As a former member of the Ready to Work Advisory Board, I believe Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is absolutely correct. I applaud the Civic's support for her bold decision - it is genius. Taking accountability and making the difficult choice to end the program is the right course of action for our city. I hope the other City Council members demonstrate the same courage and support.
The structural problems run deeper than the acreage gap. The debt replacement has no voter backstop — Council can reduce or eliminate it with two public hearings and a vote. Its annual payments compete directly with police, fire, and parks in the general fund, making it an easy target in a tight budget year. The $100 million cap covers principal only, so true taxpayer exposure is higher once interest is included. And unlike the sales tax, which drew revenue from economic activity countywide, this debt burden falls solely on city property taxpayers.
The pattern is clear: a voter-approved program that protected 187,000 acres was replaced by a debt tool delivering a fraction of the results with none of the voter protection. The freed-up tax funded a workforce program that hit 14 percent of its goal, then flowed indefinitely to an unelected transit agency. At no point did voters get a clean, standalone choice. If we’re revisiting one piece of this, we should revisit all three.
Well said, well done. Regrettably, SA has never had a platform to wade through many issues, topics, & challenges which are analytical in nature rather than drive-by opinion. We have not ever had big-city journalism of thoughtful, subject-matter expertise, much less a "watchdog" press; "reporting" the news doesn't cut it.
As a former member of the Ready to Work Advisory Board, I believe Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is absolutely correct. I applaud the Civic's support for her bold decision - it is genius. Taking accountability and making the difficult choice to end the program is the right course of action for our city. I hope the other City Council members demonstrate the same courage and support.
The structural problems run deeper than the acreage gap. The debt replacement has no voter backstop — Council can reduce or eliminate it with two public hearings and a vote. Its annual payments compete directly with police, fire, and parks in the general fund, making it an easy target in a tight budget year. The $100 million cap covers principal only, so true taxpayer exposure is higher once interest is included. And unlike the sales tax, which drew revenue from economic activity countywide, this debt burden falls solely on city property taxpayers.
The pattern is clear: a voter-approved program that protected 187,000 acres was replaced by a debt tool delivering a fraction of the results with none of the voter protection. The freed-up tax funded a workforce program that hit 14 percent of its goal, then flowed indefinitely to an unelected transit agency. At no point did voters get a clean, standalone choice. If we’re revisiting one piece of this, we should revisit all three.
Patrick Von Dohlen
Republican Nominee for Bexar County Judge
http://VotePatrick.net
210.908.0033
Well said, well done. Regrettably, SA has never had a platform to wade through many issues, topics, & challenges which are analytical in nature rather than drive-by opinion. We have not ever had big-city journalism of thoughtful, subject-matter expertise, much less a "watchdog" press; "reporting" the news doesn't cut it.