was, appointed to the housing supply accelerator committee. So we're looking across The United States, the different ways that people are working with, the American Planning Association, the Mortgage Bankers Association to make sure that we get housing, out there. One of the things that I feel that we need to do is figure out what Dallas did. Dallas recently, redid their permitting process, and essentially, it takes eight days for a permit.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:17:18]:
That's one of the things that we have to do. What how are we working together with every piece of the puzzle to make sure that we have housing available to everyone who needs it?

Bob Rivard [00:17:26]:
Everyone in the development community that's involved in in, multifamily development and so forth would love to hear that, the city is gonna become less less bureaucratic. I think sometimes, the, you know, the, culture at development services is almost how can we not help you. You go in there and it's not welcoming, and and somebody always has a reason why you've gotta do something else in order to qualify to do something. And and it's very frustrating whether you're involved in your neighborhood group like, we are in our our neighborhood or or whether you're a developer. It's it's a it's a very you know, it may all be in one place, but it's it's not a welcoming culture.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:18:08]:
Yeah. And the red tape that, exists and has existed, that's one of the first things that we need to be looking at when we're trying to, again, produce as many housing units as we should be.

Bob Rivard [00:18:21]:
Do you think the city should be in the business of owning housing, though? You talked about, outbidding Western Urban. Is the city better better off deploying those housing bond funds to in public private partnerships, or do you actually think the city should be a landlord?

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:18:37]:
No. I think that the city should, have the ability to leverage, for instance, land banking, but we need to get out of the way. We need to let the experts do what they do best. But we do have the oversight responsibility to make sure that we ask for affordable housing, affordable housing across the city, not just concentrated in certain areas. And I feel that the opportunity to leverage the San Antonio Housing Trust and maybe even working with, the other organizations is critical to maintain, that housing supply that is needed to house all of our residents.

Bob Rivard [00:19:11]:
Okay. One of the big, the big issues for the next council and mayor to wrestle with will be Project Marvel. It's incredibly ambitious, which is very exciting. Most people understand it to be the, you know, the effort to bring the Spurs back down to hemisphere after thirty five years being at the Alamodome and then the AT And T Arena, now the Frost Bank Center. But, there's much more involved. We built the Alamodome for a hundred and 89,000,000 in the early nineteen nineties. The plan now, as I understand it, is to take that down to the studs and invest a billion dollars in it. The arena would cost a billion and a half.

Bob Rivard [00:19:53]:
That's an estimate. Five years after we spent $350,000,000 expanding the Henry b Gonzales Convention Center. There's now a feeling that it's going to need 6 to 800,000,000, to keep it competitive in the next decade. There's talk of another convention hotel, entertainment district, on and on. And, I wonder where you stand on Project Marble. And don't let me leave out the land bridge. I want the East Side connected to to downtown. But it is a huge price tag, probably 4,000,000 $4,000,000,000.

Bob Rivard [00:20:26]:
1 of the questions, at the center of all this is how much the Spurs ownership will pay for the arena. So where do you stand on all of it?

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:20:34]:
I still think that we need to have the, conversations with the Spurs to bring in a little bit more. We love the Spurs. I I, don't want them to leave. The the opportunity to, have sports United City, I think is overlooked sometimes, but it can't be at the cost of our residents. And so it's gonna take, investing also from the private perspective. What do we do to get people to come to the table? For instance, I think that we have a great opportunity with the IH 35 Corridor. How do we make people in South Texas essentially adopt the Spurs as their home team? How do they bring, their business partners? How do they buy suites, to this potentially new arena so that we could make sure that it it it keeps going. Right? And it keeps producing some some additional revenue.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:21:27]:
But again, I feel like we have to involve the residents that are in the areas now, in both areas. And, let me tell you, a couple of things. One, we talked about a housing bond just a little while ago. I would love to see how in the housing bond, we could look at, specifically looking at folks that are in that area that might, for instance, suffer, some of the consequences, the the, that come from that, investment in their area of town. How do we get creative with that bond? How do we help the legacy owners perhaps stay agent place? What do we do to increase apart, for instance, of owner occupied rehab? How do we get them to, to leverage some of that housing bond in and around the area and around the area in the Frost Bank Center where it currently is? We know that the economic development that was promised years ago did not happen. How do we, help with that? Is it through education and health care and, some additional services out there? We have to start doing the planning now to make up for the years or the lack of disinvestment. I say this often with the South Side. There was, lack of, investment that happened in the South Side for many, many years.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:22:45]:
And we see how it's prospering now. There's plenty of land. So we see that companies are coming to the South Side Of San Antonio. We see that houses are being built. I feel like we need to step back and we need to figure out what do we do at the same time if, this new project is approved with the, Frost Bank Center and helping the area that, that surrounds it and the residents more importantly that feel like they have been left behind for so long. At the same time, we know that it's important for us to keep up with the convention centers that are being remodeled around us. As a matter of fact, right now, we have the Austin Convention Center that's being remodeled. We happen to be receiving some of their business right now because they're essentially shut down.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:23:30]:
So we are getting some of their business. What happens when they open back up? What do we have to offer? When we think about the opportunity to host some of those bigger conferences, do we have the ability? We're a walkable city, so people choose San Antonio because there's hotels within just a couple of blocks from the convention center. They love that about San Antonio. They don't have to spend money on getting people bused to different areas. The transportation savings alone is sometimes that part of the cost savings for them. And so we need to keep that area together. I think I, am appreciative that we have a focus on the connecting the East Side, with the downtown community, and we did have the federal grant that came in. You're absolutely right.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:24:18]:
It's ambitious. It's it's, it's different, And I think that it's going to be, a welcome sight for the community to see to see that there's reinvestment in their community. But again, I think that we, cannot place this on the tax hole and the taxpayers, and we need to solve it together with the spurs, with, private investors, and then figure out what it is that is appropriate for, for for the city to to help with.

