March 19, 2025 • 46 mins
Dallas City Council member Chad West is back on the campaign trail and joining Let’s Talk Local to tackle the biggest issues facing District 1. From housing density and parking reform to the Texas Ethics Commission’s investigation into his campaign spending—no topic is off-limits, no matter how difficult the conversation. After the interview, we hit the streets of Oak Cliff to visit some of Chad’s favorite neighborhood spots. Buckle up—this is a conversation you won’t want to miss!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (00:00):
Hey there. I'm Sarah Zubiate
(00:01):
Bennett. Welcome to Let's TalkLocal. Today, I'm sitting down
with Dallas City Council memberChad West, who's up for
reelection this May. We'retackling some of the biggest and
sometimes controversial issuesshaping up this year's city
council race, from parkingminimums and housing reform to
public safety. But that's notall. Chad is also facing an
investigation by the TexasEthics Commission over
(00:22):
questionable campaign spending,and we're not shying away from
that conversation. After theinterview, we're hitting the
town with Chad to check out someof his favorite Oak Cliff
hangouts, so stick aroundbecause this episode has a
little bit of everything. Let'sget into it.
(00:43):
So I just wanted to say, I'm sograteful that Chad West is here
with us today. I have receivedsome absolute hate texts,
messages about giving certainpeople platforms, and I'm just
absolutely sick of it. Becauseyou have always been very
(01:05):
gracious, and you're not someonewho's going to come here and not
be open. And on the contrary,you have been the person that
has said, ask me anything.Nothing is off the table. I am
willing to discuss anything andeverything and put my most raw
self out there, which is what alot of people aren't willing to
(01:26):
do.
Chad West (01:26):
Yeah. 100%. I mean, in this political world that
we're in, it's unfortunate thata lot more people don't sit down
and just have conversations.And, I think a lot of things
could be worked out with a phonecall or a conversation versus,
you know, an attack on socialmedia. And it's like, let's just
actually talk about things andsee where we can come together.
(01:49):
And most of the time I found I'mmuch more aligned with someone
than separate from them. Youknow? And so I appreciate you
inviting me on here, even thoughwe may not always agree on
everything. I'm just used tohave the conversation and and
talk about, you know, ways tomake the city better. I think
that's one thing we can agree onis we both want to live in a
(02:11):
city that's safe, where there'sopportunity for all, and and
it's dynamic and fun and I thinkDallas is.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (02:19):
Yeah. It it absolutely is. And while I
probably think that there's moreroom for improvement. But it is.
It's a it's an incredible city.
Chad West (02:26):
Mhmm.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (02:27):
I just want it to become a Mecca for
the world.
Chad West (02:30):
do too. I think internationally, we have an
opportunity. To I could go deepon this and talk all day about
the World Cup that's coming.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (02:38):
Oh my gosh.
Chad West (02:38):
Yes. In 2026. And, it's it's such an opportunity to
showcase Dallas to the world,You know, but there are
challenges we see every day,like public safety, of course,
our lack of publictransportation infrastructure
challenges. Where are all thesepeople going to stay? And these
are all things that we've got toaddress as a city in
anticipation of being on theworld stage. In in a way we've
(03:02):
never been.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (03:03):
May is election season.
Chad West (03:05):
Yes. Once again.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (03:07):
I know. I know. And you're in the middle
of campaigning at the moment.And I just wanna know, tell me
everything happening in District1. Tell me what, you know, the
last several years since02/2019, June of 2019, have has
been filled with.
Chad West (03:22):
Yeah.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (03:22):
And your platform. Talk to me about what
you're what you're dealing withat this point.
Chad West (03:27):
Well, so I got into public service. I mean, I've
always kinda had, like a lot ofpeople in public service, an
intrinsic desire to serve. Istarted off in the military,
that put me through college, andactually brought me to Texas.
And so I served in the military,got out. After four years, I did
my time. And a I'm a combatveteran now, and very proud of
(03:51):
that fact. And once I got out ofthe military, ended up going to
law school and then came hereand started practicing law. And
I was missing that kind ofservice aspect. So I got
involved with charity work in mydistrict and ultimately opened
my own law firm, started abusiness, and eventually led me
(04:14):
to public service again. And soI love it. It's the greatest
honor of my life to be able toserve my constituents, the
90,000 people that live inDistrict 1.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (04:25):
Yep.
Chad West (04:25):
And then the city, beyond that. The interesting
thing is in 2019, right when wegot elected, and I was elected
the same year as Mayor Johnsonand Carah Mendelsohn and a lot
of other folks, very quickly, asyou remember, we experienced
COVID.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett: That's right! (04:42):
undefined
Chad West (04:43):
That was a crazy first term for a lot of us.
That's And we were still tryingto figure out the job, and then
we get hit with COVID.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (04:49):
Yep.
Chad West (04:49):
And you know, you can't pick and choose when you
get elected and what happensduring that time. But it was it
was incredibly challenging. Andthen on top of that, there was
the killing of George Floyd. Andthe aftermath of public safety
that Dallas experienced. Youknow, we had the whole defund
the police narrative, which wasso prevalent, in politics. And,
(05:11):
and on top of that, all theother challenges of the city
that we just deal with on a dayto day basis, like housing
reform and infrastructure andjust the stuff that keeps the
city running, keeping our parksand libraries operational. So
then my fourth and final term,hopefully, no dramatics like
that in the last term. But youcan't ever count on it.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (05:31):
No. No. We can't.
Chad West (05:33):
We wanna but what I found in in six years now is it
doesn't matter in my district. Ihave extreme wealth in my
district, and I have extremepoverty. And I have everything
in between.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (05:45):
Yep.
Chad West (05:46):
A lot of families there, very very heavily
populated with Hispanics. Mhmm.And it doesn't matter in my
district if you're rich, poor,brown, black, or white. Mhmm.
Everybody values public safetyat the top of their list, and
infrastructure right there withit. So streets, roads,
sidewalks. And so living bythose core values and making
(06:07):
that better on a daily basis isis really what's important to
to, staying in office and todoing the best job you can. So I
look forward to doing thatagain.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (06:17):
And so in order to discuss things like pro
development, anti developmentstances, believe is It can be a
little archaic at times becauseI've thought, okay, if we do
truly want a safe city, a a citythat is going to be growing into
a Mecca of the world, these areconversations that must be had,
(06:38):
especially when you look at, youknow, housing affordability,
parking reform. That's somethingthat you're, right, a big
proponent of at this point.
Chad West (06:46):
Both of them. Yeah. Exactly. So, I mean, development
is the key to our propertytaxes, which then pays for
police, fire, streets, roads,libraries, parks, all the stuff
we value. And, so we've gotta bereasonable about welcoming in
development While still puttingin protections for
(07:08):
neighborhoods.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (07:09):
That's right.
Chad West (07:09):
And and for those legacy neighbors that have been
there so Of course. It's abalance, and you've got to be
willing to engage in thoseconversations. One of those is
housing reform. You know, we arein a housing crisis in the city.
And, I've taken tough positionsand I've created tough
conversations, that have made alot of people uncomfortable. And
it's put a target on my back andit's brought in political
(07:32):
opponents. But I'm okay withthat because if we don't jump in
and tackle it, it's Dallas is isgoing to turn into San Francisco
or Seattle because our housingprices are so high, people won't
be able to live here. Our ourworkforce won't be able live
here. Same with parking reform.And but the challenge on that is
I have jumped in so headfirstthat I have also not been
(07:57):
sensitive to the fear that itbrings from people who are not
quite ready for that. And whoalso don't have all the
information that we sometimeshave at City Hall. You know,
we're always playing likeinsider baseball and we've got
the studies, we've got theexperts there. And for folks who
might just hear about one thingI said in a whole lot of, you
(08:18):
know, five hours of talking atCity Hall, It can sound pretty
scary. And I've gotta do abetter job of that, of
communicating the whole picturewhen I'm jumping out in front on
a controversial issue likehousing reform.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (08:30):
So parking reform and and the
affordability. Talk to me aboutthe specifics pertaining to
these two particular issues.
Chad West (08:37):
Sure. Parking reform itself could be its own show. So
here's a I I think a fewexamples of how our antiquated
nineteen sixties parking code isimpacting businesses would be
helpful. So I have a I have notjust one, but two coffee shops
in one of my littleneighborhoods called Elmwood.
(08:57):
It's a great neighborhood, bythe way, in District 1. And very
cute neighborhood. The firstcoffee shop was not able to open
because they have the antiquatedparking code requiring one space
for every 100 square feet in thebusiness, including the kitchen
area. So really, you just wantto come in and get a cup of
coffee, great. But he had toprovide something like 15
(09:21):
parking spaces or somethingridiculous. And this is in an
area that's already beendesigned as car centric. Mhmm.
It is tons of street parking,but because of the parking code,
he couldn't count it. So youknow what he had to do to he
went to the Board of Adjustment,they refused his application. So
what he had to do is pave hisentire yard to park the cars
(09:43):
there so that he could open hisbusiness. So we ended up harming
the environment. You've now notgot green space out there for
people to sit, but his workers,who are the ones parking there
all day, are now parking on theconcrete in the house that's
this old house in DowntownElmwood. Just down the street's
another business. I think it'sabout 1,800 square foot, a
little, sandwich place. Theycan't get the proper CO to do
(10:08):
beer and wine or other thingsthey want to do because of the
parking code. The most extremeexample, and the reason why I
opened the parking code inAugust of 2019 was a very tragic
story actually. Just if you knowwhere Bishop Arts is, where the
street car stops at Bishop Arts,it's at the corner of Zang and,
(10:31):
Davis. Okay. Okay. Justsoutheast of that, there is a
CVS, and beyond that, there's avacant lot.
The vacant lot was this historiclooking old building, from the
Art Deco era. Two story,beautiful brick building. And
they want some some developerswanted to come in and do a
boutique 12 room hotel therewith a separate 2,500 square
(10:52):
foot restaurant with a poolcabana. Like very California,
right? And it was just soundedgreat. They're gonna restore the
building, the little boutiquehotel. Well, the parking code
required them to park each room,so that's 12 rooms, plus fully
park the restaurant, which is 25spaces. So 37 spaces on a third
of an acre, for this littleboutique hotel. Absolutely no
(11:15):
way that was gonna work. In thetime it took to get the variants
needed to do this, some, webelieve, homeless folks moved
into the building, set fire andburned it down. So it never
happened. That's exactly whythose cases, we need to update
the parking code, so that it'smore relevant to today's
(11:36):
lifestyle. The parking ratioswere created by bureaucrats.
