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City officials, business supporters, community partners, conservationists, artists, and longtime friends gathered at Phil Hardberger Park Tuesday morning to honor the man who turned an historic dairy farm into a 330-acre park to enjoy for years to come.
Former San Antonio Mayor Hardberger championed the diligent work of partners and the Park Conservancy in creating the park at 8400 NW Military Hwy in North Central San Antonio.
“People say you can’t get anything done through the city. Very bureaucratic, lots of rules, it takes forever, etc. It took sixty days to get this park,” said Hardberger.
Veteran news anchor Deborah Knapp recalled her coverage of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and how Hardberger took care of the people who were escaping the floods to Texas with open arms. Knapp related that compassion and care to his work on the beautification of San Antonio.
"In just four short years, Phil Hardberger helped to transform this city. He expanded the San Antonio River Walk to the gorgeous museum reach with flowering shrubs, public art, and new life. He oversaw the redevelopment of Main Plaza. And, perhaps most enduring of all, he championed the vision that became Hardberger Park," said Knapp. "He strengthened not just our landscape, but our identity."
Melissa Kazen is executive director of the Park Conservancy and said there are many reasons to honor Hardberger.
“The Great Springs Project, he’s involved in that. Main Plaza. These beautiful places that we have in the surrounding area was due to Mayor Hardberger’s vision and his persistence,” said Kazen.
San Antonio-born filmmaker, producer, journalist, and author John Philip Santos read from his poem "The Hardberger Pastoral," offered stories on seeking out nature from his youth in San Antonio, and thanked Hardberger for his role in enhancing the city.
"Eventually the land got swallowed up by the city, but thanks to Phil's vision and considerable skills of persuasion, today we can still wander this expanse all day under live oak motts, through grassy clearings, and blooming cactus stands, experiencing the ageless glimpses of San Antonio's wild," said Santos. "I've always found a way to live close to green spaces, including twenty years in New York City with Central Park just outside my front door. Central Park is lovely. But it ain't no Hardberger Park."
Hardberger piloted the B-47 bomber as a captain in the U.S. Air Force. He was the executive secretary of the Peace Corps during the Kennedy administration and special assistant to the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity under President Johnson. In 1968, he was appointed Associate Justice and then Chief Justice of the Fourth Court of Appeals. Decades later, Hardberger served as San Antonio's Mayor from 2005-2009.
Hardberger is 91-years old and still walks the trails of the park that bears his name. He offered his own philosophical rules for the park before closing the dedication ceremony.
"Keep it free for everybody. Keep it clean for everybody. And, let it alone because nature will take care of itself," said Hardberger. "You should stay away with your bags of cement and your tree cutters. We need this land left as it is. Loved as it is. Used as it is. And it will be, if we follow those simple rules, with us 1,000 years from now."
