Council Member Mike Martinez has devoted virtually his entire career to public service. Before taking office in 2006, Council Member Martinez served as an Austin firefighter for 13 years. In 1993, Council Member Martinez served as a Drill and Ceremony team member of the Austin Fire Department’s Honor Guard. During his tenure, he served as a leader in the firefighting community. In 2003, he was elected president of the Austin Firefighters Association where he led a successful public campaign to secure collective bargaining rights for Austin firefighters. He also served as the Chair of the Austin Firefighters Association Political Action Committee from 2001-2004, where he represented the interests of public safety professionals in elections and campaigns. Council Member Martinez was sworn in as a City Council Member on June 20, 2006.
By taking a proactive approach to improving our city, Council Member Martinez has consistently worked to advance Austin’s environmental standards, ensure that Austin maintains its strong arts and music culture, enhance public safety, and improve quality of life and availability of affordable housing city-wide. Council Member Martinez has passed resolutions to create a City Department of Arts and Culture, worked towards making the Trail of Lights Festival carbon neutral, improved staffing levels and living quarters at Fire Stations throughout the City, and adopted an ordinance to lead Austin into being a sweat shop free Community by supporting goods that emphasize humane and legal labor practices. Council Member Martinez sponsored a comprehensive rewrite of the local campaign finance ordinance that improves transparency, restricts contributions from PACs, and provides clear ways to enforce campaign finance laws.
Council Member Martinez has made preserving the historic character of Austin a priority, and has worked diligently to find creative solutions to tackle the problem of rapidly rising property taxes in East Austin. In December 2006, Council Member Martinez sponsored a resolution that saved historic Oak Springs in East Austin from development, which otherwise would have become a strip mall. In January 2007, Council Member Martinez sponsored an ordinance to create a Homestead Preservation District, which combats the effects of skyrocketing home values by using a portion of increased property taxes to fund innovative affordable housing efforts in East Austin. He was the only Council Member to vote against relocation of the animal shelter to East Austin, and stood strong against the proposed landfill in the Webberville neighborhood. Council Member Martinez sponsored a resolution to initiate a Hispanic Quality of Life Initiative which will conduct an extensive evaluation of Hispanic quality of life issues in Austin, and ultimately enable the City to make substantial and meaningful positive changes for the entire community.
Council Member Martinez serves as the Chair of the Minority-Owned and Women-Owned Business Enterprise and Small Business Council Subcommittee. He is a member of the Judicial Committee and the Public Health and Human Services Subcommittee, and sits on the Capital Metro Board of Directors.
A graduate of Leadership Austin, as well as the LBJ School of Public Affairs West Point Military Leadership Program, Council Member Martinez is a strong believer in community involvement. Council Member Martinez has served on the Board of Directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas, and has worked as a diversity trainer with the National Coalition Building Institute.
Council Member Martinez is a long-time resident of East Austin, where he lives with his 11 year old son, Alejandro, and his wife, Lara Wendler.