Notes from Nirenberg: A Mayor’s Parting Thoughts on the Future of Our City
By Nick Blevins
Interview By Andrea "Vocab" Sanderson
Photography by Torry Sledge
With our mayoral elections here in San Antonio fast approaching on May 3–and early voting running from April 22 through April 29–we thought a valuable voice to hear from among the cacophony of candidates currently vying for the spot would be the man who’s occupied the position for the past four terms: Mayor Ron Nirenberg. Whether you’re a municipal politics hawk, reading his name for the first time, or somewhere in between like most, Nirenberg and his team have seen the seventh largest city in the nation through an eventful eight years.
Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson, San Antonio native, prolific performer, and our city’s poet laureate emeritus, sat down on stage at the gorgeous Majestic Theatre for a wide-ranging conversation with the mayor.
Mayor Nirenberg reflects on his love of the city, the lasting impact of his administration’s initiatives like the Ready to Work program, and some of the challenges that he’s grappled with throughout his tenure.
This interview has been edited for clarity
Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson:
I am so delighted to be here with you in the Majestic Theatre and interview you today.
Mayor Nirenberg:
I'm excited to be here with you, Vocab.
How many years have you been in this beautiful city?
“I'm going on 30 now. I got here in 1995 when I was 18, going to school, and I had no idea that I would stay beyond my years in school.
[The] first few years of me attending school, I fell in love with the city, and I knew that this was going to be a place that I'd at some point come back to.
I went away for two years to get my Master's in Philadelphia, but I came right back, following Erica, my wife; So, 30 years, minus two that I was in Philly.”
As one of our city’s longest-serving mayors, you've surely got a couple of favorite spots and hidden gems that you really love. What are some places here in San Antonio?
“The first one that comes to mind, actually, is the one I send people to that are visiting our city if they want to kind of get off the tourist trip, and that is Jazz, Texas, Brent “Doc” Watkins' place down at the Pearl. It's a legit jazz club in the center of San Antonio, and you go down there, and you wouldn't imagine that you're in the same city. I do now, because I think this city is becoming a place that embraces all kinds of venues, but that's a really great place. I love to go there when I can.
I love to be in San Fernando Cathedral. It's a place where I can just sit and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. People don't know much about the importance of faith in my life, but it is important, and so that's a place where occasionally I'll just go, sit in quiet contemplation, and meditate.
A similar place that I don't get to go to very often, but I enjoy being in, is the Quad at Fort Sam Houston. [There’s] a lot of history in this place, and we are Military City, USA. You get a real sense of the grandiosity of the history of this city by being in Fort Sam Houston, but the Quad is a place of reverence, and respect, and awe; for people who have come through those gates and paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms in this country.”
San Antonio has a lot of titles. You mentioned Military City, USA. What's a title that you like to hang our collective hat on?
“One that we don't use often enough, but we should, is Inclusion City, USA. It's because of the incredible work that Gordon Hartman has done in Morgan's Wonderland and what that has done for inclusion and accessibility, not just for our city and our mentality, but that has now been brought to other places in the country.
We named the plaza in front of City Hall, Inclusion Plaza, because we remodeled it in a way that encourages people to congregate to make their voices heard.
San Antonio, its ethos, we're a compassionate city. I believe inclusion is one of the most powerful ways that we go about making a city that's fair, just, and equitable. Knowing ourselves as Inclusion City, USA, which we have proclaimed, is something I think more people need to talk about and acknowledge.”
San Antonio has been named the fastest growing city in America. What steps are the city taking to ensure sustainable and inclusive growth, particularly in areas experiencing rapid gentrification?
“I'll start by saying that being the fastest growing city in the country is not a goal; It's a consequence. It's a consequence of having a city that people are enjoying living in, and investing in, and seeing their futures in. It's not that we just want more people here. We want to create a place where people want to be, and that's for the people who are already here.
What we need to do is continue to protect the cost of living. That is an increasing challenge. We’ve done things with our limited tools to protect [against] the burden of taxes, like homestead exemptions. We've created one and we've maxed it out.
We have continued to advocate at the state legislature to protect homeowners who have been there for generations, who are more vulnerable to improvements in the areas around them because they're on fixed incomes.
We need to keep up with growing infrastructure, housing, and transportation; and that includes maintaining infrastructure, and in some cases investing in places where it's been disinvested in for a long time. Part of the challenge is that the solutions for disinvestment in communities are often creating the unintended consequences of gentrification that increases property values for people who have been living there for a long time.
So what San Antonio has done as a result of all these housing meetings is create anti-displacement tools so that we can ensure that we're providing, as best we can, buffers for homeowners and renters in the area so that they're not totally exposed to the rising values of the improvements in the area. It's a challenge because the state system of taxation is very regressive, and it essentially continues to exacerbate inequality and does not protect people on the lower spectrum of income.”
How do the city council know where to focus their energies, fiscally and legislatively?
“That's where we started back when I became mayor in 2017. The first thing we did was have a conversation about what equity is, what the impacts of redlining are, and how do we develop a lens for equity to place on our programming of infrastructure dollars and how we spend our community's scarce resources? We developed an equity atlas, and based on the needs that are present in different parts of the community, we will direct resources to address those needs.
