COPS/Metro is proud to claim a victory for our community by ensuring community benefits are now part of the partially tax-funded Downtown Missions Stadium project, thus creating a fairer deal for San Antonio residents.

“When we look at this experience, we are keenly aware that doors were opened, conference rooms were made available and seats were placed at the table for billionaires, millionaires and developers,” said leader Father Jimmy Drennan, referring to Missions investors, such as Weston Urban co-founder Graham Weston, a one-time billionaire.

“We expect to be included in the upcoming discussions for the Spurs arena, and we will have the first seats at the table,” Drennan added.

COPS/Metro has been in negotiations with elected officials, city council members, city staff, Weston Urban, SAISD officials, institutional leaders, community leaders, and local residents.  Read our complete statement, including details of specific benefits leveraged, at bottom.

Downtown SA Missions Stadium Deal Gets City Council Approval, KSAT [pdf]

San Antonio City Council Approves Ballpark Framework Despite Outcry From Soon to be Displaced Tenants, Texas Public Radio [pdf]

Done Deal, City Council OKs Public Financing for Missions Ballpark, Despite Backlash of Planned Apartment Closure, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]

San Antonio Approves Baseball Stadium Plan and $500,000 Relocation Package, San Antonio Report [pdf]

Op-Ed: Who Pays for the Missions Stadium, and Who Benefits?, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]

More than a year after closed-door talks began around a proposed stadium that would displace thousands of low-income residents, the City of San Antonio held its first public hearing.  COPS/Metro clergy and leaders decried the secrecy of negotiations and displacement of low-income families, while questioning whether the plan would actually come at no cost to taxpayers. 

Leaders presented Council a list of demands: community benefits that would ease the transition for thousands of Soap Factory Apartment residents, guarantee a place to return upon completion of the development, include provisions for affordable housing as part of the redevelopment and ensure living wages for workers involved in the project.  Councilmember Pelaez responded from the dais, calling the list of demands "not unreasonable requests" and urging their consideration by Council.   

According to the San Antonio Express-News, "city officials pushed the vote back a week [to next Thursday] because of sharp questions about the deal from the public and some council members."

[Photo Credit: Jessica Phelps, San Antonio Express-News]

Council Vote on Ballpark Deal Pushed to Sept. 12 after Backlash, San Antonio Express-News

'Kicking the Community Out': Proposal for Missions Ballpark Development Draws Criticism, Concern, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]

City Council Makes Added Demands to Downtown Ballpark Deal That Will Displace Renters, San Antonio Report [pdf]  

COPS/Metro Testimony Starts at 48:59, City of San Antonio Special Meeting

It would be impossible to list every street, park, school, or housing development impacted by COPS/Metro's hundreds of community leaders in the last 50 years. This is a list of their biggest accomplishments.

Neighborhood Improvements

COPS/Metro leaders worked with San Antonio Development Agency to build Vista Verde, a first-of-its kind low-income single-family housing development with access to job training and childcare.

Directed over $25 million in federal Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and $2 Billion in infrastructure bonds to parks, street, drainage and housing construction

Got Out the Vote for large library bonds, resulting in eleven libraries built on the West and South Sides.

Created or rehabilitated over twenty parks on the South, West, and East Sides. Gathered signatures and lobbied for funding to build the San Antonio Natatorium, an olympic-size swimming pool on the West Side.

Organized to bring business development to the South and West Side, including Las Palmas shopping center and the first bank branch on the West Side: Broadway Bank.

Housing

Worked with the city to establish the San Antonio Housing Trust and down payment assistance program.

Leveraged bonds, CDBG funds, and private investments to build over 2,000 units of affordable housing.

Created a home rehabilitation program to repair homes of vulnerable residents. Current budget 14.5 Million.

Leveraged federal funds for Casa Verde weatherization of low-income homes to reduce energy costs with free improvements, like insulation, doors, windows, and duct sealing. Current budget: $3 Million.

Advocated for a $1 Million repair and maintenance fund for public housing.

Education

Leveraged over $2 billion in infrastructure and education bonds

Organized in the 1980s to ensure Alamo Colleges built Palo Alto College on the South Side, and got out the vote for the bond to fund construction.

Worked with governor Mark White and legislature to change the statewide funding formula to allocate a greater ratio to property-poor school districts.

Brought together businesses, communities, school districts, and universities to create San Antonio Education Partnership with a scholarship fund for public high school students. SAEP students have earned 25,000 degrees since the program started in 1989.

In the 1990s, secured over $15.6 million in city funding for After School Challenge Program, presently available in eight school districts at 132 schools serving 11,000 children.

Brought parents and teachers together through the Alliance Schools Initiative to improve neighborhood safety and classroom learning.

In the 2000s, changed state law to enable municipal sales taxes to be spent on human development, creating funding opportunity for Pre-K for SA.

In 2021, defeated Chapter 313, a statewide tax abatement program, preserving $10 Billion in public school funding statewide.

