The Alamo Hour

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Justin Hill gets to sit down and talk with some of San Antonio's most fascinating and informed voices on a wide array of topics. The Alamo Hour is the destination podcast for those that want to take a in-depth look at different people, places, events and happenings in San Antonio, Texas. Hosted by local injury attorney, Justin Hill, this podcast is going to dive deep into the city we love so much.

Patrick Svitek, Texas Tribune Political Correspondent

Patrick Svitek is new to San Antonio but a long time political reporter covering the state of Texas. He works for The Texas Tribune and covers Texas politics and policy from a local level to how they affect national discussions and trends. We have a lively discussion about what is happening in Texas and how he is enjoying San Antonio. Transcript: Justin: Hello. Bienvenidos, San Antonio, welcome to the Alamo Hour, discussing the people, places and passion that make our city. My name is Justin Hill, a local attorney, a proud San Antonian and keeper of chickens and bees. On the Alamo hour, you'll get to hear from the people that make San Antonio great and unique in the best-kept secret in Texas. We're glad that you're here. Welcome to the Alamo Hour. Today's guest is Patrick Svitek. He is the primary political correspondent for the Texas Tribune. If you don't know, Texas Tribune is become a really a nationwide leader in nonprofit journalism and reworking the way the business model works. He's their primary political correspondent. He's previously worked at the Houston Chronicle. He's covered the 2016 campaign trail. He's in my estimation one or two of the biggest Twitter accounts to follow if you're interested in, especially state of Texas politics. For me, it's really cool able to have you here because I've been following you for a long time. You recently moved to San Antonio so I took the opportunity to ask you to come on my show. Thank you. Patrick: Thanks for having me. I'm excited about this. Justin: You're recent to San Antonio as of Labor Day, I think you said. Patrick: Around Labor Day weekend, me and my girlfriend moved down to San Antonio. She got a new job here. We decided to pack up and come down here and we bought a home in Beacon Hill, and we're loving it so far. Justin: You're living like real San Antonian and so many people are like, "I live in San Antonio, I live in our north or here," but they are in San Antonio. It's just a different experience. All my shows I always get some information on people, the city of San Antonio feel for you. You're new here, so it'll be interesting to get some of your takes. This is your first time to live in San Antonio, right? Patrick: That is correct. Previously only had traveled to San Antonio for work basically. I think I've made a number of trips, but only even spent the night just once is usually an afternoon day trip [unintelligible 00:02:00]. Justin: Sure. You've spent so much time in other Texas cities. What stand out to you after being here for the last few months as what sets San Antonio apart in your estimation? Patrick: I think it's more laid back in a good way than other major Texas cities, especially compared to Austin. I think the two cities are hard to compare in some ways, but one comparison I will certainly make is that it's more laid back than Austin, and in a good way. A big city with a small city culture, I think in some ways. Again, I mean that in a positive way. Absolutely. I've loved the people so far. I've loved living in Beacon Hill. My girlfriend and I wanted to live somewhere really central in this city as we were talking about that also had its own identity, it wasn't just blended into downtown or Midtown or the urban core. We're getting that with Beacon Hill, and we like it a lot. Justin: I think it's one of the oldest neighborhoods in San Antonio. I'll speak out to turn, but I remember when I was doing some research, I wanted to move by building over there and move office over there. I was doing some research, and I was surprised at how historic that neighborhood is for the City of San, which is already a historic city. Have you found any hidden gems in San Antonio that you've just been shocked by or surprised by? The first time I went to the Japanese Tea Garden, have you been there? Patrick: I don't know. Justin: You'll go and there's a waterfall coming out of a limestone cliff and huge koi ponds and it's in the middle of the city. Anything like that, that you've been able to experience and just been surprised by? Patrick: We we've been to, I think at this point, all the major neighborhoods. In terms of, we like South Town, King William, we've obviously as I pointed out Beacon Hill, I think has a lot to offer. We have made it outside of the Outer Loop a little bit. We took our new Chihuahua dog on a hike at Government Canyon State Park a couple weekends ago. We enjoyed that a lot. Was surprised by how close that nature was to the city. I don't know if I'd call that a hidden gem because I think everyone probably knows about the Government Canyon State Park but it was very [crosstalk]. Justin: I think there's some dinosaur tracks out there, maybe. I've never seen those. Patrick: We didn't see them, but we read about them. Justin: Because you had a dog, you can only go to a certain park. Patrick: That's true, it's the front country trail. Justin: I got lost there with my dog in what had to be like June one time. I had to carry him over my shoulders, he puked. It was hairy getting lost out there when the heat was really hitting, but it is, it feels very desolate out there. I was going to ask you about pets, you've already answered that. Any odd hobbies? Patrick: Odd hobbies? No, I have a hobby, it's not odd. I like to run most evenings of the week, and this is also ties into what I like about San Antonio. We live relatively close to San Pedro Springs Park. One loop around the park is basically one mile. If you're like someone like me who likes to run round distances and challenge yourself based on a one-mile loop it's a good place to be. I like running down there. Justin: The Springs are beautiful. Patrick: We, unfortunately, didn't get to experience. By the time I started branching out after she moved in and looking around for places to go out to parks and stuff like that, it was getting a little cold and past the prime time for the spring. We're looking forward to that this [crosstalk]. Justin: I don't think anybody's been in the Springs in years, I think because of COVID it's been shut down. [crosstalk] Literally they used to have a fence around it. I thought there's a fence around it and there is nobody in it. It is beautiful, and the theater there is actually really- Patrick: Oh yes It's gorgeous. I haven't been in, but I run by it all the time. Justin: We need to support, San Antonio doesn't have the Zack. Austin has three professional theaters. That is our only professional theater and it struggles. San Antonio is a city that's growing, so do go see it. Have you been to Fiesta yet? Patrick: No. Justin: Are you going to stay in town for Fiesta? Patrick: Yes. Oh, definitely, planning on it. Haven't experienced it yet. Justin: Is your girlfriend from here? Patrick: She's not. She had lived in Austin for a number about maybe three or four years. Then before that she went to school in Virginia, lived in Virginia, but she's originally from Colorado. Justin: I'm jealous you're going to get to experience Fiesta for the first time. We're both looking forward to it. I think enough people don't realize how much fun it is. It's our Mardi Gras, and it is a huge party for multiple days. How many counties do you think you visited in Texas? I know a lot of political correspondence really get out and about. Patrick: I would say, so we got 254 counties in Texas. I'm confident that I have at least driven through- it's a bold claim to make. I want to make sure that I don't get out in front of my [inaudible 00:06:41] here. I've definitely driven through over half the counties in Texas. I wouldn't be shocked if I tied them all up, and I've driven through at least up to two thirds of them. Justin: I didn't know if you got stuck following Beto on his every county tour or something. Patrick: In his 2018 campaign, I got to travel to some remote places, and we drove for Christmas from San Antonio to Fort Collins, Colorado up through Amarillo. That was I knocked out like probably 14 to 15 new counties in Texas for myself doing that. Justin: Probably more. Patrick: That added some new names. Justin: Did you go up through Amarillo? Patrick: Yes. San Antonio, basically nothing between San Antonio and Amarillo, I guess you go through Big Spring, maybe. I don't know. Justin: Maybe Abilene, Big Spring [crosstalk]? Patrick: Your west of Abilene. Otherwise, there's not much between San Antonio and Amarillo. Justin: My dad was born up around Amarillo, but we don't go up there. I grew up in the Wichita Falls area, but I've seen quite a bit of [crosstalk]. Patrick: Definitely got some new counties to add to the list from that drive. Justin: I was doing some research. I saw you have a lot of TV appearances and you're the guy who comes on, talks about what's going on in Texas. Any particular interviewers that you thought were just really good and impressed by? Patrick: I always like doing podcast interviews, or like the longer form interviews, whether it's like sometimes the local TV anchors. They'll have you on for like a five minute hit and then they got their personal podcast and like, come over here and talk for half an hour. Those are always more fun sometimes stuff. Exactly like we're doing right now. I always enjoy that a little more. Justin: Most of the ones I saw you were like two minutes and 40 seconds. Patrick: Exactly. It's like you come on MSNBC or CNN for a little bit, and you just got two questions about, tell us how big of a deal this is in Texas right now. How's it playing out on the ground? I like the longer form stuff I'd say. Justin: Do you like doing the TV stuff, or the written more? Patrick: I like appearing for the Trib on TV gives a good opportunity to talk about, I think it's good to show that the Tribune has reporters who are working hard on