For the people who don't have a subscription to the Dallas Morning News and are having difficulty getting to the online version of the DMN Voters Guide for the Mayor of Garland race, here is what was published on Mayoral Candidate Louis Moore:
Age and contact information
Age:
71
Address: 313 S. 11th St., Garland , TX
Campaign or Work Phone Number: (214) 886-1009
Email address: louismooreformayorofgarland@yahoo.com
Web site: Answer not available
Address: 313 S. 11th St., Garland , TX
Campaign or Work Phone Number: (214) 886-1009
Email address: louismooreformayorofgarland@yahoo.com
Web site: Answer not available
Social media
Occupation/main source of income:
retired/investor/community activist
Education (include all degrees):
Bachelor of Arts in journalism, Baylor University 1968
Master of Divinity in theology, Southern Seminary, 1972
Master of Divinity in theology, Southern Seminary, 1972
Highlights of current civic involvement/accomplishment:
Since moving to Garland in 2000, I have immersed
myself in the life of the city. To run in this election for Mayor of
Garland, I stepped down after 10 years on the city's Plan Commission. I
am a former vice president and a current board member of the Garland
Downtown Business Association and am a founding board member and
president of Friends of Garland's Historic Magic 11th Street. I am a
former chair and board member of the Garland Salvation Army, was a
founding board member of Hope Clinic, and have been involved in many
other organizations in Garland. In 2017 I graduated from the Garland
Citizens Fire Academy. During that same year my wife, Kay Wheeler Moore,
and I received the prestigious "Who's Who in Garland Neighborhoods"
award, administered by the City of Garland's Office of Neighborhood
Vitality. Friends and relatives often refer to us as "Mr. and Mrs.
Garland" because of our love and work on behalf of the city. A citizen
and elder in the Chickasaw Nation, in 2016 and 2017 I was selected as a
"Diversity Scholar" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation
based in Washington, D.C. I am involved with the organization's effort
to see that the "complete story of America" is told through national and
local recognitions and citations. As an indication of our commitment
to make Garland a place where ALL CITIZENS COUNT, Kay and I are members
of Garland's NAACP and GAFHA Hispanic-heritage group.
Highlights of past civic involvement/accomplishment:
I first became acquainted with Garland when I
married Garland native Kay Wheeler in 1969. After living in several
cities (Louisville, Houston, Plano, Nashville, and Richmond), we moved
to Garland in the year 2000. Helping Garland reach its full potential
has become a passion of our lives. We have worked tirelessly to help
restore Garland's inner city as well as other parts of the city. We
live on the street where Kay grew up. That area today lies in the Travis
College Hill Historic District in downtown Garland. Only 12 houses
remain of the Travis College Hill Addition where the Wheelers once lived
and the Moores live today. Garland's City Council on May 20, 2014,
declared the Addition the city's first Historic District. The next year
the State of Texas awarded the neighborhood a Texas Historical Marker,
the first for a residential area in Garland. Then two years later in
2017, the U.S. Department of the Interior bestowed on the neighborhood
official recognition on the National Register of Historic Places—the
first time ever that any site in Garland received that distinction.
Travis College Hill is one of the oldest extant subdivisions in Garland.
It was platted in 1913 as part of an effort to "grow Garland" with a
new electric rail car line, the Interurban, that was to run between
Dallas and Greenville. The Interurban line never materialized, but the
remaining remnants of the Interurban Land Company's Travis College Hill
Addition are a testimony of that bygone era. Of those 12 houses in
Travis College Hill today, Kay and I own five and formerly owned or were
involved in the restoration of three others. Now retirement age, we are
deeply involved in seeing that the once-blighted Downtown Garland area
experiences a renaissance and becomes a model city for healthy people,
long-living seniors, and ordinary families looking to recapture a bygone
era when community pride, friendliness, and neighborliness—all of which
were once hallmarks of Garland—honestly described the area.
I have traveled to 49 of the 50 U.S. states and in 45 different countries on five continents.
