Early voting kicked off this morning. Chances are, if you live in Dallas proper, you’ll be choosing a new mayor and a council member for your district. One of the issues D Magazine has explored in depth for the past five or so years is the tear-out of I-345, the elevated highway that divides Deep Ellum from downtown. If you need evidence of the sea change of opinion on this, more than half of the mayoral candidates support a tear-out along with nine incumbent council members. Challengers in 12 of the 14 districts support it, which is getting pretty close to consensus support.
Over the weekend, the Coalition for a New Dallas—the super PAC that was co-founded by our publisher, Wick Allison—released the names of all the supporters. D editorial found out about it today, because the folks across the hall continued their trend of not giving it to us early.
Your five mayoral candidates in support: Mike Ablon, Albert Black, Scott Griggs, Lynn McBee, and Miguel Solis. That charts with what we found out in our podcast interviews with these folks. Jason Villalba didn’t want to spend public dollars on it, and Regina Montoya expressed concern that it would add time to the commutes of working mothers. Similar removals in San Francisco, Boston, and Milwaukee showed that traffic finds its way to alternate routes without any significant delay.
A rundown of the council members and hopefuls who support removal:
District 1: Giovanni Valderas and Chad West
District 2: Barbara Combs and Adam Medrano
District 3: Davante Peters
District 4: Carolyn King Arnold and Asa Woodberry
District 5: No one
District 6: Omar Narvaez
District 7: Adam Bazaldua, Sandra Crenshaw, Kevin Felder, and Korey Mack
District 8: Tennell Atkins and Erik Wilson
District 9: Paula Blackmon, Sarah Lamb, and Erin Moore
District 10: Dede Alexander and Adam McGough
District 11: Curtis Harris and Lee Kleinman
District 12: Cara Mendelsohn and Daniel Powell
District 13: Jennifer Staubach Gates and Laura Miller
District 14: David Blewett and Philip Kingston
Mayor: Mike Ablon, Albert Black, Scott Griggs, Lynn McBee, and Miguel Solis
Find your early voting location here.
