Mayor Ron Nirenberg

North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce - Vision Speech

August 10, 2018
Marriott Rivercenter

Good afternoon everyone.

Thank you, John, for the kind introduction. And thank you to
First Lady, Hispanic Chamber Chairwoman Erika Prosper for being
here.

And of course thank you to one of the best Bexar County

executives in history, Judge Nelson Wolff.

It is a pleasure to be delivering the first speech in the new

era of the North San Antonio Chamber with President Cristina
Aldrete. Congratulations, Cristina, on this exciting new
chapter.

I am confident that this chamber will continue to be a valued

partner in our city’s progress.

I also want to take this opportunity to recognize the hard work

of my City Council colleagues; please hold your applause as I
ask them to stand: Roberto Treviño, “Cruz” Shaw, Rebecca
Viagran, Rey Saldaña, Shirley Gonzales, Greg Brockhouse, Ana
Sandoval, Manny Pelaez, John Courage and Clayton Perry.

Our council puts in a lot of hours representing their

constituents and making our city a better place. Their
leadership is worthy of admiration.

And, of course, City Manager Sheryl Sculley and her staff

deserve congratulations and gratitude for their fiscal
management that has ensured San Antonio—for the ninth
consecutive year … NINTH — received a triple-A bond rating.

San Antonio remains the only big city in the nation with that
distinction. And it’s not just window dressing. AAA means more
basic services and more critical infrastructure for less of our
money.

It’s savings for every business and every resident.

That means a dollar in San Antonio stretches further than

anywhere else in the country. And that’s more important than
ever. According to Census numbers from this past year, San
Antonio is among the fastest growing cities in the country.
But our vision remains steadfast: San Antonio is a premier city
of the 21st Century. Compassionate, competitive, and globally
connected.

We are the city of America’s future.

As our 300 years of history has shown, San Antonio is the

crossroads of America. The confluence of culture and commerce
that has made it one of the most unique places on earth.

It’s this cultural backbone that feeds the spirit of San Antonio
as a bridge between geographic, cultural, ethnic, and
socioeconomic differences to become a city that does teamwork–
working together in common cause – better than anywhere else.

Teamwork, compassion and resilience.

We are a city that does not boom and bust. We aren’t the flash
in the pan. No. We believe in going far, dreaming big and going
together. And we roll up our sleeves and get to work.

You’re here, like me, because you love this city. Whatever your
business or position, San Antonio is OUR mission.

This November, we will confront a challenge that threatens our

mission and our collective future. It’s a challenge that San
Antonio’s children cannot afford us to lose.

And it’s a challenge we can only win if everyone inside and

outside this room sets aside their personal, professional and
political differences, and reaffirms that there is only one team
we fight for, and that’s a resilient San Antonio.

Resilience is a defining characteristic of successful people,

businesses, and societies.

It’s mental and physical toughness. The ability to overcome

difficulties, unforeseen and sometimes catastrophic challenges.

Resilience is what every parent wants to teach their children

and what every business wants its leadership to demonstrate.
True grit. Even as people, lobbyists, hate mongers, and yes,
even other leaders, attack. Because grit – true grit – isn’t a
show or a press release condemning others – it’s looking at this
city and loving it and defending it. Against anyone and everyone
who wants to upend it.
It’s what makes the United States such a successful, striving,
ambitious place.

The ability to circle the wagons and to move forward with

spirit, with an unwavering optimism for the future.

It’s Senator John McCain’s public battle with cancer.

New York City rebuilding after 9/11.

General Motor rebounding under Ed Whitacre.

The Spurs figuring out a way to win year after year after year.

It’s our city, San Antonio, Texas!

Many people in this room will remember the national news on July
1, 1995.

The day we learned that Kelly Air Force Base would be shutting
down.

From a World War I flight-training base to an economic engine of

opportunity, Kelly was a key component of our city’s success.

It was called realignment in Washington, but it meant closure in

San Antonio.

For thousands of San Antonians, it meant closing off the

possibility of sending their kids to college. Closing off the
opportunity that comes from a steady paycheck.

But this city was resilient. We circled the wagons.

And we went to work: aligning priorities for public

infrastructure, roadway connections and rail lines, aircraft
repair facilities and more than 1,900 acres of land.

The public and private sector – residents, business and City

Hall – assembled a plan to stimulate enterprise and turn the
defunct base into a center for manufacturing, trade, and
logistics.

Against daunting odds, this city persevered.

Today, more than two decades after the closure of Kelly Air
Force Base, Port San Antonio is home to over 12,000 jobs. It’s
become a model for reengineering success from certain failure.
From aerospace to applied cyber security, Port SA is providing
middle-class jobs and economic opportunity.

