Editing Sila María Calderón (section)

===Mayor of San Juan: 1997–2001===
Calderón returned to public life in 1995, running in the [[Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico|Popular Democratic Party]] (PPD) primary for Mayor of San Juan. She won the primary handily over her two opponents by a huge margin.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}} After that, she became President of the Municipal Committee of the PPD in San Juan, and later became part of the board of directors of the Party.<ref name="lexjur"/>

In the [[1996 San Juan, Puerto Rico mayoral election|1996 mayoral general election]], she was elected Mayor of San Juan, becoming the second woman in the city's history to serve in that office and the first woman elected to the position.<ref>[http://www.ceepur.org/cgi-bin/municipios.pl?municipio=sj&1996=on&map=a Consulta de Resultados: Municipio de San Juan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081128085958/http://www.ceepur.org/cgi-bin/municipios.pl?municipio=sj&1996=on&map=a |date=November 28, 2008 }} on CEEPUR</ref> As mayor, she undertook one of the largest public works program in the city to date, sponsoring various urban redevelopment projects to revitalize [[Old San Juan]], [[Condado, Puerto Rico|Condado]], [[Río Piedras, Puerto Rico|Río Piedras]], [[Santurce, Puerto Rico|Santurce]], and other deteriorated sections of the city. She also initiated the [[Puerto_Rico_Office_for_Socioeconomic_and_Community_Development#Special_Communities|Special Communities Program]] to assist poor communities’ empowerment and economic development.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Rivera Quintero, Marcia | title=El vuelo de la esperanza : Proyecto de las Comunidades Especiales Puerto Rico, 1997–2004 | year=2014 | publication-date=2014 | publisher=San Juan, Puerto Rico Fundación Sila M. Calderón | edition=Primera edición | isbn=978-0-9820806-1-0 }}</ref><ref name="Law 1-2001">{{cite web|url=http://www.lexjuris.com/lexlex/Leyes2001/lex2001001.htm|title=Leyes del 2001|website=Lex Juris Puerto Rico|language=es|access-date=June 24, 2019}}</ref>