January 26, 2024 • 63 mins
When the homes we treasure become battlegrounds for survival, where do we turn? Hear from James Hamilton, a tenant organizer with an intimate grasp of San Antonio's public housing struggles, who joins us on Cosmic Water Podcast to unveil the stories etched into the walls of Opportunity Home Public Housing. His compelling narrative reveals the challenges faced by residents fighting for dignity and justice. Together, we trace the lineage of public housing, from its segregated inception to the modern-day battles against evictions and systemic indifference.
Tensions rise as our conversation shifts to the front lines of tenant advocacy, a realm where victories are hard-fought and every triumph is a testament to the relentless spirit of those who call these projects home. Discover how assembling United can shake the seats of power and lead to the ousting of authority figures entrenched in the housing system. James’s experience brings to light the undercurrents of politics and policy that shape the fabric of San Antonio's communities.
The final chord of our discussion strikes a note of empowerment, highlighting the transformation that blooms from grassroots efforts and neighborly dialogues. We illuminate the path to change, from the simple act of reaching out to a neighbor to standing at the podium of "Citizens to be Heard," where every voice weaves into the collective narrative of San Antonio's future. As we conclude, we extend an open invitation to you, our listeners, to join the chorus of citizens championing the cause, because every story, including yours, has the power to rewrite the next chapter in our city's history.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
As the cosmos connects the universe, water
connects life.
At the Cosmic Water Podcast,we're exploring the history,
mythology and future of thesacred land known as San Antonio
.
Alright, welcome to CosmicWater Podcast.
(00:28):
I'm Maureen, I'm Angela andtoday we have James Hamilton
with us, the notorious SAHAslash opportunity home tenant
organizer.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
James, if you want to start off with just kind of
giving us your history with SanAntonio, yes, my name is James
Hamilton, stringer reporter,slash, podcaster, and I was born
and raised here in San Antonio,and I currently live in
(01:05):
Opportunity Home, San Antonio, aplace that's notorious for lies
, genocide and all kinds ofwrongdoing across the city.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Opportunity Home is the new name for San Antonio's
public housing authority, whichwas formerly SAHA, San Antonio
Housing Authority.
They changed it when they got anew CEO.
And tell me, James, how do youfeel about that name change?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, you know, opportunity Home is supposed to
be the renaming and rebrandingof the San Antonio Housing
Authority.
They say it's a new beginning,a new chance for opportunities
for everyone, but the onlyopportunities that's being
offered is opportunities todiscriminate, opportunities to
(01:57):
allow people to die in theirhomes, opportunities to evict
people without reason.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
I have a long history of oppression, which I guess
becomes easy to do when you putall of the city's most
vulnerable people intoparticular localities.
I don't know.
What do you think about that?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Well, you know one thing I do notice that
segregation still exists in SanAntonio, and Opportunity Home is
notorious for placing people inred light districts in order
for them to not have theopportunities they normally
would have and to put theirresidents in danger.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
James, your grandmother lived at Victoria
Courts right.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
That's correct.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
And you were just on the phone before this with a
reporter from the San AntonioObserver, just like an East Side
newspaper right, yes.
Could you kind of explain whatyou were just saying, that that
reporter was telling you?
James and I organized togetherwith the San Antonio Tenants
(03:25):
Union specifically for publichousing tenants, and so James
was on the phone with a reportertalking about that and the
reporter gave you someinformation.
I was wondering if you could.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
So the San Antonio Housing Authority, aka
Opportunity Home, san Antoniohas a history of locking up
black and brown people throughdrug rates.
This was things that washappening since the 1980s and
probably even before that.
They were raid these homes andthere's usually family units,
(04:03):
mothers with children, and theywould drag people out and hog
time out in the yard and theywould cut furniture open with
razors and if they find a rockof crack, cocaine or fentanyl or
any other type of drug, thesechildren would get lengthy
(04:23):
sentences.
There were children that wasarrested in the 1980s that are
still in prison today.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
And you witnessed.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
I witnessed this myself.
I think I was like eight ornine years old, sitting on my
grandmother's porch and watchingthese people being dragged out
of their house.
Unfortunately, at the time, Iheard my mother and my
grandmother say these are thebad people, right?
And in actuality, sometimesit's a living boyfriend or a
(05:01):
child led astray that brought alittle bit of drugs in the house
, and sometimes it's just asuspicion of a person having
drugs and they lost their lives.
And this is all the product ofthe San Antonio Housing
Authority.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
I thought I remember because my mom she they had a
house on Divine Street.
They grew up right there onDivine and I thought I remember
my aunt saying that there waslike a national news coverage
that did like they featured theVictoria courts as being like a
bad place and how bad it was.
Do you remember that?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I don't remember that .
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Okay, yeah, and that they like were pointing out how,
like I don't know, I thinkmaybe like a teenage girl or a
young girl possibly like had herbaby in the bathtub there and
that was part of the episodejust really like demonizing the
families that live there.
You know, but yeah, but when Iasked my mom and my aunts about
(06:05):
it, you know that's where alltheir friends lived and you know
it was just children playingand that was like the noise that
you would hear from Victoriacourts as kids you know just
families and kids living theirlives or whatever.
But there was this nationalcoverage of making it an example
of you know a bad place.
(06:26):
Do you know what year that was.
That must have been either inthe 80s or the 70s for them to
talk about it.
And you know you got toremember the crack epidemic.
That was our own government andpolice putting that on the
streets on purpose, likepurposely doing that.
I grew up I mean I was born in1981, but my brother is 10 years
(06:49):
older than me and he got caughtup into it Like how could you
not, like it was everywhere,like crack, yeah, so like it was
purposely put in theneighborhoods.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I was going to ask do you know how your family felt
or I guess they might havemostly been gone, but when the
Victoria courts got demolished,yeah, there was like it was.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
It was like half and half, like they were really
broken hearted because of allthe families being displaced.
You know, the Victoria courts Ibelieve historically was
started.
As for military family, back in, back in the day it was mostly
military families that livedthere.
So it didn't have that, youknow, association with the bad
(07:46):
place of housing, public housing.
And then there was, like Idon't know, neighbors that were.
I don't know if it came out onthe news, but they were like
complaining like there were ratseverywhere, like in the La Vaca
neighborhood, like, like likegood riddance type of thing, you
know.
And so I don't know, I thinkthere's always going to be that
(08:10):
mix.
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Yeah, my understanding is that all of the
courts, or several of themanyway Victoria courts downtown
was built.
This was all during the 30s,Like San Antonio got one of like
the biggest public housinggrants from the federal
government, like in the 30s orsomething, and it was Victoria
courts downtown for white peopleexclusively.
Wheatley courts on the eastside for black people and
(08:37):
Alessandro Apache and the WestSide.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
What is Alessandro and what I don't know, but that
sounds right the Alessandrocourts.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, there's another one to you, though right next
to it, and those were for theMexican families.
And then, in starting in 2000,they just started getting rid of
everybody and demolishing themand building these mixed income
(09:06):
communities, which is actually,I discovered, is a method that
came from China.
So China started that in thelate 80s, going to slum
neighborhoods, as they calledthem, demolishing them and then
building mixed income.
So we got that concept directlyfrom China.
But because, like, I couldn'tfind any good information on
(09:31):
what happened to those familiesin China, because you know like
the state runs the media there,so nobody really knows but they
supposedly got good relocationpackages which, historically, if
you, look at the facts was nottrue.
It's always, you know they tryto say to the state in China but
(09:54):
slums don't exist, but there'szero slums, zero Like okay, you
guys just hide them all, butthere's like constant, literally
, concentration camps there, butwhatever.
Anyway, my point being whathappened to all of the tenants,
all of the families at Victoriaand Wheatley courts, and have
any other ones gotten demolished?
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I believe the sudden, homes got demolished and
rebuilt right into mixed incomeproperties.
What happened to a lot of thosefamilies is we live in the
aging community right and thosefamilies that are originally
there they probably in the 50sand 60s there.
Now the parents and thechildren have grown up and moved
(10:41):
away to different places, sonone of those people went back
to the properties that theypreviously lived.
I mean with the notableexceptions.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
I was just at a board meeting a couple, probably two
months ago.
No, no, no, I listened to it.
You had sent a video and Ilistened to the public comments,
because that's the only part Icare about really.
And there was this publichousing complex, I guess, over
on the west side, where thelocal neighborhood association
(11:15):
brought several of the tenantsthere, or a few of them elderly,
who were like, well, we wantnew buildings, like we want
better conditions for our kids.
So, yes, go through with thisplan of demolishing it.
And I just was so appalled thatthis neighborhood association
(11:40):
right, of course they want thepublic housing out, it
diminishes their home values andstuff that they brought people
and didn't give them a heads up.
And I think it's totally fairto want better conditions, like,
obviously nobody wants to livein these so-called slum
conditions, but they are nottelling them that once they
(12:02):
demolish those like Sahas likelynot going to take care of you,
they're not going to relocateyou, we don't know where you go.
Like, academically, when youresearch displacement and
specifically with gentrification, it's really hard to get
research on that because oncepeople are displaced they
disappear and there's not reallyways to talk to them.
(12:24):
James, you do such anincredible job of bringing
people's stories of housinginsecurity and housing problems
to the public and I don't knowhow I want to phrase this,
(12:44):
except that, like our tenantunion, our tiny tenant union, as
unorganized as we are, are sopowerful in this city.
How do you approach that tenantorganizing?
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Well, the way I approach it is, I start to think
what would happen if I was inthis horrible situation, if I
was threatened with eviction ordisplacement or crime.
That happened and suddenly it'sknocking on my doorstep.
That's how I visualize before Igo out and act.
(13:20):
Currently, I don't know howlong I'll be able to organize
because the Opportunity Helm hasa new tactic of eliminating
organizers here in San AntonioHousing Organized.
They used their attorney nowand they write a letter saying
(13:41):
that everything that you'reorganizing against is a lie and
Opportunity Home residents arehappy and I'm spreading
misinformation.
So every time a politician or aconcerned citizen would contact
Opportunity Home hey, what'sgoing on?
They would send that letter andthe end result is that the
(14:05):
person would say I could nolonger help you because they got
a letter from an attorneysaying that there will be
consequences from spreadingmisinformation.
And that's the tactic thatthey're using for anybody that
decided they're going toorganize against Opportunity
Home.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Does that make you feel defeated?
Speaker 3 (14:27):
No, I just love when that happens.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
James, don't say you're not going to organize.
We just got to show up to theboard meeting and call them out.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Obviously they still afraid because they said that.
Well, we're going to send you acopy of the letter that never,
happened yet.
And.
I guess because they don't wantme to walk in the city council
meeting with something physicalin hand and say, hey, this is
what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
When has there been a moment where you felt the most
like wow, my voice makes change.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Well, the most powerful moment that I've seen
since I started organizing isthe protest on Nisi Voch's loft,
in which the man was hiding inhis restroom as protesters
lurked around outside.
Somebody told me that he wasafraid, and I'm sure he was
(15:30):
visualizing all the wrongs hedid to those people, and folks
that he was trying to relocatewould just feet outside his door
.
I can imagine the feeling thathe had, and it was so much of a
powerful experience that theopportunity board decided that
they hey, you know this has tostop right now.
(15:52):
We're going to send you on yourway.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Do you think it was because they felt bad and
recognized that he was an awfulevil person?
He looked evil, his look wasjust so evil.
Or do you think they were justscared of media?
