Ramón Luis Rivera
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Ramón Luis Rivera (born approx. 1925) is a Puerto Rican politician. He is the former mayor of the city of Bayamon. He is considered by many, public and political critics alike, to be one of Puerto Rico's greatest mayors in history as well as Bayamon's greatest.
Rivera became mayor in 1976, defeating incumbent Manuel Aponte Borrero. His main concerns towards Bayamon were in the tourism and business industries. During his 24 year tenure, many buildings and other types of structures were inaugurated, including the Parque De Las Ciencias, the Parque del Trensito (which had, at the time it opened, Puerto Rico's only running train and a DC-3 plane formerly used by United Airlines), the city hall, which is a building that crosses over an avenue, the Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum, the Canton Mall, a small suspension bridge and many others. In addition, a large industrial park with such notable companies as 7UP and Wrangler also opened, in the area known as Lomas Verdes. 7UP has a bottling facility there.
Rivera, a member of the Progressive New Party (PNP), was asked several times by party officials to run for governor. He pointed out his lack of knowledge in English as the reason why he always declined. He is, however, credited as being one of the mayors in Puerto Rico who was able to attract the most voters from the other parties, as he won the 1980, 1984,1988, 1992 and 1996 elections by land slides.
In 2000, he announced he would not run for mayor again, and his son, Ramón Luis Rivera Jr. was then elected as mayor. Rivera Jr. has held that position ever since. Rivera has since retired from public life.
