San Antonio business leader Red McCombs says Mayor Phil Hardberger has been a strong leader who has “opened our eyes” to just how far behind this city is in “getting to where we need to be.”

Mayoral candidate and San Antonio City Councilwoman Diane Cibrian, who has the support of McCombs, says she wants to pick up the pace and move the city forward and help identify more economic opportunities nationally and internationally.

Cibrian is one of four prominent San Antonio candidates running for mayor. The list also includes former City Councilman Julian Castro, current Councilwoman Sheila McNeil and businesswoman Trish DeBerry Mejia. Voters will select the city’s next mayor on May 9.

Cibrian says there is the potential to expand San Antonio’s international cultural ties into more economic opportunities. She says San Antonio must build up its global alliances.

Roughly a year ago, Hardberger spoke very highly of a sister city agreement forged with Chennai in India. He said the pact was “a concrete example of something we can jump right in the middle of.”

Says Cibrian now: “The most important challenge facing the next mayor and this city will be how we move our community forward in order to create good jobs. We need a plan that encompasses international economic development.”

The councilwoman, who represents District 8 on the far Northwest Side, says she is certain that the Alamo City is “positioned to be a leader in international economic development.”

Cibrian points to China as an example of how San Antonio can build up its international opportunities by expanding the volume of goods shipped into Port San Antonio via Mexico.

“That would capture trade for the port and foreign-direct investment — very important components of economic development in the future,” Cibrian explains, adding that such an effort would only make San Antonio more competitive globally.

She also sees opportunities in Germany through relations with the city of Dresden, which has become a serious player in the nanotechnology industry. Hardberger recently led a delegation to Dresden to promote business and cultural alliances.

Cibrian says local leaders should work to leverage that relationship with Dresden and the fact that Rackspace, a hosting company, is based in the San Antonio market, to pursue more technology companies.

“We know that Rackspace can be a magnet for other high-tech companies,” Cibrian says.

Retention plan

Long before AT&T, one of San Antonio’s most high-profile companies, announced last June that it was moving its base of operations to Dallas, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff warned local leaders that they needed to do more to ensure that the telecom giant was happy, to “see what they want long-term.”

The loss of that one company, says San Antonio Greater Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Richard Perez, was “a huge blow” to the Alamo City.

Now, Cibrian says it is vitally important that San Antonio leaders put together a more comprehensive plan to assure other companies do not depart from the Alamo City.

“We need to do more with business retention,” Cibrian says. “We need to help businesses (here) succeed and grow.”

Cibrian says it is also critical that local leaders understand the needs and challenges of small businesses — especially in the current economic climate.

“Small businesses are the center of our economy,” Cibrian insists.

The councilwoman says she would like to see the city do more to assist small businesses, to help them pursue more opportunities and to help them better understand how to promote themselves regionally, nationally and even internationally.

Bigger stage

The national recession could prove to be a game changer for some cities, shifting strategies and priorities.

“We’ve got some built-in strengths as a community,” says San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Ramiro Cavazos. “But we’re more of a major American city now than we were before. And it means we’re more vulnerable.”

Cibrian says it will be the job of the next mayor and City Council to build on San Antonio’s assets and to make any necessary adjustments in the city’s game plan.

“We need to position ourselves and utilize the strengths that we have as a community to capture those jobs of the future,” Cibrian says.

There is great potential, Cibrian believes, to leverage the creation of a major military medical center and training site at Fort Sam Houston into more public and private opportunities associated with health care and the biosciences.

“How we capture and leverage the opportunities presented by (the Base Realignment and Closure Commission’s decision to invest in San Antonio and its Army post) will be very important to this city and its future,” Cibrian insists.

Might San Antonio’s future include the construction of a larger, more technologically equipped municipal government facility, such as what cities like Austin and Dallas have built?

Cibrian says it’s an idea that has merit.

“The city of San Antonio pays about $2 million a year in leases,” she contends. “If we had built a new city hall years ago, we would actually be saving money today.”

In fact, Cibrian says the city could work with San Antonio Water System and CPS Energy, perhaps moving one or both of those entities into a new downtown complex.

“We could create one facility where everyone would be housed, save money on downtown rents and then free up that space for other corporations that want to relocate in our downtown,” Cibrian says.

These and other ideas are all part of a larger agenda Cibrian says will allow San Antonio to make full use of its assets and better compete on a bigger stage.

“It’s very important,” Cibrian says, “that we understand on a large scale how we will move forward the economy of this city.”

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of stories on the leading mayoral candidates who will be on the May 9 election ballot.