Bob Rivard [00:24:47]:
I wanna ask you, Adriana, about two world's fair era edifices that have are still standing, both vacant at the moment. One is the Institute of Texts and Cultures, which is a UTSA property on the Southeast Corner of of Hemisphere. And then on the Southwest Corner is the former John h Wood, Federal Courthouse, which the city has acquired. Plenty of developers have walked through those and said, forget it. These were built temporarily for a six month, fair, and, each would require tens and tens of millions of dollars to rehab, and you'll never get that money back. And, I think there was much sentiment for demolishing those and saying other cities have have, left a symbol of their world's fair like the Unisphere in New York or the Space Needle in Seattle. We have the Tower Of America's. Why do we have to protect everything in a in a city? It seems to the past seems to get in the way of our our future.

Bob Rivard [00:25:49]:
So, now we have the conservation society that is suing to stop Project Marble by protecting the institute. We have the city deciding, well, it's okay to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on the, former theater, which is, the courthouse and, is rat infested and has other problems. And it's okay to spend taxpayers' money on that, and we'll make an event center or a live theater. The San Pedro Playhouse is empty three hundred days of the year. We don't need another live theater venue, in San Antonio. So where do you stand on the conservation society's lawsuit and the city deciding that rather than fight the conservation society and demolishing that courthouse and building perhaps more housing there, that, we're gonna, you know, have a big fight in the city over protecting more world's fair buildings?

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:26:42]:
Sure. Well, so on the Institute of Texan Cultures, because there's a lawsuit, we aren't allowed to comment on it publicly.

Bob Rivard [00:26:50]:
You are not allowed?

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:26:51]:
No. So I'm so sorry about that. But, on the other on the

Bob Rivard [00:26:55]:
Go ahead and break the rules, Adriana.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:26:57]:
Yeah. That's funny. Yeah. Yeah. Let let's get into Segovia over here. No. But, we have, I think that we have the opportunity to, have several, venues that would, essentially give the opportunity for multiple concerts to to be going on. So when we have a concert over, right now at Tech Port San Antonio, and so it happens to be in my district.

