A Friend of Unfair Park sends his take on this morning's Ed Oakley-Tom Leppert forum at the North Dallas Chamber. Highlights are after the jump -- and, no, we don't have any idea who our Friend is voting for. But we can guess... Nonetheless, says our Friend, " Both were pressed repeatedly to offer specifics to back up their slogans and buzzwords." Yeah, but did they? --Robert Wilonsky
1. Oakley said he had owned property near the Trinity project since 1985. When pressed, he admitted to buying additional property during the time he has served on the council (and presumably, during the time he has chaired the Trinity committee). He denies a conflict of interest, says everything has been disclosed properly.
2. Leppert again failed to identify a single budget cut that would allow the city to hire more police officers. Oakley asked him specifically what he was going to cut, and Leppert had no answer.
3. In response to a question about what idea from the defeated candidates each would like to "borrow," Oakley couldn't think of a single one. Leppert pointed out a couple non-specific concepts and said he believes learning from others is important.
4. Both pledged to actively campaign against the Trinity referendum should the petition get the required number of signatures.
5. Oakley acknowledged his plan to increase the tax exemption for seniors to $100,000 will cost about $3-4M a year, says we'll be able to take that hit by growing the tax base.
6. In response to a question about revitalizing Deep Ellum, Leppert talked about Club Blue...which is in downtown.
