Art Martinez de Vara | |
---|---|
Mayor of Von Ormy, Texas | |
In office November 4, 2008 –May 23, 2015 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Houston, Texas | April 29, 1975
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Marina Martinez de Vara |
Alma mater | St. Mary's University School of Law (J.D.) Sam Houston State University (M.A.) St. Mary's University (M.A.) University of Colorado (B.A.) |
Profession | Mayor Attorney |
Arturo (Art) Martinez de Vara (born April 29, 1975) is an American politician from Von Ormy, Texas.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City. Most of the country is located contiguously in North America between Canada and Mexico.
Von Ormy is a city in southwest Bexar County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 1,086. It is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Martinez de Vara was born in Houston on April 29, 1975. He is a graduate of DeBakey High School for Health Professions and attended the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin. While at UT, Martinez de Vara founded the internet service provider AustinNet. The company later merged and re-located to Denver, Colorado. He graduated in 2007 from University of Colorado, majoring in History. He later graduated from St. Mary's University Law School. He also holds two Master of Arts degrees, one in Theology and one in History. While in law school, he interned for the Hon. Xavier Rodriguez, U.S. district judge for the Western District of Texas.
Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions (DHSHP) is a medical secondary school located in the Medical Center area of Houston, Texas, United States. It is a part of the Houston Independent School District (HISD).
The University of Texas at Austin is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. The University of Texas was inducted into the Association of American Universities in 1929, becoming only the third university in the American South to be elected. The institution has the nation's eighth-largest single-campus enrollment, with over 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students and over 24,000 faculty and staff.
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. Internet service providers may be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privately owned.
In 2008, Martinez de Vara became the first Mayor of Von Ormy, Texas, [1] becoming one of the youngest mayors in the United States.
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town.
During his tenure there were consecutive annual tax cuts of 10% each leading to the elimination of property taxes in 2015. [2] The newly formed city embarked on a large master planning project immediately after the first council took office. The formation of the city of Von Ormy and its policies of reliance on consumption taxes and avoidance of restrictions on personal liberties was part of suburban city formation in Texas termed the "Liberty City Movement". [3]
During his tenure as mayor, Martinez de Vara’s sought to attract chain stores with the town’s low taxes. The primary issue which faced Martinez de Vara was the lack of a sewer system within Von Ormy. The San Antonio Water System informed town officials that a connection would cost $4 million to $5 million. City Administrator James Massey recommended floating a bond, but Martinez de Vara rejected the recommendation. The reasoning behind the rejection was likely due to libertarian ideologies behind the city, which is against the taking on of debt. “You want to be a liberty city? No taxes,” said a town official. “We could only afford to put in $500,000, if that, but where would we get the rest from?” The sewer system was never installed, and the town still relies on septic. [4]
Martinez de Vara promised that the property tax within Von Ormy would be eliminated altogether by 2015, a step he’d envisioned at the town’s inception. Three council members thought it was foolish to eliminate property taxes altogether, due to sales taxes rising and falling with the economy, because very few cities rely on sales taxes alone. In September 2014, Martinez de Vara had formally proposed zeroing out the property tax, but it was voted down in a 3–2 vote. However, to formally ratify the rate, per state law, at least four council members needed to hold another meeting to vote, but Sally Martinez and Debra Ivy refused to show up to any hearing with ratification on the agenda. The result: Martinez de Vara achieved his goal and the property tax rate was eliminated. [4]
In 2011, Martinez de Vara served as Chief-of-Staff/Legislative Director for State Rep. John Garza, District 117, becoming the first sitting mayor to serve in the capacity in the Texas Legislature.[ citation needed ]
In 2014, Martinez de Vara was hired as Chief of Staff for Texas State Sen. Konni Burton. [5]
In the 2008 General Election, Martinez de Vara was elected as a Republican to serve in the Electoral College representing the 23rd Congressional District of Texas. [6]
Martinez de Vara is an amateur historian of Texas history and has been published in the Handbook of Texas , Encyclopedia of Texas Music and various periodicals. [7] His writings focus on early Tejano history and Jose Francisco Ruiz. He is the author of several books on Texas history, and won the 2014 Presidio La Bahia Award for The Jose Francisco Ruiz Papers, Vol. 1: Report on the Indian Tribes of Texas in 1818. [8] [ failed verification ] He was the recipient of a 2014 Texas State Genealogical Society Books Award for History and Records of Mission San Patricio de Bexar at Bexar, Texas. [9]
Bexar County is a county of the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,714,773, and a 2018 estimate put the population at 1,986,049. It is the 16th-most populous county in the nation and the fourth-most populated in Texas. Its county seat is San Antonio, the second-most populous city in Texas and the seventh-largest city in the United States.
Goliad is a city in Goliad County, Texas, United States. It is known for the 1836 Goliad massacre during the Texas Revolution. It had a population of 1,908 at the 2010 census. Founded on the San Antonio River, it is the county seat of Goliad County. It is part of the Victoria, Texas, Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Martín Perfecto de Cos was a Mexican Army general and politician during the mid-19th century. Born in Veracruz, the son of an attorney, he became an army cadet at the age of 20, a lieutenant in 1821, and a brigadier general in 1833.
The Battle of Goliad was the second skirmish of the Texas Revolution. In the early-morning hours of October 9, 1835, Texas settlers attacked the Mexican Army soldiers garrisoned at Presidio La Bahía, a fort near the Mexican Texas settlement of Goliad. La Bahía lay halfway between the only other large garrison of Mexican soldiers and the then-important Texas port of Copano.
