News

Fort Worth Star-Telegram endorses Joel Burns

A good fit for Fort Worth council seat

Star-Telegram

Wendy Davis will be a tough act to follow.

In her eight-plus years on the Fort Worth City Council, the title company executive and Harvard-educated lawyer has proven to be bright, tenacious, politically courageous and dedicated to strong constituent service. She's well-versed on a maze of issues ranging from economic development to transportation.

She's vacating her council seat to run for the Texas Senate in 2008, and her District 9 constituents will vote on a successor in a six-candidate special election Nov. 6. (A seventh candidate, Victoria Powell, withdrew too late to be removed from the ballot.) Early voting begins Monday.

The candidate who appears best-qualified to succeed Davis is Joel Burns, a Realtor with Helen Painter Group Realtors and a resident of the Ryan Place neighborhood.

Burns, 38, already is well-acquainted with City Hall. He serves on the Zoning Commission, to which he was appointed by Davis. He is a former chairman of the Historic and Cultural Landmarks Commission.

Of the five candidates interviewed by the Star-Telegram Editorial Board (one failed to show), Burns, on balance, is the most knowledgeable about city issues and takes the wisest positions.

He's a good philosophical fit for District 9 -- a diverse district that includes downtown Fort Worth, areas immediately west of downtown, the Texas Christian University area, the medical district, older central-city neighborhoods such as Park Hill, Berkeley, Mistletoe Heights, Ryan Place and Fairmount, and commercial and residential areas flanking the Hemphill corridor that runs south to Interstate 20. The district is predominantly Hispanic and Anglo, with residents ranging from wealthy to poor.

Burns champions intelligent, sustainable economic development; a more advanced urban transportation system that would include expanded rail transit; continued central-city redevelopment that further revitalizes older neighborhoods; quality affordable housing for low- and moderate-income residents; strong code enforcement; and well-equipped, well-paid police and firefighters.

He supports proposed legislation that would let Fort Worth residents decide, through a local option election, whether they want to help fund a passenger rail system with a sales tax increase. He opposes granting collective bargaining rights to firefighters, a proposal that will be on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Burns' positions on these issues mirror those of the Editorial Board, which believes that an expanded rail transit system is needed to help relieve freeway gridlock and that granting collective bargaining rights to firefighters is unnecessary.

The Star-Telegram recommends Joel Burns for the District 9 City Council seat.