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Local residents talk to Wheatfall and Moss at a voters' forum.

Wheatfall wants a new system by which bulk trash and regular garbage would be picked up by the same contractor, without waiting for a citizen's call to initiate bulk pickup -- a problem, he said, because not everyone knows to call in for bulk pickup, and the whole street suffers as a result. He also wants money that's now tied up in tax increment financing districts to be switched over to create a better housing code enforcement program, to keep the district's housing stock from decaying.

Despite Moss' emphasis on housing and economic development, several people said those issues are the ones that have led them to support Wheatfall, including Clifford Davis. ÒYou can't even get a Wal-Mart over here,Ó said activist Wallace Williams. ÒMany of us would like to have a Wal-Mart rather than a dog pound.Ó

The turnout at the McCray Center on June 3 drew about 20 to 25 people, enough to fill the rows of chairs with a little room left over to breathe. The air inside the trim tan and green building was warm and getting warmer -- first with the combined body heat and, eventually, with fraying tempers. Audience members asked pointedly about crime and garbage, and Wheatfall made sure the absentee issue surfaced -- suggesting that, even as the meeting was going on, campaign workers were out in the neighborhoods, perhaps pressuring old people to sway their votes. As the evening wore on, the questions got more specific and residents directed their anger toward Moss -- not because they objected to anything he'd done, but because he was their representative when their frustrations reached critical mass.

The differences between the two men were obvious. Moss, in a casual polo shirt, spoke coolly even when his questioners were getting hot. He was obviously at ease in the district where he'd grown up and familiar with its problems. Wheatfall, by contrast, wore a button-down shirt but could barely keep his preacherly enthusiasm under control, using his hands constantly to emphasize his points. On his feet were tennis shoes because, he said, he'd Òbeen walking with the people,Ó knocking on doors to talk to voters. Moss sat back calmly while he talked; Wheatfall, 28, leaned forward, doing battle with words. His inexperience with the political process was obvious next to Moss' savvy -- and so was his enthusiasm. Records show Wheatfall barely knew how to find a polling place before the council election in May, and he still seems surprised when a reporter writes down everything he says, not just the parts Wheatfall wants quoted. But on this night, it was his remarks that drew hushed ÒyeahsÓ from the crowd.

A few days earlier at city hall, steps from the office he's occupied for six years, Moss was talking about rooftops -- perhaps not a surprising choice of metaphors for a real estate man. It's his shorthand for what needs to happen in his district and what he's been trying to do in his last three terms.

Once the housing stock comes back -- through construction of new homes, repairs on shabby ones, and demolition of those beyond repair -- other issues will fall in line, he believes -- especially economic development.

ÒMost people don't know what I'm talking about, but you've got to bring housing back into the community and one of the problems with District 5 ... is that there is more vacant land within that area than probably any other community in Fort Worth,Ó he said, looking through silver-rimmed glasses at his guest.

A basic problem is that the district continues to lose middle-class families, he said -- and he agrees that they probably won't come back unless they feel the neighborhood is safe and well policed. Moss sees all of his district's problems as being linked together: code enforcement, street maintenance, trash, crime, housing.

He points to his work on the city council's Housing and Workforce Development Committee, which he chairs. He's determined to bring businesses back to the district, which even now has only one or two major grocery stores, and to build a financially diverse community in the inner city. That's a better approach, he said, than to single out one problem, such as crime, and ignore the rest. ÒThe big issue is to bring people back into District 5,Ó he said.

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