Travis Park’s Confederate Statue Will Be Removed
The Confederate statue standing in San Antonio’s Travis Park will be removed after a 10-1 city council vote. The vote followed an inappropriately rushed process that denied citizens due process of being heard.
Before the vote was even taken, an 8′ fence was erected and Police Officers were present. Cranes were on standby to move the Confederate Monument, statue, and canons. City Director reportedly told one Councilman, “We are not going to tell the public where it will be taken”. This is agenda driven not process driven. The Mayor has pushed this through without taking the issue through proper procedure to include the Historic Design & Review Committee.
If a citizen owned a monument and wanted to move it, the citizen would have to go through a process to move it or be fined by the City. There is currently a fight going on about a Marine Corps monument being placed on the wrong part of the Vietnam Monument downtown as well. It has been heard before the HDRC.
Only Councilman Clayton Perry, District 10, had the backbone to stand up for the integrity of the process and the issue. The Mayor and other nine Councilmen, including John Courage, voted for the divisive agenda to waste $150,000 to move a 120+ year old historic monument based on progressive ideology. There are thousands of people in need after Hurricane Harvey, and tens of thousands of potholes to be fixed on our streets. This is an example of irresponsible government.
Read Councilman Clayton Perry’s statement below:
“First of all, I want to commend the compassion that San Antonio has shown after the traumatic effects of Hurricane Harvey. However, I am discouraged to see that this item is being added on the agenda after a weekend of tragedy and catastrophe across Texas.”
“Today’s addition concerns me for multiple reasons. I am concerned because this item was posted on our Council agenda today without a proper briefing in B Session to fully sort out the details as a Council. Additionally, this concerns me because we are not allowing the public the ability to sit in a Historic Design and Review Commission meeting on this item, allowing our own district appointees to do the role they were assigned. After this weekend’s events across Texas, it concerns me that we are rushing a divisive issue when we should be concerned with continuing to help Texas.”
“Councilman Trevino and Councilman Shaw’s CCR requested for a full process to be in place regarding the removal of the Confederate Soldier monument, and I support them in that request. The process requested by my fellow council members has been disregarded. By bypassing the normal procedure, we send the message that we are not confident this measure will pass public scrutiny and open dialogue.”