April 30, 2025 • 20 mins
In this episode of Let’s Talk Local, we dive into the issues that matter most to you—so you can head to the polls feeling informed and confident.
Tune in to our forum with several city council candidates, where we asked the questions that matter most to your daily life—topics like public safety, homelessness, and the rapid growth of the DFW area.
We believe that informed voters are empowered voters. So, we invite you to take a few minutes to get to know where the candidates stand. No matter who you support, your voice matters—make it count on election day.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (00:08):
Hi. I'm Sarah Zubiate Bennett. Welcome
to Let's Talk Local. Earlyvoting has officially wrapped
up, and election day is rightaround the corner, which means
now is the time to get informed,get inspired, and get involved.
The decisions made in thiselection will shape our day to
day lives here in Dallas for thenext two years. So understanding
who's running and what theystand for is more important than
ever. At Let's Talk Local, we'reaiming for record breaking voter
(00:31):
turnout this year, and here'sthe truth. Informed voters are
empowered voters, and empoweredvoters show up. Just a few days
ago, the Dallas Express hosted adynamic panel featuring
candidates from some of ourcity's most hotly contested
districts. It wasn't a debate.It was a real honest
conversation about the issuesthat matter most to us.
Everything from homelessness andcrime to development and quality
(00:52):
of life. Now while I can't walkyou through the entire panel
discussion today, I do want tohighlight a few moments that
really stood out, plus sharesome personal insights from the
Behind the Ballot interviewsI've been having with candidates
over the past few weeks. Solet's dig in. Let's talk local,
and let's get ready to vote.
Every year, the city of Dallasconducts a survey to hear from
its citizens, And year afteryear, the results? Practically
(01:15):
identical. People are asking forthe basics. They want to feel
safe. They want our streetsfixed. They want to afford to
live in the city they call home.These aren't extravagant
demands. They're fundamentalneeds, human needs, the kind any
tax paying citizen should beable to count on in any city.
Yet somehow, these prioritiescontinue to be treated like a
mystery by our city leaders. Soduring our Behind the Ballot
(01:37):
interview series, we brought incandidates from several Dallas
districts and asked themdirectly, What are you hearing
from the people you hope torepresent? What concerns come up
most while you're out blockwalking, meeting neighbors,
listening on doorsteps? Here'swhat they had to say.
Jose Rivas (01:52):
Every time they talk to me, it's about crime.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (01:56):
About crime.
Elizabeth Matus (01:57):
So I happened to stop at a just a Family
Dollar store right off ofBuckner, not too far from where
I live. And I just happened togo by, and I and I happened to
see the cash the lady that worksat the cash register outside,
and I walked up to her and Isaid, can I just ask you a
simple question? I said, is ithard to work here? How how safe
(02:20):
do you feel? And she just threwher hands up in the air and
said, I'm tired. And I said,well, please share with me. And
she said, well, we have peoplecoming into the store stealing
products on the daily. And thenthey call police, and because
(02:42):
it's not a super urgent issue,which I totally understand, and
I don't blame the policeofficers because we're, you
know, we need more officers tobegin with, and they're short
staffed. Of course. They run outwith items, they can't do their
jobs, they're concentrating onhaving to chase the person from
the store, and they can't work.
Machelle Wells (03:03):
Yes. I've done a lot of walk walking Mhmm. And a
lot of speaking, and it's thesame thing over and over again
that people don't feel safe.Yep. They wanna be able to have
children, especially the youngergeneration that has moved into
my district. And I've I'veliterally been told by a woman
(03:23):
that just found out, she's alawyer, just found out that she
was pregnant. And she said, Iwanna be able to have my baby
here but I don't know if we canstay in this house, in this
area. We have gunshots goingoff. I don't feel safe that my
kids would be running around.It's a big issue.
Bill Roth (03:42):
Overwhelmingly, people are concerned about
financial security. They'reconcerned about physical safety
and security.
They're concerned about theleadership and the direction
that the city is going, andthey're concerned with just
basic services. They just wannamake sure the trash is picked
(04:02):
up, the alleys are fixed Mhmm.And the potholes are taken care
of. Mhmm. And they wanna makesure that they can feel safe and
comfortable walking in theirneighborhoods and going to the
grocery store.
John Sims (04:14):
Everyone everyone is concerned about crime. The the
council is a nonpartisanposition.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (04:20):
Mhmm. That's right.
