Let's Talk Local Podcast | Behind the Ballot with Chad West

00:00

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Hey there. I'm Sarah Zubiate Bennett. Welcome to Let's Talk Local. Today, I'm sitting down with Dallas City Council member Chad West, who's up for reelection this May. We're tackling some of the biggest and sometimes controversial issues shaping up this year's city council race, from parking minimums and housing reform to public safety. But that's not all. Chad is also facing an investigation by the Texas Ethics Commission over questionable campaign spending, and we're not shying away from that conversation. After the interview, we're hitting the town with Chad to check out some of his favorite Oak Cliff hangouts, so stick around because this episode has a little bit of everything. Let's get into it.

00:43

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

So I just wanted to say, I'm so grateful that Chad West is here with us today. I have received some absolute hate texts, messages about giving certain people platforms, and I'm just absolutely sick of it. Because you have always been very gracious, and you're not someone who's going to come here and not be open. And on the contrary, you have been the person that has said, ask me anything. Nothing is off the table. I am willing to discuss anything and everything and put my most raw self out there, which is what a lot of people aren't willing to do.

01:26

Chad West

Yeah. 100%. I mean, in this political world that we're in, it's unfortunate that a lot more people don't sit down and just have conversations. And, I think a lot of things could be worked out with a phone call or a conversation versus, you know, an attack on social media. And it's like, let's just actually talk about things and see where we can come together. And most of the time I found I'm much more aligned with someone than separate from them. You know? And so I appreciate you inviting me on here, even though we may not always agree on everything. I'm just used to have the conversation and and talk about, you know, ways to make the city better. I think that's one thing we can agree on is we both want to live in a city that's safe, where there's opportunity for all, and and it's dynamic and fun and I think Dallas is.

02:19

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yeah. It it absolutely is. And while I probably think that there's more room for improvement. But it is. It's a it's an incredible city.

02:26

Chad West

Mhmm.

02:27

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

I just want it to become a Mecca for the world.

02:30

Chad West

do too. I think internationally, we have an opportunity. To I could go deep on this and talk all day about the World Cup that's coming.

02:38

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Oh my gosh.

02:38

Chad West

Yes. In 2026. And, it's it's such an opportunity to showcase Dallas to the world, You know, but there are challenges we see every day, like public safety, of course, our lack of public transportation infrastructure challenges. Where are all these people going to stay? And these are all things that we've got to address as a city in anticipation of being on the world stage. In in a way we've never been.

03:03

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

May is election season.

03:05

Chad West

Yes. Once again.

03:07

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

I know. I know. And you're in the middle of campaigning at the moment. And I just wanna know, tell me everything happening in District 1. Tell me what, you know, the last several years since 02/2019, June of 2019, have has been filled with.

03:22

Chad West

Yeah.

03:22

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

And your platform. Talk to me about what you're what you're dealing with at this point.

03:27

Chad West

Well, so I got into public service. I mean, I've always kinda had, like a lot of people in public service, an intrinsic desire to serve. I started off in the military, that put me through college, and actually brought me to Texas. And so I served in the military, got out. After four years, I did my time. And a I'm a combat veteran now, and very proud of that fact. And once I got out of the military, ended up going to law school and then came here and started practicing law. And I was missing that kind of service aspect. So I got involved with charity work in my district and ultimately opened my own law firm, started a business, and eventually led me to public service again. And so I love it. It's the greatest honor of my life to be able to serve my constituents, the 90,000 people that live in District 1.

04:25

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yep.

04:25

Chad West

And then the city, beyond that. The interesting thing is in 2019, right when we got elected, and I was elected the same year as Mayor Johnson and Carah Mendelsohn and a lot of other folks, very quickly, as you remember, we experienced COVID.

04:42

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

That's right!

04:43

Chad West

That was a crazy first term for a lot of us. That's And we were still trying to figure out the job, and then we get hit with COVID.

04:49

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yep.

04:49

Chad West

And you know, you can't pick and choose when you get elected and what happens during that time. But it was it was incredibly challenging. And then on top of that, there was the killing of George Floyd. And the aftermath of public safety that Dallas experienced. You know, we had the whole defund the police narrative, which was so prevalent, in politics. And, and on top of that, all the other challenges of the city that we just deal with on a day to day basis, like housing reform and infrastructure and just the stuff that keeps the city running, keeping our parks and libraries operational. So then my fourth and final term, hopefully, no dramatics like that in the last term. But you can't ever count on it.

05:31

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

No. No. We can't.

05:33

Chad West

We wanna but what I found in in six years now is it doesn't matter in my district. I have extreme wealth in my district, and I have extreme poverty. And I have everything in between.

05:45

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yep.