And over the last several months, Boeing announced that it

expects to double its workforce in San Antonio, and the next Air
Force One will be among its projects right here in South Texas.

Lockheed Martin is expanding its cyber operations at Port SA’s

Project Tech.

Standard Aero’s new contract with Rolls Royce means that it has
become the world’s largest aerospace engine maintenance company.

That’s resilience.

And it’s also the story of the former Brooks Air Force Base, now
an extraordinary urban revival and our city’s new economic
powerhouse.

With Palo Alto College and Texas A&M San Antonio becoming
premier academic institutions, the future of San Antonio has
been born again on the South Side.

That’s the San Antonio we know and love.

And here we are, in the 300th year since the founding of our
city and we’re just getting started.

San Antonio has gained significant momentum since we were here

last August.

We are now on the home stretch of a successful Tricentennial

year.

Thanks to financial support from our business community,

thoughtful and energetic work by the Tricentennial Commission
and participation by people from all walks of life, we have
elevated San Antonio for everyone.

The royal visit from King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain
is among the many highlights.

With a spotlight brighter than it has been in 50 years, San

Antonio is re-introducing the world to our history and our
culture, as well as our bold, INCLUSIVE vision that powers the
future.
San Antonio is indeed the face of the United States in the 21st
century.

An ambitious, scrappy, diverse, compassionate city that is proud

of where we came from and committed to where we are going.

And while there may be some that root against us – even work to
undermine us — we are undeterred.

Even if that means, trying to top the best Final Four experience
in tournament history — one that generated over $185 million in
economic impact and welcomed almost 100,000 visitors to San
Antonio.

Thank you to Jenny Carnes of SA Sports and the Local Organizing

Committee along with thousands of neighbors who volunteered and
executed a flawless San Antonio Final Four in March. Let’s give
them a round of applause.

Last month in Boston, it was Team San Antonio once again putting
on a full-court press. We reminded the NCAA that no one does it
better than San Antonio, Texas.

And the Final Four is coming back to San Antonio! In 2025 it

will be bigger and better than ever.

That’s the present-day story of San Antonio’s wide-ranging

economic progress. And that progress is accelerating.

By any measure, San Antonio’s economy is in the best position it

has ever enjoyed, and our future is limited only by our
collective will to take bold action.

Here is a snapshot of where we stand:

San Antonio adds about 66 people every day—more new residents

than any city in the nation.

We expect to gain more than a million new residents by 2040.

The bold action we need is the will to reaffirm our common cause
– our San Antonio mission – by investing in the future.

San Antonio deserves investment in public infrastructure today.

Investment in mass transit.

Investment in economic development.

Investment in affordable housing.

Investment in good-paying jobs.

Today, unemployment is lower than the national average, and so

is the cost of living.

Our private sector created more than 23,300 jobs from May 2017
to May 2018, and that’s not counting the metropolitan area.

Through the Economic Development Department and the San Antonio

Economic Development Foundation, we directly attracted and
retained 5,000 jobs.

Our focus has been on high-skilled jobs such as those at The Hut
Group, which relocated from London, with average pay $85,000 a
year.

It’s on Ernst & Young, which announced an expansion bringing 600

good paying jobs.

And USAA, moving 2,000 well paid tech workers to the downtown
core.

San Antonio is open for business.

I am proud to report that the Mayor’s Blue Chip Jobs Council is

up and running.

Earlier this year, I convened this group of business leaders to

attract high-skilled, high-paying jobs to our city.

They are leveraging their contacts and opening doors on a quest

to add 70,000 jobs to the San Antonio area economy by 2020.

Meanwhile, our healthcare and biomedical industry — one of our

city’s largest economic generators — has a new collaboration to
create an ecosystem of science that is unrivaled in the United
States.

Earlier this year, I convened the presidents of Southwest

Research Institute, Texas Biomedical Institute, UT Health and
UTSA to talk about our San Antonio mission. And it’s quite a
dream team: Adam Hamilton, Larry Schlessinger, Bill Henrich, and
Taylor Eighmy.
Today, they are teaming up to attract the best medical talent in
the world to our city of science. They’re collaboratively
recruiting top-notch scientists and developing new projects to
train the next generation of biomedical leaders.

They share our big vision for San Antonio.

President Eighmy has announced an exciting downtown master plan

that will transform our center city over the next decade. He’s
got my support and Judge Wolff’s as well.

When I spoke to Governor Abbott, he assured me of his strong

support for UTSA’s drive to become a Tier One university.

As I told you last year, I consider advocating for our city as a

top priority of the mayor, whether that is here or abroad.
Encouraging people and businesses to invest their time, talent
and fortunes in San Antonio. Because this is a city of the
future, and we are determined to make the long term ROI here
better than any other city in America.

