Introduction
I am proud to stand before you today.
I am proud to be surrounded by people working together for the
betterment of our community.
I am proud of what we have accomplished together
and what we will accomplish in the future.
I am proud to raise my family here and I am indeed proud to call San
Antonio Home.
I am proud to say that today we are more prosperous than we have ever
been.
Today I am proud that I am able to say THE STATE OF THE CITY IS
STRONG
Thank Yous
I know that a luncheon like this takes months of planning and lots of
people behind the scenes, so I want to extend my appreciation to all of
you who made today’s event possible, whether you are taking names at
the door or serving us our meal. Thank you.
I would be remiss if I didn't pause to acknowledge my support network
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in the person of my husband Rodney. Honey can you please stand to be
recognized. I would also like to thank my staff for all of their hard work.
I am so grateful for the team of dedicated public servants with whom I
serve. Will all members of our San Antonio City Council please stand
and be recognized.
As members and friends of these Chambers, everyone in this room
understands the tremendous effort that it takes on the part of staff and
hundreds of volunteers to support and advocate for San Antonio’s
businesses, from staging trade missions to working with state and
federal legislators to celebrating the opening of new businesses in all
parts of town.
Your four Chambers working together to host this event is an
important symbol of the fact that we are One San Antonio, not an
assortment of special interest groups, or partisan advocates—we come
together today as one community, one enterprise, with one goal:
envisioning and building the very best San Antonio.
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Accomplishments
Let me share why I can confidently state that our city is strong. San
Antonio is one of the Top Ten fastest-growing cities in the United States
for 2015. We have been ranked in the top twenty American cities
for business and career opportunities and named the hottest spot
for millennials in the Southwest. TAKE THAT AUSTIN. Our real estate
market is flourishing. Home sales during the last three months of 2014
were at their highest level in years, and we have been named one of the
five most affordable, desirable cities in the United States. The New York
Times recently named San Antonio one of their top destinations for
travel.
Now, None of this is a surprise to those of us in this room. We all know
how fortunate we are to live in San Antonio, how special our community
is, and how strong our people are. Today is a day to reflect on it all, but
it is not a day to rest. There is still much work to do.
The last decade has been marked with development and growth as well
as challenges. As a community, We are becoming more diverse, more
connected, better educated, and indeed more prosperous. Just
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spend an afternoon exploring our community to see the change
occurring everywhere.
Last year alone we created more than 4700 jobs in this community and
brought in or expanded 28 companies. Since 2010, we have developed
more than 4000 housing units in the downtown area, representing more
than $650 million dollars in investment. We are seeing some of the
highest high school and college graduation rates that we have ever seen,
and communities like the Eastside Promise Zone are undergoing
dramatic revitalization. We are securing our long-term water supply
with the vista ridge project, and in May we will have an important
municipal election where voters will get a chance to continue
investments by renewing the sales tax for both the protection of the
Edwards Aquifer and the extension of the creekway parks system. In
just a couple of days council will vote on the partnership agreement we
have with the Alamo Colleges to continue the remarkable and nationally
recognized success of the Alamo Academies. Pre-K 4 SA opened two
more centers this past year, and is providing high quality full day pre-k
to more than 1500 of our youngest residents. We have started a
comprehensive plan that will take us out to 2040 and also started a
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transportation plan that will provide guidance for developing our
infrastructure in the coming years. As a City, we are actively supporting
new industries and businesses that commercialize technologies based
on our existing strengths, such as military, bio-medical and clinical trials
and ongoing research at our universities and medical school. Our
strategic planning in these fields is paying off. Each of you is an investor
in our community, whether as a business owner, a taxpayer, a voter, a
volunteer—or as a parent, raising the next generation of leaders in San
Antonio. So this work is your work. These accomplishments are your
accomplishments.
Personal Story
These successes are what make me so thankful that God guided me to
this city, where I began my career in community development, started
my family and have had the honor to serve as a member of the City
Council and now as Mayor. Growing up I never imagined I would live in
San Antonio. I was born and raised in Queens, New York and brought
up in a modest household with parents who were committed to
instilling in me an unwavering faith in God and a strong moral compass.