05:46

Chad West

A lot of families there, very very heavily populated with Hispanics. Mhmm. And it doesn't matter in my district if you're rich, poor, brown, black, or white. Mhmm. Everybody values public safety at the top of their list, and infrastructure right there with it. So streets, roads, sidewalks. And so living by those core values and making that better on a daily basis is is really what's important to to, staying in office and to doing the best job you can. So I look forward to doing that again.

06:17

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

And so in order to discuss things like pro development, anti development stances, believe is It can be a little archaic at times because I've thought, okay, if we do truly want a safe city, a a city that is going to be growing into a Mecca of the world, these are conversations that must be had, especially when you look at, you know, housing affordability, parking reform. That's something that you're, right, a big proponent of at this point.

06:46

Chad West

Both of them. Yeah. Exactly. So, I mean, development is the key to our property taxes, which then pays for police, fire, streets, roads, libraries, parks, all the stuff we value. And, so we've gotta be reasonable about welcoming in development While still putting in protections for neighborhoods.

07:09

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

That's right.

07:09

Chad West

And and for those legacy neighbors that have been there so Of course. It's a balance, and you've got to be willing to engage in those conversations. One of those is housing reform. You know, we are in a housing crisis in the city. And, I've taken tough positions and I've created tough conversations, that have made a lot of people uncomfortable. And it's put a target on my back and it's brought in political opponents. But I'm okay with that because if we don't jump in and tackle it, it's Dallas is is going to turn into San Francisco or Seattle because our housing prices are so high, people won't be able to live here. Our our workforce won't be able live here. Same with parking reform. And but the challenge on that is I have jumped in so headfirst that I have also not been sensitive to the fear that it brings from people who are not quite ready for that. And who also don't have all the information that we sometimes have at City Hall. You know, we're always playing like insider baseball and we've got the studies, we've got the experts there. And for folks who might just hear about one thing I said in a whole lot of, you know, five hours of talking at City Hall, It can sound pretty scary. And I've gotta do a better job of that, of communicating the whole picture when I'm jumping out in front on a controversial issue like housing reform.

08:30

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

So parking reform and and the affordability. Talk to me about the specifics pertaining to these two particular issues.

08:37

Chad West

Sure. Parking reform itself could be its own show. So here's a I I think a few examples of how our antiquated nineteen sixties parking code is impacting businesses would be helpful. So I have a I have not just one, but two coffee shops in one of my little neighborhoods called Elmwood. It's a great neighborhood, by the way, in District 1. And very cute neighborhood. The first coffee shop was not able to open because they have the antiquated parking code requiring one space for every 100 square feet in the business, including the kitchen area. So really, you just want to come in and get a cup of coffee, great. But he had to provide something like 15 parking spaces or something ridiculous. And this is in an area that's already been designed as car centric. Mhmm. It is tons of street parking, but because of the parking code, he couldn't count it. So you know what he had to do to he went to the Board of Adjustment, they refused his application. So what he had to do is pave his entire yard to park the cars there so that he could open his business. So we ended up harming the environment. You've now not got green space out there for people to sit, but his workers, who are the ones parking there all day, are now parking on the concrete in the house that's this old house in Downtown Elmwood. Just down the street's another business. I think it's about 1,800 square foot, a little, sandwich place. They can't get the proper CO to do beer and wine or other things they want to do because of the parking code. The most extreme example, and the reason why I opened the parking code in August of 2019 was a very tragic story actually. Just if you know where Bishop Arts is, where the street car stops at Bishop Arts, it's at the corner of Zang and, Davis. Okay. Okay. Just southeast of that, there is a CVS, and beyond that, there's a vacant lot.

10:37

Chad West

The vacant lot was this historic looking old building, from the Art Deco era. Two story, beautiful brick building. And they want some some developers wanted to come in and do a boutique 12 room hotel there with a separate 2,500 square foot restaurant with a pool cabana. Like very California, right? And it was just sounded great. They're gonna restore the building, the little boutique hotel. Well, the parking code required them to park each room, so that's 12 rooms, plus fully park the restaurant, which is 25 spaces. So 37 spaces on a third of an acre, for this little boutique hotel. Absolutely no way that was gonna work. In the time it took to get the variants needed to do this, some, we believe, homeless folks moved into the building, set fire and burned it down. So it never happened. That's exactly why those cases, we need to update the parking code, so that it's more relevant to today's lifestyle. The parking ratios were created by bureaucrats. They're still enforced by bureaucrats seventy years later. Why is that what we're guided by versus what the market dictates and what insurance dictates?

11:51

Chad West

Because some of these insurance and and, for for for these different properties are gonna require parking. Financing, the financiers are actually some of the most conservative on wanting additional parking. In my opinion, and I think we are aligned on this, is you let the market drive it and then you put in the protections necessary for the neighborhoods. You know, I led out front on on, advocating for removing parking minimums

12:18

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yep.

