| Ed Garza |
Edward D. Garza was re-elected Mayor of San Antonio on May 3, 2003, having served one term as Mayor after previously serving two terms as District 7 representative on the San Antonio City Council. Garza’s agenda for San Antonio focuses on economic, urban and human development policies that build on the region’s existing assets, including leveraging strengths in defense and homeland security. His goals include expanding high-tech and biomedical industries; developing a skilled, well-paid workforce; revitalizing older neighborhoods and commercial corridors; modernizing local government and creating new economic generators to support balanced growth.
A native San Antonian, Garza is a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School and still lives in the same historic Woodlawn Lake neighborhood where he grew up. Garza attended the University of Texas at Austin, studying Business Administration for two years before transferring to Texas A&M University where he earned a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and a Master of Science in Land Development. Garza is employed with the International Waterfront Group as Vice-President of Land Planning and Development. He also has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and St. Mary’s University.
Following the attacks of September 11, Mayor Garza collaborated with other local elected officials to create one of the nation’s first comprehensive City-County anti-terrorism plans, leading CNN to recognize San Antonio as the second most prepared city in the country after New York. His top priority is to ensure that San Antonio, long known as “Military City USA,” continues to be a defense leader in the 21st century. Garza has also worked to reinvigorate local government, engaging elected officials and citizens in an integrated policy development process while restructuring City government to improve responsiveness. He led a successful charter amendment initiative on these issues in November 2001. Mayor Garza will continue to seek modernization of the San Antonio City Charter by supporting additional charter amendments in May 2004.
In February 2003, an unprecedented collaboration with local, county and state officials, led in part by Mayor Garza, helped San Antonio secure Toyota’s 6th North American manufacturing facility. Through the choice of the southern sector of San Antonio for this facility, San Antonio will receive nearly $1 billion in direct capital investment from Toyota. The 2,000 high-wage jobs created by the facility will be a key economic anchor for Mayor Garza’s pioneering balanced growth project, the Southside Initiative. As San Antonio’s premier master planned community, the Southside Initiative is a 57-square mile area on the city’s southern reach that is being developed through a vision of sustainable, quality growth. The Southside Initiative is a means to improve the quality of life for all San Antonians by easing the development pressures over the aquifer and congestion in the northern sector of the city all while creating economic development opportunities and livable communities for the southern sector of the city.
Mayor Garza participated in the opening of the innovative Brooks CityBase partnership with the federal government and welcomed the transfer of the U.S. Army’s Southern Command to Fort Sam Houston. Garza is an advocate for health and fitness by supporting events such as the Mayor’s 5K Run/Walk and the Go! Kids Challenge. He has helped raise awareness for organizations such as the American Diabetes Association and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and has raised over $100,000 for the Cancer Therapy and Research Center. Mayor Garza negotiated a PGA Village agreement that not only brought the prestigious golf resort to San Antonio but also required the strongest environmental protections ever enacted over the Edwards Aquifer while providing a living wage for employees.
Garza serves on a variety of local and statewide boards and committees, including the San Antonio Water System, City Public Service and the Texas Municipal League. On the national level, Garza serves on the Advisory Board of the National League of Cities (NLC). Additionally, Garza serves on the NLC’s Working Group on Homeland Security and as a member of the NLC’s Nominating Committee. In December 2003, Garza will serve as President of the Hispanic Elected Local Officials, which is a constituency group of the NLC. Mayor Garza is also an active member of CEOs for Cities, the Urban Land Institute and Fannie Mae. Garza has played a key role in the Tri-Lateral Technology Summits held between the United States, Canada and Mexico since the first summit was held in September 2001.
He married his wife Anna Laura in October 2001, and they are members of St.
Paul’s Catholic Church.
