Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

« BACK

Donavan Wheatfall

Moss said he can't say for sure that all of his workers exactly followed all of the guidelines set forth by the Texas Secretary of State's office. But, he said, Òmost people know the rules. This primary election was one of the most vicious regarding absentee ballots.Ó

It's certainly true that the District 5 race has focused a lot of attention on the absentee balloting issue. Wheatfall's supporters -- including the candidates who didn't make the runoff -- have suggested that it is somehow unfair that Moss has relied heavily on absentee balloting for his wins. On the radio program before the general election, candidates Rickie Clark and Sharon Armstrong both suggested that Moss' winning margins in absentee voting have been produced by the kind of ÒhelpÓ that William Richardson got. Absentee ballots have been a heavily used -- and often-abused -- campaign tool in majority-black precincts over the years.

ÒThe absentee ballots have been corrupted, and everybody knows it,Ó Armstrong said on the radio show.

Records from the city secretary's office show that Moss' margins of victory in 2001, 2003, and the May 15 election this year were greatly enlarged by absentee balloting -- but that he would have won without those votes. In 2001 and 2003, without absentee ballots, Moss still would have beaten his opponents by wide margins. But on May 15 of this year, Moss and Wheatfall were separated by just 12 votes in actual election-day balloting. In absentee tallies, however, Moss' 521 votes easily surpassed Wheatfall's 131.

No complaints have ever been filed against Moss or his campaign workers in past elections. The incumbent said his critics are attacking him for simply doing a good job of getting his voters to turn out.

ÒOne of the things I've realized serving on the Fort Worth City Council is that I don't have a voice if I don't get people to the polls,Ó he said. ÒI work hard to make sure that, regardless of who's running, we have people out [to vote], and you do that through voter development.Ó

District 5 voter Wallace Williams, an Eastside activist, said that because of Moss' Òways of getting people out to get absentee ballots,Ó he believes Wheatfall can win only if he can inspire at least a moderate turnout on the actual election day.

During the special election campaign, Moss' challengers made much of the fact that the city charter requires a council member to step down once he or she has announced as a candidate in another race -- suggesting either that Moss left District 5 without representation after Jan. 2, or that he should have because of the charter. But before Moss ever made the announcement, he had an opinion in hand from City Attorney David Yett, explaining that state law overrides the city charter in such cases, requiring a council member to continue serving until a special election can be held to choose a replacement. And Moss, indeed, made every council meeting between January and the April county election.

But at a June 3 voter forum at the Eugene McCray Community Center and in an earlier radio debate, more people seemed worried about substance, and less about the technicalities of Moss' service. At the forum, audience members stood repeatedly to ask about crime and police issues: Why do 60 to 70 percent of Fort Worth police officers reportedly live outside city limits? What's being done about drug usage and drug houses, prostitution, unsolved murders? Problems with trash that never seems to get picked up was another frequent topic. People talked about needing grocery stores and better housing. They're worried about whether the city is making wise decisions about tax increment financing districts -- TIFs -- that are being used to give tax breaks to major corporations.

Driving through the district, the jarring clunk of tires every block or so signals that the streets need serious work. Many businesses are closed, with windows boarded, or open, with windows barred. New housing developments are rare. In places, abandoned sofas and chairs struggle for curb space with more recently deposited storm debris -- all of that, of course, outstripped by the hulk of the Cowtown Inn, whose planned demolition is still a topic of major controversy. Parts of District 5 have some of the highest poverty rates in the city. And the district always ranks near the top in violent crime statistics.

The corner of Miller Avenue and Berry Street, however, has become a beacon of the possible for redevelopment in the district. A Minyard's grocery and a Walgreen's have opened where for years there was only a depressed row of cheap drive-ins and liquor stores. Other new stores have opened up as well, jobs have been created, and the intersection cleaned up and made a bit safer. A Neighborhood Empowerment Zone, which Moss fought for, helped bring about the change.

Those things, good and bad, are what Moss has been working on for years. But the slow pace of progress is what has led groups like APAC, the political arm of ACORN, and anti-crime groups and some neighborhood groups to endorse Wheatfall. Eastside rabble rousers like Wanda Conlin -- owner and publisher of the Greater Meadowbrook News -- Hector Carrillo, and Louis McBee say they're the same issues that are causing rumblings in many neighborhoods on their side of town. To them, it adds up to the East Side getting short shrift from the city for years, on things like flood control and street improvements. But the District 5 race is the first one where all those groups have gotten together to turn their concerns into action that could change the makeup of the city council. ÒI kind of wonder if the TIF's and the Cabela's and the trash all coming at the same time has just gotten their attention,Ó Conlin said. (Cabela's is the out-of-state sporting-goods giant that just got hefty tax breaks from Fort Worth for a megastore near Alliance Airport.)

Carrillo, co-founder of Citizens Against Unsolved Murders, is a familiar face to city council members. Since his son was murdered in 2001, Carrillo has been trying to convince the city council to form a cold-case unit, to keep continued attention on unsolved murders. Carrillo's group has been successful in getting more attention to the problem -- and, partly as a result, more arrests have been made in old murder cases in the last few years. But they have yet to get the separate cold-case unit that is their goal.

Carrillo said Moss has never taken the initiative in trying to bring about needed changes within the police department. ÒFrank Moss has been there for some time, and so far he hasn't shown he has the character to fight crime in the community,Ó he said. ÒWe have made the decision to support the winner who would.Ó

At the June 3 forum, Carrillo again asked Moss about the cold-case unit, and this time Moss said he would support it. Carrillo said it was the first time he's heard anything like that from Moss. In an interview with the Weekly, Moss said he would support whatever the police department and Chief Ralph Mendoza thought were best.

ÒIt's of critical importance that we prevent new crime and find out who's been involved in the past -- but more importantly to prevent it. Otherwise people won't move back to the district,Ó Moss said.

Wheatfall promised Carrillo and his fellow activist Ernest Mackey that he would work toward a cold-case unit and a complete overhaul of the police department.

MeLinda Hamilton, president of the Carver Heights Neighborhood Association, was supposed to be moderating the forum, which was hosted by her group. But before the night was over, she had jumped into the fray. Fixing the trash collection system is her first priority; right after that comes rehabilitation of housing and businesses in the most deteriorated parts of the district. She criticized Moss for not doing enough on either of those issues, although he initially opposed the new garbage collection system, and is working to fix its problems.

NEXT »

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5