12:18

Chad West

And then instilling protections for neighborhoods like those around Bishop Arts, like where I live or Lower Greenville. Yep. One of the benefits of eliminating minimums is the simplification of the permit process at the permit office. City staff has said, oh gosh, multiple a dozen times now that 60 to 70% of all time spent at the permanent office is on parking code. Anticipating that or, analyzing the parking code

12:47

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yep.

12:47

Chad West

And then actually like putting it into paper. The parking code is way overly complicated. Mhmm. We could simplify it, even if there's still some requirements. Imagine the efficiency we could get in that office that would then translate to it wouldn't take so long for for a developer to build a house, maybe it'll be less expensive for someone to buy it.

13:06

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

These parking costs are anywhere from 20 to $50,000 per space. So then inherently, I think, yes. So then rent costs are being driven up substantially. But again, I always kind of go back to the free market economic space of allow the market to dictate it and the people who are industry experts to determine that.

13:28

Chad West

Versus someone who works at city hall who is well intended but not trained in any of that world.

13:37

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yep.

13:37

Chad West

You talked to you mentioned, affordability for a second on parking spaces and you're right. On the wrapped, product that's where there's parking in the middle and you've had to drive up like a concrete ramp like the one here in your building or even surface lots cost for a surface space is 8,000 to $12,000. It gets really expensive in the $50,000 range when you've got a bury parking.

14:01

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yep.

14:02

Chad West

That cost is not just eaten by the developer. It's passed on to the tenants.

14:06

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Of course.

14:06

Chad West

So if we want to focus on housing affordability, we've got to think about that. The parking code as it's written today requires, in base zoning, requires one parking space for every bedroom. So if I'm a single parent and I'm a I'm a divorced parent and I have an apartment with a a bedroom for my kids and one for myself, I have to have two parking spaces. So they have to build two parking spaces for me, even though I have one car. It makes no sense. And that is, you know, systemic across the city where that's happening. So we need to provide a little more flexibility for the market and hopefully ease the cost down a little bit.

14:43

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Let's toggle over a little bit to public safety. I know that that's vital and the most important topic, right, of conversation for your constituents. Talk to me a little bit about your history surrounding the support of the police and your ideals pertaining to this, if you could.

15:04

Chad West

Absolutely. Well, I've been very fortunate to have a good relationship with all of our previous police chiefs. You know, I do remember some of the challenges during the George Floyd protests that we had in Dallas and definitely learned, just how tough their job is, throughout that process. We have neighborhood police officers, in all neighborhoods, including my own. I work with them on a regular basis and we just tackle issues as they come up. Every year I have supported fully funding the police, and I've been very fortunate in my campaigns to have endorsements and support from the police associations.

15:46

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

And and that for me is something that speaks volumes. Because I know that you've come under a little bit of attack saying, oh, he's voted to defund the police.

15:57

Chad West

Oh, happy to talk about that.

15:59

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yeah, please, if you would.

16:00

Chad West

Sure. So there was a vote in, I don't wanna say, 2020 on the budget where several council members, reallocated some of the overtime funds

16:11

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

$7,000,000,

16:13

Chad West

Thank you, to other public safety items. Now there was that year, this is the piece that's often left out of the media stories. There was still an increase of $8,000,000 in the police budget. And all of that $7,000,000 that was reallocated was put into other types of public safety endeavors such as lighting, moving civilian jobs over, stuff like that. When Chief Garcia came on, he put in a lot more checks and balances on the overtime. Before his time, we had really millions of dollars in overtime that was not accounted for. There was no one, no supervisor signing off on it, in some cases no records. And DPD had been given a pass on that because they're DPD. If it had been any other department, all of us on council would have been eviscerating them. And I started to realize this, that we've got to hold DPD as accountable for their checks and balances and their accounting just like any other department. So my feeling was, and my goal at that time was to hold the money over here, have them come back mid year when we have sales tax additional revenues coming in, and then we allocate more money to them, like we're always gonna do, because all of us want police when we call on them.

17:28

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Moving forward, I know, you know, no one at council supported Propositions S,T and U, and I know that there was a lot of movement that you all had surrounding the opposition to him. So now, two of the three passed. Right? So specifically relating to prop u. Now, we have to ensure that we have 4,000 police sworn in.

17:56

Chad West

Mhmm.

17:56

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

I understand the difficulties logistically to getting there. Would you be willing to place your signature and write a letter to Kim Tolbert supporting actually devising a a third party audit or recommendation about what constitutes excess or additional revenue to support this implementation and adherence to what is now law?