They're still enforced bybureaucrats seventy years later.
Why is that what we're guided byversus what the market dictates
and what insurance dictates?
Because some of these insuranceand and, for for for these
different properties are gonnarequire parking. Financing, the
(11:58):
financiers are actually some ofthe most conservative on wanting
additional parking. In myopinion, and I think we are
aligned on this, is you let themarket drive it and then you put
in the protections necessary forthe neighborhoods. You know, I
led out front on on, advocatingfor removing parking minimums
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (12:18):
Yep.
Chad West (12:18):
And then instilling protections for neighborhoods
like those around Bishop Arts,like where I live or Lower
Greenville. Yep. One of thebenefits of eliminating minimums
is the simplification of thepermit process at the permit
office. City staff has said, ohgosh, multiple a dozen times now
that 60 to 70% of all time spentat the permanent office is on
(12:42):
parking code. Anticipating thator, analyzing the parking code
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (12:47):
Yep.
Chad West (12:47):
And then actually like putting it into paper. The
parking code is way overlycomplicated. Mhmm. We could
simplify it, even if there'sstill some requirements. Imagine
the efficiency we could get inthat office that would then
translate to it wouldn't take solong for for a developer to
build a house, maybe it'll beless expensive for someone to
buy it.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (13:06):
These parking costs are anywhere from
20 to $50,000 per space. So theninherently, I think, yes. So
then rent costs are being drivenup substantially. But again, I
always kind of go back to thefree market economic space of
allow the market to dictate itand the people who are industry
experts to determine that.
Chad West (13:28):
Versus someone who works at city hall who is well
intended but not trained in anyof that world.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (13:37):
Yep.
Chad West (13:37):
You talked to you mentioned, affordability for a
second on parking spaces andyou're right. On the wrapped,
product that's where there'sparking in the middle and you've
had to drive up like a concreteramp like the one here in your
building or even surface lotscost for a surface space is
8,000 to $12,000. It gets reallyexpensive in the $50,000 range
(14:00):
when you've got a bury parking.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (14:01):
Yep.
Chad West (14:02):
That cost is not just eaten by the developer. It's
passed on to the tenants.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (14:06):
Of course.
Chad West (14:06):
So if we want to focus on housing affordability,
we've got to think about that.The parking code as it's written
today requires, in base zoning,requires one parking space for
every bedroom. So if I'm asingle parent and I'm a I'm a
divorced parent and I have anapartment with a a bedroom for
my kids and one for myself, Ihave to have two parking spaces.
(14:28):
So they have to build twoparking spaces for me, even
though I have one car. It makesno sense. And that is, you know,
systemic across the city wherethat's happening. So we need to
provide a little moreflexibility for the market and
hopefully ease the cost down alittle bit.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (14:43):
Let's toggle over a little bit to
public safety. I know thatthat's vital and the most
important topic, right, ofconversation for your
constituents. Talk to me alittle bit about your history
surrounding the support of thepolice and your ideals
pertaining to this, if youcould.
Chad West (15:04):
Absolutely. Well, I've been very fortunate to have
a good relationship with all ofour previous police chiefs. You
know, I do remember some of thechallenges during the George
Floyd protests that we had inDallas and definitely learned,
just how tough their job is,throughout that process. We have
neighborhood police officers, inall neighborhoods, including my
(15:28):
own. I work with them on aregular basis and we just tackle
issues as they come up. Everyyear I have supported fully
funding the police, and I'vebeen very fortunate in my
campaigns to have endorsementsand support from the police
associations.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (15:46):
And and that for me is something that
speaks volumes. Because I knowthat you've come under a little
bit of attack saying, oh, he'svoted to defund the police.
Chad West (15:57):
Oh, happy to talk about that.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (15:59):
Yeah, please, if you would.
Chad West (16:00):
Sure. So there was a vote in, I don't wanna say, 2020
on the budget where severalcouncil members, reallocated
some of the overtime funds
Sarah Zubiate Bennett: $7,000,000, (16:11):
undefined
Chad West (16:13):
Thank you, to other public safety items. Now there
was that year, this is the piecethat's often left out of the
media stories. There was stillan increase of $8,000,000 in the
police budget. And all of that$7,000,000 that was reallocated
was put into other types ofpublic safety endeavors such as
lighting, moving civilian jobsover, stuff like that. When
(16:36):
Chief Garcia came on, he put ina lot more checks and balances
on the overtime. Before histime, we had really millions of
dollars in overtime that was notaccounted for. There was no one,
no supervisor signing off on it,in some cases no records. And
DPD had been given a pass onthat because they're DPD. If it
(16:58):
had been any other department,all of us on council would have
been eviscerating them. And Istarted to realize this, that
we've got to hold DPD asaccountable for their checks and
balances and their accountingjust like any other department.
So my feeling was, and my goalat that time was to hold the
money over here, have them comeback mid year when we have sales
(17:21):
tax additional revenues comingin, and then we allocate more
money to them, like we're alwaysgonna do, because all of us want
police when we call on them.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (17:28):
Moving forward, I know, you know, no
one at council supportedPropositions S,T and U, and I
know that there was a lot ofmovement that you all had
surrounding the opposition tohim. So now, two of the three
passed. Right? So specificallyrelating to prop u. Now, we have
(17:50):
to ensure that we have 4,000police sworn in.
Chad West (17:56):
Mhmm.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (17:56):
I understand the difficulties
logistically to getting there.Would you be willing to place
your signature and write aletter to Kim Tolbert supporting
actually devising a a thirdparty audit or recommendation
about what constitutes excess oradditional revenue to support
(18:20):
this implementation andadherence to what is now law?
Chad West (18:26):
I think what, especially proposition U showed
us, is public safety is a realissue for most voters. And, and
they take it seriously and theywant they want to see more
visible presence of policeofficers. I'm open to any type
of third party audit of the citybecause I think it's good to be
(18:48):
audited. I don't think we getaudited enough. And I chair the
Government Performance FinancialManagement Committee, and on
that committee we actually haveour internal audit, which is
constantly providing stuff. Likewe've learned that there were
some missing weapons from themarshal's office recently.
(19:09):
So these kinds of things I thinkare important. I think third
party audits are even moreimportant. I hate to give you a
political answer on this and nota concrete one, but I'd want to
see what the letter said. Theconcept though seems reasonable.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (19:23):
Okay. And then what about even their pay?
Their pay being competitive.Because that commission to a
third party study on police payto ensure competitive salaries,
there's been no movement. And IDo you have any insight as to
why it stalled?
Chad West (19:37):
I mean, we are contractually obligated and are
bound by the state as well on onsticking with the meet and
confer agreement. So I thinkthat any movement in salaries
should be worked with theassociations, Dallas Police
Association. Also you got to goto the fire, Dallas Firefighters
Association, and then the theother ones too, and get them to
(19:59):
be on board with these anysalary adjustments. Because
right now we're we can't legallychange that without going back
to the table and reopening thosediscussions. So it's got to
start there.
So for me, that's a non starteruntil we reopen, meet and confer
again.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (20:17):
And so kind of back over to the
allocation of the funding. Areyou willing to meet with your
other council persons who areworking with you, adhering to
the law now, in actuallyensuring that we have enough
bodies present?
Chad West (20:35):
It's not a yes or no answer, and here's why. I go
back to the meet and conferagreement. By us setting a
budget to hire a certain amountof officers, by us changing
salaries, we get out anythingthat's going to take us away
from the meet and conferagreement is going to cause
problems for us legally with thestate and with those officers.
(20:57):
So we're in a legal hurdleeither way here because of this
charter amendment and thepassage of it. So what the
city's doing, and I think needsto do better of, is try its best
to meet those, the intent ofProposition U by hiring as many
officers as we can and keepingthem on the force without
(21:19):
violating what we'recontractually obligated to do
already.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (21:24):
I understand that. I understand
that. I just would think thatsince it's now law, that there
would be a lot more movementthat had been made at this
point.
Chad West (21:33):
Well, pro both propositions S and U without
like you know, I don't want toargue about them because it is
what it is. But I will tellyou, like, both of them, the
passage of both and the samewith the marijuana one, right,
is is it is contradictory to alaw. Proposition S and U are, at
least in our belief,contradictory to contracts that
(21:54):
we're into. And the PropositionS about the waiver of sovereign
immunity is contradictory tostate law. And so it puts us in
this weird situation where we'reactually just spending a lot of
taxpayer money on lawyers. We'redoing that for the marijuana and
then that as well.
But for me at least, and I can'tspeak for all my colleagues on
this, I still think we need totry to meet the intent of at
(22:17):
least proposition U in hiring asmany police officers as possible
and keeping them. And and that'sa that's a winner for all of us.
Everybody wants that.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (22:25):
What about DART? Where are you
falling on DART these days?
Chad West (22:30):
As far as like funding DART, I I support
funding DART. It's if You and Italked about at the very
beginning us being a world classcity. And a world class city has
excellent public transit. Sosomeone mentioned this quote one
time, and I can't remember whoit is, but it's a city has world
(22:53):
class public transportation notwhen everyone has access, but
when everyone chooses to use it.So when the the rich people who
have cars would rather usepublic transit, you know that
your city's really made it.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (23:06):
Yes. And how do you think we can do a
better job in publictransportation?
Chad West (23:11):
Well, we need to fully fund it, you know, from
the sales tax penny that it has.And then secondly, I think the
lowest hanging fruit is goingback to parking. All of the
under parked, dark parking lotsthroughout the city that could
have, density on it. It's theperfect place for density. Most
(23:31):
of them are not nearresidential. There's some
exceptions. But a lot of themare are just kinda out in
different areas. LikeWestmoreland is a good example.
That's the end of the red line.And it's got factories around it
and parking lots. That's aperfect place for density where
you can put the workforce, theycan jump on the train and go to
downtown and work if theychoose. And don't they don't
(23:52):
have to worry about parking.They don't congest our roads
because they're on the trainthat we've already built for
them. So it's not building newlines necessarily right now. We
don't have the money for that.
