Longoria, 57, is a first-time candidate for elected office. He is a Navy veteran and worked as a professional photographer.
Hear from the candidate
The following questions were asked of all mayoral candidates.
Please tell voters about yourself.
I was born in Fresno, California. My father was in the U.S. Navy and my mother was close by his duty station. We moved to the Hill Country in 1977. I graduated from Llano High School in 1984. In 1986 my family moved to San Antonio. In 1988 I had joined the U.S. Navy and became an electronics warfare petty officer third class, serving on board the famous USS Simpson FFG-56. While on deployment in the Persian Gulf conducting Operation Earnest Will, in February of 1990 the Surf City oil tanker exploded and the USS Simpson saved 22 sailors. After being honorably discharged from the Navy I attended McLennan Community College and obtained an associate of arts degree in 1993. I was accepted to UTSA and earned 119 credit hours. After I left school, I pursued a 25-year career in professional photography and an independent filmmaker. I’m currently working as a dishwasher in a bakery.
Do you have any previous experience in government or participation on local boards, commissions or neighborhood associations? Have you run for elected office before?
I have been elected and served in student governments in colleges I attended.
What three issues do you consider to be most pressing for San Antonio, and how would you address them?
Crime: To reduce crime in San Antonio by increasing the San Antonio police force by 300 to start. SAPD is severely undermanned. I would negotiate terms for the retiring officers to hold off retirement for two years in order to strengthen the force to fight crime more effectively.
Homelessness: This is a serious problem for San Antonio. We have to try a strict and different approach to solve this problem. The homeless trespass and squat in houses and property. It is time to follow the law and charge high abatement to land and home owners for trash cleanup and to have them file a trespassing affidavit on anyone on these properties. Arrest and detain anyone on these properties, then move the homeless into homes or into county and state facilities to acquire the help they need for addiction and or mental Illness. It is time to have them follow a path back into society and become a productive member of society.
City spending: First, get rid of costly failed programs. Second, I would go through each department and audit all departments to see where and how all the money of the city of San Antonio is spent and used.
Do you support the proposed city charter amendment, known as Proposition A or the Justice Charter, that would bar certain policing tactics, decriminalize abortion and low-level marijuana possession and create a city justice director to oversee criminal justice policy? Why or why not?
I am against Proposition A. Unnecessary spending and creation of a new department. It will ruin business with rampant theft and property damage. If Prop A passes, all crime will increase, businesses (retail, restaurants, etc.) will move out of the city. People will lose their jobs and no one will be safe. Home burglaries will go up as well.
Do you think San Antonio is still an affordable city? Why or why not? What’s the role of local government in keeping it affordable for working people?
No. The apartment complexes and homes are charging too much for rent. Out of state people are moving here because the cost of living is high where they had lived. Now they pay less than where they had lived. San Antonio residents are having to pay above $1,200 for single bedrooms. The average pay is $12 an hour with the increase of inflation on food and mortgage rates are increasing. Most are not able to live on their own.
What does the city government need to be doing that it’s not currently doing to prepare for San Antonio’s continuing growth?
Find more ways to preserve water. Israel has a new technology called ”atmospheric drinking water devices.” This could be a technology to examine on a grand scale. Attract to San Antonio big businesses in manufacturing, technology, and industry with tax incentives. The city is expected to double in population from 1.5 million to 3 million within the next 32 years, according to the 2019 SAWS Conservation Plan. We need to prepare for that with public safety, city services, transportation and much more.
