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Ameya Pawar Politician

Ameya Pawar (born April 22, 1980), was elected to the Chicago City Council as an Alderman of the 47th Ward of the City of Chicago in the 2011 municipal elections held on February 22, 2011 and is the first Indian American and Asian American in Chicago City Council history. He succeeded Eugene Schulter who had been the Alderman of the 47th Ward since 1975. Prior to his election, Pawar was on staff at Northwestern University in the Office of Emergency Management. At Northwestern, he was responsible for the development of a university-wide business continuity program.While working at Northwestern, he and two of his classmates from the University of Chicago were awarded a contract from Taylor and Francis to write a textbook based on their work in emergency management. The textbook is based on a model Ameya developed with two of his classmates at the University of Chicago’s MSTRM program — the model is called Social Intelligence. Their work calls for the real-time aggregation of data to develop composite views of communities to better inform emergency preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery activities. Pawar and his co-authors have presented their work at annual Federal Emergency Management Agency conferences and other national conferences since 2008. He holds a M.S. in Threat and Response Management from the University of Chicago and a Master's degree in Public Administration from the Illinois Institute of Technology.He is enrolled in a third master’s degree program at the University of Chicago in the school of Social Service Administration. In 2009, Ameya was a US State Department Scholar. In 2011, Pawar was named to the Crains Chicago Business 40 under 40 list. He was also recognized by the New Leaders Council as an emerging leader under 40 in 2011. In 2012, he was named an Edgar Fellow by the University of Illinois. In 2011, Pawar was one of 200 invitees to the Google ORD camp. Ameya led one breakout session on Open 311, government data, and providing context to city issues. Prior to taking office, he authored an opinion article published in the Chicago Sun-Times. This piece outlined the need for Chicago to attract manufacturing jobs through an industrial cluster initiative.In 2011, Gov. Patrick Quinn appointed Pawar to the Illinois Innovation Council. Pawar is the only elected official on this statewide council. In 2013, Gov. Patrick Quinn appointed Ald. Pawar to the Asian American Employment Plan Council. Pawar was listed as a surrogate on the Obama 2012 campaign.In his first year in office, Pawar has advanced the following projects:Lawrence Avenue StreetscapeLycee Francais developmentBell Elementary AnnexCubs Park at Clark Park Coonley Elementary TIF allocationRavenswood Station developmentLake View High School TIF funding for STEM programPawar sponsored the following city-wide legislation:Urban AgricultureHuman Rights Ordinance - prohibiting employers from discriminating against job applicants' credit history or employment gapsAnti-wage theft OrdinanceThe War against the Chicago CubsLicensure of Debt Collectors OrdinanceHe is working on an Aldermanic Transition ordinance to ensure continuity of government after elections.In December of 2012,Pawar introduced an ordinance creating an Office of Independent Budget Analysis.This proposal and major reform creates an office which would provide City Council with independent analysis of privatization efforts and the annual budget. New York City and Pittsburgh have similar offices. The ordinance was immediately sent to Rules Committee where it is currently buried. In August of 2013, Mayor Rahm Emanuel threw his support behind Pawar's budget office proposal. He co-authored an opinion article with Ald. Pat Dowell on Mayor Emanuel's Infrastructure Trust proposal. As a result of their opinion piece, the language in the legislation was changed.In April of 2013, Pawar introduced the TIF Accountability ordinance. This ordinance passed City Council in July of 2013. For the first time, Chicago will publish TIF promises versus what is finally delivered. According to Pawar, the TIF accountability ordinance is major TIF reform and will prevent companies from forcing Chicago into paying TIF subsidies. While running for office, he created a 'first generation' Open 311 app named Chicago Works. This app enabled Chicago residents to make service requests from their iPhone. A new version of the Chicago Works app is available in the Apple app store. Chicago Works is the first app to connect directly into the City of Chicago's 311 system. It's the first app developed after the Open 311 announcement. Pawar sits on Chicago's Open 311 Steering Committee.In February of 2013, Pawar authored an op-ed titled, "Insure Guns to Ensure We Save Lives." This opinion piece was published by the Chicago Tribune. In it, Pawar argues for the requirement of gun liability insurance in order to own a gun. Pawar argues that gun liability insurance would curb straw purchases.