Jade Esteban Estrada
District 1 Councilman Mario Bravo said staff in his office are doing their jobs when they inquire about permits for downtown-area bars.
That stands in contrast to a May 2 tweet in which the first-term councilman denied any involvement and stated that his office was “surprised” by the April 28 incident, which critics are calling a police raid.
“Specifically saying so right now: We didn't play a role and we were surprised to learn that this happened,” Bravo tweeted. “I spoke with one of the owners of McIntyre's today and followed up by calling the Deputy City Manager to ask what was going on.”
In a separate May 2 tweet responding to complaints about the police action, Bravo further stated that his office “didn't initiate any audits or action” against McIntyre's.
Yet in an interview on Tuesday, Bravo explained that when he fired off the tweets he was unaware that District 1 Senior Director of Downtown Operations Stacy Jones had contacted the San Antonio Police Department prior to the police showing up at McIntyre's.
“One of my staff members did relay information,” Bravo said. "So, what she did is she said that there are neighborhood residents who are complaining that the SAFFE [San Antonio Fear Free Environment] police officer has not been responsive to their requests. And so, the police chief's assistant said, ‘I need to know what they are saying that the SAFFE officer is not responding to,’ and so she informed them of what the neighborhood residents were claiming they weren't responding to.”
Bravo said residents had complained about traffic and noise from the business and alleged that it was over-serving patrons and selling alcohol to minors.
The revelation that someone in Bravo's office contacted the police about McIntyre's comes as St. Mary's Strip and Southtown bar owners allege the councilman has unfairly targeted them in a bid to appease neighborhood associations — an allegation Bravo dismissed in Tuesday’s interview as a "crazy conspiracy theory.” Critics point to the “raid” on McIntyre's, which at least eyewitnesses said grew to include 15 officers, as an egregious overstep by the District 1 office.
Meanwhile, residents in both neighborhoods have long complained of litter, noise, parking and alleged crime brought by revelers at bars and nightspots. What's more, Bravo said the police incident at McIntyre's started as a visit by four plainclothes police and only drew additional officers after an altercation started at the bar.
The squabble over McIntyre's comes as Bravo heads into the homestretch of a runoff against education consultant Sukh Kaur, a political novice who led him by eight points in the general election. Saturday is the last day to vote in the runoff.
In comments to the Current, Bravo said he believes the email sent by Jones “may have” played a role in the raid at McIntyre's.
However, under the City Charter, his office is barred from instructing SAPD, the Health Department or any other city department to conduct audits or investigations. Instead, Bravo and his staff can only pass along complaints to the appropriate city office, which he maintains is all that Jones did.
“Again, this was not initiated by my office, this was initiated by neighborhood residents,” Bravo said. “My office was doing their job.”
Undercover police
Jones sent her email eight days before four plainclothes SAPD officers visited McIntyre's to look into Lavaca residents' complaints, according to Bravo.
The councilman told the Current that, at the time, he was unaware Jones had contacted SAPD.
Bravo alleged that during the police visit to McIntyre’s, an undercover officer observed a bartender over-serving a patron. However, he maintains that SAPD was there to investigate, not carry out a raid.
"When [the undercover officers] believed they observed illegal activities [at McIntyre's], they acted on it," Bravo said. "There was some kind of altercation, and maybe somebody tried to play big dog and was interacting aggressively with the police officers, and so they called for backup."
In a follow-up interview with the Current, Bravo added: "If it wasn't for someone trying to fight a cop after Fiesta, then this so-called raid wouldn't have happened."
‘Drinking from the firehose’
Bravo told the Current he was unaware of the deteriorating relationship between Lavaca residents and the owners of McIntyre's.
The councilman said his office had first begun receiving complaints about the sports bar on Jan. 1. Those led Bravo and Jones to hold a meeting with the business’ owners two and a half weeks later to discuss possible solutions to the problem. That summit was also attended by Friendly Spot owner Jody Bailey Newman, who has acted in the past as a liaison between bar owners and residents.
Despite the meeting, Bravo said he’s now aware that his office continued to be inundated with resident complaints about McIntyre's.
This spring, Bravo staffer Anisa Schell attended a Lavaca Neighborhood Association, at which residents raised concerns about noise and traffic related to a St. Patrick’s Day party at the bar.
Questions from residents prompted her to send six emails from March 20-28 to San Antonio Planning and Land Development Manager Kristie Flores seeking zoning and permit information on the Southtown bar, according to details in that correspondence.
The emails led some of Bravo’s critics to conclude Schell sparked the raid, and some called her out online — after all, the councilman hadn’t previously revealed Jones' direct outreach to the police.
Contacted by the Current on Wednesday, Schell said she never contacted SAPD about the bar. She also said that asking for zoning and permit information from city departments is a routine part of council staffers’ work.
Even though Bravo attended the January meeting at which Lavaca residents raised concerns about McIntyre's, he said he was unaware of his staffers' communications about the bar with other city departments.
“I have 140,000 constituents, and people are bringing stuff to us every day,” Bravo said. “We're all drinking from the firehose every day, and my goal for my staff is for them to solve problems before I find out there was a problem. So they're out there problem solving and doing their jobs.”
Vocal critics
Bravo acknowledged that he and District 1 bar owners have been at odds since his office spearheaded a controversial year-long pilot program that would grant free parking permits to residents living near the St. Mary's Strip but prohibit anyone else from parking overnight.
Several business owners, including San Antonio restaurant and bar mogul Chad Carey, have alleged that Bravo's office has an ax to grind.
Indeed, Carey — one of Bravo's most vocal critics — in a recent tweet said his St. Mary’s Strip bar and coffee shop Vibras received a $300 fine for a permit violation two days after he publicly shared a Current report on the McIntyre’s incident and leveled an online criticism at Bravo’s office.
Bravo pushed back at the notion that his office is targeting Carey or anyone else.
"I think what they're accusing my staff of doing is doing their jobs," Bravo said. "And they're right — my staff are doing their jobs. We're not targeting anybody; we are not retaliating. I often do not know the details of what they're working on, specifically, unless there's a reason to elevate it to me."
Too little too late?
Despite the criticism, Bravo told the Current he's a fan of live music and a champion of small businesses and venues in his district.
“I'm the one who initiated the budget amendment to get $150,000 for bars and nightclubs to get grants for sound mitigation so they don't get noise complaints,” he said.
Bravo also pointed to his part in securing grants for small businesses that suffered financial losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the prolonged constriction along the Strip. Additionally, he created a council proposal to fine city contractors that fail to meet project deadlines.
Even so, the police incident at McIntyre's came at a difficult time for the incumbent’s campaign.
Bravo's political opponent Kaur raised $60,000 last month, compared to Bravo's $51,000. What's more, Carey and other business owners have been actively campaigning for Kaur, including hosting a meet-and-greet event last week — complete with free beer — at the restaurateur’s Paper Tiger music venue.
Bravo wouldn't say whether there would be a shakeup in his staff if voters give him a second term.
“Yeah, well, If I'm reelected, I'm willing to revisit all of this, you know, and look at ... any accusations,” Bravo said. “But I don't find any of them to be valid.”
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