But it's using what's alreadythere and actually putting the
density there away from theneighborhoods. Right now, DART
is affordable for some peopleand certainly the only way some
people can get around. And so Ithink it is a necessary part of
(24:16):
our infrastructure in the city.Now granted, there are parts of
the city you're only gonna beable to drive to. And that's
gonna probably always be thecase.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (24:25):
Exactly.
Chad West (24:25):
There's a lot of places, especially in our core,
where we should be continuing toinvest in it. For example, the
streetcar. There's the Oak Cliffstreetcar right now that's part
of the streetcar master plan,which is proposed to take it
around ends right now by theUnion Station. But the plan is
to take it around throughdowntown, connect it to in some
(24:46):
way to the M Line trolley where,people would switch trains at
that point. But enabling peopleto move through downtown more
easily than they are right now.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (24:56):
And I'm gonna kind of move over to
something that I believe, and Ido know for sure that that your
constituents have expressedquestions about. So right now, I
know that you are, and again, ifyou're not comfortable talking
about it, I understand. Butyou're currently being
(25:18):
investigated by the Texas EthicsCommission.
Chad West (25:21):
Oh, mhmm.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (25:21):
Regarding some of the expense reporting
right from your expenditures.What is your response to these
allegations? And do believe thisinvestigation will impact your
reelection campaign?
Chad West (25:36):
The quick answer is no, I don't. The second answer
is that these two allegations,and we can talk about them, are
both really for clerical errorsin the reporting. They're not
for anything wrong with theactual items. But the
inflammatory part of it is thatI was accused, basically it
points out that I spent money ina bar and that I spent money at
(26:00):
a bathhouse. If these The issuesthat were pointed out is that
these were gay establishments.I'm openly gay. I go to these
places. Yeah. If it had beenKing Spa in Dallas, for the for
the spa bathhouse, it wouldn'thave been an issue. If it had
been The Old Monk, as a bar inDallas, it wouldn't have been an
(26:23):
issue. In fact, that is on myexpense report. So the issue
that was brought up to me andwhat I think my constituents see
from this is that someone tryingto make it an issue that I went
to a gay establishment, whichI've never had that come up in
any political discussion before,and I don't think it's relevant.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (26:45):
So why are you being investigated?
Where did they find merit in...
Chad West (26:48):
It was a clerical error of how we what I called it
on the report, which was a thinkinstead of calling it like a
food and beverage expense, Icalled it like admission or
something of that nature. It wasreally just that, and there's
not really a punishment oranything once gets found out,
(27:08):
other than I've got to correctthe report.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (27:10):
Got it. Which we're already prepared to
do. Because I do admit thatthere were, you know, on a
report with So I treat mycampaign account, this First of
all, let's point out, this isnot city funds, it's campaign
funds. I treat my campaign likeI treat a business. If I'm
spending campaign funds, thenthere should be some benefit to
(27:32):
the campaign. So in bothsituations, these two particular
instances, I was with donors,and we were going to
establishments.
Okay. Okay. Well, that's that'sgood to know that you do not
believe that this will impactyour campaign at all. That's
great to hear, actually.
Chad West (27:50):
Well, I hope not. If voters have a problem with me
going to a gay establishment,they probably have an issue with
me as a candidate.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (27:56):
I mean, I would seriously doubt that. I
mean, I I would doubt that.Don't think it's an issue. Like,
people's sexuality is too For avery small percentage of voters,
maybe. For most of my voters inDistrict 1, they care about the
issues. What am I doing totackle crime? What am I doing to
support the police? What am Idoing to ensure housing
affordability? Fix their streetsand roads. Sometimes it's a very
(28:18):
just particular issue, like,they're speeding on my street. I
want it to stop. I have peoplethat will vote for me or vote
against me just based on I raninto one guy. He didn't like my
vote on Reverchon Park. Which isnot even in my district, and it
was a vote we made back in 2019.I'm like, really? And he said,
yes, I've never forgave you forthat. And I'm like, okay, well,
we have to sometimes, you know,you gotta put pen to paper and
(28:41):
make a decision that's notpopular to somebody. So a lot of
times it's very specific. Mostof the time though, it's more
general broad issues. And it'snot like what I've spent at or
where I went during the campaigntrail. I mean, that was a
inflammatory thing brought up bysomebody doing a inflammatory
(29:04):
video.
Did they contact you before theybrought that to light? Did they
say, hey, we foundthis and it's raised concern?
Chad West (29:10):
No.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (29:13):
Okay. Got it. Yeah. And and again, back to
kind of what what you and I hadtalked about. Even though you
and I don't always see eye toeye on how to proceed in some
manners,
Chad West (29:27):
Mhmm.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (29:30):
Having the conversation and allowing
that dialogue to take placeperhaps beforehand, right,
before any of it hits the head,I think that that is missing in
society.
Chad West (29:44):
I think so too. Like, if you wanna sit down at the
table and actually make changethis is what I've found in my
district for sure. The peoplewho are hyper engaged, who are
actually trying to develop thezoning our conservation
district. I'm very lucky in mydistrict to be one, very
fortunate to be one of the onlyconservation district that's
(30:06):
passed in the city, the only newone in District 1. I was happy
to be part of that process.
And, the neighbors who get inthe weeds on that kind of stuff,
I've got great relationshipswith them. My relationships that
are challenging to me, and Iwish it could be better, are the
ones who just blast me on socialmedia. Or instead of actually,
(30:26):
like, trying to call me on use311, get their alley fixed,
they'll just put, you know,something on social media. I
see. And that's fine. Like, wecould still work together.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (30:35):
Yeah.
Chad West (30:36):
It's just makes for a more complicated situation
sometimes because I've gottaalso deal with all that hype
that comes with it, instead ofjust sitting down and helping
you with your problem.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (30:45):
Tell me about this Forward Dallas. I
think you've made some remarksabout the Pepper Square
development. I mean, I know thatthat's not in your district. But
why are people so upset withyour stance on, I guess, Forward
(31:07):
Dallas and affordable housing.What is what is happening there?
Chad West (31:11):
What's interesting that I was painted by a few
people, mostly on social mediaagain, is sort of like the
poster child for densifying thehost city.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (31:21):
Got it.
Chad West (31:21):
At the end of the day, and I do want to come back
to that because I do believe weneed some general density in
Dallas. So I'm I'm not trying toskate that or or shove that to
the side. But at the end of theday, I ended up voting with
someone who's pretty much on theopposite side, or at least seen
that on social media, which isPaul Ridley. We actually worked
together on the compromise votethat happened at the end of day.
(31:42):
We need land use reform in thecity in order to move out of
what has been there for the lastthirty years.
And for us to actually have theenvironmental justice reform,
which we desperately needed forneighborhoods like Joppie and
Floral Farms who were redlinedand factories were put into
(32:04):
their areas. Without ForwardDallas, we would never actually
get those environmental reformswe needed so bad from the days
of redlining. It cleaned up alot of zoning, or a lot of land
use, guidance in the differentneighborhoods as well. Now
what's different about mydistrict than other districts,
and you've said this before,that it's not a one size fits
(32:25):
all, I agree with that, Is Ilive in an area that already has
general density. If you walkthrough Lake Cliff Historic
District by Lake Cliff Park orone of the gems of historic
districts in the whole city,Winnetka Heights, These areas,
you could be walking down oneblock and you have a single
family home.
Two doors down, there's sixplex. And it looks just like a
(32:49):
single family home. When I gotto talking to my neighbors about
what their concerns were withForward Dallas and with gentle
Density, the concern is notnecessarily, it's usually not,
oh I don't want a duplexer ortriplexer. It's I don't want
this big ugly box thing thatlike a cereal box construction
like we're seeing in BishopArts. It's more so the design,
(33:11):
the setbacks, where the cars aregonna go, these things that can
be regulated through code.
And for me, if I had notsupported the version of Forward
Dallas that I supported, itwould have made a lot of our
existing stock, duplexes,triplexes, four plexes, non
conforming. Meaning like inneighbors like my own Kidd
(33:32):
Springs, if a duplex was torndown, without Forward Dallas,
they'd have to build a singlefamily home in its place. We'd
lose a whole residence forsomeone if we didn't modernize
the code. So I had to, and Iwill continue to be an advocate,
for gentle density whereappropriate. And Forward Dallas
(33:53):
helped us do that.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (33:54):
Is there anything else, Chad, that you
want to add to this interview?Topics you want to cover that we
haven't touched upon that youbelieve are meaningful?
Chad West (34:04):
No, I think you've you've done a great job on the
questions. We we, you know, Ijust enjoy having this
conversation where we can diginto the issues and you don't
hold the punches back. I'm happyto come back anytime. Seriously.
Yeah. I know. Anytime you wantAnytime you wanna, you know,
tackle the hard issues, weshould do that. And, especially
if we get closer to election daytoo.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett: Absolutely. And I I wish you (34:25):
undefined
luck. I wish you luck
Chad West (34:28):
Thank you.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (34:28):
In this running.
Chad West (34:29):
Thank you.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (34:30):
Yeah. And, again, it's always a
pleasure to have you here, Chad.
Chad West (34:34):
Great being here as well. Have a good spring break.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (34:36):
Thank you. You as well. So Chad did
not shy away from the toughquestions in the studio, but how
does he handle the pressure ofpicking his favorite cup of
coffee or choosing his go tobreakfast at Oddfellows Let's
switch things up and hit thestreets of Oak Cliff to check
out some of his favorite spots.Stick around. You won't wanna
miss this.
Adorable!
Chad West (34:55):
It is cute. It's Xaman, and everything on the
menu is fantastic. So the abenais...
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (35:02):
Is that how you say it? Abena.
Chad West (35:03):
Abena is really good. That's what I'm getting. And
it's one of the lighter thingson the menu. But, really,
anything's good.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (35:11):
Oh, power bowl. Oh. Oh my gosh. So this is
legitimate.
Chad West (35:23):
And then they have, for happy hours from 4-7, Monday
through Friday, $10 Palomas,which are my favorites. Oh.
Ranch water margaritas.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (35:31):
I don't know ranch waters.
Chad West (35:32):
What's a brujo?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (35:33):
Brujo? It's like well,
I don't know what it is here. It means
witch, like a male witch. Oh.But I don't know what Okay.
Yeah.
But I don't
know what the
Chad West (35:41):
what the drink
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (35:41):
is. You kinda know what that is.
