Tim's Platform

If I am fortunate enough to be elected as your Mayor, the following will be my goals for our community:  (please scroll down)

• Maintain or Reduce our City Property Tax Rate, currently one of the lowest in the Metroplex. 
  This can be accomplished by taking steps to increase property values, bringing new businesses and development into our city and through sound financial decision-making.
  
  
• Continuation of our Neighborhood Revitalization Efforts, including strong Code Enforcement.
  We have one of the most beautiful cities in all of North Texas.  We can add to this beauty by creating new parks, enhancing our creeks, ponds and streams, and improving our signage.  We also need strong Code Enforcement to improve the neighborhoods that are showing their age, and we need to encourage reinvestment in our homes.  
  
  
• Continuation of Our Retail Redevelopment Efforts, Concentrating on the Overhaul of the Four Corners (Josey and Valley View) 
  In recent years, many of our retail areas have deteriorated.  We are currently working with a number of companies to overhaul some of our blighted retail centers.  I am committed to turning the Four Corners around and making this intersection something all of Farmers Branch can take pride in.  I meet with or speak to people interested in redevelopment in our city frequently and believe this area will see major strides within 1 – 3 years.  Other retail areas are also in desperate need of improvement in our city, as well.  I will work with developers to bring about those changes, while protecting the people who matter most, our residents.
  
  
• Keep Farmers Branch a safe community, lowering the crime rate each year for the next three years. 
  People want to live in a safe city.  Farmers Branch is a safe city, but I believe we can make it safer.  This can be accomplished by providing our police department new and innovative tools to combat crime and protect our residents.  I am a strong supporter of Chief Fuller and the Farmers Branch Police Department and want our men and women in blue to know that we back them 100%.  We want to implement a motorcycle police unit by the end of 2008.  We also want to increase our bike patrol program.  Neighborhood Crime Watch is also effective in fighting crime and we will continue to give our Community Watch volunteers the tools they need to assist the police.
  
  
• Bring a Downtown Farmers Branch to our DART Station Area by the time the trains begin operation in late 2010. 
  The Station Area will become a downtown for Farmers Branch.  It will offer residents places to eat, shop and enjoy the benefits of urban development, including outdoor patio cafes, short walks from store-to-store and close-in parking.  It will be unlike any other place we have in the city.  I will work with our development partner, ICON, as well as all inquiring businesses to do our very best to see to it that we have our downtown up and running by the time the Station becomes operational.
  
  
• Continue to Honor our Senior Citizens and our Veterans
  Seniors helped build our community and we have a large percentage of seniors in our city.  I will continue to look for ways to add housing options for our seniors, so they do not have to move out of our city.  I also will continue to honor our veterans through the development of Liberty Plaza, enhancement of the Veterans Wall of Honor and the continuation of our recognition at City Hall of our residents who return from active military duty.   I support a TAX FREEZE for SENIOR CITIZENS. 
      
  
  
• Make Myself and City Hall Accessible to all Residents
  I return every telephone call and respond to every e-mail I receive from a Farmers Branch resident.  I will continue to do so if I am elected Mayor.  We may not always agree, but I will always respond to your concerns and you will know where I stand.  I will always be open to hearing different points of view and will not hesitate to change something based on a resident’s recommendation.  I will also make sure that City Staff continues to provide exceptional service for our residents.
  
  
• Construct or Begin Planning for New City Facilities
  There are three projects I want to see in Farmers Branch in the near future:
  
  1)      Complete Renovation of our Library or the Construction of a New Library - to give us a library fitting a city of our quality;
  2)      a New state-of-the-art Water Park for children and families to enjoy; and
  3)      the relocation of Fire Station No. 1, to better serve our central neighborhoods.
       
  We can begin the research and planning of these projects in the next year, and possibly even complete one or more within three years.  These projects will greatly enhance the quality of life for our residents.  In addition, completing these projects may allow for an art gallery/museum, community theater, or additional recreation facilities to occupy any building(s) left vacant from these projects.  The possibilities are endless.
  
  
• Creation of a Corporate Community Relations Board
  I want to create this Board, which will be comprised of resident volunteers, to solicit corporate donations for sculptures, fountains, Christmas displays and other activities the City provides for our residents.  This will allow us to enhance Liberty Plaza and other parks, as well as enhance community events, at no cost to the taxpayers.
  
  
• Enhance and Increase Community Activities
  This summer we have brought back the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to play in the Historical Park.  Activities like these build community spirit and help us feel closer as neighbors.  Part of what makes Farmers Branch special is the small-town feel we enjoy in the middle of a major metropolitan area.  I want us to have more Movie-in-the-Park nights, enhance our Christmas Drive-Through Program and create more exciting events like Fishin’ Fun and our July 4th Celebration.  We are not Old Farmers Branch and New Farmers Branch.  We are not Young Farmers Branch and Old Farmers Branch.  We are Farmers Branch.  I believe the idea of One Farmers Branch to be vital to our future success.
  
  

Statement on Illegal Immigration

From watching the news or reading the paper, one could be under the impression that all I care about is addressing illegal immigration.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I do believe illegal immigration burdens our education system, health care system and city services.  I also believe illegal immigration suppresses the wages of lower-income earning Americans.  In Farmers Branch, we have attempted to address the effects of illegal immigration on our city and will, in all likelihood, continue to do so in the future.  We recently received news that we have been admitted into the 287(g) program.  This will give our police department access to ICE's database, as well as give us another tool to remove illegal aliens who commit other crimes from our city. 

Make no mistake, I am committed to addressing the problem of illegal immigration in Farmers Branch.  But, there are many other issues that we need to address, including being good stewards of taxpayer money, revitalization of our neighborhoods and retail areas, bringing in new retail and dining options, keeping our city safe and maintaining, or possibly even lowering, our tax rate. Farmers Branch has been my home almost my entire life, and I want to see our city prosper for years to come. 

Please Vote for me on Election Day, May 10th or during early Voting at Farmers Branch City Hall, April 28-May 6!