Bob Rivard [00:27:21]:
Yes. It is.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:27:21]:
And so I'm very proud. Although, you know, it's a $13 beer you're drinking, but it's going to help the kids. Right? And so, drink responsibly, but please come enjoy the concerts to help the kids. But we do have, the opportunity to have an additional venue for music. And I feel like, we should be looking at what reuse, reuse concepts have happened. So you mentioned the space needle in Seattle. One of the things that I have been asking for, and I haven't gotten a response yet, and I'm sure that they're doing the the the work on this. But right next door where the, Seattle Supersonics used to play is now the home of the Kraken.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:28:00]:
And so Climate Pledge Arena, literally the whole the skeleton, I would call it, right, was done underground. The tunnels were created so that, 18 wheelers could come in and and wheel all of the the musicians' equipment and everything that was needed, etcetera. And I asked about that because it's now the most sustainable or at the time, I guess, a couple of years ago when it opened opened, it was one of the most sustainable arenas across The United States. And so what can we do? Is there ability to have any type of cost savings by doing something similar to that? I don't know. I'm not the expert, but we need to bring in these experts that are looking at all of these opportunities. How can we, save money? How can we use something that has been there and maybe just just refocus on gutting the inside of it, etcetera. And again, so I'm not the expert, but I do think that we do have an opportunity. Music capital of Texas, as Austin, calls themselves.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:29:00]:
Right? There's so many concerts that I feel that we can also bring to San Antonio and create some additional revenue for the city. Now I'm gonna go back to the project marvel question because I forgot to say this one thing. I was asked recently by somebody, a very pointed question and they said, you know, well, the residents that you represent, they can't afford spurs tickets. And why would you be supportive of Project Marvel anyway? And I said, the residents that I represent are very proud when they are able to afford. This is a celebratory moment for them when their kids have a birthday, when they're celebrating an anniversary, when their kids make straight a's. That's where they take their family. And so it's a treat for them even if it's, nosebleed section. And then I said, and by the way, they're always watching the Spurs games at home.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:29:50]:
So it comes together again, bringing back the point of how it unit unites a community. I feel that the spurs do have the, opportunity to unite us. You walk out and you, more than likely see a spurs hat or a spurs shirt, etcetera. And there's that commonality. We have something in common. So when we think of the entertainment center and I've traveled across The United States, I've had the great fortune of taking my son to a baseball game at every major league baseball stadium. So I've gotten to see the different opportunities that sports bring, to a city. Now, of course, a lot of the cities that we've gone to, let's take for example, Seattle.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:30:26]:
Well, they have the Seahawks. They have the Kraken. They have the Mariners. And so it might be a little bit different. And, yes, I know that we never got the football team that we were promised back in the nineties when the Alamodome came. But how do we leverage sports and entertainment and have that district where our tourist, which we're still, in in this in the San Antonio economy, tourism is still one of the drivers of our economy. How do we make sure that we have all that packaged together for people who come? Give you the latest example. Some folks who, have come to conferences, they say, well, San Antonio shuts down after 10PM.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:31:05]:
There's, not much to do. After the pit bull concert on Friday, with final four. So it was a free concert open to to everybody, to the community. Afterwards, there was not much to do. And so how do we leverage that? How do we work with small businesses to support the area, to come out to sell their things, to be able to have the ability to sell their artwork, their crafts, the culture that makes San Antonio special. We have so much space, so much opportunity that as people wait for the traffic to die down in Downtown San Antonio after these different events, it would be good to showcase our small businesses to give them the opportunity to sell and to really benefit. That's gonna be the public benefit of something like this that I would envision.

Bob Rivard [00:31:51]:
Alright. Let's switch to talk a little bit about economic development and job creation, which I think the the the mayor has a unique bully pulpit both locally and, to project outside the city. We've obviously benefited enormously in San Antonio from cross border trade with Mexico. You couldn't make a Toyota Sequoia or or Tundra without our partners in Mexico. That's under threat from, president Trump's tariffs. And, there's a lot of attention being, given to a Canadian Chamber of Commerce report that analyzed what US cities would be harmed the most by a reduction in in, in cross border trade with that country because of tariffs. And they they listed San Antonio as the number one city that would hurt the most. So it seems to me that even with the the, the hostility that's coming out of the White House toward our trading partners, that the next mayor needs to reaffirm our relationships with Mexico and Canada.

Bob Rivard [00:32:52]:
And we need to be out in California and in other states where there's been a massive relocation of corporate, bases and and and corporate expansions in Texas, but very little of it has come to San Antonio. We've really not been able to stay competitive with Austin and Dallas, particularly in in that realm. So it seems to me that the next mayor, needs to be more proactive on that front. Some city council and city staff people are very sensitive about traveling and spending money, but I think that's wrong headed just because a few people protest against it. What's your what's your view about what the mayor can do for the city? Kind of in the model of Henry Cisneros if we go back to the eighties? Yeah. You really put the city on the on the map by going out and and, being evangelical about this Hispanic city that was coming into its own.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:33:45]:
Sure. Well, I think that we need to keep up our international relations. As a matter of fact, should I be voted in as mayor? I would want the international relations office to actually work more closely with the mayor's office. How do we, leverage the opportunities that have been built by previous mayors? Because we know, for instance, in Japan, it it takes, decades for us to be able to earn the trust and that's because of culture. One of the things that, I have recently been able to to see, especially in light of what's coming out through our federal government, is we had a group of Canadians here. It was,