John Sims (04:21):
But when you're out block walking, you you meet
people that are partisan. And itdoesn't matter if I meet someone
that's that's a Republican or aDemocrat. Everyone cares about
infrastructure and crime.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (04:32):
That's right. It's how we all live.
John Sims (04:35):
Right. Everyone wants to wants to feel safe in their
home. Yep. They wanna be able togo out and shop and and hang out
with family, go out to eat, andnot worry about, you know, being
robbed, their car being brokeninto or stolen, or someone
watching their house. And whenthey leave, they run-in there
and steal their property. Socrime is is, across the board,
(04:58):
the number one issue that that Ihear from whenever I go out and
block walk.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (05:03):
Did you notice that pretty much every
candidate mentioned crime andpublic safety in Dallas as a
serious top concern? So at theDallas Express Forum, we asked
the candidates one key question.According to a poll the city
conducted in February, 55% ofDallas residents believe that
crime is a major issue, yet wedon't have enough police
(05:24):
officers to combat the issue.How will you ensure public
safety while addressingrecruitment and community trust?
Here's what Kendal Richardsonfrom District 11, Kebron
Alexander of District 4, andCydney Walker of District 7 had
to say about it.
Kendal Richardson (05:37):
We have to deal first with with the pension
issue. That's the number onething. We have to deal with the
corruption and the embezzlementof the money. We need to deal
with the people who have dealtwith that, that sat on the board
that invested the money inplaces and lost it. We need to
find out where all of that moneyis first. We have a bad,
(06:00):
reputation in collectingofficers. On TikTok, you have
other agencies, especially FortWorth, making fun of how they
stole offices from from Dallasbecause they don't pay
competitively, but until that,we're gonna go in for
(06:24):
negotiation settlements, butthey have to have a new image.
Dallas has to come up with a newimage and get rid of the
corruption.
Kebron Alexander (06:32):
I would start with allowing police to do
exclusive police work, and stopexpanding the requirements and
responsibilities of officers,where we have non essential
personnel who can respond to ahomeless situation, as an
example, and de escalate and getpeople the help that they need,
(06:55):
that allows officers to dealwith crime instead of being part
time social workers. Anotherthing I think we should do is we
should make sure that downtownis a place where people go to
work. When downtown thrives, allof Dallas benefits. Right now,
(07:15):
Collin County's benefiting, LasColinas is benefiting, Grand
Prairie's benefiting. We're notseeing those tax receipts, we're
not seeing those tax dollars,and the city of Dallas is
suffering as a result.
Cydney Walker (07:29):
Anytime that they would make an arrest and go to
Lew Sterrett they would be ableto return back to the streets in
two to three hours. Now it is anall day event. We need to look
at the changes that occurredthat are tying up our police
officers at Lew Sterrett, okay?If you've gone from two to three
(07:49):
trips to Lew Sterrett down toone, there is a huge cog in the
wheel that is slowing down ourofficers getting back out on
their beat. Secondly, we have alot of specialty teams. I would
like to evaluate if those teamsare really needed so we can put
more officers on the streetbecause people seeing the
(08:09):
officers on the street, they'regonna feel more safe because we
see them patrolling.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (08:14):
Now the candidates might have different
ideas on how to tackle crime andpublic safety, but one thing is
clear. Everyone agrees it's thenumber one issue facing our city
right now, but it's not the onlychallenge on the table. The
Dallas Metroplex is growingfast, really fast. And that kind
of growth brings its own set ofquestions like, how do we
support small businesses? How dowe create jobs that keep up with
all of this expansion?
(08:35):
So we put that question to thecandidates. Here's how District
Eleven's Bill Roth, DistrictSeven's Jose Rivas, District
Five's Elizabeth Matus, andDistrict Three's Jessica
Lightbourne plan to supportgrowth in their respective
communities.
Bill Roth (08:48):
This key to growing a business in the community is has
to be that we have to have afunctional city government that
makes it easy to get permits, tofacilitate the opportunities for
businesses to come, to expand,and to grow. And we've got to do
that in an environment that'ssafe and that creates a
(09:10):
significant priority forproviding city services, and it
also provides accountability forthe financial wherewithal of the
city. If we don't have a cityprocessing that allows for
businesses to proceed andprogress, we are going to have
difficulty growing the economicbase of this city.
Jose Rivas (09:32):
One of the things that I've heard from some of the
neighbors and or business ownersin District 7 is the crime.
