The S.A. City Council

This is Thursday evening, and I've just gotten away from a visit to the VA Hospital about my hypertension. Therefore, I'm missing out on an activity I started doing a couple of times a month on Thu. eves. It's the final two regular items on the agenda for the meeting of the San Antonio City Council. When our current Mayor, Phil Hardberger, was elected last year, he put the Council (of which he's considered a member) meeting on a schedule of "B" sessions on Weds. & "A" sessions to begin with Invocation at 9 AM Thus. & end with ceremonial proclamations / recognitions at 5 PM & Citizens to Be Heard at 6 PM. As I say, since Aug. '05 I've attended the evening items on a couple of Thus. a month. But last Thu. I also attended the opening on Thu. morning, which I'd only been to once before.

I went to the morning opening because I did not have a job assignment that day, and I had found out that the senior Pastor of a neighborhood church I occasionally attend on Wed. or Sun. evenings, was going to pray the Invocation. So I wanted to be there, sort of to support him. After he prayed amd the Pledge was recited, the first item of business turned out to be the honoring of retiring S.A. Police Chief Ortiz. Now, Chief Ortiz had been elevated to that position just after I arrived here in '02, and shortly after his installation I got to serve Chief & Mrs. Ortiz at the Jim's Restaurant where I then worked as evening waiter. Several of the Council members had high praise for the retiring Chief, and so all in all I was glad I had chosen to be there. Not just to hear the Invocation by someone I knew but also to witness recognition of a public servant whom I had had the honor of serving dinner!

I left to do errands, but returned at 5 PM. Just as I anticipated, the ceremonial portion of the agenda on this past Thu. involved proclamations & recognitions for the BIG EVENT of the San Antonio year, which begins tomorrow: Fiesta! Representatives from several groups which are intimately & prominently involved in various Fiesta events, plus the royalty for Fiesta 2006, were there. The Mayor read more than one Proclamation document, and he & Council members posed for photos with the honorees. All this is typical of the ceremonial portion of each Thu. Council meeting - but that eve.'s seemed even more memorable, due to its connection with San Antonio's party-to-end-all-parties.

The Westside, where I attend church plus other activities, is in District 5, represented in her second 2-year term by Patti Radle. When she was first elected, a few folk raised objection to the overwhelmingly-Chicano barrio of Dist. 5 being represented by a non-Hispanic. But her easy re-election speaks volumes for how well she represents everybody on the Westside. I had run into Councilwoman Radle several times, including at my own church, where she had come to help with a dinner we put on for anyone who shows up, just before Thanksgiving. The Radles are members of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, just a couple of blocks from my Mexican Christian Church (Disciples).

When I first moved here I lived in Dist. 9. At the last city election (which came after my move, of course), a Kevin Wolff was elected in that district. I ran into him, too, at La Gran Posada, a delightful Christmas custom from Mexico that's become prominent here in S.A. Councilman Wolff in appearance always reminds me of the actor who played the Commissioner on the '90s TV show "The Commish"; he's always got a bright smile, too.

And how about my own Councilman? Glad you asked! I'm now in Dist. 10, represented on the Council by a young man named "Chip" Haass. I happened to meet him just after he was elected the first time (he, like Patti Radle, is in his second 2-year term), while I was working the cash register at another Jim's Restaurant, before I moved. I was impressed with him at that meeting, and except for disagreement about one issue, I've approved of his job on the Council ever since. Several months ago I discovered that "Chip" & I share an alma mater, TCU - he earning a Bachelors there & I a Master of Divinity many years earlier. So, we're both "Horned Frogs"! Better yet, in early March I found out that we are also fraternity brothers, both being members of Lambda Chi Alpha!

All this is leading to my point: I believe that the current elected government of this city is a very good one, certainly an improvement over the previous city government. I've greatly enjoyed attending Thu. eve. portions of the Council meetings and whatever earlier portions I've been able. With folks like Council members Radle, Wolff & Haass and Mayor Hardberger running the show (so to speak), I have high hopes that there will be some good changes & improvements here in the Alamo City by mid-year next year.

But right at the moment. . . there's a certain annual party-to-end-all-parties to be thrown. And few thousand cascarones (confetti-filled eggshells) to be cracked over peoples' heads! ¡Viva Fiesta!