Latest / The Lawtino™ / Bridging Cultures and Building Cities: A Vision for San Antonio

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Bridging Cultures and Building Cities: A Vision for San Antonio · The Lawtino™

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Latino podcast where we discuss the intersection of law and our Latino communities with legal, political, and community leaders and visionaries.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get started.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_03: Hey Sean Gomez.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to another episode of the Latino, where we discuss the intersection of law and our Latino communities.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_03: We have on lawyers, judges, community leaders, and activists all talking about this unique intersection of government, law, and our communities.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_03: This episode, as always, is brought to you by your sponsor, Gomez Trial Attorneys.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: Gomez Trial Attorneys is an award-winning national law firm representing consumers who have suffered personal injury, employment harms, product liability harms, class actions, all providing the very highest level of legal services to our clients in both the English and Spanish languages and in a bicultural way.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: Today we have a very special guest.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_03: And so my co-host today, as she often is, is our attorney here, Jessica Lujan, who um, as relevant here today, grew up on the Texas border in between uh El Paso y Juarez, coming back and forth, had that kind of bi uh national experience growing up from Texas, then went off to law school.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_03: And so um I thought she would be the perfect person to introduce our guest today.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: So uh go ahead, Jessica.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, John, and welcome everyone.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's great to be here and super excited uh for our guests.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, John, do us the honors.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Who's our guest today?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so today um we have uh as our guest all the way from San Antonio, Texas, Beito Altamirano, who is now a who has been described as uh really an entrepreneur, as um a young uh leader, a young riser, a young um we'll say genius, you know, who has been involved in both public service, um in the tech space, in um the application space, um went to school at the University of Texas, then matriculated to the Kennedy School of Government with Harvard.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_03: So from an early age, he was demonstrating an interest in public service, you know, combined his very successful uh business um career with uh acting in uh public service, has been involved with the port of San Antonio and other public service endeavors.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_03: And um, and so he uh I think is uh has now declared in a very busy competitive race as a candidate for the mayor of San Antonio, as I understand it.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_03: That election will take place in May.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um he has never held an elected seat, so he is, I think, in this day and age, I would say a competitive to bring I think that's a good thing to come in as an outsider, you know, with this with a history of successfully leading companies and organizations.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_03: So Beto, uh, welcome to to our podcast.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you, John and Jessica.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_05: Well what an intro, first of all.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_05: And uh and it's great to be here to San Diego.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_05: Uh beautiful weather, uh, and and what an awesome podcast room.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, it it has beautiful art.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, and and and thank you for hosting me.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_05: I I appreciate that.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, there's so many similarities between San Diego and San Antonio, and I can't wait to to get into it.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_03: So um I thought it would be perfect for Jessica to talk to you a little bit about your youth and growing up and what that was like because she has kind of a similar story.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'd love to hear about it.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, growing up for me, it was the Daily Commute from Why does Twelve Paso.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: I know different border tones are different, right?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: So they have a lot of similarities, but they also all have their own, you know, specific intricacies.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: So tell me a little bit about you growing up, your background, what was that like?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_05: Well, first of all, this is a really cool mural.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_05: What's the story behind this mural?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_05: And and look at John with the sleeves rolled up and you know, ready to go.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_05: You know, so the imagery.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_05: What's the story behind this mural?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: It has a lot of uh symbolism and imagery.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we we try to do everything.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: So we have the red tie, clearly, always ready for court.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: His glasses is that's what he does, right?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: When he's about to have a children, he puts his glasses, takes them off, uh, puts them back on.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then I think um we just try to capture the personality.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: But other than that, we have, you know, flats from a ton of Latin American countries.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we have both Mexican and American, you know, history.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: We have uh a little piece of the border wall to symbolize, you know, the border between the United States and Mexico, everything from Aztec images, Virgen de Guadalupe.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um you can see we have a picture of a heart over there, like a cactus.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um very southwest.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, we have the Padre Stadium.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're huge.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: So really it's just to symbolize the, you know, as this podcast tries to do, uh, the interconnectedness of, you know, the United States and not just Mexico, but you know, countries, yeah, our neighbors, um, and just how interconnected we are.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, for those like listening to us, right?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, uh the imagery here is like a it's a confluence of experiences, uh bicultural, bi-national experiences.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_05: Who painted this?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: So my dad painted this.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: He Rolando Lujan.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: He's actually a deacon here in uh I I had to move from El Paso, so we were up in El Paso, he uh learned art in Italy and then um you know just likes painting.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_05: That's a nice experience.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, and look, I mean, I think this is a good segue to your question about Groffett and border.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_05: And I asked about this mural because this mural represents uh two worlds coming together.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_05: Exactly.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_05: Right?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_05: And I think in Texas, uh and I know here in San Diego, you have that experience.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_05: And growing up in the border, uh in South Texas, in Mission, Texas, I think for me it was such a rich experience.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I don't remember when I learned English or Spanish, it just happened.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_05: Right and and the food and the people.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_05: But one thing that growing up in a in a bilingual, uh bicultural, or bi-national setting teaches you about is empathy.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_05: And it's learning about other cultures and knowing that there's many worlds out there.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_05: And this intersection of of the United States and Mexico is such a unique one.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_05: And so I think for me, uh growing up in South Texas, you have uh so much complexity in the economy of South Texas, but all all of a sudden you also have big cities like uh San Antonio, and you have a border, they call it the Rio Gran Valley.