Keeping his promise to secure San Antonio's health, safety and future.

Health & Safety

  • Ensured that our local COVID-19 response and recovery efforts were equitable and backed by science
  • Committed to a full COVID-19 partnership with Bexar County, providing for one of the most efficient and effective emergency responses in Texas
  • Initiated San Antonio’s first police bodycam footage policy, ensuring bodycam footage is released within 60 days to provide the community with enhanced transparency
  • Formed Opioid Task Force, which secured $5 million in federal grants to purchase and distribute 25,000 doses of overdose reversal drugs
  • Championed the Collaborative Commission on Domestic Violence to prevent, combat and respond to domestic violence in our region
  • Championed mental health call protocol changes within SAPD

Economic Recovery

  • Implemented the City’s Recovery & Resiliency Plan: providing for investments in small business relief, workforce development, emergency housing assistance, and improved internet access
    • $42.6M total allocated for grants to small businesses
    • $75M total allocated to workforce development, which will help up to 10,000 San Antonio residents find a pathway to an in-demand, good-paying career while providing a stipend as they learn
    • More than $75M total has been allocated to emergency rental and mortgage assistance, helping tens of thousands of residents stay in their homes
    • $27.3M total allocated to addressing the digital divide, ensuring that all K-12 students have access to high-speed internet
    • Funded through the federal CARES Act, required no tax increase
  • Created SA: Ready to Work, which was overwhelmingly approved by San Antonio voters in the November 2020 election
    • Will bring total workforce development investment to $229M over 5 years, serving a total of up to 50,000 residents when combined with the City’s Recovery & Resiliency Plan
    • Program will focus on providing a pathway to in-demand, good-paying careers and will allow some participants to finish their two and four year degrees
    • Will be implemented without raising taxes
  • Guided the implementation of the Alamo Colleges District’s AlamoPROMISE as a tri-chair of the program. The initiative will provide all San Antonio high school grads with tuition-free associate degrees

Affordable Housing

  • Implemented San Antonio’s first-ever homestead tax exemption, providing a mechanism for continued property tax relief for homeowners
  • Created one of the largest rental / mortgage assistance funds in the nation, allocating $75M [WILL CHANGE] to keep San Antonio residents in their home during the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Created the Mayor’s Housing Policy Task Force, fostering the development of tens of thousands of affordable units over the last two years
  • Click here to read the comprehensive affordable housing report from the Mayor’s Housing Policy Task Force.

Quality of Life

  • Implemented the longest commitment yet to the Edwards Aquifer Protection Program, providing funding to conserve land over the aquifer until 2032 without raising taxes
  • Implemented San Antonio’s first ever Climate Action & Adaptation Plan, committing San Antonio to be carbon neutral by 2050.
    • First action items will be ensuring we have equitable electric vehicle charging infrastructure and evaluating energy use in San Antonio’s largest buildings
  • San Antonio is now the top solar producer in Texas and the fifth highest solar producer in the nation
  • Implemented equity budgeting to ensure every area of town is treated fairly when city dollars are allocated

Transportation

  • Championed increased funding to VIA Metropolitan Transit, which was approved by San Antonio voters for use in 2026, allowing for an enhanced transit network without raising taxes
  • Maintained FY2020’s level of street funding in the FY2021 budget without raising taxes and despite the economic setbacks brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Established a City Council Transportation Committee to focus on transportation and mobility

More

  • Banned pet stores from selling dogs from “puppy mills”
  • Worked with state legislators to preserve buffer zones around local military bases
  • Worked with state legislators to preserve local control for cities
  • Rescued the beleaguered Tricentennial program
  • Named SA Current’s Best Politician of 2020, San Antonio Magazine’s Best City Politician of 2020 and part of 2020’s Grist 50 – which recognizes the nation’s 50 climate leaders of the year