Week one of early voting in the Nov. 4 Bexar County election concluded with only 62,937 registered voters turning out to the polls. Another 2,600 mail-in ballots were received, and by the looks of it, even more mail-in ballots were returned to count…
If you’ve lived in San Antonio as long as my family, you probably recall the UTSA poll showing tepid support among voters for using the county’s “tourist taxes” to help fund a new arena for the San Antonio Spurs. I’m n…
San Antonio and Bexar County voters: This is no time to stop. Don’t do all the hard work to run a marathon and drop out halfway after hearing how hard it will be to finish. Let’s push through to the finish line and celebration. I am tal…
Let me say what San Antonio Spurs Chairman and Managing Partner Peter J. Holt is too pro-San Antonio to say: If Bexar County voters fail to pass Propositions A & B on Nov. 4, other big city mayors and billionaires will be falling all over each o…
Gina Ortiz Jones was sworn in as mayor of San Antonio on June 18, 2025 after one of the most ridiculous campaigns in city history with a clown car total of 27 candidates on the ballot, at least 20 of them lacking credibility. Jones, a Democrat, fini…
It was big news in 2002 when Trinity University announced the rebirth of Trinity University Press and the hiring of its new champion, the poet and publisher Barbara Ras. Backed by a $2.1 million grant from the Ewing-Halsell Foundation and an additio…
I had the honor Friday of serving as emcee at the Dee Howard Foundation’s 2025 San Antonio Aviation and Aerospace Hall of Fame luncheon at Port San Antonio’s Boeing Center at Tech Port. The annual gathering celebrates the city’s hi…
San Antonio might be the only city in the country addressing the problem of irresponsible residents abandoning pet peacocks into the urban wild. It’s the kind of issue that often arouses the national media on a slow news day to publish “…
Last week, I promised a more in-depth take on the Alamodome and its importance to San Antonio’s urban profile, big-city offerings and its visitor economy. I did so after hearing Mayor Gina Jones repeat the often-misleading claim that Mayor Hen…
I actually had plans to multitask Thursday, but another marathon City Council session featuring more than 100 citizens to be heard kept me glued, post-shoulder surgery, to the laptop screen for what seemed like an entire day. The outcome, as expect…
It was a strong week for the San Antonio City Council majority, which delivered a lesson in governance to Mayor Gina Jones in her first 100 days. The lesson learned? Respecting the “process” after a successful challenge of the mayor&rsqu…
In four decades of observing newly-elected mayors take office in San Antonio, I have never seen one struggle so unsuccessfully to hit the ground running, to lead the City Council effectively and collaboratively, or to assemble a reliable professiona…
Two weeks ago, I informed readers (and promised myself) that I would be taking a hiatus from this weekly newsletter for the month of July while traveling on a book project and enjoying some personal time. The horrific events of the week in the Texas…
San Antonians have been settling into the long, hot South Texas “summer” since May, when the city recorded the first three days of 100 degrees or more. Check out a national heat map right now: The rest of the country, north and east of T…
With municipal elections completed, San Antonio’s most anticipated and biggest investment in downtown in history takes center stage. It’s time now to give the public a more focused picture of the ambitious plan’s individual project…
Congratulations, Mayor-elect Gina Ortiz Jones. This week’s newsletter begins with those welcoming words, and the wry acknowledgement that I stand 0-2 in the endorsement category. I focused my first-round support on tech company founder Beto A…
There is nothing traditional about this political season in San Antonio. Early voting concludes Tuesday before the Saturday, June 7, runoff election. For the first time in my lifetime, two candidates who did not emerge from City Council service are …
The poorly organized city election that led to a Fiesta parade ballot of 27 mayoral candidates, most lacking any standing, has now come down to two very different candidates: first-round frontrunner Gina Ortiz Jones and second-place finisher Rolando…
City Council took a big step forward in its campaign to bring the San Antonio Spurs back to Hemisfair with its Thursday vote to expand the convention complex plan as described in the original Project Finance Zone (PFZ) to include a sports and entert…
The Monday Musings newsletter is growing nicely as we near the end of our fifth month of publication. If you are reading this thanks to a friend, please consider subscribing by adding your email address at the bigcitysmalltown website. No cost, no s…
The results for the May 3 election to choose a new San Antonio mayor and seat a new City Council are in, and there is no need for cascarones or medals. The big loser in Saturday’s Fiesta weekend election? The people of San Antonio, with more t…
A sure sign that a weak incumbent faces the prospect of being unseated by a serious challenger is when the mudslinging starts and falsehoods are spread in the campaign’s closing days. Such is the case with Sara Sorenson, who holds the Distric…
Welcome to a Monday Musings Extra!, a special edition of our weekly newsletter to remind readers that today is the first day of Early Voting (April 22-29) in the May 3 City Election. Starting today, voters will go to the polls to elect a new …
Let the voting begin Tuesday. Here at bigcitysmalltown this April, we’ve focused our weekly podcast and newsletter on the race for mayor in San Antonio. We believe voters will make a consequential decision–one that will shape the city&rs…