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_05: And that's where you have Brownsville, McCallan, Mission, and then you have Laredo, one of the largest ports of entry, similar to San Dicidio, right?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_05: And of course the Gulf Coast, where you have Corpus Christi.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_05: So that region, South Texas, so power, so powerful, it has so much magic.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, but it's untrue.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_05: I I you know, I I I was older that I I meant to appreciate this region.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_05: Uh for for for me, I think growing up in the border, I I I love the experience, but there was something to be said about leaving the region to for self-discovery, learning about the rest of the United States.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_05: And I think uh one thing that we should do as people that that live in in bicultural or bi-national settings, is talk more about what these regions have to offer.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Agree.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_05: And brand it and tell the story.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_05: Because sometimes that story is not mainstream, right?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: And when did you leave?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, Frank.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but when did you leave?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so I left when I was 18.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_05: But I I I but I talk about like making the story mainstream because you hear all kinds of policies and ideas that politicians talk about and they see and all that, but they don't really tell the story of what happens on the border, right?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_05: And so I left, and and when I came back, you know, I was more in love with the region than ever before.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: I share that experience.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I was curious to know when did you leave?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I left around the same time, you know, when I was 19, went up to Midwest for college.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I just I've been growing up in my little, you know, border town where again's beautiful.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's beautiful, it's beautiful, and complex complex issues seem simple to me, right?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: You get along, you just know that there's two different sides, and you just go about your day every day.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I like I like that idea of making it mainstream, right?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: And talking to people about it.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so how is it that you've you know taken that on?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: How do you now promote, you know, where you came from?
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_05: So I I I moved to Austin to go to UT Austin, and then I spent some time in DC.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_05: I lived in Europe as well, Barcelona, uh, Amsterdam, but I always kept coming back to South Texas.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_05: That's where I'm from.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_05: And if I was gonna contribute to the development of the region or any region, I wanted to choose a city where I could see myself uh starting a family, starting a business, uh building a life.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_05: And I chose San Antonio, and I chose San Antonio almost 13 years ago.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so it's it's great for me right now as I'm running for mayor, because part of my narrative is choosing San Antonio first.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_05: Sometimes people, we talked about it, leave their cities in pursuance of more opportunity.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_05: But sometimes that opportunity is because it's not there, it's not present.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_05: And as leaders in a city like San Antonio or in South Texas, El Paso, San Diego, we have to build those opportunities for our youth.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_05: And so my my narrative is choosing San Antonio for people to build their dreams, their their aspirations, build their lives, right?
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_05: So when I I chose San Antonio, I I celebrated the region because of its heritage, its identity.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_05: And I continue to talk about it.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_05: Uh fast forward today, I have an I founded a nonprofit called Better Futures Institute.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_05: And we do two things.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_05: One is we get young people into STEM careers uh through paid internships, and they work around the 311 San Antonio mobile app that we developed.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_05: But we also do research on the South Texas Triangle.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_05: What is the South Texas Triangle?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_05: Is is the cities in the South Texas region from San Antonio to Brownsville, uh Michael McCallan, Laredo, Corpus Christi.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_05: There's so there is so much economic complexity in the region, so many strengths.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_05: But it's about connecting the dots and and and having the cities talk to each other.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_05: And that's what we need more of.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_05: So what I did today is talk about it openly.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_05: We do research on different areas, right?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_05: From bioscience all the way to the space economy that is being built in Brownsville.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_05: And we document this through op-eds, which people can look up on social media or the internet with the San Antonio Express News, which is the South Texas Triangle Series.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_05: We have published over 16 uh op-eds talking about the region itself.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_05: So that's how I celebrate the region.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm being intentional because I think there's something to be said about the story of South Texas and how collectively those cities need to work with each other to make it more mainstream, right?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_05: So that people can find out about it and maybe celebrate the same way that we natives or locals of the region do.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: Very impressive.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I used to talk about connecting the dots between the cities.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: How do you keep your connections between people, right?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm sure that there were people, you know, growing up who were influential in your life.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, do you keep in touch with them?
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: How do you how do you make sure that you maintain those relationships?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because at least for me, mentorship, connections, people, you know, it's been one of the most important aspects.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, so many people have helped me, right?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_05: And for those listening to us, uh just think about that moment where someone opened the door, whether it was in a job opportunity, it was an internship, you know, it was uh an introduction uh to meet someone for coffee, right?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_05: I think I always strive for for this idea that uh pay forward.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_05: So many people have helped me, and that's why I extend help to others.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_05: But in the process of supporting my community, it doesn't matter what age they are, and opening doors for others, uh, you have to stay in touch.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_05: And it's so hard.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_05: I was just talking to so I'm here with a couple of friends, uh Raul O'Malley, who is a C uh chairman uh and and COO of uh Welcome Tech, which is an impressive uh technology company, but he also led MALDEF as the chair of MALDEF for a couple of years.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_05: He knows a thing or two about the issue, so I consider him a friend and mentor.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_05: Another friend and mentor is Luis Careño, who is uh a consultant, right, uh for international business and has represented a lot of uh international brands, uh, especially when it comes to like uh trade and and border uh policies.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_05: And both of them are friends and mentors.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_05: But I was talking to Raul about how how how do you stay in touch with people?
