Four candidates competing for open District 11 seat on Dallas City Council

Four people are competing for outgoing City Council member Lee Kleinman’s seat in northern Dallas’ District 11, where residents’ political views range from one end of the spectrum to the other.

Now that Kleinman is ineligible to run for a fifth term, the spot is one of three open nonpartisan seats that could shift the balance on the City Council, which has 14 contested races. Kleinman has represented the North Dallas district for eight years.

“I think the district really just needs a good, strong moderate that’s going to advocate for the people and isn’t really prone to any political party agenda,” Kleinman said.

Online publisher Candy Evans, former City Plan Commissioner Jaynie Schultz, attorney Barry Wernick and community organizer Hosanna Yemiru are in the running to take Kleinman’s place. Three of the four are first-time City Council candidates. Evans ran for the seat as Kleinman’s sole challenger in 2017 and received 37% of roughly 4,500 votes.

Yemiru’s campaign has raised the most funds — more than $54,000 during the first quarter of the year, according to recently released campaign finance reports. Schultz has tallied just under $54,000, Wernick has received nearly $40,000 and Evans has gotten almost $5,700. Yemiru also has the most amount of cash left to spend in the race at nearly $61,000, followed by Schultz with $59,000. Wernick and Evans reported no cash on hand, records show.

District 11 runs roughly east to west from the Dallas North Tollway to the North Central Expressway and north-south from the Collin County line to just past Interstate 635. The 16-square mile area, home to about 98,000 people, includes Galleria Dallas and Medical City Dallas hospital.

Policing and housing are two of the top issues that candidates hope to address. Their priorities show the political poles that Kleinman says exist in his district.

Kleinman said he supports Schultz, whom he appointed to the City Plan Commission in 2014. He cited her six years of experience on the board and knowledge of the district. But the pair is split when it comes to police. Schultz said supporting the city’s police and fire departments is one of her top priorities.

She praised Kleinman’s “fiscally conservative” approach to the city’s budget, but felt his criticism of the police and fire unions “did not serve him well.”

“I’m a very different person who will act very differently,” Schultz said.

Although she has been endorsed by the Dallas Fire Fighters Association, Wernick received endorsement from the Dallas Police Association.

Wernick said his main priority is public safety. He said he feels he is the most outspoken of the four in his support of the city’s emergency responders and felt it was why the police union backed him.

“My question to folks is ‘do you feel safer?’ I certainly don’t and what I hear in this district is ‘no’,” Wernick said. “I realized if I don’t do something, no one else will and we’ll just have more of the same.”

Evans said she disagreed with Kleinman’s past criticism of the police department, particularly his calls to close the police academy and questions about the necessity of the agency’s mounted patrol. The council has to do a better job of understanding the pressures of being a police officer, she said.

Yemiru said she would like the city to address public safety issues in a way that goes beyond police. She believes the city should focus on root causes such as housing instability, joblessness and lack of mental health treatment. She said her priorities include strengthening social safety nets.

Yemiru immigrated to Dallas from Ethiopia with her parents when she was 11, and they relied on Dallas Area Rapid Transit and other social services. She said they’ve helped her better understand the city’s long-running issues.

“I think it’s very important to have people who know what it feels like to rely on our city’s services, who know what it feels like to be housing insecure and food insecure to be making decisions for working families,” Yemiru said. She has worked on U.S. Rep. Colin Allred’s campaign and as field director for Scott Griggs’ 2019 Dallas mayoral campaign.

She also said she would push for getting more aid to renters, homeowners and small business owners, among others.

“We have to solve the problem at the root instead of just chasing people from one district to another district,” she said.

Evans said she would also address homelessness partly by working to curb panhandling. She said she would push for a ban on all soliciting of money on the street and advocate for a public messaging campaign discouraging people from giving cash.

Evans, who publishes the real estate blog CandysDirt.com, said she would also focus on development, including the delayed progress of Dallas Midtown, a nearly 450-acre mixed-use redevelopment district that includes the former Valley View Mall. The project has been in the works since 2012 and construction still hasn’t begun, she noted.

“The city is missing out on billions in property value,” she said.

Schultz said she believes Dallas is at a crossroads and would like to see the council work together to craft a common vision for the city. She said she would address rising property taxes and fix issues that she sees in the permitting process.

“If we can get the right people into office who believe in a collaborative council, who believe in the council-manager form of government, who want to work together, then we can really use this window of opportunity in terms of the business climate in Dallas to push our way forward into the future in a very positive and creative way.”

Wernick said he wants to use his background as a mediator to help facilitate communication among council members and he believes that would help find more common ground.

“Ultimately, we have to remember what’s good for one district is good for all districts,” he said. “I will stand up for principle, even if it means I may not make friends. Because it’s not about making friends.”

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District 11 candidates

• Candy Evans
• Jaynie Schultz
• Barry Wernick
• Hosanna Yemiru