A District 2 City Council candidate forum at Southwest Preparatory School quickly turned into a dog and pony show Wednesday night.
Operators of horse carriages that sell rides to downtown tourists filled the audience to question first-term Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) about his proposal to phase out their industry — a conversation that carried on long after other attendees and candidates had gone home.
The issue dominated a wide-ranging policy forum, which also included a spirited discussion about how candidates would use the role to prevent dog attacks like the one that killed an 81-year-old man earlier this year. Neither issue was talked about at length during a District 2 forum the previous night, at which candidates focused on Proposition A, policing, development and property taxes.
“For me, the issue is animal welfare,” McKee-Rodriguez said, referring to the carriage horse proposal. “I don’t think it’s right to have horses operating downtown … in the weather that they’re operating in, with the exhaust fumes.”
Amid boos from the roughly two dozen carriage industry representatives in the audience, he doubled down.
“Whether [or not] it’s popular in this crowd … I’m going to stand on the fact that I did that,” McKee-Rodriguez said, pointing to a citizen-led petition that called to end the carriage horses. “I’m going to stand on the fact that I have been a champion for a number of issues related to equity and animal welfare.”
McKee-Rodriguez faces nine opponents on the May 6 ballot in his first bid to win reelection, including longtime Government Hill Alliance Neighborhood Association President Rose Hill, who previously ran the D2 Presidents Roundtable, which hosted the forum. Hill said afterward that she invited the carriage operators to the event to confront the councilman.
Another candidate, Denise Gutierrez, is married to a veterinarian and also working to make McKee-Rodriguez’s approach to animal welfare a campaign issue.
Gutierrez has criticized McKee-Rodriguez for a 2022 Council Consideration Request he filed asking the city’s Animal Care Services department to reduce the number of dangerous dogs it euthanizes.
At Wednesday’s forum she criticized him for continuing to throw money at ACS, which she said has failed to engage industry experts on its plans to address the vicious dog problem.
“Mr. [Ramon Najera Jr.] was a victim … because ACS didn’t do their job,” Gutierrez said.
McKee-Rodriguez contended he has prioritized addressing problems at ACS, which he said has long been underfunded, since taking office.
“The city has not invested in the way that they need to at ACS and they have not been enforcing or holding ACS accountable, nor have we ourselves have been accountable as the proprietors of ACS,” McKee-Rodriguez said.
Before a crowd of some of the councilman’s most vocal critics Wednesday night, other candidates and audience members piled on.
Candidate Carla Walker said she’d visited the carriage horse stables and disagreed with a proposal that would put their employees out of work.
“That affects so many families,” Walker said.
After three audience questions were directed at McKee-Rodriguez about the carriage industry — including one about how the horses’ welfare might be impacted by Proposition A — the topic was barred by moderator Gordon Grabill, president of the Camelot Neighborhood Association.
“We’re gonna cut everybody off on the horses,” Grabill said. “Horses have had enough.”
The Council Consideration Request signed by McKee-Rodriguez and council members Manny Pelaez (D8), Adriana Rocha Garcia (D4) and Phyllis Viagran (D3) in November suggested all carriages permits should be allowed to expire by Dec. 31, 2023. Mayor Ron Nirenberg also supports the move.
The proposal came as the carriage operators last year sought allowances to work in higher temperatures and regardless of ozone alerts. Both ideas were supported by the city’s contracted equine veterinarian, who spoke out against McKee-Rodriguez’s CCR.
On Wednesday McKee-Rodriguez told the carriage operators it would probably take a year for the city to even begin crafting a carriage horse proposal, making the Dec. 31 deadline irrelevant. The city’s process would entail creating a committee of industry experts, he said, and if he has his way, animal welfare advocates as well.
“It could either get ugly or be constructive,” McKee-Rodriguez said in an interview after the forum. “I’m optimistic that the solution will be thoughtful and made with the best possible outcomes in mind.”
That answer didn’t satisfy the carriage industry representatives, who say their livelihood is being threatened with no communication from the council members or the city. Last year they partnered with an advocacy group for animal-related businesses, The Cavalry Group, to secure legal representation and create a petition to support their work.
Carriage industry representatives are also campaigning against McKee-Rodriguez, said Stephanie Garcia, owner of the Yellow Rose and H.R.H. Carriage Company who attended Wednesday’s forum.
“We’re obviously following Rose Hill,” said Garcia. “We’re actually promoting her while we’re out in our carriages.”
After the forum McKee-Rodriguez stuck around to chat with the carriage company owners. Though he conceded they weren’t likely to see eye-to-eye, he agreed to visit their stables to see how the horses were cared for.
Although McKee-Rodriguez drew the most challengers of any incumbent council members and a handful of business groups oppose the Democratic Socialist, those groups have yet to coalesce around a challenger.
According to a campaign finance report covering Jan. 1 through March 27, McKee-Rodriguez raised roughly $40,000 and had $15,000 left for the campaign’s final month. The next closest in fundraising was Walker, who raised about $7,000 in that span and had $4,000 left.