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_05: Like for example, we were in LA yesterday, and immediately before arriving to LA, I started texting a few friends that by the way, John, like I hadn't talked to them in a long time.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, sure.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_05: You know, five, ten, five, seven years, but I was texting them because they were friends, and at some point, you know, we we we share experiences, etc.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_05: So why not reconnect?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_05: Even if it's out of the blue, right?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_05: And uh and we ended up grabbing lunch and uh grabbing coffee and catching up, and they even donated to my campaign.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_05: There we go.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_05: And so very good.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_05: And so, you know, but my point is this is that when I when I think of someone, this is this is uh one of my tips, right?
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_05: Uh when I when I think of someone, it doesn't matter what time of the day it is or what day it is, I text them.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_05: I'm hey, thinking of you, you know, love you, my friend, whatever.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_05: You know, it's just a simple text.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_05: And it goes a long way.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_05: Instead of because I mean, how many times do you think to people?
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_05: Many times.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, all the time.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_05: Random people in your life, right?
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, maybe a high school friend, a college friend, maybe a uh a business acquaintance, but and you don't text them, you don't call them because it's maybe a Saturday at 7 a.m.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_05: or maybe it's a Thursday at 7 p.m.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_05: But you should just text them and it goes a long way, and it's just a simple text just to reconnect with people.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_05: So I do that all the time.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_05: And and people know that you know they're gonna receive maybe a random text one day from me, right?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_05: But it's just that I I like to stay in touch with people.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_05: I think I also leverage social media, right?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_05: So for those uh that are uh growing in their careers, that are listening to these podcasts, or that are looking to reskill and upskill or find new adventures in new industries, the number one thing for for me in terms of networking is also leveraging the power of social media, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and stay in touch with people, right?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_05: And also talk about your journey, right?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I think what what you both are doing here, you Jessica and John, is it's quite impressive.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_05: Having a podcast that engages with people, you tell stories, but it's also uh a time for you to to reflect on your journeys, right, with your guests and talk about the services that you offer as well.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_05: So I think that's how you stay too.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us, guys.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: I did that the other day.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, hey John, just I think I'm I know you did.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_03: And you just inspire you, though.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_03: I just I just texted uh our friend Sam Licardo.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_03: Uh there you uh is a friend of mine, uh termed out mayor of City.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I was a impressive leader.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_05: I I I'm a big fan of his.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_05: And yeah, when I started my tech company, uh City Flag at the time, then the Cam Iris, uh, our go-to-market product was a 311 mobile application.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_05: And so I read all about Sam Nicaro and then and the impressive work that he was doing at San Jose.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, you know, it's just it's great to see how the civic tech world and the gov tech world have become very influential in our day-to-day activities in every city across the world.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_05: What do I mean by that?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_05: Uh technology is largely utilized in cities today.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_05: But there was a time where you had pioneers like Sam and others that were talking about it, how they would become our everyday you know tools to manage, to operate, to influence outcomes in a city government.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_05: Today, it's mainstream.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_05: Every city relies on technology.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_05: But when we launch our tool, I remember I so I went to law school by the way, John.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_05: I dropped out.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_05: Oh I was there for one semester.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, really?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_05: I didn't know that.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_05: St.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_05: Mary's Law School.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, very good.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_05: Where your wife went.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_05: That's right.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_05: You know, yes, I know Anna Fernandez, yeah.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_05: Uh you know, talking about that, you know, why why we started, and I'll go back to to the 311 app in a second.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_05: Why we started the Better Futures Institute is that you don't have a lot of Latinos in South Texas venturing into tech or STEM.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_05: And that's because historically, our communities is something that we don't engage with, right?
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_05: And that we need to change.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_05: So when I told my parents that I wanted to be a tech entrepreneur, they were like, Mijito, de que estás hablando, Pete, like Bill Gates and stuff, you know?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_05: And and I think that's uh something that we need to to fix in a way.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_05: That narrative that Latinos cannot go into these careers.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_05: And so that's why with Better Features, we're trying to encourage young people and their parents to feel comfortable with letting their their children go into these careers.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_05: Because I went into law school, uh, John, because I think that's what I needed to do, right?
