Thirteen people applied to be appointed the interim City Council representative for District 2, filling the remainder of William “Cruz” Shaw’s term.
The application period, which was less than three weeks, closed Friday at 5 p.m. City officials released applicants’ names following the deadline.
City Council will review the applications and appoint an interim council member for District 2, which includes the East Side, on Thursday, Jan. 10. San Antonio voters will decide on May 4 who will serve for the next two years. Shaw is resigning from City Council to become an associate judge in Bexar County district court and will formally leave office Jan. 7.
Here’s the list of applicants and their occupation as they appear on the City’s website and applications, supplemented with information available online. Click to download their applications:
- Walter Perry, student, worked for San Antonio for Growth on the Eastside (SAGE) and founded Suit Up!
- Jada Sullivan, disabled veteran
- Dan Martinez, retired, former owner of billboard advertising company
- Michele Bailey, special education teacher
- Chris Dawkins, software business owner, former president of the Lakeside Neighborhood Association, unsuccessfully ran for House District 120
- Christopher Green, master teacher
- Dereck Hillyer, firefighter who is in the process of retiring
- Aubry Lewis, retired, president of the Denver Heights Neighborhood Association
- Lester Bryant, self-employed, former VIA Metropolitan Transit board trustee
- Denise Gutierrez-Homer, interior designer/artist/teacher
- Art Hall, attorney, director at Alamo Colleges, former District 8 Council member
- William B. Johnson, retired
- Stephen Lucke, youth development/health and wellness
The results of an unofficial, community process came to a head earlier this week when some church and neighborhood leaders announced they want Hillyer to take the interim and two-year seat on Council. Others, however, have said that process was not representative of the community at large.
Filing for the May elections opens Jan. 16 and closes Feb. 15 at 5 p.m..
District 2 has the city’s largest population of black residents (21.4 percent), according to U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey estimates, and 55.8 percent of its population is Hispanic. The East Side was neglected in previous decades but a recent increase of public and private investment has added gentrification and development to a list of resident concerns that includes public safety and poverty.
