San Antonio is a better place today than it was nearly a decade ago, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said at his final State of the City address on Tuesday.
That reflection comes in the final weeks of his eight years leading the city.
Speaking before a ballroom of business leaders and other officials over a luncheon sponsored by the Greater San Antonio Chamber, Nirenberg said the city is now the kind of place where people want to raise a family and build a life.
“I’m proud of that,” he said.
In one of his last public engagements as mayor, Nirenberg said crime is down and the city has launched an ambitious and long-term workforce development program.
It has passed a housing bond to increase affordability and started major airport expansion. Strides in economic development have been made, he said.
Nirenberg leaves office with a new downtown baseball stadium coming soon and his vision for a project that would create an urban sports and entertainment district is well underway.
Nirenberg has led the city since 2017 and is term-limited from seeking reelection this year, setting up San Antonio’s first mayoral race without an incumbent on the ballot in 16 years. A race that has drawn 27 candidates and will surely go to a runoff after the May 3 election.
Tuesday’s event is likely one of numerous swan songs in the coming weeks and one which presenters and lunch-goers used as an opportunity to show their appreciation to the baseball-loving mayor.
After the Missions baseball mascot Ballapeño greeted arriving guests, the program kicked off with a video featuring local business leaders thanking Nirenberg for his leadership, followed by a standing ovation.
“I have enjoyed this opportunity to serve San Antonio — it’s been the privilege of my life,” he said. “I did not expect to do it for my career … I enjoyed fighting for working class people, and strengthening everyone in San Antonio’s opportunity.
“I don’t think I’ll stop doing that.”
The mayor said he’s not ready to share what comes next in his career.
But he believes the city is better off today for two reasons. First is the economic opportunity created during his time in office.
“Do our young people find economic opportunity here? Is this a place where our younger children can be raised, get a good education and find a job?” he said. “Increasingly now that is the case. We see diversification of our industries. We have recruited and grown businesses here in industries that we never would have thought of before.”
In addition, the city has made strategic investments in quality of life through public safety and reduced crime, Nirenberg said.
The COVID-19 pandemic, however, exposed some truths about San Antonio that must still be confronted.
While the city got together with the county and other organizations to work out solutions to some of the greatest challenges of the pandemic, he said, the crisis also was a reckoning for the nation in terms of “fiscal fragility.”
For San Antonio, that economic reality was put on full display, he said, as national media reports showed people lined up outside the food bank by the thousands for emergency food assistance during that time.
Nirenberg touted the city’s Ready to Work program, approved by voters in 2020 as a way to tackle tenacious poverty issues, as the largest local investment in workforce development in the nation’s history. But he also cautioned that transformational programs take time.
“I know this will evolve,” he said. “But let’s stop talking about poverty if we’re not willing to do something about it.”
Nirenberg views his response to the affordable housing crisis similarly, that the solutions for individuals facing housing shortages and rising prices, are rooted in improving the economic standing of the city.
“We’re never going to solve the housing affordability issues of the city if we’re only focusing on cost analysis,” he said. “We’ve also got to make sure that we lift people’s wages and economic outcomes so they can afford the market that’s being generated.”
When it comes to quality of life investments made by the city, he counts among them Project Marvel, a plan revealed last year that calls for transforming one quadrant of downtown into a mecca for sports and entertainment, specifically the San Antonio Spurs. Funding for the development would come from both public and private sectors.
“We have one of the most unique downtowns in America,” he said. “We have an opportunity now to develop all these landmarks in a way that allows more locals to enjoy it, and has what can be the future of the Spurs here.”
But Nirenberg also acknowledged at least one of the challenges ahead — fulfilling unkept promises the last time a new Spurs arena was built.
“It’s also an opportunity for us to address the expectations that were made on the East Side about that opportunity,” he said. “So I’m a huge supporter of Project Marvel.”
