McKee-Rodriguez, 28, is seeking reelection to a second term representing District 2. A former public school teacher, he sits on the City Council’s Audit and Accountability Committee; Community Health, Environment and Culture Committee; Municipal Utilities Committee; Public Safety Committee; and Transportation and Mobility Committee.
Hear from the candidate
The following questions were asked of all City Council candidates.
Please tell voters about yourself.
I am the eldest son of two veterans of the United States Army. After graduating from Fort Knox High School in Fort Knox, Kentucky, in 2013, I moved to San Antonio to attend UTSA, where I earned a bachelor’s degree in communication, later followed by a master’s degree in educational leadership and policy studies.
Upon graduating, I volunteered full-time with City Year at Davis Middle School before becoming a high school math teacher at Sam Houston High School and, later, Madison High School.
I was elected to serve District 2 on June 5, 2021, and sworn in on June 15, where I’ve successfully advocated for a street lighting index paired with record funding, a change to the city’s equity lens for infrastructure funding, a civil rights coordinator, additional resources for Animal Care Services, and funding for home repair and housing assistance programs, and more.
Do you have any previous experience in government or participation on local boards, commissions or neighborhood associations? Have you run for elected office before?
- City Councilman, 2021-present
- San Antonio Education Partnership, 2021-present
- San Antonio Housing Trust, 2021-present
- San Antonio Democratic Socialists of America, member 2019-present
- Texas Organizing Project, member 2017-2021
- Stonewall Democrats, board member 2019
What three issues do you consider to be most pressing for your district and how would you address them?
Community health: My district has some of the poorest health outcomes due to lack of access to quality affordable food and health care, proximity to industrial facilities, lack of access to greenspace and high rates of poverty. I aim to follow through on policies added to the SA Forward Plan including the Food Access Master Plan and insulin cost-share program I authored with Councilwoman Ana Sandoval and Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia, respectively. In addition, I expect increased funding and expansion to Metro Health’s programs. Though the city technically does not have a direct role in planning for hospitals and medical facilities, I aim to build on some of the relationships I’ve made with medical networks in order to establish a medical campus to serve as a foundation for a future hospital in my district.
Community safety: The city continues to take a politically convenient approach to safety concerns — add more police officers and pat ourselves on the back. Meanwhile, crime rises and we only aid our ability to respond, if that. I will continue to challenge that cycle. I successfully advocated for a crime and recidivism prevention coordinator who will work with city departments to help them address the root causes of crime with investments made through the lens of their department. I will continue to push for a larger office with a greater focus on crime prevention through collaboration with other agencies.
Equitable infrastructure investments: My district is in desperate need of investment. I will advocate and pursue every federal and state funding opportunity, ensure the followthrough of the city’s commitment to the amended equity lens I proposed, and begin laying the groundwork for future infrastructure projects by utilizing a master planning process.
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 will be voting yes on Prop A. I unequivocally support the right to choose, access to reproductive health care and the decriminalization (until we can achieve legalization) of marijuana. In addition, I am supportive of codifying our city’s ban on chokeholds and no-knock warrants and our cite-and-release program, as well as the creation of a non-biased justice director who will act impartially in matters of public safety.
Marijuana decriminalization and the codification of cite-and-release will get us closer to the end of mass incarceration. Our jails are overcrowded and decisions must be made: do we arrest someone, leading to their loss of employment and housing, or do we cite them and, at their required court date, give the possibility of a second chance? Texas has a 22% recidivism rate, but those who are cited and participate in a diversion program have an 8% re-offend rate.
We are quick to jail young people and those in poverty looking for an easy way out when they experience hardship. However, given a chance, the statistic above is proof that people can learn their lesson without incarceration. I believe in restorative justice, as I believe in the inherent goodness of people.
How do you feel the city has done at balancing the needs of downtown and the neighborhoods, from bond projects to budget priorities?
The effects of the decade of downtown are as clear as the need to prioritize the basic needs of our neighborhoods. Often, investment downtown or in specific corridors (such as the AT&T Center), are accompanied by promises of economic development that are never delivered. Meanwhile, residents go decades living next to crumbling streets with no sidewalks.
This bond cycle, we are proud to have struck a balance, not necessarily between downtown and neighborhoods, but between investment that is sorely needed and investment that may be catalytic in nature. D2 is among the highest recipients of bond dollars and, over the course of the next five years, will see investment of over $350 million in capital improvements based on a combination of our IMP, federal funding, capital improvements and maintenance, the bond, and more.
In addition, I successfully advocated for a change to our infrastructure formula that will ensure every district achieves an 80% pavement condition score or higher, within 5 points of each other — closer to equity than ever — by 2030.
I am confident we will make good use of the results of the decade of downtown, while placing greater emphasis on the deepest need in our city.
If elected, how do you plan to solicit input and feedback from residents in your district?
As an incumbent, I pride myself on my team’s community outreach. In a short period, District 2 transitioned from having the lowest turnout at events to consistently having the highest. My goal is to be among the top three highest-participating districts in the 2024 budget survey.
My team and I will continue to:
1. Deliver a monthly newsletter that reaches over 10,000 households, that includes surveys, updates on ongoing and upcoming projects, and opportunities to participate in upcoming events;
2. Host open office hours, which have allowed me to meet one-on-one with hundreds of D2 residents at locations across the district;
3. Operate both an East and Northeast field office, as one of only two districts to have two; and
4. Block-walk with my team, as we did last year (a non-election year), to share updates/events, seek input and offer services directly at constituents’ doors.
Read more
Once the insurgent, McKee-Rodriguez is still critiquing the city while seeking a second term
