Greg Casar
Greg Casar | |
|---|---|
| File:Greg Casar.jpg | |
| Member of Austin City Council for District Four | |
| Assumed office January 6, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 4, 1989 |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education | University of Virginia (BA) |
Gregorio "Greg" Casar (born 1989) is a Texas politician currently serving in the Austin City Council for District 4 since January 6, 2015.[1]
Casar is the youngest elected[2] Austin, Texas City Council Member and a member of the Democratic Party. He was first elected in 2014,[3] and then re-elected in 2016 [4] and in 2020.[5]
Prior to serving on Council, he worked as policy director for the Workers Defense Project (Proyecto Defensa Laboral), where he won victories such as rest and water breaks for construction workers, living wage requirements, and against wage theft.[6]
As an Austin Council Member, he has led policy efforts on issues ranging from affordable housing, paid sick leave, living wage increases, tenant organizing, immigrant rights, criminal justice reforms (such as “Ban the Box”), and police accountability. He is the first person to represent Austin’s District 4, which is the most diverse district in the city. It has the most young children, and is 70% non-white, with approximately 30% non-citizen.[7] Most of the constituents are Latino, and it has the second largest African American population of Austin’s ten council districts. It also has the highest rates of poverty.[8]
Casar serves as a board member of Local Progress, “the national network of progressive elected officials from cities, counties, towns, school districts, villages and other local governments across the country.”[9] He is a Democrat and member of the Democratic Socialists of America.[10]
Early life and education[edit]
Gregorio Casar was born in Houston, Texas to Mexican immigrants.[11] He attended Strake Jesuit College Prep for high school, where he ran track.[12] He attended college at the University of Virginia, where he graduated with a degree in Bachelors of Arts in Political and Social Thought in 2011.[13] Casar began his activism in college, organizing with Students and Workers United for a Living Wage, which led the campaign to get University administration to pay all of its workers a higher living wage.[14]
Elections[edit]
2014 Election[edit]
In 2014, Austin had its first election with geographic, single-member districts to elect City Council members, instead of an at-large election.[15] Casar achieved first place in the election, but went into a run-off against Laura Pressley, an anti-fluoride activist.[16] Casar won the run-off election, but Pressley sued to contest the results, claiming ballot irregularities.[17] In 2019, her final appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court of Texas.[18]
2016 Election[edit]
In 2016, Casar was re-elected to Austin City Council in the same election that Donald Trump was elected President. When asked by the Austin-American Statesman if he would shake hands with President Trump, he responded “Hell no.”[19] The day after Election Day, Casar wrote: “Lots of people, including Donald Trump, are calling for healing and unity today. I won't call for healing. I'm calling for resistance.”[20]
2020 Election[edit]
In 2020, Casar was re-elected for a second time to Austin City Council.[21] In November 2020, Austin Monthly published "Why Gregorio Casar is the Future of Texas Politics." [22]
Austin City Council[edit]
Criminal Justice Reform[edit]
Ban the Box[edit]
In 2016, Casar led efforts at City Hall to “ban the box” through a fair chance hiring ordinance.[23] The ordinance delays when employers can do a criminal background check until after a conditional job offer has been made, in order to help reintegrate former prisoners into the workplace and deter employment discrimination. Austin became the first city to ban the box in the Southern United States when it passed.[24]
Freedom City[edit]
Because of the limitations on sanctuary cities from Texas Senate Bill 4 and in an effort to reduce the impact of low-level interactions with police, Casar initiated policy changes to make Austin a "Freedom City,"[25] which discourages the police from making low-level discretionary arrests and requires police officers to inform residents that they have the right to refuse to answer questions about immigration status. During the debate, the Austin Police Association attacked Casar for citing data that Black residents are arrested at twice the rate of white residents for discretionary arrests.[26] Casar explained in a Texas Tribune editorial that the intention of Freedom Cities law is to unite the immigration reformers and criminal justice reformers to reduce the disparate impact of policing on communities of color.[27] In the first quarter of the policy being passed, arrests for ticket-worthy offenses dropped by two-thirds. Racial disproportionality of arrests also improved.[28]
Police Union Contract[edit]
When the Austin police union contract was set to expire in early 2017, criminal justice activists called for reform, citing examples in the contract that made police oversight difficult.[29] Greg Casar, Jimmy Flannigan, and other Council members, indicated their intent to reject the contract and send the union back to the bargaining table unless it was reformed.[30] After the contract was rejected, the police union requested bonus pay without a contract in place, but that move was opposed by a divided council.[31] After nearly ten months of negotiations, a new contract was approved, along with the creation of an independent office of police oversight. The new contract made it easier to file complaints, provided more transparency around complaints of police misconduct, strengthened police disciplinary procedures, and increased accountability.[32]
Juvenile Curfew[edit]
In June of 2017, Casar and Council Member Delia Garza pushed Council to eliminate criminal penalties for a juvenile to “walk, run, idle, wander, stroll, or aimlessly drive” during curfew hours, out of a belief that kids shouldn’t be pushed into the criminal justice system for being young and "out in public."[33] Many of these laws, including Austin’s, were passed during the “tough on crime” policies of the Clinton Administration in the 1990s.[34] Ultimately, Council removed the juvenile curfew. Austin became the second largest city in the country to end its juvenile curfew policy.[35] A study of the impacts on young people after the removal of Austin’s juvenile curfew ordinance showed a decrease on juvenile victimization.[36]
