Marc Whyte was elected to a two-year City Council term on May 6. The St. Mary’s University School of Law graduate owns a law practice and has been active with organizations such as the Northeast Neighborhood Alliance.

Whyte has also served on the city’s ethics review board, the city’s bond committee for parks, the city zoning commission and the board at the Port of San Antonio. Whyte recently talked with Community Impact about his experience, goals and views on local governance. This article has been edited for length and clarity.

What or who inspired you to run for City Council?

I tell people that I got interested in in public policy in college. I went to Wake Forest University, and I was lucky enough to get tickets one evening to a George W. Bush/Al Gore presidential debate in 2000.

I left that debate thinking a lot about, "Here are two smart guys with completely different visions for the country." That took me to law school at St. Mary’s University.

Afterward, I was looking for an opportunity, and things played out like they did with [former District 10 Council Member Clayton Perry]. I was flattered that so many folks in the community reached out and said, "Hey, we think you could be really good for this spot."

What are some of key campaign planks you want to address as a council member?

District 10 is a very neighborhood-centric district. We have great neighborhoods all throughout the district. First and foremost, my priorities are to make sure that residents’ lives will be hopefully better than they were before.

Whatever we can do to help them in their day-to-day life—be it property taxes, fixing roads or keeping development from getting on top of them—that's what we're here to do.

Protecting the neighborhoods’ public safety is a big part. Secondly, District 10 council members’ tendency has always been being a voice for small businesses in San Antonio, and that'll continue with me.

I feel like City Council, over the past six or eight years, sort of vilified business. I've never understood that because businesses provide jobs for our citizens, so, I’m going to be a strong voice for small business.

What approach did you apply to your budget?

I’m very proud that we got the [property tax] homestead exemption up to the maximum 20% so quickly. It’s something we talked about in my campaign, and as soon as we got into office, I started talking with the other council members about that. I was happy we were able to get that done.

As we speak, we are looking through last year's budget and what we're anticipating. I do not want to spend money in areas where I think it could be better spent elsewhere. We're going to find those areas. Then we're going to go to our other council members and city staff and say, "Maybe we don't need this here; why don't we put the money instead over there?"

Off the top of my head, police come to mind. It’s No. 1 as an area where we need to spend some more money. Crime was the No. 1 issue as I walked the district. I've talked with the police chief and [other] members of our police department, and it's clear we need more officers on the streets, so we're definitely looking to get money in the budget for that first and foremost.

How are you addressing homelessness?

It's a really complex, difficult issue. On one hand, a lot of homeless people are suffering from mental health issues or other addiction issues, and we want to be sensitive to that. But on the other hand, we’d better take care of the people in our neighborhoods and protect them from some of the stuff going on [on] the street.

What do we do about it? We were out at one of our fire stations, and we heard from some personnel about how a lot of homeless that they're running into aren't even from San Antonio.

I think we need to start by stopping them. I don't think that gets talked about enough. In terms of folks that are here now, low-barrier housing is a good place to start toward getting these folks off the street as quickly as we can into a location and then follow up with them getting services.

What other issues will you focus on?

It's an interesting district because inside Loop 1604 the district is older, and infrastructure is really a problem. Our streets aren't good, and the district was built in the 1970s or '80s.

When you get up to Loop 1604 and beyond there's a ton of new development, and I did hear from a lot of of our residents regarding traffic and they feel like that development was really negatively impacting them. So, I talked a lot on the campaign about responsible development.

This city’s growing whether we like it or not, and I don't see that stopping in the near future. I was on the zoning commission for the past three years. I got to see firsthand where the development is, and I got to make decisions regarding is it appropriate.

I think we need to make sure that we put some of these newer complexes in spots that are not going to negatively impact the neighborhoods that are already there.

How are you collaborating with area schools?

I am very interested in talking with schools for a number of reasons, and not just about mental health or the safety of our kids and schools, which frankly there's really nothing more important than making sure our kids are safe in schools.

But I tasked our team here with getting me out to as many schools; and Boys, Girls and Cub Scout groups as possible because I really do want to talk with younger groups about public service. So often today, people look at politics, and they see the polarized nature of it. It’s either my way or the highway kind of politics.

I don't think it's good for the country, and we need to start talking to new youth right now and tell them it’s okay to work together, you're not always going to get everything you want, but let’s see what they can do to contribute to the community as they grow up.

What motivates you to serve your community and your constituents?

I think it fits my skill set. I've always been good at working with different kinds of people, whether it's been in school organizations or on some of these city boards I've been on. I've always been able to work with different groups and find a solution to whatever the issue was before us and move the ball forward.

I’m a problem-solver. I’m passionate about solving problems in about our city, and I think we live in a great city with hardworking, really good people, and they deserve to have such people in leadership.