Village North II Neighborhood Association: District 10 Update April 13, 2018

District 10 Newsflash

Brought to you by Clayton Perry, District 10

April 13, 2018

Howdy Neighbors,

VIVA! The first annual District 10 Fiesta was one for the books. We were so thrilled to bring the spirit of Fiesta to the Northeast side. I'm hoping that we can bring more events like this to District 10 on an even larger scale. In fact, we're already planning for next year.

Thank you to all of our neighbors who were able to make it out to our event. I hope that everyone enjoyed the entertainment from our friends at the International Academy of Music and the Arts and the food from Caliente Grill Food Truck. Representatives from CPS Energy, SAWS, SAFD, SAPD North SAFFE, Metro Health, Parks, TCI, Solid Waste, VIA, and SASpeakUp joined us, making our event even better. Thanks to you, SASpeakUp gathered surveys from over 100 neighbors regarding budget priorities. Special thanks are in order to CPS Energy for providing the drinks and Ms. Jo Alexander for bringing her famous brownies. Photos from District 10's Fiesta can be found below.

Early Voting for the Runoff Election begins on Monday, May 14th and ends on Friday, May 18th. The Runoff Election will take place on May 22nd. As a reminder, you can vote in this election even if you did not participate in the Primary Election. Check your county elections website for voting information and locations.

There will be an opportunity to hear from the Primary Election runoff candidates during the Northeast Neighborhood Alliance candidates' forum on April 16th at the Tool Yard.

The District 10 Field Office is still distributing free mosquito dunks. These will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

As always, thank you for being active community members and leaders here in District 10, and do not hesitate to contact our office if we can be of any assistance to you.

- Clayton

Upcoming Community Meetings

Northeast Neighborhood Alliance Meeting - Candidates' Forum

April 16, 2018 - 10303 Tool Yard

Share your photos to social media using #District10Perry,

or share via email at District10@SanAntonio.gov

Open Surveys

District 10 Surveys

Here in District 10, we're already looking "down the road" for repairs and upgrades. We've been hard at work reviewing and tweaking the 2018 street repair schedule, but we are always on the lookout for the big projects that can truly transform District 10. We've started a running list of future bond projects for consideration, but we need your help in guiding us to what District 10 needs most. Please help us determine what your priorities are for the future 2022- 2027 Bond by completing this survey. It's not too early for us to start this process at our level.

We'd like to gauge our neighbors on their desire for a homestead tax exemption, for them to assign a monetary value to what they consider relief, and what services they are OK with being reduced in the City Budget in order to receive a homestead exemption. If a resident is not willing to cut services in order to receive a tax break, that's valuable information. If a resident considers an extra $100 in tax reduction a real relief, that's also valuable information. The results of this survey will help guide our office as we push forward with tax relief options for our residents. Please participate in our survey, here.

City Council met during B-Session on April 11^th to review the proposed short term rental ordinance for operators in San Antonio. The ordinance received a variety of feedback from City Council and will move back to Governance Committee for additional comments and review. This survey is to gauge District 10 residents' thoughts on the proposed regulations for Short Term Rentals operating in San Antonio. Please participate in our survey, here.

Citywide Surveys

Your city. Your voice. Complete SASpeakUp's 2019 budget survey today and speak up for your community! With your input, the @City of San Antonio - Municipal Government can build a budget that funds the priorities, resources and improvements you care about! To participate in this survey, click here.

Meet Our Staff

My name is Cynthia Garcia, and I have recently joined Councilman Clayton Perry's staff as his Senior Executive Secretary.

I was born in Beeville, Texas and raised in Kenner and Metarie, Louisiana before moving to Houston at the age of seven - GO 'STROS!

I am a proud San Antonio transplant - I just moved here in February of this year. I am so excited to be here in San Antonio. Not only do I get to live closer to my daughter Riley, but I also get to experience the tradition and welcoming culture of San Antonio.

Before working for Councilman Perry, I spent 10 years with UTHealth at the McGovern Medical School at Houston. In my free time, I enjoy traveling, working out, and volunteering. I volunteered my time for 10 years with Star of Hope Homeless Shelter in Houston.

I am delighted to be a part of San Antonio and to work with our District 10 neighbors to enhance this already vibrant city!

To contact Cynthia Garcia, call (210) 207-7276

or email Cynthia.Garcia@SanAntonio.gov.