Their businesses are beingbroken into constantly, and
they're not able to get anyresponse there. So, we've got to
deal with that. Aside from that,when we have development that
starts to come into District 7,you know, we give tax abatements
(09:53):
incentives, right? Taxabatements, we make we make
stipulation carve outs foraffordable housing. But one of
the things I'd like to see is asbusinesses start to come in is
that we offer that we offer anopportunity for hiring from our
local community, not justservice industry jobs, but
(10:14):
actual jobs that pay livingwages. And then lastly, the
small businesses, we need to dowe need to do grants. It needs
to be a more hands on approachfrom the city to help them
succeed.
Elizabeth Matus (10:26):
I believe that in order for us to succeed in
our neighborhood as as far aseconomic growth, we definitely
need to address the safetyissue. We're not gonna grow if
we don't have that in place.There are several businesses
like, they are saying they'regetting robbed and police is not
responding on time and that'shurting us. We've even I've even
(10:50):
heard as people even call it,they were asked, why don't you
bring a Chick fil A into ourneighborhood, you know, and have
money come into yourneighborhood? And the owner of
the Chick fil A said, no, wecan't go into the jungle and I
didn't like that. We're not thejungle. We're a neighborhood
that has people who work hard,people who want the equal
(11:15):
opportunities that every otherneighborhood has. So, unless we
address the safety issue, we'renot gonna move forward.
Jessica Lightbourne (11:23):
I tell people all the time, we have one
of the most beautiful districtsin the city of Dallas. We have
beautiful hills, we havebeautiful plains, just beautiful
trees, and the way, as a smallbusiness owner myself, the way
that we can help develop oureconomic capacity in District 3
is creating a platform for smallbusinesses to have, whether it's
in Red Bird Mall, whether it'screating farmers markets in our
(11:45):
district, because we are in afood desert slash food swamp. In
addition to introducing ourresidents to what's called green
jobs, and green technology,which is where our district is
moving, our city is moving, inthat space, and even urban
farming. Of course, we are neveropposed to retail and quality
restaurants, not fast foodrestaurants, but quality sit
(12:07):
down restaurants and things ofthat nature. But those are some
of the ways that we can alsopartner with, our chambers of
commerce to get businesses upand running and into those
spaces.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (12:16):
There's no one size fits all fix for the
challenges that our city faces,but it's encouraging to see that
this group of city councilcandidates has a real handle on
ideas tailored to theircommunities. Still, there's one
issue that cuts across everydistrict in homelessness. It's
something we simply can'tignore. In fact, a recent poll
shows that 75% of Dallasresidents believe homelessness,
(12:39):
vagrancy, and aggressivepanhandling are serious
problems. So we asked thecandidates, what do you believe
will make the biggest impact inaddressing the homeless crisis?
Here's what they had to say.
Cydney Walker (12:49):
Looking to put tighter controls on the homeless
population. I have been watchingthe San Jose Mayor push for
people well, homeless persons,that refuse services three times
within an eighteen month periodget taken to court, and they are
forced to go through theservices. One of the things,
(13:12):
with homelessness is sometimesyou could be trapped with the
trauma that you've experiencedthat has led you to get to this
place in your life. So one ofthe things is making sure that
we get people out of their ownway in order to become a
functioning person in society.So, we're gonna have to give
(13:33):
some tough love. I don't know ifeighteen months is too long. I
would like to look at that andsee, you know, somewhere between
a year to eighteen months andsay you're gonna have to
actually do something foryourself to get out of this
place.
Kebron Alexander (13:51):
There's no magic bullet that's going to
solve the homeless problem inDallas. With that said, there
are there's no single factorthat creates homelessness in
Dallas. There is substanceabuse, there's mental health
issues, there's not enough moneyat the end of my at the end of
(14:12):
the month, and then there arekids. Every homeless person
can't go into the same place forobvious reasons. That's why
we've got to share theresponsibility of the homeless
solution amongst the 14 councildistricts. We've got to have a
safe place for kids who 'sparents may have the substance
(14:37):
abuse problem. Those kids aregonna be different and apart
from kids whose parents havemental health issues, which will
be different from places wheretheir parents don't have enough
money at the end of the month.
