Nirenberg and Brockhouse Face Off During AARP Town Hall

April 8, 2021 - San Antonio

By Ricardo Delgado, Staff Intern | San Antonio Sentinel

A mayoral town hall hosted by AARP of San Antonio showcased the upcoming election’s candidates answering questions over COVID-19, transportation, the winter freeze and the treatment of seniors over the last tumultuous year on April 6.   

Mayor Ron Nirenberg and former City Council member Greg Brockhouse, who faced off in a 2019 election and subsequent runoff decided by fewer than 2,700 votes, took to the virtual podium to address concerns from the senior-driven interest group. 

Elaine Ayala, a local columnist for the San Antonio Express-News, moderated the debate, questioning the candidates one at a time. Incumbent Mayor Ron Nirenberg started the event by answering questions over how to make San Antonio more “age-friendly”, the first of many topics touching on the disadvantages seniors face every day. Nirenberg highlighted plans to improve transportation access, housing and “walkability” of San Antonio, all of which he said will make San Antonio a better place for its elders.  

Brockhouse targeted his perceived stagnation in many areas of a “divided” San Antonio during his opening remarks, lamenting areas of the city “left behind for generations” which need to be treated equally. Because of these areas left behind, he said, jobs, opportunities, crimes and infrastructure trend negatively. 

Nirenberg also addressed the difficulties seniors faced when attempting to get vaccinated, despite them being a priority population; many do not have internet access or were not able to leave their homes, Nirenberg said, leading to San Antonio establishing a homebound vaccination program. 

Brockhouse complimented some of the work already done for the seniors of San Antonio, such as senior centers which grow life outside the home, but also said the city could not lag in any other aspects of senior care, like transportation to said senior centers. 

The conversation eventually shifted to affordable housing in the city and homelessness, some of the many problems the incumbent mayor said the pandemic exacerbated. Nirenberg focused on the emergency housing programs provided at the beginning of the pandemic and comprehensive solutions to addressing homelessness.

Brockhouse emphasized the importance of avoiding skyrocketing house prices, connecting the issue of housing to the limited income many seniors possess. He also discussed partnering with religious organizations to combat homelessness and distinguished homelessness as separate from panhandling, explicitly stating the former is not a crime while not making a clear statement on the latter, simply saying “we have to protect neighborhoods,” seemingly in reference to it.  

Both candidates expressed a desire to make the city less car-centric, Brockhouse even recalling his opposition to the construction of a bike path before he saw the benefits it brought to the area. 

“We have a great bicycle master plan, and we have to build it,” Nirenberg said. “It's not enough to simply paint a white stripe down a road and say that you built the bike lane. So what I've advocated for is to put our money where our mouth is.” 

“People are a car-centric community; we know [that’s] San Antonio, but our seniors aren't car-centric,” Brockhouse said. “They're traveling on those areas that we need to present and make sure they have safe passage, and I think we just make the investment. It needs to be a big push from City Hall.”

On economic recovery, both candidates spoke on the strain COVID-19 put on the city, the incumbent more cautious yet more optimistic than his opponent. Nirenberg mentioned Project Quest, a program training adults and seniors for higher-paying jobs in the modern economy. 

“First, we have to recognize what every economist under the sun is telling us, which is that the economy has changed, and some of the jobs that have been lost are not going to come back soon, if at all, up to a quarter or a third of them,” Nirenberg said. 

Brockhouse stated San Antonio already trended downward in jobs before COVID-19, meaning recovering from the economic strain will be even more difficult.

“We have to think about what the new world is going to look like,” Brockhouse said. “My concerns are seniors don't have internet broadband [access]; 30+% of our city doesn't. The technology isn't there, so we have to start at the basic building blocks for our seniors.”

Questioned over ERCOT, Nirenberg says most of the power failings experienced during the winter storm were outside the purview of the city government but hopes the state hears San Antonio’s arguments for grid reform. The mayor also specified the need for a plan to communicate with seniors in housing should more “once-in-a-century” natural disasters occur more frequently because of global warming. 

Brockhouse avoided criticizing ERCOT or the state government but did criticize a lethargic City Hall response in the height of the storm, especially the failure to assist seniors stuck in San Antonio Housing Authority - managed residences with no water or electricity for days. 

“We didn't know we didn't notify our seniors, our residents, all across the city that their water and electricity was about to be turned off, yet we can text them to tell them to stay away from their grandparents to don't congregate during Christmas,” Brockhouse said. “The San Antonio Housing Authority failed miserably. They failed because they were not prepared. The city doesn't own the collapse of the electrical grid. What we own is the ability to be prepared, to know in advance that we have to protect seniors and children; those are our two most vulnerable communities.”

The candidates approached the issues of masks and vaccinations differently, with the incumbent presenting mass vaccination and the science behind it as the only safe way to achieve herd immunity, while Brockhouse directly spoke out against mandating either masks or vaccinations for the general population but did advocate for the usage of both, as well as “[opening] up San Antonio 100%.”  

Both candidates opposed the spirit of Texas Senate Bill 7, which restricts early voting hours and prohibits sending unsolicited vote-by-mail applications, among other restrictions. Nirenberg condemned the bill and those behind it outright, hoping businesses will take a stand in Texas as they did in Georgia, where a similar bill entered into effect.  

“I hope it is not is not successful, because it's going to have far-reaching impacts not just on the vote, but also on the economy of San Antonio, or the economy of Texas, as we've seen it play out in Georgia, as well,” Nirenberg said. 

Brockhouse did not directly condemn the bill, instead focusing on increasing voter turnout and decreasing voter “apathy”.

“I like more people voting,” Brockhouse said. “More people engaged? I mean I don't know how we can be opposed to that. I jump all over anybody tries to block the route of people to get out and say 'I want to vote, and I want to say in the future of our city, the future of our state or our country.'”

Ricardo Delgado transferred to Texas State University at San Marcos to study journalism and minor in political science. He expects to graduate in the spring of 2021. Email him at reporter@sasentinel.com