18:26

Chad West

I think what, especially proposition U showed us, is public safety is a real issue for most voters. And, and they take it seriously and they want they want to see more visible presence of police officers. I'm open to any type of third party audit of the city because I think it's good to be audited. I don't think we get audited enough. And I chair the Government Performance Financial Management Committee, and on that committee we actually have our internal audit, which is constantly providing stuff. Like we've learned that there were some missing weapons from the marshal's office recently.

19:09

Chad West

So these kinds of things I think are important. I think third party audits are even more important. I hate to give you a political answer on this and not a concrete one, but I'd want to see what the letter said. The concept though seems reasonable.

19:23

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Okay. And then what about even their pay? Their pay being competitive. Because that commission to a third party study on police pay to ensure competitive salaries, there's been no movement. And I Do you have any insight as to why it stalled?

19:37

Chad West

I mean, we are contractually obligated and are bound by the state as well on on sticking with the meet and confer agreement. So I think that any movement in salaries should be worked with the associations, Dallas Police Association. Also you got to go to the fire, Dallas Firefighters Association, and then the the other ones too, and get them to be on board with these any salary adjustments. Because right now we're we can't legally change that without going back to the table and reopening those discussions. So it's got to start there.

20:12

Chad West

So for me, that's a non starter until we reopen, meet and confer again.

20:17

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

And so kind of back over to the allocation of the funding. Are you willing to meet with your other council persons who are working with you, adhering to the law now, in actually ensuring that we have enough bodies present?

20:35

Chad West

It's not a yes or no answer, and here's why. I go back to the meet and confer agreement. By us setting a budget to hire a certain amount of officers, by us changing salaries, we get out anything that's going to take us away from the meet and confer agreement is going to cause problems for us legally with the state and with those officers. So we're in a legal hurdle either way here because of this charter amendment and the passage of it. So what the city's doing, and I think needs to do better of, is try its best to meet those, the intent of Proposition U by hiring as many officers as we can and keeping them on the force without violating what we're contractually obligated to do already.

21:24

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

I understand that. I understand that. I just would think that since it's now law, that there would be a lot more movement that had been made at this point.

21:33

Chad West

Well, pro both propositions S and U without like you know, I don't want to argue about them because it is what it is. But I will tell you, like, both of them, the passage of both and the same with the marijuana one, right, is is it is contradictory to a law. Proposition S and U are, at least in our belief, contradictory to contracts that we're into. And the Proposition S about the waiver of sovereign immunity is contradictory to state law. And so it puts us in this weird situation where we're actually just spending a lot of taxpayer money on lawyers. We're doing that for the marijuana and then that as well.

22:10

Chad West

But for me at least, and I can't speak for all my colleagues on this, I still think we need to try to meet the intent of at least proposition U in hiring as many police officers as possible and keeping them. And and that's a that's a winner for all of us. Everybody wants that.

22:25

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

What about DART? Where are you falling on DART these days?

22:30

Chad West

As far as like funding DART, I I support funding DART. It's if You and I talked about at the very beginning us being a world class city. And a world class city has excellent public transit. So someone mentioned this quote one time, and I can't remember who it is, but it's a city has world class public transportation not when everyone has access, but when everyone chooses to use it. So when the the rich people who have cars would rather use public transit, you know that your city's really made it.

23:06

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yes. And how do you think we can do a better job in public transportation?

23:11

Chad West

Well, we need to fully fund it, you know, from the sales tax penny that it has. And then secondly, I think the lowest hanging fruit is going back to parking. All of the under parked, dark parking lots throughout the city that could have, density on it. It's the perfect place for density. Most of them are not near residential. There's some exceptions. But a lot of them are are just kinda out in different areas. Like Westmoreland is a good example. That's the end of the red line. And it's got factories around it and parking lots. That's a perfect place for density where you can put the workforce, they can jump on the train and go to downtown and work if they choose. And don't they don't have to worry about parking. They don't congest our roads because they're on the train that we've already built for them. So it's not building new lines necessarily right now. We don't have the money for that.

24:01

Chad West

But it's using what's already there and actually putting the density there away from the neighborhoods. Right now, DART is affordable for some people and certainly the only way some people can get around. And so I think it is a necessary part of our infrastructure in the city. Now granted, there are parts of the city you're only gonna be able to drive to. And that's gonna probably always be the case.

24:25

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Exactly.

24:25

Chad West

There's a lot of places, especially in our core, where we should be continuing to invest in it. For example, the streetcar. There's the Oak Cliff streetcar right now that's part of the streetcar master plan, which is proposed to take it around ends right now by the Union Station. But the plan is to take it around through downtown, connect it to in some way to the M Line trolley where, people would switch trains at that point. But enabling people to move through downtown more easily than they are right now.

