District 9 candidate Michael John Good. Courtesy
By Sergio Medina
smedina104@student.alamo.edu
District 9 candidate Michael John Good, 53, said in an interview Oct. 7 areas of student support and an overall refined budget management are of interest to him if he were to be elected trustee for District 9.
Good is fresh off the role of student, having just obtained two associate degrees in automobile technology and construction technology from St. Philip’s College in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
“And I have some concerns,” he said. “I want things changed for the better, for all students.”
Good said he noticed a disparity in amenity availability while he took classes at the Southwest Campus versus those available at the main campus of St. Philip’s College.
He said that extended from the unavailability of warm food, vending machines with expired items, to security, like the police department at the Southwest Campus driving golf carts instead of police cars.
“The Southwest Campus was the polar opposite of what was offered to the students there (at St. Philip’s main campus).”
Because of that, Good said that if he’s elected, he would find ways to redirect funds into areas that are of direct use to the student rather than superfluous amenities like bowling alleys, which the main campus of St. Philip’s provides.
“Personally, it was a bit overwhelming; it was a little too much.
“It’s really upsetting to me that if you’re an educational institution, and you can fund and have a bowling alley six days a week, but you can only have a bookstore open from 8 a.m.-2 p.m., three days a week, that just doesn’t make any sense,” Good said.
St. Philip’s bookstore is closed to in-person purchases because of the Covid-19 pandemic, accepting only curb-side pick-ups 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday, and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday.
“I kept going and speaking with people and everybody would always kick the can down the road that, ‘Oh, we’re working on it;’ and ‘We’re looking into it.’”
Because of that, Good said that if he’s elected, he would make himself accessible and available when taking in student’s concerns.
He said he wants to focus in trade jobs.
“Right now, the money is in trades.
“I want to improve the quality of the product the students get,” Good said. “I believe we need another campus for the district. The city is growing.”
Good obtained a bachelor’s in criminal justice from St. Mary’s University.
His work experience includes doing work as a subcontractor, automobile and construction work; social work as an investigator for Child Protective Services, and parole officer for the state of Texas.
Early voting ends Oct. 30. The election is Nov. 3.
Northwest Vista College, Palo Alto College and this college are early voting locations.
More information is available at www.bexar.org/1568/Elections-Department.
