Another NY Times article on Castro/San Antonio (Austin: low income, mortgages)

[JuneOf48]

An interesting read. No matter what your politics, this week is sure to have San Antonio in the spotlight:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/us...&smid=fb-share

My favorite quote:

"San Antonio has become a kind of Berkeley of the Southwest, a progressive, economically vibrant and Democratic-leaning city of 1.3 million in Republican-dominated Texas."

I like the sentiment, but it's a bit of an exaggeration, to say the least.

[SweethomeSanAntonio]

Originally Posted by JuneOf48

An interesting read. No matter what your politics, this week is sure to have San Antonio in the spotlight:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/us...&smid=fb-share

My favorite quote:

"San Antonio has become a kind of Berkeley of the Southwest, a progressive, economically vibrant and Democratic-leaning city of 1.3 million in Republican-dominated Texas."

I like the sentiment, but it's a bit of an exaggeration, to say the least.

Moderator cut: National politics = Off-Topic for SA Forum Democratic- leaning-this gets a check.
Progressive-S.A. is progressive- check
economically vibrant- that's apparent. check
Berkeley of the Southwest- In some aspects maybe, but it does says kinda. half check.

[majormadmax]

Originally Posted by JuneOf48

My favorite quote:

"San Antonio has become a kind of Berkeley of the Southwest, a progressive, economically vibrant and Democratic-leaning city of 1.3 million in Republican-dominated Texas."

I like the sentiment, but it's a bit of an exaggeration, to say the least.

Agreed, while I am a fan of Castro, I don't see this city becoming the progressive "Berkeley of the Southwest" nor do I see it changing the political climate in Texas. Austin, maybe; but not SA.

And to be honest, I don't see that as being a bad thing...

Moderator cut: National politics = Off-Topic for SA Forum

Politics aside, the truth is, SA is economically vibrant and has a lot going for it, to include the current mayor. It is not surprising that we are on the radar of the rest of the country.

Cheers! M2

[blaircedarbank]

How is this town economically vibrant? Wages are pathetic here. Please enlighten me because all I see is Castro pushing for his free babysitting service Moderator cut: National politics = Off-Topic for SA Forum Please convince me of this vibrancy because when I drive around all I see is new fast food, H-E-B, or WallyWorld going up.

[majormadmax]

Originally Posted by blaircedarbank

How is this town economically vibrant? Wages are pathetic here. Please enlighten me because all I see is Castro pushing for his free babysitting service Moderator cut: National politics = Off-Topic for SA Forum Please convince me of this vibrancy because when I drive around all I see is new fast food, H-E-B, or WallyWorld going up.

Have you traveled around the country lately? Or even this city? There is building going on here everywhere...new businesses, homes and about everything else. Much of the rest of the country is the complete opposite, businesses going under, people under water on their mortgages and many abandoning their homes, and economic stagnation.

And as for those "pathetic" wages, maybe if you clued into the low cost of living here you'd realize that they are about right. I could double my salary and still not live at the same comfort level if I had to do so in the Washington-Baltimore area, plus I'd have to deal with much worse traffic, weather and individuals.

Time to open your eyes to the truth, man other places in this nation don't even have "new fast food, H-E-B, or WallyWorld" and if you can't understand how that translates into economic vibrancy, then maybe you should find someplace that has the similar amount of growth going and move there.

Moderator cut: Off-Topic

[Austinite101]

I definitely disagree with the Berkeley part of it, but other than that, great for SA.

[Azure110]

Moderator cut: see note

Going back on topic here. I am proud of Castro. I am a big fan of him although I am not pleased with his tax proposal for low income children because it is taxtation without representation for those kids that will not qualify. ( Correct me if I am wrong, but that is how I understood it works ) He has good intentions but I can't side with him on this particular issue.

[CoachBForThree]

Moderator cut: Off-Topic Here are my random takes on Julian Castro and San Antonio:

* San Antonio, relative to the rest of the country, is most definitely economically vibrant. How much credit goes to the mayor, Moderator cut: Off-Topic vs. how much credit goes to non-political things like weather, vs. how much credit goes to random luck, is beyond our collective knowledge.

* While San Antonio government is far from a home run, what I'm mostly pleased by is the bipartisan effort that is put in. As a small example, I loved that San Antonio did a study on the feasibility of providing free WiFi to all residents. It was a somewhat extreme, definitely progressive, idea, and for a wide variety of reasons, it was deemed that it couldn't happen. No surprise there, but just that they even looked at something like that was a positive to me. Castro and the entire S.A. government seem to run things not from a Republican/Democrat perspective, but a what's-good-for-the-city perspective.

* The big obstacle to Castro as a presidential candidate, to me, is I don't see any personal qualities about him that separate him as being "better" than the general population. Obama is massively articulate and projects an air that people look at and say, wow, whether I agree with him or not, he's got that "something" that makes him a superstar human being. Romney, similarly, has an incredible track history in a variety of ventures (business, Olympics, Massachusetts), and there's no reasonable way a person can look at Romney and think he's not a special guy. But Julian -- I don't quite see anything that separates him and makes me think he's any better or smarter than I am. Yet.

[macbillybob]

The problem I have with many of SA's "leaders" is that they are young and inexperienced. All they know is politics. Little or no real world experience. I guess that is the current requirement now. Moderator cut: National politics = Off-Topic for SA Forum

[Merovee]

Austin is definitely more corporate while San Antonio is grassroots when it comes to politics.