Its not too late to exercise your responsibility to share about your city candidates with your friends. I am doing it for my City and hope you can do it for your City. Voting a candidate is a personal decision and no matter who your choice is, please cast your ballot on Saturday, May 14th.
We care deeply about our City and want to elect candidates who can attend to the most critical needs of our times; we are blessed to have so many good candidates to serve our city.
One of the important aspects of a city is how well it functions in bringing the people together, where all of us with our differences contribute to the well being, safety and security of our city.
Please check your City website and participate in your Municipal, School and county elections.
Carrollton is my City and based on the criteria of building a safe and cohesive Carrollton, I am pleased to present the following candidates, who have the experience and a track record for you to consider.
Carrollton is my City and here is the
Matthew Marchant for Mayor
Bonnie Kaplan for City council place 2
Bob Garza for City council place 4
For locations and other details click - http://www.cityofcarrollton.com/index.aspx?page=27&recordid=661&returnURL=%2Findex.aspx
Please check the comments in the following link, we asked all the candidates to write about their work and plan to bring social cohesion to Carrollton. : http://carrolltondiary.blogspot.com/2011/05/question-for-candidates_02.html
Bonnie Kaplan said...
I am running for City Council, Place 2. I know about budgets and economic development from having served before on the Carrollton City Council. This time, if I am fortunate enough to be elected, my emphasis will be on building community, real community.
Let me tell you two stories to illustrate. Back in the year 2000, I was serving on city council and was running for mayor. In the middle of the campaign, on Easter Sunday which was also Passover, my very large double white front doors were spray painted with a huge black swastika. My husband is a Jew, and in a Jewish household there is not a symbol that is more disgusting. We were shocked and horrified, as were many in our community. This cruel event hurt us for a very long time, for it caused us to wonder who would do something so terrible to us. Through this event, I learned what it felt like to be an outsider, ostrasized for no reason except religion and heritage.
I always had a heart and a soul for community and diversity. This event only strengthened it.
In 2009, the A.W. Perry Museum Society decided to make a quilt to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the rebuilt A.W. Perry home. I was named project leader for a fundraising event. We decided to sell squares and strips that people would purchase and sign. The signed squares and strips would be incorporated into the design of the quilt. I realized that Carrollton today looked very different than the Carrollton of 1909. One of the most obvious differences was in the demographics. Today Carrollton is a very diverse city, ethnically, religiously and socially.
I decided to seek out those who would represent the many kinds of diversity. Therefore, we reached out to everyone. No one was excluded. People who participated in the project ranged from in ages from eight to ninety-one. Many different races were included in the quilt. Some people signed because of their occupations, such as firefighters and boy scouts, others signed because of their countries of origin, such as Lebanon, Pakistan, India, Mexico, China, Vietnam and Egypt. There were patches for various churches, including Christians, Baptists, Hindu, Orthodox Armenians, Jewish and Muslims. Descendants of the original settlers of Carrollton also signed the quilt.
The signed squares and strips were sent to a quilter with no instructions on how to place them. She did not know the participants and so randomly placed the patches throughout the design. The finished quilt became of tapestry of Carrollton’s diversity and community. It represents an ideal to which we can all aspire, with all the differences stitched into one beautiful whole
Bob Garza said...
My name is Bob Garza candidate for Carrollton City Council Place 4. My wife Emily and I have lived in Carrollton for 22 years. We have 2 grown children and 4 grandchildren.
I served in the US Air Force and I am a Viet Nam Veteran, graduated from The University of North Texas with a BBA degree using the G. I. Bill.
I was appointed by City Council to the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) Committee and have served for about 3 years. This past year I was also appointed to the city Charter Review Committee.
I am Chairman of the Senior Adult Services board an organization that serves seniors ages 60 and over with meals, transportation, home repairs and Medicare and Medicaid filing assistance. I also serve on the Dallas Telco Federal Credit Union Board.
I have been involved in the community for over 10 years having served on numerous boards of chambers and non-profit organizations. These include Bea's Kids, which provides after school tutoring for minority kids and served on both the Metrocrest and Farmers Branch chambers. Several years ago I help sponsor a trip to Austin for a group of CFB-ISD high school students and coordinated a meeting with several legislators.
I served on the Trinity Medical Center hospital board and served as Chairman of the Board of Directors at Brookhaven Country Club.
I recently retired with 35 years of business experience in Finance, Auditing, Technology, International and Governmental Relations.
My Governmental Relations job allowed me the opportunity to work with all levels of government elected officials and staff. I am familiar with issues cities are facing today and feel I can be an effective contributor.
One of several campaign goals is to represent all Carrollton residents fairly and equally. I would like to help resurrect the Diversity Committee once in place a few years ago. Carrollton is a great place to live and raise a family and includes a variety of different cultures I think we can embrace and celebrate together.
Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net
www.Carrolltondiary.com
# # #
---
Mike Ghouse is a frequent guest at the TV, radio and print media offering pluralistic solutions to issues of the day. He is a thinker, writer, speaker, optimist and an activist of Pluralism, Interfaith, Co-existence, Peace, Islam and India. He His work is reflected at three websites and 22 Blogs at http://www.mikeghouse.net/
No comments:
Post a Comment