Five run in heated race for citywide council seat in Arlington

By Susan Schrock

sschrock@star-telegram.com

ARLINGTON -- For almost nine years, Gene Patrick quietly served as a citywide representative on the City Council. His supporters were saddened when Patrick, described as a "solid voice of reason" on the council, stepped down in November for health reasons.

The race to replace Patrick in the District 8 seat has been anything but quiet. Nasty robocalls, accusatory campaign mailers and questions about one candidate's residency are putting spark into the special election that is on the May 12 ballot along with other municipal and school board races.

Five candidates -- David Berg, Faith Chatham, Will Clark, Michael Glaspie and Charla Hawkes Vinyard -- are running to finish Patrick's term. The winner will be up for election again next year. Observers expect this race to result in a June runoff. Early voting ends Tuesday.

Most of the fireworks involve the campaigns of Hawkes Vinyard, a real estate agent and planning and zoning commissioner; Glaspie, an education minister and a former Arlington school board president; and Clark, who works in retail sales and is the youngest candidate.

Political attacks

Questions about Hawkes Vinyard's residency surfaced this year when the Star-Telegram reported that she had apparently violated state law by claiming homestead exemptions in Tarrant and Denton counties after marrying Babe's Chicken Dinner House owner Paul Vinyard of Frisco.

Hawkes Vinyard, 59, said that she and her husband agreed that she would continue living at her Arlington home on Bever Boulevard, which she lists as her home address on her voter registration and real estate licenses. But she also claimed a tax exemption on Vinyard's Lewisville Lake home.

When the city attorney didn't act on the information, Clark sued in state District Court trying to force her to prove her residency under oath. The lawsuit was dismissed this week, but not before it was used in a robocall accusing her of falsifying documents.

"Charla asked her sugar daddy to buy her an Arlington City Council seat for her Frisco charm bracelet to impress her Frisco neighbors," Dick Malec says in the recorded message. Malec, a former councilman who is a campaign consultant, said he is not working for any council candidates.

Hawkes Vinyard said she didn't realize she was claiming tax breaks on both properties and filed paperwork to remove the Arlington exemption. She brushed off the claims, saying she has lived in Arlington since she was 4 days old.

"I still am sure that I will win. This is nothing but a gnat to me," she said. "I didn't find it particularly threatening."

While Hawkes Vinyard said she is not feeling vulnerable, that didn't stop her from turning up the political heat on Glaspie, widely viewed as the other top candidate in the race. Glaspie has been endorsed by Patrick.

In a mailer, Glaspie is criticized for the school district's property tax rate increases during his 17 years on the board. The mailer points to a 9-cent tax increase in 1997 and suggests that it was necessary because of mismanagement. "How can we afford to elect Michael Glaspie to the Arlington City Council with his 17-year history of mismanagement and tax increases on the Arlington School Board," the mailer says.

Glaspie, 65, said the accusations are false and "like a slap in the face" to the hundreds of people at the school district who have dedicated their lives to serving students.

"We didn't arbitrarily raise taxes," said Glaspie, who said a committee of residents closely reviewed district requirements while making budget decisions. "Occasionally you have to raise taxes to have revenue to support students."

Mobility and safety

When not fending off political attacks, Hawkes Vinyard and Glaspie agree that mobility and public safety are important.

Hawkes Vinyard also points to her planning and zoning work to protect personal property rights. She also helped draft changes in the city's natural gas drilling ordinance and was one of two commissioners to oppose the $55.3 million hike and bike master plan to add a 125-mile network of citywide on- and off-street bike paths and sidewalks.

"The people that ride bikes thought I was against bikes on the roads period. That is not the case," she said. "I want it to be done sensibly."

On public transportation, she was hesitant to weigh in on recent talks about a public-private partnership to bring shuttles from the Trinity Railway Express to downtown Arlington and the entertainment district. "I've said all along that it can't be on the public dime, but I'm not sure I want it on the backs of businesses either," she said.

Glaspie, on the other hand, supports exploration of a private-public partnership to connect Arlington with a regional rail system. He also supports luring developers to replace aging apartment complexes with upscale senior living facilities.

"For sure we need to get our hands around redevelopment of deteriorating areas. Aside from just being an eyesore and the potential for crime, you want our city to be attractive to people who come to visit," Glaspie said. "You don't want folks looking around saying, 'Uh oh, my property value is going down. I need to get out of here.'"

Gas and revitalization

Berg, Chatham and Clark are running more low-key campaigns in which they talk about gas drilling, economic development, downtown revitalization and mass transit.

Chatham, 65, an entrepreneur and community volunteer, said creating high-paying jobs for Arlington is among her top priorities.

"Our reputation is that we are not business-friendly," said Chatham, who wants to help the aging Great Southwest Industrial District become more competitive. She would also encourage local businesses to collaborate with the University of Texas at Arlington and Tarrant County College to create technology jobs.

She also speaks out routinely at public forums for tougher gas drilling controls such as increasing the setback between structures and well sites from 600 feet to 1,500 feet.

Chatham and Clark agree that the city needs to explore transit options. Chatham said the city should explore a public-private partnership to bring in either a monorail or light rail system. Clark said Arlington needs to tie in with regional rail but does not support public funding of intercity buses.

Clark, 25, said that while there has been a recent influx of restaurants and shops, the city needs to keep focused on downtown revitalization efforts and continue collaborating with the UT Arlington to spur investment.

"I want to bring a fresh new look to Arlington. This includes continuing the renovations of our downtown area, not only on the roads but also the businesses, restaurants and shops," Clark said. "This will better attract businesses to the area, which in turn creates job for our city residents."

Clark would also like to expand after-school programs for youths, which he said could help lower crime, and promote UT Arlington as a top choice for high school graduates to "give young people a reason to want to stay in Arlington."

Berg, 46, also an entrepreneur and community volunteer, agrees that the city needs to do more to clean itself up. He recommends using the $80 million-plus Arlington Tomorrow Foundation to pay for infrastructure improvements and projects such as painting murals on electrical boxes.

"We need to spend some of that money on art around the city, on sprucing up the city," Berg said. "That is a lot of money to be sitting there. I'm all for saving for a rainy day but $80 million -- what can we do with that?"

He also said Arlington should think outside the box on mass transportation, adding that he isn't joking when he said the city should consider treadmills to generate power to move overhead gondolas.

Susan Schrock, 817-709-7578

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