Photography by Jessica P. Turner.

Candidates for Dallas City Council Districts 9 and 10 answered questions about White Rock Lake at a forum hosted by the White Rock Lake Task Force.

Sign up for our newsletter!

* indicates required

Incumbent Paula Blackmon and challenger Kendra Madison were joined by two of four candidates for the District 10 seat, Chris Carter and Brian Hasenbauer; Sirrano Keith Baldeo and Kathy Stewart did not attend.

Questions were submitted by the task force, a group of citizens and neighborhood representatives, and audience members at the April 11 meeting at Winfrey Point.

Homeless people in White Rock Lake Park

Hasenbauer said as a council member, he would advocate to increase the budget for Dallas police and park rangers along with the Office of Homeless Solutions, so more case workers could be hired. More transitional and emergency housing is also needed.

Blackmon said more housing is needed for all income levels, including shelter beds, and noted that sleeping in the park is a violation of city ordinances. The Office of Homeless Solutions is working with county, state and federal partners to help meet peoples’ housing needs.

Madison, who has experience working for a nonprofit focused on assisting the homeless population, said the website for the Office of Homeless Solutions should be updated so people can know what resources are available. She would also work with nonprofits.

“If we know exactly what is out there and who has what, we can get people the help that they need without having to wait a little bit longer,” Madison said. “Because coming from a recruiting background, I know it’s going to be some time before we can get some of these mental health professionals in place and before we can get clinicians in place and before we get police officers in place.”

It’s illegal for people to live in the park, so Carter said the city needs to hire more police officers and enforce the laws.

Funding for the White Rock Lake dredge

Blackmon said she is trying to identify funding from several sources, including the 2024 bond, Dallas Water Utilities, the state and the national government. But the idea is to dredge as best as possible as quickly as possible with the funding available and then dredge a little every year as part of park maintenance.

Madison’s idea is to set a date for a dredge and put aside money each year to fund it, implementing a timeline and plan.

The 2024 bond “may or may not happen,” Carter said, and pointed out the need to stop garbage coming into the lake from White Rock Creek. If that can happen, then perhaps it would be more affordable than consistent dredging.

Hasenbauer said the city needs to be making good financial decisions about the dredge, and he would defer to Blackmon, a dredging expert on the council, to take the lead on decisions.

Involving the White Rock Lake Task Force 

All four candidates were in favor of including the task force in plans regarding White Rock Lake Park.

Viewing White Rock Lake Park, which spans both districts, as one or two units for accountability and planning

All four candidates said they considered it to be one unit. Hasenbauer, Blackmon and Madison encouraged collaboration among council districts. Carter said the park should be prioritized with funding.

Protecting White Rock Lake as an “urban jewel” 

Allocating funding to ensure that infrastructure including roads, bridges and buildings are maintained is important, Hasenbauer said, along with preserving natural elements of the park, such as prairie land.

“We do need to give it the care, and we need to up the deferred maintenance,” Hasenbauer said.

Blackmon said a master plan can help make sure maintenance and other needs are funded and followed out in a desired way.

“If you want anything to be predictable and relied upon and financed and funded, you have to memorialize it within the city of Dallas,” Blackmon said. “And it’s usually a document that is approved by the city council.”

Madison also said a plan should be in place, and she suggested reaching out to other organizations if needed to learn about the natural elements.

While planning is important, Carter said the city’s budget and finances have to be evaluated first.

Keeping commercial development out of the park 

Blackmon said she would do everything possible to keep the park as open space and again brought up the need for a master plan for the park.

Madison agreed that everyone should have access to park land.

Carter said development around the lake is a problem, mentioning the Trailhead development and saying he didn’t want to see high-rise apartments being built along Garland Road.

Hasenbauer also said the lake should be kept free of development, but some development — such as renovations to the Filter Building or Winfrey Point — is acceptable. It’s about reinforcing what’s already there.

Updating and consolidating documents into a park master plan 
Editor’s note: This item was approved in the consent agenda of the April 12 City Council meeting. 

Madison said the past documents that provide protections should be included in the updated master plan.