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_05: And my parents wanted me to have a good life ahead of me.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_05: And so being accountant, an accountant, being a lawyer and a doctor is what Latinos do, right?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_05: Or you aspire to that.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_05: But tech, come on, right?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_05: When I told my dad, he was a mejito, and so so going back to the to the to the 311 app, you know, I I actually told my dad school para desarroll donde vas a report batches.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_05: You gotta report podvos.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_05: He's like, you nuts, man.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_05: But that was our go-to-market product.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_05: I was dreaming of that.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_05: I was dreaming of creating efficiencies in how people communicated with their local government, and we did.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_05: We launched that 311 San Antonio mobile app, largely influenced and inspired by many leaders across the US that were already introducing technology into city governments like Sam DiGardo and many others.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_05: And uh, and that was and that became a success.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_05: Thousands of people utilize that tool today in San Antonio uh to report everything from missing stuff to lights to flooding to uh asking for a business permit.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_05: And and we have facilitated uh people's lives.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_05: So talk about the power of technology leveraged in a good way, right, to create social impact in the cities.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you have such uh I'll say varied and layered, you know, background and history.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_03: Like you said, like very few Latinos from the border are going into tech and um, you know, bringing these ventures to the forefront and being involved the way you are.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_03: You know, how do you feel like your skill set, background, and interest make you the best candidate uh to become the next mayor of uh San Antonio?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so I I think my unique value proposition today is that I'm not a sitting council member or a career politician.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_05: I'm an entrepreneur that has leveraged the use of technology to create an impact in the city that I love.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_05: And I scale that organization from three people to almost a hundred employees today, high-paying jobs and stuff.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_05: And we're not just doing city technology or data analytics anymore.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_05: Now we're doing cybersecurity.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_05: So we are protecting our systems uh from threats from other countries and uh the US Air Force uh systems like penetration, penetration testing and desktop security and application platform interface development and protection.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_05: And so so I say all of that, right?
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_05: Because I think today uh in a leadership role as mayor of San Antonio, you need those types of skills, the skills uh putting the right teams together, going after the right projects, of setting a vision that may might be popular or unpopular, depending on the setting, but committing to that vision, incentival coalition building, consensus building, engaging your other council members, listening, leading from behind, and being a servant leader.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_05: Those are the the unique uh uh uh skills and my unique value proposition that I bring into the mix of about 20 candidates that are running, John and Jessica.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_05: And and you know, uh while uh it is uh uh a challenging race because of the dynamics of so many people running, people are gravitating towards our campaign because we We have a unique product that we are offering, right?
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_05: And it all started when I launched my campaign last June.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_05: We spent about four months on the road doing a listen tour.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_05: South side, west side, east side, downtown, north side of San Antonio, but being intentional about listening.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_05: When I showed up, John and Jessica, people were skeptical.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_05: Another politician took me.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: Not only that, but uh a techie.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: A techie.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: I like a millennial techie.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: Are you a millennial?
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_06: I'm a millennial.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I'm ready to have my my avocado toast right now after this interview.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_05: And a foodie to boot.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_05: So so so you know, I think people were skeptical because you know it was early on the cycle, but also usually you have a politician show up or or a candidate, and it's just them talking at the you know, at the at the at the public.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_05: And in this scenario, I gave the microphone back to people, and it was or the magic hemp.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_05: And we collected so much data, so much information, and and I also had the 311 data, which is public, right?
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_05: And I overlaid the the 311 data, the that is quantitative, qualitative data, with all the stories that I heard from the community.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_05: And so then that led us to to create our our policy framework that we call Plan 210.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_05: For those listening, uh, it's called Plan210.com.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_05: That's the website.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_05: And we're focusing on three areas infrastructure, economic development, and public safety.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, public safety, crime, animal care services, health for economic development, childcare being in top priority that we heard from the community that I know is a trending issue, not just in San Antonio, but across the U.S.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_05: uh warforce development and job creation, focusing on four emerging trends in our economy, which is cybersecurity.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_05: We are known as a cyber hub in the United States.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_05: Uh bioscience, which I know that San Diego is trending, when you talk about bioscience, which is beautiful.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_05: And by the way, when we talk about cybersecurity and we talk about military CD USA, San Diego and San Antonio both to share that background.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_05: You know, Navy, such a strong presence here in San Diego, the Air Force, such a strong presence in in San Antonio's economy, right?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_05: So we had that big similarity, right?
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_05: Uh air and space and uh in advance manufacturing for uh the the workforce development strategy that we have, and of course, small business portal.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_05: When we talk about infrastructure sustainability, how can we build more resilient cities against climate change?
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_05: It's happening, right?
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_05: And when you look at the East Coast, flooding and sea level rising is impacting all of the East Coast.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_05: In Texas, Jessica, we're just talking about how the heat is impacting cities.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_05: San Antonio becomes really hot in the summer.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_05: I know you guys here in San Diego have beautiful weather year-round.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_05: Like it's up to like 80 here.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_05: Is that pretty hot?
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_05: 80?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_05: 80s is winter time for us, you know, and and uh and housing, right?
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_05: So that makes up our plan 210.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, and that's our unique value proposition, and that's how we we differentiate ourselves from the rest of the pack.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that the use of digital media is very powerful.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_05: We have the largest digital footprint.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, you can look me up on on Instagram, social media, Beto Altamirano, and you'll see that that we're using storytelling and documentary style type of clips where people get to see the behind the scenes of the campaign and get to engage with me in such a way that is organic.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_05: Because people are like, Well, you're too polished, Beto, or whatever.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_05: Because sometimes, and and by the way, John, you would very polish yourself, you know.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_05: But sometimes people don't get to see the real John, right?
