E-mail the
Mayor's Office

Community Concerns
Dawn Ann Larios
Director of Constituent Services
210-207-8998
dawn.larios@sanantonio.gov

Media Requests
Rebeca Chapa
Mayor’s Office Communications
210-207-7083
rebeca.chapa@sanantonio.gov

Scheduling Requests
Jackie Bolds
Mayor’s Office Scheduler
210-207-7069
jackie.bolds@sanantonio.gov

Mayor's 2008 State of the City Address: "Our Golden Hour"

Mayor's 2007 State
of the City Address:
"A Foundation for Our Future"

Mayor's 2006 State
of the City Address:
"A City of Greatness"
 

City of San Antonio
Disaster Relief Directory (Adobe PDF)

Mayor's Disaster Relief News Conference - August 20, 2007 (video)
 

Voelcker Park Development Project

Mayor Hardberger has overseen a period of economic growth, rising prosperity and stability in San Antonio, the nation’s seventh-largest city. He has addressed basic concerns about city services and infrastructure while striving to elevate San Antonio’s overall quality of life. During his first term, Mayor Hardberger was credited with uniting the city and bringing in the business community as a partner in key capital projects such as San Antonio River improvements, Main Plaza, Voelcker Park and the Haven for Hope. He won re-election in 2007 with 77 percent of the vote.

After taking office in 2005, Mayor Hardberger worked with City Council to recruit City Manager Sheryl Sculley from Phoenix. Sculley then streamlined city resources, built needed financial reserves and developed a two-year balanced budget.

Mayor Hardberger is a proud backer of the arts. Early on, he conceived of the Houston Street Fair and Market, a family-friendly local arts event named the “Best Downtown Event” by the Downtown Alliance. More recently, the Museo Alameda de Smithsonian, the first affiliate of the Smithsonian Institute outside Washington D.C., opened in San Antonio and the city hosted the first retrospective of the works of Fernando Botero in the United States since 1974.

Mayor Hardberger believes that public spaces knit a community together, and he has sought to rediscover San Antonio’s historic beauty. He led the charge to restore Main Plaza, the city’s birthplace, as a stunning central gathering spot connecting city and county government, the San Fernando Cathedral and the San Antonio River.  Main Plaza also set a new precedent as a public-private partnership, with private donations paying for half the renovation expenses.

The San Antonio River, which attracted the city’s first settlers to San Antonio, is a top priority for Mayor Hardberger. While the River Walk is a great attraction for both locals and tourists, the Mayor is determined to improve a full 13 miles of the San Antonio River to create hike and bike trails linking Brackenridge Park to Mission Espada and connecting the city from North to South.

Upgrades to the River are underway and the Museum Reach project won the 2006 “Best in Commercial Real Estate” award from the San Antonio Business Journal. In his second term, the Mayor is focused on the Mission Reach, which will restore habitat for native birds, plants and other wildlife along the Mission Trail and revitalize the city’s South Side.

Mayor Hardberger championed the acquisition of the 311-acre Voelcker property, one of the few remaining undeveloped parcels in San Antonio, a mere three miles from City Hall. This initiative to develop a major urban park from scratch is not only unique to Texas, but to urban America. Recently, the city held a national competition to select a design team to create a park of national stature, an effort that will also be fueled by private contributions.

Mayor Hardberger believes that a city should be judged on how it treats the less fortunate. During Hurricane Katrina, he won national and international acclaim for his open-armed welcome and efforts to restore dignity to victims of Katrina’s wrath. Speaking on CNN, Mayor Hardberger said: “There's going to be some difficulties and hardships for the people of San Antonio, but our difficulties and hardships are nothing compared to what these people are going through.”

Leading San Antonio’s first effort to address its chronic homeless problem, Mayor Hardberger appointed City Councilmember Patti Radle, a longtime homeless advocate, and Bill Greehey, then CEO of Valero Energy Corp., to lead a task force seeking a proactive solution. This year the city and its private partners will break ground on the Haven for Hope, a transformational campus that offers the homeless a wide range of assistance to help them reverse the course of their lives.

During Mayor Hardberger’s tenure, Toyota began manufacturing operations in San Antonio, and the Toyota Suppliers Parks now houses more than 20 companies. The city has nurtured new businesses and international trade at the former Kelly and Brooks Air Force bases, now the Port Authority and Brooks City Base. Both the Microsoft Data Center and the Lowe’s Data Center represent major investments in the city’s growing Information Technology sector, and Christus Health, the National Security Agency and Stream Realty have all announced new data center projects.

During the Mayor’s first term, City Council tackled a $550 million bond referendum, the largest in city history and the first to focus on citywide improvements rather than projects by districts. Voters overwhelmingly endorsed a package to improve to streets, sidewalks, drainage, libraries and parks.

Mayor Hardberger, a Texas native, brought his results-oriented style to City Hall. After graduating from college he served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force where he piloted the B-47 bomber. He then went on to serve as Executive Secretary of the U.S. Peace Corps during the Kennedy Administration and as Special Assistant to the Director in the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity under President Lyndon Johnson. Following a distinguished legal career in San Antonio, he was elected Associate Justice and then Chief Justice of the Fourth Court of Appeals.

A graduate of Baylor University, Columbia University, and Georgetown Law School, his past honors include the 1999 Star of Texas Public Service Award for Judicial Ethics and Excellence and the St. Mary’s School of Law’s Rosewood Gavel Award. Hardberger was named Texas Judge of the Year in 2003, and was given the the National Council of Chief Judges’ highest award in 2004.

A noted adventurer, pilot, sailor and race-car driver, Mayor Hardberger has completed ascents of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Kilimanjaro. He has been married to Linda Hardberger for 39 years. He has two daughters and two grandchildren.