2017
Candidate Questionnaire
2017 Mayoral/City Council Candidates
Health Care Questions
Manny Pelaez, District 8
1. Despite affecting everyone in
this community, "community health and wellness" has not been a big
priority at City Hall. "Community health and wellness" had one third
of the ranking that "streets" received in community input via
SpeakUPSanAntonio. Yet it impacts our well being, workforce, economic
development and the prosperity of San Antonio.
What health-related areas do you think deserve
increased attention, priority, and local resources, and, if elected, how
would you elevate the discussion of these health issues at City Hall and lead
effective action to improve health and healthcare in our community?
San Antonio is woefully low on the list of cities that are
considered walkable. Except for a small handful of walkable pockets and parks,
San Antonio offers very little for citizens who want to bike, walk, jog, and
play outside. Social scientists now know that where a person lives
is inextricably tied to how a person lives and that person’s health.
I, and many others, are alarmed at San Antonio’s health problems that
have direct relationships to how our city is laid out, developed, and planned.
I am particularly alarmed by city planner’s refusal to embrace walkability as a
best-practice for future development. We need city council
leadership that is willing to admit something very difficult to admit:
That we’ve been doing it all wrong. If elected I will make walkable communities the topic of a long
and difficult discussion with planners, developers, neighborhood associations,
the medical community, schools, VIA, and opinion leaders. I will force a long
overdue conversation about changing the way we have allowed San Antonio to develop. We can no longer
apply the car-centric model of planning and thumb our nose at science.
2. Bexar County is the
primary source of funding for indigent health care in our area through the
Bexar County Hospital District and University Health System. How would you, if
elected, promote cooperative efforts to increase services and access to care
for the citizens of San Antonio? I am the General Counsel for Family Violence
Prevention Services, also known as The Battered Women & Children’s Shelter.
I have first hand experience and expertise in delivery of services to
vulnerable populations. I also have hands-on experience with creating
coalitions between government and private organizations for the purpose of
The county and city governments have done significant work in bringing
private institutions to the table to help address problems related to indigence;
San Antonio can and must do more. Other cities, such as San Diego and Chicago,
invest much more (per capita) in time and money creating opportunities for
NGOs, hospitals, medical schools, and private practitioners to
leverage their own expertise in helping the communities address problems like
diabetes, cancer, infectious disease, alcoholism, child abuse, and mental
health. We must look to those cities that are being bold in this regard
and we must not be shy from adopting their strategies. Also, we must be
more demanding of ourselves and hold each other more accountable. I
plan on creating an incentive program so that the city will reward medical
students, dental students, and nursing students for their pro-bono
community service. My aim would be to inculcate in them a desire to keep
serving after they graduate.
3. The disparity of
health care between our poorest and wealthiest zip codes/districts is quite
striking (Bexar County Health Collaborative 2016 report). How would you, if
elected, reduce health disparities and improve health outcomes for our lower
income communities/citizens? See
answer to question #1. I believe that walkability and transit is also
directly related to making it more difficult for people to access resources, go
to school, travel to and from work, and traverse the city to visit their
doctors. There is no debate that access to resources and access to
school, work, and healthcare are essential to bridging the gap between poverty
and thrivability. A quick look at the poorest neighborhoods in San
Antonio reveals to any observer that those neighborhoods were not built or
designed with access in mind. In order to ameliorate our poor citizens'
lack of access we must commit ourselves to a transit system that is efficient and
sustainable. To that end, I will work with VIA, the Metropolitan Planning
Organization, the Advanced Transportation District, the Economic Development
Foundation, schools, and the healthcare industry leaders to recommit ourselves
to the most basic of principles: That a world-class city seeking to progress
and evolve must not leave its vulnerable populations behind.
4. San Antonio has a
high incidence of obesity and diabetes mellitus and has been ranked as high as
second in the nation for obesity in recent years. Past city efforts attempting
to improve these rates, such as trying to reduce the prevalence of sugary drinks
in our community, have been met with controversy. What ideas do you have to
reduce the incidence of these chronic health issues? First,
we need city leadership that is willing to face controversy head-on. Effective
leadership requires us to be unafraid of critics and those special interests
that make money from selling products that imperil our citizens’s health. (eg.
smoking in restaurants, vape shops, etc). Second, we know that prohibition and
heavy-handed regulations rarely work. But, we certainly know that
incentive programs DO work. As such, I will push city council to consider
tax and fee abatements to restaurants and hotels that demonstrate adoption of
healthy menus. I will push our council to adopt tax and fee abatement for large
employers that institute healthy lifestyle programs that result in
their workforce’s weight loss or achievement of other healthy lifestyle
metrics. These are not innovative and unique programs - - they already exist
and have proven effective in other cities.
5. According to the CDC, child
abuse and neglect are serious problems that can have lasting harmful effects on
its victims. The goal in preventing child abuse and neglect is clear — to stop
this violence from happening in the first place. What local policies,
resources and efforts will you support to promote safe, stable, nurturing
relationships and environments for all children and families? Child abuse,
domestic violence, substance abuse, and mental health are enmeshed and should
be approached with a no-silos strategy. I have dedicated my career to
domestic violence and child abuse prevention. In my work with the Rape Crisis
Center, the Battered Women & Children’s Shelter, the criminal
courts system, the jail system, and the Texas Family Violence Council I have
come to realize that San Antonio is in the throes of an epidemic of violence
and abuse. Thankfully, our local judges, law enforcement, district
attorney, and County leaders have dedicated mountains of resources,
time, and effort to address the problem of abuse and violence. But more can be
done. We must bring churches, schools, and doctors to the table.
Oftentimes, teachers, doctors, and pastors are the first to see the signs of
abuse. City Council must create a network of advocates and watchdogs. Doctors,
teachers, and pastors must be given quick and easy-to-access resources to help
them respond to concerns of abuse. We must also work together to
help each other track at-risk citizens to make sure that someone is
always watching and so that they do not get lost because of a lack of
interconnectedness between those of us that care.
