SAN ANTONIO ā In an attempt to force San Antonio City Council action, a conservative group and the organizer of the local Pride parade filed a lawsuit to prevent the city from removing rainbow crosswalks or installing rainbow sidewalks in the heart of the Pride Cultural Heritage District.
Some of that work has already been paused, in part, because of the lawsuit.
The San Antonio chapter of the Texas Conservative Liberty Forum (TCLF) and Pride San Antonio filed a lawsuit Thursday afternoon in Bexar County district court against the city, city manager and director of Public Works. TCLF San Antonio President Joe Garza and Pride SA Secretary James Poindexter are also named as plaintiffs.
Their petition states neither group takes a position on the merits of the crosswalk removal or sidewalk installation, but it calls the work an āillegal expenditure of public funds.ā
The suit asks a judge to block the city from spending the money, and states the issue could be resolved by a public vote of the city council.
āAnd while Plaintiffs may desire different ultimate outcomes on this issue, they agree on one thing: they (and the citizens of the City) deserve the right to make their case to their elected officials, and have the issue resolved by the political and legislative processes ā not be silenced by bureaucracy seeking to handing the mayor a perceived political win,ā the suit reads.
The crosswalks at North Main Avenue and East Evergreen Street are being removed after pressure from the state.
Gov. Greg Abbott issued an Oct. 8 directive for cities and counties to āremove any and all political ideologiesā from Texas streets, under the threat of losing state and federal road funding.
Though the city attempted to get an exemption, it was unsuccessful, and city officials said they would replace the crosswalks with a standard black-and-white design by Jan. 15.
The new sidewalk striping, planned for a block north and a block south of the intersection, is meant as a way to continue showing support for the LGBTQ+ community.
Poindexter has repeatedly expressed frustration the city hasnāt done more to fight the removal of the crosswalks, which his group helped fund and get installed in 2018.
In a Thursday phone call with KSAT, he said Pride SAās focus was the crosswalks and it was not trying to stop the sidewalks from being installed.
Poindexter said his group want the city council to either decide to defend the crosswalks, tell the state to use its own money to replace them or repeal the city ordinance that created them.
āI just want the city to stand up and to do it publicly instead of in the shadows,ā Poindexter said.
Marco Roberts, the state chairman of TCLF, said it is a conservative group that welcomes gay members, but they donāt believe in the āidentity politics aspect of itā and donāt describe themselves as an LGBTQ+ group.
He said it was the local chapterās decision to enter the lawsuit. In a social media post Wednesday, Garza said the group opposed āthe City of San Antonioās installation of rainbow sidewalks using discretionary funds and the bypassing of City Council oversight.ā
āThis is not an emergency situation!ā Garza continued in the post, in part. āIf the surrounding businesses would like to assume such a project, it should follow the proper protocols.ā
Work on the striping was scheduled to start this week, with the replacement of the crosswalk with a standard, black-and-white design to begin Monday.
Assistant City Manager John Peterek said in a Monday memo the total $170,000 price tag for the project would be paid out of existing Public Works operational dollars.
Because the project uses contractors the council has previously approved, Peterek said it didnāt need council action.
In a statement emailed by a city spokesman, City Attorney Andy Segovia said the city believes the suit is āwithout meritā and said a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Friday afternoon.
āCity Council authorized public works funds in its approval of the FY 2026 budget and those funds are being used for both activities,ā Segovia said.
The threat of the then-pending lawsuit and some council membersā concerns about the sidewalk painting had already prompted City Manager Erik Walsh to partially pump the brakes earlier Thursday.
āI have put a pause on the painting of the sidewalks until we have the opportunity to brief the Council in an Executive Session and to continue working with the LGBTQ+ Advisory Board and the community on implementation,ā Walsh wrote in an email to council members about an hour-and-a-half before the lawsuit was filed.
āWe will maintain our schedule for removing the painted crosswalk.ā
Councilwoman Misty Spears (D9) and Councilman Marc Whyte (D10), the councilās two conservatives, released statements on Wednesday, bashing the use of public funds for the sidewalk painting.
āWhen taxpayer dollars are involved, our focus should be on addressing these essential infrastructure needs that directly impact public safety and our residentsā day-to-day quality of life,ā Whyte said.
In a statement on social media Thursday, Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) said the pairās stance āreinforces bigotry and hateā and called it āhypocriticalā they were concerned about the sidewalk expense but apparently not the cost of replacing āan intersection that was perfectly safe as is, and was being maintained privately.ā
āCouncilmembers Spears and Whyte can direct their concerns to Abbottās office, if they are so concerned,ā he wrote.
Asked Thursday night about the lawsuit and pause of the sidewalk work, Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1), who represents the Pride district, told KSAT sheās open to taking a vote on the sidewalks.
āIf that is what the courts tell us we need to do, Iām happy to take that vote because I know we would have the support,ā she said. āBut at the same time, I do believe this is in the purview of city staff to execute."
EDITORāS NOTE ā The headline of this story has been updated and more information about TCLF has also been added.
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