I have traveled to 49 of the 50 U.S. states and in 45 different countries on five continents.
Previous public offices sought or held:
I have been appointed by Garland City Council to the Garland Plan Commission, District 2, for a total of 10 of the last 12 years
I've held no elected public office. I have served as chair, president, vice chair, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and committee chair on more than two dozen local, state, national, and international boards, including Garland's Hope Clinic, Salvation Army, and the Garland Downtown Business Association. I was chair of Mayor Douglas Athas' Task Force on Historic Preservation, which he initiated shortly after taking office in May 2013.
I've held no elected public office. I have served as chair, president, vice chair, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and committee chair on more than two dozen local, state, national, and international boards, including Garland's Hope Clinic, Salvation Army, and the Garland Downtown Business Association. I was chair of Mayor Douglas Athas' Task Force on Historic Preservation, which he initiated shortly after taking office in May 2013.
How much funding have you raised for your campaign?
Less than $5,000. I have promised the citizens of
Garland that I will run as frugal a campaign for Mayor as possible. I
am very concerned that city politicos told me before entering the race
that I should expect to spend at least $50,000 of my own money on the
campaign. I have no intention of doing that.
Who are your top three contributors?
Louis Moore (myself)
Matthew J. Moore (son)
Kay Wheeler Moore (wife)
Matthew J. Moore (son)
Kay Wheeler Moore (wife)
Have you ever been arrested on any misdemeanor or felony charge or otherwise involved in any criminal proceedings? If so, please explain and include the outcome of the case:
No.
Have you ever been involved in any civil lawsuits or declared personal or professional bankruptcy? If so, please explain and include the outcome of the lawsuit or bankruptcy filing.
No.
What is an example of how you led a team or group toward achieving an important goal?
Without any city funding, my wife and I worked
with our neighbors, the Texas Historical Commission, and the U..S.
Department of the Interior to place our neighborhood, the Travis College
Hill Historic District in Garland, on the prestigious National Register
of Historic Places. Travis College Hill was the first site ever in the
history of Garland to achieve this accomplishment. The project involved
extensive research into our neighborhood's history, the architecture of
the houses, and the current ownership of the homes. For our work, my
wife and I were nominated and awarded Garland's Who's Who in Garland
Neighborhoods Award for 2017.
Why are you running for this office, and why should voters choose you over your opponent(s)?
I listen carefully to those around me. I look for
common themes in what people say. I am a problem solver and a consensus
builder. I am a trained communicator who understands complicated issues
and can explain them clearly to the average citizen. I am a proven,
trained, and skilled leader with significant experience in management
and executive leadership. Garland faces enormous challenges that require
someone of my skill set and temperament to lead our city at this
crucial point in our history. Instead of going backward or marching in
place to the status quo, I want the opportunity to lead our city forward
beyond the impasse of recent years of political conflict and into a
brighter future for ALL of our citizens. During my work career I managed
multi-million-dollar budgets. As a trustee for the International
Mission Board, I worked with complex budgets of nearly $300 million
that are comparable to the City of Garland's budgets. I understand all
the various functions of the City of Garland and am ready to go to work
for the citizens of Garland as soon as I take the oath of office as
mayor. My goal is to make order out of the city's current political
chaos and to work with City Council to make Garland all that it should
and can be.
Length of residency in your city or town and, if applicable, in your council district:
18 years. My wife of 49 years is a Garland
native. I first came to Garland in 1968 when we were courting. Her
parents were active in the political, social, and and business life of
the city—and wonderful role models of citizen involvement. When we
returned to Garland in August 2000 to care for Kay's aging mother and
other aging relatives, Kay and I both had a deep desire to make Garland a
better community for all.
What current or former city or town council member do you most admire and why?
Former Rowlett Mayor Todd Gottel, who displayed
excellent leadership skills, vision, and clarity of purpose while in
office. He accomplished much for Rowlett during his tenure as that
city's mayor. I admire him for being a forward-thinking problem-solver
who knew how to work with people and policies simultaneously. Closer to
home, I admire former Garland Mayor Ron Jones, who is a "people person"
who knows how to lead and how to work with different types of
personalities.