Community Spotlight

Earlier this month, we had the opportunity to tour the McNay with museum director, Rich Aste. The current exhibitions: 30 Americans, Mi McNay es su McNay, Something to Say (pictured above) encourage the audience to engage and interact with the artwork - which is a ton of fun. Thank you to Rich and his staff for coordinating this tour. The McNay is truly a gem in District 10.

To learn more about the McNay, click here.

Frontier is Non-stop

San Antonio International Airport (SAT) hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Frontier Airlines this week to celebrate its new non-stop flights to five cities: Cincinnati, Colorado Springs, Raleigh-Durham, San Jose, and Orlando. These new flights arrive just in time for summer vacation travel With this launch, Frontier now serves fourteen destinations in San Antonio.

Healthy Tips with Dr. Bridger

Soap or Hand Sanitizer? In my job I deal with a lot of difficult and controversial issues. Before I started my first job as a Health Director, my mentor told me, "Colleen, to be an effective Health Director, you'll have to be comfortable with the fact that if you're doing your job well, there will always be somebody who wishes you weren't." I've been a Health Director for over 20 years now, and I'm still not entirely comfortable with people's negative reactions to some of my work. There are three main public health issues that evoke the strongest reaction in people: 1) teen pregnancy; 2) tobacco control and 3) hand sanitizer. I know, on the surface hand sanitizer doesn't seem like a rancorous issue, but trust me folks it is!

I get asked on a regular basis if hand sanitizer works as well as soap for preventing the flu. The short answer is "yes." Given the reactions I've had to that short answer in the past, however, I feel the need to explain. So, here's proof. There are two ways to test how well something kills flu germs on people's hands. The first is in the lab. The way that scientists test the efficacy of hand sanitizer vs. soap is called the glove juice method. Basically, the test subject dips his hands in a soup of germs, pulls them out and lets them dry. Then, a scientist uses the hand cleanser to be tested (either soap or hand sanitizer), lets the hands dry again and places a pair of rubber gloves containing a sterile solution on the hands. The scientist massages the surfaces of the hand and then dumps the solution out of the glove and counts how many germs remain. The results of these laboratory tests show conclusively that there are fewer germs remaining on the hands cleaned with hand sanitizer. Note that I use the word "germs" not dirt. Of course dirt comes off best with soap, but dirt doesn't make you sick (unless you're talking about the "yuck factor"...).

We all know that products in real life never work as well as those in the lab, so there is a second way to test the effectiveness of soap vs. hand sanitizer and that is using real people in the real world. Essentially, some people are told to use soap and other people are told to use hand sanitizer. Researchers monitor both groups for signs and symptoms of illness. Not surprisingly (to me anyway...) the group that used the hand sanitizer got sick significantly less than the group that used soap. These results were the same regardless of whether the group studied was old, young, healthy, sick, college educated or not.

Interestingly, regular soap worked just as well as antibacterial soap, but hand sanitizer still worked best. There is one caveat, however. When dealing with diarrheal diseases, hand washing with soap is preferred. The details there are a little strong on the "yuck factor", so I'll just leave it at that. So, bring on the emails, phone calls and other methods of calling me out. I'm used to it (err, almost).

2018 C.O.P Schedule

Northeast substation Citizens on Patrol classes are 1-time, 4-hr classes. Please bring a photo ID when attending. All necessary applications will be filled out at the beginning of each class and photos will be taken for a complimentary COP ID card.

For any questions, please contact

Officer Dave McDonald at 210-207-6086.

Celebrating the City's Tricentennial

The San Antonio Tricentennial celebration continues with more featured events commemorating San Antonio's storied history. Residents and visitors can explore the official events calendar and sort events by day, time, council district or county precinct. The official Tricentennial magazine features a complete listing of events through the end of the year. The magazine is available for free at H-E-B stores and Jim's Restaurants throughout the city.

Residents and visitors can also learn about upcoming events and activities by signing up for the official Tricentennial e-newsletter at www.sanantonio300.org

VITA Free Tax Preparation

VITA is a free tax preparation service for individuals and families who earn up to $60,000 per year. All tax-preparers are IRS-trained and certified. The District 10 VITA site is located at Thousand Oaks Library. All VITA sites are open through April 17th, 2018.

For more information, click here or call 2-1-1.