these stories and that have national impact the national reach. I enjoy that. I think it's a great opportunity for the Trib's profile. I'm also doing more video work for the Trib. We have this new campaign video series that we just started recently. We did a soft launch first episode that was about the governor's race. We're working on a second episode about the Republican primary for AG. I've been trying to do a little more video work for the Trib because it does continue to intrigue me. Justin: I'm sure I butchered it, but for our audience, how would you describe the Texas Tribune because it is non-traditional media. Patrick: Absolutely. We're a nonprofit newsroom. I'd say our focus is statewide government and politics. If you want to know what's happening at the legislature, if you want to know what's happening in campaigns. If you want to know how our politicians and our policies are impacting the entire state and in some cases the entire country, we want to be the go-to source for that. Not just to explain those things and explain implications of those things, but to hold folks accountable, and really dig into what's behind some of the decisions that our leaders are making. Justin: Evan Smith was the editor, but he recently retired. Patrick: He recently announced that he'll be stepping down by the end of this calendar year so he's still with us. Justin: Yes, but he had come from Texas Monthly, he has a big pedigree. Patrick: Exactly, yes and he's [unintelligible 00:10:09] and he goes out saying Evan is a singular figure, not just in Texas media, but in the national media landscape, and is so central to the success of the Tribune. Justin: Did you see the Washington Post about him today? Patrick: I did yes, absolutely. [crosstalk] What the Trib has done over the years, in terms of trying to create a better environment for local news as a statewide organization, I think has been really important. Whether it's just like the fact that we let local newspapers republish our content, as long as they give us credit, they put the byline on it, but we republish it, in its full form. I think that's a really important thing the Trib has done over the years. Also and I know COVID has tamped this down, but our events business has increasingly held events outside of not just Austin, but outside of the big four cities or whatever the big Metro area is. I think that's obviously, really good for informing the public but also just good for our brand to be in places like the Rio Grande valley and Lubbock. Providing a forum for local legislators or local elected officials to face some questions, and not just from the moderators, but oftentimes from the public who come or something like that. Stuff like that makes me really proud to be [crosstalk]. Justin: Are those events just like Tribfest, we all have [unintelligible 00:11:28]. Patrick: Yes. If you think about the kind of events that you see at Tribfest, whether it's a panel of like three lawmakers, two Democrats, one Republican, two Republicans, one Democrat. Yes, we have events like that in other parts of the state. I'm not involved in our events business, but that's something that I always just, as a reporter working for the Tribune, and I was always have liked to see that. Because I knew when I was hired by the Trib several years ago, it had a robust events section. One of the things I saw just being a reporter for the Trib over the years was how that events section branched out of just holding the typical interview with an Austin-based politician in downtown Austin in the Tribauditorium or the local, another venue. I think that's important getting that [crosstalk]. Justin: What always surprised me about Tribfest was how successful it was in getting everybody to come. All the politicians wanted to be there so Texas Tribune, in a time when every media is somehow maligned as political or whatever. Dexter Tribune's been able to stay above it and when they have events, people want to be part of it regardless of the party they're in, which speaks a lot to the [crosstalk]. Patrick: Yes, we obviously, live in a very polarized political environment. We're not going to get every elected official to show up at our events. I think that the ones who do never, by and large, never walk away feeling like they weren't given a fair shot. Even the most Republican lawmakers or elected statewide officials who you think would be the most hostile toward the media. Those ones who choose to show up and participate, I've never heard them walk away and feel like they didn't have a fair opportunity or a fair interview. Justin: Well, it seems like there's a way to phrase questions that's fair when you can ask it the same way with a different inflection, and all of a sudden feels like an attack. I've seen a bunch of Evan Smith interviews, and he just has that really good way of asking questions, even when it is, "Hey, here's something that maybe makes you feel defensive, but I'm going to ask it in my way, and you're going to feel comfortable answering it." Patrick: Yes, absolutely. I think he has a great interviewing style. He knows how to really push