Bill Roth (14:50):
There's plenty of laws in Dallas that allow for
the elimination of the homelessencampments that are plaguing
our parks, our neighborhoods,our intersections. We have to
enforce the laws. We have toarrest people that are breaking
the laws and help them accessand divert them into facilities
(15:14):
and into places where there'swraparound services to provide
them the help that they can get.There's 4,000 housing units
available that have wraparoundservices. We need to explain to
these folks that if they're notwilling to access those those
opportunities, that the citywill not tolerate, becoming a
(15:38):
haven for folks that are doingcriminal activities.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (15:42):
No matter what issue we're talking about
or what solution is on thetable, one thing is clear. It's
going to take funding to getDallas back on track. But that
raises a big question. Where'sthe money gonna come from? With
calls for more police funding,overdue infrastructure projects,
and major housing initiatives,we wanted to know how will the
candidates prioritize spending,and what sources of revenue or
(16:04):
savings are they counting on tomake it all happen. Here's what
a few of our panelists had tosay.
Jessica Lightbourne (16:08):
Already accommodating about 62% of our
current budget and that alone isnot enough. So public safety
will always be the number onepriority. When we're talking
about savings and how do we goabout saving, one of the best
ways to do is, one of the bestways to look at it is identify
waste and duplication. When weeliminate waste and duplication
from the services that weprovide, that's one way where we
(16:30):
can save funds. A second way islooking at public private
partnerships and potentiallycontracting out. There are
certain things that the city cando amazingly, however there are
other things such as makingcopies, that they're not so keen
on doing, and that's somethingthat we can contract out to a
FedEx or a Kinkos. So you cansave cost by looking at
contracting out certainservices, in addition to
(16:52):
identifying the duplication andwaste, in our city.
Jose Rivas (16:55):
Public safety is number one. We've got we've got
to address that. It's going totake it's gonna take more for us
to be competitive, to hire morepolice officers and bring in
lateral transfers. From asavings perspective, we've we've
gotta stop hemorrhaging money.So just in the last few months,
right, I mean, we we're losing$9,000,000 from a permitting
(17:17):
problem that that wasn'tdiscovered until last week.
That's 9 that's a milliondollars a month that we've lost
since that went into place.We've spent about $14,000,000 on
two homeless shelters thathaven't housed any homeless,
spent $20,000,000 on a on aproperty, that the city was
(17:37):
supposed to move into. We've gota lot of waste. We've got
$6,000,000 for the trees. We'vegot a lot of waste there, but
there are there are otheroffices in the city that need to
be looked at at maybestreamlining or downsizing.
Kebron Alexander (17:51):
We are not dealing with normal times or
normal processes. We are havingto have public safety be the
preeminent part of the city'sbudget, thanks to the HERO
amendments. So the question is,what are you as a citizen
willing to sacrifice in youroverall package of services that
(18:13):
everybody gets to enjoy? Is itgoing to be garbage collection,
sanitation, water, parks,library? When we when the rubber
hits the road, we've gotta makesome different kinds of
decisions and, oh, yeah, thediscretionary fund that council
members are used to having,that's gonna be diminished as
(18:33):
well. We're probably not gonnaget federal dollars or state
dollars, so we're going to havea $5,000,000,000 budget and less
money available for all thethings that we want to see done.
That's the reality of thesituation, and we've got to be
very clear eyed about what ournumbers are before we start
making any promises about what'scoming next.
Cydney Walker (18:54):
So yes, there is a problem with the data, but we
also know with the data that wedo have where we need to make
cuts. So we just recently had anaudit with Fair Park and saw
misappropriation of funds, andwe're also seeing that this
probably wasn't the correctpartnership to have with the
Fair Park. So we're gonna haveto start peeling back on these
(19:15):
private public partnerships andactually put in a private entity
that is going to do the work andstreamline the process and make
things more efficient for thecity and those of us that are
using the services. So for me,another area that we need to
look at is cronyism. I know wehave friends and they may do
(19:38):
business with the city, butwe're gonna have to really start
looking at who gets thosecontracts and who is actually
providing us with worthyservices.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (19:47):
We've got some strong candidates stepping
up to run for Dallas CityCouncil this election season.
And I know I've said this beforeprobably more than once, but
it's worth repeating. We won'tsee real change in our city
unless you get out and vote.Posting on social media isn't
the same as showing up at theballot box. That vote, it's your
power. That's your voice. So ifyou didn't make it to early
(20:08):
voting, I'm asking you pleasemake it out on Saturday, May 3.