Speaker 3 (16:09):
I think they were scared of media, but I thought
that also, that they were scaredof the people.
Hell yeah, yeah, because theyhave to live in the community
too right, and after they turnedtheir at opportunity, home is
over.
Sometimes that's when thereality said in that hey, you
did some very ugly things to us.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Do you think that we had any impact on Chagusman who?
Chagusman was the boardpresident.
Is that what they call it?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Board president right , so she's in charge.
She's basically literally incharge of everything, like
everyone's supposed to.
The CEO.
Everybody in Sahaja is supposedto do what she says.
The board has to do what shesays.
She was Mayor Nirenberg'scampaign manager's wife.
She was so out of touch.
(17:03):
I like the anger I feel when Ithink about Niso Visha.
When I is the same, I feelabout Chagusman and Timothy
Alcott, who is also gone now,and that's what I was going to
ask Do you think that we hadinfluence over Chagusman and
Timothy Alcott being gone?
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Well, I believe we had right.
There was nobody else otherthan us that actually mentioned
that.
Hey, you know it's an nepotismgoing on here.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
How many years was she on there?
And nobody would call that out.
I started saying it every whenI went to the Sahaja board
meetings, the city councilmeetings.
I'm like, oh, and the Mayor'scampaign manager's wife getting
the goods for what this womanwas, so she would just sit there
and eat the entire time duringthe board meetings.
(17:54):
It was bizarre and like and totalk down to us.
She started kind of gettingbetter towards the end.
I think she was just so scaredof what we were would say
publicly.
But but she was awful and it'slike one of those type of people
have that much power, it's,it's.
It creates really awful impacts.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Yeah, so during that time after Lisa Voce left, Mayor
Newmanberg was playing a littlebit of chess when they came to
who he would select on thepublic boards.
The people that were consideredactivists, the people that
actually cared about thecommunity, was removed and there
was placed by former citycouncil members and and there
(18:37):
were, and their families, and itgot to a point that anything
that Mayor Newmanberg wanted hegot right.
It was so awful.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
That was so awful.
How has, how can anybody everforgive him for that?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Well, it's just a last term in office, right?
So when a person's only lastterm, they tend to have a less
empathy for the public than theywere normally with.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I think that was his second to last, but nonetheless
he was.
He's such a like he's.
He was going to win and win,and win.
No matter what, and wherever hegoes next, he's going to win,
because all he is is a robot.
For whoever is telling him whatto do Ever?
Google him his pictures, youGoogle images and all they are
(19:23):
just like about his guns.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
All his muscles, yeah .
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Well, currently, there was a talk that the Biden
administration is going to takethem on.
I saw that.
And in some type of position,and I kind of believe that rumor
because the White House has ahabit of tapping into San
Antonio when it comes to the HUSsecretaries.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Yeah For housing, which is ironic because we have
such a backwards and awful anddiscriminatory history with
housing.
What would you do?
What would you do, what wouldwe do, james, if Mayor Nirenberg
became HUD secretary?
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Well, I don't know what to do, but personally I
think things would get worse astime goes on, because this man
in power with HUD right it'sgoing to be a disaster.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
I like that, showing up to their apartments or
whatever y'all did.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
But everyone's so scared.
Think about, like Jolyon Castro, who was secretary of HUD, and
before that was it HenryCisneros, I don't know Clinton,
I don't know.
Probably, yeah, probably, yeah.
(20:56):
And then Jolyon Castro wasunder Obama.
Yeah, they have such anobsession with San Antonio,
people in housing.
What was I thinking with that?
Oh, that everyone said Nobody.
What did Jolyon Castro do forSan Antonio Except lead the way
(21:17):
towards gentrification andpraise him?
Speaker 3 (21:21):
They're developers, love him.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yes, right.
So why is he this like a savior?
I don't understand it.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yeah, savior.
For whom?
Speaker 4 (21:32):
Yeah, that's what Terry was talking about, right
Like he's on the SAISD board now.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I meant to ask that.
I wasn't quite following that.
Is he really I?
Speaker 4 (21:43):
guess so, so he's participating in closing of all
these schools, which affectshousing.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
But that's just such an evil thing already.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
It's not people, it's just numbers on a piece of
paper, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
So it's easy to do.
I used to know somebody who, um, knew what they're, knew them
when they were little babies,julianne and Joaquin Castro, and
actually got their mom a job,like at one of the um, on those
little gas station, um, picnics,picnic, um, when they were like
(22:26):
, yeah, little babies, and shewas like this radical communist
right, and I'm just like whathappens, like what happens when
and I guess I can see it nowthat I'm raising kids at some
point you kind of like you can't, you can't control a kid and
what they think right, you haveto guide through values.
And it just makes me wonder,like what happened that these
(22:49):
two you know smart boys from the, you know from the hood, from
the west side, end up at Harvard, right, that's where they?
Went.
And just becoming so bougie andout of touch.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
Do y'all remember when one of them tried to show
up to an event to pretend to bethe other?
Speaker 1 (23:11):
I've heard of it.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
I think it might have been like a fiesta event or
something.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
It's a parade.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Right, Cause they're twins.
Like you can just send theother brother.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Uh-huh, I heard that everyone was pissed.
Hell yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
Like we can't tell the difference.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah, it's frustrating.
Um well, what's next, james?
How do we um adjust this?
Oh, let me say, let me say thatum cause this is important, and
this is we've been doing tenantorganizing work, for how did
you get into it?
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Well, I met a man named Poncho by this.
Yeah, he has a um.
He has a way with him that ifhe sees somebody struggling, he
would take them under their wingand teach them and nourish them
and send them back out.
Yeah, that's what he done withme.
Yeah, he was a incredible uhtenant organizer, the man that
(24:10):
built me into the person I amtoday.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Love that.
Um, if you had to put like rolesto what like, um, all of the
success that we've had as say,too, as San Antonio tenants
union, what would you say islike Poncho's role for our
(24:33):
success?
What's your role for oursuccess Like, how have we been
as this small organization, veryunorganized, which I'm
personally okay with, cause Ithink that gives us the autonomy
and sort of like.
I was talking to a friend andexplaining it and he said he
calls it gorilla organizing,right, like gorilla warfare,
(24:55):
where it's just sort of likewe're just like how does it like
?
As issues arise, we just likeshow up, everyone just take
action with whatever.
Um, but yeah, what do you seeLike where you are all of your
success has come from and wherePoncho's has, like what has
created?
What has created such anincredible and impactful tenant
(25:17):
union?
Speaker 3 (25:18):
We're a group of people with numerous skill sets
and experiences and, um, thereain't no roadblocks on what we
can do.
If we feel that our presence isneeded somewhere and we needed
to speak without asking forpermission, we can do that,
right, uh, poncho, about this,uh, he's been organizing for
(25:41):
over 50 plus years, right, anduh, that type of experience you
just don't find everywhere.
You know, uh, he's been doingit with most of us was in
diapers, right, so, uh, havinguh that man as a motivator and,
uh, hopefully, uh, we have himfor many more years, because, uh
(26:06):
, the city of San Antonio havegrew into a mindset of if you
don't have money, you're notimportant.
You're not important.
A man, newberg, uh, his way ofthinking is we always had the
poor with us and uh, and, and itseems like, uh, that he don't
care much about us, only therich developers and stuff.
(26:29):
So, I tell you, I tell yourealize that you won't know
what's going on in the city.
So, uh, being an organizer, youhave to have a the the open
mind, you have to be able to seewhat's going on and read
between the lines.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
And continue saying it.
Like you, I always admire thatabout Poncho, where he repeats
over and over again you don'tcare about poor people.
And it's like so obvious, right, but it, but it's such a simple
uh sentiment that is absolutely100% true.
That's what all of this polypolitical shit comes down to, is
(27:09):
that, like, you don't careabout poor people.
And so I always appreciate thatPoncho was constantly just
saying that over and over again,because it puts it into my mind
too to like, yeah, like that iswhat all of this comes down to.
And so how do we fight for thatCause?
That's the root cause.
That's the root cause of all ofthis oppression.
So how do we keep fightingagainst that?
What I also appreciate aboutPoncho is all his emails.
(27:32):
He just, he will justrelentlessly right, send out
emails to all of our politicalleaders until CC, all of us, a
bunch of us.
And it keeps me going.
I've said that, like some peoplecause I don't really do a lot
(27:52):
of organizing work withorganizations anymore except
with them say to, and it's whenI see people and they're like oh
, I didn't know you were stilldoing stuff, I'm like I wouldn't
be doing this if it wasn't forPoncho, just like continuing to
send the emails out, makemeetings, you know, send his
texts out like we're beingoppressed.
(28:14):
Who's with me?
Like probably like bi-weeklytext messages, and just like who
wants to me, and so we, just wejust keep on going and meeting
and hearing from tenants andthat, just like I feel like it
keeps on motivating us to justkeep on doing stuff because
these are issues that, like theywould not hear otherwise.
(28:35):
Right, like if we were notgoing to these board meetings or
to a city council and sayingthem on the microphone, they
wouldn't know that it washappening.
I mean, how often do you talkto politicians where they
there's, just they're, theycan't believe what you're
telling them.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Oh, yeah, definitely.
What a lot of politicians aresaying is well, I talked to
several residents and they sayeverything's fine.
The CEO has said you know, butthey never go to these
properties and talk to thesepeople face to face, right, and
(29:15):
with the lack of availabilitythat personally go to places,
they find themselves justlistening to what other people
say, right.
And when they hear, otherwisethey in a state of disbelief.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Truly, they are in absolute shock and it's to us
it's like, oh my God, we seethis every single time we talk
to a new tenant.
How can they be so out of touch?
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Yeah, and there's a fear factor as well.
Right, the people are afraid oftalking, right, because of the
fact that they can be evicted soeasy, or they could find
something To evict them forhousekeeping inspection.
Yeah, somebody staying a littlebit longer in the apartment
than they should have.
You know, those are therealities of Opportunity.
(30:03):
Home, san Antonio.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
When you control the roof over somebody's head,
they're most like vital lifelineright To survival and it's like
you really control their entireworld.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
The wealthy are the most segregated group of people,
I think, which is why they'reso out of touch.
San.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Antonio has the highest economic segregation in
the entire country, meaning thatthe richest people live
farthest like geologic,geographically, live farthest
away from poor people, and sothere's just like no interact or
very little interaction.
They're the most segregated,mm-hmm, and in San Antonio
(30:44):
specifically, and then those arethe people who get put on the
board.
That's who the mayor chooses tobe on the board of Saha.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
Make decisions for everyone else.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Make that make sense.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
They're richest among us.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
I don't understand it .
And people just go along withit Like, oh yeah, they're rich,
so they should be on the boardbecause they're probably
educated and therefore they haveexpertise.
It's like the tenants I'm aboutto like start banning.
I don't want to hear some of my.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
They keep us distracted, you know with the
spurs and fiesta or whatever.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Mm-hmm, yeah, beyonce , taylor Swift, all that stuff
yeah, it really drives me crazy.
Oh, what are all the getting at?
What I want to say is what hasbeen our biggest issue in tenant
organizing?
(31:44):
What is the biggest issue fortenants in Opportunity Home and
Saha Properties is safety.
The world needs to know thatpeople tenants in public housing
do not feel safe, and this islike from multiple angles.
(32:06):
It's from their neighbors, it'sfrom outsiders coming on.
