Climate expert Mario Bravo turns up the heat in the District 1 Council Runoff

It’s a cloudy Monday morning when District 1 candidate Mario Bravo, 45, connects to our Zoom call from his backyard. Surrounded by trees and natural light, he gives me a quick tour of the cozy space through the lens of his device.

“It got knocked out a little bit from the freeze, but I got a bunch of grapes growing up on the canopy there,” he says, pointing toward the lush greenery in the background.

Bravo was one of six candidates who ran for the District 1 seat on San Antonio City Council. On Election Day, a total of 12,569 votes were cast in the downtown district. Councilman Roberto Treviño earned 44.9 percent of the tally (5,645 votes) and Bravo won 33.6 percent (4,225 votes), which resulted in one of five council runoffs that will take place on June 5.

This is Bravo’s second run for public office. In 2018, he ran for Bexar County commissioner, challenging the late Paul Elizondo for his long-held Precinct 2 seat. Though Bravo came in third in the Democratic primary, he says the experience helped refine the way he communicates with the voters.

It’s also worth mentioning that a number of progressive candidates ran for office this election cycle. Bravo is one of three runoff candidates that fit this bill. Jalen McKee-Rodriguez of D2 and Teri Castillo of D5 also campaigned on progressive values.

In a world where spirited, but brief messaging is key to energizing the electorate, Bravo’s formula of listening to residents and welcoming their input has indeed been fruitful.

“We live in a representative democracy, and so at the end of the day, I’m going to have to represent over 130,000 people,” he says. “It can’t just be my ideas.”

Bravo, a project manager for the Environmental Defense Fund, says that Treviño’s “try-and-stop-me” approach of working with the community has left some of his constituents hopeful for new representation.

“When I knock on doors across District 1, what I hear from the voters is, ‘ Treviño listens to the people who agree with him,’” Bravo says.

Beyond his catalog of criticisms regarding Treviño’s leadership , like his handling of the Alamo Master Plan, which Bravo says is “symbolic to so [many] of Treviño ‘s issues,” lies an ardent passion for ethics reform. For example, a few years ago, he whipped votes to prevent a proposed increase in campaign contribution limits at City Hall.

If elected, he plans to move forward with “meaningful” progress to help solve downtown’s homelessness problem. A first step to that, he says, is focusing on property tax relief for homeowners.

“We need to stop taxing people out of their homes,” he says. “That’s the first thing in addressing homelessness.”

He believes many residents qualify for a homestead exemption, but are not aware that they can ask for it.

“I believe there are people in low-income zip codes who are carrying a disproportionate amount of our community’s tax burden,” he adds.

The climate and air-quality expert would also like to begin exercising checks and balances over CPS Energy, the city-owned utility he believes mismanaged February’s winter storm by not having previously weatherized their power plants.

“People deserve to see what’s going on in their government,” he says. “If you can’t see what’s going on in your government, it’s harder to participate.”

Bravo’s supporters come from across the spectrum, from those who want to reduce the influence of big money in local government by advocating for campaign finance reform to those who, in the age of COVID-19, appreciate his commitment to public health. As a leading voice in the environmental community, many activists would likely expect him to do more to comply with the Paris climate agreement, a council resolution that committed to reducing greenhouse emissions to improve air quality.

“I feel like when you get in the neighborhood, people know what they want, it’s just getting our government to be more responsive to their needs,” he says. “People are busy in their lives. [They are] raising children. They have full time jobs. They’re trying to make ends meet. How do we make it easier for people to have their voice heard in their government?”

His answer is to increase accessibility to SAWS, CPS Energy, and council meetings, giving residents more opportunities for public input and more face time with their elected representatives.

“I want to change the culture of City Hall such that council members aren’t seen or treated as celebrities, but instead as public servants,” he says.

Bravo seems pleased to have earned the endorsement of the Sierra Club and the Express-News Editorial Board, though he knows a solid day of block walking could have more of a bottom-line impact.

“At the end of the day, the only endorsements that matter are the voters’.”