Reimagining Public Safety[edit]
In 2020, Austin became one of the only cities in the nation to successfully begin reallocating significant funding from its police department to other city programs, led by Casar.[37]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ "District 4". Austin City Council. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- ↑ Goudeau, Ashley (October 27, 2016). "Austin City Council District 4 Election: Meet Greg Casar". KVUE. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ↑ "Elections 2014". City of Austin. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- ↑ "Elections 2016". City of Austin. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- ↑ "Greg Casar wins re-election to District 4 city council seat". KXAN Austin. 2020-11-04. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
- ↑ Krisberg, Kris (August 31, 2012). "A Different Kind of Texas-style Justice: Two Nights with the Workers Defense Project". The Pump Project. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ↑ Gogolak, Emily (April 13, 2018). "How Trump Moved the Mexican Border North". Politico. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ↑ Shaw, Randy (2018). Generation Priced Out. University of California Press. p. 90. Search this book on
- ↑ "Board Members". Local Progress. Local Progress. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ↑ Krochmal, Max (November 4, 2018). "The Texas Senate Race Is Not "Historic"". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ↑ "Council Member Gregorio Casar - Biography". City of Austin. City of Austin. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ↑ Hamilton, Heath (May 15, 2007). "Strake Jesuit runner gives it his all in state finale". www.chron.com. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ↑ Goudeau, Ashley (October 27, 2016). "Austin City Council District 4 Election: Meet Greg Casar". KVUE. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ↑ Canzi, Chiara (September 28, 2010). "Living Wagers hope new administration means fair wages". C-VILLE. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ↑ "What is 10-ONE". City of Austin. City of Austin. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ↑ Clifton, Jo (August 19, 2015). "Two groups disclaim anti-fluoride email". austinmonitor.com. Austin Monitor. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ↑ Clifton, Jo (April 17, 2015). "Pressley continues District 4 election contest". austinmonitor.com. Austin Monitor. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ↑ Findell, Elizabeth (January 15, 2019). "Texas Supreme Court rejects Laura Pressley election contest". statesman.com. Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ↑ "Hundreds of Austinites Gather to Protest Donald Trump's Election". kut.org. KUT News. November 9, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ↑ Renovitch, James (November 9, 2016). "Council Member Greg Casar Makes Statement on Trump". austinchronicle.com. The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
- ↑ KUT, Audrey McGlinchy |. "2020 Austin City Council Results: Casar And Pool Retain Seats; Flannigan And Alter Head To Runoffs". www.kut.org. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
- ↑ Leffler, David (2020-11-02). "Why Gregorio Casar is the Future of Texas Politics". Austin Monthly Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-18. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Austin Could 'Ban the Box' for Job Seekers with Felony Histories". The Texas Observer. 2016-03-22. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
- ↑ Kamp, Amy (March 25, 2016). "Austin First Fair Chance City in the South". austinchronicle.com. Austin Chronicle. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ↑ Kasakove, Sophie (July 2, 2018). "Cities Are Saying 'No' to ICE by Canceling Their Contracts With the Agency". thenation.com. The Nation. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ↑ Betts, Kris (June 13, 2018). "Council member speaks after head of Austin Police Association calls him out for race data". kvue.com. KVUE. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ↑ Casar, Greg (June 7, 2018). ""Freedom City" laws could protect Texans from unnecessary policing". tribtalk.org. The Texas Tribune. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ↑ Wilson, Mark (May 7, 2019). "Ticket-worthy misdemeanor arrests in Austin down by nearly two-thirds, police say". statesman.com. Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ↑ "How Austin Cut One Third of Its Spending on the Police Department". Texas Monthly. 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
- ↑ McGlinchy, Audrey (April 24, 2017). "Activists weigh in on police contract as city begins negotiations". austinmonitor.com. Austin Monitor. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ↑ Clifton, Jo (June 18, 2018). "Divided Council rejects more pay for police". austinmonitor.com. Austin Monitor. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ↑ Freer, Emma (November 15, 2018). "Austin City Council unanimously approves new police contract, creates Office of Police Oversight after months-long process". communityimpact.com. Community Impact. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ↑ Casar, Greg (June 14, 2017). "Casar: How Austin curfew ordinance leans harder on black, Latino youth". statesman.com. Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ↑ Roman, Ivonne (July 31, 2018). "The Curfew Myth". themarshallproject.org. The Marshall Project. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ↑ Dart, Tom (September 29, 2017). "Austin votes to end its youth curfew amid racial bias concerns". theguardian.com. The Guardian. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ↑ Roman, Ivonne (July 31, 2018). "The Curfew Myth". themarshallproject.org. The Marshall Project. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
- ↑ "How Austin Cut One Third of Its Spending on the Police Department". Texas Monthly. 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
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