For instance, the east side of San Antonio had years and years of disinvestment, and we have infrastructure that's built on clay soils: we know there that we're going to need to spend more on basic road and sidewalk infrastructure just to keep up the maintenance, and also overcome some of that disinvestment. So we're spending a lot, putting a disproportionate amount of resources compared to other parts into the east side, just so we can get it back up to par.
There are other parts of the community that are like that as well. We are looking at our comprehensive plan, which was adopted in 2016, as to where we concentrate resources and housing. It's a citywide issue, but we need to focus on certain types of developments in different areas, based on whether there's a gap in services in those parts.
When it comes to things like transportation, we are going according to our comprehensive plan, where are people residing, where are they going to work, and connecting those areas with transit opportunities. We look at the comprehensive plan and the equity framework that we've put together to address needs.”
And does that plan continue after your term ends, or does it stop?
“I am hopeful that it will continue, because all of the initiatives that I've talked about have been supported in one way, shape, or form by public initiatives; public proposals that I've asked the voters to consider. But let's be frank. Elections have consequences, and that's why I think it's an urgent matter for City of San Antonio residents to consider who they elect for their next mayor and council members.
We need to be asking about their perspective on continued progress towards a more equitable, more fair city. All the things that I've talked about in my approach to being mayor are long-term issues. My report card and how I did in my eight years as mayor, it sounds like a long time, but it's a blink of an eye in terms of the things we have to do.
The impact of what we're doing right now is going to be felt 20, 30 years from now. That's been my horizon when I think about what I am trying to accomplish: I want to make sure that the work that I'm doing now leaves a better community for my son and his generation.
That's the nature of this work. Building that equitable, strong foundation for prosperity in the city requires us to continue to work on that foundation. And so I hope it continues. It will continue if it's a priority of the next council and mayor.”
What are you most proud of that you have created for your son’s generation?
“Specifically, I am proudest of our work to create a comprehensive, systems approach to ending cycles of poverty in the city. I think about it in three ways, although there's a fourth that I'll mention that we have less control over, but we're working to address:
The first one is housing. It's the foundation of economic security for a family, and it is the same for the city. We're in year three or four of a strategic housing implementation plan. We changed the charter. We passed our first ever housing bond. We are working on the spectrum of housing with the public and private sector at the table, creating an ecosystem for a healthy housing system. That includes homeless services, because, again, we're trying to make sure that everyone has a place to call home safely and affordably.
The second part is transportation. The second highest expense for a family is the cost of transportation in a city where you have to have a car to get around; it's the difference between being able to afford to put food on your table or not, and so we've got to create options.
The city, for the first time ever, is building a mass transit system, north, south, east, west, because of the voters approving the proposition in November of 2020 to finally bring that 8 cent into VIA to create an advanced rapid transit system that the federal government has added capital funding to. We've got to continue to grow our transportation system.
That's the second pillar. The third one is sometimes the hardest, but in my view, the most gratifying, and that is education, or workforce development.
We have created in the city of San Antonio the strongest, most well-resourced educational pipeline in the country; I can say that as a matter of fact, because I talk to my peers from all across the country. From pre-K, which was expanded and renewed in 2020, to the innovations, despite the challenges in the K-12 system, the work that's going on there. Every single high school graduate in Bexar County now can attend the best community college district in the country, Alamo Colleges, for free, with supports to stay in school.
And so you have all those options for kids to make sure–from their earliest [years] to the time they graduate–they have options to get a post-secondary education, whether that's a professional certificate or a degree, which is absolutely necessary to get a job that pays a sustaining, life-giving wage.
But I'm not done. There are tens of thousands of heads of household, adult workers, who are locked in cycles of underemployment, who have to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet.
Their kids are in a situation where they're much less likely to have their own educational success, and so they're locked in cycles of poverty, too.
We have created the Ready to Work program and workforce development in general, that allows for people who are in those cycles to get retrained for jobs that employers need to fill, that pay great wages with benefits. The average Ready to Work participant is a woman of color raising children in a household making less than $14,000 a year. That is a life of dependency with the children suffering the worst of it. By the time that person graduates and gets placed into a job through the Ready to Work program, they're getting paid in a job with a wage of $44,000 a year with benefits. We are now at scale. We've got over 10,000 people enrolled, and over 3,000 have already finished. We've got close to 2,000 placed in jobs.
It is hard work because every single one of those participants has a different life experience and a different set of barriers; we're working individually with all those folks. And we're going to be doing this for a while, because the voters approved a significant portion of time for us to do this.
In terms of that sales tax, it will eventually be spent down, but not until all those participants have gone through. Between pre-K to the adult workforce, we have options for people to get upwardly mobile through education.
Housing, transportation, and education. The last one I will tell you we are working on to help, that is harder because we don't have control over it, is our healthcare system. People need to have access to quality health care. They don't, frankly, in the state of Texas where we have turned our back on people's health needs. But we are working to address those gaps through indigent care, through our metro health, public health authority, and strategic planning.”