It's because the police don'tprotect public housing Like
we've seen that as a themepretty consistently that the
police don't really respond topublic housing buildings and so
(32:28):
tenants don't even feelcomfortable calling the police.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Yeah, so definitely, what's happening on Opportunity
Home Properties is a lack ofsafety.
I say and this is my personalopinion, but I believe it's the
truth that genocide happens onOpportunity Home Properties.
The reason why I say that isthe San Antonio Police
(32:57):
Department and the SerifDepartment believes that
Opportunity Home is responsiblefor the safety of their
residents.
Opportunity Home believes thatyou should call 911 and the
police should handle it.
The response times are 30minutes to an hour to arrive on
(33:20):
the property.
If somebody's going to harm you, they already got you in less
right and you can't get adifferent response from
Opportunity Home because theyclaim they don't have enough
money.
I walk into a board meeting orface-to-face meeting and say,
hey, director, somebody wasmurdered yesterday.
(33:43):
Well, do you have any evidencethat that happened?
I was like no.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Oh, is that what they go back to?
Speaker 3 (33:49):
You're the evidence.
You telling me that you don'tknow that person died and got
shot and killed on your property.
Most of the time, when talkingto Opportunity Home people,
about safety, you have to dealwith semantics, games.
Well, I didn't know about thatwhen that happened.
I said you telling me you don'tknow that that person was
(34:11):
murdered.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
It's so offensive.
Yeah, people always think thatI'm really difficult to work
with, and it's funny to me,because when people don't BS
with me, we get good work done.
The people who I've done workwith inside of the government
(34:34):
will say that we get good assgrounded, grass-rooted solutions
in place.
Just don't BS with me.
Yes, that will make medifficult because that is so
insulting.
It's such a waste of my time,it's a waste of your time.
(34:54):
Why are you sitting here doingyour job, just BSing?
That's a waste of your energytoo.
So we've been havingface-to-face meetings, I guess
with the CEO, which we had tofight really hard for a while,
but now they seem to be a littlemore Open to it.
(35:17):
They're at least trying, and atthe last one, james, you
couldn't go to.
But we're always asking aboutsafety.
What are you doing about safety?
And for almost two years now,they just give us BS responses
like, oh, we don't have anymoney for that, which is like,
okay, well then let's talk aboutit.
(35:38):
It's like my same responseevery single time, like okay,
you keep saying that and we needto figure it out.
So let's have theseconversations not just in this
room with tenants, but with theboard etc.
And Then their other excuse isthat they don't have the data.
They don't have the data to saythat there's not, that there's
(36:02):
the need for safety.
I'm like just go to the tenantsand figure it out.
But anyway, this last meeting,of course we brought up safety
and I must say that Brandy Joelwas just be he, just completely
BS.
The entire thing.
Everything was an excuse,really frustrating.
But then Brandy was like trying.
(36:24):
At least she was like well,what do you think about?
Like a?
Like a car just pretending tobe security, like I'm just
trying to think of ideas, likeoff the wall or whatever.
And I have to say I at leastappreciated the Solutions
focused orientation of that.
Like an empty car, yeah, butjust because, like they don't
(36:45):
have any money.
So she's like what can we do?
Right, and she's this I don'thave a lot of good things to say
about my past experiences withher, but I have to say that I at
least appreciated that.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
You know, I must say, when I was a teenager, we we
went and visited the East Coastand driving through Rhode Island
, they had a life-size, cutout,realistic-looking police car on
the side of the highway and thatthing worked.
But, yeah, like you know, Idon't, I don't live in public
(37:25):
housing, but we live in HighlandPark and and we hear shots all
the time and we don't, you don't, you don't see it on the, the
news unless it's good forheadlines, but like that's,
that's the regular.
Like we hear shots all the time, like Every night.
So like, yeah, if you spent onenight Chilling and you would
(37:49):
hear, like that safety is aconcern, and the only time we do
see police is when they're likeI Don't know, wanting to flex,
I guess, because they'll justcruise through our little
neighborhood streets super fastor whatever, but no sirens or
anything, and you definitelydon't see them when you hear the
shots.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
But yeah, I would say that that's another issue that
we constantly have with withSahaa is that we will bring
issues to them.
For example, brandy, she acouple months ago got in front
of the board before publiccomment, I guess, to like Say,
(38:32):
make their narrative, createtheir narrative, before we could
speak, and she was like, justso you guys know what, the CEO
is meeting with the tenantsunion regularly, which I kept.
That point wasn't even true andwe are working on the issues at
Lewis.
Is it okay if I say, at theproperties that our tenant union
(38:57):
members reside at, we'reworking there on the issues
there.
But it's like they have like 30, if maybe a hundred, out like
properties and so we'reconstantly having to tell them
like, look, we're bringing theseissues to you because we need
them to be resolved and becausethese are issues that are
happening with tenants allacross the board, at all of your
(39:20):
properties, and you guys, as apublic funded agency, have the
Responsibility to deal with this, not just for your tenants but
for all of San Antonio, and that, like when you say that that
this is Happening inside of yourneighborhood too, it's like
this is indicative of what'shappening all over San Antonio.
(39:42):
The safety issues areconcentrated at public housing,
and then that is should beexposing to you what's happening
all around there too.
And they cannot see past theone, two, three cases that we
bring them up tenants.
They're like, okay, as long aswe take care of those ones there
, this will all go away and wecan tell the politicians when
(40:03):
they come to us that, oh no, wetook care of that case.
And then even the politiciansusually even the most
well-intentioned ones, won'tmove past that.
They'll be like, okay, allright, yeah, that's taken care
of, I can go back to whateverelse, when they're not even
seeing that like, no, this is anissue, this is a systemic issue
that I need to be addressing.
Does that sound accurate to you?
Speaker 3 (40:25):
Yeah, it sounds accurate to me now, since the
opportunity home knows how thepoliticians operate, mm-hmm that
a form letter from the attorneytakes care of everything they
receive a complaint.
Cinema letters are alreadytaken care of.
These are the steps we did.
We're not talking about itanymore, so you ain't gonna get
(40:46):
any response.
Joel Tobar, the director offederal public housing, which I
call as a BS expert, right,absolutely yes, you play
semantic games with you all thetime.
I had it, and you know this manAny problem that comes up, he
(41:08):
could have found a solution in15 minutes based on the little
fancy words he used, thinkingabout it.
Yeah, and I believe that's whyhe was placed in that job, right
Generally for trying toExtinguish fires.
That that comes along.
(41:28):
Yeah, somebody said somebodywas murdered.
Well, how do you know they weremurdered?
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Don't listen to the news.
They told them.
They've literally said thatBefore don't listen to the news.
I even tell my staff, don'tlisten to the news.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
I will you telling me that San Antonio police vehicle
got shot up with a hundredrounds of ammunition from a
AK-47 and and you don't knowthat that happened don't listen.
Don't listen to the news thoseAKs are really popular.
Speaker 4 (42:01):
That's what?
Because that's what I hearreally yeah.
Super popular.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
I've been.
I've been watching too much inDC universe stuff.
Green arrow, have you guys seen?
Get those guns off Off thestreets.
Yeah, yeah.
That also brings up otherthings for me about the
(42:28):
Government having too many gunsto vote.
But be on moving, movingforward With.
Saw how stuff.
James, what do we do movingforward?
Speaker 3 (42:48):
Well, we keep on fighting.
No matter how many threateningletters we get from attorneys,
we keep on fighting.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
What do you want to do about that?
Speaker 3 (42:57):
I keep on fighting, you know, for the simple reason
is okay, they could threaten mewith an attorney, but I really
doubt they're gonna go for anyfurther reason, because they're
gonna expose themselves, usingpublic money to intimidate and
try to scare the public right.
(43:18):
You know one thing I learned along time ago with opportunity
home when it's up to a fight,and Under public fight, they
tend to back right back down andtry to negotiate.
I Really do doubt that we'regonna get what we asked for
(43:40):
right under the currentadministration opportunity home.
They need to be replaced withpeople that has more empathy For
the people living on theproperties, right?
Only thing they have to do isadmit that they have a problem.
Hey, there's a crime wave atopportunity home properties and
(44:01):
we don't have the money to fixit.
That puts the politicians inthe place that they have the
incentive to fix these problems,but they refuse to admit that
there is a problem.
Speaker 4 (44:17):
And just keep talking to your neighbors and
organizing like y'all are right,cuz, like, in our neighborhood,
the displacement happensthrough court code enforcement
with the houses, and so now,like anytime we see
Developmentals, developmentservices truck or whatever like
pulling up, we're texting eachother and Keep your gates closed
(44:41):
because they can't open yourgate and go on to your property
but, like, if it's open, theywill go in there and start
taking pictures and then leavingpink slips on your, on your
door with the citations and soyeah, so Like there were two
today and so I was right away Itexted my neighbor because they
(45:01):
were getting hit big time,because they were improving
their house, they were fixing itup, they were building a shed
in the back and they kept codingthem for having materials or
whatever, but they're doing itthemselves.
And he would just like and itwas always like the same, a lot
of times the same person hewould just come in taking
(45:24):
pictures in their backyard whenthey weren't home.
So now we're like texting eachother like they're here, go
close your gates, everybody, youknow.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
So how wild is that that we have to protect
ourselves from our owngovernment?
Speaker 4 (45:38):
I know I mean it's, and they were improving their
house.
They were improving it, youknow.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Yes, I was at a family members house just
recently and they were doinghome improvements and city
officials was flying a droneover their house.
Speaker 4 (45:54):
Seriously, yes, I believe it.
Yeah, how they do it.
And so like, yeah, there's,there's like three vacant homes
across the street from us andthen two on the other side of
our neighbor next door.
So like, so then finally, theneighbor or the owners you know
(46:18):
a couple of them are localowners or whatever and he's
trying to fix it up on his own.
He's not a developer, you know,he's not one of these
gentrifiers that come in orwhatever and flip it really
quick, like it takes time.
When you're doing it on yourown, when you're not a developer
, it takes time and they're justout there putting in citations,
(46:39):
you know, trying to get themout, and they're just trying to
improve their home.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
Yeah, I remember probably about five years ago or
so, when on Fredericksburg itwas right in between district
one and district seven, and soit was Roberto Trevino and Anna
Sandoval who were the councilmembers at the time and them
putting on like their Facebookor whatever their social media
(47:05):
that there was a new codeenforcement office being opens
up right there to get all ofthat like kind of wood lawn area
and everybody like, oh, likeyou guys are so wonderful.
And these were like people whotalked about helping housing or
tried to champion affordablehousing and it was like nobody
(47:27):
at that point saw that that isgoing to displace people.
I know Terri talked about thatwhen she was on here.
That that's how she got intohousing.
Speaker 4 (47:38):
organizing was because all of her neighbors
were getting code enforcementgetting them displaced and they
straight up lie too, Cause, likethey were one summer, they
didn't have anything on us, sothey were doing the grass being
cut.
You know, we're gettingcitations for that and we got a
(48:00):
citation for the grass not beingcut in the back alleyway when
it literally was cut like twodays before.
They just didn't bother to go.
Look, they're just handing outthose pink slips and putting
them on the doors of everybody.
And so I saw it, I took apicture and then when he came
back again cause it said, youknow, we're going to return on
this day to see if we've done itI showed him the picture with
(48:24):
the date stamp on it and then helike kind of like backtracked
and he's like, oh, we just dothose to everybody, or like like
umbrella citate people you know, admitting that like he didn't
even look because I was showinghim proof that it was a complete
lie and it's to intimidatepeople you know, it's totally to
(48:46):
intimidate.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
We need to go to city council about that.