Bob Rivard [00:34:25]:
French Canadians. Thank you.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:34:26]:
That's right. French Canadians here that were here. And so they, told us that they were afraid or nervous about coming to Texas because of all of that rhetoric that was coming from the white house. And we reminded them, this is where NAFTA, well now the USMCA, was originally signed and we will always be, great partners with our neighbors to the North and our neighbors to the South. They felt welcome. We need to continue that. We need to continue building on those relationships, but also the sister city relationships that we've recently established. I was, fortunate to be the liaison to the most recent sister city relationship with which was in Baguio in The Philippines.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:35:07]:
And we know that we have a large contingency from The Philippines that are focused on health care, for instance. And so how do we continue to leverage that type of relationship, the people that we have here? Right after this, interview, the mayor and I will be meeting with, Ukrainian delegation. We had, re Ukrainian refugees here, and I was able to help them start a school every other Saturday at Our Lady Lake so that they could continue their tradition for their kids. That's the type of relationships we need to continue building for San Antonio. San Antonio is a welcoming place. San Antonio is a, compassionate city. We do that because of our nature, but also because we know that these investment in long term, relationships will yield positive results later in the future when we look to establish additional sister city relationships, when we look to try to bring in different corporations. I've been again very lucky to be in District 4.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:36:07]:
JCB announced, a billion dollars worth of economic, investment in our area, more than 1,500 jobs. Toyota, I cover a sliver of it with, some of the the suppliers, but that was an additional 400 jobs that were created that were announced recently. When we think of the opportunity for us to, have companies come to San Antonio, Those are the type of investments that we should be looking into. And also, how we're treating you all as a business community is important. Right now, we're looking to see if we can do the South Texas, Parkway. And so that would be a Parkway that connects IH 35 and IH 37, IH 30 7 so that there would be an easier route for manufacturers or for any companies to exit a little bit faster, if you will. That connectivity is important for logistics perspective. It's also important from the safety perspective because we have communities that are growing in the area.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:37:04]:
We have houses being built. We have schools that are being built, and that safety needs to come to mind. There's gonna be a hospital out in the that area of town. That I think is a prime example of how we have worked together as a community with our businesses, with our economic development partners, and even with, with our state leaders to leverage an opportunity that San Antonio has. And that is that it has land and the ability to host still, different, companies, that that need a lot of land.

Bob Rivard [00:37:34]:
Well, we're running out of time, Adriana, but I wanna ask you before, we go about the 02/2019 Climate Action Adaptation Plan, probably one of the first votes that you took when you came into office. You talked before about not wanting to see master plans sit on the shelf and gather dust, but I would suggest that's exactly what's happened to this plan. It's all talk and no action. The younger generations in our community and around the world, care much more intensely than the older generations about the impact of climate change on them, on any future families they build, on on, every every aspect of community life. And yet, the city council for the last six years has done little to nothing to implement the plan. And I wonder if you were mayor, what you would do to change that.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:38:25]:
Yeah. The first thing that I would do is take a new look at it. When that plan was passed, six years ago, I don't feel that people understood a whole lot about what we were trying to do. And since then, we've had COVID. And then by the way, we also had winter storm Yuri. And winter storm Yuri proved that there was, a whole lot of room for improvement. And so I feel that the next time that we take this Climate Action Adaptation Plan out, which I would love to, to, to do, as, as one of the priorities when, when I become mayor, is look at how we engage the youth community. You said it.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:39:03]:
I teach them every day. My students, I tell them you all are going to go out and you're going to change the world. I have a 25 year old that is concerned about this as well. I am again also very fortunate to be sitting on the National League of Cities Board because we've had a focus on water issues. And so PFAS, PFAS, the different contaminants that have polluted our water sources. We are now starting to get the word out, to message that to people who to really want to make sure that that water is protected for future generations. And we need to take advantage of that. Now the time is now to act, the ability to, work with, the experts.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:39:46]:
I always say this, city hall, the 10 council members, and the mayor, we're experts at something. We have some unique, expertise in different areas, but we're not experts at at everything. So we have to bring in the experts. We have to work with them, but we also have to, bring in the youth. I'd love to have, the youth focus a little bit more about what they would like to see in a climate action adaptation plans, see where we have missed the mark, why we have missed the mark. Now I will acknowledge that for a couple of years, the city did nothing but recover from COVID. And so COVID presented itself, the recovery, etcetera. So I feel like even during my tenure as a council member, like that focus was so heavy on COVID and COVID recovery that everything else was kind of, put on hold for a little bit while we got ourselves out of the pandemic or we got ourselves out of the, the the negative that came out of that pandemic.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:40:45]:
So it's time now to, take that look at it again and involve our youth, involve our experts, and involve our business community.

