Henry Cisneros

San Antonio's first Mexican American mayor since the 1840s, elected in 1981 after the city moved to district council elections, Cisneros shifted infrastructure spending to the long-neglected West Side and courted technology and tourism investment, including the Alamodome. He worked closely with the community organisation COPS, whose pressure on drainage and streets in Mexican American neighbourhoods shaped his agenda. He later became Clinton's Housing Secretary, where he began the HOPE VI rebuild of public housing.