The City of Alamo Heights will automatically swear in three City Council incumbents for another term next month.
Despite growing pressure in the wealthy enclave pitting preservation against new development in recent years, no one signed up to run against council members Blake Bonner (Place 3), Lynda Billa Burke (Place 4) and John Savage (Place 5) in the May 4 election.
“Due to unopposed candidates, the incumbents will continue to serve the exceptional community of Alamo Heights,” the city posted on its website. They’ll be sworn in at a May meeting.
Similarly, two Alamo Heights Independent School District trustees up for reelection this year are unopposed and, in the third seat up for grabs, a newcomer also faces no challenger.
Alamo Heights residents will still have Bexar Appraisal District races to participate in on May 4, and the City Council’s chambers will still be a polling site on election day.
The city’s voters select a mayor and councilmembers for Place 1 and Place 2 in odd-numbered years and could see an open mayoral race in 2025.
Mayor Bobby Rosenthal told the San Antonio Report uncontested races are common in Alamo Heights, which is home to about 7,300 residents. He served on the City Council for a decade before running unopposed for mayor in 2017 and has not faced an opponent in his three reelection races.
“I think probably once every four or five years we have a contested election, but not very often,” Rosenthal said. “It just depends. If there’s controversy or something that’s troubled a group of people, then we end up with more than one person running per seat.”
The last time Alamo Heights voters were truly stirred up, he said, involved the approval of an apartment complex at Broadway Street and Austin Highway in 2015.
Resident Sarah Reveley, who has advocated for creating a historic district in Alamo Heights, said she picked up an application to run for a seat on council this year because she wants the city to take action on preserving century-old homes in the ’09.
She said she changed her mind after meeting with Rosenthal on the issue but said “nothing has happened” since then, so she’s considering a referendum petition.
The city’s five council members and mayor serve two-year terms with no limits on their tenure.
But Rosenthal added, “I’m reaching the end of my own self-imposed term limit” and considering not running for reelection.
School board
Alamo Heights residents have avoided some of the contentious school board politics their neighbors to the north are experiencing.
Three positions on the Alamo Heights ISD board of trustees were supposed to be up in the May election, but incumbents Clay Page (Place 5) and Carey Hildebrand (Place 7) didn’t draw opponents. Newcomer Lauren Pruitt McLaughlin (Place 6) will replace Lisa Krenger, who was elected in 2015.
In February, the Alamo Heights City Council backed a plan by the district to raze its main high school building, a bond project approved by voters in 2023. Some residents had argued against the demolition, saying the bond language did not specify that the building would be demolished before being rebuilt.
Correction: This article was updated to correct information about the Alamo Heights ISD’s Place 6 race.
