Candidate: Erik Wilson

Age: 51

Website: voteerikwilson.com

Why do you want to be a member of the Dallas City Council, and why are you the best person for the job?

I am uniquely positioned to lead because I understand the needs and challenges facing District 8. My commitment to public safety, affordable housing, and community/economic development is backed by years of collaboration with residents and organizations. I know how to balance the needs of businesses with the community's priorities.

I am the best person for the job because I have the experience, leadership skills, and community relationships needed to make an immediate impact. I'm ready to hit the ground running and ensure that District 8 continues to grow, thrive, and remain a great place for families, businesses, and individuals.

What is the single greatest challenge for your district and how will you address it?

The single greatest challenge for District 8 is the lack of diversity in housing options. Many areas currently have limited choices for residents, with a heavy reliance on single-family homes and a shortage of affordable rental units, townhomes, and multifamily housing. This limits options for families, young professionals, and seniors who may need different types of housing based on their needs and budgets. To address this, I will focus on promoting the development of a broader range of housing types, including affordable rentals, townhomes, and multifamily units catering to diverse income levels. I will work with developers and zoning authorities to ensure that affordable housing is integrated into new developments and that developers are given incentives to create diverse, inclusive communities. Additionally, I will advocate for preserving existing affordable housing and protecting residents from displacement due to rising rents and property taxes. By providing more options for people at different stages of life, we can create a district that is more inclusive, vibrant, and accessible for all.

What do you see as the greatest opportunities to grow our city's tax base?

The greatest opportunities to grow Dallas' tax base lie in strategic economic development and smart infrastructure investments that attract businesses, improve neighborhoods, and create jobs. Here are a few key areas I would focus on: Revitalizing Underdeveloped Areas: By revitalizing blighted or underdeveloped neighborhoods, especially in parts of District 8, we can attract new businesses, residents, and investment. This will create a ripple effect of economic growth and increase property values and tax revenue. Incentivizing Small Business Growth: Supporting local small businesses and entrepreneurs with resources, incentives, and streamlined processes for opening or expanding companies in Dallas will create jobs and bring new revenue streams into the city. Expanding the small business ecosystem can significantly impact our tax base. Public-Private Partnerships: Building partnerships with developers and private investors to create mixed-use developments that integrate housing, retail, and commercial spaces can help draw in new residents and businesses while creating tax-generating infrastructure. Improving Transportation and Infrastructure: Investing in better transportation networks, including public transit and road improvements, makes areas more accessible and attractive to businesses and residents. Infrastructure investments can also encourage economic growth and create new opportunities for businesses to thrive. Attracting Tech and Green Industries: Tech companies and green industries are booming in many cities. Dallas should focus on creating an environment that supports their growth. Offering incentives for clean energy businesses, startups, and technology companies will help diversify our economy and sustainably grow our tax base. By focusing on these opportunities, we can build a stronger, more diversified economy that increases our city's tax base while creating jobs and improving the quality of life for all residents.

What is your political party affiliation and what role will that play in your job as a council member?

I am a Democrat when it comes to political party affiliation. Local government should focus on the needs of the community rather than party politics. As a council member, my role is to serve the residents of District 8 first and foremost and make decisions based on what is best for our neighborhoods, businesses, and families. While political party affiliation can influence national or state policies, at the local level, it is more important to work with people from all backgrounds and perspectives, regardless of party, to find practical solutions to our challenges. I will prioritize community collaboration, open dialogue, and bipartisan cooperation to get things done and improve the quality of life for District 8 residents. My focus will always be on what benefits the district and how we can strengthen our city.

Candidate: Lorie Blair

Age: 67

Website: LorieBlair.com

Why do you want to be a member of the Dallas City Council, and why are you the best person for the job?

For the last 6 years I have served as the district 8 City Planning Commissioner and the vice chair of the Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee which provides strong community advocacy. I want to continue to serve as a district 8 advocate focusing on public safety, economic development, quality of life, and homelessness.

What is the single greatest challenge for your district and how will you address it?

The greatest challenge is a quality of life with the placement of warehousing in the middle of residential areas. Through zoning and Forward Dallas 2.0 it is being addressed.