The San Antonio River is a major waterway that originates in central Texas in a cluster of springs in midtown San Antonio, about 4 miles north of downtown, and follows a roughly southeastern path through the state. It eventually feeds into the Guadalupe River about 10 miles from San Antonio Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. The river is 240 miles long and crosses five counties: Bexar, Goliad, Karnes, Refugio, and Wilson.
Horace Arlington Alsbury (1805–1847) was one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred and was also notable for his participation in the siege of San Antonio de Bexar in November–December 1835 and on March 1, 1836, he also accompanied the thirty-two Gonzales, Texas volunteers on their way to the Alamo. Horace Alsbury was also notable as a member of Henry Wax Karnes's company at the Battle of San Jacinto. He is also notable because his wife Juana Navarro Alsbury acted as nurse for Jim Bowie during the Battle of the Alamo and was one of the few survivors of the battle.
Chris Rene Marrou is former news anchor for KENS 5-TV in San Antonio, Texas from 1973 to 2009. Marrou is known for doing segments where he involved himself in different occupations or tried unique endeavors. At the end of the broadcast he ran the "Eyewitness Newsreel," for which he added humorous commentary to clips from the news.
The Presidio Nuestra Señora de Loreto de la Bahía, known more commonly as Presidio La Bahia, or simply La Bahia is a fort constructed by the Spanish Army that became the nucleus of the modern-day city of Goliad, Texas, United States. The current location dates to 1747.
Rafael Antonio Manchola was a politician and military officer in Mexican Texas. He twice served as commandant of Presidio La Bahía. He served two terms in the legislature of the state of Coahuila y Tejas. At his behest, the community which had grown outside the fort was renamed Goliad and elevated in status to a villa. During his legislative service, Manchola also negotiated official boundaries for the colony of his father-in-law, Martín De León, and had a commissioner appointed to grant official titles to the settlers in that colony. After returning home, Manchola became the alcade of Goliad and initiated a resolution–then considered illegal– supporting the Constitution of 1824 and Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. He briefly attended the Convention of 1832 and volunteered to accompany William H. Wharton in journeying to Mexico City to request separate statehood for Texas. The mission was postponed, and Manchola died of cholera in late 1832 or early 1833.
Juan Jose Maria Erasmo Seguin was a prominent citizen and politician in San Antonio de Bexar in the 19th century. From 1807 until 1835, Seguin served as head postmaster of San Antonio, Texas. After Mexico achieved independence from Spain, Seguín was named the sole representative from Texas to the constitutional convention. He helped to draft the Constitution of 1824 and was a major influence in the addition of a general colonization provision. Seguín assisted Stephen F. Austin in choosing land for the first colony of American settlers to immigrate to Texas. He later supported the Texas Revolution, providing political as well as material support.
San Pedro Springs Park is located in the Bexar County city of San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. Surrounding the source of the springs, the 46-acre park is the oldest in the state of Texas. It is the location of a Payaya Indian village known as Yanaguana, and is the original site of the city of San Antonio. The park is alternately known as San Pedro Park. The park was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1965. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Bexar County, Texas on November 1, 1979. Although it is often stated that it is the second oldest city park in the United States after Boston Common, it is at most the tenth oldest after Plaza de la Constitución in San Augustine, Florida among others.
The City of San Antonio is one of the oldest Spanish colonization of the European settlements in Texas and was, for decades, its largest city. Before Spanish colonization, the site was occupied for thousands of years by varying cultures of indigenous peoples. The historic Payaya Indians were likely those who encountered the first Europeans.
José Gaspar Flores de Abrego (1781–1836) was a Tejano who served three terms as the mayor of San Antonio, Texas. He was also a land commissioner and associate of Austin's early colonists.
Simón de Arocha (1731–1796) was a Tejano militia commander and alcalde of San Antonio de Béxar. Like his father, who had been city clerk and public notary, Simón and his brothers became leaders in the province.
John Vincent Garza is a Republican former one-term member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 117 in Bexar County, Texas. Garza has been employed in housing development and sales for most of his working career.
Presidio de Béxar was a Spanish fort built near the San Antonio River, located in what is now San Antonio, Texas, in the United States. It was designed for protection of the mission San Antonio de Valero and the Villa de Bejar. The Presidio de Bejar was founded on May 5, 1718 by Spanish Governor Martin de Alarcon and his 35 Presidio Soldiers. The Villa de Bejar is known for being the first Spanish settlement of San Antonio and consisted of the families of the Presidio Soldiers and those of the prior expeditions. It also served to secure Spain's claim to the region from French, English and American aggression.
The Anton Wulff House is located in the Bexar County city of San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. It was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1976. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Bexar County, Texas as a contributing structure of the King William Historic District. The house has been the headquarters of the San Antonio Conservation Society since 1975. German immigrant businessman Wulff was a city alderman, San Antonio's first park commissioner, and the man who designed the layout and beautification of Alamo Plaza.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of San Antonio, Texas, United States.
On May 9, 2015, the city of San Antonio, Texas, held an election to choose the next Mayor of San Antonio. Interim mayor Ivy Taylor ran for election to a full term and narrowly defeated former state senator Leticia Van de Putte in the runoff election on June 13, 2015, to become the first African American elected to the position.