If you're frustrated with what'shappening in Dallas, this is how
you help turn things around.Your voice matters. Your vote
matters. Let's use it. Thanks somuch for spending time with us.
If you missed anything, be sureto check out our behind the
ballot series. Head over to theDallas Express X account to
watch the full candidate forum.
Hi. I'm Sarah Zubiate Bennett. Welcome
to Let's Talk Local. Earlyvoting has officially wrapped
up, and election day is rightaround the corner, which means
now is the time to get informed,get inspired, and get involved.
The decisions made in thiselection will shape our day to
day lives here in Dallas for thenext two years. So understanding
who's running and what theystand for is more important than
ever. At Let's Talk Local, we'reaiming for record breaking voter
(00:31):
turnout this year, and here'sthe truth. Informed voters are
empowered voters, and empoweredvoters show up. Just a few days
ago, the Dallas Express hosted adynamic panel featuring
candidates from some of ourcity's most hotly contested
districts. It wasn't a debate.It was a real honest
conversation about the issuesthat matter most to us.
Everything from homelessness andcrime to development and quality
(00:52):
of life. Now while I can't walkyou through the entire panel
discussion today, I do want tohighlight a few moments that
really stood out, plus sharesome personal insights from the
Behind the Ballot interviewsI've been having with candidates
over the past few weeks. Solet's dig in. Let's talk local,
and let's get ready to vote.
Every year, the city of Dallasconducts a survey to hear from
its citizens, And year afteryear, the results? Practically
(01:15):
identical. People are asking forthe basics. They want to feel
safe. They want our streetsfixed. They want to afford to
live in the city they call home.These aren't extravagant
demands. They're fundamentalneeds, human needs, the kind any
tax paying citizen should beable to count on in any city.
Yet somehow, these prioritiescontinue to be treated like a
mystery by our city leaders. Soduring our Behind the Ballot
(01:37):
interview series, we brought incandidates from several Dallas
districts and asked themdirectly, What are you hearing
from the people you hope torepresent? What concerns come up
most while you're out blockwalking, meeting neighbors,
listening on doorsteps? Here'swhat they had to say.
Jose Rivas (01:52):
Every time they talk to me, it's about crime.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (01:56):
About crime.
Elizabeth Matus (01:57):
So I happened to stop at a just a Family
Dollar store right off ofBuckner, not too far from where
I live. And I just happened togo by, and I and I happened to
see the cash the lady that worksat the cash register outside,
and I walked up to her and Isaid, can I just ask you a
simple question? I said, is ithard to work here? How how safe
(02:20):
do you feel? And she just threwher hands up in the air and
said, I'm tired. And I said,well, please share with me. And
she said, well, we have peoplecoming into the store stealing
products on the daily. And thenthey call police, and because
(02:42):
it's not a super urgent issue,which I totally understand, and
I don't blame the policeofficers because we're, you
know, we need more officers tobegin with, and they're short
staffed. Of course. They run outwith items, they can't do their
jobs, they're concentrating onhaving to chase the person from
the store, and they can't work.
Machelle Wells (03:03):
Yes. I've done a lot of walk walking Mhmm. And a
lot of speaking, and it's thesame thing over and over again
that people don't feel safe.Yep. They wanna be able to have
children, especially the youngergeneration that has moved into
my district. And I've I'veliterally been told by a woman
(03:23):
that just found out, she's alawyer, just found out that she
was pregnant. And she said, Iwanna be able to have my baby
here but I don't know if we canstay in this house, in this
area. We have gunshots goingoff. I don't feel safe that my
kids would be running around.It's a big issue.
Bill Roth (03:42):
Overwhelmingly, people are concerned about
financial security. They'reconcerned about physical safety
and security.
They're concerned about theleadership and the direction
that the city is going, andthey're concerned with just
basic services. They just wannamake sure the trash is picked
(04:02):
up, the alleys are fixed Mhmm.And the potholes are taken care
of. Mhmm. And they wanna makesure that they can feel safe and
comfortable walking in theirneighborhoods and going to the
grocery store.
John Sims (04:14):
Everyone everyone is concerned about crime. The the
council is a nonpartisanposition.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (04:20):
Mhmm. That's right.
John Sims (04:21):
But when you're out block walking, you you meet
people that are partisan. And itdoesn't matter if I meet someone
that's that's a Republican or aDemocrat. Everyone cares about
infrastructure and crime.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (04:32):
That's right. It's how we all live.