What are the three most important actions you would take, if elected, and how would you advance them and pay for them?
1. As soon as I am sworn in as Mayor of Garland, I
will engage the Board and top leadership of Baylor Scott & White in
a needed conversation about the pain that wealthy corporation created
for our community when it opted to close our city's only hospital and
what the leadership of that influential entity sees as its possible
options for the huge facility that now remains mostly vacant and unused
near the center of our city. As a former trustee and committee chair of
another large and wealthy international Baptist Board similar to Baylor
Scott and White, I want to sit down eyeball-to-eyeball with that huge
corporation's top leaders and hear their plans for the future for
smaller, specialized facilities and hear how their plans will help or
hinder our city further as well as other nearby cities where they are
mulling plans to close other hospitals. Because of my extensive
experience with the trustee board of the International Mission Board as
well as other national and international boards of trustees, I believe I
am uniquely qualified to lead this discussion with Baylor Scott &
White. I will then appoint a citizens task force to work with me to lead
City Council to help our city overcome this great loss to our
community.
2. I will continue to work for political reform of our city—widening the tent of citizen involvement to include ALL of our citizens and not just the tiny handful of mostly white citizens who for decades have held the reigns of power in our city tightly in their grip. Garland, the second largest city in Dallas County, has a population of nearly 240,000 people who reflect the wide cultural and ethnic diversity of the DFW Metroplex. ALL deserve a seat at the table of decision-making and power in our city. Like too many Metroplex cities, municipal elections in Garland are decided by a handful of voters who represent only 2% to 4% of the potential voters. Even in this election all of the four city council seats up for election are uncontested—a not untypical pattern of apathy in Garland. Immediately after being sworn into office, I will appoint a citizens task force to study and bring forth recommendations for ways to expand voter interest and participation and bring into the seats of power ALL of our citizens, especially our burgeoning Hispanic population (now 39% of our population) which remains unfairly on the outskirts of citizen involvement and respect. As Garland's first Native American mayor, I will be uniquely positioned to lead this forward-facing movement.
3. To further involve ALL citizens, I immediately will appoint up to nine additional citizen task forces to study and make recommendations on the key issues that hold our city back from being the truly great city Garland can be. These citizen task forces will be empowered to focus on 1) what can be done to speed up the process to rebuild/restore our miserable streets, particularly the residential ones in older neighborhoods; 2) how to resolve the Eastern Hills Country Club redevelopment stalemate; 3) our long-delayed new animal shelter; 4) the slow citywide economic development, especially in our central and southern sectors; 5) our city's lack of a comprehensive plan for our growing homeless population; and 6) find a feasible and safe solution to the slow-grinding efforts to adequately fund our firefighters and police retirement accounts.
2. I will continue to work for political reform of our city—widening the tent of citizen involvement to include ALL of our citizens and not just the tiny handful of mostly white citizens who for decades have held the reigns of power in our city tightly in their grip. Garland, the second largest city in Dallas County, has a population of nearly 240,000 people who reflect the wide cultural and ethnic diversity of the DFW Metroplex. ALL deserve a seat at the table of decision-making and power in our city. Like too many Metroplex cities, municipal elections in Garland are decided by a handful of voters who represent only 2% to 4% of the potential voters. Even in this election all of the four city council seats up for election are uncontested—a not untypical pattern of apathy in Garland. Immediately after being sworn into office, I will appoint a citizens task force to study and bring forth recommendations for ways to expand voter interest and participation and bring into the seats of power ALL of our citizens, especially our burgeoning Hispanic population (now 39% of our population) which remains unfairly on the outskirts of citizen involvement and respect. As Garland's first Native American mayor, I will be uniquely positioned to lead this forward-facing movement.