Oh my gosh. Okay. Omelette, eggs with
quesito, surface house salad,beef tenderloin, chorizo.
Chad West (35:50):
I've had the chorizo omelette before. It's it's
very heavy, but it's fantastic.Okay.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (35:54):
They have fideo. Okay. Here's the thing.
I'm not gonna eat all the fideo,but I'm gonna order that just to
see how it is.
Chad West (36:01):
I don't even see it. Where is that?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (36:03):
Up here. My mom used to make the best. Oh
my gosh. And so that's why I'mlike, I just wanna see how good
it is.
Chad West (36:12):
Let's get that. I will get this. So I'm doing the
Avena. Okay. And I want one moreof these teas, please.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (36:21):
May I have one of these teas? And then
may I also try some Fideo?
Chad West (36:26):
I drank it way too soon and it...
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (36:29):
Yeah. You can tell. It needs to steep.
Chad West (36:31):
Yeah. It needs to steep.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (36:32):
Oh, it's beautiful.
Chad West (36:33):
It's done so well there.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (36:34):
Wanna smell it.
Chad West (36:37):
You're gonna love it. It's worth coming back here for
this alone. If you like teas.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (36:43):
It kinda smells like horchata. Does?
Doesn't it? Well, because of,like, the cinnamon in the
horchata, but that's the same.
Chad West (36:52):
Looks like chorizo.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (36:53):
Oh, it's good.
This is chorizo with beans and then it
looks like some cheese. Ofcourse, jalapeno. Yep. This is
good.
Chad West (37:10):
That's fantastic.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (37:17):
That's so good. Perfect. Thank you.
Chad West (37:26):
Okay. If you were hungry, I think you're covered.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (37:29):
I was hungry. And so now I'm just
gonna, I think, pick from a fewthings. Oh, that's (fideo) so
good. It's like a tomato basewith I don't know if you can see
the pasta, with some pasta. Andthen sometimes people will put
(37:50):
different kinds of protein init. But this has avocado. It's
so good. And the magic is in thebase of the soup. And they they
have a really good one.
Chad West (38:05):
So it's made perfectly just like
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (38:07):
You have to have some.
Chad West (38:08):
So your your mother made that. Right? What do I
wanna try?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett: Anything! Have have any of it. (38:12):
undefined
Chad West (38:13):
I'll try a bite of your omelet.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett: Definitely. See, and I did egg (38:14):
undefined
whites.
Chad West (38:17):
I love it.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (38:17):
Yeah.
Chad West (38:19):
I've had this before, but not with egg whites.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (38:22):
Yeah. You said it was heavy and I thought,
well, I want the chorizo, but Ireally want the egg.
Chad West (38:29):
Really good. It's good? Really good. Mhmm. And
it's balanced out by the salad.I'm sure it'll help with that.
This place is really popular inthe district as you can imagine.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (38:43):
Well, of course. It's a what is it? A
Tuesday?
Chad West (38:47):
It's a Tuesday and it is lunchtime. Oh. But when we
got in here at like 11:30, itwas even more packed because it
was, you know, kind of thatbrunch
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (38:55):
Of course.
Chad West (38:56):
Lunch crowd.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (38:59):
That's great. Mhmm. Oh, it doesn't even
need the honey.
Chad West (39:06):
It doesn't, does it? I like it really sweet, but Oh.
This is the best cinnamon teaI've ever had. I don't say that
lightly. It's really good.
So a lot of the this is a reallyinteresting neighborhood because
it's Yeah. It's Bishop Artsneighborhood.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (39:23):
Uh-huh.
Chad West (39:24):
And what's drives people crazy in Oak Cliff when
it comes to overdevelopment isto see what's happened to this
neighborhood. You know, this isa typical Bishop Arts or the
typical street in Bishop Artswhere you see the development on
one side.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (39:40):
Uh-huh.
Chad West (39:41):
And then you could see up ahead where there's these
large Oh, yeah. Three storylooking townhomes, which have
zoned
Sarah Zubiate Bennett: Are those houses or apartments? (39:46):
undefined
Chad West (39:47):
Those, I believe, are townhomes.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (39:49):
Got it.
Chad West (39:49):
And then you've got your you're gonna go straight
all the way through thatstoplight up there. You could
see, you know, the homes thatare still here. So there's a
fear, justifiable fear, thatwe're gonna lose all this
traditional housing stock forapartments in the neighborhood.
But then you can see there's aduplex right there.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (40:08):
Yeah.
Chad West (40:09):
And you've got some existing, there's another one.
Oh. And these have been aroundsince before any of us lived in
the neighborhood. And thenyou've got single family homes
up here. So we have a we have aneighborhood association that
has reformed over here, to tryto help manage this density that
we're we're experiencing. Thiswas all zoned prior to my time,
(40:31):
prior to Scott Griggs' time, mypredecessor's time.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (40:33):
It's Uh-huh.
Chad West (40:34):
Been zoned this way. It got up zoned, which has now
encouraged the density that'scoming. This is a multifamily
home.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (40:44):
Yeah.
Chad West (40:44):
There are, I believe, at least four units in there.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett: Seriously? (40:48):
undefined
Chad West (40:49):
And it is very compatible with the
neighborhood.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (40:52):
Of course.
Chad West (40:53):
And beautiful. What I believe is a single family home
here. Mhmm. And then you've gota single family home here.
You're walking down the street,you wouldn't even notice it
unless you're looking for itbecause they're built
appropriate to the scale of theneighborhood.
This (ABC Party) is owned by myfriend Carlos de la Fuente. Oh.
So this is where you come foryour pinatas. That's the
leftovers from the Mardi Grasparade over there. Oh.
(41:15):
Birthday parties. The SaintPatrick's Day is coming up.
Yeah. And then Easter. Look atthis look at this preparation
for Easter right here.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (41:23):
Oh, gosh.
Chad West (41:25):
Isn't that great?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (41:27):
Oh, my gosh. People actually made
these? These are all stuffedwith real confetti for Easter.
Okay. That's amazing.
ABC party.
Chad West (41:39):
ABC party on Davis Street.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (41:41):
On Davis Street.
Oh, my gosh.
Chad West (41:43):
Some really cute little kid shirts in here.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (41:46):
Look at the little Loteria. Oh, my gosh.
Chad West (41:51):
I'm not gonna get the eggs because they will end up
all over my house. On Easter,I'm gonna get the eggs.
Aren't they cute?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (41:58):
Oh, gosh. Oh, the little tangelos.
Chad West (42:02):
Mhmm. Limes, lemons, raspberries.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (42:07):
And people come here and clearly,
that's why they're still here.And honey, mangoes, eggs. May I
have one pineapple, please?Okay. Thank you.
Chad West (42:22):
And this honestly, these oranges are better than
what you're gonna get it
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (42:25):
Of course.
Chad West (42:26):
At most grocery stores.
Coombs Creek Trail is downthere. This is a just, you know,
really beautiful part of KesslerPark.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (42:43):
Edgefield And Kessler. Okay.
Chad West (42:45):
Edgefield And Kessler Parkway. And so we'll take the
stairs up.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (42:48):
Oh, these are the Kessler Steps.
Chad West (42:50):
These are famous. So this was controversial to to
open these. This was city hasn'thad an easement. You could see
the remnants of the old stairs.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (42:59):
But it's so nice.
Chad West (43:00):
The neighbors love it. It connects this
neighborhood, which otherwise ison the cliff up here
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (43:04):
Uh-huh.
Chad West (43:05):
Top of a hill, has trouble. You know, they they
have to go all the way around toget down here, like, probably
almost a mile to get around.This one they usually have
working. They'll probably get itworking now that it's spring.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (43:19):
Yep.
Chad West (43:20):
So then you come up here and now you're on
Canterbury Court
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (43:23):
Uh-huh.
Chad West (43:23):
Which is one of the most famous streets in Kessler.
It's a it's like a kind of arounded street. There's there's
a lot of beautiful homes uphere.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (43:33):
Yeah.
Chad West (43:34):
Very historic.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (43:35):
The character. I know.
I know it's perfect. He's like right in
front of his sign.
Chad West (43:40):
Oh, yeah.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (43:42):
But it it is.
And you know what I like about this
area? It does not appear thatmany of these homes have been
ripped down.
Chad West (43:50):
No. No. They're long established homes. It is a
conservation district, inKessler Park, and and so if you
did take a home down, you'd haveto rebuild to some similar
standards.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (44:02):
Yeah. I wish Highland Park had that.
Chad West (44:05):
Yeah. Hey. What's going on? Hey. How are you?
We're just checking out theKessler. Oh, no. You're good.
Checking out the Kessler Stepsand this this this whole thing.
So Oh, okay. I wonder. Yeah.Well, we're trying to help.
Well, shall we shall we go toOdd Fellows?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (44:19):
Yeah. Let's do it. It's beautiful.
Thank you for showing us this.I've never been.
Chad West (44:24):
That's just a little secret gem in the neighborhood.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (44:27):
You are proud of where you're from. It's
just so beautiful to see. And Itold her, I said, I wish more
city council people were likethis. Who would who just had the
energy to showcase.
Chad West (44:39):
Well, thanks for giving me the opportunity
because, you know, we'reprobably showing places to
people that they had never evenbeen here before.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (44:46):
Correct.
Chad West (44:46):
A lot of people have been to Bishop Hearts. Yeah.
Actually getting out of thelittle comfort zone of Bishop
Arts and going to Jefferson, Iwish our western store had been
open because I think it's a gym.But but the Kessler Steps, I
mean, those kind of like littlethings, if you're not a local, a
lot of people don't even knowabout And what's really great
about our I love my district.One of the many things that I
(45:07):
love is that we do have theextreme wealth.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (45:09):
Uh-huh.
Chad West (45:10):
We have the we have poverty. We have everything in
between. Yeah. Everybody prettymuch coexists together pretty
well. Like, you can walk aroundthe Bishop Arts or Jefferson and
you see people from every ageYep. Every gender, socioeconomic
background. You see same sexcouples. You see couples of
different, you know, ethnicbackgrounds. Yeah. I mean, it's
(45:32):
just no one cares. Everyone'sjust do you. Yeah. You know?
Just do you. It's the Yeah.
Oh, my God. Look at this coming.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (45:39):
What's that? Framosas. Oh. Oh. Is it
roses?
