Mayor Julian Castro kicked off the City’s redistricting process last week by proclaiming “This ain’t Austin,” meaning that the effort here shouldn’t feature all the political wrangling the Legislature experienced as it drew new congressional and state legislative districts a year ago. Those new districts are still wrapped up in federal court cases, with a strong probability that the U.S. Supreme Court will settle the matter.
Castro is right, in theory. After all, San Antonio’s City Council is a nonpartisan body where red and blue ideology should be far from Council member’s mind when talking about things like sidewalks, graffiti wipeout, animal control and public safety – the big four issues every rep faces, especially on the campaign trail.
Maybe that was true a decade or so ago, but political divisions between conservatives and progressives are sharper than ever at all levels of government.
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