153. The Race to Lead Bexar County: Ron Nirenberg
This week on bigcitysmalltown, we examine the race for Bexar County Judge through the lens of former San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s candidacy. After serving as mayor from 2017 to 2025—a period marked by both crisis and gro...
Recent Episodes
153. The Race to Lead Bexar County: Ron Nirenberg
152. What’s Ahead for San Antonio in 2026: Bob Rivard & Cory Ames on City Politics, Growth, and Civic Trust
151. 8.3 Million New Neighbors by 2050—Henry Cisneros and Bob Rivard on the Austin-San Antonio Megaregion
150. The Rise of Jamaican Food in San Antonio (ft. The Jerk Shack)
149. How AlamoPROMISE Continues Expanding College Access for San Antonians
148. Krampus Is Coming to Town: Inside San Antonio’s Controversial Holiday Parade
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Recent Blog Posts
As a District 1 resident, I am fatigued, as are many of my neighbors and fellow downtown workers, by the daily challenge of navigating urban street improvement projects that take years to complete. Completion of one project seems to signal the start…
It’s a new year, and that means yet another developer has announced plans to bring the long-dormant Lone Star Brewery Complex back to life. The 33-acre blighted site was once home to a brewery that, like the Pearl, was synonymous with San Anto…
About the Hosts
Host, bigcitysmalltown
Robert “Bob” Rivard is a veteran American journalist whose 46-year career has taken him across Texas, Latin America, and beyond. He co-founded the Rivard Report (later named the San Antonio Report) with his wife, Monika Maeckle, in 2012, building it into the city’s leading nonprofit news organization before retiring in 2022.
Bob has worked for five Texas newspapers, beginning his career on the border at the Brownsville Herald, then moving to the Corpus Christi Caller, the Dallas Times-Herald, and later serving as a foreign correspondent and chief of correspondents for Newsweek. He returned to Texas as senior editor of the San Antonio Light before becoming executive editor of the San Antonio Express-News (1997–2011).
His journalism has earned widespread recognition, including being named Editor & Publisher’s “Editor of the Year” in 2000 and receiving the prestigious Maria Moors Cabot Award from Columbia University for his reporting on Latin America and the U.S.-Mexico border.
He is the author of Trail of Feathers, a nonfiction book chronicling the disappearance and murder of journalist Philip True in Mexico’s Sierra Madre. The book, published by Public Affairs in 2005, was widely reviewed, excerpted in Esquire, and selected by People magazine as one of five recommended nonfiction works that year.
Bob now hosts bigcitysmalltown, a podcast featuring the people shaping San Antonio’s future. He and Monika live in Southtown, where she runs the Texas Butterfly Ranch blog and previously founded the annual San Antonio Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival. They have two adult children, Nicolas, a designer and artist, and Alexander, director of education for the Alamo Trust.
Producer
Cory Ames is a writer, podcaster, and media producer passionate about storytelling that highlights San Antonio’s people, history, and future. As the Founder of Ensemble Texas, he has built a platform dedicated to environmental, economic, and cultural resilience through video, podcasts, and long-form features. Cory has produced hundreds of interviews, including as host of The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, and now brings his experience to bigcitysmalltown, crafting compelling narratives that celebrate the people who make San Antonio go and grow.
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