By giving future council members the chance to serve four two-year terms, instead of two, Hardberger has with little doubt scored more visible successes in two terms than any mayor since 1991, when term limits were first imposed. San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger served as a Peace Corps Staff member in the 1960's.
Riding high, Hardberger wants still more victories
Riding high, Hardberger wants still more victories
Jaime Castillo - Jaime Castillo
If Nelson Wolff ever writes a book that doesn't involve himself (and I mean that in a good way), the week that was would give him a whopper to tell.
It was a week in which Captain Ahab finally caught the Moby Dick of San Antonio politics — term limits.
On Tuesday, Mayor Phil Hardberger, a seafarer in his own right, used every bit of his political capital to successfully pass a referendum relaxing the strictest term limits in the nation.
And by giving future council members the chance to serve four two-year terms, instead of two, Hardberger has with little doubt scored more visible successes in two terms than any mayor since 1991, when term limits were first imposed.
The charmed run raises a question for a wealthy 74-year-old retired judge with seven months remaining in the mayor's office: When the only place left to go is down, what are you going to do to top it?
On the eve of Tuesday's election, Hardberger bristled at the suggestion that — win or lose — he would be entering a lame-duck period.
“I don't think I'm going to be a lame duck,” he said. “I'm going to throw out a couple of new things very soon. There's too many things going on.”
He remained tight-lipped about what those new initiatives will be, but don't be surprised if one involves education and area schools.
Hardberger's accomplishments started immediately after he was elected in 2005. Sheryl Sculley, the city manager candidate who was spurned by the previous council, was quickly courted and hired.
The new mayor's steady, heartfelt leadership during Hurricane Katrina won him plaudits after an appearance on national cable news. His push for more green space resulted in Voelcker Park.
With him leading the charge, the city passed a record $550 million list of bond projects. Now a host of local officials are celebrating progress on further improvements to the San Antonio River.
There have been problems. The biggest of these is the renovation of the blindingly stark Main Plaza, which someday might be the answer to a trivia question: How can you spend $18 million, anger a community icon like Tom Frost and have so little to show for it?
But the negatives have been far from fatal. For someone who was supposedly not ideal for office because he was a City Hall outsider, Hardberger has amassed a good record.
So good, I wondered what his predecessors in the term-limits era thought of his performance.
People like Wolff, who entered the mayor's office in a sour economy and when gang violence was embarrassingly high in the early 1990s. Or Ed Garza, who after a year in office in 2002 was forced to deal with a bribery scandal involving two sitting councilmen.
“I like the old saying: ‘You make your own luck,'” said Wolff, the current county judge. “Phil has done a super job.”
While the economy has been solid for most of Hardberger's tenure, it should take nothing away from his performance, Wolff said.
“Even in good times, you have to have the leadership skills to take advantage of it,” he said.
Former Mayor Howard Peak, who preceded Garza in office, said projects like the Museum Reach of the San Antonio River might have been a continuation of things started under the leadership of others. But term limits will stand as the crowning achievement.
“A lot of the things that have come to Phil have come to him because he's gone out and got them,” Peak said. “You can't take anything away from what he's done.”
With the great white whale out of the way, Captain Ahab enters his last act looking to avoid becoming a lame duck.
To contact Jaime Castillo, call (210) 250-3174 or e-mail jscastillo@express-news.net.