24:56

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

And I'm gonna kind of move over to something that I believe, and I do know for sure that that your constituents have expressed questions about. So right now, I know that you are, and again, if you're not comfortable talking about it, I understand. But you're currently being investigated by the Texas Ethics Commission.

25:21

Chad West

Oh, mhmm.

25:21

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Regarding some of the expense reporting right from your expenditures. What is your response to these allegations? And do believe this investigation will impact your reelection campaign?

25:36

Chad West

The quick answer is no, I don't. The second answer is that these two allegations, and we can talk about them, are both really for clerical errors in the reporting. They're not for anything wrong with the actual items. But the inflammatory part of it is that I was accused, basically it points out that I spent money in a bar and that I spent money at a bathhouse. If these The issues that were pointed out is that these were gay establishments. I'm openly gay. I go to these places. Yeah. If it had been King Spa in Dallas, for the for the spa bathhouse, it wouldn't have been an issue. If it had been The Old Monk, as a bar in Dallas, it wouldn't have been an issue. In fact, that is on my expense report. So the issue that was brought up to me and what I think my constituents see from this is that someone trying to make it an issue that I went to a gay establishment, which I've never had that come up in any political discussion before, and I don't think it's relevant.

26:45

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

So why are you being investigated? Where did they find merit in...

26:48

Chad West

It was a clerical error of how we what I called it on the report, which was a think instead of calling it like a food and beverage expense, I called it like admission or something of that nature. It was really just that, and there's not really a punishment or anything once gets found out, other than I've got to correct the report.

27:10

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Got it. Which we're already prepared to do. Because I do admit that there were, you know, on a report with So I treat my campaign account, this First of all, let's point out, this is not city funds, it's campaign funds. I treat my campaign like I treat a business. If I'm spending campaign funds, then there should be some benefit to the campaign. So in both situations, these two particular instances, I was with donors, and we were going to establishments.

27:42

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Okay. Okay. Well, that's that's good to know that you do not believe that this will impact your campaign at all. That's great to hear, actually.

27:50

Chad West

Well, I hope not. If voters have a problem with me going to a gay establishment, they probably have an issue with me as a candidate.

27:56

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

I mean, I would seriously doubt that. I mean, I I would doubt that. Don't think it's an issue. Like, people's sexuality is too For a very small percentage of voters, maybe. For most of my voters in District 1, they care about the issues. What am I doing to tackle crime? What am I doing to support the police? What am I doing to ensure housing affordability? Fix their streets and roads. Sometimes it's a very just particular issue, like, they're speeding on my street. I want it to stop. I have people that will vote for me or vote against me just based on I ran into one guy. He didn't like my vote on Reverchon Park. Which is not even in my district, and it was a vote we made back in 2019. I'm like, really? And he said, yes, I've never forgave you for that. And I'm like, okay, well, we have to sometimes, you know, you gotta put pen to paper and make a decision that's not popular to somebody. So a lot of times it's very specific. Most of the time though, it's more general broad issues. And it's not like what I've spent at or where I went during the campaign trail. I mean, that was a inflammatory thing brought up by somebody doing a inflammatory video.

29:04

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Did they contact you before they brought that to light? Did they say, hey, we found this and it's raised concern?

29:10

Chad West

No.

29:13

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Okay. Got it. Yeah. And and again, back to kind of what what you and I had talked about. Even though you and I don't always see eye to eye on how to proceed in some manners,

29:27

Chad West

Mhmm.

29:30

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Having the conversation and allowing that dialogue to take place perhaps beforehand, right, before any of it hits the head, I think that that is missing in society.

29:44

Chad West

I think so too. Like, if you wanna sit down at the table and actually make change this is what I've found in my district for sure. The people who are hyper engaged, who are actually trying to develop the zoning our conservation district. I'm very lucky in my district to be one, very fortunate to be one of the only conservation district that's passed in the city, the only new one in District 1. I was happy to be part of that process.

30:11

Chad West

And, the neighbors who get in the weeds on that kind of stuff, I've got great relationships with them. My relationships that are challenging to me, and I wish it could be better, are the ones who just blast me on social media. Or instead of actually, like, trying to call me on use 311, get their alley fixed, they'll just put, you know, something on social media. I see. And that's fine. Like, we could still work together.

30:35

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yeah.

30:36

Chad West

It's just makes for a more complicated situation sometimes because I've gotta also deal with all that hype that comes with it, instead of just sitting down and helping you with your problem.

30:45

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Tell me about this Forward Dallas. I think you've made some remarks about the Pepper Square development. I mean, I know that that's not in your district. But why are people so upset with your stance on, I guess, Forward Dallas and affordable housing. What is what is happening there?

31:11

Chad West

What's interesting that I was painted by a few people, mostly on social media again, is sort of like the poster child for densifying the host city.