Speaker 4 (48:50):
It was a couple of years ago, but it's still.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
That kind of stuff is still happening.
Speaker 4 (48:54):
I mean, yeah, because they were here today.
They were here today there wasa van and a truck, and so I
always go out there and makemyself seen taking a picture of
their license plate, taking apicture of their face, Like I
see you, you know like I'mkeeping track and now we need to
go to city council to make surethey know that you're like
(49:17):
really overseeing them and whatthey do, cause like their jobs
are at risk too.
Speaker 1 (49:23):
Right, if you're not doing, if you're scaring and
intimidating the mayor'sconstituents or Viagran's
constituents, then your job ison the line too and like you may
just be doing your job, butyou're putting people's entire
security and safety at risk byjeopardizing their housing.
(49:43):
Do they not realize that?
Speaker 4 (49:46):
That's the purpose.
I guess you know.
Speaker 1 (49:49):
But these are just like right, Like our neighbors
who are also working these jobs,that's true, right.
Yeah, so we gotta go to thelike director of development.
I'm trying to like like see howwe attack this right now.
Like brainstorming out loud.
Let's just turn this into anorganizing meeting guys he wants
(50:09):
to go to city council with menext week.
All right, wednesday nights guys.
For San Antonio people everyWednesday evening is citizens to
be heard.
James, how do you feel aboutcitizens to be heard?
You know so many people arelike, ah, they don't listen, all
that stuff.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
Well, this is my experience with citizens to be
heard.
Sometimes they hear you,sometimes they don't.
And if you saying somethingthat's really embarrassing that
particular city council member,as soon as you sit down, there's
a person from that that theirstaff coming over there giving
you an email address or what werewrite on it, right, if it has
(50:50):
to do with security.
they come to you and there's anofficer there you know well,
we're gonna take care of it.
Here's my personal phone numberand email address.
Do we get taken care of?
Probably not, but they can saythat they spoke with you.
Speaker 4 (51:06):
Yeah, yeah that is exactly what happens.
And even if they're notlistening, somebody is you know
somebody in that room is payingattention and writing that down
right, like there's so many,like I don't know whether it's a
journalist or you knowsomebody's staff member,
somebody's paying attention.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
I've met people there before, other people, right,
cause when other anybody who'sthere to speak, it's pretty
terrifying, right, you havethree minutes to say whatever
you want in front of the mayor,who's actually only there like
half the time, as our like.
It's usually like half the citycouncil members too, but I
(51:46):
actually like, when that happens, I'm like, oh, the mayor.
One time I did that, I likewent a couple of weeks in a row
and the mayor wasn't there thefirst time and I like the first
thing I said was well, youweren't here last week to hear
this mayor, but not showing upto citizens to be heard.
Come on, like that should be.
At least that's youropportunity to hear directly
from your citizens.
(52:07):
Where was I going with that?
That's it.
There's only a few people there.
Oh, I've met people, and soother people who are there to
speak up to are usually veryeager to talk to somebody who
also is eager to speak up, andso I've made a lot of
(52:28):
connections.
Speaker 4 (52:30):
So what are your tips for people who might be new to
citizens to be heard?
Speaker 1 (52:36):
Well, you know what you got free parking first off.
Speaker 3 (52:39):
Do you get?
Speaker 1 (52:40):
a via pass.
Speaker 3 (52:41):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (52:42):
Yeah, so you get via passes and free parking.
So you, just when you go 15minutes early to that guy at the
desk in the back, he'll giveyou a.
Speaker 3 (52:53):
He'll give you a via pass.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
And does it make up for the way over there?
Speaker 3 (52:58):
Well, the way over there how that works is you tell
the driver that you're going tocitizens to be heard at the
downtown, at the city councilchambers, and they should let
you on free.
Speaker 1 (53:09):
Oh really.
Speaker 4 (53:10):
Yeah, so you just let the bus driver know.
Yes.
Speaker 1 (53:13):
Okay, that's great information to have.
Okay, yeah, and so you can dothat if you're taking public
transportation or park in thewhat was the Frost Tower, now
the city building across thestreets.
What is it on Flores?
Speaker 3 (53:29):
No, no, no, yeah, it's on Flores, yeah.
Speaker 1 (53:30):
Flores.
Okay, yeah, right there.
And then you get your parkingpass and go to the back and the
guy will stamp it so that it'sfree when you leave.
You need to sign up 15 minutesbefore.
And so you got to go to thatsame guy in the back of the city
council chambers, right next tothe cathedral.
(53:52):
These are all the basiclogistical stuff.
Anyway, right, it's not in cityhall, it's in the council
chambers right next to thecathedral.
Or you can sign up online, andonline you can even type out.
So you don't even have to showup, you don't even have to speak
it, you just type your commentand then they'll read it out
loud.
(54:13):
So then you don't even like,it's just your name and a
comment and it gets read outloud and they have to listen to
it.
And then, yeah, you justthere's usually not many people.
I always try to tell my kidsI'm like we'll be there for like
15 minutes, like just bear withme, and then you get your three
minutes and I love it.
(54:33):
I love it so much.
Personally, I always say I hailMary before I go up, you know,
for like words of inspiration,and you just get up there and
you can either.
How do you do it, james?
Speaker 3 (54:50):
Well, when I hear it as a citizens to be heard, you
know I usually write down whatI'm gonna have with my phone and
review it like 15 minutesbefore I step up there.
Speaker 1 (55:03):
And then you just kind of like say whatever.
Speaker 3 (55:05):
Yeah, I have a talking point.
Speaker 1 (55:08):
Yeah, I like I've done it multiple different ways.
I've like written down out thewhole speech and like sat there
and read it word for word.
I've just kind of like gone upthere and said whatever, or like
that I'll just have a couplepoints and I'm like, okay, how
do I make the connections fromthis point to this point to this
point?
And then just kind of like flowwith it.
(55:29):
But I feel like I've found mybest times have been one when
I'm like really passionate aboutwhatever it is and just kind of
like say whatever's on my mind,and when I get to like stare
the mayor in the eyes becauseyou know what he does the same
thing every single time.
Can you do the mayor face?
What does the mayor look like?
(55:50):
And then he just stares at youwith that look.
Speaker 4 (55:55):
I think I'm paying attention.
Speaker 1 (55:59):
I don't know whatever they're coding inside of his
robot brain to like look at youand he just like, he just stares
.
Speaker 3 (56:07):
To me, the look he gives is the look when a person
needs to go to the restroom buthe can't leave his desk at that
particular time.
Speaker 1 (56:16):
That is kind of what it looks like.
That is actually kind ofexactly what it looks like, and
so he'll stare at you.
So if you want three minutes ofa blinking game with the mayor,
stare back and kind of crossyour eyes a little.
Oh, you want to play games.
(56:37):
Who can laugh first?
Who makes the mayor laugh first, chris, I wonder, like God.
I'm just like thinking of moreorganizing actions, like if we
go and do that and then howhe'll act the next time.
We should try it.
Speaker 4 (56:55):
We should try it.
Oh right.
Speaker 1 (56:59):
Yeah, bring media, be like, oh, we have something
really big going on, and then,just like, we're just having
staring contests with the mayorand trying to make silly faces,
and if you just do that forthree minutes straight, right,
he can't kick you out.
Speaker 4 (57:11):
Right, if you go up there and not say anything, yeah
, legally, or you can speak veryWell.
Speaker 3 (57:18):
I've seen the mayor throw some people out, but they
have to be real radical to getto that point.
Speaker 1 (57:23):
Were you there when we all like planned on getting
kicked out.
Speaker 3 (57:26):
Yeah, it's just.
Unfortunately the TexasOrganizing Project did it before
we did.
It's like oh, I don't want toget stuck.
The disruption.
Speaker 1 (57:34):
Yeah Well, they just didn't follow what we were
supposed to do.
What is like me and me and Jakewent first.
We started like yelling andscreaming and so they kicked us
out, and then it was supposed towait like a few minutes until
the next group next two peopledid it, and so that way it would
(57:55):
like keep it all going for likean hour or so.
Right, they wouldn't know whowas gonna go next, so they
couldn't just kick out everybody.
That would have stopped thewhole meeting.
But instead everybody like onceme and Jake started getting
kicked out.
Everybody just started gettingrowdy, so they all just kicked
us out at once.
So I was like that defeated thewhole point.
Mm-hmm, yeah, I'm cancelingthis meeting.
Speaker 4 (58:19):
I tried to get the black people to do that.
Nobody was down.
Speaker 1 (58:23):
Yeah, what?
Manifesting more radicalpeoples.
Speaker 4 (58:30):
Yeah, one person just went up and held the sign.
Speaker 3 (58:36):
You know, one of the biggest moments, I believe, when
it comes to organizing anddoing some what they call
disobedience right.
That's right.
It's that time when the mayorwas sitting at his desk and
somebody dropped the sign rightbehind him, right.
Speaker 4 (58:56):
Jolie.
Speaker 1 (58:59):
Yeah, that was for Page Sixleave, I think.
Speaker 3 (59:02):
Yeah, that was the best moment right there.
Speaker 1 (59:05):
Yeah, we need more of those.
There was this really radicalorganization that came in and
then left.
It was so weird, they came fromanother city.
Speaker 4 (59:15):
For Page.
Speaker 1 (59:15):
Sixleave yeah, it was like immigrant rights.
I believe it was in like 2018.
Yeah it was 2018.
And they did an action wherethere was like a river parade,
and so the mayor was like on hislittle river float going down
this parade and they put a bunchof signs on the bridges like
(59:36):
dropped them.
Speaker 4 (59:37):
Oh nice.
Yeah, it was really cool.
Yeah, we need to utilize thebridges a little more.
Huh yeah.
Speaker 1 (59:44):
And then there was this sign.
You know what?
That's another, I feel liketactic, underlooked tactic that
has been highly successful.
It's just signs.
If you can get the right wordson a sign and then get a couple
media pictures or whatever it'slike, it's really powerful.
Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
I was told that the mayor hates those signs, that
has a picture of his face on it.
Speaker 4 (01:00:07):
Gotta get more of those then.
Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
James knows all the chisme all the time.
I don't understand it, James.
James knows everything aboutall this background information
about all the most powerfulpeople.
I'm not going to ask you how,because I kind of like that.
It's a mystery.
Speaker 4 (01:00:28):
It's a big city with a small town vibe, I guess,
right.
Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
Yeah, it's really helpful, intel.
They're organizing.
Is there any other tips youhave for anybody before we sign
off?
Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
Well, let's keep the fight going, Make contacts and
friends along the way and docollaborations.
I mean a large majority ofchange that we have in the city
of San Antonio is something thatyou cannot do alone.
So if you collaborate withother agencies or other
(01:01:06):
organizations or people, do it.
There's power in numbers.
Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
I would say.
Speaker 1 (01:01:16):
That's where a lot of say to his power comes from too
is that you have all of yournetwork.
Poncho has all of his network,I have all of my network right.
So when we do have to cometogether to get something done,
then it becomes easy to justkind of get all of that
information spread outthroughout all the networks.
Love it.
(01:01:39):
Any closing thoughts, anybody.
Keep talking to your neighbors.
Oh yeah, build community.
That's where it's at.
Thank you, james.
Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:01:57):
We're coming on and, yeah, hopefully giving tips on
how to do this grassrootsorganizing stuff and how it's
accessible, like anybody canjust talk to your neighbor and
do it.
