Today Scott Stroud wrote in his column in the Express-News about how Mayor Julian Castro is facing big challenges barely into his first year in office. First Castro is faced with the decision over CPS’s future investment in the South Texas Nuclear Project, an issue that has been controversial since it was first introduced by CPS. In a time when San Antonio is experiencing strong growth making sure there will be a reliable energy source for the future has created the need for a critical decision. Now, after meeting with the Express-News editorial board, Castro appears ready to take on the next infrastructure need of the city – water. But these aren’t the only issues Castro is ready to tackle. High on his list are transportation, education, and development of the urban core of the city. So will Castro’s legacy as mayor be investments in San Antonio’s infrastructure?
Any who is familiar with politics knows that during your first term in office sometimes it’s better to take the easy road and tackle the softball issues. This is especially true when your term only lasts two years and you’ll be in campaign mode within a year. While voters can sometimes forget issues or problems, one year is not enough to erase all the memories when it comes time to start evaluating the candidates. Castro knows this after having served two terms as a city council member. So I was expecting his first term to be one of taking on one or two hard issues and building his political capital for the rest of the first term.
That doesn’t appear to be the case with our youngest mayor. Granted the CPS decision is one that was handed to him as soon as he was sworn into office. Couple that decision with a legacy left by former Mayor Phil Hardberger of a green future for San Antonio in the Mission Verde Sustainability Plan. In typical Hardberger “just do it” mode the plan calls on the city and CPS to begin implementation of a distributed energy model this year that does not include nuclear energy. In fact no where within the plan does the issue of nuclear energy ever come up. For an outgoing mayor it was an easy sell and position to take. After all, you’re leaving behind a legacy for the next mayor to deal with. The problem with Mission Verde is that it doesn’t take into account San Antonio’s growth in dealing with energy capacity. So anyone who wants to just point to Mission Verde is really not pointing at any substance regarding reality.
Castro is tackling the problem with a realistic and community-based approach. Taking the lead he suggested early in the discussions that CPS might consider reducing the investment in STNP from 40% to 20-25%, allowing more capital to be available for investment in renewable energy and efficiency programs. He also helped lead the charge of public hearings across the city to allow CPS and city council to gather input and answer questions, something I’m not sure we would have seen out of Mayor Hardberger. Granted the forums have been contentious with little trust for CPS and the proposed plan but these hearings have allowed more information to come forward and be leveraged for the future.
With regards to the issue of water, San Antonio has always been in a critical position trying to satisfy the needs of the city. Reliance on an underground aquifer in which limited information on capacity is available puts the city in a precarious position when record droughts plague the city. We have just come through one of the worst summers on record, moving to Stage 2 water conservation to make sure the city would not run low for critical needs. These restrictions and aggressive conservation efforts have helped insure San Antonio is able to meet the needs. However, just as CPS must plan for the future SAWS needs to also prepare for growth and provide for future sources.
So it appears Castro recognizes this need and is ready to start tackling the problems. According to Stroud’s column “Castro said he already has asked San Antonio Water System President and CEO Robert Puente to draw up plans to accelerate the city’s investments in water beyond the 50-year management plan issued earlier this year.” I am sure that when these plans are unveiled interest groups and citizens within the city will have some reservations or objections. Knowing the style of our mayor I can imagine public input will be sought and questions will be answered. Two infrastructure problems tackled with plans for the future.
Normally that would have been enough for a first term mayor. This mayor sees more in San Antonio’s future and is ready to continue the work. Castro, in working with VIA and Chairman Henry Munoz, has already started looking at new options for transportation to help provide an infrastructure to meet transit needs. San Antonio enjoys good roads and moderate transportation issues compared with other Texas cities. However, this luxury will be quickly wasted away if the city just sits back and rests on the current state.
The city is already out of compliance with the EPA’s ozone standard and experiences ozone action days often during the summer. Addressing transportation issues with more roadways further worsens the condition and degrades air quality within the city. The problem is that residents still need to commute to and from work as well as enjoy activities around the sprawling city. The only reasonable way for San Antonio to come within compliance is to improve the transportation infrastructure to reduce traffic on the city’s streets. In a side conversation with the mayor about the issue he stated that before any plan can move forward public input would be needed and taken. That’s three issues in the first year.
Finally Castro recognizes the need for a well-trained workforce and is addressing the education problems within the scope of city government. He understands that within Texas school districts can only provide education to children from K-12. But that isn’t deterring his vision for a well educated workforce. Castro has proposed taking vacated schools in the neighborhoods and during them into education centers for pre-K and adults. By finding schools close to libraries the centers can leverage current city infrastructure provide by the libraries for additional needs. He is also looking at new initiatives under the education umbrella that the city can provide. We’re now up to four.
Add to that developing the urban core, greening the city and bringing in green jobs, and dealing with first responder issues and you have a pretty full agenda. To top that office Castro has also called for development of a new city strategic plan to succeed Target 90, the plan developed under Mayor Cisneros’ watch. Interestingly enough none of these are fluff items. Every one would a tough issue to tackle for any mayor in office. Maybe that’s why Mayor Castro feels the need to address them. They have been neglected by prior administrations and continue to grow as potential problems.
Yes, it appears Mayor Castro may leave behind a legacy of infrastructure for San Antonio but is that a bad thing? Let’s hope he has enough time in office to see them through. They are all sorely needed.