Word: antonios
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...come to symbolize the split that has dominated San Antonio's politics and social structure for years: Anglo vs. Hispanic, old money vs. new. As a result, the election turned on matters of style and symbolism, rather than any deep disagreement between the candidates over issues. Short, balding and a Reagan supporter, Steen liked to drive his own gray Lincoln Continental to campaign stops in the barrio, carrying bread around with him to feed the pigeons. Cisneros drives a battered 1972 Volkswagen and wears well-tailored jackets, which he inevitably sheds when speaking at churchyard gatherings and large rallies...
...civilian administrator for the Army, Cisneros earned a master's degree in public administration from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and a Ph.D. in that subject from George Washington University. After spending a year as a White House Fellow in 1971-72, he returned to San Antonio's West Side in 1974 to live with his wife and two daughters. Says Dan Parman, a wealthy conservative who supported Cisneros: "Henry is the guy who can heal the wounds. He's acceptable to people on both sides of the tracks...
Cisneros' election marks the high point of a long struggle by San Antonio's Hispanics to wrest power from the Anglo establishment. Adopting the confrontational tactics of the late Saul Alinsky, local Hispanic leaders in 1974 formed a social action group called Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS) and quickly forced the city government to spend $200 million for improvement projects in poor Hispanic neighborhoods. In 1977, San Antonio's minorities won control of the city council for the first time, six seats to five...
Cisneros, first elected a councilman in 1975, was instrumental in bringing a measure of peace to that divided body. When the opposition proposed attracting business to San Antonio by advertising the city's low wages, COPS angrily proposed that no company be allowed to move into San Antonio without guaranteeing workers a minimum wage of $15,000 a year. Arguing that economic development was in everyone's interest, Cisneros helped persuade COPS to drop its demand. He also joined his Anglo colleagues in persuading Control Data Corporation to build a 600-employee computer software plant in a distressed...
...Antonio is now undergoing an unprecedented surge of growth...