I want to shift to talking about a women's issue question. Can you share what measures you supported to ensure that women in lower income tax brackets have access to affordable health care, preventive screenings, and mental health services?
“Yes, it is challenging in the state of Texas to intervene on the needs of health care in general, specifically with women. But I'm proud of our city. I'm proud of the council, who have been bold in ensuring that we are focused on what people need in the city, and that is including women's health care.
A couple of things: We have a mental health strategic plan, and children and families are one of the pillars of that plan. We continue to work with nonprofits and other agencies to find out what people need, and to provide funding for those nonprofits that fill those gaps. We also are working on the other foundational pieces that would enable someone to have access to affordable health care through workforce and housing.
I want to make specific mention of the fact that we are in the midst of a major effort on child care in the city. We have a capacity study and a needs-based study, and we're going to be all-in on addressing the gaps in childcare as we move forward.
The last thing I'll say specifically on women's health care, and specifically women's reproductive health care: The city has been bold about that. We will continue to, despite some of the political challenges and attacks. We're going to continue to work towards ensuring that women have control over their own health care decisions and over their own bodies. That's going to be a major focus. As we continue to move forward, people need to be able to make their own health care decisions. We're going to do what we can to make that the case in San Antonio.”
I know you're not blowing smoke on that one, because I'm going to ask you a kind of personal question. I love your wife. Erica Prosper is a baddie and a force all by herself. I've been blessed to be in the room with her on many occasions.
“Me too.” [laughs]
When it comes to not just your politics, but things that you feel passionate and have deep conversations about, what are some issues that she’s inspired you to speak to?
“Erica is a force of nature. Her passions are similar to mine. They intersect a lot. She has her own passions that we've been really focused on, though, and that’s children’s issues, and how do we ensure that children have an opportunity to reach their full potential through education?
That's one of the reasons why I've gotten all in on this issue of the workforce, and breaking cycles of generational poverty. It's not just about training adults to get better wages, or to gain access to better careers. It's also about what happens in those households when parents no longer have to work three jobs just to put food on the table: Those kids are nurtured. Those kids statistically have better educational outcomes, and are able to pursue their own dreams and aspirations. That's really what it's about.
She is and I am passionate about issues related to immigration and the treatment—the humane treatment—of migrants, migrant workers, and the impact that they have on families in our community. We're going to continue to speak out about that in a humane way.
We're also very passionate about the arts. We're here at the Majestic Theatre. They're going to have their Joci Awards; it's one of the best shows of the year. We love coming out to see the young people perform and we're going to continue to advocate for their opportunities to be on the stage and show their talents.”
I bet you've seen a lot of touching moments when you've been in the chambers. Can you think of any that were really meaningful to you?
“Oh, for sure. Some of them are the most uncomfortable moments, too.
Our tense, controversial issues when we meet them out in public in the chambers, they can be difficult meetings sometimes. But that's when the meaningful things happen.
When we have convenings for our housing plan, and we open the floor and have roundtable discussions about what people's experiences have been in the aftermath, the generations after redlining; That's when we hear the real trauma that's out there, that we can begin to put into actions to address.
Housing has been transformed because of meetings like that. Certainly our transportation system, and the Ready to Work program, which is the largest workforce development investment in the nation, [were] done because of those kinds of opportunities for people to make their voices heard about the challenges they're experiencing.”
What do you think is the most effective way for San Antonians to talk to you? What are some of the ways you wish that people had communicated with you during your term?
“In our space as civic leaders, we try to be where people are. Every which way people communicate nowadays, through email, phone calls, the web, or through social media; we try to be present in those spaces.
Town halls and face to face meetings are still the best. There's limited opportunity for those, so my hope is that we create more spaces for people to be in the same space together physically.
It's meaningful because there's a lot that gets lost in media communication. The one place I would encourage people not to use to communicate with their representatives is on social media comments. I think everybody knows the social media space is a cesspool of people's worst instincts. There's no mores, and there's a lot of trolls.
If you want to communicate with your elected officials, they are open. They want to hear from you. They're desperate to hear their constituents’ real voices and concerns in the community.
Communicate back and forth, do it in person, [make a] phone call, attend a neighborhood meeting, you know, attend a town hall. Try to do it that way, because there's meaningful communication when that happens.”
In closing, I'd like to ask you one more question. What do you see as the biggest challenge facing San Antonio's growth over the next decade?
“I think the biggest challenge we will face moving forward is political. Do we have the fortitude as a community to continue to work together, and to continue to invest in the infrastructure and human capital of this community the way we have over the last eight years? There's no doubt in my mind that we have hit a positive inflection point for the city. If we continue this generational commitment to making an inclusively prosperous community, we're going to be one of the best cities in America.
We're already seeing it happening: The airport's under development. Downtown is starting to boom again. We've got employers who want to put their best jobs here in San Antonio. So we're going in the right place.
We have the fortitude politically. Making the right decisions at the ballot box to continue on this trajectory, to buffer San Antonio from the divisiveness and ugliness of politics that's happening outside. Let's continue to be San Antonio. I think if we can do that, there's no doubt in my mind San Antonio is going to be at the top of a lot of lists over the next 10 years.” ■