John Sims (04:35):
Right. Everyone wants to wants to feel safe in their
home. Yep. They wanna be able togo out and shop and and hang out
with family, go out to eat, andnot worry about, you know, being
robbed, their car being brokeninto or stolen, or someone
watching their house. And whenthey leave, they run-in there
and steal their property. Socrime is is, across the board,
(04:58):
the number one issue that that Ihear from whenever I go out and
block walk.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (05:03):
Did you notice that pretty much every
candidate mentioned crime andpublic safety in Dallas as a
serious top concern? So at theDallas Express Forum, we asked
the candidates one key question.According to a poll the city
conducted in February, 55% ofDallas residents believe that
crime is a major issue, yet wedon't have enough police
(05:24):
officers to combat the issue.How will you ensure public
safety while addressingrecruitment and community trust?
Here's what Kendal Richardsonfrom District 11, Kebron
Alexander of District 4, andCydney Walker of District 7 had
to say about it.
Kendal Richardson (05:37):
We have to deal first with with the pension
issue. That's the number onething. We have to deal with the
corruption and the embezzlementof the money. We need to deal
with the people who have dealtwith that, that sat on the board
that invested the money inplaces and lost it. We need to
find out where all of that moneyis first. We have a bad,
(06:00):
reputation in collectingofficers. On TikTok, you have
other agencies, especially FortWorth, making fun of how they
stole offices from from Dallasbecause they don't pay
competitively, but until that,we're gonna go in for
(06:24):
negotiation settlements, butthey have to have a new image.
Dallas has to come up with a newimage and get rid of the
corruption.
Kebron Alexander (06:32):
I would start with allowing police to do
exclusive police work, and stopexpanding the requirements and
responsibilities of officers,where we have non essential
personnel who can respond to ahomeless situation, as an
example, and de escalate and getpeople the help that they need,
(06:55):
that allows officers to dealwith crime instead of being part
time social workers. Anotherthing I think we should do is we
should make sure that downtownis a place where people go to
work. When downtown thrives, allof Dallas benefits. Right now,
(07:15):
Collin County's benefiting, LasColinas is benefiting, Grand
Prairie's benefiting. We're notseeing those tax receipts, we're
not seeing those tax dollars,and the city of Dallas is
suffering as a result.
Cydney Walker (07:29):
Anytime that they would make an arrest and go to
Lew Sterrett they would be ableto return back to the streets in
two to three hours. Now it is anall day event. We need to look
at the changes that occurredthat are tying up our police
officers at Lew Sterrett, okay?If you've gone from two to three
(07:49):
trips to Lew Sterrett down toone, there is a huge cog in the
wheel that is slowing down ourofficers getting back out on
their beat. Secondly, we have alot of specialty teams. I would
like to evaluate if those teamsare really needed so we can put
more officers on the streetbecause people seeing the
(08:09):
officers on the street, they'regonna feel more safe because we
see them patrolling.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (08:14):
Now the candidates might have different
ideas on how to tackle crime andpublic safety, but one thing is
clear. Everyone agrees it's thenumber one issue facing our city
right now, but it's not the onlychallenge on the table. The
Dallas Metroplex is growingfast, really fast. And that kind
of growth brings its own set ofquestions like, how do we
support small businesses? How dowe create jobs that keep up with
all of this expansion?
(08:35):
So we put that question to thecandidates. Here's how District
Eleven's Bill Roth, DistrictSeven's Jose Rivas, District
Five's Elizabeth Matus, andDistrict Three's Jessica
Lightbourne plan to supportgrowth in their respective
communities.
Bill Roth (08:48):
This key to growing a business in the community is has
to be that we have to have afunctional city government that
makes it easy to get permits, tofacilitate the opportunities for
businesses to come, to expand,and to grow. And we've got to do
that in an environment that'ssafe and that creates a
(09:10):
significant priority forproviding city services, and it
also provides accountability forthe financial wherewithal of the
city. If we don't have a cityprocessing that allows for
businesses to proceed andprogress, we are going to have
difficulty growing the economicbase of this city.
Jose Rivas (09:32):
One of the things that I've heard from some of the
neighbors and or business ownersin District 7 is the crime.
