Richardson's Son Speaks out, Councilman Issues Apology

SAN ANGELO, TEXAS – Tuesday morning, the City Council meeting began with a short concert of the ASU Trumpet Ensemble; however, despite the beautiful and uplifting music, many attendees and council members could not hide their despair, shock, and anger over SMD 1’s Councilman Bill Richardson’s recent surprising, and what they deem as "racist," Facebook comments. Unfortunately, Bill Richardson was not in attendance.

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On Sunday, many community members were shocked when they opened their Facebook pages to find a disturbing update by Mr. Richardson where he called for “non-Hispanic” members of the San Angelo community to document their interactions with “Hispanic” SAPD officers (Read here for our breaking story). Many were in disbelief, but maybe none as much as fellow city council members; read here for their responses. Angered by Richardson’s words, the San Angelo Law Enforcement Spouses Association (SALESA) made it clear that they were going to take a stand during the city council meeting.

In LIVE’s  Facebook Live Stream, watch here, many community members came forward to voice their opinions on Richardson’s choice of words. However, as the residents came forward, two residents stood out the most. The reason for the Facebook posts, Richardson claims, is because he “had an encounter with a “Hispanic” SAPD officer” after calling to complain “about a problem with a “Hispanic” neighbor.”

The mentioned neighbor came forward to give her side of the story. Veronica Velez spoke of the numerous encounters she has had with the councilman.

“Mr. Richardson has come up on to my property intoxicated for various reasons; everything from asking for a ride to buy alcohol, to complaining about my basketball [hoop] located on my property.” She added that Richardson’s “bizarre” behaviors have recently included him taking pictures of her kids and herself from within the comforts of his parked truck.

Velez also said that her husband has told Mr. Richardson on several accounts that “he is not welcome” on their property.”

Mr. Richardson, though, does not heed his warnings.

Even more disturbing, Velez recounted Mr. Richardson’s most recent encounter with her family.

“Over the weekend, my parents were in town visiting. [I] took my kids to the carnival and my parents stayed at home. Mr. Richardson decided to come bang on our door and harass my disabled parents. My dad answered the door [to find] Mr. Richardson rambling and smelling like alcohol. My dad ran him off of the property.” 

The neighbor finished her emotional story and added, “Mr. Richardson needs to be held accountable for his inappropriate comments and his behavior.”

Furthermore, Velez's sister, Alana Reyes, who has been a San Angelo resident for the past 16 years, also came forward. In addition to her sister's story, she added that Mr. Richardson waits for her sister’s husband, who works in the oil field, to go away to begin harassing her. She further asked Councilman Lane Carter, her district representative, if he “would come to [her] house drunk, asking for a ride to go buy beer?” To that, Mr. Carter shook his head.

Concerned Citizens Take a Stand

Other community members came out to speak to the council members as well. Tony Villarreal, also a candidate in the upcoming Mayoral election, came to “give a voice to the many phone calls, texts, emails, and etc.” that he has received since the “racial comments” were made. Villarreal’s main motto throughout the speech: "Words do Matter."

Villarreal added, “We are one community with a diverse set of citizens; there is no reason to pit one segment of our community against another.”

Vice President of the NAACP, Dudra Butler, agreed with Villarreal. “San Angelo is Bigger than this,” she said.

Michelle Martin, a member of SALESA, came forward to publicly read the press release from Sunday night where members called for Mr. Richardson’s resignation, and added that, should he not resign on his own, the association would “do everything within its power in SMD 1 to remove [Bill Richardson] from office via recall, as per Section 48 of the San Angelo City Charter.”

She added, "I think all of our law enforcement and our citizens have done an exceptional job in keeping this racial war out of San Angelo, so for someone who is supposed to represent our city, to invite that in, infuriates me to no end.”

Both the SALESA and Rodney Fleming, former SMD 1 Councilman, have come together to collect a total of “643 signatures” during a meeting set for this afternoon at the San Angelo Realtors Association, located at 1902 Pecos Street. Fleming announced that he and SALESA will “have a meeting for about an hour or two” to “try to put together a game plan on getting 20-40 volunteers to collect 20-40 signatures” each, to petition for the resignation of Bill Richardson. For those interested in the meeting, click here for more information.

After addressing Richardson, City Council members continued with a longer debate on whether or not COSA would allow for the construction of a Low Income Housing Tax Credit Project. However, because the developer had not met certain deadlines, the council members voted against the project. The houses would have been built in the 2600 block of Era Street.

Council also discussed a few legalities in the current Republic contract. Republic will not have the authority to take away any recycling bins should residents misuse and contaminate trash bins. Republic has also changed its tipping fee.

For more on these stories and other topics discussed during Tuesday morning’s city council meeting, please visit the city's YouTube website to re-watch the full meeting.

The next city council meeting is scheduled for March 3, 2017 at 8:30 a.m. in the McNease Convention Center. As always, the meeting is free and open to the public. 

UPDATE: February 22, 2017 at 2:34 p.m. 

After yesterday's emotional city council meeting, Councilman Bill Richardson has responded, via Facebook, to the concerns voiced by the community and city leaders over the past several days.

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UPDATE: February 24, 2017 at 5:30 p.m.

It has been almost a week since SMD Councilman Bill Richardson updated his Facebook with a controversial status update. (See above)

Since then many have voiced their concern and anger of the councilman's choice of words. One of the many residents concerned for the councilman is Elijah 'Eli' Richardson, Bill Richardson's son. In a Facebook post from yesterday evening, Elijah Richardson wrote, "the lack of respect he has for the community, the city, and myself has sickened me." He further calls for the impeachment of his father from City Council and calls his father's actions "inexcusable."

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It seems that after telling everyone to continue to "rant and rave" as he is "protected by the first amendment"  and now his sons own criticism, Richardson has decided to take his words back and has issued an apology. In a Facebook post from today, Richardson wrote:

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The actions from the councilman have sparked an outrage in the city, and the San Angelo Law Enforcement Spouses Association have formally called for Richardson to resign.

Though Richardson has not indicated that he will resign anytime soon, will he be able to continue serving as SMD 1 Councilman?