Ron Nirenberg / Community Conversations / November 7, 2017

Longtime local journalist Rick Casey will serve as moderator. He and Nirenberg will discuss the mayor’s vision for San Antonio’s future as a city striving to achieve district equity, environmental quality, housing access and affordability, and various local control issues – including taxes, annexation, equality before the law, and local law enforcement’s role in immigration.

There will be a reception at 6 p.m., with the program beginning at 6:30. Afterward, there will be a question and answer session with the audience. Community Conversations will be held on the St. Mary’s campus in the University Center, Conference Room A. The event is free and open to the public.

The Community Conversations series is a part of the Institute for Public Administration, Politics and Public Policy at St. Mary’s University, which is housed within the St. Mary’s Graduate Program in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. One of the primary goals of the Institute is to develop outreach programs that foster dialogue between the University, the public, government agencies and nonprofits to address important public issues.

About Community Conversations at St. Mary’s

The Community Conversations series is part of the Institute for Public
Administration, Politics and Public Policy at St. Mary’s University. The Institute
develops outreach programs that foster dialogue between the University, the
public, government agencies and nonprofits to address important public issues.

About the Moderator

Rick Casey, Former Television Host, KLRN
Casey was born in St. Louis and came to Texas in 1964 to attend St. Mary’s
University. He was editor of The Rattler student newspaper, which led to a
summer internship at the San Antonio Light and a journalism career.
His experience as a reporter includes two years as a Washington correspondent,
and nearly a year of reporting while traveling the country in a camper for National
Catholic Reporter. Before returning to Texas in 1984, he lived in eight cities and
worked as a freelancer (with articles in the New York Times, the Washington
Post, Newsweek and the Baltimore Sun), and as a reporter and night-city
editor for the Seattle Times. He was the editor of two magazines, San Antonio
Magazine and SA Monthly.
In 1987, he began writing a metro column for the San Antonio Light and then
the Express-News. In 2003, he moved to the Houston Chronicle. He retired in
2011 and hosted Texas Week with Rick Casey on KLRN, the Public Broadcasting
System station in San Antonio, until September 2017.

About the Keynote Speaker

Ron Nirenberg, Mayor, City of San Antonio
Nirenberg was elected mayor of San Antonio in June 2017. Prior to his election,
he served San Antonio’s District 8 City Council from 2013 to 2017. Nirenberg
has focused on solutions to San Antonio’s deepest challenges, including
improving transportation infrastructure, ensuring the city’s sustainability through
environmental and economic initiatives, embracing new technology, closing the
workforce skills gap and creating jobs.
As a comprehensive planning committee chairman, he played an instrumental role
in guiding the development of the SA Tomorrow plan, a citizen-driven blueprint
for the city’s future that will help city leaders prepare for significant population
growth. He is also the chairman of several critical committees that work to build a
resilient city on national and local levels.
Experienced in business and policy, Nirenberg is a former program director for
the Annenberg Public Policy Center, where he developed and directed awardwinning
civic engagement programs in cities across the United States, including
San Antonio. He is also the former general manager of Trinity University’s
KRTU-FM and the founder of two small businesses.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from Trinity University and a master’s degree from
the University of Pennsylvania.