Hasenbauer and Carter agreed that the documents should be consolidated. Hasenbauer also advocated for recognizing technological advances that won’t impair use of the lake but would improve it.

Blackmon said the reason for updating the master plan is to bring all of the plans together, creating a single guide for the park and opening discussions about how technology can be implemented to improve the park.

Photo by Hilary Schleier.

Keeping silt out of the lake 

Silt is hard to control, but Hasenbauer said developers working along White Rock Creek should be held accountable if they are not installing proper environmental remediation.

Blackmon agreed with Hasenbauer, saying Frisco is partly responsible for the silt entering the lake, and the city has to work with the North Central Texas Council of Governments to hold entities accountable. She also said runoff should be mitigated.

Carter said he would defer to engineers to devise a preemptive strategy to keep silt out of the lake, but his primary focus is funding priorities.

“We can’t afford $70 million every so often in these years to dredge this lake. So we’ve got to do something preemptive,” Carter said. “With $70 million, we could give our rank-and-file police officers all a $20,000, across-the-board raise, and then Frisco wouldn’t be poaching our police officers. Nor would Garland or any of these other outlying cities that pay more.”

The city should have pre-dredge, dredge and post-dredge plans, Madison said. Strategies for maintaining silt collection, such as plants or barriers at inlets to White Rock Lake, should be included in the master plan.

Erosion along Garland Road

Park advocate Carol Bell-Walton, who attended the meeting, asked why she had to document the erosion along Garland Road, following several attempts to alert the city to the issue, and whether erosion would be addressed in the new master plan. 

Blackmon said discussions on the erosion issue have been happening for months. The recommendation from city staff is to work with engineers to develop a short-term fix for the problem and then work on a long-term solution.

Carter said sometimes city officials and staff are unresponsive to the public, but he would be accessible to his constituents.

Hasenbauer said constituents should be heard by their elected officials. As for erosion, he said it should be included in a maintenance plan, and funding needs to be identified to alleviate it.

Experts should be brought in to help analyze the master plan, Madison said, and make sure priorities are identified.

Consultants on environmental issues 

Blackmon said the city has urban biologists, arborists and other professionals who advise on environmental issues, along with the Comprehensive Environmental and Climate Action Plan. And feedback is received from stakeholders.

The council hears from staff and advocacy groups in briefings, Hasenbauer said, and it’s important to have experts on staff.

Carter said he would welcome outside groups and stakeholders to advise on issues.

Madison said in an email she wants to make sure someone on the environmental committee should be an expert on local lakes. That person could communicate with outside environmental consultants. She also said people who are involved in park maintenance should be knowledgeable about the issues.

Unauthorized tree trimming on park areas
Editor’s note: White Rock Lake Foundation board member Ted Ellis asked what the city could do to strengthen the consequences for illegally trimming trees around the park; in the past, he had heard that the ordinance is hard to enforce. After the candidates had responded to the question, a police officer at the meeting said that trimming trees at the park is considered criminal mischief and is a crime. 

Both Carter and Hasenbauer said it should be a crime, and Hasenbauer added that as a council member, he would be in support of strengthening relevant laws, he said.

The city’s Environmental and Sustainability Committee will discuss the city’s tree canopy ordinance in the next term, Blackmon said, and that’s where they could add language about restricting tree trimming on park lands, medians and along sidewalks.

In an email, Madison said this should be a criminal offense.

Reducing crime at the lake

Locking the gates around more secluded areas or those prone to criminal activity, such as the parking lot near the pump station, is a good idea, Madison said. She also wants to increase the number of officers around the lake.

Hasenbauer agreed that the city needs to hire more police officers, give them raises and retain them. They also need equipment, such as vehicles or e-bikes that allow them to cover more territory around the park.  Technology such as drones or lighting can be considered, along with signs advising people to hide their items and lock their vehicles.

Blackmon said Northeast Division does a great job of patrolling the lake, but people need to have some personal responsibility. That includes locking their vehicles and calling 911 and 311.

Carter said the city needs hundreds more officers; to hire and retain them, the city has to pay officers more.