Cynthia Merla Spielman
Cynthia has worked in neighborhood activism for over twenty years serving on the board (including the presidency) and various committees of the Beacon Hill Area Neighborhood Association (BHANA), and is a founding member and sits on the Steering Committee of the Tier One Neighborhood Coalition which now has over 55 neighborhood members and 17 partner organizations and coalitions. She has served on various CoSA technical working groups, task forces, and committees on affordable housing, short term rentals, education, and sustainability and has published opinion pieces in NOWCastSa.com, the Rivard and the San Antonio Express-News. Cynthia’s family comes from the Westside of San Antonio and their experiences with urban renewal and redlining inform much of her advocation as well as her experiences in her inner-city neighborhood of Beacon Hill. Cynthia is a retired public high school English teacher.
Anisa Schell
Originally from Denver, Colorado, Anisa and her family moved to San Antonio in 2013. Her background is in commercial construction estimating and project administration. In 2006, she left her career to stay home with her three children. Since that time, she has served on numerous boards and committees in her community that have ranged from coordinating a city-wide event with the Denver Botanic Gardens, to organizing her community in San Antonio to fight inappropriate development. Anisa represented neighborhoods on one of the five Technical Working Groups for San Antonio’s Mayor’s Housing Policy Task Force, and was the only citizen activist to present at the 2018 San Antonio Housing Summit. Currently, she serves on the executive board of the Tobin Hill Community Association, is a member of the Tier One Neighborhood Coalition, and is serving on the San Antonio Conservation Society’s Neighborhood Liaison Committee.