Their businesses are beingbroken into constantly, and
they're not able to get anyresponse there. So, we've got to
deal with that. Aside from that,when we have development that
starts to come into District 7,you know, we give tax abatements
(09:53):
incentives, right? Taxabatements, we make we make
stipulation carve outs foraffordable housing. But one of
the things I'd like to see is asbusinesses start to come in is
that we offer that we offer anopportunity for hiring from our
local community, not justservice industry jobs, but
(10:14):
actual jobs that pay livingwages. And then lastly, the
small businesses, we need to dowe need to do grants. It needs
to be a more hands on approachfrom the city to help them
succeed.
Elizabeth Matus (10:26):
I believe that in order for us to succeed in
our neighborhood as as far aseconomic growth, we definitely
need to address the safetyissue. We're not gonna grow if
we don't have that in place.There are several businesses
like, they are saying they'regetting robbed and police is not
responding on time and that'shurting us. We've even I've even
(10:50):
heard as people even call it,they were asked, why don't you
bring a Chick fil A into ourneighborhood, you know, and have
money come into yourneighborhood? And the owner of
the Chick fil A said, no, wecan't go into the jungle and I
didn't like that. We're not thejungle. We're a neighborhood
that has people who work hard,people who want the equal
(11:15):
opportunities that every otherneighborhood has. So, unless we
address the safety issue, we'renot gonna move forward.
Jessica Lightbourne (11:23):
I tell people all the time, we have one
of the most beautiful districtsin the city of Dallas. We have
beautiful hills, we havebeautiful plains, just beautiful
trees, and the way, as a smallbusiness owner myself, the way
that we can help develop oureconomic capacity in District 3
is creating a platform for smallbusinesses to have, whether it's
in Red Bird Mall, whether it'screating farmers markets in our
(11:45):
district, because we are in afood desert slash food swamp. In
addition to introducing ourresidents to what's called green
jobs, and green technology,which is where our district is
moving, our city is moving, inthat space, and even urban
farming. Of course, we are neveropposed to retail and quality
restaurants, not fast foodrestaurants, but quality sit
(12:07):
down restaurants and things ofthat nature. But those are some
of the ways that we can alsopartner with, our chambers of
commerce to get businesses upand running and into those
spaces.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (12:16):
There's no one size fits all fix for the
challenges that our city faces,but it's encouraging to see that
this group of city councilcandidates has a real handle on
ideas tailored to theircommunities. Still, there's one
issue that cuts across everydistrict in homelessness. It's
something we simply can'tignore. In fact, a recent poll
shows that 75% of Dallasresidents believe homelessness,
(12:39):
vagrancy, and aggressivepanhandling are serious
problems. So we asked thecandidates, what do you believe
will make the biggest impact inaddressing the homeless crisis?
Here's what they had to say.
Cydney Walker (12:49):
Looking to put tighter controls on the homeless
population. I have been watchingthe San Jose Mayor push for
people well, homeless persons,that refuse services three times
within an eighteen month periodget taken to court, and they are
forced to go through theservices. One of the things,
(13:12):
with homelessness is sometimesyou could be trapped with the
trauma that you've experiencedthat has led you to get to this
place in your life. So one ofthe things is making sure that
we get people out of their ownway in order to become a
functioning person in society.So, we're gonna have to give
(13:33):
some tough love. I don't know ifeighteen months is too long. I
would like to look at that andsee, you know, somewhere between
a year to eighteen months andsay you're gonna have to
actually do something foryourself to get out of this
place.
Kebron Alexander (13:51):
There's no magic bullet that's going to
solve the homeless problem inDallas. With that said, there
are there's no single factorthat creates homelessness in
Dallas. There is substanceabuse, there's mental health
issues, there's not enough moneyat the end of my at the end of
(14:12):
the month, and then there arekids. Every homeless person
can't go into the same place forobvious reasons. That's why
we've got to share theresponsibility of the homeless
solution amongst the 14 councildistricts. We've got to have a
safe place for kids who 'sparents may have the substance
(14:37):
abuse problem. Those kids aregonna be different and apart
from kids whose parents havemental health issues, which will
be different from places wheretheir parents don't have enough
money at the end of the month.
