I’ll confess that I felt a spark of hope this past election season. I had a hope that City Hall would feel different this time.  That the newly implemented four-year terms and the reconfigured council members would herald a fresh start for San Antonio.  Instead, just two months in, San Antonio residents are watching a rocky start marked by public sparring, surprise maneuvers, and multiple missed chances for collaboration.  Both the Mayor and Council share responsibility for this dysfunction: one side leaning on press conferences and unilateral moves, the other responding with public rebukes and procedural gamesmanship.  What’s getting lost in the noise is the city’s actual business.  And if we don’t reset soon, the next four years risk being defined more by feuds than by solutions.  

Monday afternoon, Mayor Jones stepped onto City Hall’s stairs flanked by two council allies to press, again, for a delay on Project Marvel.  Another solo announcement in a seemingly endless series of solo moves. The message behind the microphones was familiar: the Mayor’s timeline, the Mayor’s terms, and open appeals to the public that sidestep dialogue with her colleagues on the council. Then, another trip to the steps of City Hall on Wednesday morning to interrupt a rally in support of Project Marvel and an impromptu “debate” with Spurs Jesus.  From my perspective, it is moments like these that don’t build collaboration or leadership, they push both colleagues and our city closer to a breaking point.  And again, we’re barely two months into a four-year term.

To be fair, the Council’s behavior shouldn’t get a pass, as they have been off to a rocky start as well.  Some members have defaulted to public rebukes and procedural slowdowns, while others choose to say nothing at all, which somehow only deepens the tension in the chamber.  When every mayoral move is framed as an overreach, it only deepens the lines in the sand and makes compromise less likely. Unity can be a valuable asset, but not if it’s used mainly to block progress or score hollow political points.  I believe residents want to see steady, transparent decision-making – not a running feud.  So, the council should match its calls for transparency with its own.  Publish your district priorities, propose concrete amendments instead of ultimatums, and keep negotiations at the table, not on social media.

To be clear, I’m not a political insider, but I am someone who does what I can to be informed and wants the best for our city.  I respect the intent to tighten the process and demand rigor. But the tactics of top-down directives, surprise memos, and social media/press conference governance are quickly burning through any sense of trust or unity.  Never more so apparent than during Thursday’s Council meeting, where a packed house watched the Mayor’s request for a strategic pause get shot down by a vote of 7-4, and then a vote to move forward on the Spurs Arena MOU was passed by the same voting margin.          

An Emerging Pattern of Chaos

In short, we just watched our new mayor push changes to the Council Consideration Request (CCR) process, then walk them back after a united front from the majority of the city council.  Days later, she handed key committee chairs to junior members while senior critics who led that pushback were passed over. Whether you see that as reform or reprisal, the effect is the same: Council defends, the Mayor continues to fire away, and online trolls rejoice at the latest chaos.  And this week’s stair-step optics fit the pattern: announce first, negotiate later…all on her terms.  Unilateral process changes and public pressure campaigns don’t build the six votes needed to govern, and the Council’s instinct to circle the wagons and retaliate only deepens the stalemate.  Throw in a sprinkling of fighting over microphones at townhalls along with terribly edited social media interviews that spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt among the community about any work that didn’t involve you, and we’re just a cage match away from calling this Wrestlemania.  Our community deserves better than these theatrics and divisiveness.  We need our leaders to get off the steps, get into the same room to talk to (not at) each other, and get to the work of our city. 

The blunt truth is that we’re down to three paths. The first is that the mayor convenes a meeting to establish genuine collaboration and sets shared ground rules. The second is that a council majority steps up with a respected civic partner to do the same if the Mayor is unwilling.  And the third path is that we spend four years in performative skirmishes and squander a golden opportunity to lift San Antonio’s future and begin addressing some of the systemic issues holding our city back.  I don’t care about who leads; I care about the very real costs of these games and their impact on our collective future. 

Pressing the Reset Button

With those 3 pathways in mind, I want to see this story move from Mayor vs. Council to San Antonio vs. challenges.  And a mentor’s words have been ringing in my ears since this all started: “If you know better, then go be better and prove it.”  So, in that spirit, I propose a simple 3-step plan to reset the equation: 

1. Cease-Fire & Commitments (60 days).
   No surprise rule changes. No public potshots or call-outs. Reclaim the decorum of your offices.  Weekly leadership check-ins with all officials, not their staff. Pair council leadership with a respected civic convener to keep it honest and on schedule.
   
2. Align the Playbook.
   The mayor and every district bring a short list of top needs (citywide and district). Map the overlap in the room and convert it into 4 – 6 agreed-upon priorities with named owners and dates. Apply the same method to Marvel: agree on evaluation criteria and a decision timeline, then stick to it.  Become a team with a mission of getting shit done.
   
3. Public Progress Tracker.
   Stand up a simple webpage that lists those priorities, who’s accountable, milestones, and monthly status. If something stalls, say why and what happens next. Residents shouldn’t have to sift through agendas, social media misinformation, or news articles to know if City Hall is working.  Prove your voters right with progress and transparency. 
   

What “Progress” Should Look Like by November

It starts with the Mayor and her goal of efficiency, but with a change in approach.  Co-design any CCR, process adjustments, or proposed ordinances with Council before rollout, and use the steps of City Hall to champion a shared agenda instead of sidelining partners.  Council, for its part, shifts from reaction to authorship, bringing aligned opportunities and not just objections to the table.  And they should lead the convening with a respected neutral partner, sharing credit for the early wins to rebuild public confidence in City Hall.  If both sides do this now, the public should see calmer meetings with zero surprise rule changes, a published list of four to six citywide priorities (with first milestones already met), and a widely-shared and understood Project Marvel evaluation rubric and timetable that keep us on track for an informed vote in November, not another round of procedural cross-fire.

San Antonio has big problems to solve and big opportunities to seize. Let’s trade podium moments for a simple pact: collaborate in our collective best interest, report results in public, and keep the focus on outcomes that matter.  Two months in, we don’t need winners and losers; we need leaders with a plan.