ccr to track heat related deaths in san antonio continues on!
This year SWU, Deceleration News, and other local autonomous activists have been calling on the City of San Antonio and Bexar County to track and report heat related deaths in San Antonio. On SWU’s end, this resulted in a CCR (Council Consideration Request) being co-written by District 5 rep, Teri Castillo, and District 2 rep, Jalen McKee-Rodriguez. As San Antonio’s new mayor, Gina Ortiz-Jones, settled into her new position, many proposals and CCRs were paused. Luckily things got moving again and last week a whole list of current CCRs were presented, with city staff recommendations on actions, to the Governance Committee to vote on whether to continue the process or dismiss. While city staff recommended to end the CCR to track heat related deaths, the Governance Committee unanimously voted to continue the process and send the CCR to the Community Health Committee. You can read more from Deceleration News here
We want to celebrate this victory while also acknowledging that the work continues. Our next steps include attending the Community Health Committee meetings to make public comment in support of the need to track and report on heat related deaths in San Antonio. We will also meet with the City Council members who sit on the committee. This includes: District 5 rep, Teri Castillo, District 6 rep, Ric Galvan, District 7 rep, Marina Alderete Gavito, and District 10 rep, Marc Whyte. We still need community pressure and support to show that this important work must happen.
Here’s how you can get involved and help get heat related deaths in San Antonio tracked and reported:
Attend and make public comment at the Community Health Committee meetings
They are every 4th Thursday at 10am at City Hall. The next meeting is this Thursday (10/23/25)! You can sign up to speak here
You can reach out to SWU staff at Info@swunion.org if you need help with your public comment!
If your District rep sits on the Community Health Committee, give them a call! Tell them you are their constitute and you want them to support the CCR to track heat related deaths. You can find your council representative’s information here. You can also use that website to find who your City Council person is.
This is also a Bexar County issue and you can call your county commissioner to tell them you are a constitute and want them to support tracking and reporting heat related deaths. You can use this website to find and contact your county commissioner.