people, and maybe in some cases being- he would say sometimes I'm a dick in an interview, but it's effective and people don't walk away from it. The interview subjects often don't get offended. They understand what's behind the questioning and the persistence and the questioning. Justin: You are a political correspondent. What is that? Patrick: Yes, so it is covering all things politics in Texas. Correspondent obviously, is I think in journalism, maybe a little dated bit of a term. You think of someone on the scene in all these different cities. Although I do like to embrace that a little bit, pre-COVID, I definitely, took a lot of interest in traveling the state, traveling the country, even for the presidential campaigns, and really getting outside of Austin and covering the stories where they are at. As COVID has gone on and become the new normal. I've gotten back out on the road and I've really enjoyed it. Well, maybe a bit of a dated term correspondent, I do embrace the part of it that makes people think about someone out and all these different things. Justin: You mentioned this before we got going, but sometimes you meet with sources and things like that. Part of it is you just being present, able to report on things that other people aren't present for. Part of it actually has to do with like creating and having your own sources of information that it gives you insight and information that other people don't have access to. How do you go about cultivating sources in, like you said, a highly charged political environment? Patrick: Yes. I think you just get to know people through multiple election cycles and multiple campaigns. You try to keep an awareness of oh like that person worked on that race last cycle. Now I can see they're working for this person this time around. Either I'll proactively reach out to them and say, "Hey, it's, Patrick Svitek. You maybe remember me from this race last cycle," or something like that. I think it's just a matter of having a good knowledge of what people are doing in their professional lives in the political and campaign realm. Staying in touch with them and always making clear to them that I'm always interested in sitting down having a beer, having a coffee, and talking off the record. Make it clear to people that like, I want to have a relationship that's not just based on you giving me some public on the record statement, or something like that. I'm sure if there's any political journalist listening to this, this is not a crazy innovation for me to be saying this. I think that's how political reporters tend to operate and tend to be successful in building relationships. Justin: I'm sure, how you present the information given and how you keep your word ends that relationship or builds it over the long term,...

26. jan. 2022 - 57 min

Frank Ramirez, Candidate for HD 118

Frank is fresh off a nail-biter loss in a special election for House District 118. He is running again and joins us to talk about the lessons learned and plans if he wins. He is born and bred in 118 and has a wealth of knowledge about our great city. Transcript: [music] Justin Hill: Hello and bienvenidos, San Antonio. Welcome to The Alamo Hour, discussing the people, places, and passion that make our city. My name is Justin Hill, a local attorney, a proud San Antonian, and keeper of chickens and bees. On The Alamo Hour, you'll get to hear from the people that make San Antonio great and unique and the best-kept secret in Texas. We're glad that you're here. All right. Welcome to The Alamo Hour. Today's guest is Frank Ramirez. Frank was recently running for election in HD 118, a special election to replace the retired or resigned Leo Pacheco. In the special, it was a super close election. He did not win. There's a chance. I think he probably already has an answer to it that he will be running in the future, but we're here really to talk to him about his time in San Antonio. His love for the city has worked in politics here. Get to know him a little bit better. Frank, thanks for being here. Frank Ramirez: Hey, thank you, Justin. Coming off of the trail has been a very sobering time. It's been about a month now since the election and I've taken time to myself to recollect myself rest and really get a better understanding of the race that we ran and how effective it was because for all intents and purposes, it was. Even though we fell short, we did a lot of really great work that brought a lot of people out that normally would not have come out. We're excited about you having me here today. Thank you so much. Justin: Rest and relaxation [laughs] is that you like the Japanese tea garden doing yoga, looking at the koi pond, or is that beers and tacos on the strip? Frank: Hey, that's me getting a mile in the morning now, but also being able to balance that with those beer and tacos. Justin: [laughs] All right. That's fair. I told Frank before we started that maybe the least amount of research today for a guest, but I'd done plenty of research when you're running for office and got to know you a little bit. We're just going to talk a little bit about San Antonio, talk a