Solutions for struggling District 5
The story of rampant COVID-19 infection rates in San Antonio’s District 5 is the story of a failure to provide for basic community needs.
The lack of access to basic services — sound medical care, quality housing, healthy foods, comprehensive education and more — has exacerbated the spread of COVID-19, allowing the pandemic to strengthen its hold in our neighborhoods. As our district experiences an accelerated public health crisis and mourns the loss of more than 220 people in our community to the pandemic, it is evident we must address the profound social determinants of health.
People cannot afford to forgo work during the pandemic, but the city has not taken into account how best to protect our loved ones. While an equity budget has slowly taken shape, working families and mom-andpop businesses have borne the brunt of half-solutions and lip service.
Those struggling most cannot adapt to worsening circumstances unless the government provides desperately needed logistical and financial support. We know meaningful change is overdue, and as District 5 experiences stagnant wages and increasing property taxes, neighborhood stabilization — for both COVID-19 circumstances and the long term — is needed now.
I am running to represent District 5 because we must prioritize the needs of working families by investing in neighborhoods, housing, streets and other key infrastructure. This means some existing funds must be reallocated from the criminalization of poverty and the subsidization of corporations into home rehabilitation programs, public works, Metro Health, youth services and other community-oriented projects.
We must ensure that public funds are used for the public good and guarantee that forprofit developers pay their fair share of property taxes to better support our deprived schools and other community needs. Our children, teachers and janitorial staff must have access to resources necessary for our children to thrive. During the pandemic, we must continue to prioritize the health of our children by supporting teachers in their pleas for remote learning.
Measures against the pandemic have been undermined by how many people have to work multiple, insecure jobs in dangerous conditions to simply get by. Workforce development programs in our city must be intentional.
San Antonio has the infrastructure to partner with existing workforce development programs to provide the skills for good-paying, stable green union jobs, training high schoolers and others in the community through future-oriented vocational programs. Now is the time to take bold action and build on existing home rehabilitation programs, using public funds for the working people of San Antonio. Training and producing green union jobs will not only improve quality of life but also local air quality and pulmonary health.
In a time when quarantining is necessary, housing is indeed health care, and we must continue to allocate substantial funds to the Fair Housing Emergency Assistance program.
COVID-19 has further emphasized just how limited our time is, so let’s be frank. Our local government has failed San Antonio’s working people by passing a budget that neither reflected community input nor addressed the immediate needs of the community. A healthier and safer District 5 is possible, and until we have “Medicare for all,” it is imperative we realign our city’s budget to prioritize wide-ranging, innovative solutions to public health issues.
That involves focusing not just
on immediate issues but also systemic issues. We can build a San Antonio where our ZIP code influences neither our quality of health nor our quality of life. Let’s change District 5 so that instead of the poverty and sickness we suffer now, well-being and economic security will flourish instead.