San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones blames lack of data for falling short on 100-day agenda

San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones speaks during an event. Credit: Public Domain / Andy Morataya

San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones marked her first 100 days in office by sending out a statement blaming the city’s lack of quality data for her failure to deliver on key campaign promises she’s pledged to deliver on by now.

Friday marked the 100-day milestone for Jones, who promised to bring radical change to City Hall during that time period.

Among other things, the former Under Secretary of the Air Force said she’d streamline the approval process for low-income housing projects, develop a home-ownership program for frontline workers and update the city’s Tenant Bill of Rights, according to her mayoral campaign website.

She also said she’d boost Pre-K for SA enrollment and hold “corporate landlords and investors accountable for their role in the housing crisis” during her first 100 days.

So far, none of that’s happened.

“In exploring solutions on topics like early childhood education, affordable childcare and workforce development, the data is not readily available to inform our decision-making, and by working with City Staff, we can better understand and address these gaps to put plans in place that build a strong foundation across the city,” Jones said in a statement issued Thursday.

St. Mary’s University political science professor Art Vega told the Current he can’t say for sure whether the city keeps tabs on those records. However, he said it’s likely a lack of record keeping got in the way.

“I wouldn’t be surprised that if that turns out to be the case that [the city] is not capable or doesn’t have the capacity or time to collect that data to help with her agenda,” he added.

However, Vega added that the issue more likely hampering Jones’ ability to get stuff done at City Hall is a lack of a voting coalition.

“The other part of this is building the agenda among a majority of the council so that she can then move forward with her plans,” Vega said.

Data questions aside, much of Jones’ time in office has been mired in political squabbles, most notably over how Council Consideration Request are brought up for discussion. That fight has put her on the opposite side of many on council and led to a 10-1 loss as she tried to shut down an animal-welfare proposal that she considered too vague.

In Jones’ statement on her first 100 days, she focused on wins such as a meeting with a delegation of semiconductor chip manufacturers from Taiwan.

She also pointed to council’s unanimous passage of a City Charter amendment that encourages council members to refrain from signing non-disclosure agreements. A ban on council signing such agreements was also among the things she promised to deliver during her first 100 days.

Even so, Jones’ inability to expedite her aggressively timed City Hall agenda isn’t her fault alone, UT-San Antonio political scientist Jon Taylor said.

Indeed, Jones took office as the city faces a $170 million-plus budget deficit, a flood disaster that killed 13 San Antonio residents and a massive downtown sports-arena project initiated by her predecessor, Ron Nirenberg.

Even so, Jones’ political missteps made an already difficult situation harder, Taylor added. Specifically, he pointed to her decision to go to war over the CCR process against council members with far more experience in city politics.

“I don’t think she would have created a perception in both print and broadcast media that she was in over her head if she wasn’t picking fights with incumbent city council members that were needlessly confrontational,” Taylor said.

Next week’s print edition of the Current will include a more in-depth look at Jones’ first 100 days in office.

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San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones blames lack of data for falling short on 100-day agenda

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