Chad West (45:43):
Did someone else have one?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (45:45):
No. And they're much more. But that's
okay. You could give it to her.There's no alcohol in there.
It's refreshing. No. Oh, they'reboth delicious. They're both
delicious.
Cheers. Cheers.
Chad West (46:03):
That looks incredible.
Hey there. I'm Sarah Zubiate
(00:01):
Bennett. Welcome to Let's TalkLocal. Today, I'm sitting down
with Dallas City Council memberChad West, who's up for
reelection this May. We'retackling some of the biggest and
sometimes controversial issuesshaping up this year's city
council race, from parkingminimums and housing reform to
public safety. But that's notall. Chad is also facing an
investigation by the TexasEthics Commission over
(00:22):
questionable campaign spending,and we're not shying away from
that conversation. After theinterview, we're hitting the
town with Chad to check out someof his favorite Oak Cliff
hangouts, so stick aroundbecause this episode has a
little bit of everything. Let'sget into it.
(00:43):
So I just wanted to say, I'm sograteful that Chad West is here
with us today. I have receivedsome absolute hate texts,
messages about giving certainpeople platforms, and I'm just
absolutely sick of it. Becauseyou have always been very
(01:05):
gracious, and you're not someonewho's going to come here and not
be open. And on the contrary,you have been the person that
has said, ask me anything.Nothing is off the table. I am
willing to discuss anything andeverything and put my most raw
self out there, which is what alot of people aren't willing to
(01:26):
do.
Chad West (01:26):
Yeah. 100%. I mean, in this political world that
we're in, it's unfortunate thata lot more people don't sit down
and just have conversations.And, I think a lot of things
could be worked out with a phonecall or a conversation versus,
you know, an attack on socialmedia. And it's like, let's just
actually talk about things andsee where we can come together.
(01:49):
And most of the time I found I'mmuch more aligned with someone
than separate from them. Youknow? And so I appreciate you
inviting me on here, even thoughwe may not always agree on
everything. I'm just used tohave the conversation and and
talk about, you know, ways tomake the city better. I think
that's one thing we can agree onis we both want to live in a
(02:11):
city that's safe, where there'sopportunity for all, and and
it's dynamic and fun and I thinkDallas is.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (02:19):
Yeah. It it absolutely is. And while I
probably think that there's moreroom for improvement. But it is.
It's a it's an incredible city.
Chad West (02:26):
Mhmm.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (02:27):
I just want it to become a Mecca for
the world.
Chad West (02:30):
do too. I think internationally, we have an
opportunity. To I could go deepon this and talk all day about
the World Cup that's coming.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (02:38):
Oh my gosh.
Chad West (02:38):
Yes. In 2026. And, it's it's such an opportunity to
showcase Dallas to the world,You know, but there are
challenges we see every day,like public safety, of course,
our lack of publictransportation infrastructure
challenges. Where are all thesepeople going to stay? And these
are all things that we've got toaddress as a city in
anticipation of being on theworld stage. In in a way we've
(03:02):
never been.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (03:03):
May is election season.
Chad West (03:05):
Yes. Once again.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (03:07):
I know. I know. And you're in the middle
of campaigning at the moment.And I just wanna know, tell me
everything happening in District1. Tell me what, you know, the
last several years since02/2019, June of 2019, have has
been filled with.
Chad West (03:22):
Yeah.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (03:22):
And your platform. Talk to me about what
you're what you're dealing withat this point.
Chad West (03:27):
Well, so I got into public service. I mean, I've
always kinda had, like a lot ofpeople in public service, an
intrinsic desire to serve. Istarted off in the military,
that put me through college, andactually brought me to Texas.
And so I served in the military,got out. After four years, I did
my time. And a I'm a combatveteran now, and very proud of
(03:51):
that fact. And once I got out ofthe military, ended up going to
law school and then came hereand started practicing law. And
I was missing that kind ofservice aspect. So I got
involved with charity work in mydistrict and ultimately opened
my own law firm, started abusiness, and eventually led me
(04:14):
to public service again. And soI love it. It's the greatest
honor of my life to be able toserve my constituents, the
90,000 people that live inDistrict 1.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (04:25):
Yep.
Chad West (04:25):
And then the city, beyond that. The interesting
thing is in 2019, right when wegot elected, and I was elected
the same year as Mayor Johnsonand Carah Mendelsohn and a lot
of other folks, very quickly, asyou remember, we experienced
COVID.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett: That's right! (04:42):
undefined
Chad West (04:43):
That was a crazy first term for a lot of us.
That's And we were still tryingto figure out the job, and then
we get hit with COVID.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (04:49):
Yep.
Chad West (04:49):
And you know, you can't pick and choose when you
get elected and what happensduring that time. But it was it
was incredibly challenging. Andthen on top of that, there was
the killing of George Floyd. Andthe aftermath of public safety
that Dallas experienced. Youknow, we had the whole defund
the police narrative, which wasso prevalent, in politics. And,
(05:11):
and on top of that, all theother challenges of the city
that we just deal with on a dayto day basis, like housing
reform and infrastructure andjust the stuff that keeps the
city running, keeping our parksand libraries operational. So
then my fourth and final term,hopefully, no dramatics like
that in the last term. But youcan't ever count on it.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (05:31):
No. No. We can't.
Chad West (05:33):
We wanna but what I found in in six years now is it
doesn't matter in my district. Ihave extreme wealth in my
district, and I have extremepoverty. And I have everything
in between.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (05:45):
Yep.
Chad West (05:46):
A lot of families there, very very heavily
populated with Hispanics. Mhmm.And it doesn't matter in my
district if you're rich, poor,brown, black, or white. Mhmm.
Everybody values public safetyat the top of their list, and
infrastructure right there withit. So streets, roads,
sidewalks. And so living bythose core values and making
(06:07):
that better on a daily basis isis really what's important to
to, staying in office and todoing the best job you can. So I
look forward to doing thatagain.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (06:17):
And so in order to discuss things like pro
development, anti developmentstances, believe is It can be a
little archaic at times becauseI've thought, okay, if we do
truly want a safe city, a a citythat is going to be growing into
a Mecca of the world, these areconversations that must be had,
(06:38):
especially when you look at, youknow, housing affordability,
parking reform. That's somethingthat you're, right, a big
proponent of at this point.
Chad West (06:46):
Both of them. Yeah. Exactly. So, I mean, development
is the key to our propertytaxes, which then pays for
police, fire, streets, roads,libraries, parks, all the stuff
we value. And, so we've gotta bereasonable about welcoming in
development While still puttingin protections for
(07:08):
neighborhoods.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (07:09):
That's right.
Chad West (07:09):
And and for those legacy neighbors that have been
there so Of course. It's abalance, and you've got to be
willing to engage in thoseconversations. One of those is
housing reform. You know, we arein a housing crisis in the city.
And, I've taken tough positionsand I've created tough
conversations, that have made alot of people uncomfortable. And
it's put a target on my back andit's brought in political
(07:32):
opponents. But I'm okay withthat because if we don't jump in
and tackle it, it's Dallas is isgoing to turn into San Francisco
or Seattle because our housingprices are so high, people won't
be able to live here. Our ourworkforce won't be able live
here. Same with parking reform.And but the challenge on that is
I have jumped in so headfirstthat I have also not been
(07:57):
sensitive to the fear that itbrings from people who are not
quite ready for that. And whoalso don't have all the
information that we sometimeshave at City Hall. You know,
we're always playing likeinsider baseball and we've got
the studies, we've got theexperts there. And for folks who
might just hear about one thingI said in a whole lot of, you
(08:18):
know, five hours of talking atCity Hall, It can sound pretty
scary. And I've gotta do abetter job of that, of
communicating the whole picturewhen I'm jumping out in front on
a controversial issue likehousing reform.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (08:30):
So parking reform and and the
affordability. Talk to me aboutthe specifics pertaining to
these two particular issues.
Chad West (08:37):
Sure. Parking reform itself could be its own show. So
here's a I I think a fewexamples of how our antiquated
nineteen sixties parking code isimpacting businesses would be
helpful. So I have a I have notjust one, but two coffee shops
in one of my littleneighborhoods called Elmwood.
(08:57):
It's a great neighborhood, bythe way, in District 1. And very
cute neighborhood. The firstcoffee shop was not able to open
because they have the antiquatedparking code requiring one space
for every 100 square feet in thebusiness, including the kitchen
area. So really, you just wantto come in and get a cup of
coffee, great. But he had toprovide something like 15
(09:21):
parking spaces or somethingridiculous. And this is in an
area that's already beendesigned as car centric. Mhmm.
It is tons of street parking,but because of the parking code,
he couldn't count it. So youknow what he had to do to he
went to the Board of Adjustment,they refused his application. So
what he had to do is pave hisentire yard to park the cars
(09:43):
there so that he could open hisbusiness. So we ended up harming
the environment. You've now notgot green space out there for
people to sit, but his workers,who are the ones parking there
all day, are now parking on theconcrete in the house that's
this old house in DowntownElmwood. Just down the street's
another business. I think it'sabout 1,800 square foot, a
little, sandwich place. Theycan't get the proper CO to do
(10:08):
beer and wine or other thingsthey want to do because of the
parking code. The most extremeexample, and the reason why I
opened the parking code inAugust of 2019 was a very tragic
story actually. Just if you knowwhere Bishop Arts is, where the
street car stops at Bishop Arts,it's at the corner of Zang and,
(10:31):
Davis. Okay. Okay. Justsoutheast of that, there is a
CVS, and beyond that, there's avacant lot.
The vacant lot was this historiclooking old building, from the
Art Deco era. Two story,beautiful brick building. And
they want some some developerswanted to come in and do a
boutique 12 room hotel therewith a separate 2,500 square
(10:52):
foot restaurant with a poolcabana. Like very California,
right? And it was just soundedgreat. They're gonna restore the
building, the little boutiquehotel. Well, the parking code
required them to park each room,so that's 12 rooms, plus fully
park the restaurant, which is 25spaces. So 37 spaces on a third
of an acre, for this littleboutique hotel. Absolutely no
(11:15):
way that was gonna work. In thetime it took to get the variants
needed to do this, some, webelieve, homeless folks moved
into the building, set fire andburned it down. So it never
happened. That's exactly whythose cases, we need to update
the parking code, so that it'smore relevant to today's
(11:36):
lifestyle. The parking ratioswere created by bureaucrats.