little bit about your time in politics, your hopes for the city, what you think the future San Antonio looks like because I think that's a real important discussion that's being had right now. We are on the edge of this Austin explosion and that's going to spill over so we're going to talk about that, but I always start with a top 10. It's probably might be 10, might be 20, might be 4. What are your favorite hidden gems in the city? You're a San Antonion and so you might have some places that I've never been to or never heard of so dig deep favorite hidden gems. Frank: I am a lifelong south sider. The majority of my experience in this city has been in the south side. I'm a product of the Harlandale Independent School District. That's Gillette, Kingsborough, McCollum high school go Cowboys, and go Cowboys in Dallas as well. We were a very tight-knit community, but at the same time we support businesses in the south side and we like to tout them. We like to tell people, "Hey, when you come to the south side, you got to go to these spots because they're the best." Justin: Sure. Frank: I'll give you my top five restaurants in places in the south side. If you're looking for some great Mexican food, you got-- Don't bet those Mexican restaurant. I have been in the neighborhood for over 50 years. Then you got the other one, which is one of my personal favorite south of 90 is Blue Moon Cafe off of Flores Street. That's on Mitchell and Flores, and they have the best chilaquiles tacos in the entire city, hands down. The other one taco-wise is going to be got to be Carnitas Lonja which has been featured on Forbes magazine and is a nationally acclaimed restaurant. Actually the chef, [unintelligible 00:03:41] he was actually nominated for the James Beard award. He was, I think, one of the top two finalists in the state of Texas for that award and it just goes to show how amazing their food is In terms of, and I'm going to stick to food because I eat a lot, that's culinary-- Whenever you're in San Antonio, what do you do? You got to go to the river walk, you go to the Alamo, and then you go to eat because we've got TexMex. Chef Chris, out at RockerDogz off of Roosevelt Avenue. Justin: Never heard of it. Frank: Never heard of it. I guarantee you this is the best hotdog you've had in your life. They have this one where it's a carne guisada chili with queso and salsa verde hotdog. That is solid brother. Then of course I'm going to stay away from food. This last one is the entirety of the mission trail. I'm a biker, I like to bike. One of the largest infrastructural improvements for multimodal transportation, you're talking about not just being restricted to a single person in a single-vehicle. You're talking about ways to get downtown from the south side that are unconventional to some. I'm talking about the entire mission reach from outside of 410 south, even into the county past Mitchell Lake, you can get downtown to this trail and about 45-minute bike ride you're downtown and you're in the center of the entire city. Those are some of the coolest spots and in the south side in terms of luxury, leisure, and transportation, but also for activity. If you want to get back from your bike ride, you ride back down, and then you go to Don Pedro's or to any of those other restaurants. Justin: I've only been to two of those you just listed, the restaurants. I've been to Don Pedro's and I've been to Carnitas Lonjas which I hear got built out a little bit. It used to just be a counter. Frank: It used to be the counter to go. They have a patio now and now they have fish lonja. It's like a fish counterpart and they do cocktails, shrimp cocktails. They do fish tacos, quesadillas, mariscos, and everything. It's awesome. It's awesome. Justin: I'll have to go check that out. I wonder if the James Beard people knew what the restaurant looked like in the inside when they nominated, but it was just fantastic food and I think that's an-- They did one thing really, really well and that's it. That's all you got to do. Are you a Bcycler? Frank: No. Justin: Have you ever rented one? Frank: No. Justin: My last guest, number one in the city, multiple years in a row in miles on a Bcycle. Apparently, they track it. Frank: Wow. Justin: Now I'm going to start asking everybody because he's the legend. Favorite Fiesta event? Frank: Favorite Fiesta event, NIOSA definitely. That's just hands down. You get a couple of friends and you just got to-- Justin: I don't think you're going to say that in 10 years. It already hurts to say it this year. I tell you that. What night of NIOSA though? Frank: I can't even confidently say this anymore, but college night was always the most fun. I'll even say this, not even at night anymore, just going during the daytime and leaving before it gets-- Justin: Tuesday at 5. I'll be there if I'm going. Frank: I'll be there at five o'clock hands down every single year now. I enjoy that atmosphere a little bit better. The other is Mission Fest. That's mission San Jose. Justin: Never been. Frank: Awesome. That's an awesome spot. Mission San Jose was actually my home church for a long time and