When I was growing up, my parents were not adamant about higher
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education and college was not on my radar. Only after I got into Yale
University did I find out my mom always had that dream for me. I was
the first in my family to earn a college degree and went on to earn a
Masters Degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I
came to San Antonio for a 10-week internship not knowing that it would
one day become the city I call home. (LOOK UP AND TELL STORY)
After two weeks here I was invited by a co-worker to church, and I sat
behind this gentleman there. The pastor asked us during the service to
join hands and 17 years later I am still up holding hands with Rodney
Taylor and we are still holding hands today. About a year after we met,
Rodney proposed and I moved to San Antonio when I completed
graduate school. (GO BACK TO READING) Rodney, our daughter
Morgan and I have made a wonderful life together in this city. San
Antonio has provided excellent opportunities for us. I was able to
establish myself here professionally and have grown in my career.
Rodney is a small business owner who purchases and redevelops
underutilized properties and transforms them into quality homes. His
investments in real estate are consistent with our collective efforts to
stabilize neighborhoods. We have experienced building a home from
the ground up and refurbishing an old house in East San Antonio where
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we currently live. In San Antonio, we continue to enjoy low taxes, a
strong economy, healthy housing market, and opportunity for economic
mobility, benefits that encourage native San Antonians to remain, and
attract individuals and families from across the country to move to our
city. My experience in San Antonio is not unique; it is like all of our
experiences. San Antonio has provided us all with incredible
opportunities.
Vision for the Future
To ensure these opportunities in the future we must continue our work
together with a unified vision so that community is prosperous for years
to come. At the core of our vision for the future are three things.
1. We must remain economically competitive and attractive to
residents.
2. We must continue having a smart and fiscally responsible city
government
3. And we must continue to act as one San Antonio, working
together for the future of our city and its people.
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Economic Competitiveness
Through innovation and collaboration San Antonio is working
together to create an environment that companies from around the
globe find attractive. In his bestselling book, The Triumph of the City,
Edward Glaeser says "cities enable the collaboration that makes
humanity shine more brightly". San Antonio embodies this statement.
More than just attracting new businesses, we are focused on growing
the companies within our own community. Much of the growth we have
seen in the past year has been due to our business retention and
expansion efforts. Employers recognize that San Antonio is the best
place to do business, and that we are true partners in ensuring that
companies have the tools and assets needed to be more competitive
than any other place they could locate. This work has resulted in the
continued growth of high wage industries that benefit everybody. I am
dedicated to ensuring that this growth continues, and that San Antonio
becomes the most attractive location for businesses to come and new
industries to develop.
At the top of our priorities is ensuring that we have the most talented
and best-trained workforce in the nation. In January, I moved to
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announce Alamo Colleges as the lead agency on workforce development
strategies so that more people have the opportunity to build skills for
jobs that are available with good pay and upward mobility. While we
must be strategic and methodical with this work, I have no doubt that
this can occur swiftly. Filling the job pipeline for San Antonio corporate
citizens such as Boeing, Toyota, HOLT CAT, USAA, and Rackspace as well
as thousands of small businesses, should be a priority for city
government and area educators. Currently, manufacturing, education
and health services, as well as leisure and hospitality industries, lead the
employment sectors in San Antonio. We must work to ensure that these
industries have a steady flow of well-prepared individuals for current
employment needs in San Antonio, and we must also educate and
prepare our young people for jobs in growing areas like cyber security
and the biotechnical industry. A thriving economy means that ALL
businesses, large and small, are prosperous.
Let me tell you about a small business I know. If you know me, you
know that I love breakfast. Down the street from my house is a diner
called Panchos & Gringos. Their pancakes are the best-kept secret in
San Antonio. (FRENCHIE STORY) The owner Sergio is from Mexico.
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He originally moved to New York and owned a deli there for years.