31:21

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Got it.

31:21

Chad West

At the end of the day, and I do want to come back to that because I do believe we need some general density in Dallas. So I'm I'm not trying to skate that or or shove that to the side. But at the end of the day, I ended up voting with someone who's pretty much on the opposite side, or at least seen that on social media, which is Paul Ridley. We actually worked together on the compromise vote that happened at the end of day. We need land use reform in the city in order to move out of what has been there for the last thirty years.

31:52

Chad West

And for us to actually have the environmental justice reform, which we desperately needed for neighborhoods like Joppie and Floral Farms who were redlined and factories were put into their areas. Without Forward Dallas, we would never actually get those environmental reforms we needed so bad from the days of redlining. It cleaned up a lot of zoning, or a lot of land use, guidance in the different neighborhoods as well. Now what's different about my district than other districts, and you've said this before, that it's not a one size fits all, I agree with that, Is I live in an area that already has general density. If you walk through Lake Cliff Historic District by Lake Cliff Park or one of the gems of historic districts in the whole city, Winnetka Heights, These areas, you could be walking down one block and you have a single family home.

32:44

Chad West

Two doors down, there's six plex. And it looks just like a single family home. When I got to talking to my neighbors about what their concerns were with Forward Dallas and with gentle Density, the concern is not necessarily, it's usually not, oh I don't want a duplexer or triplexer. It's I don't want this big ugly box thing that like a cereal box construction like we're seeing in Bishop Arts. It's more so the design, the setbacks, where the cars are gonna go, these things that can be regulated through code.

33:17

Chad West

And for me, if I had not supported the version of Forward Dallas that I supported, it would have made a lot of our existing stock, duplexes, triplexes, four plexes, non conforming. Meaning like in neighbors like my own Kidd Springs, if a duplex was torn down, without Forward Dallas, they'd have to build a single family home in its place. We'd lose a whole residence for someone if we didn't modernize the code. So I had to, and I will continue to be an advocate, for gentle density where appropriate. And Forward Dallas helped us do that.

33:54

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Is there anything else, Chad, that you want to add to this interview? Topics you want to cover that we haven't touched upon that you believe are meaningful?

34:04

Chad West

No, I think you've you've done a great job on the questions. We we, you know, I just enjoy having this conversation where we can dig into the issues and you don't hold the punches back. I'm happy to come back anytime. Seriously. Yeah. I know. Anytime you want Anytime you wanna, you know, tackle the hard issues, we should do that. And, especially if we get closer to election day too.

34:25

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Absolutely. And I I wish you luck. I wish you luck

34:28

Chad West

Thank you.

34:28

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

In this running.

34:29

Chad West

Thank you.

34:30

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yeah. And, again, it's always a pleasure to have you here, Chad.

34:34

Chad West

Great being here as well. Have a good spring break.

34:36

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Thank you. You as well. So Chad did not shy away from the tough questions in the studio, but how does he handle the pressure of picking his favorite cup of coffee or choosing his go to breakfast at Oddfellows Let's switch things up and hit the streets of Oak Cliff to check out some of his favorite spots. Stick around. You won't wanna miss this.

34:54

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Adorable!

34:55

Chad West

It is cute. It's Xaman, and everything on the menu is fantastic. So the abena is...

35:02

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Is that how you say it? Abena.

35:03

Chad West

Abena is really good. That's what I'm getting. And it's one of the lighter things on the menu. But, really, anything's good.

35:11

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Oh, power bowl. Oh. Oh my gosh. So this is legitimate.

35:23

Chad West

And then they have, for happy hours from 4-7, Monday through Friday, $10 Palomas, which are my favorites. Oh. Ranch water margaritas.

35:31

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

I don't know ranch waters.

35:32

Chad West

What's a brujo?

35:33

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Brujo? It's like well,

35:35

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

I don't know what it is here. It means witch, like a male witch. Oh. But I don't know what Okay. Yeah.

35:40

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

But I don't

35:40

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

know what the

35:41

Chad West

what the drink

35:41

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

is. You kinda know what that is.

35:44

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Oh my gosh. Okay. Omelette, eggs with quesito, surface house salad, beef tenderloin, chorizo.

35:50

Chad West

I've had the chorizo omelette before. It's it's very heavy, but it's fantastic. Okay.

35:54

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

They have fideo. Okay. Here's the thing. I'm not gonna eat all the fideo, but I'm gonna order that just to see how it is.

36:01

Chad West

I don't even see it. Where is that?

36:03

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Up here. My mom used to make the best. Oh my gosh. And so that's why I'm like, I just wanna see how good it is.

36:12

Chad West

Let's get that. I will get this. So I'm doing the Avena. Okay. And I want one more of these teas, please.

