Mayor Castro greeted by challenges
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Sitting behind a desk that looked all the bigger for having almost nothing on it, Mayor Julián Castro grinned and nodded toward the iPod dock next to his flat-screen computer off to the side.
“That's probably the first time an iPod has been in the mayor's office,” Castro joked. At 34, he is 41 years younger than his predecessor, Phil Hardberger.
It was a lighthearted moment at the start of what promises to be a challenging few months for Castro. June 1 was his first day working in the corner office on City Hall's first floor.
“The immediate challenge is a budget that's $11 million out of kilter,” Castro said.
With the economy weak and city revenue falling, he'll preside over tough choices for the 2009-2010 budget, which starts with an $11 million shortfall. But he committed on June 1, as he had previously, to push for more police officers.
“Even in these tough economic times, we're going to make sure we add to our public safety,” Castro said. “Like every San Antonian, I'm concerned that there's been an increase in crime.”
Castro was greeted with the FBI's Uniform Crime Report statistics for 2008, which showed a dramatic rise in crime in the city.
City Manager Sheryl Sculley said the budget forecast is daunting. But more cops in the next fiscal year seemed likely.
“We're going to do our very best to add” police officers, Sculley said moments before sitting down to lunch with Castro at the rear of Tommy Moore's Cafe and Deli on the East Side.
Also huddled at the long table were Police Chief William McManus, Fire Chief Charles Hood, San Antonio Water System CEO Robert Puente and CPS Energy interim General Manager Steve Bartley.
At that point, Castro was halfway through a first day packed with meetings — with Sculley and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff — and less formal sessions with City Council members and city employees. The aim of the heavy schedule, Castro said, was to set “a tone of leadership.”
At midmorning, Castro took a break from City Hall to give a 13-minute talk to about 100 students at the University of Texas at San Antonio Downtown Campus participating in UTSA's Institute for Law and Public Affairs summer law school prep program.
A graduate of Harvard Law School, Castro cited a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas that called into question the educational preparedness of San Antonio's work force. He urged the students to return or stay in San Antonio after becoming lawyers.
“The city needs you to succeed,” he said. “We need to add you to the base of professionals in our city.”
Though the mayor has little leverage over education policy, one of the planks of Castro's campaign was the creation of early childhood learning academies.
But that may have to wait out the sour economy.
“There's no question that this is a long-term project,” he said, later noting at an afternoon news conference, “There's no question that this is a year (in which) we can't get everything done that I'd like to get done.”
The council is expected to set its budget priorities during a daylong session June 24 and to adopt the budget in mid-September.
Castro had started his day at a police substation on the North Side, greeting officers at roll calls that started at 6 a.m. From there, he moved on to greet city employees at a Southeast Side service center.
He began moving into his City Hall office Sunday afternoon, but it's still mostly bare. Earlier in the day, his only wall hanging was a framed City Council campaign poster, crinkly and yellowed with age, from his mother's 1971 challenge to the then-dominant Good Government League.
Rosie Castro, a community activist, ran that race with three other young Hispanics from the West Side.
Greg Jefferson |
210SA contributor
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