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_05: Right, yeah, and so these podcasts are helping you do that, right?
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_05: Because I mean you're a pretty cool guy, and Jessica yourself as well.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_05: But how do you tell that story in such a way that the audience gets to know the true you?
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_05: And so that's also something that we're working on, so that it's more of an approachable and digestible uh content creation strategy.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_03: How much of your campaign content or you know, public appearances or you know, stuff you know, on your sites is in Spanish versus English?
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_03: Like how do you how do you walk that tightrope?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so I need to create more uh Spanish content.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_05: I I think it's like almost like 85% English, right?
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_05: And and 50% uh Spanish.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I it's something that I need to work on.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_05: Um, sometimes I just get in the emotions, right?
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_05: And I do everything in English.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, of course.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_05: But I encourage it when the game is español, yours contesto en español in the campagna, soy completamente bilingüe y eso lo uso at my favor, no? ¿Cuántos de los candidatos ofrece hablar español?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_05: Yo imagino que unos cinco, quizás, but my mamma era maestra, no?
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_05: Entonces, I'm chingo hablando español and the casa hablando español.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_05: And no me gustaba.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_05: Andradezco, no?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_05: And it's a experience totally deliciosa, no, and then switch it, you know, to English.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_05: And it's just, I don't know, I love it.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's huge.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: Five out of twenty candidates in San Antonio.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, definitely competitive advantage.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_03: And and so, you know, one has to wonder, um, you know, you're you're on this pathway to, you know, probably making good money, you know, tons of opportunities in, you know, sort of a commercial space.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um, like, why does a person like that decide, oh, I want to be a mayor, and of all things?
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, I could like I and I would talk to to my friend Sam about the same thing, yeah.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_03: You know, local politics, like why why this job?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, John.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_05: That that's uh that's a great question.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_05: And uh look, um I my background was always in government and politics.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I spent time working in the Texas House of Representatives, in the U.S.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_05: Senate for John Kerry, uh for Barack Obama under the United States Trade Representative office with Ron Curry.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_05: It was always a trajectory, uh policy.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_05: But I also knew that I wanted to build things, I wanted to have a career in business or in the legal world.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I chose business because I was in love with creating products, services, creating something from scratch.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so I jumped into this world of the private sector and became uh a technology entrepreneur.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_05: Which by the way, right now we hear all about like the whole Elon Musk thing and how other entrepreneurs are being branded, uh, with the similar concept of being uh similar to Elon Musk, and and that's that's bullshit.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_05: Excuse my language.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_05: I think there's a lot of great tech entrepreneurs and techies out there that really care about their communities, really care about social media, and we should not brand the technology sector as being one way, right?
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_05: Uh what is happening is uh complicated, right?
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_05: But there's a lot of good people in the technology sector that really care about their communities, right?
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_05: And I just want to make it that parenthesis because that if I think it's important uh to defend a lot of hardworking technology uh professionals in the United States that care about their country, that care about their cities.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_05: And and for me, it was always that it was caring about my C.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_05: I when I started my tech company, Iris, it was with that pride for 311.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_05: So I've always been obsessed also with C's and the development of cities and how they impact our everyday lives and you know how we navigate our seas.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_05: Uh and San Antonio has given me so much opportunity.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_05: The opportunity to start my family, uh to find lifelong friends, to start a company from scratch and scale it.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_05: And that's the same opportunity I want to give back to my city.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_05: But we're also facing generational challenges in San Antonio that require generational change.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_05: And that inspires me.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_05: That inspires me to act, not stay on the sidewines.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_05: And because my passion was always public service, why not explore it?
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_05: So after I got my MPA from the Harbor Kennedy School, I formulated this theory of change of how we could advance progress in San Antonio, came back energized, had been serving for Ports uh at Port San Antonio for over five years uh on economic denominator strategies and bringing businesses like Boeing and other giants like Lidos to San Antonio and also spent time working at Launch SA.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_05: Launch San Antonio helps hundreds and thousands of small businesses get off the ground.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_05: And so I was always so involved in my community and had that background to stabilized my company, and I said, why not?
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_05: You know, time is of the essence, right?
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_05: And time flies, and you know why not use my energy and my youth uh to get back, to get out there every day, roll up my sleeves, you know, and and really make an impact, a lasting impact.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_05: Because this is my city, right?
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_05: And I know that San Diego, in San Diego, uh the rest of us on San Diego feel the same pride, right?
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_05: John, you you chose this city.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, you're here, Jessica, you're here.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_05: And I know you both take pride in San Diego, and that's why you're doing this podcast, and that's why you go out there every day, you fight for your clients, right?
