San Antonio: Ivy Taylor appointed the first African American woman to be mayor of the city

San Antonio: Ivy Taylor appointed the first African American woman to be mayor of the city
Ivy Taylor named San Antonio Mayor. She did not win a majority of the council vote, as her colleagues split 5-3 over her and Councilman Ray Lopez.

Ivy R. Taylor was appointed to serve as Mayor of San Antonio on July 22, 2014. Mayor Taylor was appointed by the San Antonio City Council to fulfill Julian Castro’s unexpired term as Mayor. Prior to her appointment, Mayor Taylor served as the District 2 City Council Representative. Ivy R. Taylor was elected to serve as the District 2 Representative on June 13, 2009 and served two and a half terms for a total of five years.

Mayor Taylor obtained a Master’s Degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1998. In 1992, she received a Bachelor’s Degree from Yale University. Mayor Taylor is a wife and a mother.

Mayor Taylor began her career working for the City of San Antonio in the Housing and Community Development Department and the Neighborhood Action Department. While at the City, she worked with a variety of neighborhood associations, developers and nonprofit organizations in order to facilitate inner city redevelopment. She also planned several of the City’s Housing Summits, which provided an opportunity for community partners to exchange practical ideas on how to address our city’s housing needs. After six years, she left employment with the City of San Antonio to become Vice President at Merced Housing Texas. At Merced, she worked to create and implement programs focused on children, education, health and financial literacy for apartment community residents. Mayor Taylor is a lecturer at UTSA in the Public Administration Department.

Mayor Taylor currently serves on the board for Healthy Futures of Texas and Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas. She has served on the City’s Planning Commission and as a Commissioner for the City’s Urban Renewal Agency (SADA) and on the advisory board for Our Lady of the Lake’s Center for Women in Church and Society. Mayor Taylor completed the Leadership San Antonio class sponsored by the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, and in 2004 was acknowledged by the San Antonio Business Journal as a “Rising Star” in their “40 under 40” class. In 2008, she completed Bank of America’s Neighborhood Excellence Leadership Training Program.

Source: City of San Antonio
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Video: Ivy Taylor new mayor of San Antonio

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San Antonio

City Population
San Antonio: 1,409,019
City Limits: 467 square miles

Metropolitan Population
San Antonio-New Braunfels 2,277,550

San Antonio Government
The City of San Antonio runs under a Council-Manager form of government.

The daily business of City operations is the responsibility of the City Manager, the Chief Executive Officer, appointed by the Mayor and City Council. The City Manager prepares recommendations and implements the policy direction approved by the Mayor and City Council. The City Manager is responsible for the administration of City services by exercising effective leadership and management of the City. City personnel report to the City Manager.

Sheryl Sculley began serving as City Manager of San Antonio in November 2005.
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List of some of the first African American mayors of larger US cites