SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Mayoral candidate and District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez has used $6,400 in district funds to hang banners at intersections around his Northwest Side district, which read “It’s OK to say no to panhandling; please give to local charities.”
Pelaez, however, is drawing criticism online for a video in which he appears to frame many panhandlers as drug users and urges drivers to donate their money instead to nonprofits, like the one his mother runs.
“When you see someone who’s hurting, someone in need, remember that the smartest way to help is to direct your generosity to organizations like Goodwill, Salvation Army, Haven for Hope, the Battered Women and Children’s Shelter,” Pelaez said in a video posted on his social media.
Marta Prada-Pelaez is president and CEO of Family Violence Prevention Services, which operates the Battered Women and Children’s Shelter.
“There you are guaranteed — you’re guaranteed that the dollars you donate are stretched to the limit, and they have maximum impact in helping people out of a life of homelessness," Pelaez continues in the video. “However, you hand that money out the window, you’re almost guaranteed that eventually that money ends up in the pocket of a drug dealer who was there to enable and continue to push people into more and more vulnerability.”
By Thursday, the Instagram version of the video had received roughly three times as many negative comments as it had likes.
Users left comments in general opposition to Pelaez’s views as well as reluctance to limit themselves to donating through nonprofits.
“Gross dude. Just give a dollar to ANYONE in need,” an Instagram user posted.
“My money goes to the homeless not a CEO’s salary,” wrote another user.
There were some positive comments on Pelaez’s Facebook post of the same video.
“Yes!!!! We need to stop the panhandeling (sic) on our city. It’s out of control,” wrote one user.
In an interview with KSAT on Wednesday, Pelaez was unbothered by the largely negative response his video was receiving.
“The advice I would have to anybody who wants to get into a leader position is ‘spend less time in the comment section of social media and spend more time out there doing work,’” Pelaez said.
The councilman said he was motivated to put up signs after a 2023 fire at a former Japanese restaurant on Wurzbach Road. Pelaez said he visited the site afterward and found hypodermic needles and what he said was evidence of an encampment.
Pelaez said the homeless camps in his district, which includes the Medical Center, are usually at the busiest roads and intersections.
“And we always find the exact same thing,” Pelaez said. “We always find, you know, those signs that say, you know, ‘will work for food’ or ‘begging for money.’ But, you know, next to the signs, there’s always hypodermic needles. Always. Invariably. I’ve never seen an exception.”
The councilman said people at the camps often don’t want to leave to get services because they can make money at the nearby corridors.
“Many of them will tell us that they’re using this money to buy the drugs, right? Because they find themselves in these really tight grips of addictions,” Pelaez said. “And so, you know, we’ve been dealing with this more and more and more. And throughout the years, I’ve spoken to almost all of my homeowners associations, and they’re all very anxious about this."
Pelaez said nonprofit organizations are “really effective at helping folks” and that “you’re guaranteed that your money won’t end up in the pockets of a drug dealer or, you know, in a black market run by cartels."
As for name-dropping his mother’s nonprofit as an option during the video, Pelaez said, “Sorry, not sorry that my family is involved in helping vulnerable people, but none of us profit from helping vulnerable people, right?”
Pelaez also put up smaller signs around his district in 2024, using $6,000 worth of Neighborhood Access and Mobility Program (NAMP) money that each council district has for tackling infrastructure concerns.
For the new banners, a Pelaez spokeswoman said the council office used district funds left over from previous years to print and install the messages at eight locations on a rotating schedule through April.
There are currently three banners up: near the intersections of Wurzbach Road and Fredericksburg Road, Huebner Road and Vance Jackson Road and Huebner Road and Babcock Road.
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