By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Bruno Lozano is seeking the Democratic Party nomination for the office of Val Verde County Commissioner Pct. 1.
Lozano is one of seven candidates who will be on the ballot for the office in the March 5 Democratic Party Primary Election.
Lozano was born and raised in Del Rio. He attended local schools, including The Little Schoolhouse, and public schools. He graduated from Del Rio High School in 2001.
After high school, Lozano moved to Tulsa, Okla., to attend the Spartanburg School of Aeronautics, then to Chicago, Ill., before joining the Air Force.
“I was a security police officer and was deployed to Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and Kuwait City International Airport during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Then I was stationed at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina and then I came back to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio,” Lozano said.
He served in the Air Force for two years.
After the Air Force, Lozano worked in the finance industry for several years and was living in Chicago, Ill., when he began working for Sky West, a regional airline, where he stayed for seven years.
Lozano was hired by Delta Air Lines in 2014 and has been working for Delta ever since.
“I am a purser-qualified flight attendant for Delta. Purser qualifications mean I manage international cabins for international departures all over the world. I am also part of the hiring program for pursers, a certification I recently gained,” he said.
Lozano pursued a successful campaign for mayor of the city of Del Rio in 2018, winning his election with more than 61 percent of the votes cast.
After his term ended, Lozano said he took some time off for mental health reasons, establishing a non-profit group to address PTSD awareness, Del Rio PTSD Awareness.
“My primary therapy for mental health is running, so what we’ve focused is doing runs, and in the last year I started a 5K, just to go run. It was last summer, and I did not expect the turnout we had, so I started planning a marathon, but the time scale was too short for a marathon, so we scaled it down to a half-marathon, and that was a success as well. The creation of this non-profit has really inspired me to pursue more mental health advocacy for our community,” Lozano said.
Asked why he decided to run for county commissioner, Lozano said, “Primarily, I want to give back. I love serving. I love service. I think serving the people you live around is a beautiful thing. I think it speaks volumes of a person. I admire anybody who puts their name on the ballot.
“I believe COVID delayed and deflected a lot of the things I wanted to accomplish while I was mayor, and now I feel it’s time to give back to my precinct. I have strong family roots there, and I really would like to continue what I started while I was mayor. I think there are great opportunities for the commissioner of that precinct to join forces with the city council to really reinvest and reinvigorate the precinct. Such as Garza Street for example, there are chances to bring that part of the neighborhood back to what it used to be,” Lozano said.
“There are parks in the precinct that I feel have been neglected for a long time, Arteaga Park being one of them, and then we have this 3,000-acre gold mine of potential economic development and growth, the old SE Ranch property the county purchased.
“I’ve been collaborating with the Great Springs Project on creating and developing a series of hike and bike trails between Austin and San Antonio, and I’ve had conversations with the president of that organization to expand that trail system to include Del Rio, and the planned entryway for that project here would be in Precinct 1, and I believe it would be advantageous a commissioner to spearhead that and bring it into the community,” he said.
Lozano also spoke about other priorities he would have if elected.
“I want to ensure that the community stays informed on what authority and jurisdiction that’s given by the state to county entities, specifically to precinct commissioners. There’s a lot of discussion for Escondido Estates, for example, access to water and how the environment and the climate is changing and impacting us directly, and people don’t recognize or realize that what you do up north affects us down south, and I think as a commissioner it would be my responsibility to ensure the constituents stay educated and informed on what’s happening in real time,” Lozano said.
“I do feel there is a need for mental health advocacy here. The county judge has emphasized the need for that, and I would like to help support his endeavors for the community to gain more access to mental health care.
“The county judge also supports veterans and the Veterans Service Office here. As a veteran, I feel the state of Texas does a lot for us, and I feel our community is underserved, as far as a clinic, and locations and I feel we can do more to join forces with the Department of Veterans Affairs to get more access to health care here, and I also feel the need for more civilian mental health care. . . I will work to do whatever I can to bring more of that to our community,” he added.
“I also feel that the county-city relationship is always turbulent, and I believe that my experience as mayor gave me a direct understanding, a unique perspective, on working with council members, and I know their priorities may be different from the county’s, and I think it’s important to be a mediator between the city and the county and finding a middle ground so we can collaborate on more projects,” Lozano said.
He pointed out that although he and the county judge have had their differences, they were always able to talk to each other and work together.
When asked why Precinct 1 voters should cast their ballots for him, Lozano said, “I would tell them to look at my experience as mayor, to let them know that I work with people, no matter if we have differences of opinion, I am still able to work with people of different backgrounds, different perspectives and I can lead people through crises. More importantly, I understand what my role will be on commissioners court, led by the county judge, and I would be able to collaborate with him and make sure his leadership is successful.
“Beyond that I have the experience and the network connections. I have excellent relationships with TxDOT, excellent relationships with many members of city council, an excellent relationship with the Middle Rio Grande Development Council and I feel like my experience and the network of relationships I’ve built and maintained will help enhance Precinct 1 to change the economic future and vitality of our area,” Lozano said.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
