Chad West: Know your Metropolis Council candidates

Chad West gained election to Dallas Town Council in 2019 and is functioning for reelection.

He is an attorney and small-business owner who lives in Oak Cliff.

Oak Cliff neighbors count on transparency and accountability at City Hall, and given that being elected to provide the resident of District 1, I have advocated for accountability and transparency at City Corridor and labored to maintain the fabric of our neighborhoods.  I am committed to giving inhabitants and business people the resources they have to have to succeed, ensuring that our various neighborhoods and historic structures are safeguarded and cherished, and making certain that possibilities, schooling, and city solutions are equitable.

How would you like to see Dallas improve in the following 10 years?

Several worthy ambitions for the subsequent 10 decades for our metropolis involve, in no certain purchase:

Preserve neighborhoods that are at danger of displacement/enhancement by continuing to present incentives to homeowners to make it possible for them to continue to be in their houses, despite rising house values.
Minimize violent crime by 20-30%, dependent on local community-pushed initiatives, Suitable Care, and a strong public safety software.
Green up the city by means of increased tree canopy coverage and enlargement of parks and trails. Connecting the Dallas Circuit Trail, The Loop.
Stop homelessness in the city by means of robust housing initiatives and wrap-about companies.
Enhance economic development options in South Dallas and Oak Cliff, together with activating the Oak Farms internet site with a DISD carrying out arts facility and a walkable community.
Finalize and publish modernized land use ideas for the whole city, such as finalization of the West Oak Cliff Location Strategy in late 2021.
Convert Downtown Dallas, primarily our central small business district, into a spot the place enterprises and people today want to dwell, operate and play, including reconnecting the grid by burying I-345.
Protected sizeable events from the Entire world Cup 2026 in Dallas-Fort Really worth, and specially in the Town of Dallas.
Set better preparedness actions in position for normal disasters, this sort of as the ice storm.
Make certain that everybody in the Metropolis who desires to be connected to WiFi has the skill to do so.

What do you believe Dallas did suitable in the final decade?

Passage of the Comprehensive Housing Plan, construction of the Dallas Streetcar in Oak Cliff, the establishment of R.E.A.L. alter in DPD although nevertheless totally funding the law enforcement drive, supporting efforts of the Meadows Foundation and many others in starting off the process to alter the trend in homelessness for Dallas, increased aim on financial development in southern Dallas by way of Improve South, bigger target on historic preservation via the generation of the Workplace of Historic Preservation, equitable funding toward parks and trails through the City.

Give the recent Metropolis Council a compliment sandwich:

Title some thing they’ve accomplished proper.

In December 2020, the Town of Dallas utilised federal Care Act money to order a amount of “problem” motels throughout the city. The cash had been required to be employed for housing for people today experiencing homelessness who were being impacted by COVID-19 — failure to use the money would imply the bucks would go back again to Washington, D.C. Metropolis workers advisable the opportunity to consider the Miramar Hotel — one of our district’s worst drains general public security sources because of to the number of 911 phone calls — and change it into a thing superior for the neighborhood.

Homeless folks who have been impacted by COVID-19 are now sequestered in the lodge. Extensive phrase plans are being talked about by workers and a workgroup (composed of neighbors and led by Commissioner and Stevens Park resident Jennifer Snow), include things like picking out a vendor to operate a transitional housing facility and placing a permit method in position so the community carries on to have a voice on facility functions nicely into the long term.

We experienced a a single-time option to just take a trouble home and transform it into a thing improved with bigger group enter. 9-1-1 phone calls have fallen by 50% from January-February 2020 to January-February 2021. I feel we will continue on to cut down crime by owning social do the job staff members onsite 24/7 as we provide wraparound companies.

For homeless neighbors, these 60+ models will give a possibility for a new daily life, and for our group, the chance to support many others whilst also reworking a crime-ridden residence into one thing redeeming.

A little something that wants operate.

