SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 23, 2014-- Long-time San Antonio business and civic leader Bill Greehey today joined numerous other leaders in the San Antonio community in celebrating and supporting San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro’s nomination by President Barack Obama to serve as U.S. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development.

“Based on his proven leadership and vision, I am very supportive of Mayor Castro’s nomination for U.S. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development,” said Greehey. “Mayor Castro’s success in revitalizing and redeveloping so many parts of our city is really indicative of his outstanding vision. He has revitalized our downtown area, which benefits our community and the millions of tourists who visit our city each year. This includes a major expansion of our convention center that will make San Antonio a destination for some of the nation’s largest conferences and events, and creating world-class park space in the downtown area. He has also worked to stimulate investment in neighborhoods in the inner-city, and other impoverished areas of the community. One of the greatest examples is the East Side of San Antonio, which had been neglected for decades. The development in that area is amazing, and Mayor Castro made this happen through the innovative use of federal funds that were available for such projects. In fact, it’s a national model of inner-city development.

“And what’s amazing is that he has initiated and implemented these hundreds-of-millions of dollars in investments while maintaining our city’s AAA bond rating from all of the major rating agencies, and we are the only major city in America that has earned this distinction,” Greehey added. “So Mayor Castro and his staff have obviously done a great job in pursuing these investments in a cost-effective and efficient manner, and that type of planning is going to be crucial at the national level.

“But what I believe truly defines Mayor Castro’s leadership is not his commitment to city development, it is his commitment and compassion for the citizens who live in our city,” said Greehey. “He has worked tirelessly to improve the education and health of our citizens, to bring more good-paying jobs to the city, and to improve the overall economy for the benefit of all San Antonio residents. And he has set solid goals for the city’s growth and prosperity in his SA2020 program, which he envisioned and established by bringing together leaders and citizens from across the community. From his days as a City Councilman through his mayoral term, he has worked especially hard to provide greater housing, education and job opportunities for the underprivileged in our city, especially the homeless. And I am personally thankful to him for his support of our efforts to transform and save the lives of homeless men, women and children through Haven for Hope, San Antonio’s innovative homeless transformation campus. He has always taken a personal interest in our efforts, and his generosity in providing city support and funding for our efforts is a key reason for our success in helping so many homeless individuals move from being homeless to being productive, tax-paying citizens in the community.

“So I truly believe that Mayor Castro’s track record in San Antonio makes him the ideal candidate to lead such a critical U.S. government agency, and I am confident that he will serve our country as well as he served our city,” Greehey said.

Greehey is founding CEO of Valero Energy Corporation, which he grew from a small, regional natural gas pipeline company into the nation’s largest independent refining company when he retired as CEO in 2005. He currently serves as chairman of NuStar GP Holdings LLC, and NuStar Energy, L.P., one of the nation’s leading petroleum pipeline and terminal operators. He is also the founder and chairman of Haven for Hope of Bexar County, an innovative, one-stop campus that provides homeless men, women and children with all of the services and resources they need to transform their lives and live independently and productively.

Source: NuStar Energy, L.P.

NuStar Energy, L.P., San Antonio
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