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_05: It's that same pride that I have, but I'm channeling that through public service or with the aspiration to serve as mayor.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_05: And so that gets me excited, you know, about the possibilities and what we can do in San Antonio.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_05: But it's not just San Antonio, it's connecting all of the dots in the South Texas region.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_05: Being a South Texas native, being from the Rio Grande Valley, and being a product of that region, I bring that expertise also to the mayor's office where I can build that consensus that I spoke earlier about between all the cities in South Texas and make magic happen.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_05: Bring more investment and act as a proper region.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_03: You talked about generational challenges and it it brings forth the the word generation.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you're a younger candidate, you know, 35 years old that we talked about.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_03: What is the sort of age demographics of that community and and in particular the the voters of uh San Antonio and how does that kind of impact your campaign or messaging?
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, the average age in San Antonio is like early 30s.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_05: I think it was like 32, 33 in Texas as well.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_05: It's like 30.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow, yeah.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_03: How did that happen?
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I mean, you have uh you have a a people moving to San to Texas in general, right?
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_05: They lost the US after COVID.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_05: You also have a strong immigrant, hardworking immigrant community in Texas, and uh and yeah, you have that growth happening already, right?
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_05: Uh however, to your question, uh you have voters, usually voters in Texas, and I know across the the US tend to be older.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_05: That's the reality.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_05: There has to there's something to be said about maybe thinking about the legacy, thinking about who people are choosing to stay in positions of influence.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_05: As they as they continue to age and they want to use their cities better.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_05: Not sure what what why, but I think it's it's mostly that, right?
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_05: In terms of why you have older people voting.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_05: And that's that's challenging, right?
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, we need to have young people stepping up and being part of the civic life.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_05: So I would say the makeup of San Antonio is a mix, but mostly the old the older demographic is the one that always consistently comes out of vote.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_05: But that happens across the country, not just San Antonio.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I mean, often fairness, oftentimes they're voting for their grandparents who you know they may not share a lot of you know commonality with, you know, maybe a person like you might you know get them a little more excited, don't you think?
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, and and you know, we just had our campaign HQ launch one Saturday, and we saw a lot of young people come out.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_05: And I have you know over 25 organizers and volunteers that are in college or just graduated from college, and that's amazing, right?
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, yes, I mean there's a way to engage the youth, and I think it has to be with a message that resonates with them.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_05: But again, we're talking about this narrative of choosing San Antonio first, and I think there's this uh a renaissance happening in San Antonio because San Antonio's story is a very wild story, right?
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and it's a city of pioneers, uh, and it's a city of contributors, not necessarily consumers.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_05: You move to San Antonio to shape the the city and the future of the city, and in the process, you shape your career.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_05: That that's what that city offers you, you know.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_05: There's a lot of room for growth.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_05: And I feel like young people uh feel attracted to that narrative, moving to a place where you know they can build their lives and have an influence in the outcomes of that city.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_05: And I think San Diego also experiences that, right?
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_05: Uh and that's a beautiful thing, right?
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_05: A C where you can still shape the future uh of it city.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_05: I feel San Diego still has a lot of room for growth, and you have a lot of young people choosing to stay in San Diego, right?
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_05: Because of the opportunities that that the city is presenting, right, in the in areas like bioscience, for example.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_05: Or, for example, like I mean, I just learned that that San Diego has like 150 craft breweries, and I'm a big fan of beer, yeah.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_05: Right?
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_05: So that means that there's a trending movement in San Diego of young people doubling down on staying and building our lives here, right?
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_05: And that's the same spirit that that we are seeing right now in San Antonio.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_05: It's no no longer just Austin, but now it's becoming San Antonio.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_05: And one thing to explore is what we call the mega region between San Antonio and Austin as well.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, she's gonna grow to 8.5 million people in the next 25 years.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_05: So the question now whether that this region is also gonna grow is how we prepare for that growth.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_05: And I know you all are also experiencing that between San Diego all the way to LA, which you have a lot of people moving into this part of the world, mostly because you have good weather.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_03: It's a good place, yeah.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_03: I do it economics, you know.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_03: But a lot of a lot of a lot of our residents are leaving to move to Texas, you know.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_05: I know, I know.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_05: And look, I mean, I I want them to move to San Antonio.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_05: We're open for business, right?
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_05: Our story is a wild story, it's a city of pioneers.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_05: If you are interested in moving to a city where you can shape the future of the city, shape your careers, San Antonio's open for that.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_05: But hey, you got to be ready for the weather, right?
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_05: Californians, I promise you, you have beautiful weather at San Antonio's, it can get a little bit hot in the summer, but we have about eight months of really fair weather, right?
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_05: And so that's the other thing.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_05: You have a lot of winter Texans, that's what they call them.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_05: People from the north part of the United States that moved to South Texas.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_05: El Paso 2 experiences that, Jessica, and and it's because the weather year-round is is is is fair.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_05: It's it's not it's hot in the summer, but uh out of outside of that, it's it's it's going.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_03: I know your your focus now is on you know the South Texas Rio Grande, you know, uh San Antonio, Corpus Crispy, Brownsville.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we had on um a few about a month or two months ago, the current attorney general of New Mexico, this guy Raul Torres.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I know him, yeah, yeah.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he was uh super impressive guy.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_03: You know, what do you think about, you know, as we go forward, that kind of regional linking between, you know, the southwest states of Texas and New Mexico and Arizona, and like how how do you see all that?