Sergio and his wife Claudia decided to relocate to San Antonio to be
closer to family and to start a business here. They took a risk by
locating in an eastside neighborhood in transition and have been
welcomed by the community with open arms. When I first started
dining at Panchos & Gringos, I noticed that customers seemed to be few
and far between. But Sergio and Claudia always have smiles on their
faces and work to ensure that every customer feels at home. As time
went on, I would see more and more neighbors on the weekends. Now
Business is booming. Sergio’s story echoes that of many small
businesses in our city. Family is a priority, faith in the community and
commitment to endure when things get tough. Sergio’s story is San
Antonio’s story.
Although our community and our people, like Sergio, have had close ties
with Mexico, we can do more to strengthen our ties to the global
economy. We must remain focused on the continued development of a
robust international business strategy. It is critical to our long-term
economic growth. Presently, we have close to 70,000 jobs in our
community that are tied to international business. With a continued
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globalization of commerce, that number will only grow. I am focused on
promoting more foreign direct investment in San Antonio, and
strengthening trade ties with partners like Mexico and Japan, while
opening new markets like Germany. San Antonio is competing in a
global economy and is focused on establishing an economic
development system that is globally focused and moves beyond
traditional economic development practices of big recruitment toward
one that embraces a global, regional and strategic vision.
In addition, to what we consider as traditional economic development is
the quality of life for our residents. Life is also about the time before
work, after, and on the weekends that we spend with our loved ones.
This is a critical component to our economic development that is often
overlooked. To remain economically competitive, we must continue to
promote a high quality of life for our residents. It is about evening runs
along river north, birthday parties at Hardberger Park and driving to
work without consistently sitting in traffic snarls. We enjoy parades
and confetti during fiesta, the cowboy breakfast at the beginning of
rodeo season, and watching our World Champion San Antonio Spurs in
the playoffs in late spring. There is so much to experience and enjoy in
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our City. Every area has something special. We have UTSA in the north,
the redevelopment of Brooks City Base in the south, The Carver
Community Cultural Center in the East and the Guadalupe Cultural Arts
Center in the West. All of this makes up the heart of San Antonio and
provides opportunities for all San Antonians to enjoy a great quality of
life.
In his book, “ A country of cities”, Vishaan Chakrabarti talks about the
infrastructure of opportunity. “The means by which people can attain
their aspirations with increased access to employment, education,
recreation, enjoyment and health. This must be how we view our own
infrastructure development. Everything from our roads to our
telecommunications must be the best in the nation. Sometimes
infrastructure isn’t the sexiest thing to talk about. Storm drains,
sidewalks, and sewer systems are not glitzy and glamorous, and I
can assure you that it is not politically advantageous to promote as
Mayor. There are no slick slogans or ads to talk about building a
new road or enhancing our water supply, nevertheless, it remains
a top priority of mine. Good infrastructure is not an option, it is a
necessity
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Smart Government
To do this we must continue to have a smart government that acts with
fiscal responsibility at the forefront. Now I would like to recognize City
Manager Sheryl Sculley, who has always made our City’s fiscal integrity
her number one priority. Ms. Sculley and her staff have focused on
attaining and then maintaining Triple A bond ratings from Moodys,
Fitch and S&P through sound financial policies. This has allowed us to
maximize our capital dollars to deliver the key infrastructure and
community projects that voters approved through our 2007 and 2012
bond program. We cannot veer from this path. It is far too important
for our future.
However smart government is more than just fiscal responsibility.
Smart government is innovative, it is creative, it thinks outside of the
box to find solutions for complex problems. It is putting egos aside to
get the job done. It means being responsive; it means hearing the
public, evaluating the facts and acting on their behalf. We all know
that Washington is gridlocked with partisanship and political games. Far
too often Austin is exactly the same. As a city, as a community, we can’t
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allow that to happen to us. The stark reality is that we cannot rely on
the federal or state government to provide us with the things that we
need. We must do it ourselves. We must drive the transformation and
investment through our own ambition and unique solutions tailored
to our community.