3. To further involve ALL citizens, I immediately will appoint up to nine additional citizen task forces to study and make recommendations on the key issues that hold our city back from being the truly great city Garland can be. These citizen task forces will be empowered to focus on 1) what can be done to speed up the process to rebuild/restore our miserable streets, particularly the residential ones in older neighborhoods; 2) how to resolve the Eastern Hills Country Club redevelopment stalemate; 3) our long-delayed new animal shelter; 4) the slow citywide economic development, especially in our central and southern sectors; 5) our city's lack of a comprehensive plan for our growing homeless population; and 6) find a feasible and safe solution to the slow-grinding efforts to adequately fund our firefighters and police retirement accounts.
Where does the development or redevelopment emphasis need to be in your community – residential or commercial – and how has your municipal government performed in this area?
As an inner-ring suburban city facing
"build-out", Garland confronts a multitude of challenges in both
residential and commercial development and redevelopment. This is not a
case of "either/or" but of "both/and". We must develop and redevelop our
commercial as well as our residential areas. Our city is doing a good
job—but not as fabulous a job as some of our neighbors—of developing its
northern sector along the President George Bush Freeway. We are
struggling in the central and southern sectors of the city. We lack the
internal financial resources necessary to compete with nearby neighbors
such as Plano, Richardson, Frisco, Rowlett, and Rockwall. Consequently,
we must look beyond our borders to mobilize the assistance we need. We
can do this in a variety of ways: 1) aggressively step up our efforts to
find federal and state monies available to our community; 2) launch a
strong initiative to find and secure private grant monies available to
our city; 3) encourage our city and school employees and city leaders to
live in our city and fully invest in our community—not draw salaries
and produce incomes here that are invested elsewhere; 4) explore tax
incentives and other means to encourage our businesses and citizens to
rebuild their older properties; 5) look beyond our country's borders for
more international investment, including actively recruiting investment
from Mexico and Central and South America to undergird our
less-affluent, large Latino population.
What challenging demographic changes have been taking place in your community? What would your response be, if elected?
As I have already mentioned, Garland is a
multi-cultural community that needs desperately to engage and encourage
ALL our citizens, particularly our burgeoning Latino and Asian
populations. The faces of our city's political leadership are mostly
white; the influence and power of that community is disproportionate to
the city itself. We must work to see that ALL citizens feel they are
welcome and have equal access to the centers of political influence and
power in our city. Without using quotas, I would like to see the
political face of Garland change and reflect the whole city. As
Garland's first mayor of Native American ancestry, I intend to use the
power of symbolism and action to encourage ALL of our citizens to
embrace their city. I intend to invite the top leadership of the
Chickasaw Nation, of which I am a citizen and elder, to participate in
my swearing-in ceremony. I will invite the Dallas-based consuls of
Mexico, El Salvador, China, India, and other countries worldwide to
visit Garland and see firsthand the great resources we offer. Kay
Wheeler Moore, my wife and Garland's future First Lady, and I love to
entertain in our home in historic Garland. As we have in the past, we
will continue to formally entertain people of all cultures, races and
religions in our home—as symbolic role-modeling of the relationships
that need to develop all across our community. We need symbolically and
in reality to tear down the walls that divide us and open up avenues to
unite our city racially and culturally. I personally am deeply committed
to racial reconciliation within our city.
Please assess your community’s crime picture and what, if anything, you would try to improve or change.
As a city we take great pride that the first
terrorist assault on American soil since 9/11 was quickly put down by
our fast-thinking and acting police force. At the same time, while the
city maintains crime in Garland remains low, recent murders in or near
several of our parks has some of our citizens on edge. As Garland's
mayor, I fully realize I must work between those two extremes of pride
and fear. We must neither sweep the issues of crime under the rug and
pretend they don't exist nor overreact to a few specific events and
believe the sky is falling on our heads. I strongly support our Garland
Police. I have many friends within the police department and have great
confidence in our police force. However, if mistakes are made, I will
call them out immediately on it. With the threats to police nationwide, I
will fully support whatever means are necessary to continue to recruit
the finest men and women available for service to our community. I also
realize the city must continue to fund our police department at the
levels that keep our citizens as safe as possible. Criminal activity in
our city's parks, particularly those in the central and southern
sectors, is a matter of concern to many of our citizens. I will lead our
city to explore what is necessary to immediately alleviate this concern
and how to address this matter long term. This may be a separate parks
police department, a division within our existing police department, or a
specialized "Citizens on Patrol" arrangement whereby certified citizens
monitor and protect our parks.