You could even just like bringone neighbor to a city council
meeting and talk about what'shappening there and like it
(01:02:20):
makes an impact.
You don't know the impact it'sgoing to make, but it does.
It matters.
Your voice matters.
Speaker 4 (01:02:28):
Somebody's always listening even if it's not you
know the mayor or the councilpeople?
Somebody is.
Alrighty, that's wrap y'all,see y'all next.
Speaker 3 (01:02:42):
Wednesday, so provide me on.
Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
I was like what's next Wednesday?
Citizens to be heard, y'all.
See you there.
Bye.
Speaker 4 (01:02:54):
That was super informative.
Thank you, James.
Yeah, Victoria courts.
As the cosmos connects the universe, water
connects life.
At the Cosmic Water Podcast,we're exploring the history,
mythology and future of thesacred land known as San Antonio
.
Alright, welcome to CosmicWater Podcast.
(00:28):
I'm Maureen, I'm Angela andtoday we have James Hamilton
with us, the notorious SAHAslash opportunity home tenant
organizer.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
James, if you want to start off with just kind of
giving us your history with SanAntonio, yes, my name is James
Hamilton, stringer reporter,slash, podcaster, and I was born
and raised here in San Antonio,and I currently live in
(01:05):
Opportunity Home, San Antonio, aplace that's notorious for lies
, genocide and all kinds ofwrongdoing across the city.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Opportunity Home is the new name for San Antonio's
public housing authority, whichwas formerly SAHA, San Antonio
Housing Authority.
They changed it when they got anew CEO.
And tell me, James, how do youfeel about that name change?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, you know, opportunity Home is supposed to
be the renaming and rebrandingof the San Antonio Housing
Authority.
They say it's a new beginning,a new chance for opportunities
for everyone, but the onlyopportunities that's being
offered is opportunities todiscriminate, opportunities to
(01:57):
allow people to die in theirhomes, opportunities to evict
people without reason.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
I have a long history of oppression, which I guess
becomes easy to do when you putall of the city's most
vulnerable people intoparticular localities.
I don't know.
What do you think about that?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Well, you know one thing I do notice that
segregation still exists in SanAntonio, and Opportunity Home is
notorious for placing people inred light districts in order
for them to not have theopportunities they normally
would have and to put theirresidents in danger.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
James, your grandmother lived at Victoria
Courts right.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
That's correct.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
And you were just on the phone before this with a
reporter from the San AntonioObserver, just like an East Side
newspaper right, yes.
Could you kind of explain whatyou were just saying, that that
reporter was telling you?
James and I organized togetherwith the San Antonio Tenants
(03:25):
Union specifically for publichousing tenants, and so James
was on the phone with a reportertalking about that and the
reporter gave you someinformation.
I was wondering if you could.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
So the San Antonio Housing Authority, aka
Opportunity Home, san Antoniohas a history of locking up
black and brown people throughdrug rates.
This was things that washappening since the 1980s and
probably even before that.
They were raid these homes andthere's usually family units,
(04:03):
mothers with children, and theywould drag people out and hog
time out in the yard and theywould cut furniture open with
razors and if they find a rockof crack, cocaine or fentanyl or
any other type of drug, thesechildren would get lengthy
(04:23):
sentences.
There were children that wasarrested in the 1980s that are
still in prison today.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
And you witnessed.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
I witnessed this myself.
I think I was like eight ornine years old, sitting on my
grandmother's porch and watchingthese people being dragged out
of their house.
Unfortunately, at the time, Iheard my mother and my
grandmother say these are thebad people, right?
And in actuality, sometimesit's a living boyfriend or a
(05:01):
child led astray that brought alittle bit of drugs in the house
, and sometimes it's just asuspicion of a person having
drugs and they lost their lives.
And this is all the product ofthe San Antonio Housing
Authority.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
I thought I remember because my mom she they had a
house on Divine Street.
They grew up right there onDivine and I thought I remember
my aunt saying that there waslike a national news coverage
that did like they featured theVictoria courts as being like a
bad place and how bad it was.
Do you remember that?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I don't remember that .
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Okay, yeah, and that they like were pointing out how,
like I don't know, I thinkmaybe like a teenage girl or a
young girl possibly like had herbaby in the bathtub there and
that was part of the episodejust really like demonizing the
families that live there.
You know, but yeah, but when Iasked my mom and my aunts about
(06:05):
it, you know that's where alltheir friends lived and you know
it was just children playingand that was like the noise that
you would hear from Victoriacourts as kids you know just
families and kids living theirlives or whatever.
But there was this nationalcoverage of making it an example
of you know a bad place.
(06:26):
Do you know what year that was.
That must have been either inthe 80s or the 70s for them to
talk about it.
And you know you got toremember the crack epidemic.
That was our own government andpolice putting that on the
streets on purpose, likepurposely doing that.
I grew up I mean I was born in1981, but my brother is 10 years
(06:49):
older than me and he got caughtup into it Like how could you
not, like it was everywhere,like crack, yeah, so like it was
purposely put in theneighborhoods.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I was going to ask do you know how your family felt
or I guess they might havemostly been gone, but when the
Victoria courts got demolished,yeah, there was like it was.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
It was like half and half, like they were really
broken hearted because of allthe families being displaced.
You know, the Victoria courts Ibelieve historically was
started.
As for military family, back in, back in the day it was mostly
military families that livedthere.
So it didn't have that, youknow, association with the bad
(07:46):
place of housing, public housing.
And then there was, like Idon't know, neighbors that were.
I don't know if it came out onthe news, but they were like
complaining like there were ratseverywhere, like in the La Vaca
neighborhood, like, like likegood riddance type of thing, you
know.
And so I don't know, I thinkthere's always going to be that
(08:10):
mix.
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Yeah, my understanding is that all of the
courts, or several of themanyway Victoria courts downtown
was built.
This was all during the 30s,Like San Antonio got one of like
the biggest public housinggrants from the federal
government, like in the 30s orsomething, and it was Victoria
courts downtown for white peopleexclusively.
Wheatley courts on the eastside for black people and
(08:37):
Alessandro Apache and the WestSide.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
What is Alessandro and what I don't know, but that
sounds right the Alessandrocourts.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, there's another one to you, though right next
to it, and those were for theMexican families.
And then, in starting in 2000,they just started getting rid of
everybody and demolishing themand building these mixed income
(09:06):
communities, which is actually,I discovered, is a method that
came from China.
So China started that in thelate 80s, going to slum
neighborhoods, as they calledthem, demolishing them and then
building mixed income.
So we got that concept directlyfrom China.
But because, like, I couldn'tfind any good information on
(09:31):
what happened to those familiesin China, because you know like
the state runs the media there,so nobody really knows but they
supposedly got good relocationpackages which, historically, if
you, look at the facts was nottrue.
It's always, you know they tryto say to the state in China but
(09:54):
slums don't exist, but there'szero slums, zero Like okay, you
guys just hide them all, butthere's like constant, literally
, concentration camps there, butwhatever.
Anyway, my point being whathappened to all of the tenants,
all of the families at Victoriaand Wheatley courts, and have
any other ones gotten demolished?
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I believe the sudden, homes got demolished and
rebuilt right into mixed incomeproperties.
What happened to a lot of thosefamilies is we live in the
aging community right and thosefamilies that are originally
there they probably in the 50sand 60s there.
Now the parents and thechildren have grown up and moved
(10:41):
away to different places, sonone of those people went back
to the properties that theypreviously lived.
I mean with the notableexceptions.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
I was just at a board meeting a couple, probably two
months ago.
No, no, no, I listened to it.
You had sent a video and Ilistened to the public comments,
because that's the only part Icare about really.
And there was this publichousing complex, I guess, over
on the west side, where thelocal neighborhood association
(11:15):
brought several of the tenantsthere, or a few of them elderly,
who were like, well, we wantnew buildings, like we want
better conditions for our kids.
So, yes, go through with thisplan of demolishing it.
And I just was so appalled thatthis neighborhood association
(11:40):
right, of course they want thepublic housing out, it
diminishes their home values andstuff that they brought people
and didn't give them a heads up.
And I think it's totally fairto want better conditions, like,
obviously nobody wants to livein these so-called slum
conditions, but they are nottelling them that once they
(12:02):
demolish those like Sahas likelynot going to take care of you,
they're not going to relocateyou, we don't know where you go.
Like, academically, when youresearch displacement and
specifically with gentrification, it's really hard to get
research on that because oncepeople are displaced they
disappear and there's not reallyways to talk to them.
(12:24):
James, you do such anincredible job of bringing
people's stories of housinginsecurity and housing problems
to the public and I don't knowhow I want to phrase this,
(12:44):
except that, like our tenantunion, our tiny tenant union, as
unorganized as we are, are sopowerful in this city.
How do you approach that tenantorganizing?
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Well, the way I approach it is, I start to think
what would happen if I was inthis horrible situation, if I
was threatened with eviction ordisplacement or crime.
That happened and suddenly it'sknocking on my doorstep.
That's how I visualize before Igo out and act.
(13:20):
Currently, I don't know howlong I'll be able to organize
because the Opportunity Helm hasa new tactic of eliminating
organizers here in San AntonioHousing Organized.
They used their attorney nowand they write a letter saying
(13:41):
that everything that you'reorganizing against is a lie and
Opportunity Home residents arehappy and I'm spreading
misinformation.
So every time a politician or aconcerned citizen would contact
Opportunity Home hey, what'sgoing on?
They would send that letter andthe end result is that the
(14:05):
person would say I could nolonger help you because they got
a letter from an attorneysaying that there will be
consequences from spreadingmisinformation.
And that's the tactic thatthey're using for anybody that
decided they're going toorganize against Opportunity
Home.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Does that make you feel defeated?
Speaker 3 (14:27):
No, I just love when that happens.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
James, don't say you're not going to organize.
We just got to show up to theboard meeting and call them out.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
Obviously they still afraid because they said that.
Well, we're going to send you acopy of the letter that never,
happened yet.
And.
I guess because they don't wantme to walk in the city council
meeting with something physicalin hand and say, hey, this is
what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
When has there been a moment where you felt the most
like wow, my voice makes change.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Well, the most powerful moment that I've seen
since I started organizing isthe protest on Nisi Voch's loft,
in which the man was hiding inhis restroom as protesters
lurked around outside.
Somebody told me that he wasafraid, and I'm sure he was
(15:30):
visualizing all the wrongs hedid to those people, and folks
that he was trying to relocatewould just feet outside his door
.
I can imagine the feeling thathe had, and it was so much of a
powerful experience that theopportunity board decided that
they hey, you know this has tostop right now.
(15:52):
We're going to send you on yourway.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Do you think it was because they felt bad and
recognized that he was an awfulevil person?
He looked evil, his look wasjust so evil.
Or do you think they were justscared of media?
Speaker 3 (16:09):
I think they were scared of media, but I thought
that also, that they were scaredof the people.
Hell yeah, yeah, because theyhave to live in the community
too right, and after they turnedtheir at opportunity, home is
over.
Sometimes that's when thereality said in that hey, you
did some very ugly things to us.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Do you think that we had any impact on Chagusman who?
Chagusman was the boardpresident.
Is that what they call it?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Board president right , so she's in charge.
She's basically literally incharge of everything, like
everyone's supposed to.
The CEO.
Everybody in Sahaja is supposedto do what she says.
The board has to do what shesays.
She was Mayor Nirenberg'scampaign manager's wife.
She was so out of touch.
(17:03):
I like the anger I feel when Ithink about Niso Visha.
