2006 State of the City Address

“A CITY OF GREATNESS”

By
MAYOR PHIL HARDBERGER

Sponsored by the San Antonio Greater Chamber of Commerce
Marriott Rivercenter Hotel | San Antonio, Texas

January 25, 2006

The City | Future Challenges | Projects | Economic development |
International | The homeless | Toyota | Conclusion

It is my privileged duty, in this State of the City address, to talk about San Antonio and its incredible people – where we are and where we are going.

This is a most agreeable task because our future is bright, our people resourceful, our business, professional and educational community—the very people in this room—are talented, aggressive and creative. When future historians write of this time, they will say: these were the golden years for San Antonio. Days when harmony triumphed over discord, energy over slumber, imagination over the mundane.

San Antonio’s time has come. Our future is now. 2006 will be the best year in San Antonio’s history. My advice to you is invest in San Antonio, invest now, invest large. The return will be great. We shall not let this day pass by.

My expectations are high because I believe in the people of San Antonio. I believe in our leadership -- like yourselves. I have seen, first hand, this community in a classless society come together and take care of 30,000 evacuees who arrived here within a few days’ time.

Not a single businessman or business woman ever said “No” to any request I made. The common answer was: “What do you want me to do?” And it was done - many times with interest on the principal.

My expectations are high because I saw the multitudes of volunteers at the centers in lines that at times stretched for blocks.

My expectations are high because I saw our people, many of them poor, some very poor, give up their own food for the evacuees. With such citizens, are not all things possible?

The Red Cross, the Food Bank, the Salvation Army, the Blood Bank were all there every day – working alongside our citizens, the police and the firefighters, and the city staff.

My expectations are also high because of the military and its commanders in our city. I saw first-hand as many of you did, just what they do for our city. Within the first day of the effort, Gen. Bill Looney, director of the entire Air Force’s training, had called me wanting to know what he could do and when I told him, assigned Col. Mary Kay Hertog (now Gen. Hertog) to handle our air movements at Kelly. She was magnificent, one night handling plane landings every 20 minutes with up to 400 people getting off each plane.

General George Weightman, commander of Fort Sam Houston, called offering assistance from the Army. When I asked for cots, we got them; when we asked for meals-ready-to-eat, we got them. Thousands of them.

Let’s pause a moment for this thought: aren’t we lucky to live in a town where patriotism is not out of style, but is still a cherished virtue?

Our medal of honor winners, our numerous brothers and sisters who daily serve and face unspeakable dangers on our behalf, and the 26 San Antonio men and women who have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan: we just lost another one this weekend, Air Force Staff Sgt. Brian McElroy, age 28. Do you not think we can build a great and just city with such patriots? We have the will, we have the character, we have the energy, and we shall succeed.

After the evacuee effort, I was called by the Deputy Director of the United States Department of Health and Human Services for the sole purpose of telling me that San Antonio was considered to have the best evacuee program in the United States.

Shortly following this call, President Bush flew here to thank us, the people of San Antonio, for what we did.

We have men and women of genius and drive all around us in San Antonio. We have national status already in many areas. Because they are among us and familiar we don’t always realize what we have:

1. The Spurs: 3-time World Champions, and with Gregg Popovich coaching, Tim Duncan and other great talents playing and Peter Holt at the helm, strong contenders to do it again. Corporate headquarters: San Antonio.

2. Ed Whitacre: who brought us a national corporation in SBC, then the world’s largest communications company in AT&T. Corporate headquarters: San Antonio.

3. Bill Greehey: who has made Valero the world’s largest refinery company. Corporate headquarters: San Antonio.

4. Charles Butt: head of H-E-B, the world’s largest privately-held grocery company. Corporate headquarters: San Antonio.

5. The Lowry Mays family: head of the world’s largest media company, Clear Channel Communications. Corporate headquarters: San Antonio.

6. Pat Kennedy: who just built the Watermark Hotel, voted one of the 10 best hotels in the United States. Corporate headquarters: San Antonio.

7. Bob Davis: head of USAA, one of the world’s largest and best run insurance companies. Corporate headquarters: San Antonio.

8. Bartell Zachry: head of Zachry Industries – a worldwide construction company with an international reputation of being “on-budget, on-time”. Corporate headquarters: San Antonio.

9. Red McCombs: a business giant of sports franchises, development companies, automobile dealerships, and ranching interests.
Corporate headquarters: San Antonio.

This is but a partial list, confined by time, and does not include such notable regional companies as Frost Bank, headed by Tom Frost, Fernando Reyes of Reyes Industries, T. J. Tajima of Toyota Motors and many others.

