Nirenberg highlighted his accomplishments over the last year. He’s preparing to leave the office after serving as mayor since 2017.
SAN ANTONIO — Mayor Ron Nirenberg gave his last State of the City address Tuesday as he prepares to leave office after serving San Antonio for eight years.
He spoke at the annual luncheon at the Grand Hyatt, highlighting accomplishments made in the last year. Project Marvel and the Missions Ballpark are two major – and ongoing – initiatives Nirenberg has supported.
They’re part of a broader plan to revitalize downtown, a plan that also calls for a new San Antonio Spurs arena and Missions baseball stadium.
On Project Marvel, the city, Bexar County and Spurs signed a Memorandum of Understanding this month to kick-start conversations on how to fund it while planning for the Frost Bank Center’s future.
“We have one of the most unique downtowns in America, and rather than look at downtown as a collection of different projects, now we can create a space that we have talked about… where sports and entertainment are focused,” Nirenberg said Tuesday. “Now we have an opportunity to develop all these landmarks in a way that allows more locals to enjoy them and what can be the future of the Spurs here.”
Nirenberg also spoke about how Project Marvel affects the east side of San Antonio.
“It’s also an opportunity to address the expectations that were made on the east side about economic development and opportunity and the kinds of amenities the east-side residents have been wanting for years,” Nirenberg said.
He recently told the San Antonio Business Journal that another piece of Project Marvel that needs to be worked on is the Alamodome, especially coming out of the Final Four. No Texas city has hosted the Final Four more times than San Antonio, but it hasn’t secured hosting duties for future men’s tournaments at this point.
Nirenberg also spoke Tuesday about his landmark “Ready to Work” program that helps retrain people for jobs in several different high-demand industries in San Antonio. He said that, as the economy changes, the program is adaptable to industry needs.
“Ready to Work partners with our employers to tell us what are our employers’ needs so we can train for the right pathways. I can tell you right now: We have almost 11,000 people in the pipeline,” Nirenberg said. “We’ve had over 2,000 people complete the program and be hired into new jobs.”
He says the most likely candidates for the Ready to Work program are minority women who are raising children in a household that earns less than $14,000 per year.
“So imagine the intervention, the persistence of the counselor to make sure that she stays, ultimately matriculates with a credential so she gets hired for a job,” Nirenberg said.
His final term ends in June. More than two dozen candidates are running to succeed him in San Antonio’s top job.