They're still enforced bybureaucrats seventy years later.
Why is that what we're guided byversus what the market dictates
and what insurance dictates?
Because some of these insuranceand and, for for for these
different properties are gonnarequire parking. Financing, the
(11:58):
financiers are actually some ofthe most conservative on wanting
additional parking. In myopinion, and I think we are
aligned on this, is you let themarket drive it and then you put
in the protections necessary forthe neighborhoods. You know, I
led out front on on, advocatingfor removing parking minimums
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (12:18):
Yep.
Chad West (12:18):
And then instilling protections for neighborhoods
like those around Bishop Arts,like where I live or Lower
Greenville. Yep. One of thebenefits of eliminating minimums
is the simplification of thepermit process at the permit
office. City staff has said, ohgosh, multiple a dozen times now
that 60 to 70% of all time spentat the permanent office is on
(12:42):
parking code. Anticipating thator, analyzing the parking code
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (12:47):
Yep.
Chad West (12:47):
And then actually like putting it into paper. The
parking code is way overlycomplicated. Mhmm. We could
simplify it, even if there'sstill some requirements. Imagine
the efficiency we could get inthat office that would then
translate to it wouldn't take solong for for a developer to
build a house, maybe it'll beless expensive for someone to
buy it.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (13:06):
These parking costs are anywhere from
20 to $50,000 per space. So theninherently, I think, yes. So
then rent costs are being drivenup substantially. But again, I
always kind of go back to thefree market economic space of
allow the market to dictate itand the people who are industry
experts to determine that.
Chad West (13:28):
Versus someone who works at city hall who is well
intended but not trained in anyof that world.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (13:37):
Yep.
Chad West (13:37):
You talked to you mentioned, affordability for a
second on parking spaces andyou're right. On the wrapped,
product that's where there'sparking in the middle and you've
had to drive up like a concreteramp like the one here in your
building or even surface lotscost for a surface space is
8,000 to $12,000. It gets reallyexpensive in the $50,000 range
(14:00):
when you've got a bury parking.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (14:01):
Yep.
Chad West (14:02):
That cost is not just eaten by the developer. It's
passed on to the tenants.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (14:06):
Of course.
Chad West (14:06):
So if we want to focus on housing affordability,
we've got to think about that.The parking code as it's written
today requires, in base zoning,requires one parking space for
every bedroom. So if I'm asingle parent and I'm a I'm a
divorced parent and I have anapartment with a a bedroom for
my kids and one for myself, Ihave to have two parking spaces.
(14:28):
So they have to build twoparking spaces for me, even
though I have one car. It makesno sense. And that is, you know,
systemic across the city wherethat's happening. So we need to
provide a little moreflexibility for the market and
hopefully ease the cost down alittle bit.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (14:43):
Let's toggle over a little bit to
public safety. I know thatthat's vital and the most
important topic, right, ofconversation for your
constituents. Talk to me alittle bit about your history
surrounding the support of thepolice and your ideals
pertaining to this, if youcould.
Chad West (15:04):
Absolutely. Well, I've been very fortunate to have
a good relationship with all ofour previous police chiefs. You
know, I do remember some of thechallenges during the George
Floyd protests that we had inDallas and definitely learned,
just how tough their job is,throughout that process. We have
neighborhood police officers, inall neighborhoods, including my
(15:28):
own. I work with them on aregular basis and we just tackle
issues as they come up. Everyyear I have supported fully
funding the police, and I'vebeen very fortunate in my
campaigns to have endorsementsand support from the police
associations.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (15:46):
And and that for me is something that
speaks volumes. Because I knowthat you've come under a little
bit of attack saying, oh, he'svoted to defund the police.
Chad West (15:57):
Oh, happy to talk about that.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (15:59):
Yeah, please, if you would.
Chad West (16:00):
Sure. So there was a vote in, I don't wanna say, 2020
on the budget where severalcouncil members, reallocated
some of the overtime funds
Sarah Zubiate Bennett: $7,000,000, (16:11):
undefined
Chad West (16:13):
Thank you, to other public safety items. Now there
was that year, this is the piecethat's often left out of the
media stories. There was stillan increase of $8,000,000 in the
police budget. And all of that$7,000,000 that was reallocated
was put into other types ofpublic safety endeavors such as
lighting, moving civilian jobsover, stuff like that. When
(16:36):
Chief Garcia came on, he put ina lot more checks and balances
on the overtime. Before histime, we had really millions of
dollars in overtime that was notaccounted for. There was no one,
no supervisor signing off on it,in some cases no records. And
DPD had been given a pass onthat because they're DPD. If it
(16:58):
had been any other department,all of us on council would have
been eviscerating them. And Istarted to realize this, that
we've got to hold DPD asaccountable for their checks and
balances and their accountingjust like any other department.
So my feeling was, and my goalat that time was to hold the
money over here, have them comeback mid year when we have sales
(17:21):
tax additional revenues comingin, and then we allocate more
money to them, like we're alwaysgonna do, because all of us want
police when we call on them.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (17:28):
Moving forward, I know, you know, no
one at council supportedPropositions S,T and U, and I
know that there was a lot ofmovement that you all had
surrounding the opposition tohim. So now, two of the three
passed. Right? So specificallyrelating to prop u. Now, we have
(17:50):
to ensure that we have 4,000police sworn in.
Chad West (17:56):
Mhmm.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (17:56):
I understand the difficulties
logistically to getting there.Would you be willing to place
your signature and write aletter to Kim Tolbert supporting
actually devising a a thirdparty audit or recommendation
about what constitutes excess oradditional revenue to support
(18:20):
this implementation andadherence to what is now law?
Chad West (18:26):
I think what, especially proposition U showed
us, is public safety is a realissue for most voters. And, and
they take it seriously and theywant they want to see more
visible presence of policeofficers. I'm open to any type
of third party audit of the citybecause I think it's good to be
(18:48):
audited. I don't think we getaudited enough. And I chair the
Government Performance FinancialManagement Committee, and on
that committee we actually haveour internal audit, which is
constantly providing stuff. Likewe've learned that there were
some missing weapons from themarshal's office recently.
(19:09):
So these kinds of things I thinkare important. I think third
party audits are even moreimportant. I hate to give you a
political answer on this and nota concrete one, but I'd want to
see what the letter said. Theconcept though seems reasonable.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (19:23):
Okay. And then what about even their pay?
Their pay being competitive.Because that commission to a
third party study on police payto ensure competitive salaries,
there's been no movement. And IDo you have any insight as to
why it stalled?
Chad West (19:37):
I mean, we are contractually obligated and are
bound by the state as well on onsticking with the meet and
confer agreement. So I thinkthat any movement in salaries
should be worked with theassociations, Dallas Police
Association. Also you got to goto the fire, Dallas Firefighters
Association, and then the theother ones too, and get them to
(19:59):
be on board with these anysalary adjustments. Because
right now we're we can't legallychange that without going back
to the table and reopening thosediscussions. So it's got to
start there.
So for me, that's a non starteruntil we reopen, meet and confer
again.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (20:17):
And so kind of back over to the
allocation of the funding. Areyou willing to meet with your
other council persons who areworking with you, adhering to
the law now, in actuallyensuring that we have enough
bodies present?
Chad West (20:35):
It's not a yes or no answer, and here's why. I go
back to the meet and conferagreement. By us setting a
budget to hire a certain amountof officers, by us changing
salaries, we get out anythingthat's going to take us away
from the meet and conferagreement is going to cause
problems for us legally with thestate and with those officers.
(20:57):
So we're in a legal hurdleeither way here because of this
charter amendment and thepassage of it. So what the
city's doing, and I think needsto do better of, is try its best
to meet those, the intent ofProposition U by hiring as many
officers as we can and keepingthem on the force without
(21:19):
violating what we'recontractually obligated to do
already.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (21:24):
I understand that. I understand
that. I just would think thatsince it's now law, that there
would be a lot more movementthat had been made at this
point.
Chad West (21:33):
Well, pro both propositions S and U without
like you know, I don't want toargue about them because it is
what it is. But I will tellyou, like, both of them, the
passage of both and the samewith the marijuana one, right,
is is it is contradictory to alaw. Proposition S and U are, at
least in our belief,contradictory to contracts that
(21:54):
we're into. And the PropositionS about the waiver of sovereign
immunity is contradictory tostate law. And so it puts us in
this weird situation where we'reactually just spending a lot of
taxpayer money on lawyers. We'redoing that for the marijuana and
then that as well.
But for me at least, and I can'tspeak for all my colleagues on
this, I still think we need totry to meet the intent of at
(22:17):
least proposition U in hiring asmany police officers as possible
and keeping them. And and that'sa that's a winner for all of us.
Everybody wants that.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (22:25):
What about DART? Where are you
falling on DART these days?
Chad West (22:30):
As far as like funding DART, I I support
funding DART. It's if You and Italked about at the very
beginning us being a world classcity. And a world class city has
excellent public transit. Sosomeone mentioned this quote one
time, and I can't remember whoit is, but it's a city has world
(22:53):
class public transportation notwhen everyone has access, but
when everyone chooses to use it.So when the the rich people who
have cars would rather usepublic transit, you know that
your city's really made it.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (23:06):
Yes. And how do you think we can do a
better job in publictransportation?
Chad West (23:11):
Well, we need to fully fund it, you know, from
the sales tax penny that it has.And then secondly, I think the
lowest hanging fruit is goingback to parking. All of the
under parked, dark parking lotsthroughout the city that could
have, density on it. It's theperfect place for density. Most
(23:31):
of them are not nearresidential. There's some
exceptions. But a lot of themare are just kinda out in
different areas. LikeWestmoreland is a good example.
That's the end of the red line.And it's got factories around it
and parking lots. That's aperfect place for density where
you can put the workforce, theycan jump on the train and go to
downtown and work if theychoose. And don't they don't
(23:52):
have to worry about parking.They don't congest our roads
because they're on the trainthat we've already built for
them. So it's not building newlines necessarily right now. We
don't have the money for that.
But it's using what's alreadythere and actually putting the
density there away from theneighborhoods. Right now, DART
is affordable for some peopleand certainly the only way some
people can get around. And so Ithink it is a necessary part of
(24:16):
our infrastructure in the city.Now granted, there are parts of
the city you're only gonna beable to drive to. And that's
gonna probably always be thecase.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (24:25):
Exactly.
