b'Republic of Texas days in the early 1840s. In his first election for mayor, Cisneros won 62% of the overall vote, avoiding a runoff, including a much higher percentage of the mostly white north side vote than he, or any political observer, had expected.In 1983, the year Cisneros won reelection with a record 94.2% of the vote, he was profiled on CBS News 60 Minutes as the up-and-coming leader of Americas young Hispanic culturethe first- and second-generation of Latin American immigrants who were well-educated, disciplined, and energized to achieve prominence, power, and prosperity for their communities of origin, with the rest of the country happily tagging along. In Cisneros three reelections as Mayor of San Antonio, he never lost a single voting district of the ten established in 1977. His talent for unifying wealthy north side conservatives with working class Hispanics on the west and south sides on issues of business growth, education, healthcare, and housing was at the core of his success as mayor. That, and he was a man of his word and genuine straight-shooter.SeaWorld came to us; the De Bartolos did Rivercenter Mall. We made annual trips to Silicon Valley and to the East Coast to visit biotech and pharmaceutical compa-nies. Our trip to Japan eventually led to the Toyota plant, said Cisneros, when asked about a framed photo on the bookshelf of the small library in which we conducted our interview. In it is a contingent of very tall, Texas-looking gentlemen pictured be-hind a strikingly-demure Japanese couple in traditional attire. When asked if that was him with the Emperor of Japan, he replied, Thats Dr. Toyoda and his wife.San Antonios 1980s trade mission to Japan, led by its ambitious, young mayor, was one of many long-term investments that paid off on a huge scale, far down the road. The mission was to put the city on the world map, and in the worlds consciousness, much as HemisFair had done in 1968, even if by one sales call at a time on behalf of his city. After years of discussions, ground was broken on Toyota Motor Manufactur-ing Texas in 2003, in south San Antonio, which started assembling Tundra pickup trucks in 2006, and today produces Tundras and Sequoia SUVs at a rate of one-per-minute. Over 9,400 combined full-timers and contractors are employed there.San Antonios international profile was elevated to its highest point since HemisFair in Cisneros fourth and final term, when the city became the longest stop on Pope John Paul IIs 1987 tour of the United States. The most widely beloved leader in theTop: Downtown San Antonio, a critic mass of activity with Rivercenter Mall, Marriott and Hyatt modern era of the Roman Catholic Church rode through the streets of San AntonioRegency Hotels, adjacent to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center; Above: 40 years after in the famed Pope Mobile, and held public mass for over 350,000 worshipers inthe dream was conceived, the 64,000-seat Alamodome hosts college football games and major what would be the largest, single event in Texas history. The late Pope, now Sainttouring concerts; Below: Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas started assembling pickup trucks in John Paul, talked about the importance of San Antonio as a crossroads with Latin2006, and today Tundras and Sequoias roll off the assembly line at a rate of one-per-minute.America, and urged the need for compassion for immigrants from Mexico.As mayor, both the old guard he displaced and the new guard whom he was lead-ing were critical about Cisneros priorities for the city. While they screamed about improving public libraries and fixing the streets, the mayor was running around the world calling on industry to expand to San Antonio. What he learned was that selling San Antonio was the easy part. The hard part was mustering up the managerial and political acumen to keep deals alive. After SeaWorld had committed to building in the far-west section of the city, an impending takeover of its parent company by a British publisher threatened to kill the project. Even after San Antonio voters voiced their approval for a new, world-class stadium, the Alamodome, it took legislative co-ordination in Austin to fully fund the project. Cisneros operated on the premise that ideas without follow-through are just lost opportunities.During his tenure, few of those opportunities were lost. With a vision that an expand-ed and improved Riverwalk would grow downtown tourism, deals were done that brought the construction of Rivercenter Mall by the famed De Bartolo family and the adjacent, 1,000-room Marriott Rivercenter Hotelall located across the street from the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and HemisFair Arena, the original home of the San Antonio Spurs. This critical mass of entertainment, convention space, and hospitality now makes downtown San Antonio one of the busiest tourism zones in the United Statesas well as one of the cleanest and safest downtown areas in the state.44THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE TheCoastalBend.com'