Does your city or town deliver services in the most cost-effective manner? Please be specific about improvements you would advocate.
I am the only candidate for mayor with extensive
management and executive training and experience. In fact, I have
managed at one time 96 employees, which is more people than all the
current city council members and candidates combined have done. I will
utilize the skills I learned in management and leadership training to
assist wherever feasible and possible to help the City Manager operate
in the most cost-effective way possible. Cost efficiency is a major
issue for businesses and needs to be a great concern to our city staff.
As anyone with business experience knows, delivering city services in the most cost-effective manner possible can be an elusive target. Technology is changing our world rapidly. Yesterday's cost-effectiveness can be today's wastefulness. Garland must continually reexamine everything it does, to ask whether each service can be done better and more cost-efficiently in a different way. I want our city to strive for excellence in all things. The truth is, we are not doing that now in all areas. Despite having more than doubled our streets budget in recent years and created a somewhat successful communications network between citizens and the streets department, our citizens remain almost universally convinced that the vast majority of our streets are in sad shape. And promises that everything can be fixed just within 10 to 20 years do not satisfy our people. As many senior citizens say about that situation, "I'll be dead by then." We must find a better way to approach street repair and replacement—and quickly. I will work with Council to find that solution. All options must be on the table! Among my planned new citizen task forces will be one to address the deplorable condition of our streets. Unlike what happened with the last citizens task force on streets, if the recommendations are reasonable (which I expect them to be) I will support the recommendations this group makes.
Another troubling area for our city is the parks department. Some of our older parks in central and south Garland are in deplorable condition. Some verge on crisis condition. I will work with City Council and our Parks Department to find ways to improve and upgrade our overall parks system. Garland often operates in the "silo mentality" whereby each city department and city entity operates mostly autonomously from one another. This sometimes creates duplication of services. Some cities in the Western states have adopted an integrated plan whereby, for instance, police and fire stations are situated in parks or other city venues as a deterrent to crime and creating a more secure feeling for their citizens. I will work with the City manager to eliminate these overlaps and help refashion a system of teamwork and sharing of information, technology, and services, rather than in individual "silos".
As anyone with business experience knows, delivering city services in the most cost-effective manner possible can be an elusive target. Technology is changing our world rapidly. Yesterday's cost-effectiveness can be today's wastefulness. Garland must continually reexamine everything it does, to ask whether each service can be done better and more cost-efficiently in a different way. I want our city to strive for excellence in all things. The truth is, we are not doing that now in all areas. Despite having more than doubled our streets budget in recent years and created a somewhat successful communications network between citizens and the streets department, our citizens remain almost universally convinced that the vast majority of our streets are in sad shape. And promises that everything can be fixed just within 10 to 20 years do not satisfy our people. As many senior citizens say about that situation, "I'll be dead by then." We must find a better way to approach street repair and replacement—and quickly. I will work with Council to find that solution. All options must be on the table! Among my planned new citizen task forces will be one to address the deplorable condition of our streets. Unlike what happened with the last citizens task force on streets, if the recommendations are reasonable (which I expect them to be) I will support the recommendations this group makes.
