This is the section of the site where I will present my Vision for the District.  Here you will have a chance to read about what I feel are the most important issues that are effecting our city. This is only a summary of these issues and you will find more detailed information in the Issues section of the site. As our campaign moves forward, I am looking forward to meeting with residents, business owners and visitors across District 2 and talking with you about the issues that are close to your heart.

Let’s talk facts: I cannot win this election alone. Elections are a team sport and I will need your two cents in order to be successful.  I will need your input to be successful because I genuinely want to take your message to Dallas City Hall.  Elections are essentially long conversations and I understand that we will not always agree on every issue. I do know that we can agree on the prize because you deserve better leadership at Dallas City Hall. We all want better City Government and most of us believe that District 2 needs serious help. We all want dynamic leadership but many folks in District 2 have lost hope of the prospect of change. Not me, I have great confidence that we can find common ground in this election. I know that if we work together we will bring bold new leadership to Dallas City Council and I believe May 14th we will defeat the power brokers at City Hall.  I pledge that I will work each and every day to win this election for all of us. Together we can create good, cost effective and workable solutions to the many problems that face our great City and especially District 2. This is my pledge.

I am running for Dallas City Council because I believe I am the leader this District needs to take us to the next level. This will be a hard battle but I am looking forward the opportunity to fight for a seat at the table for us all.  Together, you and I can accomplish this goal of real representation at Dallas City Hall. I am only one of us but during this election and beyond you can be rest assured that I am working for you to make a District 2 better place to live, work, and play. Join me on this journey, I believe District 2 can be a dynamic place to live, work, and visit but we need to join forces. I believe the residents and business owners in District 2 are the engine of our City but I know we need a better driver at the wheel. Here is my plan.

I believe we need to:

Prioritize our needs at City Hall and keep Dist. 2 residents updated on the progress.
Promote District 2 businesses, our neighborhoods, and the City of Dallas better.
Preserve our green space, our historical buildings, and our quality of life.
Protect our residents and environment from harm now and into the future.

Prioritize

“Let’s leave behind the predictable and stale debate between liberals and conservatives. Let’s take the resources that we have, and prioritize, and manage, and focus our energy on just doing things that count – on real results.” Phil Bredesen

The people of District 2 want new vision and need bold new leadership. District 2 residents and the entire City of Dallas deserves a leader in District 2 who will deliver. I am that leader. This is the perfect time to make a change. Dallas needs to lay all of its cards out on the table, educate the residents of our City as to what our priorities are and update residents on the progress. As our City Councilman, I will work within District 2 to set a list of short term and long term priorities and will keep the district updated to the progress on each item on that list.

Promote

One of the primary reasons I am running for Dallas City Council is because District 2 needs and deserves a skilled promoter and salesman in office to move their message forward. District 2 lacks an honorable diplomat at City Hall who they can trust and can be proud of to take their voices to a stage where they can be heard.

District 2 includes so many diverse areas and each individual neighborhood has its own distinct selling points that it deserves to have someone in office who has the ability to promote the advantages and resources available to attract outside investment into the community.   District 2 has lacked the energy, creativity and the vocal leadership to attract new sustainable development like other Downtown area City Council Districts.  I firmly believe the lack of promotion of District 2 has restricted opportunity for business owners, it has disallowed quiet enjoyment for residents, and it has stolen joy from the visitors to the district.

Promotion is everything to an area as spread out as District 2. There has been none. I pledge to you that when I am elected,   I will step up my efforts as an ardent promoter for District 2. I will promote District 2 not just at City Hall, but on the state and national stage. District 2 will finally be on the map. It will finally be on the radar and on the good side of people’s minds.

District 2 needs a strong new leader who will promote light industry and small businesses in the undeveloped neighborhoods and urban areas of District 2. These areas have been left to waste and decay for years. Once elected, I will take action immediately. It is a benefit that in most of these areas land is not at a premium and is still affordable.  I believe these undervalued urban areas can and will provide badly needed jobs and economic opportunity. Our new urban communities should offer better job opportunities so residents can flourish by the sweat of their own labor and ingenuity of their creative endeavors.  District 2 has valuable skilled and unskilled labor as well as artistic resources and locations usable by the motion picture industry they live and work in the same area. District 2 needs a business coach and I am ready for the task.