When I is the same, I feelabout Chagusman and Timothy
Alcott, who is also gone now,and that's what I was going to
ask Do you think that we hadinfluence over Chagusman and
Timothy Alcott being gone?
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Well, I believe we had right.
There was nobody else otherthan us that actually mentioned
that.
Hey, you know it's an nepotismgoing on here.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
How many years was she on there?
And nobody would call that out.
I started saying it every whenI went to the Sahaja board
meetings, the city councilmeetings.
I'm like, oh, and the Mayor'scampaign manager's wife getting
the goods for what this womanwas, so she would just sit there
and eat the entire time duringthe board meetings.
(17:54):
It was bizarre and like and totalk down to us.
She started kind of gettingbetter towards the end.
I think she was just so scaredof what we were would say
publicly.
But but she was awful and it'slike one of those type of people
have that much power, it's,it's.
It creates really awful impacts.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Yeah, so during that time after Lisa Voce left, Mayor
Newmanberg was playing a littlebit of chess when they came to
who he would select on thepublic boards.
The people that were consideredactivists, the people that
actually cared about thecommunity, was removed and there
was placed by former citycouncil members and and there
(18:37):
were, and their families, and itgot to a point that anything
that Mayor Newmanberg wanted hegot right.
It was so awful.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
That was so awful.
How has, how can anybody everforgive him for that?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Well, it's just a last term in office, right?
So when a person's only lastterm, they tend to have a less
empathy for the public than theywere normally with.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I think that was his second to last, but nonetheless
he was.
He's such a like he's.
He was going to win and win,and win.
No matter what, and wherever hegoes next, he's going to win,
because all he is is a robot.
For whoever is telling him whatto do Ever?
Google him his pictures, youGoogle images and all they are
(19:23):
just like about his guns.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
All his muscles, yeah .
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Well, currently, there was a talk that the Biden
administration is going to takethem on.
I saw that.
And in some type of position,and I kind of believe that rumor
because the White House has ahabit of tapping into San
Antonio when it comes to the HUSsecretaries.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Yeah For housing, which is ironic because we have
such a backwards and awful anddiscriminatory history with
housing.
What would you do?
What would you do, what wouldwe do, james, if Mayor Nirenberg
became HUD secretary?
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Well, I don't know what to do, but personally I
think things would get worse astime goes on, because this man
in power with HUD right it'sgoing to be a disaster.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
I like that, showing up to their apartments or
whatever y'all did.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
But everyone's so scared.
Think about, like Jolyon Castro, who was secretary of HUD, and
before that was it HenryCisneros, I don't know Clinton,
I don't know.
Probably, yeah, probably, yeah.
(20:56):
And then Jolyon Castro wasunder Obama.
Yeah, they have such anobsession with San Antonio,
people in housing.
What was I thinking with that?
Oh, that everyone said Nobody.
What did Jolyon Castro do forSan Antonio Except lead the way
(21:17):
towards gentrification andpraise him?
Speaker 3 (21:21):
They're developers, love him.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yes, right.
So why is he this like a savior?
I don't understand it.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yeah, savior.
For whom?
Speaker 4 (21:32):
Yeah, that's what Terry was talking about, right
Like he's on the SAISD board now.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I meant to ask that.
I wasn't quite following that.
Is he really I?
Speaker 4 (21:43):
guess so, so he's participating in closing of all
these schools, which affectshousing.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
But that's just such an evil thing already.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
It's not people, it's just numbers on a piece of
paper, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
So it's easy to do.
I used to know somebody who, um, knew what they're, knew them
when they were little babies,julianne and Joaquin Castro, and
actually got their mom a job,like at one of the um, on those
little gas station, um, picnics,picnic, um, when they were like
(22:26):
, yeah, little babies, and shewas like this radical communist
right, and I'm just like whathappens, like what happens when
and I guess I can see it nowthat I'm raising kids at some
point you kind of like you can't, you can't control a kid and
what they think right, you haveto guide through values.
And it just makes me wonder,like what happened that these
(22:49):
two you know smart boys from the, you know from the hood, from
the west side, end up at Harvard, right, that's where they?
Went.
And just becoming so bougie andout of touch.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
Do y'all remember when one of them tried to show
up to an event to pretend to bethe other?
Speaker 1 (23:11):
I've heard of it.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
I think it might have been like a fiesta event or
something.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
It's a parade.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Right, Cause they're twins.
Like you can just send theother brother.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Uh-huh, I heard that everyone was pissed.
Hell yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
Like we can't tell the difference.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah, it's frustrating.
Um well, what's next, james?
How do we um adjust this?
Oh, let me say, let me say thatum cause this is important, and
this is we've been doing tenantorganizing work, for how did
you get into it?
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Well, I met a man named Poncho by this.
Yeah, he has a um.
He has a way with him that ifhe sees somebody struggling, he
would take them under their wingand teach them and nourish them
and send them back out.
Yeah, that's what he done withme.
Yeah, he was a incredible uhtenant organizer, the man that
(24:10):
built me into the person I amtoday.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Love that.
Um, if you had to put like rolesto what like, um, all of the
success that we've had as say,too, as San Antonio tenants
union, what would you say islike Poncho's role for our
(24:33):
success?
What's your role for oursuccess Like, how have we been
as this small organization, veryunorganized, which I'm
personally okay with, cause Ithink that gives us the autonomy
and sort of like.
I was talking to a friend andexplaining it and he said he
calls it gorilla organizing,right, like gorilla warfare,
(24:55):
where it's just sort of likewe're just like how does it like
?
As issues arise, we just likeshow up, everyone just take
action with whatever.
Um, but yeah, what do you seeLike where you are all of your
success has come from and wherePoncho's has, like what has
created?
What has created such anincredible and impactful tenant
(25:17):
union?
Speaker 3 (25:18):
We're a group of people with numerous skill sets
and experiences and, um, thereain't no roadblocks on what we
can do.
If we feel that our presence isneeded somewhere and we needed
to speak without asking forpermission, we can do that,
right, uh, poncho, about this,uh, he's been organizing for
(25:41):
over 50 plus years, right, anduh, that type of experience you
just don't find everywhere.
You know, uh, he's been doingit with most of us was in
diapers, right, so, uh, havinguh that man as a motivator and,
uh, hopefully, uh, we have himfor many more years, because, uh
(26:06):
, the city of San Antonio havegrew into a mindset of if you
don't have money, you're notimportant.
You're not important.
A man, newberg, uh, his way ofthinking is we always had the
poor with us and uh, and, and itseems like, uh, that he don't
care much about us, only therich developers and stuff.
(26:29):
So, I tell you, I tell yourealize that you won't know
what's going on in the city.
So, uh, being an organizer, youhave to have a the the open
mind, you have to be able to seewhat's going on and read
between the lines.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
And continue saying it.
Like you, I always admire thatabout Poncho, where he repeats
over and over again you don'tcare about poor people.
And it's like so obvious, right, but it, but it's such a simple
uh sentiment that is absolutely100% true.
That's what all of this polypolitical shit comes down to, is
(27:09):
that, like, you don't careabout poor people.
And so I always appreciate thatPoncho was constantly just
saying that over and over again,because it puts it into my mind
too to like, yeah, like that iswhat all of this comes down to.
And so how do we fight for thatCause?
That's the root cause.
That's the root cause of all ofthis oppression.
So how do we keep fightingagainst that?
What I also appreciate aboutPoncho is all his emails.
(27:32):
He just, he will justrelentlessly right, send out
emails to all of our politicalleaders until CC, all of us, a
bunch of us.
And it keeps me going.
I've said that, like some peoplecause I don't really do a lot
(27:52):
of organizing work withorganizations anymore except
with them say to, and it's whenI see people and they're like oh
, I didn't know you were stilldoing stuff, I'm like I wouldn't
be doing this if it wasn't forPoncho, just like continuing to
send the emails out, makemeetings, you know, send his
texts out like we're beingoppressed.
(28:14):
Who's with me?
Like probably like bi-weeklytext messages, and just like who
wants to me, and so we, just wejust keep on going and meeting
and hearing from tenants andthat, just like I feel like it
keeps on motivating us to justkeep on doing stuff because
these are issues that, like theywould not hear otherwise.
(28:35):
Right, like if we were notgoing to these board meetings or
to a city council and sayingthem on the microphone, they
wouldn't know that it washappening.
I mean, how often do you talkto politicians where they
there's, just they're, theycan't believe what you're
telling them.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Oh, yeah, definitely.
What a lot of politicians aresaying is well, I talked to
several residents and they sayeverything's fine.
The CEO has said you know, butthey never go to these
properties and talk to thesepeople face to face, right, and
(29:15):
with the lack of availabilitythat personally go to places,
they find themselves justlistening to what other people
say, right.
And when they hear, otherwisethey in a state of disbelief.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Truly, they are in absolute shock and it's to us
it's like, oh my God, we seethis every single time we talk
to a new tenant.
How can they be so out of touch?
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Yeah, and there's a fear factor as well.
Right, the people are afraid oftalking, right, because of the
fact that they can be evicted soeasy, or they could find
something To evict them forhousekeeping inspection.
Yeah, somebody staying a littlebit longer in the apartment
than they should have.
You know, those are therealities of Opportunity.
(30:03):
Home, san Antonio.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
When you control the roof over somebody's head,
they're most like vital lifelineright To survival and it's like
you really control their entireworld.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
The wealthy are the most segregated group of people,
I think, which is why they'reso out of touch.
San.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Antonio has the highest economic segregation in
the entire country, meaning thatthe richest people live
farthest like geologic,geographically, live farthest
away from poor people, and sothere's just like no interact or
very little interaction.
They're the most segregated,mm-hmm, and in San Antonio
(30:44):
specifically, and then those arethe people who get put on the
board.
That's who the mayor chooses tobe on the board of Saha.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
Make decisions for everyone else.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Make that make sense.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
They're richest among us.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
I don't understand it .
And people just go along withit Like, oh yeah, they're rich,
so they should be on the boardbecause they're probably
educated and therefore they haveexpertise.
It's like the tenants I'm aboutto like start banning.
I don't want to hear some of my.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
They keep us distracted, you know with the
spurs and fiesta or whatever.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Mm-hmm, yeah, beyonce , taylor Swift, all that stuff
yeah, it really drives me crazy.
Oh, what are all the getting at?
What I want to say is what hasbeen our biggest issue in tenant
organizing?
(31:44):
What is the biggest issue fortenants in Opportunity Home and
Saha Properties is safety.
The world needs to know thatpeople tenants in public housing
do not feel safe, and this islike from multiple angles.
(32:06):
It's from their neighbors, it'sfrom outsiders coming on.
It's because the police don'tprotect public housing Like
we've seen that as a themepretty consistently that the
police don't really respond topublic housing buildings and so
(32:28):
tenants don't even feelcomfortable calling the police.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Yeah, so definitely, what's happening on Opportunity
Home Properties is a lack ofsafety.
I say and this is my personalopinion, but I believe it's the
truth that genocide happens onOpportunity Home Properties.
The reason why I say that isthe San Antonio Police
(32:57):
Department and the SerifDepartment believes that
Opportunity Home is responsiblefor the safety of their
residents.
Opportunity Home believes thatyou should call 911 and the
police should handle it.
The response times are 30minutes to an hour to arrive on
(33:20):
the property.
If somebody's going to harm you, they already got you in less
right and you can't get adifferent response from
Opportunity Home because theyclaim they don't have enough
money.
