The story brought news that a recently FAA reauthorization bill would open up additional direct flights to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. And one of those new landing slots appeared primed to go to American Airlines, which promised to add a new nonstop flight to San Antonio — a nonstop Austin already has via Southwest Airlines.
Why the triumph?
“Local business leaders and elected officials have long sought a nonstop flight to DCA [Reagan], saying the city’s military, medical, cybersecurity and information technology sectors need easier access to the nation’s capital,” the article explained.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg gushed to the daily about the win.
“We have been working for more than a decade to give residents of America’s seventh-largest city the same access to our nation’s leaders as nearly every other big city in the country,” he said.
Of course, a nonstop flight to D.C. would be nice, although it would be helpful to know the details. Exactly what has American Airlines committed to, and for how long? Also, is the city or our local “economic development” nonprofit on the hook for a bunch of subsidies, including marketing funds and a revenue guarantee, to the airline? What happens if passenger volume isn’t quite what local airport officials hoped and perhaps promised?
All valid concerns, but there’s a much larger question in the face of this seeming victory: how important is a single nonstop flight to San Antonio’s future? Why has this particular goal been a focus of city officials’ efforts for more than a decade? And why is it that the mayor and city government have so embraced a priority seemingly set by the city’s business leadership?
That question is particularly relevant right now. Nirenberg is a lame duck, obliged by the city’s term limits to leave office next year. And with his departure and no incumbent to fight, the 2025 mayor’s race is shaping up to be a wide-open contest. Multiple members of City Council have already begun positioning themselves for a run.
District 8’s Manny Pelaez has announced a candidacy, although it should come as little surprise since he’s long sought to position himself for such a run. John Courage of District 9 also formally launched a campaign.
Rumors have it that District 6’s Melissa Cabello Havrda, District 7’s Marina Alderete Gavito and District 4’s Adriana Rocha Garcia are also weighing runs. And then there’s the likely possibility local business or development leaders who seek a friend in the mayor’s office will come up with someone outside the current council, much as happened with Phil Hardberger, who served as mayor from 2005 to 2009.
San Antonio residents — or at least those few who actually vote in city races — have a few months to seriously consider and evaluate their choices for future mayor. But it’s not too early to start considering the relevant questions those candidates need to answer, not to mention what’s truly important to San Antonio’s future.
There’s long been a tendency for City Council debate to focus less on substantive policy questions than on symbolic concerns, many of which reflect the country’s larger cultural and political fault lines. So, we get fights over having Chick-fil-A at the airport or what the city’s official stand on the Gaza War should be.
Meanwhile, other issues of local importance seem to slip by with little public discussion or consideration. The disposal — not quite a sale — of the Grand Hyatt hotel occurred with little time for real analysis or public input. The possible development of a downtown arena for the Spurs looks to be chugging forward with effectively no transparency or public discourse. The enormous number of street improvement projects across town, particularly in and around downtown, have made just getting anywhere an enormous trial — one that in case after case has taken far longer than city staff forecast.
Beyond those concerns, what’s next after Mayor Julián Castro’s once-hailed “Decade of Downtown?” And we also need to ask questions about CPS Energy’s rate increase plans, about how well job-training program SA Ready to Work is actually working and about whether that affordable housing bond program local voters embraced is really delivering affordable housing, and for whom.
Now is the time to start making up our own lists of what’s really important for this community’s future, and for pressing those prospective mayoral candidates to give us real answers and commitments on where they stand and what they propose to do.
Are the recommendations of the Charter Review Commission on things like council pay and changing the compensation and tenure of the city manager all OK? Do the candidates back a new arena for the Spurs, and how would they pay for it? And what would they propose to do about the longstanding problems of multigenerational poverty and aging housing? Rather, of course, than pushing for a new nonstop flight?
Perhaps next time we can get a mayor who’s interested in leading the city and dealing with its problems rather than campaigning for a new job in D.C.
Heywood Sanders is a professor emeritus of public policy at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
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