Welcome to the Rivard Report: local, independent and all about San Antonio.

This city has been my family’s home and my place of work as a newspaper editor, columnist and author for more than two decades. Monika Maeckle, my Rivard Report partner  and wife, has been a marketing, public relations and new media executive here and in Austin for that same time. She’s also the author of the Texas Butterfly Ranch. In October we added Iris Dimmick to our team as managing editor. Iris is a recent multimedia journalism graduate of Central Washington University, and typical of many of the bright, young journalists entering the marketplace these days, she has many skills and interests: writing, editing, photography, and web design.

We launched the Rivard Report in mid-February of 2012 to become part of the public conversation at a time San Antonio is at a crossroads. Both our sons, Nicolas and Alexander, left San Antonio to attend college and did not come back. While  they hold San Antonio in their hearts, there  was never any questions about their departures. The opportunities and lifestyle they each sought were to be found elsewhere. That bothered us, as did frustrations we heard again and again from business colleagues struggling to recruit smart, educated people to come live and work here. The Rivard Report seeks to become an accelerator driving the kind of change in our city that reverses the outflow of educated young people and increases the number of individuals who want to come here.

We also aim to be a new connection for people in San Antonio. In addition to our own staff work, we are showcasing the work of a diverse and ever-expanding community of freelance journalists, photographers, and  individuals who have never been published before but are eagerly accepting the opportunity we offer here. We think our approach makes us unique in the city. We want our site to be the comfortable gathering place for engaged citizens to express their ideas and viewpoints and explore their creativity.

The Rivard Report is all about urban renaissance, the movement to build a better San Antonio. We hope to be a catalyst for urban transformation and progressive economic and cultural development. Transforming a central city is not a quick or easy process, but it’s been done elsewhere and is now happening here. That gives us plenty to write about as the city heads toward its 300th birthday in 2017 and Mayor Julián Castro seeks to achieve the ambitious goals of his SA2020 initiative.

We’re receiving plenty of encouragement from the many people working to make our city more vibrant and sustainable. That’s the real challenge. San Antonio ‘s continued growth is certain, but will the city evolve so our best and brightest no longer go elsewhere in search of opportunity and  a lifestyle they can’t find at home? Can San Antonio become a beacon for skilled young professionals and creative individuals?

Vision and leadership have put San Antonio on the cusp of extraordinary change and growth. We will work to make the Rivard Report the voice connecting the people leading this city, changing this city, and everyone living and working here who yearn for a better San Antonio.

We hope to make you part of the RR. Interested? Look on the right side of the home page to sign in and submit an article or opinion piece, photographs or a video. We’ll post the best submissions, whether you’re 18 or 80.

Life is good in San Antonio, and we think it’s going to get even better. Watch this space. Better yet, become part of it.

–Robert Rivard