Garnet Fredrick Coleman (born September 8, 1961) is an American politician. From 1991 to 2022, he was a member of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

for the 147th district, located entirely within

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and Harris County.

Early life and education

Coleman was born on September 8, 1961, in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

and raised in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. His father is John B. Coleman, a Houston doctor. As of 2006, the family of Coleman's father had lived in Houston's Third Ward neighborhood for over 100 years. Coleman graduated from

Jack Yates High School Jack Yates Senior High School is a public high school located at 3650 Alabama Street, very near Texas Southern University, in the historic Third Ward in Houston, Texas, United States. Yates High School handles grades nine through twelve and is par ...

,Distinguished HISD Alumni
," ''

Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...

''. Retrieved on October 20, 2011. "Garnet F. Coleman (1979) State Representative for District 147, which includes the Third Ward, Fourth Ward, South Park, downtown, midtown, Sagemont, and Hobby Airport areas" and the University of Saint Thomas in Houston. Coleman attended

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

in Washington, D.C. and in 1990 graduated from the

University of St. Thomas St. Thomas University or University of St. Thomas may refer to: *Saint Thomas Aquinas University, Colombia *Saint Thomas Aquinas University of the North, Tucumán province, Argentina *St. Thomas University (Canada), Fredericton, New Brunswick *St. ...

cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts. He also completed the Harvard University Senior Executive Program for State and Local Government.

Political career

Coleman was elected to his first term as a state representative in 1991 at age 29. His district includes

Downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, Interstate 45, ...

, the

Hobby Airport William P. Hobby Airport (colloquially referred to as Hobby Airport, Houston Hobby, or simply Hobby) is an international airport in Houston, Texas, located from downtown Houston. Hobby is Houston's oldest commercial airport, and was its primar ...

area,

Midtown Houston Midtown is a central neighborhood of Houston, located west-southwest of Downtown. Separated from Downtown by an elevated section of Interstate 45 (the Pierce Elevated), Midtown is characterized by a continuation of Downtown's square grid street ...

, Sagemont, and the Third Ward. Coleman has been named ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

'' Ten Best Legislators List on two occasions. Most recently he received the 2005 Reintegration Award presented by

Eli Lilly and Company Eli Lilly and Company is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with offices in 18 countries. Its products are sold in approximately 125 countries. The company was founded in 1876 by, and named after, Colonel ...

, a national award given in acknowledgment of efforts to increase services and decrease the stigma associated with mental illness.

Incident with police officer

On July 14, 2015, Coleman was stopped by a police officer for driving 94 miles per hour. Coleman later said of the incident, "He talked to me like I was a child... He was so rude and nasty. Even when he found out I was a legislator, he became more rude and nasty. And I didn't understand why this guy was continuing to go on and on and treat me like a child. And basically like I'm saying is treat me like a boy. I want to be very clear about that." Even so, Coleman was neither issued a citation for speeding nor charged with perjury. However, KHOU and the Houston Chronicle later reported an analysis of the audio from a dashcam recording of Coleman's accusations against the police officer which appeared to show the police officer treating Coleman with respect and Coleman asking for special treatment.

Political positions

Coleman, in regards to the Third Ward, expressed his opposition to

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...

and a desire to keep the original residents in the neighborhood. Coleman had some control over the Midtown Tax Increment Financing District, which bought land in the Third Ward and enacted deeds restricting what may be done with the land, so that the land could indefinitely be used to house low income residents.Buntin, John.
Land Rush
" ''

Governing Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society over a social system ( family, tribe, formal or informal organization, a territory or across territories). It is done by the gove ...

''. March 2006. Retrieved on July 3, 2011. In 2009, Coleman said "We learned a lot from the debacle in the Fourth Ward. So it would be stupid not to respond to the negative byproducts of rapid development. We want to find people who will make this community better by becoming part of its fabric, not by changing its fabric."Axtman, Kris.
After years in the suburbs, many blacks return to city life
" ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

''. April 29, 2004. Retrieved on May 1, 2009. In regards to the Fourth Ward in 2009, Coleman said that it cannot recapture the sense of community that it used to have. Coleman added "the residents got pushed to the suburbs, and the businesses got wiped away."Feldman, Claudia.
A road called Almeda
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

''. October 29, 2009. Retrieved on November 1, 2009.

References

External links

Texas House of Representatives - Garnet Coleman
official TX House website
Garnet Coleman
official campaign website
Project Vote Smart - Representative Garnet F. Coleman (TX)
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Garnet Coleman
20062004200220001998
campaign contributions {{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Garnet Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives 1961 births Living people African-American state legislators in Texas Harvard Kennedy School alumni Howard University alumni University of St. Thomas (Texas) alumni 21st-century American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people