Audio By Carbonatix
Last week, Ron Natinsky made it official, taking the missus down to City Hall on Valentine’s Day to file his petition to run for Dallas mayor. This morning at 10 a.m., David Kunkle will follow in his footsteps, filing his paperwork with the city secretary after gathering enough signatures to get on the May ballot.
The former Dallas Police Chief also issued this morning his first Official Issue Statement — this one titled “Raising Taxes Versus Cutting Spending.” Says Kunkle, his “is a practical, hard headed
commitment to looking at everything we do to see how we can do it better, cheaper and faster
without reducing the quality of the service or the satisfaction of our customers, the people of
Dallas.” If nothing else, his statement, with its reference to Six Sigma, is also the first in Dallas mayoral-race history to make me think of a 30 Rock episode. Retreat to move forward after the jump.
THE ISSUE: RAISING TAXES VERSUS CUTTING SPENDING
One of my commitments to the citizens of Dallas is that I will not vote to raise taxes. We are
currently overtaxed and underserved and we must reverse that. Across the board budget
cuts are simply not working. Even in lean economic times we need to invest in services that
improve the livability of our neighborhoods. We must question not just how well are we doing
something but are we doing the right things. Too many budget decisions have been based on
history, tradition and sacred cows. We must completely re-think the way we tackle the budget at
Dallas City Hall.You’ll hear some candidates frame the issue as “Cut services or raise taxes.” Like many issues,
it’s more complicated than that. I am committed to re-thinking and re-inventing government
here in Dallas. This is not some theoretical experiment, either. This is a practical, hard headed
commitment to looking at everything we do to see how we can do it better, cheaper and faster
without reducing the quality of the service or the satisfaction of our customers, the people of
Dallas.These efforts go by many names – process improvement, re-engineering, core process mapping,
Lean Six Sigma, Kaizen and others. The most important point is that they are established
methods that private and public entities are already using successfully. However, these efforts
take strong leadership at the top because change is never easy. And leadership doesn’t mean
giving orders. It means getting everyone on board, building a team.Cities around the nation are streamlining paperwork, rethinking services, reducing response
times and simplifying virtually every business process. They are also having candid discussions
about whether services can be combined or outsourced.Rather than hand down across the board or program cuts, we will commit ourselves to live
within our revenue. Don’t ask, “What will you cut?” We will reduce funding for many areas, but
we will simultaneously focus on improvements. Again, this is a team effort.David Kunkle
Candidate for Mayor of Dallas