A few days ago, I became chairman of Sister Cities

International, an organization dedicated to cultural exchanges
and building relationships that spawn economic partnerships
around the world.

These international relationships are important. San Antonio is

not just a city in the world, we are a city of the world. And in
May, we celebrated our 30-year relationship with Kumamoto, Japan
that was started by Mayor Henry Cisneros.

Today, as a result, we have Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas and

almost 40 other Japanese companies have a presence in San
Antonio.

Nissei just opened a $21 million manufacturing plant at Brooks.

And as our economy has taken flight, so has the San Antonio
International Airport, setting the all-time record for monthly
passengers in June and recording 24 months of consecutive
growth.

America’s most convenient airport is on track to surpass 10

million passengers this year.

Russ Handy, who is the City’s Aviation Director, has helped

engineer this remarkable growth and increase nonstop connections
to SAT by nearly 50 percent in the last 18 months.
Two weeks ago, Russ and I, along with Gen. Kwast, went to
Washington to visit with Senator Cornyn on our efforts for a
nonstop to Reagan National.

We will get this done – although it literally takes an act of

Congress -- because we are undaunted and we are on a mission for
San Antonio.

We’re working together with our senators and representatives,

our military and business community.

We have momentum and we will create our own opportunities.

Last year at this speech, I announced the creation of the

Mayor’s Housing Policy Task Force to address the looming
affordable housing crisis that has already hit so many cities.

Over the next 20 years, San Antonio’s demand for housing will
increase dramatically, while the gap in supply and affordability
will grow exponentially.

Already, one in every three San Antonio families faces a

substantial burden from rising housing costs.

Right now, the average San Antonio family cannot afford the
average San Antonio home.

This is not unique to our city, but we must all recognize the
ripple effect that is created across our economy.

When the housing supply fails to keep up with demand, home

prices surge and the American dream of homeownership remains far
from a reality. And that’s unacceptable.

Make no mistake, this affects us all.

If you’re unhappy because your property taxes are rising,

remember that skyrocketing prices are driving up taxes for
everyone.

The Housing Policy Task Force has done a stellar job assessing
the problem, gathering community input and drafting data-
informed solutions.

More than anything, this means for the first time, housing is at
the top of the city’s agenda.
The task force has sent recommendations to City Council to cut
red tape, create incentives to build affordable housing, prevent
displacement of communities, and reform our overall housing
approach.

We have to face up to the fact the housing paradigm must change

because it is not working for ever-larger proportion of San
Antonio families.

Council will consider these recommendations next month, and we

will take concrete action toward expanding the supply of housing
and avoiding the affordability crisis that has been so costly
for other cities.

Thanks to hundreds of volunteers and Task Force members Chair

Lourdes Castro-Ramirez, Jim Bailey, Maria Berriozabal, Gene
Dawson, and Noah Garcia.

But housing is not the only priority when it comes to building

an inclusive and prosperous city.

San Antonio must also invest in an efficient transportation

system.

That’s one reason I have called for a 10-percent increase for

street maintenance in the 2019 budget and additional funding for
sidewalks. We must take care of the fundamentals.

But with massive growth looming, we simply can’t add more roads
to deal with traffic.

And we can’t wait until our roads are crippled by congestion.

The status quo is simply not an option.

We need a modern mass-transit system to reduce traffic and

create more transportation choices, and we can’t afford to wait.
Inaction will cost San Antonio jobs and allow gridlock to get
worse.

Already, we are behind Houston, Dallas and Austin when it comes

to investment in rapid transit and HOV lanes.

In April, Judge Wolff and I created ConnectSA, a privately

funded non-profit to raise public awareness about our projected
population growth and the need for more transportation options,
including mass transit.
Working together, VIA, the county, and the city have already
made significant progress toward developing a mass transit
corridor system that features dedicated lanes.

We intend to present a mass transit plan to voters next year.

And I want to emphasize that ConnectSA is a mass transit plan,
not a light rail plan.

Technology is leaving rail behind, and a trackless approach will

significantly reduce the cost and increase the flexibility of
building the system we need.

Smart investments in transportation infrastructure will spark

economic development, improve public safety and enhance the
quality of life for every resident.

More transportation choices will deliver the city you deserve.

But first, next week, the City Council will vote on how to
proceed with paid sick leave.

Local community members gathered over 140,000 signatures to

stress the importance of this issue.

The folks in this room have expressed concerns about the cost of
paid sick leave on small businesses and that the state
legislature is the appropriate place to address this policy.

I agree: a city-by-city approach to sick leave is not the right

solution, and this issue should be addressed at the proper venue
– in Austin at the state Legislature.

