 Having been a charter city since November 11, 1952, the citizens of Santa Ana amended the charter in November 1988 to provide for the direct election of the Mayor who until that point had been appointed from the council membership.The current mayor of Santa Ana is Miguel A. Pulido, the first mayor of Latino descent in the city's history and the first Mayor directly elected by the voters.Since the 1980s, Santa Ana has been characterized by an effort to revitalize the downtown area which had declined in influence, even as it had become a dynamic commercial and entertainment center for working-class Latinos.