Avenue racing and donuts in intersections carry on to be a challenge in Oak Cliff, along with the rest of the town. I have individually participated in ride-alongs with DPD and witnessed just how hard it is for officers to locate and detain the racers. I was a signatory to the memo that built it a criminal offense to organize or spectate all through a velocity race. In an attempt to mitigate velocity racing problems together Hampton Highway and alongside Jefferson Boulevard, I labored with neighbors to stand up process forces. These groups continue on to occur up with innovative concepts to address the dilemma. Shifting ahead, I think we should appear at improved penalties for racing.

One point that entirely sucked.

My managing of the Royal Blue Grocery case could’ve been much better. Workers proposed the offer as a resolution to a “food desert,” which made divisive arguments across the district. I noticed the proposal as far more of an financial development possibility for Oak Cliff. I was never ever a supporter of the grant but did help the low-fascination personal loan simply because it would’ve introduced positions to Oak Cliff from Highland Park (the grocer was preparing to shift its commissary kitchen area) and the city would’ve produced far more on the interest from the grocer than leaving the money in its current account. As part of the incentive offer, the grocer would’ve been necessary to attempt to employ the service of regionally, provide some primary sundries at equivalent prices to other community grocers, and provide training courses for groups searching for to develop community gardens, among other group positive aspects. The grocer did not accept the personal loan terms for the reason that of the quite a few local community gain requirements and backlash from the neighborhoods. I feel if it experienced been dealt with far better and with earlier group meetings, it would’ve been considerably less controversial and probably a get-get scenario for the neighborhood.

One more point that also desires operate.

The Metropolis wants to transform the tide on the degradation of its roadways. There is absolutely no way to switch the tide unless the town (1) drastically slashes other elements of the funds (including public security cash), (2) raises taxes, or (3) initiates a bond for major highway repairs. I believe that No. 3 is the most practical solution for the long term.

And then yet another compliment.

Chad is dashingly handsome, wickedly clever, and shoots rainbows out of his fingertips. Oh, and he saved the Kessler Gnomes from eviction from Coombs Creek Trail in late 2020.

What makes you happy to characterize Dallas? Oak Cliff?

The metropolis of Dallas is an amazing location to stay, and I’m very pleased to stand for it. From its parks and historic neighborhoods to its nearby artists and compact enterprises, Oak Cliff has a vibrancy that will make folks want to stay below and the rest of Dallas want to play right here.

What are your anxieties about the place District 1 is headed?

District 1 is escalating rapid, and that rapid advancement has its pros and negatives. Though most welcome the financial expansion and new retail and housing alternatives, several have been still left powering. To support gradual displacement and assistance folks continue to be in their homes, the Metropolis will have to keep on to drive anti-displacement procedures, this sort of as Neighborhood Empowerment Zones and Household Improvement and Preservation System. And we will need to guidance our neighborhood organizations by procuring domestically. Ultimately, fantastic setting up for the long run is necessary. We want to guarantee that, as our communities and neighborhoods mature, we have community-pushed, prolonged-variety setting up in area for the long run. The West Oak Cliff Spot Plan, which I kicked off in 2020, does just that – it seeks to place community-driven scheduling in location for parks, zoning, transportation, libraries, and historic preservation for the up coming 20-50 several years.

How ought to the Town of Dallas be spending funds in different ways?

The metropolis ought to incorporate scaled-down investments in communities. Small infrastructure advancements reward inhabitants right, ideal in their very own neighborhoods. We do not need to give revenue to developers to overhaul a neighborhood, but devote in infrastructure-pushed redevelopments, such as creating broader sidewalks, increasing parking, and including trees.

What are this community’s priorities pertaining to crime and policing?

As talked about previously, road racing is town-huge problem we’re addressing in District 1. Though challenges this sort of as gunfire and theft continue to be, we are hunting to set priorities for neighborhoods by the General public Protection Advisory Committee we introduced past summer. This group is advising me on policy issues to assist control criminal offense and rethink classic policing.

How can the city much better serve community compact firms in District 1?

The year 2020 introduced more troubles for smaller firms. We need to have to make it less complicated for individuals to “do business” by continuing to remove boundaries at the metropolis. We’re functioning on rethinking code constraints on food trailers and generating it less complicated to set in parklets. We also want to greatly speed up the permitting and C.O. processes, in particular in the wake of COVID-19.

What is your No. 1 precedence, if elected to Town Council?

Community safety.