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I think it's fascinating, right?
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_05: And I I just don't think of of just Southwest, but it's also like North Mexico, right?
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, very much.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, you know, when I talk about the South Texas Triangle, I usually include all the way to like Tamauripas and Nuevo Leon, we which uh you have like 35 million people in total if you consider Nuevo Leon, Tamauripas, all the way to Monterrey.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_05: Right now, like near shoring, right?
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_05: There's a lot of momentum happening in Monterey.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_05: Uh and and and there's just so much business to be made between uh United States and Mexico.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_05: And I know we have this like narrative right now on mainstream media, you know, from the the current administration that is putting a dapper right on the on the high spirits that we had just two years ago, right, in terms of trade with Mexico, especially on the near-shoring uh concept.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_05: Uh but but I think uh the relationship between because I'm a I'm an optimist in this uh scenario, the relationship between Mexico and also Canada, right, are are strong, they are strong allies.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_05: And we need to continue uh nurturing that.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_05: And and and while yes, uh the tariffs are being uh presented, I'm not sure that strategy is kind of worked out in the end, right?
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_05: It's just so complicated.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_05: And when we talk about terrorists, you we gotta be, you know, uh we gotta be cautious because it impacts the upstream and the downstream of products and services and outcomes, and they stay forever.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_05: And you know this, right?
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, terrorists don't, I mean, it's hard to change that, right?
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_05: That narrative.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_05: And so those policies are policies that we gotta move slow with.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_05: And I hope that this administration reconsiders a lot of this like fast movement in tap in terms of uh the trade policies that they are introducing.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_05: I say all of this, right?
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_05: Because the Southwest region to your question, John, really enjoys you know that that relationship with North Mexico.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_05: And we all enjoy a cultural uh we have almost the same identity in terms of the experiences that we have being states near the river.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_05: And that's something that we need to celebrate.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_05: And that's such a rich experience from California all the way to Texas that makes us, in a way, more connected as a region than any other region.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_05: And it's the strong Latino and Mexican-American experience as well that we need to continue to celebrate.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_05: I think the challenge is that sometimes we don't speak to each other that often as states.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_05: We don't collaborate with each other that often.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, and I wish we could see more of that.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that's why I'm in San Diego.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_05: I mean San Diego because uh at sea is San Antonio, San Diego.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_05: They have we have so many similarities, right?
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_05: From the emerging trends in the economy, uh, from the military background, uh, from being a city, San Antonio close to the border, San Diego basically on the border.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_05: Uh me, like the culture as well, right?
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_05: Having a strong Mexican-American presence is something that we need to celebrate.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_05: And as uh cities, I want to see leaders engaging with each other more often and having the opportunity to exchange ideas, do business with each other, uh, and and maybe host committees, right?
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_05: Where we can bring more people from San Antonio, San Diego to learn about the business practices and the opportunities, and vice versa.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_05: And that's something that I want to start implementing with San Antonio task forces where we travel to different cities and we do an exchange of ideas, right?
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_05: Not just like economic development.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_05: Oh no.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, because of course every city has a robust economic development infrastructure or instrument.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_05: I'm talking more about on the culture, on the arcs, on the emerging trends of our economy.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_05: And you had a lot of young people that would appreciate that as well.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think that kind of goes to one of the questions I had, which was, you know, for our listeners and viewers of this podcast that are, you know, were looking forward to this election in May, you know, why should you know, listeners or viewers or thought leaders outside of San Antonio, Texas, care about your campaign and support it?
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_03: And I I think you you just spoke to that.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, absolutely.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_05: And and I think, you know, for for those uh that are interested in in traveling from California to to Texas or are curious about Texas, um I think my my my proposition as a candidate who's running for mayor is that San Antonio is open for business, but we're also open to learning about other cities, other people, and welcoming you, right?
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_05: We want to be a welcoming city.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_05: And at the helm as leader of San Antonio, I will do that.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_05: I will welcome people from Our beautiful city here in San Diego.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that's what it's all about, right?
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_05: Uh but I also I will also add to this, right?
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_05: And it's that uh there's a chance, there's an opportunity right now for more young people across the country to step up.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_05: And that's what we're doing with my campaign.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_05: So if we receive support, you know, from a financial donation to a follow on social media or like I mean you're you're betting on the future as well.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_05: That's what my campaign is about.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_05: And and I'm coming in from a perspective of being someone with policies that might be centers to some degree, but it's about being pragmatic right now.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that's what we need more than ever in our politics.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_05: I think the the extreme left and extreme right sometimes you know tend to be really loud and and the center disappears.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_05: And I think as a as a mayor, as a mayor and someone running for office in in local San Antonio, you don't run with a party.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm running essentially as an independent, which is really interesting and complicated.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_05: Everyone is, all the 20 candidates are.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_05: But we are introducing policies right that are progressive, or introducing policies in some regard that are fiscally conservative.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_05: We are really playing in the middle right now, and a lot of young people are excited about that too.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_05: Because we are relentlessly being pragmatic on how to find solutions for San Antonio, and there there's something to be said that about that across the United States that we want to see more of, right?
