San Antonio Council Chooses Interim Mayor

Appointed by Council, the great city of San Antonio has a new Mayor.  Here’s the breaking news story from KENS channel 5

City Council has chosen Ivy Taylor as the new interim mayor….

Taylor is the city’s first black woman mayor. She started her career in Housing and Community Development Department and Neighborhood Action Department. Taylor joined District 2 as a councilwoman in 2009. Taylor also boasts a Master’s Degree in City and Regional Planning and has a Bachelor’s from Yale.

The vote came down to the 10 council members at Tuesday’s meeting. Mayor Julian Castro is headed to Washington D.C. to begin his job as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Thursday.

Taylor’s tenure as Mayor commenced immediately following Secretary Designate Castro’s resignation, both of which occurred in today’s meeting of City Council.

Today’s appointment is likely to cause concern in the city’s LGBT community, as Ivy Taylor was one of three City Council members that voted against the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance in 2013.

District 2’s former Council member also announced that she has no plans to run for Mayor in 2015.  This being the case, it’s unlikely that Taylor would try to re-fight old battles, which should give the LGBT community some measure of comfort.  Sans an incumbent or a clear front-runner, the race promises to be exciting.  But for now, it’s time to hope for the best, and look forward to some great municipal politics in 2015.

Texoblogosphere: week of July 21st

The Texas Progressive Alliance mourns the tragedy of MH17 as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff looks at Travis County’s design for a new kind of voting machine, one that will add security, ease of use, and an honest to goodness paper receipt.

From WCNews at Eye on Williamson, Democrats running for office in Texas should make every Republican answer about Abbott’s chemical issue, Abbott Hemmed In By The GOP’s Ideology.

As the federal trial over Texas redistricting began, a series of GOP e-mails outlining their anti-Latino mapping strategy was revealed. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs observes that the outcome won’t be known for months, and the decision won’t affect the 2014 midterm elections, but the case for the Republicans looks very grim.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants everyone to know that the Texas Tribune exposes Dan Patrick as a liar and Leticia Van de Putte as a truth teller.

Texas (more like Rick Perry, Greg Abbott and Republicans) did not accept the Medicaid expansion, leaving millions of Texas’ poorest families without healthcare options. But this week as Texas Leftist discovered, there are over 800,000 Texans that qualify for Medicaid and CHIP under current policy, and just don’t know to sign up. Even as we fight for expansion, helping these families is something that can be done right now.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Lone Star Ma is busy block-walking for Wendy.

The Texas Election Law Blog highlights a few issues with the Comptroller’s webpage on the relative level of debt financing of counties, cities, school districts, and special law districts.

The Lunch Tray reminds us that summer camp is another opportunity for kids to get loaded up with junk food.

Grits wants to know why DPS is doing a full set of fingerprints for every drivers license renewal, even though the Lege has not authorized that.

BOR reports on State Senate campaign finance reports, where Libby Willis leads her opponent in SD10 and Rita Lucido is holding her own in SD17.

And finally, the TPA congratulates Andrea Grimes on her new gig as “State of the Media” columnist for the Texas Observer.

 

(photo credit:  JSVideos on Shutterstock)