it's a lot more centering because it's in the historic missions. They actually have mass inside of the church that people had mass in three, four, hundred years ago. Justin: I'm probably sound very non San Antonion by saying this, but is San Jose the big one with a wall around it? Frank: That's right. Justin: That has the big facade. You see, every time I go there, somebody's getting married there. Looks beautiful. That's right. Frank: They're all iconic in their own rights. Some of them were more built out than others, but [crosstalk] Justin: Some are grand and some aren't. Some are. Frank: As is a lot of things, you have your centerpiece and then you have the peripherals around it, but-- Justin: The Alamo is not grand compared to San Jose. Frank: No. The story's grand, but Mission San Jose is much more beautiful. You have a lot more vision around. Justin: Have you read the Alamo book, the Stanford one that's getting all the controversy. Frank: I haven't. The one that-- Justin: Real Alamo-- Frank: Okay. No, but I understand. It's an interesting topic to delve into. The history of the Alamo who is the villains who were the heroes, how was history written in that regard. Justin: Yes. I think there's a discussion of how slaves played a role at the Alamo that's never discussed. I tried to do a new Fiesta event every year, Mission fest will be a new one. Are there any Fiesta events you have not done that you want to do? Frank: I forget what it's called, but it's a taste of-- Justin: Well, there's Taste in New Orleans. Frank: Taste in New Orleans is the one that I was trying to get to. Justin: You said Taste of Northside or, is that really a fiesta though? It's so far? Frank: If there's anything culinary-related, I'm sticking to the south side in our cuisine because I went downtown too. Downtown, you start your learning. Justin: Well, [laughs] I don't really go to the south side much for food. You live in your bubbles it sounds like. I finally went to Brooks city, Base Leo was a guest and he gave me and Ryan Pape who is looking to build a facility down there a private tour. I was blown away, but driving down there, I remember thinking, this is far. It's a Trek to get down there. If you're not down there or need to go down there, you don't just venture. Frank: It's like, if I have Brooks in the south side, am I really going to take the drive to La Cantera, if we have all the same things, but we don't. We will, for now. Justin: I think so too. I think that's where that's all going. Frank: You just look at in the scope of real estate, what's built out, what is not. You look at shirts of low universal city, often 35, it's already all built out. There's very little room for there to be any type of lateral growth or horizontal growth. It all has to be vertical at this point. In the south side, you go outside of 410 South, little land. It's just nothing but land. That's where a lot of these developmental trends are going to start going towards east or west of 90, east 90, outside of 1604. It's all trending back down south because that's where the available real estate is at. Justin: One thing I found interesting was, I don't know if I was reading about it or I was at one of the county commissioners' meetings, there was a big discussion about how some of those developments were just so poorly planned. They were just throwing up these developments that had 400 homes and one point of ingress and egress and it was causing traffic and the roads are too small. If you never hear that conversation, you never really understand the responsibility for developers to responsibly develop, and do it right, and make sure you take all those things into consideration. The south side is a good example, I think of some people that have done it poorly. Frank: That's why it's important that I got into this arena, specifically because of that. Because we do see how bad development affects not only the people that are going to be moving there but the people that live there. There's a development that occurred a few years ago, a school that was built basically on the buffer between a commercial road or an industrial road and a single-family residential neighborhood that had been there historically. Now you have a feeder road, and you have people picking up their kids on this feeder road, which is only two lanes on one going each way at two, three o'clock in the afternoon every day. Justin: That's poor planning. Frank: Right. You have from point A and literally a mile and a half road to point B, that's how long the line is to pick up your kid. You take into consideration design standards and things that people don't necessarily have to do because our state laws don't necessarily require that. Traffic impact analysis. How many peak hour travels are going through this development? Justin: That's where our local leader should. Frank: The issue is that if it's already zoned, or if it's already prepared for that type of development, there's not a lot of hands that the city has in that rezoning or that development because outside of permitting, you can't do anything about something that's already given to