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Don Martin Public Affairs is a “boutique” public affairs firm and a long-time notable Austin player in the public affairs and public relations arena. Founded in 1989 by principal Don Martin, for 21 years the firm has represented numerous significant projects in central Texas including such clients as TXU, Longhorn Pipeline, The Del Webb Corporation, Sun City Texas, Waste Management,  La Frontera,  Dell Computer Corp., Tokyo Electron, Advanced Micro Devices and others. The firm provides public affairs, public relations, media relations, issues management, communications strategy, crisis management and litigation support services.

History
The firm was founded in 1989 by Don Martin. Martin was previously a founder of Legi-Slate, a bill and vote tracking service that was sold to the Congressional Quarterly ; and for five years was editor and publisher of Texas Government Newsletter.

In addition Martin has been an independent real estate developer working with his business partner, the late Bill Smalling (1953 - 2010). Among other projects he developed the 330 acre master-planned, mixed-use project -  La Frontera ,   54 acre San Gabriel Village  (retail / residential “walkable’ village) ,  53 units Village Park Condominiums in Georgetown, JV with Larry Peel ,  16 acre Cedar Breaks (retail site approval and development in Georgetown), and Arbor Place (105 lots gated residential community Round Rock) a joint venture with Hughes Capital Management

Martin also was co-campaign manager for the 1991 Bruce Todd campaign for Mayor, and general consultant for Todd’s 1994 re-election campaign. He also served a campaign chair for the Austin Bergstrom International Airport referendum, for the Round Rock Express Dell Diamond referendum, the City of Round Rock ½ cent sales tax campaign for transportation and other civic ventures. He also led the effort to establish the Northern Edwards Aquifer Resource Council (NEARC) to help preserve the endangered Georgetown salamander, which later became the Williamson County Conservation Foundation WCCF)..

In 1997 Martin changed the name of the firm to Martin & Salinas Public Affairs to reflect his new partner Trey Salinas. However in 2008 Martin sold his 51 percent interest in the firm to Salinas and reverted back to Don Martin Public Affairs.

Book
Martin extensively historic Texas memorabilia, including a large collection of Austin historic postcards. Martin recently wrote a book on Austin as part of The Postcard Series which was published by Arcadia Publishing in May 2009. The book, titled simply "Austin" is available in all major bookstores and on-line at the major on-line booksellers, such as Amazon.com.

In The Community
Martin has an extensive community background. He is currently a member of the Seton Williamson Board of Trustees, and a past member of Board of Directors for both the Austin Chamber of Commerce and Georgetown Chamber of Commerce. He was a member of the Leadership Austin Class of 1984 and then Chair of Leadership Austin in 1991. He founded the Austin Chamber’s Project Greenscape program in 1983, and co-chaired the Corporate Headquarters Task Force. He is on the steering committee of Take On Traffic, was co-founder and co-Chair of Citizens for Mobility, and on the board and the Executive Committee of the Real Estate Council of Austin (RECA).

Current Organizations
Martin is a current member of: Urban Land Institute (ULI), Downtown Austin Alliance (DAA),  Real  Estate Council of Austin (RECA),  International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, Opportunity Austin 2.0,  Round Rock Chamber of Commerce,  Round Rock Momentum,  Seton Williamson Foundation,  Hill Country Conservancy,  Nature Conservancy of Texas, Trust for Public Land,  Sierra Club,  Save Barton Creek Association,  Society of Professional Journalists,  Public Relations Society of America (PRSA),  Public Relations Society - Austin Chapter, Texas Public Relations Association (TPRA), and the National Association of Real Estate Editors (NAREE), and the Austin Heritage Society