Greedy Bastards

One City’s Texas-Size Struggle to Avoid a Financial Crisis

By: Sheryl Sculley

Narrated by: Sheryl Sculley

When Sheryl Sculley was recruited to serve as San Antonio’s new city manager in 2005, the organization she inherited was a disorganized mess. City infrastructure was crumbling; strong financial policies and systems were nonexistent; many executive positions were vacant; public satisfaction was low; ethical standards were weak; and public-safety union salaries and benefits were outpacing revenues, crowding out other essential city services. Simply put: San Antonio was on the verge of collapse.

Greedy Bastards tells the story of Sheryl and her new team’s uphill battle to turn around San Antonio city government. She takes you behind closed doors to share the hard changes she made and the strategies she used to create mutually beneficial solutions to the city’s biggest problems.

Many of the issues Sheryl found in San Antonio are present in cities across the US. Packed with wins and losses, lessons learned, and pitfalls encountered, Greedy Bastards is a guidebook for any city official tasked with turning around a struggling city.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2020 Sheryl Sculley (P)2020 Sheryl Sculley

Must read if you’re in city government

As an attorney who routinely represents the City at the bargaining table in contract negotiations w police and Fire associations, I followed the saga of SA and it’s fight. Excellent book and is a must read!! Also I had no clue Sheryl got Rock and Roll down here and revamped the SA Marathon, I’ve run the full 2 times now and is one of my favorites!!

Great Book! Great job Sheryl!

A must read for city managers and fire associations. There is no reason it should come to this - someone has to take responsibility. Sheryl did.

Excellent - Insightful and Inspirational Read

If you’re curious to have a glimpse into the difficulties of “Big City Legacy Contracts” - Sheryl Sculley gives you a deep dive into San Antonio’s battle with budgeting and her attempt to save the city from insolvency due to legacy contracts.

City Management

Just listened to this on my way to the ICMA conference in Columbus, and I thought it was fantastic. Super bold to read herself-and pulled that off too. I found it thoughtful, helpful and I am grateful she had it published. Shines a positive light on a challenging under appreciated profession.

Great story

Terrible narration. The author should have had someone else read this. She was too dry and her reading took some of the drama out of a pretty amazing story.