Dallas Mayoral Debate at Cathedral of Hope

Mike Rawlings and David Kunkle debate in Dallas

It was the calm before the storm inside the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas as former Pizza Hut CEO Mike Rawlings and former Police Chief David Kunkle debated in preparation for a runoff. The candidates seemed mostly agreeable, and so the storm was reserved for later outside.

Leaving the Cathedral, we noticed on the I-phone there were three separate tornado warnings, one near Grapevine, and so we decided to stay in Dallas for a while. The sky outside had that mysterious calm threat of a look.

At Panera on Lemmon Avenue, more reports and warnings came in and we prepared to spend some time in the store room. The weather intensified and sirens went off as reports indicated a tornado could hit nearby Highland Park. In the end Dallas was pretty much spared. Home in Grapevine we were welcomed by a baseball-sized hole in the skylight from the hail storm.

Back to the debate for a moment, neither candidate was particularly inspiring, but it seems Kunkle has a genuine love of cities and a very good sense of how a city government operates. If the differences can be outlined, it would seem Rawlings campaign could be described with two words, economic development. Kunkle's campaign could be described with one, neighborhoods.

Of course Dallas needs economic development, but the particulars of what that means could be called into question. The Arts District and the new park over the highway could fall into the large economic development project category- and those are things I would not want to do without. I would also not want to trade like projects that could have a positive impact on the city as a whole for a focus on individual neighborhoods. Yet there is a highway or two that could fall into the large project category I could do without.

Yet, Kunkle completely resonated when he talked about cities existing to make good places to live for the residents. He spoke of his own walkable neighborhood and of what makes it a good place to live. This is something I've talked about for a long time. Cities need to be good places to live. The work of the city government should focus on serving the residents and making the city a good place to live. "Economic development" on the other hand is often done for someone else living somewhere else, ie tourism. It's no surprise to those who understand this that the cities known for tourism are also great places to live- and attract tourists because they are great places to live. San Francisco, Savannah, Charleston, Boston and Portland, Oregon are just a few examples.

So, if I could vote in this election, I would probably be supporting Kunkle. Although Rawlings did say he knew how to win the election- say the most important thing is to fix Lemmon Avenue, which is very unfriendly to pedestrians and cuts through prime neighborhoods. That would be a major step in making Dallas a great place to live, so, Mr. Rawlings, I urge you to say it.

Cathedral of Hope and Peace Chapel