After his improbable victory in the 2013 District 8 City Council race, Ron Nirenberg set himself on a lofty trajectory for a new councilman, tackling major issues such as saving one of the largest bat colonies in the world and working on regional water issues.

Now he’s touting the work he’s done in two terms on the Council in a mayoral campaign aimed at ousting incumbent Ivy Taylor.

The stakes are high for Nirenberg.

If he loses, he’ll be off the council. If he wins, it will be a second improbable victory over an opponent who is well-funded and well-known. And in this instance, one who has the power of incumbency.

Bexar County Democratic Party Chairman Manuel Medina is also on the ballot. The trio is joined by 11 other lesser-known candidates vying for the top spot in the May 6 municipal election. The question remains whether the volume of candidates will force a runoff in June.

In 2013, Nirenberg defeated Rolando Briones in a runoff. Briones, an engineer seen as the establishment candidate, raised and spent significantly more money, as much as four times Nirenberg’s total, by some accounts. The new council member quickly emerged as an official unafraid to tackle significant, and often controversial, matters. Briones’ campaign had been mired in lies and ethics blunders, and Nirenberg campaigned on and continues to fight for ethics reform at City Hall.

More Information Ron Nirenberg Age: 39 Occupation: City Council member; formerly general manager of KRTU-FM at Trinity University Political Career: District 8 councilman, 2013-present; several boards and commissions, including the FCC’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee and Sister Cities International Education: Bachelor’s in communications, Trinity University; master’s in communications, Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia Family: Wife, Erika; son, Jonah Mayoral profiles Next Sunday: Manuel Medina April 16: Ivy Taylor

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Early in his first term, Nirenberg supported the city’s controversial non-discrimination ordinance, known in San Antonio as the “NDO,” and built a coalition among conservation groups, the city, state and Bexar and Comal counties to preserve Bracken Cave — the summer home to an estimated 20 million bats — perhaps his crowning achievement.

“It was a public-private, multi-jurisdictional coalition that was formed to preserve a critical space of the Texas Hill Country when no one believed we could do it,” he said, noting that the conservation also protected a critical piece of San Antonio’s water supply, controlled urban sprawl, protected the regional agricultural community and habitat, and showed “that government can work in the best interest of citizens when we collaborate.”

By the summer of 2014, with the bat-cave work and NDO in the rear-view mirror — and in the midst of his foray into regional water issues to ensure San Antonio has adequate water in the future — Nirenberg faced a major decision.

In mid-May 2014, news broke that then-Mayor Julián Castro had been tapped by President Barack Obama to become secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

At the time, under the City Charter, the vacancy could only be filled by a member of the City Council, through an appointment process conducted by the council members themselves.

In deciding to throw his name into the hat, Nirenberg revealed that he clearly had mayoral ambitions — only a year after his start in politics. The appearance of that ambition has stuck with him ever since.

Ultimately, he couldn’t garner support from his colleagues and didn’t make it through the first round of voting. Taylor won the appointment, in part, because she said she had no intention of running for a full term in 2015.

Nirenberg’s critics in this mayoral race point to his inability to win support even among his colleagues and question whether he can build a coalition on council to move issues forward.

Nirenberg said he doesn’t regret seeking the interim position.

“My reasons for wanting to be considered for the interim appointment are the same as my reasons for running now,” he said. “At the time, Councilwoman Taylor had promised not to run for the seat, and a number of people came to me and asked me to seek the appointment and also run for mayor to ensure our city could continue its momentum.

“The biggest irony of Mayor Taylor breaking her promise and running for a full term is that we lost our momentum anyway.”

Taylor campaign manager Christian Anderson pulled no punches in his review of his client’s tenure.

“Nirenberg has been running for mayor practically since he joined Council in 2013. But if you look at his record, you see he’s an unaccomplished councilman who’s shown no interest in real leadership,” he said.

His personal story

During his council tenure, Nirenberg has taken on roles beyond representing his Northwest Side district. He’s been appointed to several boards, both locally and nationally, including the local Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Federal Communications Commission’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee, Sister Cities International and three leadership groups within the National League of Cities.

Nirenberg, who will turn 40 later this month, is married to Erika Prosper, the director of Customer Insights for H-E-B. He grew up in Austin, where he graduated from Anderson High School. His father, Kenneth, whose family had immigrated from Russia and Poland, met his mother, Charlotte, while he was in Malaysia serving in the Peace Corps.

The councilman says he’s representative of the U.S. melting pot — with Eastern European Jews from his father’s side and Malaysia, Indian, British and Filipino heritage from his mother’s side.

Nirenberg moved to San Antonio to attend Trinity University. He earned a master’s degree from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia before returning to San Antonio permanently.

The couple has an 8-year-old son, Jonah. They live in Summerfield, a gated community along Northwest Military Highway, on the eastern edge of District 8, which encompasses the medical center and a collection of middle-class and high-end neighborhoods, including the Dominion.

Nirenberg doesn’t have much time these days to unplug, but when he can, the former bodybuilder heads to an old-school gym near the airport where he works on power lifting — exercise that’s as beneficial for mental health and balance as it is for fitness, he said. Every year during the winter holidays, the couple spends a day at Alamo Drafthouse, watching a half-dozen or so movies (“Erika and I are film aficionados.”)

On Opening Day of Major League Baseball, father and son always plays hooky. They’re big Red Sox fans. “It’s a family holiday and we watch the Sox on TV,” Nirenberg said. “I took (Jonah) to his first game at Fenway Park last year.”

Nirenberg frequently references his son, who he says often asks whether his father has “made the world better today.” Having worked on municipal policy and civic engagement research as a program director at the Annenberg Public Policy Center from 2001-09, Nirenberg often cites the need for more people to become involved in local government as one of San Antonio’s top priorities.