36:21

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

May I have one of these teas? And then may I also try some Fideo?

36:26

Chad West

I drank it way too soon and it...

36:29

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yeah. You can tell. It needs to steep.

36:31

Chad West

Yeah. It needs to steep.

36:32

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Oh, it's beautiful.

36:33

Chad West

It's done so well there.

36:34

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Wanna smell it.

36:37

Chad West

You're gonna love it. It's worth coming back here for this alone. If you like teas.

36:43

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

It kinda smells like horchata. Does? Doesn't it? Well, because of, like, the cinnamon in the horchata, but that's the same.

36:52

Chad West

Looks like chorizo.

36:53

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Oh, it's good.

36:54

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

This is chorizo with beans and then it looks like some cheese. Of course, jalapeno. Yep. This is good.

37:10

Chad West

That's fantastic.

37:17

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

That's so good. Perfect. Thank you.

37:26

Chad West

Okay. If you were hungry, I think you're covered.

37:29

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

I was hungry. And so now I'm just gonna, I think, pick from a few things. Oh, that's (fideo) so good. It's like a tomato base with I don't know if you can see the pasta, with some pasta. And then sometimes people will put different kinds of protein in it. But this has avocado. It's so good. And the magic is in the base of the soup. And they they have a really good one.

38:05

Chad West

So it's made perfectly just like

38:07

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

You have to have some.

38:08

Chad West

So your your mother made that. Right? What do I wanna try?

38:12

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Anything! Have have any of it.

38:13

Chad West

I'll try a bite of your omelet.

38:14

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Definitely. See, and I did egg whites.

38:17

Chad West

I love it.

38:17

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yeah.

38:19

Chad West

I've had this before, but not with egg whites.

38:22

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yeah. You said it was heavy and I thought, well, I want the chorizo, but I really want the egg.

38:29

Chad West

Really good. It's good? Really good. Mhmm. And it's balanced out by the salad. I'm sure it'll help with that. This place is really popular in the district as you can imagine.

38:43

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Well, of course. It's a what is it? A Tuesday?

38:47

Chad West

It's a Tuesday and it is lunchtime. Oh. But when we got in here at like 11:30, it was even more packed because it was, you know, kind of that brunch

38:55

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Of course.

38:56

Chad West

Lunch crowd.

38:59

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

That's great. Mhmm. Oh, it doesn't even need the honey.

39:06

Chad West

It doesn't, does it? I like it really sweet, but Oh. This is the best cinnamon tea I've ever had. I don't say that lightly. It's really good.

39:17

Chad West

So a lot of the this is a really interesting neighborhood because it's Yeah. It's Bishop Arts neighborhood.

39:23

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Uh-huh.

39:24

Chad West

And what's drives people crazy in Oak Cliff when it comes to overdevelopment is to see what's happened to this neighborhood. You know, this is a typical Bishop Arts or the typical street in Bishop Arts where you see the development on one side.

39:40

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Uh-huh.

39:41

Chad West

And then you could see up ahead where there's these large Oh, yeah. Three story looking townhomes, which have zoned

39:46

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Are those houses or apartments?

39:47

Chad West

Those, I believe, are townhomes.

39:49

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Got it.

39:49

Chad West

And then you've got your you're gonna go straight all the way through that stoplight up there. You could see, you know, the homes that are still here. So there's a fear, justifiable fear, that we're gonna lose all this traditional housing stock for apartments in the neighborhood. But then you can see there's a duplex right there.

40:08

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yeah.

40:09

Chad West

And you've got some existing, there's another one. Oh. And these have been around since before any of us lived in the neighborhood. And then you've got single family homes up here. So we have a we have a neighborhood association that has reformed over here, to try to help manage this density that we're we're experiencing. This was all zoned prior to my time, prior to Scott Griggs' time, my predecessor's time.

40:33

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

It's Uh-huh.

40:34

Chad West

Been zoned this way. It got up zoned, which has now encouraged the density that's coming. This is a multifamily home.

40:44

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yeah.

40:44

Chad West

There are, I believe, at least four units in there.

40:48

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Seriously?

40:49

Chad West

And it is very compatible with the neighborhood.

40:52

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Of course.

40:53

Chad West

And beautiful. What I believe is a single family home here. Mhmm. And then you've got a single family home here. You're walking down the street, you wouldn't even notice it unless you're looking for it because they're built appropriate to the scale of the neighborhood.

41:06

Chad West

This (ABC Party) is owned by my friend Carlos de la Fuente. Oh. So this is where you come for your pinatas. That's the leftovers from the Mardi Gras parade over there. Oh.

41:15

Chad West

Birthday parties. The Saint Patrick's Day is coming up. Yeah. And then Easter. Look at this look at this preparation for Easter right here.

41:23

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Oh, gosh.

