Council selects Go Rio San Antonio as River Walk barge operator

People held up signs during a city council meeting at Municipal Plaza building in San Antonio, Texas on May 25, 2017. Ray Whitehouse / for the San Antonio Express-News People held up signs during a city council meeting at Municipal Plaza building in San Antonio, Texas on May 25, 2017. Ray Whitehouse / for the San Antonio Express-News Photo: Photos By Ray Whitehouse / For The San Antonio Express-News Photo: Photos By Ray Whitehouse / For The San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 48 Caption Close Council selects Go Rio San Antonio as River Walk barge operator 1 / 48 Back to Gallery

The City Council on Thursday rejected City Manager Sheryl Sculley’s recommendation to give a decade-long, $100 million contract to Chicago-based Entertainment Cruises and instead selected a team anchored by Hope Andrade and Lisa Wong to run San Antonio’s new fleet of river barges.

“It certainly goes without saying that this is one of the most critical votes this council will take,” Mayor Ivy Taylor said before the vote. “I understand the gravity of our action today.”

Only Councilman Ron Nirenberg, in the throes of an acrimonious runoff with Mayor Ivy Taylor, voted against the deal with Go Rio San Antonio, the Andrade-Wong partnership with Landry’s Seafood Inn & Oyster Bar — San Antonio, Inc.

The 10-1 vote draws to an end a years-long process that often sputtered, much like an aging outboard motor. The city has issued multiple requests for proposals, stopping short of selecting winners on several occasions. Earlier in the year, city staff was poised to move forward and had planned to recommend Entertainment Cruises.

But Taylor balked, suggesting that the process had floundered, partly because former Mayor Phil Hardberger had been allowed to address the selection committee during his team’s presentation — an opportunity typically reserved only for firm principals.

The city reissued an RFP on an expedited timeline and demanded new presentations. A second selection committee once again ranked Entertainment Cruises higher than four other teams, but Go Rio San Antonio edged out the Chicago firm — by 1.02 of 100 points — because of a benefit it received for having part-local ownership and “small business” elements.

Speaking on behalf of the team, Andrade told the council that she and her colleagues “are no strangers or Johny-come-lately,” and that they’ll deliver on promises to be the best barge operator.

“Yes, we are local. My business partner Lisa Wong and I — we’re lifelong residents, and along with our operational partner Landry’s, the Go Rio team provides the city of San Antonio the highest guaranteed financial term by a margin of over $28 million,” she said. “We clearly understand the tremendous financial, operational and cultural responsibility that we have undertaken. You see, we not only know but we understand why the River Walk is indeed our crown jewel of our beautiful city. And we understand that the barge operation is the thread that weaves it all together.

“We’re looking forward to the tricentennial celebration and working together with the city in showcasing our beautiful city, its history, its culture,” Andrade continued. “Go Rio will make you proud. In fact, we guarantee it.”

Last week, both Go Rio San Antonio and Entertainment Cruises, which would have operated here as San Antonio River Cruises, made presentations to the council in a public meeting. Though Andrade on Thursday thanked Sculley for allowing both teams to present to the council, it was Taylor’s decision to include both the staff-recommended firm and the first-place team from San Antonio.

It was just the latest in a process that has been unusual from the start, and marked by controversy throughout.

At Thursday’s meeting, Councilman Rey Saldaña, who is about to embark on his fourth and final term in the District 4 office, laid out a case for going against Sculley’s recommendation.

The council previously outlined a specific process to handle such cases. There’s a selection team and a scoring process. Members of the vying teams are blacked out from contacting, much less lobbying, council and staff members. It’s designed, Saldaña said, to remove undue influence and politics from the decision.

“What we do is protect ourselves from ourselves, and we ask the city staff to do that, primarily to avoid the incidences we’ve seen in the last week since we lifted the blackout period,” he said.

Saldaña had said he would support the first-place team, which he’d expected to be the Chicago firm.

For Taylor and Nirenberg, who will face off in a June 10 election, the issue was about barges only on the surface. The contract was a proxy for a deeper war that’s been brewing between the two for months.

The runoff between the two mayoral candidates has grown increasingly heated in recent days, the friction rising, the power-punches strengthening.

On Thursday, the two traded jabs in dueling afternoon press releases. Nirenberg accused Taylor of twice rigging the process. And Christian Anderson, Taylor’s campaign manager, sent out an email with a series of quotes charging that Nirenberg and Taylor accused her opponent of selling “local businesses down the river” in his support for the Chicago firm

“It is shameful that politics won out over the public interest today,” Nirenberg said in his release. “Twice, a transparent and fair process selected the best company and twice Mayor Taylor intervened to rig the process in favor of a political ally. Although I remain hopeful that Go Rio San Antonio will be able to create a quality experience, these actions diminish public trust and have a chilling effect on businesses and individuals looking to invest in San Antonio.”

Anderson said the Thursday vote was “another failure of leadership” for the councilman.

“He wants to be mayor of our city, but today he said through his vote on the river barge concession that our people don’t have the talent or skill to handle a major contract,” Anderson’s email said. “Not surprisingly, Nirenberg was once again the lone ‘no’ vote on City Council.”

jbaugh@express-news.net