The Bottom of the Ballot is Our Last Line of Defense

Be a HERO. Vote for Propositions S,T, & U

The Agenda for Change

The problems that plague Dallas are obvious. Safety and security escapes good people while criminals and vagrants escape real consequences.

Simply put, our police do not have the resources or manpower to do their job and do it safely. And our city leaders are completely unresponsive to the public’s demand for action.

Do we continue down this path or do we fight back? At this crossroads, Dallas HERO has set an agenda for change. The choice is yours to become a Hero, or allow our City to continue down the path of other once-great American cities that have abandoned their people to crime, vagrancy, and lawlessness.

OUR Three PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENTS

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Proposition S: EMPOWERING RESIDENTS TO FIGHT BACK

The question is simple: Who holds city government accountable when it refuses to enforce its own ordinances and state law?

Today, the average citizen is powerless in the face of blatant disregard for the law. But with Proposition S, we are leveling the playing field and giving the people back their voice!

How? By giving legal standing to any Dallas resident to sue the city for failure to follow local and state law. In a sane world, we shouldn’t need courts and judges to uphold the law with our own government, but Dallas leaders have made it clear that we must balance the scales of justice and bring accountability back.

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Proposition T: TYING CITY MANAGER COMPENSATION TO CITIZEN SATISFACTION WITH CITY CORE SERVICES

Dallas already conducts a Community Survey to gauge residents’ satisfaction with quality of life issues in the city. We want those results to matter.

City leaders had hidden behind our City Manager for too long, wringing their hands as crime, litter, vagrancy, and panhandling have sapped our city of its once bright promise.

Well, money talks. It’s time that these issues, and our satisfaction with how they’re being handled, directly impacted the compensation of our City Manager.

Tying the results of the Community Survey to pay just makes sense. We are all judged at our jobs based on the results we get for those in charge…and the people are in charge of Dallas!

It’s time the reality for everyday residents trumped the rosy perception of city leaders.

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Proposition U: ENSURING OUR POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS THE MANPOWER TO KEEP US SAFE

Did you know that in nearly every year of the past decade, Dallas has lost more police officers through attrition and retirement than it has gained? In 2015, DPD had a goal to increase from 3,600 officers to over 4,000 to get to the minimum ratio of 3 officers to 1000 citizens, but instead Dallas lost nearly 600 officers, and we barely have 3,000.

Did you know DPD response times for murder, shooting and stabbing are nearly 12 minutes on average and 107 minutes for other violent crimes with the risk of loss of life? The slowest nationally accepted response time is 8 min.—when Dallas had 3,600 officers the response time was 6.3 minutes. Now, most property crimes have to be reported online and will get no police response, no charges and no prosecution. Dallas used to have police presence and deterrence to crime.

Did you know Dallas Police Department starting salary and benefits are the lowest in the greater metroplex even though its one of the most difficult and dangerous cities to police? No wonder we can’t retain officers who get training and a little experience and leave.

It is time to restore Dallas Police Department to historic ratios of officers to citizens, which means hiring roughly 1,000 new police officers with priority—not 500 police officers over the next decade as our interim city manager currently proposes.

Dallas city leaders have prioritized pet projects and wasteful spending while public safety has eroded, collapsing whole communities and making victims out of our residents.

We need more police and we need to give them the resources needed to do their job and do it safely.

BE A HERO. GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THE BALLOT

Dallas city leaders are afraid of our agenda for change and have done everything imaginable to defeat this effort, including unlawfully using public resources to campaign against reform.

City Council knows many voters abandon their ballots early, so they placed Dallas HERO propositions at the very bottom.

Games instead of leadership. The city council’s attempts to silence nearly 170,000 residents who signed petitions to force these propositions onto the ballot is par for the course. We need law enforcement that applies to our leaders and accountability.

But you can be a Hero by going to the bottom of the ballot.