What do you see as the greatest opportunities to grow our city's tax base?

The University of North Texas Dallas corridor. There is land that is ready for development and the opportunity to grow our tax base and bring in opportunity to revitalize this area.

What is your political party affiliation and what role will that play in your job as a council member?

The city council is nonpartisan. Our affiliation plays no part in being a council member.

Candidate: Eugene Ralph

Age: 24

Website: eugenefordallas.com

Why do you want to be a member of the Dallas City Council, and why are you the best person for the job?

I want to Restore the relationship between the government and its people. The Citizens of Dallas deserve assurance that the Council has a sensible and dynamic vision that truly considers the needs of our neighbors -- both great and common. Simply put, the Council has not worked as a zealous, unified advocate for the people; nor has it conducted itself with appropriate regard for its essential and sacred duties: Providing a safe, orderly, clean commons; Defending the People from criminal predation; Engaging the public in humility, clarity, and transparency; and Establishing systems and norms for the common questions of Our Government that ensure the Citizens of Dallas are always the first to see clear benefits from development and are not expropriated in pursuit of development and tax receipts.

I am running because nobody else has such clarity in these priorities. Further, I am the only candidate who understands -- as do the Citizens of District 8 -- that our relationship to government does simply need tweaking or reemphasis, but rather requires wholescale reform and philosophical realignment along the lines I have stated above.

I am the only candidate to deliver the voters mandate for change.

What is the single greatest challenge for your district and how will you address it?

Citizens in District 8 want the City to respect neighborhoods' distinct character, increase police staffing and delpoyment, improve infrustructure in neighborhoods experiencing explosive development, and provide a roadmap to bring high quality, well-compensated work for the District. Their greatest obstacle to these goals has been an unfocused leadership that does not recognize its duty to the People. To give a comprehensive response, I should note that development and public safety are irrevockably interlinked. While District 8 does not lead the City in homicides - as I am so often reminded by professional point-missers, but let's not be misled - statistics do not inform environments, experience does. And not every anti-social act is captured in the CompStat report. The people of District 8 love their neighborhoods, but they do not feel they are well-guarded; and the nexis of economic dynamism is not billion dollar redevelopment projects, but it is in the common small business with modest revenue and few employees that grows and specializes where the entrepanuer is confident that their harvest will not be devoured by wolves in the night. Likewise, the family who patronizes him settles where they are certain the street nurture their children and not menace them. These points are true in Preston Hollow just as they are true in Kleberg/Rylie. So in district, thriving or depressed, what people demand is society. What I stand for is society. In all cases, in all circumstances, everything by and for society. And the basis of society is that same thing that we in government must take as our sacred, inalienable duty: the Security and Good Order of the Public Commons. Which is to say: public safety and the rule of law. District 8 languishes with insufficient services, underimproved infrastructure, and lagging economy as a result of poor safety and the de facto abridgment of the rule of law. Our great challenge, then, is to honor our duty and deliver public safety.

What do you see as the greatest opportunities to grow our city's tax base?

What I recognize from business owners in District 8 is for the City, first-of-all, to stop dreaming of ways they can uproot all distinction in a neighborhood in pursuit of tax receipts. Secondly, they want the City to stop trying to determine precisely what kind of business every neighborhood needs imposed on them. Instead, the City needs to encourage a pattern of development that allows small-independent business to grow up in-place and slow the velocity of money moving out of their neighbors. If the City were to increase again, while the living standards of our Citizens still languish in the face of inflation and an out of control housing market, it would be a betrayal - a slap in the face to all our neighbors who strive against forces too great toward simple, commendable goals. They want stability; they want even a modest savings; they want to pass an economic and cultural heritage to their children. Anything the City does is illegitimate if it frustrates these goals. The City, in the course of 100 years, has consistently acted without regard to such goals and has often frustrated them For the reasons above, I take significant offence to the question as state. The role of the councilman is not to pursue endlessly increasing tax receipts on behalf of the CIty. This district cannot afford to be governed by a council who's vision for development is alienated from the improvement of the Citizens of their Districts. Plainly, my focus is not to discover innovative ways to squeeze more dimes from the already overtaxed people to fill the City's already over-large budget. My focus is to provide the conditions for families in my District to thrive and enrich their own communities.