But the decision before the City Council is different; it is

about a citizen’s right to petition her government; the same
right that the fire union is trying to manipulate for their own
self-interest.

Next Thursday, City Council has a process vote: either vote yes,
and adopt a paid sick leave ordinance, or vote no, and put paid
sick leave on the November ballot.

The Legislature has already promised to address this issue early

in the 2019 session and as a local ordinance it would not start
to go into effect until August of 2019.

Let me be clear: I believe that paid sick leave is good for

business and good for families, but it would be better addressed
at the state level.
My hope is that the business community and labor leaders can
come together to support a statewide solution that is both pro-
business and beneficial for every family.

In the meantime, we as a community must focus on the looming

threat of the proposed fire union charter amendments.

Businesses, workers, families, and everyone should know that our

future is at stake.

Our common cause, our mission of San Antonio is at risk.

The foundations of San Antonio are being threatened by a special

interest power grab.

The challenge the city faces in November, due to the union

backed charter amendments is one that threatens the future of
this city we love, and is a challenge we cannot afford to lose.

So we will not.

These destructive proposals are an all-out attempt to undermine

local leadership and gain leverage over taxpayers.

They would take our city backwards, bringing divisive politics

and bad policy to our local government – the one level of
government that still works.

We are among the fastest growing cities in America, and that

means we have to invest in our future.

Yet these charter changes would put all of our progress at

serious risk.

We cannot let that happen. I’m asking you to get involved and
inform yourselves and others of the substance of these
proposals, driven by petty personal politics and insider
lobbyists.

When you leave this luncheon, our city needs you to understand
that these destructive proposals are bad for San Antonio and
that everyone must be informed about their negative
consequences.

So let’s put these charter changes in context. How did we get

here?
This all started because the union does not want to negotiate a
contract in good faith.

The first destructive proposal is binding arbitration.

The fire union president wants the sole power to upend the
negotiating table and a have third party arbitrator decide how
your tax dollars are spent.

Governing is not easy. It requires people of good faith to come

together and to compromise for the common good.

Is it fair for one side to be able to declare an impasse at any

point?

Is it fair for one side to take all the leverage without regard
for the well-being of everyone?

These charter amendments are fundamentally unfair to citizens

and will jeopardize our future.

The second destructive proposal is an arbitrary limit on local

leadership.

The fire union president has made the business of the public
personal – vindictive! - and wants to punish the city manager
and the city— despite the fact that this charter change would
not affect his real target, Sheryl Sculley.

Instead, if he gets his way, when San Antonio hires our next
city manager we will not be able to compete for first tier
talent.

Capping the salary of the city manager may be a cute populist

sound bite, to get your name in the paper and exploit people’s
economic challenges, but it’s shortsighted economics and a sad
road to ruin of our long-term success.

The last of the fire union’s destructive proposals is perhaps

the most dangerous for our community’s future.

This charter amendment will bring divisive politics to our local

government and a petition referendum on virtually every
significant issue.

Every tough decision, every public investment, every policy and

every program would be subject to a California-style referendum
and potentially held hostage by a small group of self-interested
people. It’s a formula for failure and political gridlock at a
time when we need to act boldly for the future.

The fire union and its lobbyists say local government is broken.
But it is strong, and as mayor, I am here to tell you, it will
not bend to the self-interests of union leaders. We will not be
bullied into compromising our future. And despite what they
suggest, the petition process works, as evidenced by the fact
that San Antonio will go vote on these charter changes in
November.

Lowering the bar for a citywide referendum – so that any small

special interest would set the agenda for the vast majority of
San Antonians – is wrong.

These charter amendments will drag our city backward.

Back to tribal politics and small thinking.

Back to tiny factions fighting for less.

Back to the politics of exclusion and division, rather than the

possibilities of inclusion and consensus.

Back to the city of yesterday rather than the San Antonio of

tomorrow.

Let’s go build the city of the future.

Let’s attract top talent and the best companies to San Antonio.

Let’s believe in a future like Port SA and Brooks.

Let’s go expand affordable housing with the Task Force.

Let’s go ConnectSA with transportation choices.

Let’s be a resilient city.

We have the momentum.

This is our moment.

Your moment, North Chamber.

We need everyone who cares about San Antonio’s future to get

informed and go vote in November.
This is not a fight we have chosen, but we have chosen to fight

Join me and stand here, together, in the premier city of the 21st
Century. Compassionate, competitive, and globally connected. A
place where we work together for one mission. Let’s stand here,
in the city of America’s future. One resilient, undaunted city.
San Antonio is our mission.

When the books of our city are written, THIS was our moment of
deciding.

Join me, and let’s show our city’s resilience once more.

Thank you.

¡Viva San Antonio!