41:25

Chad West

Isn't that great?

41:27

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Oh, my gosh. People actually made these? These are all stuffed with real confetti for Easter. Okay. That's amazing.

41:37

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

ABC party.

41:39

Chad West

ABC party on Davis Street.

41:41

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

On Davis Street.

41:41

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Oh, my gosh.

41:43

Chad West

Some really cute little kid shirts in here.

41:46

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Look at the little Loteria. Oh, my gosh.

41:51

Chad West

I'm not gonna get the eggs because they will end up all over my house. On Easter, I'm gonna get the eggs. Aren't they cute?

41:58

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Oh, gosh. Oh, the little tangelos.

42:02

Chad West

Mhmm. Limes, lemons, raspberries.

42:07

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

And people come here and clearly, that's why they're still here. And honey, mangoes, eggs. May I have one pineapple, please? Okay. Thank you.

42:22

Chad West

And this honestly, these oranges are better than what you're gonna get it

42:25

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Of course.

42:26

Chad West

At most grocery stores.

42:34

Chad West

Coombs Creek Trail is down there. This is a just, you know, really beautiful part of Kessler Park.

42:43

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Edgefield And Kessler. Okay.

42:45

Chad West

Edgefield And Kessler Parkway. And so we'll take the stairs up.

42:48

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Oh, these are the Kessler Steps.

42:50

Chad West

These are famous. So this was controversial to to open these. This was city hasn't had an easement. You could see the remnants of the old stairs.

42:59

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

But it's so nice.

43:00

Chad West

The neighbors love it. It connects this neighborhood, which otherwise is on the cliff up here

43:04

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Uh-huh.

43:05

Chad West

Top of a hill, has trouble. You know, they they have to go all the way around to get down here, like, probably almost a mile to get around. This one they usually have working. They'll probably get it working now that it's spring.

43:19

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yep.

43:20

Chad West

So then you come up here and now you're on Canterbury Court

43:23

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Uh-huh.

43:23

Chad West

Which is one of the most famous streets in Kessler. It's a it's like a kind of a rounded street. There's there's a lot of beautiful homes up here.

43:33

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yeah.

43:34

Chad West

Very historic.

43:35

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

The character. I know.

43:38

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

I know it's perfect. He's like right in front of his sign.

43:40

Chad West

Oh, yeah.

43:42

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

But it it is.

43:44

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

And you know what I like about this area? It does not appear that many of these homes have been ripped down.

43:50

Chad West

No. No. They're long established homes. It is a conservation district, in Kessler Park, and and so if you did take a home down, you'd have to rebuild to some similar standards.

44:02

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yeah. I wish Highland Park had that.

44:05

Chad West

Yeah. Hey. What's going on? Hey. How are you? We're just checking out the Kessler. Oh, no. You're good. Checking out the Kessler Steps and this this this whole thing. So Oh, okay. I wonder. Yeah. Well, we're trying to help. Well, shall we shall we go to Odd Fellows?

44:19

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Yeah. Let's do it. It's beautiful. Thank you for showing us this. I've never been.

44:24

Chad West

That's just a little secret gem in the neighborhood.

44:27

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

You are proud of where you're from. It's just so beautiful to see. And I told her, I said, I wish more city council people were like this. Who would who just had the energy to showcase.

44:39

Chad West

Well, thanks for giving me the opportunity because, you know, we're probably showing places to people that they had never even been here before.

44:46

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Correct.

44:46

Chad West

A lot of people have been to Bishop Hearts. Yeah. Actually getting out of the little comfort zone of Bishop Arts and going to Jefferson, I wish our western store had been open because I think it's a gym. But but the Kessler Steps, I mean, those kind of like little things, if you're not a local, a lot of people don't even know about And what's really great about our I love my district. One of the many things that I love is that we do have the extreme wealth.

45:09

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Uh-huh.

45:10

Chad West

We have the we have poverty. We have everything in between. Yeah. Everybody pretty much coexists together pretty well. Like, you can walk around the Bishop Arts or Jefferson and you see people from every age Yep. Every gender, socioeconomic background. You see same sex couples. You see couples of different, you know, ethnic backgrounds. Yeah. I mean, it's just no one cares. Everyone's just do you. Yeah. You know? Just do you. It's the Yeah.

45:37

Chad West

Oh, my God. Look at this coming.

45:39

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

What's that? Framosas. Oh. Oh. Is it roses?

45:43

Chad West

Did someone else have one?

45:45

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

No. And they're much more. But that's okay. You could give it to her. There's no alcohol in there. It's refreshing. No. Oh, they're both delicious. They're both delicious.

46:02

Sarah Zubiate Bennett

Cheers. Cheers.

46:03

Chad West

That looks incredible.

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