We are also investing in our city through developing a comprehensive
plan. That’s why in August of last year I championed the development
of the city’s comprehensive plan that will take us out to 2040. The
development of this plan is an 18 month process, which in political
realities is a lifetime. But this city has to be about more than
politics. It has to be more than fancy slogans and catchy hashtags. It
has to be about doing what is right for the community and not for
political careers and short-term gains. Smart government is thoughtful,
open, collaborative, and adaptive. It is about understanding that San
Antonio has been around for nearly 300 years and ensuring that it is
prosperous for another 300. We will remain focused on improving
delivery of core services like public safety and infrastructure. We will
demand better education systems and more robust opportunities for
ALL residents. We must continue to think as One San Antonio and not
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disparate communities. We are more than term limits and election
cycles. More than conservative or liberal. We are San Antonians first
and foremost.
One San Antonio
I confidently stand before you today and say that we are One San
Antonio. Our city is home to people from all walks of life, with diverse
ethnic and religious backgrounds and differing beliefs. I am proud of
the level of respect and acceptance we have for one another. The very
fact that I serve as your Mayor is reflective of this aspect of our
community. Part of my San Antonio experience has been embracing so
many different cultures. I recently visited a Sikh exhibit at the Institute
of Texan Cultures, enjoyed music and dance at Diwali and celebrated the
Chinese New Year with friends. I have watched my daughter grand
marshall a children’s parade during Fiesta and this year I will join in the
celebration of 100 years of The Van Courtlandt Social Club, one of
America’s oldest black men’s clubs. What makes San Antonio
extraordinary is that through our differences we share the same
hopes and dreams for our families and our lives in this city. It does not
matter where you live in San Antonio, families across the city want to
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enjoy healthy neighborhoods, a thriving economy and a good quality of
life.
Ed Cross gave me a fantastic book “The Great Inversion and the Future
of the American City”. In it, Alan Ehrenhalt examines how communities
across the nation are changing. Downtowns are being revitalized and
the social and economic characteristics are transforming. Without
thoughtful planning this change can be harmful. Over the past several
months I have been working with a group comprised of council
colleagues, community members and stakeholders to discuss
neighborhood change in San Antonio. At times, emotions ran high and
threads of anger, fear and hope were woven into conversation about
policy and advocacy. That is OK. Through tough conversations we
were able to agree that San Antonians want to live in neighborhoods
with good, well-maintained housing stock. We want access to amenities
and retail options that support our family needs and we want the
opportunity to send our children to high performing schools. We should
always have a voice in how our neighborhoods grow and change.
Equally, we must take responsibility and actively pursue our vision for
our community. This group, the Mayor’s Task Force on Preserving
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Dynamic & Diverse Neighborhoods, will make recommendations to City
Council to support and enhance neighborhoods through smart policy
and strategic investments.
We are one San Antonio. The groups that brought us here today, The
Alamo Chamber, the San Antonio Chamber the Asian Chamber the
Hispanic Chamber might each have certain areas of focus, but all have
the same goal. When businesses thrive, community thrives. When
community thrives businesses thrive. We might not all agree every
step of the way, but that’s ok. Smart government provides the forum for
civil debate and sometimes disagreement, and works to resolve
challenges and to take advantage of new opportunities.
Closing
When I think about the future of San Antonio I think about my daughter
Morgan. She is 11 years old now, and one day she will decide if she too
wants to make her life here. I envision San Antonio’s future by looking
through the eyes of a grown-up Morgan. When I come to work serving
as Mayor of San Antonio, I think about all of the families who wonder
about the future for their children in our city. I think about the legacy
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we are leaving, the possibilities we are creating. Building a vibrant,
diverse and strong community weighs heavy on us all. This work is not
easy. It is tiring, it is complex, and sometimes it is frustrating. We all
want San Antonio to continue to be a safe, healthy, competitive city
where our children can make their dreams a reality.
Those dreams inspire us and they drive us, they are the fuel that
provide the fire within each of us to create action so that when our
children become adults, they choose to stay, build and grow in San
Antonio. That is our task. That is our mission. To make San Antonio,
our home, an even better place for all families, for all who dream big,
as One San Antonio. Thank you and God bless San Antonio.
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