The Changing Face of San Antonio by Nelson W. Wolff

Author:Nelson W. Wolff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Trinity University Press
Published: 2018-03-26T16:00:00+00:00

FOUR

Therapeutic Justice

WHEN I BECAME MAYOR in 1991, violent crime was rampant in San Antonio, as in many other American cities. Since 1978 drugs and gang turf wars, both youth and adult, had caused crime to increase steadily and significantly.

In 1990 the city had experienced 219 homicides, a record number. In May 1991, when I took office, the rate was exceeding the previous year’s.

That December Mayor Steve Bartlett of Dallas, Mayor Bruce Todd of Austin, and I teamed up to form Mayors United on Safety, Crime, and Law Enforcement (MUSCLE), expanding the organization to include mayors of the eight largest Texas cities. The cities contributed funds to staff and operate MUSCLE, which was tasked with creating a plan to fight crime and lobbying the Texas legislature to pass measures to implement the plan.

During meetings in 1992, with input from law enforcement agencies, we developed a twelve-point program to control crime. The top goals were building additional prison cells and developing a priority system to keep violent offenders in prison longer.

Plan in hand, I drove to Austin for the opening day of the 1993 Texas legislature. As I drove up Congress Avenue toward the impressive 311-foot-high red granite and limestone Texas Capitol, I recalled fond memories from my days in the legislature. On my way to the House of Representatives chamber, I passed my old House and Senate offices. Because I am a former member of both houses, I have floor privileges that allow me to approach legislators in the chambers. Thus I could meet with many of them in a relatively short time. Both as mayor and later as a county judge, I took advantage of this privilege.

After visiting with some of the 150 House members about the legislative agenda to fight crime, I headed for the smaller and more elegant Senate, with its thirty-one desks. Again, I worked the floor.

After several lobbying trips, the coalition of mayors succeeded in pushing the legislature to submit to voters a bond package to build thirty-four thousand prison beds. The coalition supported the initiative, and voters overwhelmingly passed it. This was the first stage of a large Texas prison expansion during the late 1990s.

The coalition also secured passage of a bill that required every convicted felon sentenced to a life term must serve thirty years before eligibility for parole. “Good time” points could not reduce the thirty years. Another bill clarified that judges had the right to set higher bails if the accused was a threat to the public. During two legislative sessions, most of the coalition’s anticrime bills passed.

Meanwhile, back home I stepped up the local fight against crime. With support from the city council, I set up a twenty-nine-member Crime Prevention Commission.

Based on its recommendations, the city developed an anti-graffiti ordinance and a Cellular on Patrol program providing civilians with cell phones programmed with a direct line to the police. We also started a Citizen Police Academy to teach people how to implement prevention programs. We opened police substations and created a working relationship between the police and neighborhood leaders.

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