Ameya Pawar is an American politician who served as the alderman for the 47th Ward of the City of Chicago. He was first elected in the 2011 municipal elections, and was elected to a second term on February 24, 2015. Pawar's 2015 re-election was secured with over 82% of the vote, the largest margin in the election cycle. Pawar is the first Indian American and Asian American in Chicago City Council history. He was a candidate for the Democratic primary for Governor of Illinois for the 2018 election, but dropped out on October 12, 2017, citing a prohibitive lack of campaign funds. He did not run for re-election to City Council in 2019, and instead was a candidate for City Treasurer of Chicago. He advanced to the run-off in that election, but lost to Melissa Conyears-Earvin.
Early life and career
Ameya Pawar is the former alderman of Chicago’s 47th Ward and the first Asian and Indian American elected to the Chicago City Council. After leaving office, Ameya joined the Economic Security Project as a senior fellow and is working on narrative change efforts around guaranteed income and public options, including public banks. In 2020, Ameya was named a Leadership in Government Fellow with the Open Society Foundations. His OSF work will focus on public banking and public options with leading figures and organizations across the country and world. In addition, Ameya is a senior adviser to The Academy Group, a Chicago-based social enterprise working to break the racial wealth gap and is a lecturer at the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration. While in office, Ameya focused legislative efforts around social justice, worker rights, and economic justice. To this end, Ameya led most all labor policy and worker rights legislation passed in Chicago over the last eight years, including raising the minimum wage to $13/hr., guaranteeing paid sick leave, combating wage theft, and preserving housing for Chicago’s most vulnerable. Ameya is a US State Department Critical Language Program alum, a 2012 University of Illinois Edgar Fellow, and was named to Crain’s Chicago 40 under 40 in 2011. Most recently, he was named a 2018 McCormick Foundation Executive Fellow. Prior to leaving office, Ameya chaired the Chicago Resilient Families Task Force. The task force made recommendations on a city-run guaranteed income pilot. Ameya is an expert on the connections between disaster planning and response and poverty. In 2014, Ameya co-wrote the textbook, “Emergency Management and Social Intelligence: A Comprehensive All-Hazards Approach.” The book was published by Taylor & Francis.
Chicago City Council
The 47th Ward encompassed the residence of then-mayor Rahm Emanuel, making the mayor a constituent represented by Pawar.
Legislation
In December 2012, Pawar introduced an ordinance creating an Office of Independent Budget Analysis. This proposal would create an office which would provide the city council with independent analysis of privatization efforts and the annual budget. New York City and Pittsburgh have similar offices. In August 2013, Mayor Rahm Emanuel threw his support behind Pawar's budget office proposal and the proposal passed in December 2013. In April 2013, Pawar introduced the TIF Accountability ordinance. This ordinance passed City Council in July 2013. In April 2016, Pawar introduced the Earned Sick Time ordinance with a coalition of aldermen and advocacy groups. The ordinance passed in June 2016 and took effect on July 1, 2017. In 2018, Pawar introduced legislation to pilot Universal Basic Income in the City of Chicago. Pawar was named chair of Mayor Emanuel's Resilient Families Task Force which will explore a universal basic income pilot, modernization of the earned income tax credit, and other policies. The task force is supported by the Economic Security Project.
Committees and task forces
Pawar serves on the following committees in the Chicago City Council:
Public Safety
Economic, Capital and Technology Development
Zoning, Landmarks and Buildings Standards
Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation
Committees, Rules and Ethics
In 2014, Mayor Emanuel appointed Pawar to the Minimum Wage Working Group. In 2015, Pawar was appointed co-chair of the Working Families Task Force. Pawar sits on Chicago's Open 311 Steering Committee.
2019 City Treasurer campaign
On October 29, 2018, Pawar announced his intention to run for Chicago treasurer. Before deciding to run for treasurer, he had considered running in the coinciding mayoral election. Pawar won 41.59 percent of the vote in the February 26, 2019 general election, forcing a runoff with Melissa Conyears-Ervin, a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, who won 44.26 percent of the vote, but had less than a majority of the vote, which led to a April 2 runoff. Pawar lost again to Conyears-Ervin in the runoff, receiving 40.62 percent of the vote. A key stance that Pawar took in his campaign was advocacy for the creation of a municipal public bank.
Other political roles
In 2011, Governor Pat Quinn appointed Pawar to the Illinois Innovation Council. Pawar is the only elected official on this statewide council. In 2013, Quinn appointed Pawar to the Asian American Employment Plan Council. Pawar was listed as a surrogate for President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign. While running for office, he created an iPhone application named Chicago Works. This app enabled Chicago residents to make service requests from their iPhone.
