Sanford Nowlin
Protesters hold up signs in front of San Antonio city offices demanding accountability for the treatment of the community's unhoused population.
More than a dozen activists gathered outside San Antonio city offices Friday morning to demand leaders protect the community's unhoused from dangerous and rising heat.
In particular, organizers sought to draw attention to the death of Albert Garcia, a 56-year-old man who lived under a West Side highway off-ramp. Friends said Garcia succumbed to the summer's extreme heat on Aug. 12, although the medical examiner has yet to release an official cause of death.
Garcia — who lost both feet and part of one leg from being exposed to 2021’s Winter Storm Uri — briefly found safe housing but ultimately ended up back on the street again. Speakers blamed city and state failures for his inability to find permanent shelter.
"Albert is not the only vulnerable person who's had a heat-related death or injury this summer," said Maria Turvin, whose nonprofit Yanawana Herbolarios helped organize the protest. "Anytime you have a natural disaster like this, we're going to have unhoused relatives who pass."
Married climate activists Greg Harman and Marisol Cortez documented Garcia's struggle to find housing on their news site Deceleration. Harman, who helped publicize the gathering, is a former San Antonio Current editor.
Unhoused people are often forced to seek shelter in places where they're vulnerable to extreme weather events brought on by climate change, according to Harman. On several days after Garcia's death, Harman recorded temperature beneath the highway off-ramp of 115 degrees — far higher than the citywide temperatures reported on news broadcasts.
"Albert went to a place where he was visible and felt safe, but the place he was pushed into was one of the hottest places where you can be downtown," Harman said.
During the protest, Turvin operated a makeshift sidewalk clinic, handing out donuts, water and clean socks to unsheltered people. A signboard also advertised the availability of free Narcan, bras and safe-sex kits.
At one point, she applied disinfectant, salve and a bandaid to man with a laceration on his cheek.
Turvin urged protesters to call city council members ahead of their Sept. 14 vote on a new budget and demand they spend more on programs to offer permanent shelter. The city's $3.7 billion budget currently includes funds to dismantle 700 encampments of unhoused people.
"It's ridiculous our city has so few shaded places in this concrete jungle," Turvin said.
Sanford Nowlin
Maria Turvin (left) speaks to Alvino Acuna (center) and Roxanne Ybarra (right), who stopped for water. Ybarra, who's experienced homelessness, said she now works 80 hours a week to afford to live in a downtown hotel.
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