![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PhilHardberger_ParkConservancy_UrbanEcologyCenter_MasterPlannedPark_MayorStatue_20_04.08.2026_AmberE.jpeg\")
Former San Antonio mayor Phil Hardberger observes the trees near the park\u2019s bioswale and underground rainwater storage system on April 8, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\nAt 91 years old, Phil Hardberger stands a trim 6 feet tall and has the vitality of a man who exercises six days a week and serves on five community boards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On a recent day at the Northside park named for him in 2010, the former mayor of San Antonio sported a replica leather jacket like the one he wore as a B-47 bomber pilot during the Cold War.<\/p>\n
Still instantly recognized by most passersby, Hardberger gladly shakes their hands when asked, as groups of schoolchildren run and play unawares under the park\u2019s vast canopy of live oaks and cedar.<\/p>\n
Later this month, a statue in Hardberger\u2019s likeness, the jacket tossed casually over his shoulder, will be unveiled at Phil Hardberger Park, a tribute to his time as mayor from 2005-09 and myriad contributions to the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Molded in bronze by Laredo artist Armando Hinojosa, the statue will be installed soon near the entrance to the Urban Ecology Center, also named after Hardberger, at the park. A pedestal will feature a QR code linked to his story online.<\/p>\n
Businessman and philanthropist Harvey Najim commissioned the statue of Hardberger.<\/p>\n
It is the latest in a series of statues Najim has backed across the city in recent years, including ones of former mayor and county commissioner Nelson Wolff and his wife Tracy and beer magnate and philanthropist Carlos Alvarez.<\/p>\n
Former San Antonio mayor Phil Hardberger observes the trees near the park\u2019s bioswale and underground rainwater storage system on April 8, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
Saying he was impressed with Hardberger\u2019s contributions to the city, Najim surprised his longtime friend with the idea of a statue. \u201cI can truthfully say, not one time, not even the smallest, wildest thought ever came to me, that a statue would be made of me,\u201d Hardberger said.<\/p>\n
But he gladly agreed when Najim told him how he wanted the message of his efforts to make San Antonio and the state a better place to be carried on to future generations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What came next was a process of being \u201cmeasured in ways I never thought possible,\u201d he said, for the resulting life-size, 7,000-pound statue which will be unveiled in the public park on April 28 with a private ceremony at 10:30 a.m.<\/p>\n
Mayor of San Antonio<\/p>\n
Hardberger served two two-year terms as mayor from 2005 to 2009, at that time the only modern mayor not to have served on council.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PhilHardberger_ParkConservancy_HarveyNajim_CharitableFoundation_MayorStatue_Courtesy.jpg\")
The completed statue of former San Antonio mayor Phil Hardberger from The Harvey E. Najim Charitable Foundation to be installed at Phil Hardberger Park later this month. Credit: Courtesy \/ The Harvey E. Najim Charitable Foundation<\/p>\n
In the opening months of his first term, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, setting off an effort in San Antonio to welcome and care for the tens of thousands of evacuees who were displaced and setting the tone for Hardberger\u2019s mayorship. During that period, Hardberger hired Sheryl Sculley as city manager<\/a>.<\/p>\n In addition to shepherding the expansion of the San Antonio River Walk northward, Hardberger also worked to improve green space in the city with the acquisition of Voelcker Park, now named for him, and led a revamping of Main Plaza<\/a>. With Valero founder Bill Greehey, he established the homelessness support nonprofit, Haven for Hope.<\/p>\n In his final days as mayor, Hardberger successfully championed a change to the city\u2019s mayoral term limits from two to four two-year terms.\u00a0<\/p>\n When he left office, he had an 86% approval rating.<\/p>\n As a first-time mayoral candidate at age 70, Hardberger said, \u201cI brought a lot of energy,\u201d but also maturity and political experience. He was elected to the Fourth District Court of Appeals in 1994 as a Democrat and retired as chief justice in 2003.<\/p>\n A year later, he was on a boat voyage with his wife Linda, navigating waters along the East Coast in the 55-foot-long Aimless, when he decided to run for office.