When tickets sold out within three hours of the Rivard Report’s first Pints & Politics mayoral forum at the Alamo Beer Company brewery, we knew we had to meet the expectations of readers unable to get tickets. Director Robert Rivard immediately hopped on the phone with all four major mayoral candidates to set up another forum. They all said yes. Then the Pearl said yes. And Southerleigh Fine Food & Brewery said yes. And Overland Partners said yes.
Mark your calendars for Tuesday, 7 p.m., April 14, when the four candidates – Leticia Van de Putte, Mike Villarreal, Tommy Adkisson, and Mayor Ivy Taylor – will meet again, this time at Pearl Stable for further discussion about the direction they want to take our city.
UPDATED on Tuesday, April 14 at 1 p.m.: Tickets to this event have SOLD OUT. Stay tuned to our homepage and social media (Facebook and Twitter) for updates.
Tickets will remain at $10 and will go on sale via Brown Paper Tickets. Click here to purchase.
We learned a lot from hosting the first forum. This time, we will allow more time for questions from the audience, and we are asking readers to help formulate the agenda.
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.
The plan – to host a more relaxed, casual forum rather than a formal debate – is the same. The location, beer, and time is different. Doors open at 7 p.m. for a forum that starts at 7:30 p.m. We’ve invited the candidates to stay afterwards and mingle with constituents.
Again, we will post live coverage on Twitter and watch for questions via our hashtag #pintspoliticsSA.
Take a look at all Pints & Politics-related content here, which includes photo galleries, a podcast, and a video from the first event.
The Candidates
Mayor Ivy Taylor formally declared her candidacy on Monday, Feb. 16. Taylor is the first African-American mayor of San Antonio and only the second woman. The former District 2 City Council representative has served seven months of an interim appointment to the position following the departure last July of former Mayor Julián Castro, who resigned to become Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration. Taylor has a master’s degree in city and regional planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Yale University. Website: www.sanantonio.gov/mayor
Leticia Van de Putte, a San Antonio native who grew up on the city’s Westside, has represented state Senate District 26 since 1999. State Rep. José Menéndez was recently elected as her replacement in a special election runoff against state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer. Van de Putte delivered her farewell speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday, where she chaired the Texas Senate Veterans Affairs and Military Installations Committee. Her website: www.leticiaformayor.com. Van de Putte is a pharmacist, a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. Her husband, Pete, is the CEO of Dixie Flag Manufacturing Company, a family business opened in 1958.
Mike Villarreal, a San Antonio native, represented state House District 123 for 15 years from 2000-14. During his legislative tenure he served as the Chair of the House Committee on Investments and Financial Service. Villarreal stepped down in late 2014 to become the first declared candidate for mayor. Mike received an undergraduate economics degree at Texas A&M University and later earned a master’s in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Website: www.mikevillarreal.com.
Tommy Adkisson, a San Antonio native, served as Bexar County commissioner for Precinct 4 for 16 years. Adkisson has a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Texas at Austin and a law degree from the South Texas College of Law. He served in the state House of Representatives for four years from 1981-85. He is a principal at Alamo Title. Website: www.tommyadkisson.com.
*Featured/top image: Mayoral candidates on stage during the Pints & Politics mayoral forum at the Alamo Beer brewery. Photo by Scott Ball.
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