Another troubling area for our city is the parks department. Some of our older parks in central and south Garland are in deplorable condition. Some verge on crisis condition. I will work with City Council and our Parks Department to find ways to improve and upgrade our overall parks system. Garland often operates in the "silo mentality" whereby each city department and city entity operates mostly autonomously from one another. This sometimes creates duplication of services. Some cities in the Western states have adopted an integrated plan whereby, for instance, police and fire stations are situated in parks or other city venues as a deterrent to crime and creating a more secure feeling for their citizens. I will work with the City manager to eliminate these overlaps and help refashion a system of teamwork and sharing of information, technology, and services, rather than in individual "silos".
Please assess the property taxes levied by your city or town and whether it has the right balance between residential and commercial base. Would you take any initiatives in this area?
Garland has a strong manufacturing base. We also
have a strong business base though many of our shopping centers and
areas are dated and need development or redevelopment. Like most
communities today, we are uncertain where our retail base will be in 10
years. Amazon, Walmart, and the Internet are reshaping our universe for
us in this regard. We also have a lot of empty buildings particularly
in south Garland along the First Street/Broadway corridor. Except for
Firewheel Mall, our retail often lacks the pizazz and attractiveness of
other nearby cities. This can be addressed somewhat by implementing a
facade program whereby the city works with building owners to provide
incentives and other ways to beautify and modernize storefronts.
Our housing stock presents its own unique challenge. Except for the larger historic homes in the downtown area, Garland has an overabundance of small homes on decently-sized lots that are growing old and need massive help comparable to a facade program for retail businesses.
Our housing stock presents its own unique challenge. Except for the larger historic homes in the downtown area, Garland has an overabundance of small homes on decently-sized lots that are growing old and need massive help comparable to a facade program for retail businesses.
How would you improve the quality of life in your city or town and, if appropriate, pay for any added programs?
Overall Garland at this point in time has a low
self-image brought about by the recent loss of its only hospital, its
high poverty rate, economic/geographic/racial polarization, benign
neglect of too many important issues such as the condition of its parks
and failure to develop a plan for a new animal shelter, way too much
internal political squabbling and lack of clear focus in our city
government, the poor condition of our main arteries as well as our
residential streets (especially the dreadfully slow progress in
addressing our residential streets). Because Garland is not a wealthy
city, our community desperately needs to look beyond its borders for
federal, state and private financial sources to rebuild our
infrastructure, create institutions that inspire our people, and give
the city hope for the future. Since we have no one person or office
specifically set up to target available federal, state, county, and
private grant money, I will work with the city manager to set up such an
office. It must produce more funds for Garland than it costs the city.
Our city's quality of life can only be improved by addressing directly
the issues that hold us back. Pollyanna talk—without addressing the
heart of each issue and finding solutions for each of them—is no way for
the 87th-largest city in the U.S. and the 12th-largest city in Texas to
actually improve the quality of life for ALL of our citizens.
Please rate the transparency of decision-making in your city or town hall.
While the Garland City Manager's office
frequently receives accolades from various professional organizations
for transparency in finances and bookkeeping, the city's overall
political process involving decision-making in our city remains too
veiled. The positive side of the recent series of embarrassing public
spats on Garland City Council has actually brought some issues from
darkness to light. It is unfortunate that it has taken much
contentiousness to do this. Our city government including our current
mayor and our current city council members desperately need to be more
transparent with citizens about all that is occurring. Too much emphasis
is placed on "positive spin" rather than "facing reality." Far too much
goes on "behind the scenes" instead of out in the open of bright
sunlight. Our key un-elected city power brokers tend toward darkness
instead of light. One of my gravest concerns is the political process
which discourages elections, is tilted toward keeping incumbents in
office and values silence rather than healthy public discussion. Issues
need to be discussed in front of and with citizens—not obliquely behind
closed doors. I am very grateful that I have two peers who are running
against me in this mayor's election. Open discussion, transparent
politics, and honest review will benefit our city far more than will
behind-the-scenes political manipulation which works to keep more than
one person on the ballot for each city race. I deeply regret that for
whatever reason all four of our city council seats up for election have
only one candidate for each race and city council has already declared
three to be the winners even before the official election date. That's
no way to run a democracy or a city. As someone once said, "Democracy is
a messy system, but it is the best system we have." At the very least,
city council needs to immediately cease its hypocritical process
whereby citizens are encouraged through whatever means necessary not to
challenge incumbents, elections are canceled, and council members are
declared victors without an actual physical election with their names
showing up on ballots for citizens to mark. Even in county, state, and
national elections, citizens have the opportunity to decide whether to
vote for a candidate who has no opponent. Only in city elections does
this NOT occur. The pretext that this policy saves money is a sham and
needs to be called out for what it is.
