Read: T1NC Letter to Culture & Neighborhood Services re Neighborhood Engagement Team
Read: Original job posting for Neighborhood Engagement Officer
Update: While this temporarily made a difference, the position was abolished by the end of October 2021
January 4, 2021
Dear T1NC Neighborhoods,
Happy New Year to you and yours! Let’s start the year off with a T1NC bang!
The Culture & Neighborhood Services Council Committee is reviewing the roles of the Neighborhood Engagement Officers (who are part of the Neighborhood & Housing Services Department (NSHD). Despite a yearly budget of at least $255,000, we have rarely (or never) had contact with these officers. We have attached the original job description and it is clear that they are not doing the job that the City hired them to do which is work with residents for the betterment of our neighborhoods.
We need neighborhood leaders and residents to read statements at the meeting and/or send statements to Council Committee members (instructions at bottom of page.) It is time for neighborhoods to have a voice in decisions made about our communities after months of silence. It is time to engage again. We have attached the T1NC letter to the committee members
Context: District 1 Councilmember Roberto Trevino recently called a meeting with some D1 neighborhood leaders regarding the Neighborhood Association (NA) Registry. During that meeting, we brought to his staff’s attention (Trevino was not on the Zoom) that there would be a lot less strife between neighborhoods and the City if the job of Neighborhood Engagement Officer were being faithfully and competently fulfilled. As a result, the agenda for the upcoming Culture & Neighborhood Services Council Committee has been changed from a presentation on the Neighborhood Association Registry, to a presentation on the status of the Neighborhood Engagement Officer positions.
History:T1NC worked hard in 2016 to get the attention of then Mayor Taylor and City Manager Sculley to hear our request for a Neighborhood Commission AND for four staff positions to be added to Planning/Development Services Department (DSD) that would represent the neighborhood’s interests. Our letter was signed by 18 neighborhood associations and two Community Organizations. What we got was a restructuring of the Planning Dept into Planning Department and Neighborhood & Housing Services Department (NHSD)… and no Neighborhood Commission.
In FY2018, Sculley did add four positions to NHSD – the Neighborhood Engagement Team, she called it. This team was to be comprised of one administrator and three officers with a budget of $255,000. Barbara Ankamah was appointed as Administrator and now only two officers (because the third, Erika Ragsdale, who admittedly did make a sincere effort, left.)
While much of NHSD’s resources have gone to COVID-19 and housing help since last March, members of the T1 Steering Committee met with Lori Houston last December (2019) about this issue and there was no follow-up.
NOW:
None of us in the Steering Committee (whose members cover the downtown districts) know who our Neighborhood Engagement Officer is nor have we had any contact from or assistance from the Neighborhood Engagement Team.
Do any of you know who your engagement officer is? Have you received any help?
If this program and these positions had been properly administered and carried out over the last three years, instead of making it all about the NA Registry and a few token efforts, we wouldn’t be where we are today. Not only has the Neighborhood Engagement Team been allowed to squander the $255,000 annual budget (the money from FY2018, not subsequent years), but they have squandered other COSA staff time and the opportunity to help us make our neighborhoods more stable and resilient.
We appreciate that Councilman Trevino is asking NHSD staff to present on the status of this position/program in response to our input. The Culture & Neighborhood Services Council Committee is comprised of Council members from D1 (Chair), D2, D3, D9 & D10 (their email addresses are below.)
What you can do: This is a chance for us to make the City fulfill its promise to neighborhoods. This is a chance for neighborhood voices to be heard!
Please mark your calendars for January 7th @ 2:00 pm and consider making a statement at that meeting about how much help or interaction your neighborhood has had with your Neighborhood Engagement Officer, your disappointment with the process, and your desire to see change. If you or someone from your neighborhood can’t make a statement at the meeting, please send a copy of your remarks (it does not have to be long, just a short statement) to each of the council members on the committee (we have attached addresses). If you send to the T1 Steering Committee, we can find someone to read your statement. A last resort is to send to Councilman Trevino to read into the record at the meeting. Each speaker is allotted three minutes.
An example of a statement might be as simple as
“My name is _____. I live in (or serve as) the __________neighborhood in District _____. We have had little or no contact with the Neighborhood Engagement Team.
We don’t understand how our tax dollars that are paying the salaries of the engagement team and the administrator (whose only responsibility, until recently, was to oversee this team) have been used or what have these engagement officers been doing (before COVID-19). Our community/neighborhood wants change in the future and for the City to fulfill its commitment to our neighborhoods.
Culture & Neighborhood Services Council Committee members:
Chair: D1 Roberto Trevino roberto.trevino@sanantonio.gov
D2 Jada Andrews-Sullivan Jada.andrews-sullivan@sanantonio.gov
D3 Rebecca Viagran Rebecca.Viagran@sanantonio.gov
D9 John Courage John.Courage@sanantonio.gov
D10 Clayton Perry Clayton.perry@sanantonio.gov
Instructions to watch or to speak:
Culture & Neighborhood Services Council Committee members:
Chair: D1 Roberto Trevino roberto.trevino@sanantonio.gov
D2 Jada Andrews-Sullivan Jada.andrews-sullivan@sanantonio.gov
D3 Rebecca Viagran Rebecca.Viagran@sanantonio.gov
D9 John Courage John.Courage@sanantonio.gov
D10 Clayton Perry Clayton.perry@sanantonio.gov
Instructions to watch or to speak:
The meeting will be available to the public at AT&T channel 99, Grande channel 20, Spectrum channel 21, digital antenna 16, and www.sanantonio.gov/TVSA. The meeting will also be available by calling (210) 207-5555 (English and Spanish available).
Members of the public can comment or speak on items on the agenda. To submit comments or sign up to speak, please go to www.sanantonio.gov/agenda and click on the eComment link associated with the agenda for instructions. Questions relating to the rules on addressing the Committee may be directed to the Office of the City Clerk at (210) 207-7253.
Or go to legistar at https://sanantonio.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx and click “ecomments” at the end of the Culture & Neighborhood Committee Meeting