<\/p>\n \u201cMy opponents talked a lot about how old I was, but in fact, I had a lot of energy, and I had a lot of creative ideas that I had gathered from having lived and worked in so many places in my life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hardberger had climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, re-created Charles Lindbergh\u2019s 1927 solo flight from New York to Paris, sailed across seas, served a high-ranking post in the Peace Corps during the Kennedy administration, and is a chevalier \u2014 or French knight. All adventures chronicled in a locally produced musical<\/a>.<\/p>\n The son of a West Texas farmer dad and a schoolteacher mother, Hardberger grew up outside of Lubbock and attended Baylor, Columbia and Georgetown universities. He sought the adventurous life his parents never had.\u00a0<\/p>\n After Baylor, Hardberger earned his Air Force pilot wings. \u201cMy dad came and I\u2019ve never seen him happier,\u201d Hardberger said.<\/p>\n In San Antonio, Hardberger saw ways the city could be made better, he said. What most drove him to seek office was the chance to make it more beautiful \u2014 and not just in how it looked, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to bring back that quality of life, the compassion of our people,\u201d he said. \u201cI have never been in a more compassionate place where people will really try to help others. We have a big heart. I had nothing to do with that, but I discovered it, and it made everything else possible in many ways.\u201d<\/p>\n But during his time in office, a step back from a successful legal career, Hardberger learned that the job of leading a city is very time-consuming and all-encompassing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt probably is the best job of my life,\u201d said Hardberger, whose resume includes many years as a plaintiff\u2019s lawyer and later serving as an elected appeals court judge.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut it also had the greatest opportunities for making mistakes, because you were making decisions daily, usually several,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s why today Hardberger sticks to what he calls a \u201csupporting role\u201d of the current mayor and council, declining to publicly voice an opinion on their performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018Like a rock star\u2019<\/p>\n Melissa Kazen, executive director of the Phil Hardberger Park Conservancy<\/a>, meets with him at least twice a week, she said, sharing the responsibility of giving tours and meeting with stakeholders.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOn the tours, it\u2019s like a rock star,\u201d when Hardberger is spotted by park-goers, Kazen said. \u201cThey\u2019re not shy about expressing their gratitude, either.\u201d<\/p>\n In late 2020, he helped open the Robert L. B. Tobin Land Bridge<\/a> at his namesake park, a $23 million project to restore an ecological sanctuary along a creek corridor. Shortly after, he suffered a minor heart attack<\/a>.<\/p>\n Today, as board president emeritus for the park, he\u2019s also very involved in a project to remodel the historic Voekler Homestead dairy barn at the park into an educational center which opens later this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hardberger said he uses the park as others do, \u201cto enjoy it,\u201d but also to spend some time surveying, \u201cto make sure that nobody\u2019s cutting down any trees or doing anything they shouldn\u2019t be doing.\u201d <\/p>\n When he walks its paths, Hardberger looks for trash and checks to make sure the restrooms are working.\u00a0<\/p>\n On a cool spring Wednesday in the park, a maintenance volunteer with the group Wildland Warriors, steps away from pulling brush to greet the former mayor and park celebrity where he sat on a low wall of limestone.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBecause of this park, I got excited about becoming a Texas Master Naturalist<\/a>,\u201d said David Willis. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PhilHardberger_ParkConservancy_UrbanEcologyCenter_MasterPlannedPark_MayorStatue_01_04.08.2026_AmberE.jpeg\")
Workers prepare a spot near the entrance of the Urban Ecology Center at Phil Hardberger Park for the installation of a bronze statue of the former San Antonio mayor on April 8, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PhilHardberger_ParkConservancy_UrbanEcologyCenter_MasterPlannedPark_MayorStatue_13_04.08.2026_AmberE.jpeg\")
Former San Antonio mayor Phil Hardberger talks with the San Antonio Report at his namesake park near Castle Hills on April 8, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PhilHardberger_ParkConservancy_UrbanEcologyCenter_MasterPlannedPark_MayorStatue_02_04.08.2026_AmberE.jpeg\")
Visitors look at maps and local wildlife information boards near the entrance of the Urban Ecology Center at Phil Hardberger Park on April 8, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n