Report on the Candidates' Forum

We had a packed house at yesterday's Flower Mound Citizens Against Urban Drilling Candidates' Forum with close to 100 in attendance. Each attendee was given a piece of paper at the sign in desk and was asked to write their question out for the candidates. There were a number of good questions (many were related to urban gas drilling, as expected), but there were a fair number that were on topics such as oldgrowth/ancient forests, SMARTgrowth and the MasterPlan, high-density housing, and mixed use developments.

Only two candidates chose to attend yesterday's forum--Al Filidoro, who is the incumbent for Place 2 and Virginia Jellison, who is running for Place 4. The other two candidates, Steve Dixon and Jean Levenick, as well as Mayor Jody Smith, who is running unopposed, declined FMCAUD's invitation (which was delivered on March 24th) to participate in the forum saying that they had other commitments. (Mr. Dixon did however initially accept the invitation, but rescinded his acceptance the same day that both Ms. Levenick and Ms. Smith declined.)

The forum was conducted in an orderly and respectful manner and basically, all of the questions offered, were answered. (Many were very similar in nature, so not every single question was read, however.) Furthermore, the candidates stayed long after the meeting ended in order to answer questions from individuals as well as the news media.

Many, many thanks to all of you who attended. I appreciate your willingness to give up a bit of a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in order to learn the positions of the Town Council candidates.

Just a couple more comments...in case you haven't registered to vote, please do so. Your voter registration card must be postmarked no later than Thursday, April 10th.

Also, don't forget tonight's Town Council meeting at 6:00pm. Three-minute, citizen input remarks are allowed near the beginning of each meeting.

And finally, please make your plans to be at Wednesday night's O&G Board of Appeals meeting at 6:30pm. This is a VERY important meeting as a number or variances related to the Riverwalk project are up for approval by the board. These variances include setback requirements for floodplain, Environmentally Sensitive Areas, Public Parks, Residences, Property lines, Tank Batteries, and storage tanks. Citizen comments are also welcomed at this meeting.