you by right. That was a strong part of my campaign is, how can we responsibly grow the next trend of developments in the city of San Antonio? I worked in development for the past four years of my professional career. Doing that, we understand the ins and outs of, okay, if we're going to have a single-family development in an enclave neighborhood, we have to make it to where it is seamless with the existing infrastructure. On top of that, how are we being mindful of the infrastructure that's already around us in terms of other single-family residential? We don't want it to be so encumbering that if you're trying to get home, it now takes an additional 20 minutes because of this new-- Maybe not even 400 or 400 homes, but even 70 homes can make that impact because you consider that, all right, I have a nuclear family with a wife and two kids, and my kids are 20 years old each, they're both in college, they both drive a single car. Instead of just having two cars per house, you're talking about four cars per house now. Instead of 70 homes, you're looking at 280 cars, vehicles getting to that one neighborhood, and that's what creates [crosstalk] Justin: It doesn't take long for that to stunt the growth or development or new people purchasing into a neighborhood. Because when I was looking around, I remember I looked at a neighborhood and my realtor said, "You would not want to come here between 2:30 and 4:00 because it backs up all the way to 410 because of a school that was there." I just remember thinking, "Okay, I'm not interested in that." I moved on. Frank: Take into consideration Culebra outside of 1604. Historically, it didn't have anybody living there. Traffic was never an issue. All right. You have one lane going this way, one lane going that way. That's never an issue because nobody's going that way. You're always coming back in. You put a 200-unit development out there, single-family residential, all of a sudden, your traffic impact is exponentially increased and people were trying to get home, now it takes you an hour and a half. Because nobody ever had to go home that way. Now they are. Being mindful of that not just with single-family residential, not just with development like that, but the expansion of Brooks City Base, the expansion of those amenities in Texas A&M, San Antonio, Palo Alto. We're hoping to start breaking ground and really building up the new university health system in the south side, outside of 410 South near Zarzamora. What are we doing to preempt these things? What are the identified issues right now that if we were to put this development in today, would we be able to sustain it? Justin: I think you and I were talking about that Westover Hills development had a full hospital system before like the south side. There was literally nobody living out there, and they built this giant complex and still, we didn't have a big one in the south side, which I think now they are building that one right there off the 35. I think they've announced another big one that they're going to build down that way. You're born and raised in San Antonio, you're a roadrunner. Frank: Longhorn. Justin: You are a Longhorn. Okay. I had UT in my head. Is that the only time you've lived away was your time in Austin? Frank: Correct. Justin: Four years or did it take a little longer? Frank: I was there for up until from 2012 to 2016 but I stayed there as well for the 85th legislative session when I was a legislative director and chief of staff. I lived in Austin until 2017. Justin: For Tomas? Frank: That's right. Justin: All right. Uresti, Frank: Uresti, correct. Justin: Any odd hobbies? You said you've picked up boxing. Anything else? Frank: I enjoy boxing. I enjoy weightlifting, biking. I've been playing guitar for about 15 years now. I enjoy playing guitar, cclassical, acoustic, electric. Just throw it at me. Justin: Flamenco. Frank: Flamenco is a little harder. Justin: You said throw it at you. I'm throwing it all out there. Frank: My grandpa, he actually is a very good flamenco guitar player but they used to call him the Mexican Elvis when he was in the army. Justin: Cool. Frank: He did a lot of work like that. Other weird hobbies, outside of a 27-year-old guy in the south side running for office, that time is restricted whenever you're doing that. I have my luxuries. I like hanging out with my friends, my family. I have two nephews who I love to death, and whenever I have an opportunity to see them, it's always fun. I like watching football. I like going to football games. UTSA, they made us all proud as a city this past year. Justin: [unintelligible 00:16:33] [crosstalk] Frank: That's right. It's interesting to see that that happening. Lifelong Spurs fan. I go to every single game as often as I can. I'm a cute Cowboys fan. Justin: The guy you just met, Damon, he played football at Trinity. He is not all-American. I used to say it was all American. He's like, I was not an all-American. Now I'm described as not all-American running back there. He was all-conference...

21. dec. 2021 - 1 h 1 min

The Alamo Hour

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