I walk into a board meeting orface-to-face meeting and say,
hey, director, somebody wasmurdered yesterday.
(33:43):
Well, do you have any evidencethat that happened?
I was like no.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Oh, is that what they go back to?
Speaker 3 (33:49):
You're the evidence.
You telling me that you don'tknow that person died and got
shot and killed on your property.
Most of the time, when talkingto Opportunity Home people,
about safety, you have to dealwith semantics, games.
Well, I didn't know about thatwhen that happened.
I said you telling me you don'tknow that that person was
(34:11):
murdered.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
It's so offensive.
Yeah, people always think thatI'm really difficult to work
with, and it's funny to me,because when people don't BS
with me, we get good work done.
The people who I've done workwith inside of the government
(34:34):
will say that we get good assgrounded, grass-rooted solutions
in place.
Just don't BS with me.
Yes, that will make medifficult because that is so
insulting.
It's such a waste of my time,it's a waste of your time.
(34:54):
Why are you sitting here doingyour job, just BSing?
That's a waste of your energytoo.
So we've been havingface-to-face meetings, I guess
with the CEO, which we had tofight really hard for a while,
but now they seem to be a littlemore Open to it.
(35:17):
They're at least trying, and atthe last one, james, you
couldn't go to.
But we're always asking aboutsafety.
What are you doing about safety?
And for almost two years now,they just give us BS responses
like, oh, we don't have anymoney for that, which is like,
okay, well then let's talk aboutit.
(35:38):
It's like my same responseevery single time, like okay,
you keep saying that and we needto figure it out.
So let's have theseconversations not just in this
room with tenants, but with theboard etc.
And Then their other excuse isthat they don't have the data.
They don't have the data to saythat there's not, that there's
(36:02):
the need for safety.
I'm like just go to the tenantsand figure it out.
But anyway, this last meeting,of course we brought up safety
and I must say that Brandy Joelwas just be he, just completely
BS.
The entire thing.
Everything was an excuse,really frustrating.
But then Brandy was like trying.
(36:24):
At least she was like well,what do you think about?
Like a?
Like a car just pretending tobe security, like I'm just
trying to think of ideas, likeoff the wall or whatever.
And I have to say I at leastappreciated the Solutions
focused orientation of that.
Like an empty car, yeah, butjust because, like they don't
(36:45):
have any money.
So she's like what can we do?
Right, and she's this I don'thave a lot of good things to say
about my past experiences withher, but I have to say that I at
least appreciated that.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
You know, I must say, when I was a teenager, we we
went and visited the East Coastand driving through Rhode Island
, they had a life-size, cutout,realistic-looking police car on
the side of the highway and thatthing worked.
But, yeah, like you know, Idon't, I don't live in public
(37:25):
housing, but we live in HighlandPark and and we hear shots all
the time and we don't, you don't, you don't see it on the, the
news unless it's good forheadlines, but like that's,
that's the regular.
Like we hear shots all the time, like Every night.
So like, yeah, if you spent onenight Chilling and you would
(37:49):
hear, like that safety is aconcern, and the only time we do
see police is when they're likeI Don't know, wanting to flex,
I guess, because they'll justcruise through our little
neighborhood streets super fastor whatever, but no sirens or
anything, and you definitelydon't see them when you hear the
shots.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
But yeah, I would say that that's another issue that
we constantly have with withSahaa is that we will bring
issues to them.
For example, brandy, she acouple months ago got in front
of the board before publiccomment, I guess, to like Say,
(38:32):
make their narrative, createtheir narrative, before we could
speak, and she was like, justso you guys know what, the CEO
is meeting with the tenantsunion regularly, which I kept.
That point wasn't even true andwe are working on the issues at
Lewis.
Is it okay if I say, at theproperties that our tenant union
(38:57):
members reside at, we'reworking there on the issues
there.
But it's like they have like 30, if maybe a hundred, out like
properties and so we'reconstantly having to tell them
like, look, we're bringing theseissues to you because we need
them to be resolved and becausethese are issues that are
happening with tenants allacross the board, at all of your
(39:20):
properties, and you guys, as apublic funded agency, have the
Responsibility to deal with this, not just for your tenants but
for all of San Antonio, and that, like when you say that that
this is Happening inside of yourneighborhood too, it's like
this is indicative of what'shappening all over San Antonio.
(39:42):
The safety issues areconcentrated at public housing,
and then that is should beexposing to you what's happening
all around there too.
And they cannot see past theone, two, three cases that we
bring them up tenants.
They're like, okay, as long aswe take care of those ones there
, this will all go away and wecan tell the politicians when
(40:03):
they come to us that, oh no, wetook care of that case.
And then even the politiciansusually even the most
well-intentioned ones, won'tmove past that.
They'll be like, okay, allright, yeah, that's taken care
of, I can go back to whateverelse, when they're not even
seeing that like, no, this is anissue, this is a systemic issue
that I need to be addressing.
Does that sound accurate to you?
Speaker 3 (40:25):
Yeah, it sounds accurate to me now, since the
opportunity home knows how thepoliticians operate, mm-hmm that
a form letter from the attorneytakes care of everything they
receive a complaint.
Cinema letters are alreadytaken care of.
These are the steps we did.
We're not talking about itanymore, so you ain't gonna get
(40:46):
any response.
Joel Tobar, the director offederal public housing, which I
call as a BS expert, right,absolutely yes, you play
semantic games with you all thetime.
I had it, and you know this manAny problem that comes up, he
(41:08):
could have found a solution in15 minutes based on the little
fancy words he used, thinkingabout it.
Yeah, and I believe that's whyhe was placed in that job, right
Generally for trying toExtinguish fires.
That that comes along.
(41:28):
Yeah, somebody said somebodywas murdered.
Well, how do you know they weremurdered?
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Don't listen to the news.
They told them.
They've literally said thatBefore don't listen to the news.
I even tell my staff, don'tlisten to the news.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
I will you telling me that San Antonio police vehicle
got shot up with a hundredrounds of ammunition from a
AK-47 and and you don't knowthat that happened don't listen.
Don't listen to the news thoseAKs are really popular.
Speaker 4 (42:01):
That's what?
Because that's what I hearreally yeah.
Super popular.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
I've been.
I've been watching too much inDC universe stuff.
Green arrow, have you guys seen?
Get those guns off Off thestreets.
Yeah, yeah.
That also brings up otherthings for me about the
(42:28):
Government having too many gunsto vote.
But be on moving, movingforward With.
Saw how stuff.
James, what do we do movingforward?
Speaker 3 (42:48):
Well, we keep on fighting.
No matter how many threateningletters we get from attorneys,
we keep on fighting.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
What do you want to do about that?
Speaker 3 (42:57):
I keep on fighting, you know, for the simple reason
is okay, they could threaten mewith an attorney, but I really
doubt they're gonna go for anyfurther reason, because they're
gonna expose themselves, usingpublic money to intimidate and
try to scare the public right.
(43:18):
You know one thing I learned along time ago with opportunity
home when it's up to a fight,and Under public fight, they
tend to back right back down andtry to negotiate.
I Really do doubt that we'regonna get what we asked for
(43:40):
right under the currentadministration opportunity home.
They need to be replaced withpeople that has more empathy For
the people living on theproperties, right?
Only thing they have to do isadmit that they have a problem.
Hey, there's a crime wave atopportunity home properties and
(44:01):
we don't have the money to fixit.
That puts the politicians inthe place that they have the
incentive to fix these problems,but they refuse to admit that
there is a problem.
Speaker 4 (44:17):
And just keep talking to your neighbors and
organizing like y'all are right,cuz, like, in our neighborhood,
the displacement happensthrough court code enforcement
with the houses, and so now,like anytime we see
Developmentals, developmentservices truck or whatever like
pulling up, we're texting eachother and Keep your gates closed
(44:41):
because they can't open yourgate and go on to your property
but, like, if it's open, theywill go in there and start
taking pictures and then leavingpink slips on your, on your
door with the citations and soyeah, so Like there were two
today and so I was right away Itexted my neighbor because they
(45:01):
were getting hit big time,because they were improving
their house, they were fixing itup, they were building a shed
in the back and they kept codingthem for having materials or
whatever, but they're doing itthemselves.
And he would just like and itwas always like the same, a lot
of times the same person hewould just come in taking
(45:24):
pictures in their backyard whenthey weren't home.
So now we're like texting eachother like they're here, go
close your gates, everybody, youknow.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
So how wild is that that we have to protect
ourselves from our owngovernment?
Speaker 4 (45:38):
I know I mean it's, and they were improving their
house.
They were improving it, youknow.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
Yes, I was at a family members house just
recently and they were doinghome improvements and city
officials was flying a droneover their house.
Speaker 4 (45:54):
Seriously, yes, I believe it.
Yeah, how they do it.
And so like, yeah, there's,there's like three vacant homes
across the street from us andthen two on the other side of
our neighbor next door.
So like, so then finally, theneighbor or the owners you know
(46:18):
a couple of them are localowners or whatever and he's
trying to fix it up on his own.
He's not a developer, you know,he's not one of these
gentrifiers that come in orwhatever and flip it really
quick, like it takes time.
When you're doing it on yourown, when you're not a developer
, it takes time and they're justout there putting in citations,
(46:39):
you know, trying to get themout, and they're just trying to
improve their home.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
Yeah, I remember probably about five years ago or
so, when on Fredericksburg itwas right in between district
one and district seven, and soit was Roberto Trevino and Anna
Sandoval who were the councilmembers at the time and them
putting on like their Facebookor whatever their social media
(47:05):
that there was a new codeenforcement office being opens
up right there to get all ofthat like kind of wood lawn area
and everybody like, oh, likeyou guys are so wonderful.
And these were like people whotalked about helping housing or
tried to champion affordablehousing and it was like nobody
(47:27):
at that point saw that that isgoing to displace people.
I know Terri talked about thatwhen she was on here.
That that's how she got intohousing.
Speaker 4 (47:38):
organizing was because all of her neighbors
were getting code enforcementgetting them displaced and they
straight up lie too, Cause, likethey were one summer, they
didn't have anything on us, sothey were doing the grass being
cut.
You know, we're gettingcitations for that and we got a
(48:00):
citation for the grass not beingcut in the back alleyway when
it literally was cut like twodays before.
They just didn't bother to go.
Look, they're just handing outthose pink slips and putting
them on the doors of everybody.
And so I saw it, I took apicture and then when he came
back again cause it said, youknow, we're going to return on
this day to see if we've done itI showed him the picture with
(48:24):
the date stamp on it and then helike kind of like backtracked
and he's like, oh, we just dothose to everybody, or like like
umbrella citate people you know, admitting that like he didn't
even look because I was showinghim proof that it was a complete
lie and it's to intimidatepeople you know, it's totally to
(48:46):
intimidate.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
We need to go to city council about that.
Speaker 4 (48:50):
It was a couple of years ago, but it's still.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
That kind of stuff is still happening.
Speaker 4 (48:54):
I mean, yeah, because they were here today.
They were here today there wasa van and a truck, and so I
always go out there and makemyself seen taking a picture of
their license plate, taking apicture of their face, Like I
see you, you know like I'mkeeping track and now we need to
go to city council to make surethey know that you're like
(49:17):
really overseeing them and whatthey do, cause like their jobs
are at risk too.
Speaker 1 (49:23):
Right, if you're not doing, if you're scaring and
intimidating the mayor'sconstituents or Viagran's
constituents, then your job ison the line too and like you may
just be doing your job, butyou're putting people's entire
security and safety at risk byjeopardizing their housing.