The City

Past accomplishments as Mayor are of little interest to me because they are already done. I prefer to look at the future. But as past performance is recognized as a predictor of future accomplishment, here is our six-month list:

1. Synchronization of downtown traffic lights. Done.

2. Installations of priority lighting systems for emergency vehicles. Done.

3. Reforming and re-organizing city council meetings to run in a business-like manner. Done.

4. Hiring one of the best, if not the best, city manager in the United States. Done.
Meet Sheryl Sculley. Please stand up Sheryl.

When people ask me if I prefer a strong mayor form of government or a city manager form of government my answer is this: when the city manager is Sheryl Sculley, I prefer the city manager form of government.

5. Hire a skilled, experienced lawyer to build a legal department worthy of any law firm. Done.
Meet Michael Bernard. Please stand up Michael.

6. Begin a permanent downtown street fair to promote downtown, provide a showcase for our artists and craftsmen and provide a temporary urban park where we can all visit. Done.

7. End inhumane treatment of animals at our animal shelter and begin to build a strong adoption and spay and neuter program for animals. Done.

Future Challenges

There are challenges before us. Before we speak of them, I want to recognize my fellow City Council members who will help me meet those challenges. A Mayor does nothing by himself or herself. The City Council members are the constant architects and teammates for city policy.

Whatever success we have achieved in our city government belongs to our City Council team members. I am proud of them and thankful for their support.

I would like to recognize:

Roger Flores
Sheila McNeil
Roland Gutierrez
Richard Perez
Patti Radle
Delicia Herrera
Elena Guajardo
Art Hall
Kevin Wolff
Chip Haass

Would all of you please stand?

And there is another member of my team who is neither appointed nor elected. But I couldn’t do the job I do without the help of the most important person in my life: my wife Linda.

Finally I want to acknowledge the hard work of the city staff -- those 13,000 employees serving under the direction of Sheryl Sculley and in service of the people of San Antonio. They work hard -- very hard at times. They serve us well, and while improvements can and will be made, I am most appreciative of their efforts.

Projects

I heard so much about the “One Stop” center during the campaign that I spent a day over there. I learned first hand that if the first person you talk to at a government agency cannot answer your question, then you have a bureaucracy.

We have done a survey of the “One Stop” customers, and the results of that survey are being used by Ms. Sculley to improve response and customer satisfaction.

You will soon find that the center is a changed place. It will be committed to this attitudinal change: from regulatory to facilitator.

We will focus on our parks, a balanced budget, job training, police protection, the arts, the airport, downtown revitalization, Riverwalk improvements, land development issues. And yes, a professional football or baseball team—or both—that will compliment our magnificent Spurs.

We haven’t solved every problem, but we are working on them, and will continue to work on them until they are done.

We are creating an attitude of change at city hall and in so doing, we are beginning the process of restoring people’s confidence in our city government.

I realize how important it is for the city to have financial stability, which means a balanced budget. Our budget continues to grow along with the growth of our city. But our budget is balanced and will remain balanced. We shall do much, but we will not exceed our means.

Economic development

I’ll be turning much of my focus and that of the city toward issues of education and workforce development. I plan on doing everything I can to assist the San Antonio legislative delegation in Austin this spring. We must find a solution to adequate funding for education and improvements in the classroom.

San Antonio is about to experience the greatest economic expansion we have ever seen. There is a wave of new business and new money that is about to crest, and when it does, San Antonio needs to be ready to take advantage of it – to make sure that the wave doesn’t wash right over us, and leave us in the shallow backwater.

The key is education and workforce development. I intend to convene “Education and Workforce Summit SA”, bringing together school districts, colleges, private industry, workforce development organizations, training programs, and social services.

This just won’t be a “feel good” committee meeting, I can assure you. I’m working with the council to identify key objectives that we must achieve, and these groups are going to be asked to achieve these goals. After they start their work, we are going to monitor their performance to insure they are accomplishing the job.

We are going to train our citizens to fulfill the job requirements of the 21st century. I want every citizen to have the opportunity to improve his or her skills, to be ready when employment opportunity knocks.

Other areas that will continue to be a priority are the Main Plaza project, which will create a true “public space” in the center of our city, and the river improvement project. I’ll be traveling to Washington, DC in March, and one of my priorities is to make sure that we get the funding for Riverwalk improvements.