His position took him to nearly two dozen locations across the U.S., though he was always based out of San Antonio.

Still, he’s seen by some as overly ambitious and, perhaps because of that, incapable of building consensus among his peers.

“I like Ron a lot as a person. I think he’s a bright guy, and he got into public service for the right reason,” said one political insider who asked not to be identified because he didn’t want to become embroiled in the mayoral battle. “I think he’s so anxious to be mayor that it has blinded him on everything else that he’s doing.”

The source, who applauded the work Taylor has done since landing the position in 2014, said he believes that a mayor has “one job — to get six votes.”

The councilman dismisses such criticism and suggests the failure lies with Taylor.

“Leadership, to me, is having an articulated and clear vision for the future, having a clear, transparent and ethical process that colleagues and the public can trust, and collaborating with the public to implement it,” he said. “Leadership also means having the courage to stand alone, when necessary, to do the right thing for San Antonio. That’s my record.”

Taking aim at Taylor

Nirenberg is in a similar position as he was in 2013, running against an opponent who has significant financial and business community backing. That position requires him to attack the front-runner.

He has taken aim at Taylor, using a common refrain that she doesn’t have a clear vision for San Antonio.

“I know what I believe. I have a vision,” he said. “I know how to achieve it. And I’m unafraid to do it. Mayor Taylor has, from Day 1, operated with a sense of hesitancy and caution on every issue that neglects the reality that we’re in. That’s not leadership. Leadership is looking forward and being aggressive with solutions — not looking backward for excuses.”

Sources have said that Taylor would rather face Medina than Nirenberg in a June runoff.

“Councilman Nirenberg thinks leadership means seeking a spotlight and a microphone. So it’s not surprising he’s failed to recognize all that Mayor Taylor has accomplished with hard work, collaboration, and quiet strength,” Anderson said.Nirenberg, meanwhile, disputes what Anderson alleges and says he’s able to achieve majority votes on major issues, even if “sometimes it takes a little bit of time.”

“For instance, as Mayor Taylor was pushing transportation-networking companies out of town, we stayed on the right side of the issue, worked with the public and eventually she came to recognize it would be a mistake for San Antonio to force them out,” he said.

Nirenberg also has been a stalwart advocate of ethics reform and is quick to remind voters that Taylor had a months-long conflict of interest after being appointed mayor because of her official duty to appoint commissioners to the board of the San Antonio Housing Authority, which paid her and her husband Rodney for Section 8 vouchers they collected from tenants in several of their rental properties.

She sought, and received, an ethics waiver from the City Council that absolved her of any wrongdoing after the conflict had been remedied.

Former District 8 Councilwoman Bonnie Conner first met Nirenberg when he was the dark-horse candidate in 2013. She’s since become a confidante and informal adviser to the councilman, though they speak less frequently now that he’s running for mayor.

“He was always willing to listen. That doesn’t mean he felt as I did on certain issues, but he is a good listener,” she said. “On his own, I see Ron as the most forthright and honest person I’ve ever known to run for office.”

She characterized him as someone who taps a diverse group of people for ideas. Conner understands some of the criticism of Nirenberg but suggests it’s at least in part because he might be misunderstood.

“He is driven. But he’s not driven by ascending to a higher level office. He’s driven because internally he believes there are some things that need to be done in our city,” she said. “He isn’t beholden to any special-interest group, and herein lies the perception that he’s out there in front of other council members.”

Nirenberg isn’t one to back down on issues, she said, and he’s committed to doing what he thinks is in the best interest of San Antonio.

Colin Strother, a Democratic campaign strategist who isn’t working in San Antonio’s mayoral race, accuses Nirenberg of taking on elitist issues, throwing his support to the proposed Hardberger Land Bridge in the 2017 bond proposal and fighting for bat preservation and environmental protections for stormwater runoff, among other things.

“When you have people that are afraid to walk down their own street at night, or at any time of the day, it just seem a little disconnected to be focused on bats and water runoff,” he said. “There just seems to be a disconnect between what he’s doing and what the core needs of the city are.”

Focus on growth

The councilman has also angered portions of the city’s real estate community with his positions on two key issues that impact the industry.

Last year, he unsuccessfully pushed for a down-zoning of a large tract in his district, pitting the real estate community against Nirenberg and neighbors over the fate of 36 undeveloped acres. Residents and the councilman argued that a high-density development on the site would increase congestion on roads, lead to more drainage issues, strain public schools and hurt property values.

Developers and others argued that the down-zoning was a “taking,” and would jeopardize future development because lenders and investors wouldn’t have confidence that their properties wouldn’t be rezoned on a whim.

Nirenberg also ruffled feathers when he sided with Councilman Roberto Treviño, who wants to recast the makeup of the city’s Planning Commission. They both worry that — unlike the Zoning Commission, which has a commissioner appointed from each council district — the planning board doesn’t fully represent the citizenry because its composition favors subject-matter experts and appointees from the development community.

But those positions have bolstered his support among environmental and community activists, who see him as the official fighting for residents.

Activist Annalisa Peace, who’s been a strong supporter also because of Nirenberg’s pro-environmental stance, pointed to his recent opposition to slate of candidates for the Planning Commission, almost entirely hailing from the North Side.

“He doesn’t knuckle under,” Peace said. “When they had the vote on the planning commissioner appointments, he was the only one on the (Governance) committee who didn’t vote for the slate of candidates recommended by the developers,” she said.

Peace said she and others pressing for environmental protection find that there are few council members, other than Nirenberg, who take into account the information they provide.

“It’s been very frustrating. I guess visiting City Council within the past year, I see undue influence from vested interests,” she said. “Ron Nirenberg is one of the few council members I’ve heard talk about ethical issues with what’s going on.”

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