District 1 Counciln Member Sukh Kaur, right, holds a press conference following the City Council’s 8-1 vote to censure Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones for “unacceptable conduct” toward Kaur earlier this year. City Council members should be scrutinized just as much as the mayor, a reader says.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
Candles are lit during a vigil for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, after a federal immigration agent shot and killed him this month. The shooting has drawn national attention, and a reader says it’s paramount to learn the truth about what happened.
Mark Felix/Associated Press
Critique council, too
It seems that many individuals and organizations focus on selectively criticizing everything Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones does or says.
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For example, why did a University of Texas at San Antonio poll focus on Jones? Why not evaluate the performance of City Council members?
They, along with the mayor, decide which policies are approved or rejected.
There are 10 council members advocating for their specific areas of the city, while the mayor has a broader responsibility for the entire city.
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Tighten city’s belt
Re: “Mayor targets garden,” Front Page, July 7:
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones deserves credit for saying the hard part out loud.
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If we’re cutting senior nutrition, discussing tax hikes and facing 33% higher water bills, we shouldn’t spend $1 million making San Antonio Botanical Garden tickets cheaper.
With the garden having a budget exceeding $10 million and enough money to hire a firm to fight a reduced subsidy, that should be an easy call.
The mayor and council should be consistent. There’s no shortage of fat to trim.
From $96 million promoting the Ready to Work program to $170,000 painting perfectly good sidewalks while more than one-third of the city lacks sidewalks altogether, City Hall has plenty of opportunities to cut spending before asking taxpayers to sacrifice.
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Families across San Antonio are tightening their belts; city government should finally do the same and focus on reliable, efficient core services.
Justin P. Nichols, State Republican Executive Committee
Law, lives both important
I was saddened to learn that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
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This tragedy raises difficult questions. Why did this man lose his life? Who bears responsibility?
We should allow the investigation to determine exactly what happened.
There are two realities that can exist at the same time.
On one hand, Salgado appears to have been an immigrant without legal status who worked, raised a family and, by many accounts, was a decent person. At the same time, he reportedly lived in the United States for many years without obtaining legal status.
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On the other hand, ICE has a legal duty to locate, detain and remove individuals who are in the country unlawfully. Whether people agree with those laws or not, the agency’s mission is to enforce them.
A death is always tragic, and his family deserves compassion.
Rather than rushing to assign blame before all the facts are known, we should seek the truth, hold anyone who acted unlawfully accountable, and remember that both enforcing the law and protecting human life are important values.
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