What is an uncomfortable truth about your city or town that voters must confront?
This city of nearly 240,000 multicultural (39%
Latino; 33% Anglo/white; 13.5% African-American, 10.5% Asian-American)
people is controlled by a a small group of mostly white citizens who
deliberately work to keep city elections few and far between. This year
all four of our council seats are uncontested and City Council has
already voted to declare three white individuals who filed unopposed as
the winners. For a few brief weeks, the fourth council seat up for
election was contested, but on March 23, one of the two contestants
ceased campaigning. The winner is a white female. Most likely our next
city council will include one Latino, no African-Americans, no Asian
Americans, and at least seven whites. Only the mayor's race this year is
contested. If I am elected mayor, that means council will include one
person of Native American heritage; If I am not elected, the number of
whites on council will likely grow to eight.
Sadly, our Garland ISD school board is no different from the city. It includes no Latinos and no Asian-Americans, but two African-American—and the rest white. The two school-board seats up for election this year are also uncontested.
Sadly, some try to spin the lack of contested races as somehow indicative of public support for the council and its actions. That's not what I am hearing from citizens across the city. Our citizens are embarrassed and frustrated with our city government and want a change that addresses honestly the issues and works to find the right solutions.
Most of the city's boards and commissions are the same way, with the exception of its Multicultural Commission, which showcases the city's diversity.
The turnout for city elections is pitiful. Anywhere from 2 to 4 percent of the population actually votes in municipal elections. Elections are determined by a tiny handful of citizens—often less than 50 or fewer votes. In the last mayoral election a year ago only 4,400 people out of more than 120,000 registered voters cast ballots in that election.
Myths abound that the minority groups do not vote. That's not true; they do. The problem is in a shortage of qualified candidates with sufficient experience to make good council members and mayors. The uncomfortable truth is that every one of us in this mayor's race and every one on council, and everyone involved in city government in any way needs to take this issue seriously and work diligently and strategically to overcome these two very dangerous realities for our democratic government.
We need a higher voter turnout for elections. We need the face of our government to reflect the diversity of our community. Neither is happening right now. We as a community need to work together to change these realities.
Sadly, our Garland ISD school board is no different from the city. It includes no Latinos and no Asian-Americans, but two African-American—and the rest white. The two school-board seats up for election this year are also uncontested.
Sadly, some try to spin the lack of contested races as somehow indicative of public support for the council and its actions. That's not what I am hearing from citizens across the city. Our citizens are embarrassed and frustrated with our city government and want a change that addresses honestly the issues and works to find the right solutions.
Most of the city's boards and commissions are the same way, with the exception of its Multicultural Commission, which showcases the city's diversity.
The turnout for city elections is pitiful. Anywhere from 2 to 4 percent of the population actually votes in municipal elections. Elections are determined by a tiny handful of citizens—often less than 50 or fewer votes. In the last mayoral election a year ago only 4,400 people out of more than 120,000 registered voters cast ballots in that election.
Myths abound that the minority groups do not vote. That's not true; they do. The problem is in a shortage of qualified candidates with sufficient experience to make good council members and mayors. The uncomfortable truth is that every one of us in this mayor's race and every one on council, and everyone involved in city government in any way needs to take this issue seriously and work diligently and strategically to overcome these two very dangerous realities for our democratic government.
We need a higher voter turnout for elections. We need the face of our government to reflect the diversity of our community. Neither is happening right now. We as a community need to work together to change these realities.
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