Even as city staff was still scrambling to unpack exactly what\u2019s at stake<\/a>, leaders all too familiar with past TxDOT feuds sounded resigned to a no-win situation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t need crosswalks for pride, right?\u2019 Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said at Thursday\u2019s City Council meeting. \u201cThey\u2019re nice to have, but that pride rolls on.\u201d<\/p>\n San Antonio put a rainbow crosswalk at North Main Avenue and East Evergreen Street in June of 2018, and later designated the surrounding blocks a Pride Cultural Heritage District<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jones is the city\u2019s first lesbian mayor. She celebrated there with her campaign staff on election night just last May.<\/p>\n She now leads a body of progressive, young leaders<\/a> who once joked about being the \u201cgayest council in Texas,\u201d and will have the final say over whether to remove the rainbow crosswalk.<\/p>\n Houston, Dallas and Austin also have rainbow crosswalks. The City of Houston\u00a0told the Houston Chronicle<\/a> on Wednesday it would re-stripe the pavement to be in compliance.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are now working with TxDOT to understand the state\u2019s specific areas of local concern,\u201d a City of San Antonio spokesman said in a statement Thursday. \u201cThere are no immediate plans to make changes to any roadways, and any future changes will occur with City Council input.\u201d<\/p>\n But San Antonio already played chicken with the state over Abbott\u2019s crusade to end \u201croad diets\u201d<\/a> in 2022, and ultimately watched TxDOT tear up sidewalks<\/a> to restore a traffic lane on its portion of the road in July of last year.<\/p>\n A road diet<\/a> typically involves converting an existing four-lane roadway to a three-lane roadway with a center two-way, left-turn lane. This reconfiguration can improve pedestrian safety, calm traffic, provide better mobility and access for all road users.<\/p>\n Plans for a multimodal corridor on Broadway had once been a shared goal for the city and state. But when the state GOP came out against closing lanes, Abbott agreed, and put an end to the practice on state roads.<\/p>\n In the case of Broadway, TxDOT took the added step of\u00a0reclaiming ownership<\/a>\u00a0of the road to stop a project that taxpayers had already approved as part of a bond package.<\/p>\n Even with a San Antonian chairing the Texas Transportation Commission at the time, the late Bruce Bugg Jr.<\/a>, the city was forced to cancel the project<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since the initial dustup over Broadway, the relationship between TxDOT and San Antonio seemed to be on the mend.<\/p>\n The agency even awarded San Antonio $16 million for a cycle track<\/a> along Market and Commerce streets downtown in November of 2023 \u2014 a peace offering on multimodal transit \u2014 but now this type of money would appear to be in jeopardy after Abbott\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n The mayor and council received an update on the matter from City Manager Erik Walsh and City Attorney Andy Segovia on Thursday morning, according to Jones\u2019 office, and are still trying to understand the full scope of what may be impacted.<\/p>\n \u201cAs mayor, I remain committed to balancing our community\u2019s transportation needs with ensuring everyone in our community feels safe, welcomed and supported,\u201d Jones said in a statement.<\/p>\n Like the road diets, the crosswalk proclamation came amid political pressure.<\/p>\n The Trump administration urged governors<\/a> in July to ensure \u201croads are for safety, not political messages or artwork,\u201d and Abbott was merely following suit.<\/p>\n But in general, a council once eager to fight the state\u2019s Deathstar law<\/a>, fund travel for residents\u2019 out-of-state abortions<\/a> and bar Chick-Fil-A <\/a>from its airport has had to do some soul-searching<\/a> about whether that\u2019s still the right path.<\/p>\n Last November\u2019s election put Republicans in control of every legislative and executive branch in both D.C. and Austin, as well as the high courts that would hear challenges to the policies they put forward. <\/p>\n Then President Donald Trump upped the ante, vowing to withhold resources and\u00a0punish municipalities<\/a>\u00a0that step out of line.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this legal environment, we need to minimize the risk to our community,\u201d Jones told city council earlier this year, while surprising some with her push to screen city policies<\/a> for conflict with state and federal law.<\/p>\n By Thursday\u2019s council meeting, some members now seemed to agree.<\/p>\n A council with many firsts \u2014 first lesbian mayor<\/a>, first Sikh council member<\/a>, first black gay man elected in Texas<\/a>, and just recently, the state\u2019s first transgender man to hold office<\/a> \u2014 kicked off LGBTQ+ history month with mixed emotions.<\/p>\n They welcomed guests who helped pave the way before them, while expressing both sadness about the current political environment and resolve for working within its new limits.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to figure out a way to continue to show \u2026 that every single member of our community is welcome and loved \u2026 regardless of what happens at the state and national level,\u201d said Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1). \u201cThat\u2019s going to be some tough decisions for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just as San Antonio and the state\u2019s transportation agency seemed to be getting along, a new fight has…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":292155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,69,7452,9420,5603,149673,106409,149674,149675,7202,7203,37446,358,7453,3187,8320,7815,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,20705],"class_list":{"0":"post-292154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-gina-ortiz-jones","11":"tag-gov-greg-abbott","12":"tag-lgbtq","13":"tag-pride-cultural-heritage-district","14":"tag-rainbow-crosswalks","15":"tag-rainbow-sidewalk","16":"tag-road-diets","17":"tag-san-antonio","18":"tag-sanantonio","19":"tag-sukh-kaur","20":"tag-texas","21":"tag-top-story","22":"tag-tx","23":"tag-txdot","24":"tag-typedaily","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-usa","31":"tag-wc-750-1000"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115350362485316184","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BB_00517.jpg\")
Gina Ortiz Jones celebrates with revelers after making the runoff election at the Fiesta Flambeau Parade. Credit: Brenda Baz\u00e1n \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BonnieArbittier_gay_pride_parade_lgbt_lgbtq_lgbtqia_drag_queen_lights_gayborhood_main_street_rainbow.jpeg\")
Pride \u201cBigger Than Texas\u201d Parade, put on by PRIDE San Antonio, down Main Street on July 30, 2018. Credit: Bonnie Arbittier \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n