Bill Roth (14:50):
There's plenty of laws in Dallas that allow for
the elimination of the homelessencampments that are plaguing
our parks, our neighborhoods,our intersections. We have to
enforce the laws. We have toarrest people that are breaking
the laws and help them accessand divert them into facilities
(15:14):
and into places where there'swraparound services to provide
them the help that they can get.There's 4,000 housing units
available that have wraparoundservices. We need to explain to
these folks that if they're notwilling to access those those
opportunities, that the citywill not tolerate, becoming a
(15:38):
haven for folks that are doingcriminal activities.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (15:42):
No matter what issue we're talking about
or what solution is on thetable, one thing is clear. It's
going to take funding to getDallas back on track. But that
raises a big question. Where'sthe money gonna come from? With
calls for more police funding,overdue infrastructure projects,
and major housing initiatives,we wanted to know how will the
candidates prioritize spending,and what sources of revenue or
(16:04):
savings are they counting on tomake it all happen. Here's what
a few of our panelists had tosay.
Jessica Lightbourne (16:08):
Already accommodating about 62% of our
current budget and that alone isnot enough. So public safety
will always be the number onepriority. When we're talking
about savings and how do we goabout saving, one of the best
ways to do is, one of the bestways to look at it is identify
waste and duplication. When weeliminate waste and duplication
from the services that weprovide, that's one way where we
(16:30):
can save funds. A second way islooking at public private
partnerships and potentiallycontracting out. There are
certain things that the city cando amazingly, however there are
other things such as makingcopies, that they're not so keen
on doing, and that's somethingthat we can contract out to a
FedEx or a Kinkos. So you cansave cost by looking at
contracting out certainservices, in addition to
(16:52):
identifying the duplication andwaste, in our city.
Jose Rivas (16:55):
Public safety is number one. We've got we've got
to address that. It's going totake it's gonna take more for us
to be competitive, to hire morepolice officers and bring in
lateral transfers. From asavings perspective, we've we've
gotta stop hemorrhaging money.So just in the last few months,
right, I mean, we we're losing$9,000,000 from a permitting
(17:17):
problem that that wasn'tdiscovered until last week.
That's 9 that's a milliondollars a month that we've lost
since that went into place.We've spent about $14,000,000 on
two homeless shelters thathaven't housed any homeless,
spent $20,000,000 on a on aproperty, that the city was
(17:37):
supposed to move into. We've gota lot of waste. We've got
$6,000,000 for the trees. We'vegot a lot of waste there, but
there are there are otheroffices in the city that need to
be looked at at maybestreamlining or downsizing.
Kebron Alexander (17:51):
We are not dealing with normal times or
normal processes. We are havingto have public safety be the
preeminent part of the city'sbudget, thanks to the HERO
amendments. So the question is,what are you as a citizen
willing to sacrifice in youroverall package of services that
(18:13):
everybody gets to enjoy? Is itgoing to be garbage collection,
sanitation, water, parks,library? When we when the rubber
hits the road, we've gotta makesome different kinds of
decisions and, oh, yeah, thediscretionary fund that council
members are used to having,that's gonna be diminished as
(18:33):
well. We're probably not gonnaget federal dollars or state
dollars, so we're going to havea $5,000,000,000 budget and less
money available for all thethings that we want to see done.
That's the reality of thesituation, and we've got to be
very clear eyed about what ournumbers are before we start
making any promises about what'scoming next.
Cydney Walker (18:54):
So yes, there is a problem with the data, but we
also know with the data that wedo have where we need to make
cuts. So we just recently had anaudit with Fair Park and saw
misappropriation of funds, andwe're also seeing that this
probably wasn't the correctpartnership to have with the
Fair Park. So we're gonna haveto start peeling back on these
(19:15):
private public partnerships andactually put in a private entity
that is going to do the work andstreamline the process and make
things more efficient for thecity and those of us that are
using the services. So for me,another area that we need to
look at is cronyism. I know wehave friends and they may do
(19:38):
business with the city, butwe're gonna have to really start
looking at who gets thosecontracts and who is actually
providing us with worthyservices.
Sarah Zubiate Bennett (19:47):
We've got some strong candidates stepping
up to run for Dallas CityCouncil this election season.
And I know I've said this beforeprobably more than once, but
it's worth repeating. We won'tsee real change in our city
unless you get out and vote.Posting on social media isn't
the same as showing up at theballot box. That vote, it's your
power. That's your voice. So ifyou didn't make it to early
(20:08):
voting, I'm asking you pleasemake it out on Saturday, May 3.
If you're frustrated with what'shappening in Dallas, this is how
you help turn things around.Your voice matters. Your vote
matters. Let's use it. Thanks somuch for spending time with us.
If you missed anything, be sureto check out our behind the
ballot series. Head over to theDallas Express X account to
watch the full candidate forum.
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