Nearly 10 months into her first term, San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones used her first State of the City address Tuesday to outline the challenges ahead and defend a governing approach that has drawn clashes at City Hall as she pushes the city to move beyond “business as usual.”
Speaking at the Tobin Center, Jones framed the moment as one defined by tightening finances, a smaller bond package and uncertainty driven by state and federal policy changes — all of which, she said, will force the city to make more deliberate choices about how it spends and grows.
“The state of our city is the choice between status quo — business as usual — or something better, strategic choices that will define our city,” Jones told the packed venue.
The event put on by the Greater San Antonio Chamber was grounded in her personal ties to the city, opening with a performance from her alma mater John Jay High School’s Mariachi Jalisco and a video featuring interviews with childhood friends. The program noted that the menu was inspired by her Filipino heritage.
The address mixed early accomplishments with a forward-looking message centered on fiscal pressure and long-term positioning, while offering insight into how Jones sees her role after a politically turbulent first year.
Among the early accomplishments Jones highlighted were moving municipal elections from May to November, raising and distributing emergency funds in response to SNAP benefit disruptions, establishing advisory groups focused on economic and educational opportunity and pursuing international partnerships in emerging industries.
Still, the focus of Jones’ address was less on what’s been done and more on the difficult choices ahead.
Jones said the city’s next infrastructure bond package is expected to total about $600 million — nearly half of the 2022 bond — requiring hard choices about “what we want and what we need.”
At the same time, she warned the upcoming fiscal year 2027 budget will be more difficult than the last, with potential ripple effects from federal policy changes, including cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, CHIP and SNAP.
“While frustrations are understandably high in our community about what is coming down from Washington and Austin,” Jones said, “we are fortunate to still have steps we can take to determine our own trajectory so our community is not left behind.”
To address that uncertainty, Jones said she directed city staff and community partners last fall to run worst-case scenario exercises around potential losses in federal funding for public health and affordable housing programs.
“The biggest choice before us is how and whether we want to help ourselves.”
That idea — helping ourselves — carried through much of her remarks, particularly when it came to economic development.
Jones has increasingly tied San Antonio’s future to industries she views as critical to both economic and national security, including artificial intelligence, quantum technology, biotechnology and space manufacturing. She pointed to the mayor’s Economic Security Advisory Group and a recent economic delegation to Taiwan as part of that strategy.
During that trip, Jones said she met with local officials and industry leaders, including conversations about how cities position themselves for investment from major semiconductor manufacturers. In those discussions, she said, it became clear San Antonio is not always part of the initial consideration process.
While companies are familiar with larger Texas cities like Houston, Dallas and Austin, Jones said many have little awareness of San Antonio despite its lower cost of doing business and growing workforce in fields like cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing.
In one exchange with a Taiwanese mayor, Jones said she was told that “opportunity goes toward those who are ready.”
For Jones, the takeaway was straightforward: San Antonio cannot wait to be discovered.
“We don’t have the luxury of time or waiting around to say, ‘Hey, let’s see if Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company thinks about San Antonio,’” she said. “We’ve got to give them a reason to think about us.”
At the same time, Jones emphasized that positioning the city for that kind of growth requires investing in its workforce.
Jones said that need to be more proactive was reinforced early in her tenure by a conversation with Gov. Greg Abbott. Jones said Abbott told her plainly that San Antonio needed to “up its economic development game” — a point she said has only become clearer in her first 10 months in office.
Jones said the city has more opportunities to distinguish itself from Houston, Austin and Dallas, not only through quality of life but through the industries already taking root here.
That argument tied back to one of the identities Jones returned to repeatedly throughout the address: San Antonio as Military City USA.
She repeatedly pointed to addressing veterans issues, including a push to prohibit housing discrimination against those using federal VASH vouchers.
“We don’t deserve to call ourselves Military City USA if we allow veterans seeking affordable housing to be discriminated against simply because they are using a voucher to pay,” she said.
The tone of the address — and the discussion that followed — also reflected how Jones has approached the role since taking office.
During a question-and-answer session, Andrea Drusch, San Antonio Report’s Senior Government and Politics Reporter, noted that voters last year chose a mayor from outside of City Hall — something San Antonio has only done one other time in 70 years — and asked how that has shaped Jones’ approach.
Jones said that while she cannot pinpoint the exact reasons voters chose her, her background and the values she carried on the campaign trail continue to shape her approach on the job.
“I think it looks like questioning how things have been done in the interest of moving our entire city forward,” she said. “So we’ll continue doing that.”
That approach has not come without friction.
Since taking office, Jones has clashed with council colleagues over both policy and process, including early attempts to change internal procedures and sometimes a more confrontational approach to negotiations. Those tensions culminated in a formal censure earlier this year following a dispute with Councilmember Sukh Kaur of District 1, who did not attend the address.
Still, Jones argued the city’s circumstances require a willingness to try something different.
“I think asking tough questions and offering a potentially different way of doing things — with the data that supports why that approach makes sense — is fair, and it’s what our city deserves,” she said. “We’re the third poorest city in the country. We can try different things.”
That same mindset shapes how she approaches the bargaining table, whether with utility leaders on rate increases or with the Spurs over revenue-sharing agreements tied to Project Marvel.
But Jones acknowledged she will not always get what she asks for.
“I learned a long time ago there’s a difference between what I want and what I can get,” she said. “I also learned a long time ago, closed mouths don’t get fed.”
Jones closed on a more personal note when asked about what she tells herself on the harder days on the job.
“You don’t have to do this,” Jones said. “You get to do this. It’s an honor to serve.”