 Job Training, Living Wages

Created Project Quest, a nationally recognized program that has placed over 15,000 unemployed and underemployed high school graduates in long-term job training for high-skill, high-wage jobs. Participants increased their average earnings from $11,000 to over $45,000 / year, making Quest one of the most successful programs in the nation.

In 2021, as many were losing jobs in the pandemic, COPS/Metro brought the city and its largest employers together to create SA Ready to Work . COPS/Metro campaigned and won 77% of the vote to approve $200 million in funding. No other city in the U.S. has taken on a workforce project of this magnitude.

Helped write city guidelines requiring companies who receive tax breaks to pay a living wage with benefits.

Organized to raise the wages of the lowest paid workers at City of San Antonio, Bexar County, School District and Alamo Community Colleges to $15 per hour

[Photo Credit: Scott Ball, San Antonio Report]

Public Safety and Policing

Partnered with Community Churches for Social Action (CCSA) and the Baptist Ministers' Union (BMU) to support SAPD's policies banning no-knock warrants and choke holds.

Worked with SAPD to close nuisance bars and drug houses in residential neighborhoods.

Lobbied for bond funds to construct police and fire substations in under-served areas.

Worked with SAPD to improve police community relations and community policing in neighborhoods.

Lobbied for funds for a city program to distribute free gun lockboxes to prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands.

Healthcare

In 1994, preserved the West Side's only major medical facility, bringing the Texas Diabetes Institute to a neighborhood with one of the highest rates of diabetes in the nation.

In 2009, lobbied Governor Rick Perry and the legislature to expand health insurance for children (CHIP).

In 2012, held workshops on the Affordable Care Act Healthcare Marketplace to help people access insurance through the new system.

Environmental Justice

In the 1970s, fought a gasoline storage facility on the East Side. Won safety measures for the neighborhood, passed a new ordinance that gave city council and the public a means to stop expansion of similar facilities. Won pollution controls in power plants and cement plants on the South Side, and prevented Kelly AFB from storing hazardous waste near a neighborhood park.

Forced a referendum in 1976 to prevent a shopping mall over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone.

Organized another referendum in 2001, collecting 60,000 signatures to force the PGA and local developers to negotiate for living wages and  environmental protections and monitoring for a golf resort over the aquifer.

Governance + Fiscal Accountability

Before 1978, city council was elected at large. The representation was majority white (with one Latino and one Black councilperson), and mostly connected to moneyed interests. When COPS joined the effort to change the city charter to create 10 single member council districts, they turned out the votes from the West and South side needed to win the fight. In the following election, for the first time, five Latinos and one Black candidate made a non-White majority on city council.

Successfully fought to lower utility rates after finding out that money was being used to benefit high-end developments rather than neighborhoods.

Led a statewide effort with sister organizations to lower property taxes for seniors.

In the 2000s, COPS/Metro argued that if businesses wanted tax breaks in San Antonio, they ought to pay more than poverty wages. COPS/Metro helped the city council write guidelines stipulating that any company wanting a tax abatement in San Antonio would have to pay a living wage to its San Antonio employees.

On May 2nd, COPS/Metro held an accountability session with candidates form district 3 and 5 along with 120 attendees. During the session, COPS/Metro sought commitments from the candidates to meet with leaders two weeks following the election to address issues surrounding quality of life for the residents of District 3. Specifically, leaders are seeking resolutions to drug houses, speed bumps to deter street racing, abandoned houses, and the failure of contractors to notify residents in advance of work.

For District 5, COPS/Metro sought commitment to include the Cassiano apartments in the first phase of the housing bond passed last year.

All candidates were asked to support a gun box initiative that would educate the public about locking up guns and not leaving them in unattended vehicles.

[Excerpt]

City council unanimously approved an ordinance Thursday requiring landlords and property managers to provide a document called a “notice of tenant’s rights” to tenants they want to evict, a measure they hope will curb evictions locally during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

The notice informs renters of their rights within the eviction process, provides them a list of resources, including San Antonio’s COVID-19 Emergency Housing Assistance Program, and urges renters and landlords to resolve the dispute through a payment plan before both sides have to appear in court. Landlords who do not comply face a fine up to $500, and can be given multiple citations....

The ordinance has been crafted by housing advocates, including COPS/Metro, and landlord groups, including the San Antonio Apartment Association.

San Antonio Landlords Now Obligated to Inform Tenants of Rights, San Antonio Current [pdf]

[Excerpt]

While it likely won’t address every need that arises from the economic downturn, [a new City program that provides $25 million in financial relief for San Antonio residents] has been touted as an example of how local government can partly fill a gap for families who don’t qualify for federal aid.

“No strings attached, no citizenship necessary, no documents, no paper necessary. Just residents in San Antonio and economic need,”

said Father Bill Kraus of Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Church.

