The North side vs the South side saga and our City Council (San Antonio: neighborhoods, school)

[Merovee]

Our city's legacy of North vs South sides might see a slight shift favoring the current majority with District 8 in the balance.

Castro benefits from a solid coalition of political allies in Districts 1 through 7. Districts 9 and 10 — if Elisa Chan and Carlton Soules, respectively, are re-elected — will continue to be a thorn in the side of Castro's agenda. The question remains where the District 8 representative will land.

City Council: North vs. South? - San Antonio Express-News

[ged_782]

Bottom line: No matter who wins District 8, the majority of City Council will still be aligned with Castro. The question is whether it will be by 7-3 or 8-2. Reading the article would suggest districts South of 8, 9, & 10, would be considered the City's South Side, which would be mostly areas South of the northern stretch of Loop 410.

[Merovee]

That was my take as well.

The axis between North and South (in the way they are being discussed here) has migrated upward making the divide translatable to "Inside the Loop vs Outside the Loop".

That process is also continuing so that the Loop in question is quickly becoming 1604 and not 410 but as of now we can still roughly go with 410 as the demarcation line.

http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/15/22/57...4/rawImage.jpg

[saltwater heaven]

anything thats a thorn in our failed mayor's side is good for SA.

[Merovee]

Congrats for at least understanding half of that article! Of course the full extent of comprehension would include your view but also the view of those who feel directly opposite of you while keeping in mind there is a balance even if one of these views has more supporters.

While it is easy to simply want a debate it might be more challenging to understand the full scope and discuss it which would rise to the level above debate known as conversation. The general contributor should consider this encouragement to challenge themselves.

[Bo]

I don't have a strong opinion about what the article says, as much as what it didn't say.

If I lived in District 8, I would lament the loss of Diane Cibrian, who ran for mayor, instead of a second term in 2009. I saw firsthand what an enthusiastic representative of that district she was and how she got things done while she was in office. I'll be surprised if the next District 8 council rep measures up to her record of accomplishment during his term(s). That'll be particularly true if he turns out to be a lapdog of the mayor, which the article seems to imply could turn out to be the case.

What people, including the writer of this article, often overlook is how low the voter turnouts are in Districts 1-7, compared to 8-10. Districts 8-10 were responsible for Hardberger's victory over Castro in 2005, because those voters turned out for their candidate. I would say this implies that there are more engaged citizens in any of the northern districts than in any of the southern.

You can pit the two halves of the city against each other on race or economics, but the fact remains that the north side votes in great numbers. That should count for something.

[Merovee]

A rather astute point which is realized by many Northsiders and so few Southsiders. Engaged citizens has made the difference all these years. Getting out the vote for one election is not as valuable as consistency in all of them including the smaller offices where much is decided locally, including the widely neglected school boards and bonds.

My concerns fall more along the lines of if we will ever be able to bridge this gap, to have a mayor who is a San Antonian first before being a North- or Southsider. This of course will mean that as voters we too will have to be or become San Antonians first and North- or Southsiders second.

Thanks again Bo, I can honestly say I have and continue to learn much from your views.

[L210]

The article ignores the ethnic diversity of Districts 8-10 and the economic diversity of District 10. They are actually more ethnically diverse than the other districts (except for maybe District 2). While District 10 is 47.6% non-Hispanic white, it is also 52.4% non-Anglo. It's far behind District 2, but District 10 has the second highest concentration of black people. Districts 8 and 9 have the highest concentrations of Asians. In 2012, District 10 had less people than Districts 6 and 7 along with Districts 8 and 9. Besides the mention of one black councilperson, the whole article ignores the fact that non-whites and non-Hispanics even exist in this city.

Soules has to deal with the neighborhoods that the city has let deteriorate: Perrin Beitel, Randolph Blvd, and Nacogdoches. Most of the new jobs in San Antonio seem to be going to the far NW and far west sides. Visionworks is the latest company that is bringing most of its new jobs to the far west side. I'm not on the same side of the political spectrum as Soules on most issues; but if he can do anything to get the city to stop ignoring the NE side when it comes to economic development, I am all for it. I would be happy for any district that has a councilperson who can successfully champion its causes.

http://www.sanantonio.gov/planning/g...raphic_Web.pdf

[datacity]

He is not my rep, but since it relates to the article, here is some commentary on it.

North-south divide a lot of nonsense - San Antonio Express-News

[Bo]

Originally Posted by datacity

He is not my rep, but since it relates to the article, here is some commentary on it.

North-south divide a lot of nonsense - San Antonio Express-News

WTG, Carlton Soules.

Christian Archer, the mayor's political guru discusses the importance of breaking up the block of potential eight to three votes. Curious that he sees three potential dissenting votes as a block that is harmful, but sees nothing wrong with the seven “pocket votes” the mayor typically can rely upon.

Maybe he should have asked what it would take to get 4 more council districts to vote like Districts 8-10?