Gustavo L. Garcia

Gustavo L. Garcia (1934 – ) is an American politician who was a major force in Austin for 30 years. He was the first and only Hispanic mayor of Austin and the first Hispanic to serve on the Austin school board. A CPA with his own accounting practice, he showed little interest in politics, however he had experienced discrimination first hand in housing and business. Appointed to the Austin Human Rights Commission, he found himself pulled into politics. He helped integrate schools and end housing discrimination. He served on the school board, opposing discrimination and pushed for more minorities to be hired in the schools. Elected to the city council, he often opposed developer's interest and his support was key to preserving the environmental SOS ordinance. Although he became well known for his stand on the environment, he relentlessly pushed to expand racial, social and economic justice for Austin.^[1]

Early Life and Discrimination

Garcia was born in 1934 in Zapata, Texas, a poor border town, where his father ran a small grocery. At age 10 he moved to Laredo with his mother and siblings, where he enrolled in 7th grade. It was here he learned English and graduated from high school.

He volunteered for the army in 1954 and was stationed stateside. When Garcia returned to Laredo he fell in love with Marina Gonzalez and they married in 1957. Shortly thereafter they moved to Austin, where he enrolled at the University of Texas. He soon encountered discrimination at the University of Texas. He was barred from fraternities because of his brown skin.^[2]

At first the couple lived in South Austin, but when they tried to rent closer to campus they were bluntly discriminated against and told "we don't rent to Mexicans."^[1] Garcia earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1959. When Garcia entered the job market he experienced discrimination again. Companies were reluctant to hire him and after he was hired, clients did not want him to look at their books. Garcia opened his own company, but it was a challenge to sign up clients. Even Hispanic businesses refused to use Hispanic accountants. For years Garcia was the only Hispanic accountant in town.

Housing discrimination arose again in 1965 when Garcia and his wife were looking to buy a house. Realtors would not show them homes in the more desirable west or northwest Austin. They were only shown houses in east Austin, which is where they finally bought a home. In the late 1960s as the civil rights movement roiled the community, Garcia focused on building his firm and eventually was able to develop partnerships and build successful businesses.^[3]

Human Rights Commission

When a new Human Relations Commission, (later renamed Human Rights Commission) was formed in 1967 and only one Hispanic was selected for the 21-member commission, Garcia attended a City Council meeting to protest. The council immediately decided to add four Hispanics to the committee and Garcia was the last chosen.^[3]

With little power the HRC primarily focused attention on inequities, which prompted action. The HRC annual report of 1969 revealed broad activities, including housing and employment discrimination, equality in education, police-community relations, minority community ambulance service, and the Economy Furniture strike.^[1]

Garcia suspected discrimination in Austin Housing Authority housing. When the authority denied him access to their records, he personally investigated one of their residential towers and exposed their housing discrimination.

Building upon this work he helped write a Fair Housing Ordinance, which was passed in 1968 by the City Council.^[3] The Austin Board of Realtors (ABOR) responded by leading a petition driver to put the ordinance up for a citywide vote in 1968 and the ordinance was repealed by an overwhelming majority.^[1] Times changed however and in 1977 the ordinance was adopted by the city.

Garcia served two years on the Commission and left when his term expired in 1969.^[3]

School Board

Despite leaving the commission, Garcia continued to be involved in politics and the ongoing civil rights struggle. He turned his attention to the Austin school board. In 1971 the first African-American school board member, Wilhelmina Delco, led a failed effort to appoint Garcia to the board to fill an unexpired term. He ran for an open seat in 1972 and won.

There were many challenges facing the school board. The board itself was immersed in the politics of desegregation.

The practice of desegregation busing had begun, but the Austin school district resisted, fighting a federal discrimination order in court. The school district had been found in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Blacks were discriminated against far more than Mexican-Americans, but Mexican-American children still faced major challenges. There were few Mexican-American teachers and almost no Mexican-American administrators or principals in Austin public schools.^[1]

Garcia, who had three children enrolled in Austin schools, supported court-ordered busing. However a majority of the board fought the busing decree in court, including Carole Keeton Rylander, who was school board president.^[3] Garcia consistently voted against the school district's appeals of the discrimination lawsuit. The appeals only delayed desegregation and did not stop it. During this time Garcia made steady progress in seeing that more minority teachers and administrators were hired and more contracts were awarded to minority firms.^[1]

In 1975 Garcia won a second term to the board and fellow board members chose him as president of the board. At the end of his second term in 1978 he left office. He ran for the State Board of Education in 1978 and 1982, losing both times to Will Davis. After his attempts to win state office, Garcia turned his focus to his accounting business, while staying active in the public sphere.^[3]

City Council

Gus first ran for Austin City Council in 1991. On May 4th he got a majority of the votes and advanced to a run-off. On May 18 1991 he beat Gilbert Martinez to secure a seat on the council. He was reelected in 1994 to Place 5 and again in 1997, to Place 2.^[4]

Once on the council, Garcia closed his CPA business and focused himself on his council work, beginning with youth and housing programs. For example he successfully helped start an anti-graffiti program that also provide family counseling to counter poverty and patterns of alienation. His efforts yielded numerous East Austin facilities, like the Cepeda Branch Library, the Zavala recreation center, Plaza Saltillo, the Mexican American Cultural Center and Tillery Square, an affordable housing development. The new airport at Bergstrom was begun and completed during his tenure on the council. When deregulation proponents proposed the city sell its public electric utility, Garcia was key in keeping what is now Austin Energy in the public's hands. Garcia supported the successful acquisition of significant acreage for nature preserves and parks.^[1]

For over two decades an unofficial agreement had set aside Place 6 on the City Council for an African American and Place 5 for a Hispanic. In 1997 saying he wanted “to run on my merits,” Garcia filed to run in Place 2.^[2] He successfully challenged the "gentleman's agreement".

In Garcia's early years on the council, the environment dominated their time, especially the fight over the SOS (Save Our Springs) ordinance. After being put on the ballot by a petition Austin voters overwhelmingly passed SOS on August 8, 1992. In December 1994, a jury in Hays County overturned SOS and the city council was evenly divided over whether to appeal the decision. Mayor Bruce Todd, Ronnie Reynolds and Charles Urdy, opposed the appeal. Max Nofziger, Jackie Goodman and Brigid Shea were in favor. Garcia's vote was the deciding factor. He voted in favor and the city appealed and won. The court reinstated the SOS ordinance in 1996. It is still in effect, although many projects were initiated while the ordinance was not in effect and are grandfathered in.^[1]

Mayor

Garcia was elected mayor of Austin on November 6th, 2001. Mayor Kirk Watson had stepped down to run for state office and Garcia stepped up to run in the special election. He was easily elected taking 59% of the vote in a crowded field of eight candidates. Upon his victory, Watson extolled his successor saying, "He brings to the office maturity, stability, and a real sense of history."^[5][6]

As mayor Garcia faced many challenges, including tough budget conditions and a development agreement with Stratus Properties. He overcome opposition to institute Austin's smoking ban. Garcia served nine years as city council member plus 19 months as mayor. ^[7]

Legacy

Numerous programs and facilities were established due to Garcia's work including two that bear his name, The Gus Garcia Young Men's Leadership Academy, an all-boys school, and the Gustavo "Gus" L. Garcia Recreation Center in Northeast Austin.^[8]

References