SAN ANTONIO – As early voting kicked off Tuesday for the city’s runoff elections, there are a few big races KSAT is keying in on.
District 1 is a runoff between incumbent Sukh Kaur, who is running for her second term. In the general election, Kaur secured 49 percent of the vote, but it was not enough to win the race outright.
Kaur’s runoff opponent, Patty Gibbons, garnered 18 percent of the vote. Gibbons worked for nonprofits and commissions within the district.
KSAT spoke with prospective voters in District 1 neighborhoods to see what is on people’s minds.
“It’s a very beautiful neighborhood,” Alfonso Alcocer, who has lived in the district for 45 years, said. “And the people around here, it is like family.”
Alcocer’s neighbor, Jorge Mata, echoed his sentiment.
“Everyone takes care of each other,” Mata said. “The neighbors actually know each other.”
“It’s changing, I think, for the better,” James Lopez, who has lived in District 1 for 30 years, said. “Younger couples, and they’re doing some work on the streets.”
While some work is being done, everyone told KSAT the work is slow, and the streets are still a major problem.
“It’s a danger just to drive through them, because you don’t know if your suspension is going to get messed up,” Mata said.
In the neighborhood off Magnolia Street, the construction is just as noticeable as the potholes themselves.
“In the long term, yes (construction is a good thing), but I feel like, while it’s going on, there’s no plan to be able to help either the residents or the businesses to help them survive,” Mata said. “I feel like for half of the time that I lived here all the spots that you would normally go to, there’s so much construction you don’t even bother going.”
The other issue mentioned several times is sidewalks, especially in some older communities.
“They’re all bumpy, and I don’t think they’ve been worked on since they’ve (been) placed, like, a hundred years ago,” Mata said.
The other issue mentioned wasn’t about the streets, but the animals scurrying across them.
“We have a cat problem in this neighborhood, and that’s what needs to be taken care of,” Alcocer said. “Today, I woke up at six in the morning to go take some cats to be fixed.”
Some residents said they already know who they’re voting for, while others have yet to decide.
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