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Parker Mayor David Casiano and the rabbi

Parker Mayor David Casiano

PASSOVER EDITION 
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Did you hear the one about the mayor and the rabbi?

Sounds like the beginning of another joke.

The punch line to this one, however, isn’t funny. It’s touching.

The mayor in this would-be joke is David Casiano of Parker, Colorado.

The rabbi is Avraham Mintz, founder and director of Chabad Jewish Center of South Metro Denver.

The story leading up to the punch line is that of an unusual friendship, interfaith respect and civic pride.

Parker’s Mayor David Casiano is Italian Catholic, originally from Manhattan. Rabbi Avi Mintz is a chasidic Jew from Crown Heights in Brooklyn.

Rabbi Mintz’s Chabad Jewish Center of South Metro Denver is the only Jewish institution in Douglas County. The center is located in Lone Tree, nestled between Parker on the east and Highlands Ranch to the west. The Jewish residents of those communities make up Mintz’s constituency.

One of those residents is Susan Casiano, the wife of Parker’s mayor.

Between his wife, his interest in religion, and his role as a civic leader, David Casiano has become one of Rabbi Mintz’s most vocal cheerleaders and a dear friend.

Casiano, 63, was born in Manhattan, and lived in Queens, Long Island and California before coming to Colorado in the mid-1980s.

Casiano deferred his college education until later in life, and pursued it in spurts at Denver area colleges; he now holds a BS in organizational leadership and is going for his master’s degree.

Through the years, he’s worked in education, teaching computers at Parker’s Northeast Elementary School and Lutheran High School, and in the business world. He currently works full-time in Comcast’s business class division.

Casiano has lived in Parker for 25 years. Outgoing and impassioned, he became active in his community first through committees and commissions.

“I got things done in the town.”

One day a group of Parker civic leaders approached Casiano with some questions, and suggested that he run for mayor. He did so in 2000. In the aftermath, however, the incumbent mayor and Casiano became good friends. The mayor put Casiano to work on a project, and urged him to run for town council. He was elected in 2002. Two years later, he again ran for mayor, this time unopposed. He was reelected in 2008, and is completing his final term this year.

He plans to run for Douglas County commissioner in 2014.

Parker has changed a great deal in the 25 years since David Casiano first moved here. Situated 22 miles southeast of downtown Denver, Parker has gone from being “a place you drove through” to a “destination point,” according to Casiano.

He says that Parker, with 47,000 people, is impacted by three times that number of people daily. It is the home of Parker Adventist Hospital, a brand-new arts and culture center, major retail stores and new housing developments.

With parks, a nature trail and recreation center, along with a quaint, old-fashioned downtown area, Parker has a hometown feel, with all the amenities of a suburb and accessibility to Denver.

New infrastructure improvements to the city include the Pace Center, a performing arts and events facility, and a 5,300-square-foot police headquarters.

Casiano says Parker is fulfilling the vision of the town council, to be “a full service community with a small town feel.” He says that attitude is prevalent among the council and staff. And it’s being recognized by others, too: Forbes magazine last year ranked Parker number four in its best places to live feature.

David Casiano is Catholic. He wife Susan is Jewish. He studied religion in college, and it shows in his public addresses at Jewish events. He has been a featured speaker at various milestones at the Chabad Jewish Center of South Metro Denver. Each time, he has demonstrated not only his friendship to Rabbi Mintz and the Jewish community but his knowledge of Jewish history and concepts.

His interest in Judaism grew when he worked at the Loup JCC and was reinforced when, as a teacher at Parker’s Northeast Elementary — which has quite a few Jewish students — he was invited to their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, and even their families’ seders.

His Jewish knowledge is so extensive that he was once invited to teach at a Denver synagogue’s religious school. When he told the rabbi making the offer that he is not Jewish, the rabbi replied that he knew enough to teach in some areas of Judaism.

The friendship between Casiano and Rabbi Mintz is unusual and deep. The Casianos have been frequent guests at the Mintzes’ Shabbos table. At the time of this interview, the mayor was looking forward to celebrating the third birthday along with the traditional, ceremonial first haircut of the Mintzes’ son, Zalman.

The mayor calls Mintz “a blessing for the community.” And regarding their close friendship, he says, “Everything just fell into place; it was meant to be.”

The feeling coming from Rabbi Mintz is mutual: “Parker and all of Douglas County is truly blessed to have Mayor Casiano. He has been a friend and partner of Chabad Jewish Center of South Metro Denver since its founding in 2003. I am honored to call Mayor Casiano my dear friend. I look forward to seeing him continue to do wonderful things in the future.”

A highlight for both men was the commissioning, completion and dedication of Douglas County’s first and only Torah scroll at the Chabad Jewish Center of South Metro Denver, on Sept. 5, 2010.

“Wherever there is a Torah, there is a blessing,” says Casiano. “Douglas County now has its own Torah. It’s just beautiful.”

The mayor’s appreciation for the Jewish community has extended to the town square. He’s been a big supporter of the Chabad menorah that is lit annually in downtown Parker. (South Metro Chabad also sponsors a menorah at the Eastridge Recreation Center in Highlands Ranch.)

A couple of years ago, just after Chanukah, Casiano was approached by a citizen, who challenged him, “What’s with this menorah thing?”

“I turned it around, and quipped, ‘It wasn’t big enough, was it?’ He realized what he had said.”

The next year, that same fellow attended the Chabad-sponsored menorah lighting in Parker, and told the mayor, “This is a beautiful thing. I never knew what it was about.”

“There has been unbelievable support for the menorah in Parker,” Casiano says. If the lights are malfunctioning, he’ll get calls from Christians driving by to let him know that the proper number of lights need to be illuminated.

Copyright © 2012 by the Intermountain Jewish News



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IJN Associate Editor | [email protected]


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