What is your political party affiliation and what role will that play in your job as a council member?

My bonafides and my philosophy of goverment determine my political affiliations and my voting decisions - not the other way around. My votes are not the jealous property of any party. The votes of the Citizens in my District are not the property of any party. To the curious reader, see my responses above. Do they read like the answers of a Democrat? A Republican? A Libertarian? A Green? A Whig? A Know-Nothing? Who do you think I voted for in previous elections? I am open to your guesses. Correct or not - I ask the more dire question - can the voters in this City afford for its leadership to rise and fall by the tendencious politics of far away, unrelated figures? This is a nonpartisan race. Also important, this is a governing body with fairly limited but incredibly effective scope of legitimate action. What we have is the unique opportunity to divest ourselves of the slogans and personalities of national politics and turn our focus toward those essential priorities that I advocated above. These priorities are the at basis not of partisan politics, but of Society itself. On the grounds that it may unreasonably sully the process, I reject the question. Further, I ask the reader: Do you support a safe, healthy, industrious society? If you answer yes, then I suspect your love for this City and its People compels you to support me.

Candidate: Davante Peters

Age: 31

Website: davantedpeters.com

Why do you want to be a member of the Dallas City Council, and why are you the best person for the job?

I would much rather be a Full time Entrepreneur and entertainer and serving my community through those channels however as a man I refuse to continue on like my community isn’t suffering and being exploited by our representatives, developers and business communities to name a few. I want to be a member of the Dallas city council not to have a prestigious title but because I have an insatiable desire to serve and be a loud voice for my community and the southern sector at large. It’s Time we get ours, without being pushed out in the process. I believe I’m the only candidate that will stand on this and not be a different version of what we are used to in D8.

What is the single greatest challenge for your district and how will you address it?

It’s my believe, just as health issues, the challenges of our district are interrelated. I believe all our issues stem from systemic exploitation and lack of respect the southern sector has in city hall. I believe the gaps in Infrastructure and Public safety are the top beneficiaries of the lack of leadership with out self interest and ulterior motives. 90% of Residents I speak to share the same thoughts of Infrastructure and Public safety.

What do you see as the greatest opportunities to grow our city's tax base?

I believe the best way to increase the tax base is by unlocking the full potential of the southern sector, especially District 8.

D3 & D8 has most underutilized land & infrastructure that, with the right investment, could generate multi-millions in additional tax revenue while improving the quality of life for residents.

Dallas has traditionally concentrated resources in areas like downtown & North Dallas while leaving communities in the South behind. If we want to see REAL econ. growth, we need to attract businesses & investments south of I-30.

That means offering smart incentives, cutting through red tape in the development process, and ensuring our roads, utilities, and public transit are ready for new growth.

But attracting businesses isn’t enough, we also have to focus on homeownership and mixed-income development. Right now, too many new projects focus solely on rentals, which doesn’t build generational wealth or stabilize communities. We need to create ways for working families to own homes while ensuring new developments include a mix of affordable and marketrate housing. Whats considered “affordable” needs to be lowered. This is how we strengthen neighborhoods, keeps longtime residents from being displaced, and ensures that economic growth benefits everyone not just outside investors.

We also have to make sure local entrepreneurs aren’t left behind. The city should be supporting small businesses by giving them better access to funding, city contracts, and development opportunities. When we empower local business owners and increase homeownership, we create a stronger, more sustainable tax base that benefits ALL of Dallas.

If we’re serious about growing our tax base, the smartest way to do it is through equitable development ensuring investment flows into all parts of the city, not just where it's easiest or most profitable. The future of Dallas depends on how well we invest in communities like District 8, and I plan to make sure that happens

What is your political party affiliation and what role will that play in your job as a council member?

Dallas City Council is a nonpartisan race. If elected I plan to serve all my constituents regardless of their political affiliation. However, In the event that I did pick a political affiliation and worked with that Party to get elected, I would not switch in the middle of my term and betray my people like our Mayor did. However I’m interested in making Dallas a better city for all, despite which “side” they are on.