At the same time, I’m not going to let the “Mc Donaldization” of our Riverwalk occur. I want Mayor Maury Maverick’s legacy to reflect the community in which we live, not some strip center in Anytown, USA. This is San Antonio. I want every visitor to know that he or she has visited one of America’s unique cities, and I will guard that uniqueness.

Investing in our downtown and making our downtown great helps all sectors of the city: North, South, East and West. The downtown is the heart of our city, and the more energy and blood we have flowing into it -- the stronger it pumps -- the more the rest of the city will benefit.

International

As we focus on projects within our city, we must also recognize the global developments around us.

I will not forget the troops from the Mexican army who came to San Antonio to help us when the evacuees arrived. These troops lived in tents and cooked food for the thousands of displaced Americans—three meals a day. We truly were one hemisphere.

I want the cities of northern Mexico to know that San Antonio has the medical facilities, business opportunities, and the shopping of any major city in America.

I want the 4 million citizens of Monterrey, our closest Mexican neighbor, to be as important as Dallas and Houston are to us—with as many flights daily there as we now have to those two Texas cities. Monterrey has the highest per capita income of any Mexican city. We have many connections. This is a great market for San Antonio businesses and one that we shall nurture.

Ours is a city that is opening doors, not building walls. We share traditions, language, culture and history. I want Mexican citizens to know that they are welcome in San Antonio.

The international business community should see first-hand what San Antonio has to offer. We shall convene a “Port of San Antonio” summit in San Antonio and invite businesses from Shanghai to Tampico to attend. We will invite the world to see for themselves our business opportunities.

The homeless

Along with prosperity, the city’s growth and financial stability, there comes social responsibility that we need to give our attention to, just as we improve our infrastructure in our businesses when profits are up. Specifically, we have a growing homelessness problem in San Antonio. This problem will be heightened when FEMA withdraws its support of our evacuees, whether it is in March or August.

I ask the assistance of the business community in helping solve the problem of the homeless in our community. I will undertake this initiative this year in our community. Here is my request: give me the help you gave me when you so magnificently rose to the challenge with the evacuees.

Toyota

And finally, Toyota continues to exceed all of our expectations. While I was on the trade mission to Japan and China, along with Judge Wolff and Mayor Cisneros, the Chairman of Toyota International committed that they would increase production from 150,000 trucks a year to 200,000 trucks a year, and add $50 million more in investment.

Toyota is so pleased with its progress here that it has made a commitment for increased production even before the first truck has rolled off the line, which should occur this fall.

While we were working together on this trade mission, it was obvious to me the debt this city owes to my two fellow leaders of this trade commission.

Judge Nelson Wolff, our most experienced and capable public leader, is an invaluable help to me, to the city and to the county. Wherever we have made progress, wherever we have occasion to rise above ourselves, Nelson is there. Thank you, Nelson, for being who you are to our city and for being my personal friend. Please rise, Nelson.

I also want to recognize that Toyota would not be here without former Mayor Henry Cisneros. He is a major architect of our trade with Japan and I will continue to use his services, always graciously given, for the people of San Antonio. Please rise, Henry.

Conclusion

The future is bright for San Antonio, and the state of our city is strong. I look forward to 2006 as a chance to continue the work that we’ve started.

But this is not a task that I as Mayor or the Council alone can achieve. This is a job for all of us.

San Antonio has important challenges in 2006. We must educate our children, train our workforce, restore Main Plaza to its historical role as the center of our city, expand the river improvements North and South.

We must continue to build our economic muscle while not sacrificing our quality of life. We shall stimulate a healthy, robust development without sacrificing the quality of our water or losing our natural South Texas heritage.

A great economic engine is now driving our city’s growth, but it is our job to provide the rudder and the direction.

I feel our destiny, hear the song of our people, pulsating with the blood of our ancestors. Our blood lines are those of the Spaniards, the English, the Indians, the Anglo settlers, the Mexicans, the Germans, the African Americans. All those people brought us thus far. It is our destiny now and we shall not fail.

It is a job for many. The Mayor, the Councilpersons, the city staff to be sure, but also our business leaders, the Chamber of Commerce, the people in this room. Help our city and your city will help you.

Great cities push the envelope. We shall do that. Great cities are the products of great citizens. We have such citizens. Great cities need great leaders. You are those leaders.

We have crossed over the threshold of greatness, but much is ahead. We will not look back -- we will move forward. Our destiny is not one of chance, but one of design, energy and focus.

Many years from now when historians study San Antonio’s tipping point, you can say, “I know when” -- the year of 2006. You can also say: “I helped make it happen.”

God bless the leaders gathered here. God bless San Antonio.