(49:43):
Do they not realize that?
Speaker 4 (49:46):
That's the purpose.
I guess you know.
Speaker 1 (49:49):
But these are just like right, Like our neighbors
who are also working these jobs,that's true, right.
Yeah, so we gotta go to thelike director of development.
I'm trying to like like see howwe attack this right now.
Like brainstorming out loud.
Let's just turn this into anorganizing meeting guys he wants
(50:09):
to go to city council with menext week.
All right, wednesday nights guys.
For San Antonio people everyWednesday evening is citizens to
be heard.
James, how do you feel aboutcitizens to be heard?
You know so many people arelike, ah, they don't listen, all
that stuff.
Speaker 3 (50:26):
Well, this is my experience with citizens to be
heard.
Sometimes they hear you,sometimes they don't.
And if you saying somethingthat's really embarrassing that
particular city council member,as soon as you sit down, there's
a person from that that theirstaff coming over there giving
you an email address or what werewrite on it, right, if it has
(50:50):
to do with security.
they come to you and there's anofficer there you know well,
we're gonna take care of it.
Here's my personal phone numberand email address.
Do we get taken care of?
Probably not, but they can saythat they spoke with you.
Speaker 4 (51:06):
Yeah, yeah that is exactly what happens.
And even if they're notlistening, somebody is you know
somebody in that room is payingattention and writing that down
right, like there's so many,like I don't know whether it's a
journalist or you knowsomebody's staff member,
somebody's paying attention.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
I've met people there before, other people, right,
cause when other anybody who'sthere to speak, it's pretty
terrifying, right, you havethree minutes to say whatever
you want in front of the mayor,who's actually only there like
half the time, as our like.
It's usually like half the citycouncil members too, but I
(51:46):
actually like, when that happens, I'm like, oh, the mayor.
One time I did that, I likewent a couple of weeks in a row
and the mayor wasn't there thefirst time and I like the first
thing I said was well, youweren't here last week to hear
this mayor, but not showing upto citizens to be heard.
Come on, like that should be.
At least that's youropportunity to hear directly
from your citizens.
(52:07):
Where was I going with that?
That's it.
There's only a few people there.
Oh, I've met people, and soother people who are there to
speak up to are usually veryeager to talk to somebody who
also is eager to speak up, andso I've made a lot of
(52:28):
connections.
Speaker 4 (52:30):
So what are your tips for people who might be new to
citizens to be heard?
Speaker 1 (52:36):
Well, you know what you got free parking first off.
Speaker 3 (52:39):
Do you get?
Speaker 1 (52:40):
a via pass.
Speaker 3 (52:41):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (52:42):
Yeah, so you get via passes and free parking.
So you, just when you go 15minutes early to that guy at the
desk in the back, he'll giveyou a.
Speaker 3 (52:53):
He'll give you a via pass.
Speaker 1 (52:55):
And does it make up for the way over there?
Speaker 3 (52:58):
Well, the way over there how that works is you tell
the driver that you're going tocitizens to be heard at the
downtown, at the city councilchambers, and they should let
you on free.
Speaker 1 (53:09):
Oh really.
Speaker 4 (53:10):
Yeah, so you just let the bus driver know.
Yes.
Speaker 1 (53:13):
Okay, that's great information to have.
Okay, yeah, and so you can dothat if you're taking public
transportation or park in thewhat was the Frost Tower, now
the city building across thestreets.
What is it on Flores?
Speaker 3 (53:29):
No, no, no, yeah, it's on Flores, yeah.
Speaker 1 (53:30):
Flores.
Okay, yeah, right there.
And then you get your parkingpass and go to the back and the
guy will stamp it so that it'sfree when you leave.
You need to sign up 15 minutesbefore.
And so you got to go to thatsame guy in the back of the city
council chambers, right next tothe cathedral.
(53:52):
These are all the basiclogistical stuff.
Anyway, right, it's not in cityhall, it's in the council
chambers right next to thecathedral.
Or you can sign up online, andonline you can even type out.
So you don't even have to showup, you don't even have to speak
it, you just type your commentand then they'll read it out
loud.
(54:13):
So then you don't even like,it's just your name and a
comment and it gets read outloud and they have to listen to
it.
And then, yeah, you justthere's usually not many people.
I always try to tell my kidsI'm like we'll be there for like
15 minutes, like just bear withme, and then you get your three
minutes and I love it.
(54:33):
I love it so much.
Personally, I always say I hailMary before I go up, you know,
for like words of inspiration,and you just get up there and
you can either.
How do you do it, james?
Speaker 3 (54:50):
Well, when I hear it as a citizens to be heard, you
know I usually write down whatI'm gonna have with my phone and
review it like 15 minutesbefore I step up there.
Speaker 1 (55:03):
And then you just kind of like say whatever.
Speaker 3 (55:05):
Yeah, I have a talking point.
Speaker 1 (55:08):
Yeah, I like I've done it multiple different ways.
I've like written down out thewhole speech and like sat there
and read it word for word.
I've just kind of like gone upthere and said whatever, or like
that I'll just have a couplepoints and I'm like, okay, how
do I make the connections fromthis point to this point to this
point?
And then just kind of like flowwith it.
(55:29):
But I feel like I've found mybest times have been one when
I'm like really passionate aboutwhatever it is and just kind of
like say whatever's on my mind,and when I get to like stare
the mayor in the eyes becauseyou know what he does the same
thing every single time.
Can you do the mayor face?
What does the mayor look like?
(55:50):
And then he just stares at youwith that look.
Speaker 4 (55:55):
I think I'm paying attention.
Speaker 1 (55:59):
I don't know whatever they're coding inside of his
robot brain to like look at youand he just like, he just stares
.
Speaker 3 (56:07):
To me, the look he gives is the look when a person
needs to go to the restroom buthe can't leave his desk at that
particular time.
Speaker 1 (56:16):
That is kind of what it looks like.
That is actually kind ofexactly what it looks like, and
so he'll stare at you.
So if you want three minutes ofa blinking game with the mayor,
stare back and kind of crossyour eyes a little.
Oh, you want to play games.
(56:37):
Who can laugh first?
Who makes the mayor laugh first, chris, I wonder, like God.
I'm just like thinking of moreorganizing actions, like if we
go and do that and then howhe'll act the next time.
We should try it.
Speaker 4 (56:55):
We should try it.
Oh right.
Speaker 1 (56:59):
Yeah, bring media, be like, oh, we have something
really big going on, and then,just like, we're just having
staring contests with the mayorand trying to make silly faces,
and if you just do that forthree minutes straight, right,
he can't kick you out.
Speaker 4 (57:11):
Right, if you go up there and not say anything, yeah
, legally, or you can speak veryWell.
Speaker 3 (57:18):
I've seen the mayor throw some people out, but they
have to be real radical to getto that point.
Speaker 1 (57:23):
Were you there when we all like planned on getting
kicked out.
Speaker 3 (57:26):
Yeah, it's just.
Unfortunately the TexasOrganizing Project did it before
we did.
It's like oh, I don't want toget stuck.
The disruption.
Speaker 1 (57:34):
Yeah Well, they just didn't follow what we were
supposed to do.
What is like me and me and Jakewent first.
We started like yelling andscreaming and so they kicked us
out, and then it was supposed towait like a few minutes until
the next group next two peopledid it, and so that way it would
(57:55):
like keep it all going for likean hour or so.
Right, they wouldn't know whowas gonna go next, so they
couldn't just kick out everybody.
That would have stopped thewhole meeting.
But instead everybody like onceme and Jake started getting
kicked out.
Everybody just started gettingrowdy, so they all just kicked
us out at once.
So I was like that defeated thewhole point.
Mm-hmm, yeah, I'm cancelingthis meeting.
Speaker 4 (58:19):
I tried to get the black people to do that.
Nobody was down.
Speaker 1 (58:23):
Yeah, what?
Manifesting more radicalpeoples.
Speaker 4 (58:30):
Yeah, one person just went up and held the sign.
Speaker 3 (58:36):
You know, one of the biggest moments, I believe, when
it comes to organizing anddoing some what they call
disobedience right.
That's right.
It's that time when the mayorwas sitting at his desk and
somebody dropped the sign rightbehind him, right.
Speaker 4 (58:56):
Jolie.
Speaker 1 (58:59):
Yeah, that was for Page Sixleave, I think.
Speaker 3 (59:02):
Yeah, that was the best moment right there.
Speaker 1 (59:05):
Yeah, we need more of those.
There was this really radicalorganization that came in and
then left.
It was so weird, they came fromanother city.
Speaker 4 (59:15):
For Page.
Speaker 1 (59:15):
Sixleave yeah, it was like immigrant rights.
I believe it was in like 2018.
Yeah it was 2018.
And they did an action wherethere was like a river parade,
and so the mayor was like on hislittle river float going down
this parade and they put a bunchof signs on the bridges like
(59:36):
dropped them.
Speaker 4 (59:37):
Oh nice.
Yeah, it was really cool.
Yeah, we need to utilize thebridges a little more.
Huh yeah.
Speaker 1 (59:44):
And then there was this sign.
You know what?
That's another, I feel liketactic, underlooked tactic that
has been highly successful.
It's just signs.
If you can get the right wordson a sign and then get a couple
media pictures or whatever it'slike, it's really powerful.
Speaker 3 (01:00:00):
I was told that the mayor hates those signs, that
has a picture of his face on it.
Speaker 4 (01:00:07):
Gotta get more of those then.
Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
James knows all the chisme all the time.
I don't understand it, James.
James knows everything aboutall this background information
about all the most powerfulpeople.
I'm not going to ask you how,because I kind of like that.
It's a mystery.
Speaker 4 (01:00:28):
It's a big city with a small town vibe, I guess,
right.
Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
Yeah, it's really helpful, intel.
They're organizing.
Is there any other tips youhave for anybody before we sign
off?
Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
Well, let's keep the fight going, Make contacts and
friends along the way and docollaborations.
I mean a large majority ofchange that we have in the city
of San Antonio is something thatyou cannot do alone.
So if you collaborate withother agencies or other
(01:01:06):
organizations or people, do it.
There's power in numbers.
Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
I would say.
Speaker 1 (01:01:16):
That's where a lot of say to his power comes from too
is that you have all of yournetwork.
Poncho has all of his network,I have all of my network right.
So when we do have to cometogether to get something done,
then it becomes easy to justkind of get all of that
information spread outthroughout all the networks.
Love it.
(01:01:39):
Any closing thoughts, anybody.
Keep talking to your neighbors.
Oh yeah, build community.
That's where it's at.
Thank you, james.
Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:01:57):
We're coming on and, yeah, hopefully giving tips on
how to do this grassrootsorganizing stuff and how it's
accessible, like anybody canjust talk to your neighbor and
do it.
You could even just like bringone neighbor to a city council
meeting and talk about what'shappening there and like it
(01:02:20):
makes an impact.
You don't know the impact it'sgoing to make, but it does.
It matters.
Your voice matters.
Speaker 4 (01:02:28):
Somebody's always listening even if it's not you
know the mayor or the councilpeople?
Somebody is.
Alrighty, that's wrap y'all,see y'all next.
Speaker 3 (01:02:42):
Wednesday, so provide me on.
Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
I was like what's next Wednesday?
Citizens to be heard, y'all.
See you there.
Bye.
Speaker 4 (01:02:54):
That was super informative.
Thank you, James.
Yeah, Victoria courts.
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