Your city government at work

What are members of San Antonio City Council to do when the scourge of graffiti catches up to them? What would you do?

Would you get your fence painted at the taxpayers' expense?

That's what KENS-5 is saying Sheila McNeil did.

Neighbors in the Sunrise Subdivision on the Eastside say tagging sprouts like weeds in the spring. So, who cleans it up? Homeowners are supposed to make the repairs. But some are complaining city councilwoman Sheila McNeil got city crews to clean up hers.

McNeil claimed a harship, as city crews re-painted her fence Monday. But KENS-5 could find no record of chronic tagging problems at her home.

Her neighbors, on the other hand, have been cited by code compliance for their graffit[i] problems. They say it's not fair.

It's absolutely not fair. If this allegation is true, it's definitely an abuse of city resources, and McNeil should be ashamed that she did this. But, then again, I recall that McNeil was the only councilmember who had no problem with using city funds to pay for her trip to Obama's inauguration, even after she was called out on the expenses.

Last month [January 2009], Councilwoman Sheila McNeil flew to Washington, D.C., on questionable city business, attended the presidential inauguration on the taxpayers' dime and wondered why everyone made such a fuss.

And, she's running for mayor.