Bob Rivard [00:40:53]:
The young people would tell you if you ask them, they want city council and the next mayor to stand up to the oil and gas industry and, and say climate change is real no matter how much you deny it, and we're going to do something about that in the interest of our future. And we're going to support renewable energy, which is not getting support. Matter of fact, it's under attack in Austin from state Republican leaders, and it's certainly under attack in Washington under president Trump. So the same people that, you know, were vaccine deniers or that didn't wanna have masks or a shutdown, it's it's time to stand up to those forces again. It's not easy, but, it seems to me that's what we expect of our elected leaders.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:41:35]:
Yeah. And I think that mentioned the opportunity is now. So for instance, take just, the AI sector and the fact that, ChatGPT uses 10 times more energy than a Google search. Thinking about how in Virginia, there's essentially an area that, takes two gigabytes of energy that would power essentially half a million homes across The United States. We need to be thinking about how that is being is gonna affect San Antonio as we continue to have energy needs as well, how, micro generators would would work. Right? How do we pilot some additional ones across the city? So it's about water. It's about energy, and it really is about being focused on innovative technologies, which I don't think that we do enough of.

Bob Rivard [00:42:25]:
Well, I would add mass transit to that as well. But, we're running out of time. My last question is, how do you feel as a mayoral candidate, Adriana, raising, money? I think you mentioned some tens of thousands of dollars that you've raised. The maximum that a a business or an individual family can give you is a thousand dollars. We have two candidates, Gina Ortiz Jones, a former congressional candidate, democratic candidate for congress, and then Rolando Pablos, a former republican secretary of state. They're both in the race, and they're getting substantial, hundreds of thousands of dollars at this point from political action committees, which don't adhere to those limits. And I just wonder if that's creating a very uneven playing field if we're now introducing outside money being a a a, essential component in local, mayoral races?

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:43:17]:
I do think that it's creating an uneven playing field. But the the thing that you also have to look at is that the people who come out to vote for your local elections are very, well informed about the the candidates. And so when you look at the the two candidates that you just mentioned, they don't really have, name ID in terms of local government expertise. And so I feel that, for instance, the the folks that are, representing, the city council right now, we essentially still have the bully pulpit. We are able to, focus in on the day to day things that we still have to work on, the votes that we take, etcetera. And so we do have that opportunity. The thing that I do want to, have the residents of San Antonio realize is that, yes, we have 27 candidates. If you boil it down to, the top 10 even candidates, I I would say you're looking at a group of individuals that are, highly skilled at different abilities.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:44:18]:
And so it really is going to be the choice of the resident. It's going to be, the ability to go and connect. I don't have a hundred and $50,000 to loan myself. $350,000 to loan myself. I loaned myself $20,000 6 years ago to run for city council. That was because I worked a second job and I saved half of that money to run for city council. I wanted to invest in my community. I still owe myself $10,000 I've been paying myself back $5,000 each term.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:44:49]:
This term I haven't paid myself back that $5,000 but that investment was something that it was a lot of work on my part to save up that money. It took me quite a while to save up that level of money. I am not a small business owner or I don't own multiple small businesses. I don't have a campaign headquarters that somebody is subsidizing somehow. My when people ask about a campaign headquarters, I remind them, I don't have the type of money to loan myself to be able to, pay for the electricity bill, the water bill, and the rent for a facility. But I will gladly take you my campaign sign. Right? So just, let me know. Just call us, etcetera.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:45:32]:
So I do think it it it brings in an an unequal and level, but from the marketing perspective, they need that name recognition. I teach marketing. So I understand that there's gonna be more money involved for the candidates that don't have the day to day, name recognition in San Antonio.

Bob Rivard [00:45:51]:
Alright. Well, we're out of time. Thank you so much for coming on the big city, small town District 4 Councilwoman Doctor Adriana Rocha Garcia.

Adriana Rocha Garcia [00:46:00]:
Thank you, ma'am.

Bob Rivard [00:46:04]:
Please share this episode with friends and colleagues, and do sign up for Monday Musings, our weekly newsletter at bigcitysmalltown.com. Big City Small Town is brought to you by Western Urban, building the city our children want to call home, and Geekdom, where startups are born and smart ideas become businesses. Our producer is Corey Eames, video by Erica Rappel, and sound engineering by Alfie de la Garza of Sound Crane Audio. We will see you next week.