Chad West (24:25):
There's a lot of places, especially in our core,
where we should be continuing toinvest in it. For example, the
streetcar. There's the Oak Cliffstreetcar right now that's part
of the streetcar master plan,which is proposed to take it
around ends right now by theUnion Station. But the plan is
to take it around throughdowntown, connect it to in some
(24:46):
way to the M Line trolley where,people would switch trains at
that point. But enabling peopleto move through downtown more
easily than they are right now.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (24:56):
And I'm gonna kind of move over to
something that I believe, and Ido know for sure that that your
constituents have expressedquestions about. So right now, I
know that you are, and again, ifyou're not comfortable talking
about it, I understand. Butyou're currently being
(25:18):
investigated by the Texas EthicsCommission.
Chad West (25:21):
Oh, mhmm.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (25:21):
Regarding some of the expense reporting
right from your expenditures.What is your response to these
allegations? And do believe thisinvestigation will impact your
reelection campaign?
Chad West (25:36):
The quick answer is no, I don't. The second answer
is that these two allegations,and we can talk about them, are
both really for clerical errorsin the reporting. They're not
for anything wrong with theactual items. But the
inflammatory part of it is thatI was accused, basically it
points out that I spent money ina bar and that I spent money at
(26:00):
a bathhouse. If these The issuesthat were pointed out is that
these were gay establishments.I'm openly gay. I go to these
places. Yeah. If it had beenKing Spa in Dallas, for the for
the spa bathhouse, it wouldn'thave been an issue. If it had
been The Old Monk, as a bar inDallas, it wouldn't have been an
(26:23):
issue. In fact, that is on myexpense report. So the issue
that was brought up to me andwhat I think my constituents see
from this is that someone tryingto make it an issue that I went
to a gay establishment, whichI've never had that come up in
any political discussion before,and I don't think it's relevant.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (26:45):
So why are you being investigated?
Where did they find merit in...
Chad West (26:48):
It was a clerical error of how we what I called it
on the report, which was a thinkinstead of calling it like a
food and beverage expense, Icalled it like admission or
something of that nature. It wasreally just that, and there's
not really a punishment oranything once gets found out,
(27:08):
other than I've got to correctthe report.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (27:10):
Got it. Which we're already prepared to
do. Because I do admit thatthere were, you know, on a
report with So I treat mycampaign account, this First of
all, let's point out, this isnot city funds, it's campaign
funds. I treat my campaign likeI treat a business. If I'm
spending campaign funds, thenthere should be some benefit to
(27:32):
the campaign. So in bothsituations, these two particular
instances, I was with donors,and we were going to
establishments.
Okay. Okay. Well, that's that'sgood to know that you do not
believe that this will impactyour campaign at all. That's
great to hear, actually.
Chad West (27:50):
Well, I hope not. If voters have a problem with me
going to a gay establishment,they probably have an issue with
me as a candidate.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (27:56):
I mean, I would seriously doubt that. I
mean, I I would doubt that.Don't think it's an issue. Like,
people's sexuality is too For avery small percentage of voters,
maybe. For most of my voters inDistrict 1, they care about the
issues. What am I doing totackle crime? What am I doing to
support the police? What am Idoing to ensure housing
affordability? Fix their streetsand roads. Sometimes it's a very
(28:18):
just particular issue, like,they're speeding on my street. I
want it to stop. I have peoplethat will vote for me or vote
against me just based on I raninto one guy. He didn't like my
vote on Reverchon Park. Which isnot even in my district, and it
was a vote we made back in 2019.I'm like, really? And he said,
yes, I've never forgave you forthat. And I'm like, okay, well,
we have to sometimes, you know,you gotta put pen to paper and
(28:41):
make a decision that's notpopular to somebody. So a lot of
times it's very specific. Mostof the time though, it's more
general broad issues. And it'snot like what I've spent at or
where I went during the campaigntrail. I mean, that was a
inflammatory thing brought up bysomebody doing a inflammatory
(29:04):
video.
Did they contact you before theybrought that to light? Did they
say, hey, we foundthis and it's raised concern?
Chad West (29:10):
No.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (29:13):
Okay. Got it. Yeah. And and again, back to
kind of what what you and I hadtalked about. Even though you
and I don't always see eye toeye on how to proceed in some
manners,
Chad West (29:27):
Mhmm.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (29:30):
Having the conversation and allowing
that dialogue to take placeperhaps beforehand, right,
before any of it hits the head,I think that that is missing in
society.
Chad West (29:44):
I think so too. Like, if you wanna sit down at the
table and actually make changethis is what I've found in my
district for sure. The peoplewho are hyper engaged, who are
actually trying to develop thezoning our conservation
district. I'm very lucky in mydistrict to be one, very
fortunate to be one of the onlyconservation district that's
(30:06):
passed in the city, the only newone in District 1. I was happy
to be part of that process.
And, the neighbors who get inthe weeds on that kind of stuff,
I've got great relationshipswith them. My relationships that
are challenging to me, and Iwish it could be better, are the
ones who just blast me on socialmedia. Or instead of actually,
(30:26):
like, trying to call me on use311, get their alley fixed,
they'll just put, you know,something on social media. I
see. And that's fine. Like, wecould still work together.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (30:35):
Yeah.
Chad West (30:36):
It's just makes for a more complicated situation
sometimes because I've gottaalso deal with all that hype
that comes with it, instead ofjust sitting down and helping
you with your problem.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (30:45):
Tell me about this Forward Dallas. I
think you've made some remarksabout the Pepper Square
development. I mean, I know thatthat's not in your district. But
why are people so upset withyour stance on, I guess, Forward
(31:07):
Dallas and affordable housing.What is what is happening there?
Chad West (31:11):
What's interesting that I was painted by a few
people, mostly on social mediaagain, is sort of like the
poster child for densifying thehost city.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (31:21):
Got it.
Chad West (31:21):
At the end of the day, and I do want to come back
to that because I do believe weneed some general density in
Dallas. So I'm I'm not trying toskate that or or shove that to
the side. But at the end of theday, I ended up voting with
someone who's pretty much on theopposite side, or at least seen
that on social media, which isPaul Ridley. We actually worked
together on the compromise votethat happened at the end of day.
(31:42):
We need land use reform in thecity in order to move out of
what has been there for the lastthirty years.
And for us to actually have theenvironmental justice reform,
which we desperately needed forneighborhoods like Joppie and
Floral Farms who were redlinedand factories were put into
(32:04):
their areas. Without ForwardDallas, we would never actually
get those environmental reformswe needed so bad from the days
of redlining. It cleaned up alot of zoning, or a lot of land
use, guidance in the differentneighborhoods as well. Now
what's different about mydistrict than other districts,
and you've said this before,that it's not a one size fits
(32:25):
all, I agree with that, Is Ilive in an area that already has
general density. If you walkthrough Lake Cliff Historic
District by Lake Cliff Park orone of the gems of historic
districts in the whole city,Winnetka Heights, These areas,
you could be walking down oneblock and you have a single
family home.
Two doors down, there's sixplex. And it looks just like a
(32:49):
single family home. When I gotto talking to my neighbors about
what their concerns were withForward Dallas and with gentle
Density, the concern is notnecessarily, it's usually not,
oh I don't want a duplexer ortriplexer. It's I don't want
this big ugly box thing thatlike a cereal box construction
like we're seeing in BishopArts. It's more so the design,
(33:11):
the setbacks, where the cars aregonna go, these things that can
be regulated through code.
And for me, if I had notsupported the version of Forward
Dallas that I supported, itwould have made a lot of our
existing stock, duplexes,triplexes, four plexes, non
conforming. Meaning like inneighbors like my own Kidd
(33:32):
Springs, if a duplex was torndown, without Forward Dallas,
they'd have to build a singlefamily home in its place. We'd
lose a whole residence forsomeone if we didn't modernize
the code. So I had to, and Iwill continue to be an advocate,
for gentle density whereappropriate. And Forward Dallas
(33:53):
helped us do that.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (33:54):
Is there anything else, Chad, that you
want to add to this interview?Topics you want to cover that we
haven't touched upon that youbelieve are meaningful?
Chad West (34:04):
No, I think you've you've done a great job on the
questions. We we, you know, Ijust enjoy having this
conversation where we can diginto the issues and you don't
hold the punches back. I'm happyto come back anytime. Seriously.
Yeah. I know. Anytime you wantAnytime you wanna, you know,
tackle the hard issues, weshould do that. And, especially
if we get closer to election daytoo.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett: Absolutely. And I I wish you (34:25):
undefined
luck. I wish you luck
Chad West (34:28):
Thank you.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (34:28):
In this running.
Chad West (34:29):
Thank you.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (34:30):
Yeah. And, again, it's always a
pleasure to have you here, Chad.
Chad West (34:34):
Great being here as well. Have a good spring break.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (34:36):
Thank you. You as well. So Chad did
not shy away from the toughquestions in the studio, but how
does he handle the pressure ofpicking his favorite cup of
coffee or choosing his go tobreakfast at Oddfellows Let's
switch things up and hit thestreets of Oak Cliff to check
out some of his favorite spots.Stick around. You won't wanna
miss this.
Adorable!
Chad West (34:55):
It is cute. It's Xaman, and everything on the
menu is fantastic. So the abenais...
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (35:02):
Is that how you say it? Abena.
Chad West (35:03):
Abena is really good. That's what I'm getting. And
it's one of the lighter thingson the menu. But, really,
anything's good.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (35:11):
Oh, power bowl. Oh. Oh my gosh. So this is
legitimate.
Chad West (35:23):
And then they have, for happy hours from 4-7, Monday
through Friday, $10 Palomas,which are my favorites. Oh.
Ranch water margaritas.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (35:31):
I don't know ranch waters.
Chad West (35:32):
What's a brujo?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (35:33):
Brujo? It's like well,
I don't know what it is here. It means
witch, like a male witch. Oh.But I don't know what Okay.
Yeah.
But I don't
know what the
Chad West (35:41):
what the drink
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (35:41):
is. You kinda know what that is.
Oh my gosh. Okay. Omelette, eggs with
quesito, surface house salad,beef tenderloin, chorizo.
Chad West (35:50):
I've had the chorizo omelette before. It's it's
very heavy, but it's fantastic.Okay.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (35:54):
They have fideo. Okay. Here's the thing.