Kraus worked alongside other COPS/Metro leaders to lobby City Council to increase the fund from $15.8 million to $25 million before it gained final approval. And the organization’s leaders are still working throughout the city to identify potential solutions for immigrant families.

Angelica Reyes, a COPS/Metro leader, parent in Harlandale Independent School District, and immigrant, discovered her own challenges as her school-age children switched to at-home learning. Reyes learned that she didn’t have the basic computer skills needed to help her kids adjust to class on a computer. Reyes and other parents and decided to approach the district for help.

[Photo Credit: Scott Ball, Rivard Report]

With No Federal Aid, Immigrant Families, Students Lean on Local Support, Rivard Report [pdf]f]

Commentary: A GI Bill for San Antonio, San Antonio Express-News ]

$25 Million Housing Assistance Fund Offers Relief to San Antonians Affected by COVID-19, Texas Public Radio [pd

No Evictions for Now in Bexar County, but Renters' Struggles Likely to Persist, Rivard Report [

[Excerpts below]

With a 10-1 vote, City Council increased its housing assistance program Thursday by nearly $25 million to help as many as 20,000 families pay rent, utilities, and internet bills and provide cash to purchase groceries, gas, and medicine as they cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

City staff originally proposed a $15.8 million COVID-19 Emergency Housing Program but, at the direction of Councilman Roberto Treviño (D1) and community advocates, the City was able to identify an additional $9.2 million from various city-related accounts. 

....

Linda Davila, housing co-chair for COPS/Metro Alliance, said the program represents a major step toward protecting vulnerable families. However, her the community organizing group's data suggests that 30,000 local residents now teeter on the brink of financial disaster. That puts the total need closer to $70 million.

"We're going to ask the county to match that [$25 million] if they can," said Davila, who represents St. Timothy Catholic Church. "Then we'll have to go after private dollars to fill in the gaps."

COPS/Metro began pushing city leaders two weeks ago to expand the emergency funding. Because local dollars added to the pot come with fewer restrictions, they'll be available to a larger number of local residents, including those without documents.

"We weren't going to let it go," Davila said. "We met with one councilperson after the other. We met with the city manager, the assistant city managers."

San Antonio, Bexar County Boost Housing Assistance 30 Fold, Rivard Report [pdf]] 

San Antonio Council Votes for $25 Million Fund to Help Residents with Rent, Food and Medicine, San Antonio Current [pdf]f]

Commentary: It's Time for San Antonio's New Deal, Rivard Report [pdf]]

City Council Vote on Possibly Adding Millions to Housing Assistance Fund, FOX San Antonio [pdf]

[Excerpts]

COPS/Metro representatives will be making the rounds with City Council staffers this week, pushing for a rent-control measure to reduce the stress weighing down working families during the COVID-19 outbreak.

With stay-at-home policies shutting down much of our business activity, the biggest victims have been hourly workers, many of whom have been employed in sectors (namely the service industry) where working from home is not an option, and where the money to meet payroll has dried up.

The problem is most acute for undocumented immigrants, whose jobs have been among the first to go, and who don’t have access to the kind of safety-net programs that are temporarily keeping others afloat.

....

[Specifically,] COPS/Metro is proposing an ordinance that would prohibit residential property owners from charging late fees for nonpayment of rent for the duration of the emergency disaster period declared by Gov. Greg Abbott. (The alliance’s draft ordinance would make this policy retroactive to March 13, the date that Abbott issued his initial disaster declaration.) 

[Photo by Bob Owen, San Antonio Express-News]

Garcia: COPS/Metro Proposes Sweeping Late-Fees Protection for Renters, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]

As part of an ongoing campaign to increase funding for owner-occupied housing rehab and affordable housing, COPS/Metro has gotten involved in the City of San Antonio's Affordable Housing Taskforce.

[Excerpt below]

Andy Sarabia, a founding member of COPS/Metro Alliance, encouraged attendees Saturday to rally support for recommendations by sharing their sentiments with their local elected leaders and City Manager Sheryl Sculley.

“I urge you to contact your Council person to get behind this,” he said. “We’ve got the mayor, who seems to be behind this, but do not forget the city manager. The city manager has a big say in all this. Together, we can put this over the top.”

[In photo, Sr. Gabriela Lohan speaks with Mayor.  Photo Credit: Edmond Ortiz, Rivard Report]

Mayor’s Housing Policy Task Force Reveals Recommendations, Rivard Report

Less than one year after more than 750 COPS / Metro leaders secured candidate pledges for increased municipal investments in home rehabilitation, leaders are now training hundreds of residents about the new program and how to apply.  $9 Million has been set aside for qualifying residents — $6.5 Million from federal funds and the rest through the City of San Antonio.

This effort is a key part of the “Decade of Neighborhoods” campaign launched by COPS/Metro last year.

512 people were trained in just one week.

[Photo screenshot from FOX News coverage.]

Application for San Antonio Home Rehab, FOX News [pdf]