The elections are over and the San Antonio City Council has the same council members and mayor it had before voters went to the polls. The big question ahead of everyone now though, is whether council members that supported candidates that lost could still work together.
During the elections, some council members openly supported Ivy Taylor. Others backed Leticia Van De Putte. On Saturday, at her victory party, mayor-elect Taylor said the division was water under the bridge.
District 2 Councilman Alan Warrick, and several other East Side leaders, criticized Taylor last month, putting their support behind Van De Putte. Warrick said projects for the East Side were kicked down the road when Taylor was a council member representing that part of the city. “Ivy Taylor hasn’t put forth a vision for the district or the city and we can’t go further down this road without facing some serious repercussion,” he said in May.
But Warrick has changed his characterization of Taylor since she was elected mayor Saturday. “I think Ivy is going to do a great job as mayor moving forward, we just really need to focus on getting things done. We’re not [the] congress; we’re not the state House, so we can’t just sit around and not pass any legislation for the next two years. We can’t block anything, because, in the end, it’s benefitting the people of San Antonio.”
Warrick’s priorities for the East Side — where Taylor lives — includes getting gunshot detection devices. Other council members also supported Taylor’s opponent and will have to mend fences that includes District 6’s Rey Lopez.
Taylor supporter, District 9 councilman Joe Krier, did not believe there would be any disconnect among council members. He points to last year, when the mayor led the effort to killing streetcars.
“The truth of the matter is that Ivy led us last year into unanimous approval of putting the street car issue on the ballot, a unanimous approval of the 30-year water contract, and a unanimous approval of the back to basics budget last year,” Krier said. “We’ve had a council that she’s been able to work pretty good majorities in.”
Among Taylor’s priorities is the looming city budget. She also wants the city to reach an agreement with public safety workers on police and fire contracts. Perhaps significantly, the police and fire associations backed Van de Putte —not Taylor — for mayor.
