Santos Alvarado is a U.S. Army veteran who retired after 23 years of combined Army Reserves and U.S. Army active duty in 2011.
Hear from the candidate
Please tell voters about yourself.
My name is Santos Alvarado, I was born on the westside of San Antonio. San Antonio has been my home all my life. But I have lived in many places while serving in the US Army and working in Germany as a U.S. Government employee. I had all my schooling at Edgewood ISD until 1975 when I enlisted in the US Army.
I served for 23 years in the Army and Army Reserves, I held various leadership positions in the Army, and I retired in 2011. I am a lifetime member of the DAV, VFW and the American Legion. The only office I have been elected to is Commander of the Department of France American Legion, then with a membership of 3,980. This is my first time running for public office.
In a field of 27 mayoral candidates, what differentiates you from the others?
I have been a public servant since the age of 17 when I left San Antonio to serve in the US Army. That to me is service to my country. Now I am running to be of service to the citizens of San Antonio and not for myself. I bring leadership where there is no I in Team, I hope to inspire city council members to work together. I believe it is important to inform the public of any council decisions that they will live with before it is put to a vote. The public has a right to know.
If elected, you would be taking over at a time when the city has spent more than a year negotiating a massive downtown redevelopment effort in Project Marvel. How would you approach this project?
Project Marvel should be put on hold until after the election. If not, the newly elected
City Council would be left to clean up any problems that they did not start. After the
election, I would put the project on hold so that newly elected officials could get more
support from the voters, if it is really what they will support. I would not support the use of taxpayers funding or raising taxes, but if should be what the voters want, not me. Taxpayers’ funding should be used for street repairs and hiring more help for law
enforcement.
In the city’s 2024-2025 budget survey, residents ranked homelessness, streets,
housing and animal care services among their top concerns for the city to address. Which issues do you consider a top concern and how would you work to address them in your first 100 days?
I consider them all top concerns. For these three issues, I have possible solutions:
homeless, affordable housing and animal cares services.
For the homeless, I would create a commission with authority to independently come up with policies that will work for San Antonio. For example, planning and program policies to reduce the homeless population through affordable housing or mental health services.
Affordable housing is a need that seems to just keep growing. San Antonio needs its own standards for income and housing qualifications. People that fall in between low and middle income still need to work more than one job to afford to stay housed.
Animal cares services have an important role in the enforcement of policies related to protecting citizens from loose and vicious animals. Establish a random schedule for dog violation patrols around the city by trained staff. For dog owners that are cited allowing dogs to run loose, they would be required to perform community service at ACS in lieu of fines.
How would you approach working with both state leaders in Austin and a new presidential administration in D.C.?
Currently the priorities of both state and federal administrations are not bread and
butter issues that we can tell. As taxpayers, San Antonio citizens also have a right to
receive a fair share of funding from these administrations. I would have to work with
members of the City Council and staff to find the best approach to reach a solution for
the continuation of funding of all projects.