In recent years Dallas has done a good job attracting big business but it has not been enough to trickle down to the wallets of all of District 2. I will create an environment within District 2 and at Dallas City Hall which attracts and promotes small business. Small business is the engine that drives our economy. Innovation, creativity, and most of all, integrity are the characteristics that I can demonstrate to bring the change and opportunity needed for District 2 residents to flourish financially and culturally. I need your support to win this election.  It is time the residents and business owners of District 2 had a seat at the proverbial table, sadly it has looked like a bad game of musical chairs at City Hall and in my opinion District 2 always lost.  I am ready to make sure that does not happen again.

Preserve

We cannot afford business as usual at Dallas City Hall. We need to take steps now Preserve our Environment and bring sustainable projects and programs. In the face of huge local budget deficits and skyrocketing debt, Dallas City Hall has to do more with less. As your City Councilman, I will insist Dallas City Hall be a more responsible steward of the environment. I will encourage a collaborative sustainable model at Dallas City Hall that will address environmental responsibility, green job training, solar panel installation, environmental education of our children, and community greening initiatives that will take into consideration both the environmental and the socioeconomic conditions on the ground. We need to preserve our quality of life in the future by keeping our libraries and parks open, by maintaining our roads and bridges, and we need to pay attention to DISD Schools. This is a priority for me.

Taking small steps, we can still have change happen quickly.  I propose we find a partner in the Solar Industry to install solar panels on City Hall. Public and private partnerships like this can jump start a City wide program that would install solar panels on all City Buildings. This can be done with zero cost to the City; I believe it will make the city a profit. I propose making recycling pickup available to everyone in Dallas, including apartment buildings. I propose a plan to allow for multifamily residents to have recycling. Again, this will not cost the city, and it will make the city money.

District 2 needs a green minded leader in office, who can create a sustainable place to live. I plan to green this city with more trees and more money.  This can all be done with policy change at City Hall and leveraging local resources. I plan on  introducing green job training programs, developing innovative new community greening programs, encouraging community gardens, and I plan on creating new environmental education programs at all of our City Parks. Sustainability is the future. Unfortunately, we are way behind the curve.  This has negative quality of life impacts and financial impacts that will only be reversed by electing a leader willing to make a green lifestyle a priority.

I will propose adding new green space in the urban areas of the District where there is little if any places for children to enjoy being outside. This can all be done at zero cost to the City if City Hall learns to forge new partnerships between local businesses and government. There are people and businesses in the community who are willing and able to fund and build these projects. However, no one has tried to champion or take on the green projects District 2 actually needs to make it a better place to live.  Preservation of green space and community members coming together will make life better for today and for generations to come.

Protect

It’s no secret that Dallas has had issues with crime.  Anyone and everyone who is involved or reads about Dallas knows the problems. I am here to offer common sense, practical solutions that should have been implemented long ago.  I have volunteered with the guardian angels and worked as part of the Deep Ellum community association to team up with business owners and residents to fight against the crime element.   To that end, I would like to focus our resources in the following areas to help achieve a safe, healthy, and prosperous community where people will want to raise their families for many years to come. We need to hire the best and the brightest. We need to keep them happy.

I believe it is the job of every City Councilperson to continuously evaluate our public safety needs within the city and remain ahead of the curve with regard to the hiring of the most qualified officers in the State. To accomplish this task, I recommend surveying not only cities of like size and population to Dallas but also I also believe we need to target officer at the agencies we are losing our tenured officers to. Comparing our compensation and benefits to theirs, I will fight to remain competitive at or near the top in all categories to retain and attract these employees from other agencies. There are also intangible compensations that I can promote as a councilman.  A pat on the back and a job well done cannot be bought.  Sometimes, recognition and career development can equal if not exceed an officers incentive in stay when being recruited by other cities.  We need to change the status quo way of recruiting and retaining officers because it’s these people who keep you safe while you are at home with your families.  We need the best and brightest officers. It is unacceptable that we are losing good officers because we are not competitive. When I am elected, I will focus on keeping good officers in Dallas and recruiting great officers from outside the city.

Our leadership needs to assure that our Police Fire and EMS units are adequately equipped to respond to the emergency needs within the city both efficiently and effectively. The equipment and training of the personnel are expensive and in many cases required by law to accommodate community areas depending on their size.

As your City Councilman I will openly deal with the public safety problems created by our past financial woes and I will bring creative ideas to the table to solve these problems.  One thing I want to do immediately is re-introduce the Fill the Boot campaign.  More than anything I will stop the bleeding.  I will work hard for you everyday to stop the same problems from occurring in the future.  Our first responders deserve better than old, broken down equipment and when I am elected your City Councilman I plan to equip our first responders properly.

This is my vision,  let’s work together to make it a reality.