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_05: And so it's about getting things done.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_05: And so for anyone listening to this podcast, you know, I I welcome you to visit San Antonio.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_05: And of course, you know, it went like that.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_05: I welcome you to have coffee with me in San Antonio.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: Hello.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_03: And so, um, where you talked about if you if they donate to the campaign, if petfollow, yeah, like where can they find you?
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and my website is bettopromeor.com.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_05: They're simple, right?
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_05: That's bettopromeor.com.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_05: And uh, and of course, my policy platform, which is embedded into the website, is plan210.com.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_05: But you can also Google me, uh, Beto Altamirano, A-L-T-A-M-I-R-A-N-O.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_05: And uh, and you can find me on on Instagram.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, we're very active.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_05: Again, you're gonna see a lot of really cool videos, documentary style uh videos, and on Twitter as well, uh, and Facebook.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm all over social media and uh and yeah, follow our journey.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_05: And and and John, thank you.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you for the opportunity to be on this podcast.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_05: Jessica, thank you as well uh for the opportunity and the questions.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_05: Uh John, you have a very inspiring uh trajectory.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_05: And um my my generation stands on your shoulders, you know, and and I just want to acknowledge that.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_05: And then the and the work that you continue to do, it's important uh because it continues to inspire young people uh and and we need more champions again.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate those kind words.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_03: The honor is all ours.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_03: Uh final question.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_03: I have one final question, wrap-up question.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_03: You have one final question for the next mayor of San Antonio.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you convince me to go to San Antonio.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, cool.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_01: I've I haven't been in over 10 years.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: If I were to go, what's what restaurant do I need to go?
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_01: There's a big competition in America.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_01: So in El Paso, we say it's Tex-Mex.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_01: So what's a good restaurant I can go to?
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so you have Garcia's, which is made the the Michelin guide.
• 47:33
  unknown: Wow.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_05: The recommendation Michelin guide.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, not with a star, but it's part of the recommendations uh from the Michelin guide.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, but you have Leche Dire, which is an incredible Peruvian uh restaurant.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_05: Uh it's Southtown San Antonio.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_05: Um, yeah, you have a bunch of restaurants, Southerly as well.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but I would say Clementine is another of my favorite restaurants.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_05: I'm giving you a bunch, right?
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_05: I love that I don't because you don't want to lose any boats.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I don't.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_05: No, there's just so many restaurants uh in San Antonio.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_05: But also, I mean, one thing about Texas is that you know we we love uh What burger, right?
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_05: So if you're in Texas, you need to have one of those.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_05: And and we have a lot of craft uh breweries as well.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_05: Uh but uh a typical day in San Antonio is like you you hang out, maybe, but you go to the riverwalk and you grab a beer somewhere, then you you visit one of those restaurants I mentioned for lunch, you visit Southtown King within, which is a historic neighborhood.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_05: Uh you can kayak on the river walk.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_05: Now you can do that.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_05: And then you can spend the afternoon at uh the Pear Brewery, which is a beautiful new development that connects the the river walk from downtown all the way to Midtown, and you can walk all of that, get to the Pearl Brewery, have lunch there, uh enjoy the scenery, maybe catch a Spurs game in the evening.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, right.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, that's a good deal.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_05: There's a lot to do, yeah.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_05: And our airport is is friendly as well, and uh and and San Antonio is still affordable, right?
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_05: So you can you can have a great time and on budget and and enjoyed uh gastronomy and and a good nightlife as well.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great thing.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you for that.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and so here's my wrap up question.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_03: I'm stealing it from a podcast that I've started listening to lately.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_03: Have you heard of the Cracks podcast with Oso Trava?
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_03: Or secuest uh guests, he says if you could write words in the sky and the clouds for millions to see, yeah, to be inspired and to last forever, what words would you choose to write?
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_05: Believe in yourself, believe in yourself.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_05: You have to believe in yourself before anyone else believes in you.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_05: So believe in yourself.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_03: Love it.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you so much for being a guest.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it is an honor.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_03: We look forward to supporting your campaign.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, look forward to getting out to San Antonio.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_03: We'll just come out there and uh drink a bunch of beer and do our kayaks.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_03: And we'll do cavecito.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_05: And by the way, I just acquired a coffee shop.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_05: So I'll anyone who is in town and my coffee shop is a shotgun coffee.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_06: Shotgun.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_05: I love it.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, very good.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_05: By the shotgun houses, right?
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_02: We'll go there too.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'll host you there.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you so much for taking time out of your very busy schedule to spend time with us.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_03: It was an honor.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_03: We look forward to seeing the future of San Antonio and all things beyond that.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, this concludes this episode of the Latino.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we hope you enjoyed it.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_03: If you like it, uh please share and subscribe.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_03: Until next time, uh, signing off.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and let's keep in mind that important connection between law, uh, legal, political, and governmental leaders and our Latino communities.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, D.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_03: John.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Jessica.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Latino podcast.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you again next time.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_00: And be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.