I'm not gonna eat all the fideo,but I'm gonna order that just to
see how it is.
Chad West (36:01):
I don't even see it. Where is that?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (36:03):
Up here. My mom used to make the best. Oh
my gosh. And so that's why I'mlike, I just wanna see how good
it is.
Chad West (36:12):
Let's get that. I will get this. So I'm doing the
Avena. Okay. And I want one moreof these teas, please.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (36:21):
May I have one of these teas? And then
may I also try some Fideo?
Chad West (36:26):
I drank it way too soon and it...
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (36:29):
Yeah. You can tell. It needs to steep.
Chad West (36:31):
Yeah. It needs to steep.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (36:32):
Oh, it's beautiful.
Chad West (36:33):
It's done so well there.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (36:34):
Wanna smell it.
Chad West (36:37):
You're gonna love it. It's worth coming back here for
this alone. If you like teas.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (36:43):
It kinda smells like horchata. Does?
Doesn't it? Well, because of,like, the cinnamon in the
horchata, but that's the same.
Chad West (36:52):
Looks like chorizo.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (36:53):
Oh, it's good.
This is chorizo with beans and then it
looks like some cheese. Ofcourse, jalapeno. Yep. This is
good.
Chad West (37:10):
That's fantastic.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (37:17):
That's so good. Perfect. Thank you.
Chad West (37:26):
Okay. If you were hungry, I think you're covered.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (37:29):
I was hungry. And so now I'm just
gonna, I think, pick from a fewthings. Oh, that's (fideo) so
good. It's like a tomato basewith I don't know if you can see
the pasta, with some pasta. Andthen sometimes people will put
(37:50):
different kinds of protein init. But this has avocado. It's
so good. And the magic is in thebase of the soup. And they they
have a really good one.
Chad West (38:05):
So it's made perfectly just like
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (38:07):
You have to have some.
Chad West (38:08):
So your your mother made that. Right? What do I
wanna try?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett: Anything! Have have any of it. (38:12):
undefined
Chad West (38:13):
I'll try a bite of your omelet.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett: Definitely. See, and I did egg (38:14):
undefined
whites.
Chad West (38:17):
I love it.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (38:17):
Yeah.
Chad West (38:19):
I've had this before, but not with egg whites.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (38:22):
Yeah. You said it was heavy and I thought,
well, I want the chorizo, but Ireally want the egg.
Chad West (38:29):
Really good. It's good? Really good. Mhmm. And
it's balanced out by the salad.I'm sure it'll help with that.
This place is really popular inthe district as you can imagine.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (38:43):
Well, of course. It's a what is it? A
Tuesday?
Chad West (38:47):
It's a Tuesday and it is lunchtime. Oh. But when we
got in here at like 11:30, itwas even more packed because it
was, you know, kind of thatbrunch
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (38:55):
Of course.
Chad West (38:56):
Lunch crowd.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (38:59):
That's great. Mhmm. Oh, it doesn't even
need the honey.
Chad West (39:06):
It doesn't, does it? I like it really sweet, but Oh.
This is the best cinnamon teaI've ever had. I don't say that
lightly. It's really good.
So a lot of the this is a reallyinteresting neighborhood because
it's Yeah. It's Bishop Artsneighborhood.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (39:23):
Uh-huh.
Chad West (39:24):
And what's drives people crazy in Oak Cliff when
it comes to overdevelopment isto see what's happened to this
neighborhood. You know, this isa typical Bishop Arts or the
typical street in Bishop Artswhere you see the development on
one side.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (39:40):
Uh-huh.
Chad West (39:41):
And then you could see up ahead where there's these
large Oh, yeah. Three storylooking townhomes, which have
zoned
Sarah Zubiate Bennett: Are those houses or apartments? (39:46):
undefined
Chad West (39:47):
Those, I believe, are townhomes.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (39:49):
Got it.
Chad West (39:49):
And then you've got your you're gonna go straight
all the way through thatstoplight up there. You could
see, you know, the homes thatare still here. So there's a
fear, justifiable fear, thatwe're gonna lose all this
traditional housing stock forapartments in the neighborhood.
But then you can see there's aduplex right there.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (40:08):
Yeah.
Chad West (40:09):
And you've got some existing, there's another one.
Oh. And these have been aroundsince before any of us lived in
the neighborhood. And thenyou've got single family homes
up here. So we have a we have aneighborhood association that
has reformed over here, to tryto help manage this density that
we're we're experiencing. Thiswas all zoned prior to my time,
(40:31):
prior to Scott Griggs' time, mypredecessor's time.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (40:33):
It's Uh-huh.
Chad West (40:34):
Been zoned this way. It got up zoned, which has now
encouraged the density that'scoming. This is a multifamily
home.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (40:44):
Yeah.
Chad West (40:44):
There are, I believe, at least four units in there.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett: Seriously? (40:48):
undefined
Chad West (40:49):
And it is very compatible with the
neighborhood.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (40:52):
Of course.
Chad West (40:53):
And beautiful. What I believe is a single family home
here. Mhmm. And then you've gota single family home here.
You're walking down the street,you wouldn't even notice it
unless you're looking for itbecause they're built
appropriate to the scale of theneighborhood.
This (ABC Party) is owned by myfriend Carlos de la Fuente. Oh.
So this is where you come foryour pinatas. That's the
leftovers from the Mardi Grasparade over there. Oh.
(41:15):
Birthday parties. The SaintPatrick's Day is coming up.
Yeah. And then Easter. Look atthis look at this preparation
for Easter right here.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (41:23):
Oh, gosh.
Chad West (41:25):
Isn't that great?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (41:27):
Oh, my gosh. People actually made
these? These are all stuffedwith real confetti for Easter.
Okay. That's amazing.
ABC party.
Chad West (41:39):
ABC party on Davis Street.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (41:41):
On Davis Street.
Oh, my gosh.
Chad West (41:43):
Some really cute little kid shirts in here.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (41:46):
Look at the little Loteria. Oh, my gosh.
Chad West (41:51):
I'm not gonna get the eggs because they will end up
all over my house. On Easter,I'm gonna get the eggs.
Aren't they cute?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (41:58):
Oh, gosh. Oh, the little tangelos.
Chad West (42:02):
Mhmm. Limes, lemons, raspberries.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (42:07):
And people come here and clearly,
that's why they're still here.And honey, mangoes, eggs. May I
have one pineapple, please?Okay. Thank you.
Chad West (42:22):
And this honestly, these oranges are better than
what you're gonna get it
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (42:25):
Of course.
Chad West (42:26):
At most grocery stores.
Coombs Creek Trail is downthere. This is a just, you know,
really beautiful part of KesslerPark.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (42:43):
Edgefield And Kessler. Okay.
Chad West (42:45):
Edgefield And Kessler Parkway. And so we'll take the
stairs up.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (42:48):
Oh, these are the Kessler Steps.
Chad West (42:50):
These are famous. So this was controversial to to
open these. This was city hasn'thad an easement. You could see
the remnants of the old stairs.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (42:59):
But it's so nice.
Chad West (43:00):
The neighbors love it. It connects this
neighborhood, which otherwise ison the cliff up here
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (43:04):
Uh-huh.
Chad West (43:05):
Top of a hill, has trouble. You know, they they
have to go all the way around toget down here, like, probably
almost a mile to get around.This one they usually have
working. They'll probably get itworking now that it's spring.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (43:19):
Yep.
Chad West (43:20):
So then you come up here and now you're on
Canterbury Court
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (43:23):
Uh-huh.
Chad West (43:23):
Which is one of the most famous streets in Kessler.
It's a it's like a kind of arounded street. There's there's
a lot of beautiful homes uphere.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (43:33):
Yeah.
Chad West (43:34):
Very historic.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (43:35):
The character. I know.
I know it's perfect. He's like right in
front of his sign.
Chad West (43:40):
Oh, yeah.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (43:42):
But it it is.
And you know what I like about this
area? It does not appear thatmany of these homes have been
ripped down.
Chad West (43:50):
No. No. They're long established homes. It is a
conservation district, inKessler Park, and and so if you
did take a home down, you'd haveto rebuild to some similar
standards.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (44:02):
Yeah. I wish Highland Park had that.
Chad West (44:05):
Yeah. Hey. What's going on? Hey. How are you?
We're just checking out theKessler. Oh, no. You're good.
Checking out the Kessler Stepsand this this this whole thing.
So Oh, okay. I wonder. Yeah.Well, we're trying to help.
Well, shall we shall we go toOdd Fellows?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (44:19):
Yeah. Let's do it. It's beautiful.
Thank you for showing us this.I've never been.
Chad West (44:24):
That's just a little secret gem in the neighborhood.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (44:27):
You are proud of where you're from. It's
just so beautiful to see. And Itold her, I said, I wish more
city council people were likethis. Who would who just had the
energy to showcase.
Chad West (44:39):
Well, thanks for giving me the opportunity
because, you know, we'reprobably showing places to
people that they had never evenbeen here before.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (44:46):
Correct.
Chad West (44:46):
A lot of people have been to Bishop Hearts. Yeah.
Actually getting out of thelittle comfort zone of Bishop
Arts and going to Jefferson, Iwish our western store had been
open because I think it's a gym.But but the Kessler Steps, I
mean, those kind of like littlethings, if you're not a local, a
lot of people don't even knowabout And what's really great
about our I love my district.One of the many things that I
(45:07):
love is that we do have theextreme wealth.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (45:09):
Uh-huh.
Chad West (45:10):
We have the we have poverty. We have everything in
between. Yeah. Everybody prettymuch coexists together pretty
well. Like, you can walk aroundthe Bishop Arts or Jefferson and
you see people from every ageYep. Every gender, socioeconomic
background. You see same sexcouples. You see couples of
different, you know, ethnicbackgrounds. Yeah. I mean, it's
(45:32):
just no one cares. Everyone'sjust do you. Yeah. You know?
Just do you. It's the Yeah.
Oh, my God. Look at this coming.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (45:39):
What's that? Framosas. Oh. Oh. Is it
roses?
Chad West (45:43):
Did someone else have one?
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (45:45):
No. And they're much more. But that's
okay. You could give it to her.There's no alcohol in there.
It's refreshing. No. Oh, they'reboth delicious. They're both
delicious.
Cheers. Cheers.
Chad West (46:03):
That looks incredible.
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